UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
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. 21. 17 pi
ESSAYS
O N T H E
LIVES AND WRITINGS
O F
FLETCHER OF SALTOUN
AND THE
POET THOMSON:
BIOGRAPHICAL, CRITICAL, AND POLITICAL.
With fome Pieces -of ,'TfjoivjsoN's neve- befcre publiflied.
BY D. S. EARL F i B U C HA N.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. I? E B R E T T ,
OPPOSITE BURLINGTON-HOUSE, PICCADILLY.
MDCCXCII.
CONTENTS.
C5
INTRODUCTION, containing an mjioricai
1 1
>-3 of Liberty in Scotland.
The Life of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun p. i 5s
s
Notes relating to the Family, and explanntory oftlx
t* Life of Fletcher p. 65 69
V-
Speeches of Mr. Fletcher en the Quejlion for the Set-
tlement of the Scottijh Croiun, delivered in the Scottijb
o^ Parliament, 1703 p. 71 174
/^^ Genius, Character, and Writings of
L "_. 'James Thomfon, the Poet : intended as a Bajis for
writing properly the Life of that truly excellent Man :
'with a poetical Addrefs to the Shade of Thomfon, by
David tuart, Earl of Buchan p. 175 280
>
j An Elegy ofThomfon's on the Death of his Mother :
M
** from an Original, in the Poet's oivn Hand-writing t in
E the Collection of the Earl of Buchan 187 190
6
-^ 7 TZornfon's
vi CONTENTS.
Thomfon's Elegy on the Death of AJiman y the
Painter t from a MS. of the Author's own Hand-writ-
ingy in the Collection of the Earl of Buchan : with
Notes by the Earl -p. 190 193
A Song written by Thomfon in his early Tears; and
afterwards JJjaped for his Amanda^ from a MS. in the
Collection of the Earl of Buchan p. 193
A poetical Addrefs by Thomfon to Dr. de la Cour in
Ireland^ on his ProfpecJ of Poetry p. 194
A Letter from Thomfon to Mr. George Rofs, from
^ mn Original in Lord Enchants CollecJion p. 198 2OO
From the Same to the Same - p. 200 203
A Letter from Thomfon to Mr. Lyttelton, after-
wards Lord Lyttelton p. 203 205
A Letter from Thomfcn to his Sjfter t Mrs. yean
Thomfon y at Lanark 206 2 1 3
A Letter from Thomfon to Mr. Paterfon, of the
Leeward I/lands . p. 128 234
An
CONTENTS. vii
An Ode on the Death of Thomfon, by Mr. Collins.
The Scene on the Thames near Richmond p. 235 237
An Addrefs to the Shade of Thomfon, by the Rev.
Mr. William Thomfon, fometime of >ueen's College,
Oxford p. 238
Anniverfary of Thomfon 1 s Birth-day p. 239
Mr. Burns, the Air/hire Sard's Apology for not at-
tending the Anniverfary Meeting ; and his Addrefs to
the Shade of Thomfon p. 244 248
The Earl ofBuckan's Invitation to Sir 'John Sinclair,
of Ulbfter, to be prefent at the Feftival of Thomfon
p. 249250
Eulogy of Thomfcn, the Poet^ delivered by the Earl of
Buchan, on Ednam Hill y 'when he croiuned the Firjl
Edition cf the Seafons with a wreath of Bays, on the
22d of September, 1791 p. 251 260
A Letter from Tlomfon to the Sifter of his Amanda,
at Baih p. 260266
A flu*
vizi CONTENTS.
A Humorous Epijlle of Thomfon's to a Friend on
Its Travels p. 267 273
A Letter from Thomfon to Mrs. R. the Sifter of
Amanda p. 273 278
A Poetical Parnphrafe on the following Verfe from
the Song of Solomon , " Turn away thine Eyes from me t
for they have overcome me" p. 277 278
Verfes addrefled to Mifs Young p. 279 280
N. B. THE Four laft Articles were received by
the Printer after all the others had gone to Prefs :
otherwife the Earl of Buchan's Eulogy on Thom-
fon, according to a natural Arrangement, would
have been introduced in the Conclufion of this
Volume.
INTRODUCTION.
ALTHOUGH I am fenfible
that the very found and fight
of the word LIBERTY has be-
come difagreeable, if not terri-
ble, to the fafhionable world in
Britain ; yet it is neceflary that
I ihould introduce the Memoirs
of Fletcher and Thomfon with
refle&ions on the principles,
manners, and temper, of the
times and countries in which
B they
ii INTRODUCTION.
they lived, and of thofe that
preceded their appearance. It
is my purpofe to treat this fub-
je6l very briefly.
It naturally divides itfelf into
three parts; the Gothic, Puri-
tanical, and Philofophical ages:
under which three heads, with-
*out once mentioning the formi-
dable and profcribed vocable, I
ftiall endeavour to make it clear
and convincing to the meaneft
and moft obdurate capacity, that
political energy and fentiment
were never wholly fupprefled
in my native country.
i ift.
INTRODUCTION, ill
ift. Political energy and fen-
timent eminently appeared in
the Gothic, by which I literally
denominate that age which was
coeval with the formation of mi-
litary governments on a feudal
bafis, by the nations or people :
that over-ran Europe in ages faf
beyond the aera of genuine hif-
tory, formed the ftates of Greece
and Italy, and afterwards in a
more barbarous ftate overfpred
and overpowered the Roman
empire, which had fprung from
the fame original.
But the fyftem of Gothic go-
B 2 vernment
h INTRODUCTION.
vernment was permanent, and
we have it accurately delineated
by the mafterly hand of Tacitus,
in his Treatife on the Situation,
Cuftoms, and People of Ger-
many.
In this aera, which is of im-
menfe duration, I obferve po-
litical energy and fentiment ex-
emplified every where in the
equal rights of the holders of
the foil.
In countries and ages where
lands were cultivated by flaves
taken in war, or brought in-
to bondage by conqueft, there
could be no other citizens.
.INTRODUCTION. v
Trade and manufaftures were
hot.
In fuch a pofture of fociety
fciences and arts could not
exift.
The proprietors of the foil
could not prote6l themfelves
without government; and go-
vernment requires a prince ei-
ther fmgle or complex, eleftivq
or hereditary.
Governments were therefore
formed varioufly, as contingency
or neceffity occafioned or re-
quired. Scotland, the country
to which my fubjeft directs me,
B 3 was
vi INTRODUCTION,
was planted and governed in this
manner from the beginning.
The miferable natives who
preceded the Goths or Scythians,
were treated like the natives of
North and South America by
the Europeans; and, after fkulk-
ing and fcalping for ages in their
faftnefles, muft have atlaft yield-
ed to neceffity or reafon in their
obedience to the laws of the
ftrongeft.
In England, after the derelic-
tion of the Roman provinces
by the legions, the enervated
flaves of imperial Rome became
an
INTRODUCTION. vii
an eafy prey to every hardy in-
vader. Veni, vidi, vici, is a
boaft no way honourable or
peculiar to Caefar,
The Saxons and Danes, to go
no farther, exemplified the motto
with a vengeance; and I (hall
allow the baftard of Normandy
to have been a King William,
and to have come over to
fave the miferable Englifh from
Dane -gelt, flavery, and arbitrary
power.
Great and big books have
been written to ftiew that En-
glifh law and liberty are as old
B 4 as
viii INTRODUCTION.
as the country. I diflike big
books, and leave Lord Lyttelton
in porTeffion of the field.
If conftitutions of government
could be juftly held to admit of
no radical amendments, accord-
ing to the political gofpel of
Edmund, then the Gothic con^-
ftitution was as perfeft as pof-
fible.
But the rapid improvement
of fociety foon rendered it odi"
ous, unjuft, and ridiculous.
To overthrow it, however,
there was no people ; for the
king and the flaves were, in
fa6h
INTRODUCTION. ix
faft, the only people, and the
nobility was the prince.
The king, therefore, with the
Haves, ajfumed the ftation of
the people, and crufhed more or
lefs in different ages and coun-
tries the prince, combined and
compofed of the great proprie-
tors of the foil.
This was accomplifhed by
exciting and quelling impotent
rebellions, by leaguing with the
clergy, eftablifhing free towns
and corporations, and by en-
pouraging trade and navigation.
James I. King of Scots,
was
x INTRODUCTION.
was far advanced in this plan
when he was aflaffinated by the
Earl of Athol. He had gone fo
far to form a popular govern-
ment by encouraging the leffer
barons and the boroughs of
Scotland, and by the attainder
of the great earls, that he ufed
to joke with his Queen (the
great grand-daughter of Edward
III.) faying, " My dear, I hope
the day is not far diftant when
I may have the pleafure of
finding you in bed with all the
nobility of Scotland!" a brave
projeft for a patriot prince, and
worthy
INTRODUCTION. xl
worthy of a more fortunate
iffue !
A rich and powerful nobility
(alias an oligarchy) mujl foon de-
Jlroy the liberties of any people
among whom they are Juffered to
domineer,
It is neceflary to explain what
the King of Scots meant by all
the nobility of Scotland.
They were the Earls and
Lords of Regality.
Scotland never knew fuch a
monftrous order of men as Lords
of Parliament.
The Earls had no right to fit
in
XH INTRODUCTION.
In the Parliament but by their
lands; but being chief magi*
flrates and judges in their coun-
ties, with regal powers, thefe,
with their territorial advantages
fpringing from the feudal fyftem,
rendered them truly formidable
both to the king and to the
commonwealth.
James faw the advantages
reaped in England by the crown,
in confequence of the formation
of a peers houfe of parliament,
and the power of calling up great
commoners by writ of fummons
to that houfe of parliament, and
wifhed
INTRODUCTION. xlii
wifhed to adopt fo crafty an
example.
On the trial of Murdoch,
Duke of Albany, he eftablifhed
a precedent for what were
called Barons of Baron-rent,
to be called Lords and Nobles,
and to fit with precedence in
the parliament by royal charter
of lands, ere&ing eftates into
earldoms or baronies, uncon-
nefted with the ancient earl-
doms or county palatines of
the kingdom ; and, then, by the
eleflion of certain members of
parliament, for preparing the
laws
*iv INTRODUCTION.
laws or als, who were called the
Lords of the Articles, chofen from
the earls, barons of baron-rent,
and the great officers of the ftate,
he contrived to quaih or pre*
vent motions that were adverfe
to the intereft of the crown *.
I blufh to repeat the ABC
of the political hiftory of Bri-
tain ; but as I have not met with
a fhort efience of it in any of
our modern novels, I hope I
may be excufed, at leaft, by
ladies and gentlemen who fel^
dom turn over unwieldy vo*
* See Burners Hiftory of his Own Times.
lumes.
INTRODUCTION. XT
lumes. Thvis the creation of a
tiers etat, or, of the weight of the
people in the political balance,
as is well obferved in Captain
Newte's admirable Tour in Scot-
land, was not the work of pa-
triots, but of kings. In Sir Wil-
liam Wallace, the Tell of Scot-
land, we have a precious unique
in the Gothic age of Scottiih
political energy and fentiment
and had Scotland belonged by
hereditary claims to England or
France, he would probably have
engaged his countrymen to have
formed a republic like the Swifs.
He
xvi INTRODUCTION.
He was envied and hated by thef
earls and great barons of Scot-
land; and by their treachery he
fell a martyr to the independen-
cy and liberties of his country.
It is in vain to fearch for the
moral and rational principles
of government in the military
Gothic age: in thofe wretched
times men had no civic union,
no proper interchange of poli-
tical fentiment* Fixed, or rather
chained as they were to the foil
of their matters, the people were
without collifion of fentiment;
had no organized focieties for
the
INTRODUCTION,
the contemplation of common
interefts; no high roads, no pofts,
no printing-preffes ! What is man
in fuch a fituation, but the ma-
chine of regal or princely am-
bition and luxury!
II. I come now to confider
the puritanical age of political
energy and fentiment* Nothing
could have been more fortunate
for mankind, than the deftruc-
tion of the degraded Greek em-
pire by the Turks, fo foon after
the diflemination of the doc-
trines of Wickliffe, and the re-
formers of the church of Rome.
C It
xviii INTRODUCTION.
It gave Europe philofopherSj
and teacherSj and men of learn-*
ing, Greek, and fenfe, and fpirit-
Human genius and fentiment
are always moft agreeably ex-
cited by the contemplation of
misfortunes. We naturally attach
ourfelves to the fide of the lofer
of a cortteft. The ftruggles for
liberty in Greece and Italy, re-*
corded fo eloquently by the
Greek and Roman daffies, im-
bued the minds of youth, and
excited the feelings of the aged
with the ardour of political fen-
timent. The people then began
to
INTRODUCTION, xix
to know truly what it is to be
a member of a free common-
wealth, to be a citizen: delight-
ful name ! beft of inheritances^
bell of rights, not to be fur-
rendered, but with the life that
accompanies it! With thefe fub-
lime and heart-engaging affec-
tions, the ftudy of the Scriptures
of Mofes and the Evangelifts
in the living languages of Eu-
rope, and the confolation of
free agency in the choice of reli-
gious opinions, remarkably con-
tributed to the creation of new
political energy among all ranks
C 2 of
xx INTRODUCTION.
of men, but particularly among
the middling and lower claries
of the people^ who by religious
controverfy were made, as it
were, artificial members of fo-
ciety, and felt the inexpreflible
and captivating delight of think-
ing and afting for themfelves,
and of touching and affefting
general fociety. The clergy,
irritated to madnefs by the dif-
folution of their magic fuperfli-
tion, and looking forward to the
total deftruclion of their profit-
able fable of the church, perfe-
cuted the thinking and reform-
ing
INTRQDUCTION. xxi
mg people; and this laid the
foundation of that perception of
religious liberty, which imme-
diately conne6led itfelf with po-
litical liberty in Scotland fo ear-
ly as the reign of James V. and
in England towards the end of
the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
Buchanan arofe in Scotland
like the morning ftar, to an-
nounce the approach of philo-*
fophical day.
He was the father of whig-
gery as afyftem in Britain, if not
in Europe ; the Lord Bacon or
Newton of political fciencq and
C 3 fenti*
xxii INTRODUCTION.
fentiment, by far the greateft man
of his age, as Napier was of his.
country, in invention : in as much
as political fcience is above all
others in real importance, with
refpeft to which we may fairly
fet down every other with an
adjeft of a " haud fimile aut fe-?
cundum." To women, fome how
or other, we have been indebted
from the beginning for fortunate
revolutions, faving in the cafe of
Lady Adam, and even that is
not carbonified by the ftrileft
theologians.
To the beauty, gaiety, and
INTRODUCTION, xxiit
imprudence of Mary Stuart, the
daughter of James V. we are in^
debted for the prefent Hate of
Britain, fuch as it is. Had Mary
been prudent, Scotland might
have become a Popifh monar^
chy, England at beft would have
been under its old monarchy
(with proper addrefs), under the
Stuarts; and we fhould not have
had occafion to deprecate Gal-
lic freedom with the monftrous
infanity of modern Englifhmen;
but to deplore the want of it.
It were needlefs and fuper^
fluous for me in this Iketch to
C 4 deli*
xxiv INTRODUCTION.
delineate the minute progrefs of
puritanical patriotifm, from the
depofition of Mary Queen of
Scots, to that of her great grand ^
fon James the Seventh of Scot^
land, and Second of England.
In Scotland, even down to the
period of the union of the king-
doms and parliaments, the peo-
ple had no nerves for feeling
political fentiment) fave through
the medium of religion or iu-
perftition.
Give Sawney his Sunday's
minifter to his liking, and he
not who were minifters
of
INTRODUCTION, xxv
of ftate. Even during the long
paper as well as cartridge war
in the laft century, we hear and
fee little in their afts or writings
that favoured in the leaft of
moral or political liberty. Every-
thing fmelt of the fcarlet lady
of Rome. There were Scottilh
Hampdens, but no Sidneys, Bu-
chanan and Fletcher alone were
elevated above the ages in which
they lived, and fhed a luftre to-<
wards thofe that were to fucceed 3
which will continue to mine
more and more unto the perfeft
clay. I glory in being the attire-^
man
xxvi INTRODUCTION.
man of the characters of fuch
figurative princes, and rejoice to
think that even in that humble
connection my name may be
handed down to diftant pofte-*
rity ! My anceftor Marr was a
favourite pupil of Buchanan's,
imbibed his fcienee and princi^
pies, emd handed them down to
the race of the Stuart Erfkines.
I glory alfo, therefore 3 in pay^
ing this family tribute to that
glorious pedagogue,
III. I proceed now with plea-'
fure to the age of philofophical
politics, which Thomfon, my
i favourite
INTRODUCTION, xxvii
favourite bard, and the bard of
liberty, faw before his death, like
another prophet from Pi%ah,
faw and rejoiced !
The al of parliament which
put an end to the heretable ju-
rifdiftions in Scotland, together
with the wife and prudent ad-?
miniftration of Archibald Duke
of Argyl, and Lord Milton, gave
Scotland a free avenue tp poli-
tical and civil exertion: the
land was fallow, and cultivated
by honeft and aftive hufband-
men, it prefently bore abundant
harvefts. It would be invidious in
my
xxviii INTRODUCTION.
my own times to felecT; names for
enumeration and eulogy. They
whom I have formerly named
and celebrated will not be faved
from oblivion by my feeble ef-^
forts. They would have lived
withcfut my encomium. Yet I
arrogate tc^myMf fome degree
of praife that I was taught, and
that I learnt how to difcriminate
tinfel from gold. Hume, and
Napier, and Fletcher, and Bu-
chanan, and Thomfon, will live
for ever. Can I enough regret
that Hume was a tory, and a
foolifh enthufiaft in fcepticifm ?
Yet
INTRODUCTION, xxhc
Yet I will not attempt to touch
his immortality ; my {hafts would
but rebound from his feven-fold
fhield. To the divine influence
of the printing-prefs is the world
indebted for the reign of philo-
ibphy ; and to philofophy it owes
the principles of legiflation.
It is with infinite regret that I
cannot pretend to produce from
Scotland, during this halcyon
reign of philofophy, any great
chara&er fmce the death of Flet-
cher; for Thomfon was a retired
man, and quite out of the walk
of political eminence.
What
INTRODUCTION.
What could be expeled front
a country, where the hereditary
members of parliament were im*
potent, and fearfully quefiioned
each other on the diflblution of
a parliament, who were named
to be of the lixteeri reprefenta-
tives of the nobility of the coun-
try and nation? I beheld this in-
famous degradation of gentle*
men, for I will not fpeak of
noblemen, with difgufL I called
upon the electors to roufe from
their baneful lethargy; and they
thought I was about to raife a
third rebellion. Yet I perfe*
VerecL
INTRODUCTION, xxxi
vered. By and by they began
to leap the fold: they found
their account in it; and they
alfo perfevered. But I will fay
no more about them : liberty,
and Buchanan, and Fletcher, and
Thomfon, are better themes, or
at leaft better fuited to my hum-
ble genius,
I flop rather to enquire con-
cerning the comparative ftate of
Britainj in this philofophical
age of political fentiment, with
France and other countries, that
have had inferior advantages.
Who but a clerk of the trea-
fury,
xxxii INTRODUCTION,
fury, or a lord of the king's bed-
chamber, can contemplate this
parallel without regret?
It was in the laft war of
George II. that Great Britain
laid herfelf under the neceffity
of defending her wide-extended
dominion; and of aflerting her
claim to be the firft nation upon
earth. The conteft was bloody
and expenfive, but the end was
glorious The enemy proftrate
and breathlefs, empire extended,
honour maintained, peace eftab-
lifhed, and, like the fun rifing
after a ftorm, a young and na-
tive
INTRODUCTION, xxxiii
live monarch holding the fcep-
tre, and afcending the throne,
amidft the acclamations of the
freeft and happieft people on the
globe.
Thefe acclamations are heard
no more. A fyftem of corrup-
tion, eftablifhed and digefted
early in 'this reign by a baneful
ariflocracy, has pervaded every
rank and order of men, till the
fpirit of the conftitution has
fled, and left only the caput
mortuum behind. The forms of
our government have out-lafted
the ends for which they were
D infti-
xxxiv INTRODUCTION.
inftituted, and have become a
mere mockery of the people
for whofe benefit they mould
operate.
The prophecy of Montef-
quieu is fulfilled ; and nothing
can fave the country but the
fulfilment of the prophecy of
Franklin. What that prophecy
was, what this prophecy is, I
leave to the curious to learn.
What I have written, I have
written : futurity will determine
the truth of my own particular
predictions, and whether I am
to be remembered as a captious.
Cynic,
INTRODUCTION, xxxv
Cynic, or a wife and Pythonic
politician.
To conclude : As I think
it unneceflary to delineate the
fpirit of the times in Europe
with refpeft to government, fo
I think it to be indifpenfably
required at my hands, that I
mould, with refpeft to Scotland,
deprecate the refufal of a militia
to my country, the neceffity for
which was fo eloquently fet
forth by my favourite Fletcher.
That I mould mark with my
blackeft coal the game licence
a6l, which is an infidious and
D 2 dan-
xxxvi INTRODUCTION.
dangerous difarming of the
commons.
That I mould exprefs my ut-
ter deteftation and abhorrence
of the conduft of a firft mi-
nifter, who calling himfelf the
minifter of the crown, with
a treafonable audacity mould
dare to advife the diffolution
of a parliament, againft the
fenfe of a houfe of commons,
the only legal organ of the
voice of the people, let that
houfe be ever fo ill conftrufted.
and demand ever fo much re-
formation.
That
INTRODUCTION, xxxvii
That I fhould loudly pro-
teft, that a parliament ought to
be allowed to die a natural
death. And,
That if a parliament, contem-
plating the foreboding, the omi-
nous imperfeftions of the con-
ftitution, mould on its death-
bed provide for a remedy by the
equalization of the reprefenta-
tion of the people, it would
prevent the dangerous concuf-
fion which muft undoubtedly
arife, and that quickly, from
their political franchifes being
brought to the level of fur-
D 3 round-
xxxviii INTRODUCTION.
rounding nations with a violent
jerk. Let us not (faid my ad-
mirable preceptor and friend,
Adam Smith, author of the Ef-
fay on the Wealth of Natipns)
rafhry believe that Great Bri-
tain is capable of fupporting
any burden.
Let us confider what hold
we have now of the two Indies,
of Canada, and our other lu-
crative dependencies. A blow
may be ftruck, a blow will be
ftruck, that mall reach the vi-
tals of public credit, and it is
an event which nothing but
poli-
INTRODUCTION, xxxix
political infanity can induce
public minifters not to provide
againft. But no provifion can
be made againft this event, ex-
cept that which has been point-
ed out by the finger of the
genius of Britain's welfare.
I will not offer incenfe to
the living, but to the dead : I
infcribe this and the following
fheets to the memory of Sir
GEORGE SAVILE, of Rufford
Hall, Member of Parliament
for the County of York.
D 4
THE
L IF E
O F
ANDREW FLETCHER
OF SALTOUN.
Br D. S. EARL OF B U C H A N.
Among innumerable falfe, unmoved,
Unfhaken, unfeduc'd, unterrify'd,
Nor number, nor example with him wrought
To fwerve from truth, or change his conftant mind,
Though fingle.
PARADISE LOJT, b. v.
J H E
L I F E
O F
ANDREW FLETCHER
DF SALTOUN.
WHEN I did myfelf the honour,
with the affiftance of the learned pro/-
feflbr Minto, to offer to the public an
account of the life, writings, and difcove-
rie$ of the inventor of the logarithms, I
pledged myfelf to attempt the biography
of Fletcher of Saltoun, and of John Law
of Lauriefton : but when I fet myfelf to
the work, I found it much more difficult
than I had imagined.
I confefs
4 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER,
I co-nfefs that ! am ambitious of perma-
nent reputation., and "loath to hazard even
the little I may have obtained in pro-
moting that of others, by obtruding on
the world what might be brought forward
by men of fuperior abilities. But, feveral
years having elapfed without my having
any profpedt of being anticipated, I have
yielded to the impulfe of my efteem for
the character of Fletcher.
I am afraid, however, that this monu-
ment which I endeavour to raife to the
memory of my patriotic countryman may
induce me to write too freely upon the
fubjects which excited my defire to per-
petuate his name : but whether I may
pleafe or offend the prefent little world
of the day, when I decently exprefs the
feelings of my heart, or the refult of my
reflections, it will give me little concern.
I am
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER* 5
I am the creature of a day, but not the
creature of the times.
In politics I would be a Diogenes; and
if patronifed by the great Alexander of
modern politics, whoever may affect that
character, I (hould defire him, as my only
requeft, that he would ftand out of my
light, that I might behold the beautiful
fabric of a free conftitution, undazzled by
the fplendour of power, and unintoxi-
cated by the opinion of the people.
Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun was the
fon of Sir Robert Fletcher of Saltoun
and Innerpeffer, by Catharine Bruce,
daughter of Sir Henry Bruce of Clack-
mannan. By his paternal defcent he was
of a family truly honourable, and by his
maternal, of the 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
6 Robert
6 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
Robert de Bruce, king of the Scots* His
father was the fifth in lineal defcent from
Sir Bernard Fletcher of the county of
York*. He married Catharine Bruce in
the year 1 65 1 ; and his eldeft fon Andrew,
the fubjedt of my enquiry, was born in
the year 1653 t-
When he had the misfortune to lole
his father, he was but in his early youth,
and was deftined by his father, on his
death-bed, to the care of Dr. Burnet,
redlor of the parifh of Saltoun, after-
xvards bilhop of Salifbury, well known
* Sir Robert's father Andrew was one of the
fenators of the College of Juflice in Scotland, by the
ftyle of Lord Innerpefter. He was one of thofe
feven truly magnanimous Scots who, with David
Lord Cardrofs, protefted againft the delivery of
King Charles I. at Newcaftle, to the Englifh Par-
liament. He died 1650. MS. hift. of the family
J n my pofleflion.
f MS. hift. ut fupra.
by
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 7
by his political zeal and interefting writ-
ings. From Burnet he received, as might
have been expected, a very pious and
learned education, and was ftrongly im-
bued with erudition and the principles of
a free government, which were con-
genial to the family of Fletcher, and ef-
poufed by his mother, and by thofe who
had, with her, the charge of his nur-
ture *.
When he had completed his courfe of
elementary ftudies in Scotland, 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 uncontroulable temper ; but his
difpofitions were noble and generous f.
* MS. hift. ut fupra.
f MS. hift. ut fupra ; from which, where not dif-
tingifhed by other reference, I fhall draw all my
authorities.
He
8 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
He became firft known as a public
fpeaker and a man of political energy,
being commiflioner in the Scotch par-
liament for the fhire of Eaft Lothian^
when the Duke of York was lord com-
miffioner, connecting himfelf with the
Earl of Argyll in oppofition to the t)uke
of Lauderdale's adminiftration, and the
arbitrary defigns of the court, which
obliged him to retire firft into England
to confult with Dr. Burnet, and afterwards,
by his advice, into Holland. He was
fummoned to appear before the Lords of
the Council at Edinburgh, which he not
thinking it prudent for him to do, he was
outlawed, and his eftate confifcated.
In the year 1683 ne > witn Robert
Baillie of Jervifwood, came into England
in order to concert meafures with the
friends of freedom in that country ; and
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 9
they, I believe, were the only Scotchmen
who were admitted into the fecrets of
Lord Ruflel's Council of Six. They were
like wife the only perfons in whom the
Earl of Argyll confided in Holland the
common meafures of the two countries,
which were then concerted with much
fecrecy and danger, for the recovery of
the conftitution and liberties of the Britifh
kingdoms.
Fletcher managed his part of the ne-
gociation with fo much addrefs and pru-
dence, that Adminiftration, though in no
refpect delicate as to the means of reaching
the objects of their jealoufy or refentment,
could find no pretext for feizing him, nor
could they fix upon him any of the ar-
ticles of impeachment for which Mr.
Baillie of Jerviiwood was condemned
and fuffered capital punifhment. Mr.
E Baillie
ID LIFE OF AND.REW FLETCHER.
Bail lie was offered his pardon on condition
of impeaching his friend Fletcher ; but he
perfifled to the gallows in rejecting the
propofal with indignation. O noble, ex-
cellent, and truly worthy Scot ! May your
defcendants and your countrymen ever
remember and imitate your example !
On Fletcher's return to the continent,
rinding no profpecT: of his fafe return to
Britain, he dedicated his leifure to foreign
travel, and to the ftudy of public law and
politics ; during which period of his life
I have fruitlefsly fought for letters that
might not only have traced him In his
various fituations, but furnilhed agreeable
and ufeful materials for his biography.
In the beginning of the year 1685
Fletcher came to the Hague, to affift at
the deliberations of the exiles from Bri-
tain, and particularly with thofe of his
4 own
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. it
own country, with a view to promote the
caufe of oppofition to the arbitrary mea-
fures of James II : but it does not appear
that he poflefled 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 re-
collection of the great fpirits that had been
raifed by the Greek republics, and, like
all men of great abilities, he wifhed for
that ftate of things which might mark
the fuperiority of his own talents, and
give full exercife to his popular powers.
Argyll's expedition concerted at that time
with Monmouth and the party was the
moft inviting to Fletcher ; but being dif-
fatisfied with the plan of operations, and
2 his
li LIFE of ANDREXV FLETCHER.
his countrymen, who enjoyed Mori-
mouth's confidence, he went with the
Duke, who was the dupe of the ambition^
and crafty Prince of Orange *.
Burner^
* The ambitious and crafty Prince of Orange.]
It is with reluftance that I affix fuch epithets to a
prince who fcems to be, as it were, the idol of
whigs, who, in hyperbolifmg the immortal memory
of Old Glorious, feem to forget that he was a man,
and a politician. My grandfather and great-grand-
father came over with him at the Revolution ; and
I know that I am net without partiality to a- charac-
ter connected with the eftablifliment of what wd
call the Conftitution of the country, and with the
illuftnuiou of iny own family : but I cannot be blind
Jo his faults, nor do I think it would be conducire to
the eftablimrnent of a real conflitution of freedom
in the Britifh nation, that fuch blind neJ's fhould
continue among the people who wifh to arrange
themfelves under the banners of Britilh liberty.
That he was ambitious in the difngreeuble 'applf-
' cation
LIFE F ANDREW FLETCHER. 13
Burnet, in the Hiftoiy of his Own
Times, informs us that Fletcher had told
him,
cation of that epithet appears from his lulling the
{lumbers of royal fecimty in England, when he was
fanning the flames of infurreclion againft his father-
in-law in Holland : from his encouraging the mad
projecl of Monmouth to get him out of the way to
the throne, while he was giving good advice to
Tames that the invafion might be defeated. That
he was craftily ambitious, appears not only from
this double plot, but from his forcing his way to the
throne, inftead of accepting the regency, by intimi-
dating the chiefs who hai invited him over, with a
threat of returning to Holland, and leaving them
in the hands of an enraged bigoted monarch. That
lie was ambitious, crafty, and machiavelian, appears
from his having given inftruclions to take care of
King James, if he fliould remain at Rochefter, and
not be difpofed to leave the kingdom. Of the
wretched device to make the confidence of the
people with refpeft to the Queen's pregnancy, and
the Prince of Wales's birth, I (hall lay nothing. It
14 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
him, that Monmouth, though a weak
young man, was fenfible of the impru-
dence of his adventure, and hefitated till
he was urged by the party, moft of
whom were certainly in concert with the
Prince of Orange, and confidered him as
the only probable inflrument for dethron-
is the difgrace of the party, and ought to be buried,
if poflible, in oblivion. It is a dangerous as well
as a wicked thing for a prince to take fuch methods
of infuring fuccefs, as William himfelf afterwards
found, by the intrigues of the Princefs Sophia to
turn him out : the proofs of which intrigues King
William tied up together in a bundle, which was
found in his cabinet. They were feen in Lord
Rochford's hands while fecretary of ftate, were
afterwards in other hands that need not be men-
tioned, and were probably treated as heretics were
formerly, and as republicans are now wifhed to be
by fome other kings. The bundle was docketted
by William's own hand " Letters of the Princefs
Sophia to lurn me out,"
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 15
ing the king, and fupplanting William in
his views, if the attempt were delayed till
the Englifh nation ihould become defpe-
rate enough to overlook the doubts that
. Charles II. had confirmed by his declara-
.tion in council of the legitimacy of the
Duke of Monmouth*. So well was this
plot laid, that few of the party in Holland
joined in thefe expeditions, but waited
either in or out of the fecret, till they
hould fee the effects of the explofion that
was to bury poor Monmouth under its
* Thofe men urged Kim on to war and danger,
ty an appeal to his perfonal courage. They wiflied
in this manner to remove a dangerous rival out of
the way of the prince's arribition ; well-knowing that
if the people of England mould become defperate,
jhey might be induced to overlook the doubts of
Monmouth's legitimacy, which had been confirmed
by the public declaration of Charles II.
E 4 ruins.
i6 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
ruins. But Fletcher of Saltoun had neither
coolnefs nor fufficient political fubtlety to
conduct himfelf with a view to his own
private emolument. Fired by the hopes
of a revolution that, from the infignifi-
cancy of Monmouth, and the circum-
ftances of his birth, might produce a con-
ftitution of government in which his re-
publican talents might have full fcope, he
at firft fell in warmly with the fcheme of
Monmouth' s landing ; but afterwards, fuf-
pecYmg probably the intrigue of the Prince
of Orange, he wifhed it to be laid afide.
He told Bilhop Burnet (which fupports this
conjedure), that Monmouth was pufhed
on to it againft his own fenfe and rea-
fon, and was picqued upon the point
of honour in hazarding his perfon with
his friends. Monmouth landed at Lime
in Dorfetmire. Soon after their landing,
7 Lord
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 17
Lord Grey was fent with a final! party to
difperfe a few of the militia, and ran for
it ; but his men flood, and the militia re-
treated. Lord Grey brought back a falfe
report, which was foon contradicted by
the men, whom their leader had aban-
doned, coming back to quarters in good
order. The unfortunate Duke of Mon-
mouth was ftruck with this (fays Burnet),
when he found that the perfon on whom
he depended moft, and for whom he de-
figned the command of the cavalry, had
already made himfelf infamous by his
cowardice. He intended to join Fletcher
with him in that command * : but Flet-
cher having been fent out on another
party, engaged in a fcuffle, in which he
had the misfortune to kill the mayor of
* Burnet.
Lynn
iS LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
Lynn againft the laws of war, in the fud-
den heat of paffion, on account of con-
tumelious language ufed to him by the
mayor, on reclaiming a horfe of his that
had been imprefled by Fletcher's party.
This unguarded, unfoldierly, and unjufti-
fiable at of violence, mufl have rendered
his future fervices on the expedition of
little confideration to Monmouth ; but it
was not the caufe of his leaving the little
army. The account given by Fletcher
himfelf of his general condud at. this
time to the late Earl Marihall of Scotland,
was, that he had been induced to join the
Duke of Monmouth, on the principles of
the Duke's manifeftoes in England and
Scotland, particularly by the laws pro-
mifed for the permanent fecurity of civil
and political liberty, and of the proteftant
religion, and the calling of a general con-
grefs
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 19
grefs of delegates from the people at large,
to form a free conftitution of government,
and not to pretend to the throne upon
any claim, except the free choice of the
reprefentatives of the people. That, when
Monmouth was proclaimed king at Taun-
ton, he faw his deception, and refolved
to proceed no farther in his engage-
ments, which he confidered from that
moment as treafon againft the juft rights
of the nation, and treachery on the part of
Monmouth. That, finding himfelf there-
fore no longer capable of being ufeful, he
left Taunton, and embarked on board a
veflel for Spain. That foon after his land-
ing he was committed to prifon ; and, on
the application of the Englim minifter at
Madrid, he was ordered to be delivered
up, and tranfmitted to London in a Spanilh
veflel, which was named for that purpofe.
That
so LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
That one morning, as he was looking pen-
fively through the bar of his dungeon, he
was accofted by a venerable perfon, who
made fign to fpeak to him, Fletcher, look-
ing if any paffage could be found for his
efcape, difcovered a door open, at which he
was met by his deliverer, with whom he
pafled 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 purpofe, concern-
ing whom he never could obtain any in-^
formation. That difguifed he proceeded
in fafety through Spain, where, when he
found himfelf out of all apparent danger,
he lingered, and amufed himfelf with the
view of the country, and with ftudy in
the conventual libraries j and having pri-
vately
LI?E oii ANDREW FLETCHER. 21
vately obtained credit by bills upon Am-
fterdam, he bought many rare and curious
books, fome of which are preferred in the
library at Saltoun, in the county of Had-
dinton. That he had made feveral very
narrow efcapes of being detected and
feized in the coiirfe of his peregrinations
through Spain, particularly in the neigh-
bourhood of a town (the name of which
Lord Marfhall had forgotten), where he in-
tended to have pafled the night; but in the
fkirts of a wood a few miles diftant from
thence, upon entering a road to the right,
he was warned by a woman of a very re'-
fpe&able appearance, to take the left-hand
road, as there would be danger in the other
direction. Upon his arrival he found the
citizens alarmed by the news of a robbery
and murder on the road againft which he
had been cautioned. Some time after this
efcape.
22 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
efcape, Fletcher's active genius led him to
ferve as a volunteer in the Hungarian
war *, where he diftinguifhed himfelf 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*
"Perfuaded that the liberties of Britain,
if not of all Europe, hung upon the ifTue
of the defign then in contemplation at the
Hague for a revolution in England, and
having learned that it had already attain-
ed a confiderable degree of maturity, he
haftened to Holland, and joined himfelf to
the groupe of his countrymen who were
attached to the interefts of the Prince of
Orange, moft of whom were refugees
from England or Scotland. Lord Stair,
* MS. ut fupra.
Lord
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER* 23
Lord Melville* Sir Patrick Hume of Pol-
warth, Lord Cardrofs, Sir Robert Steuart
of Coltnefs, Dr. Burnet, Mr. James Stuart,
afterwards lord advocate of Scotland, and
Mr. Cunningham, the editor of Horace,
and author of a Latin Hiftory of Great
Britain, which has been lately tranflated
by Dr. W. Thomfon, continuator of princi-
pal Watfon's Hiftory of Spain, and author
of feveral Philofophical Romances, &c. &c.
and publifhed by Dr. Hollingberry, one of
the prefent king's chaplains, were the Scots
with whom he was in the greateft habits
of intimacy *. With thefe gentlemen Flet-
cher
* Though I hold in fovereign contempt the infig-
nificance of modern anecdote, I fhall fet down in
this place fome particulars relating to thefe men,
that are chara&eriftic of their times and hiftorics,
that may not be unacceptable to the public. Sir
Patrick Hume of Polwarth, grandfather of the pre-
fent
24 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
cher aflbciated; but his political principles
were too high and refined, and his fenti-
ments
fcnt Earl of Marchmont, from his firfl appearance
in the Scotch parliament, in the year 1665, as mem-
ber for the county of Berwick, had diftinguifhed
himfelf by a noble fceal for the liberties of his coun-
try. He was the ableft man of the party in oppo-
fition to the adminiflration of the worthlefs Lauder-
dale \ and in the year 1675, when, according to the
defpotic fyftem of that fcandalous engine of the
court, the Scotch privy council, the houfes of perfons
difagreeable to adminiflration werejmade barracks of
for the troops, he had the fpirit ta bring a complaint
into the courts of juflice with refpect to the gar-
rifoning the houfe of Blanfe in Berwickftiire -, for the
exercife of which right he was brought before the
privy council, who declared him incapable, of all public
truft, committing him prifoncr to the common tol-
booth or jail of Edinburgh, where he underwent a
long and tedious imprifonment, from whence, upon
petition on account of ficknefs, he was conveyed to
the caftle of Dunbarton, and afterwards to Stirling
cattle,
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 25
ments were too Roman, or rather, as I
may now fay, too Gallic, and too much
in
enftle, where he remained fome years. When libe*
rated, he retired into England, where being in ftritl
habits of friendfliip with the friends of liberty, and
particularly with Lord Ruflcl, he found it necefiary
for him to go abroad on the breaking out of the
Rye-houfe plot, and lived fome time at Geneva,
from whence he went to the Hague, to concert
with his fellow-fufferers the meafures that were fol-
lowed by the expeditions of Monmouth and Argyll,
with the latter of whom he came over, and narrowly
efcaped being taken after the defeat of Argyll's
forces, taking flicker and lying in concealment in
the houfe of the Laird of Langmaw, and afterwards
in the aifle of the church of Polwarth, the buiial-
place of his family. All his food was brought t>
him in the night time by his eLleft daughter, then
only twelve years old. This place of concealment
liaving been difcovered, a party was fent to appre-
hend him. As the foldiers pafled near a gentle-
.-'* F man's
26 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
in the odour of philofophical politics, to
accept of the privilege granted by Jametf
the
marl's houfe in the. neighbourhood, who was friendly
to Sir Patrick, and to liberty, they were invited by
him, who knew their errand, to caroufe on his ale
and heft cheer j while he, aware of the danger of
writing, immediately fent a feather inclofed in a
bit of paper, as a fyrnbol of flight, to Sir Patrick ia
the aifle at Polwarth ; who, prcfently interpreting the
figure, took horfe, and fortunately efcaped and fled
into Holland, where he remained under the feigned
name of Brown, till he came over, with the Princff
of Orange at the Revolution.
Sir Patrick was born on the I3th of January
1641 ) appointed lord chancellor of Scotland May
2d, 16965 lord high commimoner, or lord lieutenant
of Scotland, 1,702. He died at Berwick on the ift
of Augufl 1724, in the 84th year of his age, highly
refpe&ed for his attachment to the liberties of his
country, for his virtue, religion, and learning. His
fon and heif Alexander, Earl of Marchmont, after
, . . a feries
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. if
the Second's ad of indemnity to return
to his country and eftate, when under the
dominion
a feries of political fituations, not coming as one
does now-a-days from being a fchool-boy to be a
prime minifter, was our ambaflador at the congrefs
of Cambray in the year 1721; and his fon Hugh,
now Earl of Marchmont, made a brilliant figure in
the Houfe of Commons in oppofition to the corrupt
adminiftration of Sir Robert Walpole, and was after-
wards an ufeful member of the Houfe of Peers, yet
moft of all diftinguimed by his learning, and by
having been the friend of Pope, Swift, Atterbury, and
Arbuthnot. Party politics in England cannot fecure
permanent fame ; and I rejoice to think that my old
good friend, the friend of my father and grand-
father, has fecured his immortality by literature.
In his phiiofophic retreat at Hemel Hempfted, he
may perhaps deign to be flattered with my heredi-
tary regard.
Henry Lord Cardrofs, the fon of David Lord^
Cardrofs of Dryburgh, &c. who protefted agajnft
F 2 he
28 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
dominion of difguifed defpotifm, fan&i-
fied by a venal parliament : fo that
when
the delivering up of King Charles I. at Newcaflfc,
had been trained, in the manner of his family, in.
the exalted principles of religion, liberty, and learn-
ing; and early joined himfelf to the oppofers of the
Duke of Lauderdale's adminiflration. For his lady's
hearing her own chaplain preach in her own houfe,
he was fined in five thoufand pounds, of which he
jpaid a thoufand ; and, after many months attendance
at court for procuring a difcharge of the overplus of
his fine, was finally imprifoned in the caftle of Edin-
burgh, where he continued four years ; while his
houfe of Cardrofs in Perthihire, immediately after
it had been repaired, and furniihed at a great ex-,
pence, was garrifoned to his great lofs and vexation.
And in June 1679, the king's forces, in their march to
the weft (the day before the Duke of Buccleugh came
to them), wheeled and went about two miles out of
the road, that they might quarter on Lord Cardrofs's
cilates of Kirkhall and Uphall, in Weft Lothian.:
After-
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 19
when Argyll, Sutherland, Melville, and
others had recovered their inheritances
in
Afterwards, having obtained his liberation, he went
to North America, and eftabliflied a colony in Caro-
lina, which was deftroyed by the Spaniards. He re-
turned, broken but not difpirited by misfortunes, to
Europe, and attached himfelf to the friends of liberty
in Holland. He raifed a regiment of dragoons, on
the Revolution, and was an ufeful commander under
M'JCay in Scotland, in fubduing the remains of op-
pofition there to the new government ; but died of
the effects of his fufferings, in the year 1693, ' m tne
43d year of his age. Concerning Sir Robert Steuart
of Coltnefs, there is an anecdote fo hiftorically cu-
rious, that I cannot pafs him over without notice,
though he was a perfon of no extraordinary emi-
nence. In the end of the year 1686, when the
bufinefs of the Teft was in agitation, William Penn
was employed at the court of the Prince of Orange,
"to reconcile the Stadtholder to the views of his
father-in-law. Penn became acquainted with mod
F 3 of
30 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
in the year 1686, he chofe rather to re-
main in exile than to accept of liberty
as
of the Scotch fugitives, and, among the reft, with
Sir Robert Steuart, and his brother James, who
wrote the famous Anfwer to Fagel's Memorial, and
will be mentioned more particularly hereafter : and
finding that the violence of their zeal readied little
farther than the enjoyment of their religious liberty,
on his return to London he advifed the meafure of
an indemnity and recal to the perfecuted Prefby-
terians, who had not been engaged in treafonable
afts of oppofition to the civil government. Sir
Thomas availed himfelf of this indemnity to return
to his own country ; but found his eftate and only
means of fubfiftence in the pofleflion of the Earl of
Arran, afterv/ards Duke of Hamilton. Soon after
his coming to London he met Penn, who congra-
tulated him on his being juft about to feel experi-
mentally the pleafure fo beautifully exprefled by
Horace, of the " Mihi me reddentis agelli." Coltnefa
fighed, and faid, " Ah, Mr. Penn ! Arran has got
my
LIFE OP ANDREW FLETCHER. 31
fcs a royal favour ! Yet Alexander Cun-
ningham, the hiftorian, though a Whig
and
my eflate, and I fear my fituation is about -to be now
worfe than ever." " What do you fay, Gofpel P* (a
name Coltnefs had got at the Hague :) " You furprife
and grieve me exceedingly. Come to my houfe to-
morrow, and I will fet matters to rights for thee."
Penn went immediately to Arran. " What is this,
friend James," faid he to him, " that I hear of thee ?
Thou haft taken pofTeffion of Cpltnefs's eftate j thou
fcnoweft that it is not thine." " That eftate," replied
Arran, " I paid a great price for, I received no
other reward for my expenfive and troublefome em-
bafly in France except this eftate ; and I am cer-
tainly much out of pocket by the bargain."
" All very well, friend James," faid the Quaker ;
" but of this aflure thyfelf, that if thou doft not give
me this moment an order on thy chamberlain for
two hundred pounds to Coltnefs, to carry him down
to his native country, and a hundred a year to fub-
fift on till matters are adjufted, I will make it as
F 4 many
ji LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
and friend of Fletcher, mentions this
conduct of Fletcher's as extravagant. It
was referved for this age of wonders to
exhibit the true principles of political
fentiment, unconnected with fuperftition
and perfonal attachment to kings or to
parties.
Fletcher made a manly, noble appear-
many thoufands out of thy way with the king."
Arrau inftantly complied, and Penn fent for Sir
Robert, and gave him the fecurity. After the Revo-
lution, Sir Thomas, with the reft, had full reftitution
of his eftate, and Arran was obliged to account for
all fhe rents he had received ; againfl which this
payment only was allowed to be ftated. This au-
thentic particular I received from my illuftrious
uncle, the late Sir James Steuart Denham, father
of the prefent worthy member for Clydefdale. It
ftrongly marks the keennefs of King James to facili-
tate his foolifli meafures in favour of his religion
and arbitrary power.
ance
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 33
ance in that convention which met in
Scotland, after the Revolution, for the
fettlement of the new government* In
Scotland the rights and liberties of the
people had been determined and fixed by
multiplied inftances of changing the order
of fucceffion, and attainting their fove-
Teigns for treafon againft the rights of the
people: and it is to Scotland and a Scotch-
man that the world is indebted for the
eftablimment of the philofophical and
logical principles of a free conftitution
both in theory and practice. George
Buchanan, the greateft man of his age, as
Well as country, eftablifhed, by irrefra-
gable arguments, in his treadle or dialogue
concerning the rights of the people of
.Scotland, the rights of all mankind ; was
the father of whiggery, and, what is
much .grander, the father of that fyflem
which
34 I'iFE OF ANBREW FLETCHER.
which will one day verify the prophecies
of the Chriftian Scriptures, to the abafe-
irient of kings, and the deftrudion of
prieftcraft.
Raymond de Sebonde in France, the
friend of Montaigne, adopted the prin-
ciples of Buchanan in his Lettre fur la Ser-
vitude Volontaire, a beautiful little piece
publifhed by his friend, which being uni-
verfally read with the Eflays of Mon-
taigne, kept up the facred fire of freedom
in France, in the midft of folly and defpo-
tifm, till the progrefs of commerce, print-
ing, philofophy, and literature opened the
eyes of Frenchmen every where to difcover
that they were men, and ought to be
citizens ; that men were not born with
gold chains about their necks', with ftars
upon their breafts, or coronets upon their
heads ; that it is of the nature of kings
as
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 3.5
as hitherto conftituted, to confider their
interefts' as feparate from their nations,
and to watch continually like wolves or
foxes for their prey, in order to deftroy
the citizens committed to their charge ;
that it is neceflary, therefore, that they
ihould have only the power of obeying
the laws made by the people, w r ith that
of doing good ; but that the power of
doing mifchief, either by prerogative or
influence , ought to be taken away. Thefe
were the principles of Fletcher, principles
that feemed extravagant, difloyal, and
impracticable in his days ; but which are
now acknowledged almoft every where,
except in Spain, Germany, and England.
Thefe have ever been the principles pf
his biographer : but he will not ftoop to
examine the ravings of a fublime and
beautiful
4
36 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
beautiful apologift for tyranny and fuper-
ftition.
" A fairer perfon loft not heaven ; he feem'd
For dignity compos'd, and high exploit :
But all was falfe and hollow j though his tongue
Dropp'd manna, and could make the worfe appear
The better reafon, to perplex and dafli
Matureft counfels."
A man formed like Cicero for fmging
like a nightingale in a cage, to be kept
for the gratification of luxurious patricians,
now the friend of Pompey, and now of
Csefar, as it fuited the indulgence of his
inordinate vanity ; fond of words like a
fchool-mafter, and fond of trappings like
a filly little girl Jet out of a boarding-
fchool. I would indulge him with a copy
of verfes of my own compofition, written
in the ftyle of a madrigal upon my mif-
trefs's eye-brow.
" Moulding
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 37
** Mould'ring and frail, to dufl the body tends,
And human greatnefs (tubborn fortune bends :
Fleeting and vain the ftoried urns arife,
And like a cloud the human vapour flies.
Vain are our bufts and portraits to retain
The foul's bright form, and light the lamp again :
By life alone the mimic form revives,
A Tully dead, a Tully yet furvives ;
Mortal by nature, endlefs in the kind,
Succeflive ages mew the kindred mind."
Fletcher ufed to fay with Cromwell
and Milton, that the trappings of a mo-
narchy and a great ariftocracy would
patch up a very clever little common-
wealth. Being in company one day with
the witty Dr. Pitcairn, the converfation
turned on a perfon of learning whofe
hiftory was not diftindly known. " I knew
the man well," faidFletcher: "he was here-
ditary profeflbr of divinity at Hamburgh. 5 *
44 ffe rcditary profeflbr !" faid Pitcairn, with
a laugh
38 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
a laugh of aftonilhment and derifiori.
"Yes, Dodor," replied Fletcher, " heredi-
tary profeflbr of divinity. What think
you of a hereditary king ?"
Having faid fo much upon the princi-
ples of Fletcher, I think it proper at this
juncture of political reform in Europe,
that I fliould guard my own expreffed
opinions againft popular misinterpretation
on a fubject of fuch great importance -to
the happinefs of my country.
I have ever thought it was a misfortune
to Britain that the Revolution was fol-
lowed by fo imperfect a fyftem of political
arrangement, and that it would have been
more conducive to the future happinefs
of the nation, if we had had to erect an
entire new fabric of a conftitution in the
prefent improved ftate of fociety, than to
clear out, patch, and buttrefs the edifice,
at
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 39
as has been partially done by the Con-
vention Parliament in the year 1689, by
the Bill of Rights, by the A<3 of Suc-
ceffion, by the Treaty of Union, by the
abolition of heritable jurifdictions and
feudal tenures, of perfonal flavery, the
confirmation and extenfion of the acl
of Habeas Corpus, the fecurity of the li-
berty of fpeech and writing, and of print-
ing, the fecuring private property againft
the claims and nullum tempus of the
crown, the abridgment of the powers of ;
the ecclefiaflical courts, the abolition of
perfonal flavery in Britain, the indepen-
dency of the falaries of the criminal and
civil judges and magi ftrates, by the Gren-
vilian law of elections, the exclufion of
tax-gatherers from the right of popular
fuffrage in elections of members of parlia-
ment, and finally by. the .declaration of
the
40 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
the rights of juries, as judges both of the
law and of the fact.
But as things are now fituated, Britain
mud be fatisfied to fall at lead a century
behind all other nations, that, like America
and France, have had the advantage of
erecting a constitution from the firft foun-
dations of jurisprudence, and of efcaping
the dangers that arife from dilapidation.
Had I a crazy old family manfion, I
fhould have been better pleaied that my
fathers had left me the taik of erecting
a new one, which I might have done
cheaper and better than patching the old ;
but having the manfion, I mould confider
well before I pulled it to the ground.
The conftitution of England, Scotland,
and Ireland admits of a great and a fafe
improvement, which will be foon de-
manded and obtained by the people, the
equalization
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 41
(equalization of the rights of election, and
the abolition of the rights of primogeni-
ture in private fucceflion. But I would
warn my countrymen againft every ap-
proach to hafty determination upon the
methods of repairing the old houfe, left
it fhould tumble about their ears.
When the fanatics, in the year 1567,
came to pull down the cathedral of Glaf-
gow, a gardener who ftood by, faid,
" My friends, cannot you make it a houfe
for ferving your God in your own way ?
For it would coft your country a great deal
to build fuch another*" The fanatics de-
fifted, and it is the only cathedral in
Scotland, that remains entire and fit for
fervice. Such, therefore, with refpect to
the Britifh conftitution, is the advice of
the gardener of* Dryburgh Abbey. I
reject the uniform as I do the principles
G of
42, LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
of the Windfor Glub, nor will I give an^
preference to that of Carleton-Houfej
where fenfe and reafon are out of the
queftion : but I unaffectedly write in fm-
cerity and truth, what I know to be con-
ducive to the tranquillity and future hap-
pinefs of a profperous and induftriousv
but corrupted and enervated people.
It was faid of Fletcher, that he wifhed
for a republic in which he himfelf fhould
rule by his popular talents ; but his temper
\vas unaccomodating: nor is there any
ground for fuppofing that his views in
any tranfadion were felfifh. He was
the contriver and mover of the act of the'
Scotch parliament to ftop any fettlement
of the crown until the conftrttition wasf
formed, and the rights of the people fe-
cured ; and his ipeeches on that occafion
will be found in this volume, full of
good
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 43
good fenfe, and of manly claflkal elo-
tjuence.
The Duke of Hamilton was fufpeded
of wifhing to embarrafs the fettlement of
the crown, with a view to favour the
-eventual pretenfions of his own family.
He went fecretly on board the fhip of
Van Aarfen Somelsdijke, the Dutch ad-
miral in the road of Leith, and pro-
pofed an union of Scotland and Holland
as one commonwealth* It may be guefled
who expected to be vice ftadtholder in
Scotland *. Nothing could be more na*
tural than the averiion the Scots felt to
be funk and loft in the great empire of
Britain ; and it was as natural for Hamil-
ton and Fletcher to foment this averfion
With different intentions, and from differ-
* Communicated by Somelsdijke to his relation
Lord Auchenleck, one of the fenators of the College
of Juftice in Scotland.
G 2 ent
44 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
ent motives. Lockhart of Carnwath, the
memoir writer, flattered himfelf that
Fletcher was a Tory, if not a Jacobite,
in his heart, becaufe he aflbciated with
Tories and Jacobites : but he did not re-
fled that the Tories and Jacobites were
then the country party j and that Fletcher
would hear more from them of the dig-
nity, independence, and intereft of his
country, and lefs about a king that in-
fpires a republican with no fentiment
but terror or diflike. This, I believe,
was the foundation for his being fufpected
of not being a true Whig at bottom ; for
Whigs and Tories were in thofe days
quite diftinct, diiliking and avoiding each
other, not mingled together as they now
are, to mare among themfelves the plun-
der of their country.
From the moft minute examination
of
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 45
of the records and memoirs of the times,
it fufficiently appears, that while others,
whether Whigs or Tories, were endea-
vouring to turn the Revolution in Britain
to the promoting of their own felfim pur-
pofes, Fletcher neither aiked nor ob-
tained' any emolument from the court;
but that he was continually attentive to
the intereft and honour of Scotland.
When an attempt was made, in the
year 1692,10 bring about a counter-revo-
lution, Fletcher's ruling principle (though
diflatisfied with King William) was the
good of his country. He ufed all his
influence with the Duke of Hamilton to
forget the eaufes of his difguft, and to
co-operate with the friends of a free con-
ftitution *.
* Vide Fletcher's Letter to the Duke. Dalrymple'*
Memoirs,
la
46 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
In every propofal for the happinefs.
and glory of his country, Fletcher was
interefted as if it tended to his own per-
fonal emolument and reputation. He was
the firft friend and patron of that extra-
ordinary man Paterfon, the projector of'
the Darien Company; to whofe merits
my kinfman Sir John Dalrymple has done,
the juftice they deferve, in the laft volume
of his interefting Memoirs of Great Bri-
tain, which, unable as I am to defcribc
with equal fpirit and ability the mare
Fletcher had in this bufinefs, I mall give
in Sir John's own words.
. " Ingenious men draw to each other
like iron and the loadftone : Paterfon, on
his return to London, formed a friend-
ihip with Mr. Fletcher of Saltoun, whofe
mind was inflamed with the love of pub-
i lie.
LIFE QF ANDREW FLETCHER. 47
lie good, and all of whofe ideas to pro-
cure it had a fublimity in them. Fletcher
difliked England merely becaufe he loved
Scotland to excefs ; and therefore the re-
port common in Scotland is probably
true, that he was the perfon who per-
fuaded Paterfon to truft the fate of his
project to his own countrymen alone,
and to let them have the fole benefit,
glory, and danger in it ; for in its danger
Fletcher deemed fome of its glory to con-
fift. Although Fletcher had nothing to
hope for, and npthing to fear, becaufe he
had a good eftate, and no children ; and
though he was of the country party; yet
in all his fchemes for the public good, he
was in ufe to go as readily to the king's,
minifters as to his own friends, being in-
clifFerent who had the honour of doing
G 4 gpod,
48 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
good, provided it was done. His houfe
of Saltoun in Eaft Lothian was near to
that of the Marquis of Tweedale, then
minifter for Scotland; and they were often
together. Fletcher brought Paterfon down
to Scotland with him, prefented him to
the Marquis, and then, with that power
which a vehement fpirit always poflefles
over a diffident one, perfuaded the Mar-
quis, by arguments of public good, and
of the honour which would redound to
his adminiftration, to adopt the project.
Lord Stair and Mr. Johnfton, the two
fecretaries of ftate, patronifed thofe abili-
ties in Paterfon which they poflefled in
themfelves; and the lord advocate, Sir
James Steuart, the fame man who had
adjufted the Prince of Orange's declara-
tion at the Revolution, whofe^ fon was
marriedt
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 49
married to a niece of Lord Stair*, went
naturally along with his connections."
FROM this bufy period till the meet-
ing of the Union Parliament, Fletcher
* Anne Dalrymple, daughter of Sir Hugh Dal-
rymple, lord prefident of the Court of Seffion, was
married to Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees, baronet,
folicitor general for Scotland^ and by him was
the mother of the late learned and truly rjni-
nent Sir James Steuart Denham, author of the
Principles of Political Oeconomy ; and four daugh-
ters, the fecond of whom, Agnes, of elegant tafle
and genius., was the mother of all my father 7 ?
children, fome of whom inherit her abilities, the
ftrong natural parts and probity of the father, with
the tafte and brilliant imagination of the mother.
" Fortes creantur fortibus & bonis." If this com-
pliment to my brothers mail appear too ftrong, and
be blamed, I look for the reward of Proculeius
T " Notus in fratres animi paterni."
was
o LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
\vas uniform and indefatigable in his par-.
Uamentary conduct, continually attentive
to the rights of the people, and jealous,
as every friend to his country ought to
/>r, f their invafton by the king and his,
minifters for it is as much of the nature-
of kings and minifters to invade and de-
Jlroy the rights of the people^ as it it of
foxes and iveafels to rifle a poultry yard y
and dejlroy the poultry* AH of them
therefore ought to be muzzled^
Fletcher was accordingly a flrenuous but
unfuccefsful advocate for a national militia.
His difcourfe on that important fubjed
written at this time, was not printed un-
til the year 1698. In this Difcourfe he
fays, what I wifli I had a voice loud
enough to be heard over all Britain and
Ireland, to rattle in the ears of the peo-
ple^-'' A good and effective militia is of
fuch
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER, 51
fuch importance to a nation, that it is the
chief part of the conftitution of any free
government. For though, as to other
things, the conftitution be ever fo flight,
a good militia will always preferve the
public liberty. But in the beft conftitu-
tion that ever was, as to all other parts of
government, if the militia be not upon a
right foot, the liberty of that people mufl
perifh.
" The Swifs," fays he, " at this day are
the freeft, happieft, and the people of all
Europe who can beft defend themfelves,
becaufe they have the beft militia."
*
What a reproach to the nobility, the
gentry, and to the people of Scotland, is
it not, that, attending to the dirty confi*
deration of pleafmg a fub-minilter of Scot-
land,
^a LIFE OP ANDREW FLETCHER.
land, they fhould have lately flinched
from forcing the Britifh legiflature to
make them free citizens, and to enjoy
the free ufe of arms in defence of their
own conftitution!
i Pudet hsec opprobria nobis,
Et dici potuifie, & non potuifle refelli !
In the year 1703 we find Fletcher
great in the debates concerning the fix~
ing the fucceffion to the crown of Scot-
land, in the event of Queen Anne's dying
without iffue; which he flrenuoufly and
fuccefsfully urged the parliament to deter-*
mine before they fhould think of granting
any fupplies to the crown. It was even
refolved, that the fucceflbr to the crown
after Queen Anne, fhould not be the
fame perfon that was King or Queen of
England, unlefs the jujl rights of Scotland
fhould be declared in parliament at Lon-
don, N
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 53
<km, and fully fettled independent of En*
glifli interefts and councils ; and what is
remarkable, that wife and excellent, but
ieemingly very ftrong rule of the French
conflitution, that the king or queen fliould
not have the power of engaging the nation
in war without the confent of parliament,
was determined upon by the parliament
of Scotland ; in the fupport and preparation
of which law, and others for the fecurity of
Scottifh freedom) Mr. Fletcher had a confi-
derable fhare, and had great influence by
the power of his fervent and manly elo-
quence. " Prejudice and opinion," faid he,
* govern the world, to the great diftreis
and ruin of mankind ; and though we
daily find men fo rational as to charm by
the difmterefted rectitude of their fenti-
ments in all other things, yet, when \Ve
touch upon any wrong opinion of theirs
with
54 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER;
with which they have been early pre-
poflefled, we find them more irrational
than any thing in nature^ and not only
not to be convincedj but obftinately re-
folved not to hear any reafbn againft it.
Thefe prejudices are yet flronger when
they are taken up by great numbers of
men, who confirm each other through
the courfe of feveral generations, and feem
to have their blood tainted, or, to fpeak
more properly^ their animal fpirits in-
fluenced by them* Of thefe delufions, one
of the flrongeft and moft pernicious has
been a violent inclination in many men
to extend the prerogative of the prince to
an abiblute and unlimited power. And
though in limited monarchies all good
ineii profefs and declare themfelves ene-
mies to all tyrannical practices, yet many
even of thefe are found ready to oppofe
fuch
JLiFE dp ANDREW FLETCHER. 55
liich necefiary limitations as might fecure
them from the tyrannical exercife of power
in a prince, not only fubjecT: to all the in-
firmities of other men, but* by the tempta-
tions arifing from his power, to far greater*
This humour* has increafed greatly in
the Scottifh nation, fince the union of the
crowns in 1603 ; and the flavifh fub-
miflions, which have been made neceffary
to procure the favours of the court, have
cherifhed and fomented a flavifh principle.
I muft put the reprefentatives of the Scots
in mind, that no fuch principles were
known in this kingdom before the union
of the crowns, and that 720 monarchy iti
Europe was more limited, nor any
* Humettrj Scoto-Gallic^ fancy, whim. An op~
prefled people can never know what the Englifli
exhibited of humour when they *werefree.
people
56 LIFE OF ANDREXV FLETCHE^.
people more jealous of liberty than the
Scots V
Fletcher
* I David Stewart, Earl of Buchan, do throw
this gauntlet of Fletcher's down, in the prefence of
all England , and if any man (hall take it up, I will
try my ftrength with him ; but I will not argue with
women or priefts, till I (hall fee them leaving their
trenches of petticoats and fuperflition, and meeting
me on the fair and manly field of hiftorical know-
ledge.
Hume told the people of England the truth about
their old conftitution, and they called him a Tory.
I tell them that Hume was in the right, and I defy
them to call me a Tory. It was no rarity for the
Scots to dethrone a King for attacking the liberties
of the people. They difmifled Baliol becaufe he
fold his country j they difmifled Mary becaufe flie
meant to govern them like the France of the Guifesj
they brought in Bruce as the Prince of Orange of
Scotland ; and for the principles and practice I refer
to Buchanan's Dialogue de Jure Regrli apud Scotds.
There
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 57
Fletcher was by far the moil nervous
and correct fpeaker in the parliament of
Scotland,
There never was fuch a thing as- a peer of Scotland.
There were earls indeed, but they did not fit in
parliament in right of their earldoms, but in right
of their lands ; and there they were only on a par
with other proprietors of fiefs. James I. of the
Scots indeed attempted to introduce the Englifh
modes, and was murdered, like Caefar, by his kinf-
man j and James VI. by the ftatute 1587, introduced
the practice of the election of reprefentatives for
the freeholders -, but the nobility, as they were called,
not the peerage of Scotland, were ijio more than the
barons or freeholders, barons of baron-rent, who by
ufage retained their privilege of fitting in parliament
in right of their lands, which if they fold, they loft
their right of fitting, along with their pofleffions.
There was but one houfe of parliment: and is.
this, unfortunately for Scotland, the priefls had a
privilege to fit in right of their lands . But the Scots
had no notion of fuch a monflrous organ of power
for their king, as a, feparate houfe for his fervants
H and:
58 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
Scotland, for he drew his ftyle from the
pure models of antiquity, and not from
the grofler practical oratory of his con-
temporaries ; fo that his fpeeches and his
language will bear a companion with
the beft fpeeches of the reign of Queen
Anne, the Auguftan age of Great Britain,
far fuperior to the meretricious, inflated,
metaphorical ftyle of our modern- orators;
from which remark I muft fet down Mr*
Charles Fox, member for Weftminfter
in the prefent parliament, as a wonderful
exception. In many refpects Fox re-
and chaplains, to (lop the progrefs of laws in favour
of the rights of the people, before they fliould come
to receive the royal afient. As to the idea of a
perfect conftitution being to confifl of -three parts,
this was a trinity in which the Scots did not believe j
and they fatisfied themfelves with holding the doc-
trine of the unity, the majefty, and uucontroulable
power of the legislative authority.
- femblcs
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 5^
fembles Fletcher; and may he clofe his
career fo as to deferve an equal chara&er !
The irafcibility of Fletcher's temper,
and his high fenfe of honour, made him
impatient of the flighteft tendency to-
wards an affront. Lord Stair, when fe-
cretary of ftate, having let fall fome ex-
prefix ons in parliament, that feemed to
glance at Fletcher, he feized Stair by the
robe, in his place, and gave him the reply
valiant. Lord Stair was called to order
by the Houfe, and was obliged to alk
his pardon publicly.
Fletcher's fpeeches on the confideration
of the Treaty of Union being printed in
the following fheets of this volume, I
fhall only quote a paffage of Alexander
Cunningham's hiftory, relating to his
appearances on that important occafion.
ct Andreas Fletferus, ut qui patriam prius
Ha in
6o LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. '.
in libertatem vindicaret, bis fe in vitai
difcrimen intulerat, nunc vulnus infa-
nabile reipublicas inferendum, et Scotiam
veluti funere per fuos elatam, cernens
hoc tempore extremo, in dicendo effer-
vefcit, reginaeque miniftros vehementer in-
fetatur, et exagitat, nihil res domefticaSj
licet amplas, faciens. Sum qui illius vim
eloquentice, etiam in inimicitiis gerendis,
virtutem nimium efFerbuiiTe, & caufae
nocuifTe dicunt ; fed quid vetat JHhim in
funere matrls commoveri, aut civem fortem '
in efferendam funere patriam, dolore gra-;
viter inuri, prsefertirn is qui reipublicse
commoda fuis neceffitudinibus femper-
potiora duxerat, mortemque pro patria
toties oppetere non dubitaverat ? Bu^
ehanise etiam comes ejufq; patruus Joannes
Arelkinus ftreniie pro patria contende-
bant.
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 6r
.bant, nibil penfi cum Gallics faftionis ho~
minibus habentes"
Fletcher (fays the anonymous author
of his 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
jrreconcileable enemy; and would not
do a bafe thing to efcape death.
He would not fubmit to be called either
Whig or Tory, faying, thofe names were
given andufed to cloak the knaves of both
parties* 3ravo !
He had acquired the grammatical know-
ledge of the Italian fo perfectly as to
compofe and publifh a treatife in that
language; yet he could not fpeak it, as he
found when having an interview with
Prince Eugene of Savoy, and being ad-
H 3 crefled
6i LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
drefled in that language by the Prince,
he could not utter a fyllable to be uhder-
ftood. In his perfon he was of low
ftature, thin, of a brown complexion,
with piercing eyes ; and a gentle frown
of keen fenfibility appeared often upon
his countenance.
To the memory of this extraordinary
man I have reared this monument. The
bodies of men are frail and perifhing : fo
are their portraits and monuments : but,
upheld by the power of the Creator,
the form of the foul is eternal. This,
cannot be reprefe'nted by ftatues or by
piclures, nor oth'erwife than by a con-
formity of manners. May whatever
was 'great and truly valuable in Fletcher
be for ever imitated by my countrymen,
and may the fplendour of his virtues re-
LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER. 63
fled honour upon his family, and glorify
his kindred throughout all generations I
Ille ego qui quondam patriae perculfus amore
Civijpus oppreflis Hbertati fuocurrere aufim,
Nunc arva paterna colo, fugioq; limina regum,
Drybttrgh Abbey^
July 14, 1791,
H 4
APPENDIX.
CONTAINING SOME ACCOUNT OF FLET-
CHER'S FAMILY; AND NOTES EXPLA-
NATORY OF THE LIFE OF FLETCHER.
JL HE family of Fletcher of Saltoun
defcends from Sir Bernard Fletcher, a fon
of Fletcher of Hatton in the county of
Cumberland. Robert, his fon, eftablifhed
himfelf in the county of Tweedale. An-
drew, the fon of Robert, was a merchant
at Dundee, in the county of Angus or
Forfar. David, the fon of Andrew, pur-
chafed the eftate of Innerpeffer in that
county, and married a daughter of Ogilvie of
Pourie,
66 LIFE OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
Pourie, and by her had three fons, Robert,
Andrew, and David. Robert died 1613,
leaving fix fons: Andrew; James, provofl
of Dundee ; Robert, laird of Bencho ; Sir
George Fletcher of Reftenet in Angus-
fhire ; and two others, who died in infancy.
Andrew was knighted by James I. 1620 ;
the fame year he fucceeded his father in
the eftate of InnerpefFer. He bought the
eftate of Saltoun in Eaft Lothian, in the
year 1643, which had anciently given
title to the Lords Abernethy of Saltoun,
now reprefented by the Frafers of Cowie
and Philorth, Lords Abernethy of Saitoun.
He was one of the feators of the College
of Juflices in Scotland, by the title of Lord
Innerpeffer, as has been mentioned in the
life of his grandfon ; as well <as his noble
dhTent from the furfender 'of Charles I. to
the Engttm army at Newcaftle, with Lor4
4 Cardrofs
APPENDIX. 67
i
Cardrofs and others ; who thought the
king deferved to be puhifhed, but not by
thofe to whom, he had entrufted the care
of his protection.
Lord Innerpeffer was the father of Sir
Robert Fletcher of Saltoun ? who was tfyc
father of the patriot.
With refpeft to Fletcher's character In
Forfaking the Duke of Monmouth at
Taunton, the following teftimony of Fer-
gufon, in a MS. quoted by Echard, in his
Hiftory of England, ought to be well
weighed and coniidered before Fletcher
be charged with unallowable defertion.
u The Duke of Monmouth was very
fenfible of his precipitous adventure into
England ; but fuffered himfelf to be over-
ruled, contrary to both the dictates of hi$
judgment,
68 LIFE 'OF ANDREW FLETCHER.
judgment, and the bias of his inclina-
tion ; for could he have been allowed
to have purfued his own fentiments
and refolutions, he intended to have
ipent that fumrrier in the court of
Swedeland. But from this he was di-
verted by the importunity of the Earl of
Argyll, and prevailed upon by the advice
and intreary of the Lord Grey and Mr.
Wade (contrary to the deftres of Mr. plet*
cbcr and Captain Matthews) to liaften
into England. To which I can fay (faith
Mr. Fergufon) I had the leaft acceffion of
any who were about the Duke of Mon-
mouth. Nor would the Earl of Argyll,
after his own ominous hafte, fet fail for
Scotland, till he forced a promife from
the Duke of embarking for England with-
in fo many days after. Which the Duke ?
rather than fuffer his honour to be ftained,
complied
APPENDIX. 69
complied with as far as weather would
permit ; though he found the obferving
his word to interfere with his intereftj as
well as all the principles of prudence and
difcretion." My tendernefs for the ad-
mirers of King William, and my regard
for the illuftrious houfe of Campbell, will
not allow me to exprefs what I fufpect
in the whole of this tranfaction in Hol-
land. Argyll paid the amende honor-
able with a vengeance. And the defcen-
dants of Monmouth need not regret the
cowardice and perjury of Charles II. nor
the failure of poor Monmouth's attempt.
It is remarkable that the heir of Mon-
mouth is now the eventual heir general
of that very Earl of Argyll, who precipi-
tated the ruin of his patriarch.
SPEECHES
SPEECHES OF MR. FLETCHER
On the qvfesTiox for tTic
SETTLEMENT
T M *
SCOTTISH CROWN,
Delivered in the Scottish Parliament, 1703,
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
JL AM not furprifed to find an ac~l for a
fupply brought into this houfe at the be-
ginning of a felfion. I know cuftom has,
for a long time, made it common. But,
1 think, experience might teach us, that
fuch acts mould be the laft of every
fefTion ; or lie upon the table, till all other
great affairs of the nation be finimed, and
then only granted. It is a ftrange pro-
pofition
72, SPEECHES OF
pofition which is ufually made in this
houfe ; that if we will give money to the
crown, then the crown will give us good
laws : as if we were to buy good laws
of the crown, and pay money to our
princes, that they may do their duty, and
comply with their coronation oath. And
yet this is not the worft ; for we have
often had promifes of good laws, and
when we have given the fums demanded,
thofe promifes have been broken, and the
nation left to feek a remedy; which is
not to be found, unlefs we obtain the
laws we want, before we give a fupply.
And if this be a fufficient reafon at all
times to poftpone a money-act, can we be
blamed for doing fo at this time, when the
duty we owe to our country indifpenfably
obliges us to provide - for the common
fafety in cafe of an event, altogether out
of
ANDREW FLETCHER. 73
of our power, and which muft neceflarily
diflblve the government, unlefs we con-
tinue and fecure it by new laws ; I mean
the death of her majefly, which God in
his mercy long avert? I move, therefore,
that the houfe would take into confidera-
tion what acts are neceflary to fecure our
religion, liberty, and trade, in cafe of the
faid event, before any act of fupply, or
other bufmefs whatever be brought into
deliberation.
concerning offices , sV. brought In by
the fame member.
JL HE eftates of parliament taking
4 into their confideration, that, to the
* great lofs and detriment of this nation,
* great fums of money are yearly carried
I * put
74 SPEECHES &r
* out of ifj by thofe who wait and dcpeflsJ
'* at court, for places and preferments in
* this kingdom : and that by Scotfmen,
* employing Englifh intereft at court, in
' order to obtain their feveral pretenfions^
* this nation is in hazard of being brought
* to depend upon Englifh minifters : and
* likewife corifidering, that by reafon our
4 princes do no more refide amongft us,
* they cannot be rightly informed of the
* merit of perfons pretending to places*
* offices, and penfions ; therefore our fo-
4 vereign lady, with adviee and eonfent
* of the eftates of parliament, ftatutes and
4 ordains, that after the deceafe of her
* majefty, whom God long preferve, and
* heirs of her body failing, all places and
4 offices both civil and military, and all
"* penfions, formerly conferred by our
kings.
ANDREW FLETCHER. j*
* kings, fhall ever after be given by par*
c liament, by way of ballot.'
(: II.
My LORD CHANCELLOR,
W HEN our kings fucceeded to the
crown of England, the minifters of that
nation took a fhort way to ruin us, by
concurring with their inclinations to ex-
tend the prerogative in Scotland ; and
the great places and penfions conferred
upon Scotfmen by that court, made therti
to be willing inftruments in the work.
From that time this nation began to give
away their privileges one after the other,
though they then ftood more in need of
baving them enlarged. And as the col-
J 2 lections
76 , SPEECHES OF
lections of our laws, before the Union of
the Crowns, are full of ads to fecure our
liberty, thofe laws that have been made
fmce that time are dire&ed chiefly to ex-
tend the prerogative. And that we might
not know what rights and liberties were
(till ours, nor be excited by the memory
of what our anceftors enjoy edj to recover
thofe we had loft, in the two laft editions
of our a&s of parliament the moft con-
fiderable laws for the liberty of the fub-
jedt are induftrioufly and defignedly left
out. All our affairs fmce the Union of
the Crowns have been managed by the
advice of Englifh minifters, and the prin-
cipal offices of the kingdom filled with
fuch men as the court of England knew
would be fubfervient to their deiigns : by
which means they have had ib viiible an
influence upon our whole adminiftration,
that
ANDREW FLETCHER. jj
that we have, .from that time, appeared
to the reft of the world more like a con-
quered province, than a free independent
people. The account is very mort:
whilft our princes are not abfolute in
England, they muft be influenced by that
nation, our minifters muft follow the
directions of the prince, or lofe their
places, and our places and pennons will
be diftributed according to the inclinations
of a king of England, fo long as a king
of England has the difpofai of them :
neither (hall any man obtain the leaft ad-
vancement, who refufes to vote in council
and parliament under that influence. So
that there is no way to free this country
from a ruinous dependance upon the
Englim court, unlefs by placing the power
of conferring offices and penfions in the
parliament, fo long as we (hall have the
I 3 fame
78 SPEECHES OP
fame king with England. The ancient
kings of Scotland, and even thofe of
France, had not the power of conferring
the chief offices of ftate, though each of
them had only one kingdom to govern,
and that the difficulty we labour under,
of two kingdoms which have different
interefts governed by the fame king, did
not occur. Befides, we all know that
the difpofal of out places and penfions is
fo' Considerable a thing to a king of Eng-
land, that feveral of our princes, fince the
Union of the Crowns, have wifhed to be
free from the trouble of deciding between
the many pretenders. That which would
have given them eafe, will give us liberty,
and make us iignificant to the common
intereft of both nations. Without this,
it is impoffible to free us from a depend-
ence ou the English court : all other re-
4 medics
ANBREW FLETCHER. ff
medics and conditions of government will
prove ineffectual, as plainly appears from
the nature of the thing ; for who is not
fenfible of the influence of places and
penfions upon all men and all affairs?
If our minifters continue to be appointed
by the Englilh court, ancj this nation
may not be permitted to difpofe of the
offices and places of this kingdom to ba-
lance the Englifh bribery, they will cor-
rupt every thing to that degree, that if
,any of our laws ftand in their way they
will get them repealed. Let no man
iy, that it cannot be proved, that the
Englifh court has ever beftowed any
bribe in this country. For they beftow
all offices and penfions ; they bribe us,
and are mafters of us at our own coft.
It is nothing but an Englifh intereft in
this houfe, that thofe, who wifh well to
1 4 our
8o SPEECHES OP
ouir country have to ftruggle with at this
time. We may, if we pleafe, dream of other
remedies ; but fo long as Scotfmen muft
go to the Englim court to obtain offices
of truft or profit in this kingdom, thofe
offices will always be managed with re-
gard to the court and intereft of England,
though to the betraying of the intereft of
this nation, whenever it comes in com^
petition with that of England. And
what lefs can be expected, unlefs we re-
folve to expecl: miracles, and that greedy,
ambitious, and for the moft part neceffi-
tous men, involved in great debts, bur-
dened with great families, and having
great titles to fupport, will lay down their
places, rather than comply with an Englifh
intereft in obedience to the prince's com-
mands I Now, to find Scotfmen oppofing
this, and willing that Englifh minifters,
for
ANDREW FLETCHER. Si
for this is the cafe, fhould have the difpofal
of places and penfions in Scotland, rather
than their own parliament, is matter of
great aftonimment ; but that it mould be
fo much as a queftion in the parliament,
is altogether incomprehcnfible : and if an
indifferent perfon were to judge, he would
certainly fay we were an Englifh parlia-
ment. Every man knows that princes
give places and penfions by the influence
of thofe who advife them. So that the
queftion comes to no more than, whether
this nation would be in a better condition,
if, in conferring our places and penfions,
the prince mould be determined by the
parliament of Scotland, or by the minifters
of a court, that make it their interefl to
keep us low and miferable. We all know
that this is the caufe of our poverty, mi-
fery and dependence. But we have been
for
8* SPEECHES OF
for a long time fo poor, fo miferable, and
depending, that we have neither heart noj?
courage, though we want not the means,
to free ourfelves.
III.
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
A REJUDICE and opinion govern the
world, to the great diftrefs and ruin of
mankind ; and though we daily find men
fo rational as to charm by the difmterefted
rectitude of their fentiments in all other
things, yet when we touch upon any
wrong opinion with which they have
been early prepoflefled, we find them
more irrational than any thing in nature ;
and not only not to be convinced, but
obftinately refolved not to hear any reafon
againft it. Thefe prejudices are yet ftronger
when
ANDREW FLETCHER. 83
when they are taken up by great num-
bers of men, who confirm each other
through the courfe of ieveral generations,
and feem to have their blood tainted, or,
to fpeak more properly, their animal fpirits
influenced by th,em. Of thefe delufions,
one of the ftrongeft, and moft pernicious,
has been a violent inclination in many
men to extend the prerogative of the
prince to an abfolute and unlimited power.
And though, in limited monarchies, all
good men profefs and declare themfelves
enemies to all tyrannical practices, yet
many, even of thefe, are found ready to
gppofe fuch necefTary limitations as might
fecure them from the tyrannical exercile
of power in a prince, not only fubjecT: to
all the infirmities of other men, but, by
the temptations arifmg from his power,
to far greater. This humour has greatly
increaied
&4 SPEECHES OF
increafed in our nation, fince the Union of
the Crowns; and the flavifh fubmhTions,
which have been made neceflary to procure
the favours of the court, have cherilhed and
fomented a flavifti principle. But I muft
take leave to put the reprefentatives of
this nation in mind, that no fuch prin-
ciples were in this kingdom before the
Union of the Crowns ; and that no mo-
narchy in Europe was more limited, nor
any people more jealous of liberty than
the Scots. Thefe principles were firft
introduced among us after the Union of
the Crowns, and the prerogative extended
to the overthrow of our ancient confli-
tution, chiefly by the prelatical party;
though the peevifh, imprudent, and de-
teftable conduct of the prefbyterians, who
oppofed thefe principles only in others,
drove many into them, gave them greater
force,
ANDREW FLETCHER. 85
jForce, and rooted them more deeply in
this nation. Should we not be afhamed
to embrace opinions contrary to reafon,
and contrary to the fentiments of our an-
ceflors, merely upon account of the un-
charitable and infupportable humour and
ridiculous conduct of bigots of any fort,?
If then no fuch principles were in this
nation, and the conftitution of our govern-
ment had greatly limited the prince's
power before the Union of the Crowns ;
dare any man fay he is a Scotfman, and
refufe his confent to reduce the govern-
ment of this nation, after the expiration
of the intail, within the fame limits as
before that union ? And if, fmce the
Union of the Crowns, every one fees that
we Hand in need of more limitations j
will any man act in fo diret an oppo-
fition to his own reafon, and the un-
doubted
86 SPEECHES OF
doubted intereft of his country, as not
to concur in limiting the government yet
more than before the Union, particularly
by the addition of this fo neceffary limi-
tation for which I am now fpeaking ?
My Lord, thefe are fuch clear demon-
flrations of what we. ought to do in fuch
conjunctures, that all men of common in-
genuity muft be afhamed of entering into
any other meafures. Let us not then
tread in the fteps of mean and fawning
priefts of any fort, who are always dii-
pofed to place an abfolute power in the
prince, if he on his part will gratify their
ambition, and by all means fupport their
form of church -government, to the perfe-
cution of all other men, who will not
comply with their impofitions. Let us
begin where our anceftors left off before
the Union of the Crowns, and be for the
future,
ANDREW FLETCHER. 87
future, more jealous of our liberties, be*
caufe there is more need. But I muft
take upon me to fay, that he who is not
for fetting great limitations upon the
power of the prince, particularly that for
which I am fpeaking, in cafe we have the
fame king with England, can act by no
principle, whether he be a prefbyterian,
prelatical, or prerogative man, for the
court of St Germains, or that of Hano-
ver ; I fay, he can aft by no principle
unlefs that of being a flave to the court
of England for his own advantage. And
therefore let not thofe, who go under
the name of prerOgative-men, cover them-
felves with the pretext of principles in
this cafe ; for fuch men are plainly for
the prerogative of the Englim court over
this nation, becaufe this limitation is de-
manded
83 SPEECHES 01?
manded -only in cafe we come to have
the fame king with England.
Aft for thefecurity of the kingdom , brought
in by the fame member.
JL HE eftates of parliament confider-
* ing, that when it fhall pleafe God to
' afflict this nation with the death of our
* fovereign lady the queen (whom God of
* his infinite mercy long preferve) if the
* fame fhall happen to be without heirs
' of her body, this kingdom may fall into
* great confufion and diforder before a fuc*
* ceflbr can be declared. For preventing
* thereof, our fovereign lady, with advice
* and confent of the eftates of parliament,
6 ftatutes and ordains, that if, at the afore-
* faid time, any parliament or convention
of
ANDREW FLETCHER. 89
* of eflates fhall be aflembled, then the
* members of that parliament or conven-
' tion of eflates fhall take the adminiftra-
c tion of the government upon them :
* excepting thofe barons and boroughs,
* who, at the aforefaid time, fhall have
c any place or penfion, mediately or im-
* mediately, of the crown : whofe com-
* miffions are hereby declared to be void
* and that new members fhall be choferi
* in their place : but if there be no parlra-
* ment or convention of eflates actually 1
* aflembled, then the members of the cur-
* rent parliament fhall aflemble with alfr
* poflible diligence : and if there be no
* current parliament, then the members
* of the laft diflblved parliament, or con-
* vention of eflates, fhall aflemble in likd
4 manner : and in taofe two laft cafes, fd
* foon as there fhall be one hundred
K * members
go SPEECHES OF
4 members met, in which number the ba~
* rons and boroughs before-mentioned are
* not to be reckoned, they mail take the
4 administration of the government upon
* them ;: but neither they, nor the mem-
c bers of parliament or convention of
* eftates, if at the time aforefaid afTem-
4 bled, mail proceed to the weighty affair
* of naming and declaring a fucceflbr, till
* twenty days after they have aflumed
* the adminiftration of the government :
4 both that there may be time for all the
* other members to come to Edinburgh,
* which is hereby declared the place of
4 their meeting, and for the election of
* new barons and boroughs in place above-
* mentioned. But fo foon as the twenty
* days are elapfed, then they mall proceed
* to the publishing, by proclamation, the
4 conditions of government, on which
4 they
ANDREW FLETCHER. 91
4 they will receive the fucceflbr to the
* imperial crown of this realm ; which,
* in the cafe only of our being under the .
4 fame king with England, are as follow.
1. ' That elections fhall be made at
4 every Michaelmas head-court for a new
4 parliament every year : to fit the firft of
4 November next following, and adjourn
* themfelves from time to time, till next
* Michaelmas: that they choofe their own
* prefident, and that every thing mail be
* determined by balloting, in place of
1 voting.
2. 4 That fo many lefler barons mail
* be added to the parliament, as there
4 have been noblemen created fince the
4 laft augmentation of the number of the
4 barons ; and that in all time coming, for
4 every nobleman that fhall be created,
K 2 * there
9* SPEECHES OF
* there mall be a baron added to the par-
* liament.
3. ' That no man have vote in par^
c liameht but a riobleman or eleded
* member.
4. ' That thfe king fliall give the fane-
* tion to all laws offered by the eftates j
* and that the pfefident of the parliament
' be impbwered by his majefly to give
c the fanclion in liis abiehce, and have
* ten pounds fterliiig a day falary*
^; * That a committee of one and
* thirty members, of which nine to be a
* quorum, chofen out of their own num*
4 ber, by every parliament, mall, during
' the intervals of parliament, under the
* king, have the adminiftration of th
* government, be his council, and ac-
4 countable to the next parliament ; with
power
ANDREW FLETCHER. 93
f power on extraordinary occafions to
* call the parliament together : and that
* in the faid council, all things be deter-
' mined by balloting in place of voting.
6. * That the king, without confent
* of parliament, fhall not have the power
* of making peace and war ; or that of
4 concluding any treaty with any other
e ftate or potentate.
7. * That all places and offices, both
* civil and military, and all penfions for-
* merly conferred by our kings, fhall ever
c after be given by parliament
8. * That no regiment or company of
' horfe, foot, or dragoons, be kept on foot
' in peace or war, but by confent of par-
* liament.
9. * That all the fencible men of the
* nation, betwixt fixty and fixteen, be,
' with all diligence pofHbJe, armed with
K 3 bayonets,
94 SPEECHES OF
1 bayonefs, and firelocks all of a caliber,
4 and continue always provided in fuch
*. arms, with ammunition fuitable.
10. c That no general indemnity, nor
V pardon for any tranfgreflion againft the
* public, fhall be valid without confent
* of parliament.
ii.' That the fifteen fenators of the
4 College of Juftice fhall be incapable of
* being members of parliament, or of any
4 other office, or any penfion : but the
4 falary that belongs to their place to be
* increafed as the parliament fhall think
* fit : that the office of prefident fhall be
* in three of their number to be named
* by parliament, and that there be no
* extraordinary lords. And alfo, that the
4 lords of the juftice-court fhall be diftinft
4 from thofe of the feffion, and under the
' fame reftrictions.
12. 4 That
ANDREW FLETCHER. 95
12. * That if any king break in upon any
' of thefe conditions of government, he
* mall, by the eftates, be declared to have
4 forfeited the crown.
4 Which proclamation made, they are
4 to go on to the naming and declaring
* a fucceflbr : and when he is declared,
4 if prefent, are to read to him the claim
4 of right and conditions of government
4 above-mentioned, and to defire of him,
4 that he may accept the crown accord-
1 ingly ; and he accepting, they are ta
* adminifter to him the oath of corona-
* tion : but if the fucceflbr be not prefent,
4 they are to delegate fuch of their own
4 number as they fhall think fit, to fee
4 the fame performed, as faid is : and
4 are to continue in the adrniniftration
4 of the government, until the fuccefTor's
4 accepting of the crown, upon the afore-
K 4 'faid
96 SPEECHES or
* faid terms, be known to them : where-
* upon having then a king at their head,.
* they {hall, by his authority, declare them-
* felves a parliament, and proceed to the
* doing of whatever ihall be thought ex-
* pedient for the welfare of the realm. And
4 it is likewife, by the authority aforefaid,
* declared, that if her prefent majefty
* ihall think fit, during her own time,
c with the advice and confent of the
Deflates of parliament, failing heirs of her
* body, to declare a fucceflbr, yet never-
* thelefs, after her majefty' s deceafe, the
* members of parliament or convention
* fhall, in the feveral cafes, and after the
4 manner above fpecified, meet and admit
* the fucceflbr to the government, in the
* terms, and after the manner, as faid is.
*' And it is hereby further declared, that
' after the deceafe of her majefty, and
' failing
ANDREW FLETCHER. 97
* failing heirs of her body, the foremen-
* tioned manner and method (hall, in the
* feveral cafes, be that of declaring an^
* admitting to the government all thofe
* who fhall hereafter fucceed to the im~
* perial crown of this realm i and that it
< mall be high treafon for any man tQ
* own or acknowledge any perfon as king
* or queen of this realm, till they are
* declared and admitted in the above-
* mentioned manner, And laftly, it is
* hereby declared, that by the death of
* her majefty, or any of her fuccefTors,
' all commiffions, both civil and military-,
* fall and are vo}d ; and that this act
* mall come in place of the feventeenth
4 act of the fixth feflion of king William'*
* parliament. And all ads and laws, that
* any way derogate from, this prefent act,
$S SPEECHES OF
* are hereby in fo far declared void and
* abrogated.'
IV.
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
IT is the utmoft height of human pru-
dence to fee and embrace every favourable
opportunity: and if a word fpoken in
feafon does, for the moft part, produce
wonderful effects; of what confequence
and advantage muft it be to a nation in
deliberations of the higheft moment ; in
occafions, when paft, for ever irretrievable,
to enter into the right path, and take
hold of the golden opportunity which
makes the moft arduous things eafy, and
without which the moft inconfiderable
may put a Hop to all our affairs? We
7 have
ANDREW FLETCHER. 99
have this day an opportunity in our hands
which if we manage to the advantage
of the nation we have the honour to re-
prefent, we may, fo far as the viciflitude
and uncertainty of human affairs will
permit, be for many ages eafy and happy.
But if we defpife or neglect this occafion,
we have voted our perpetual dependence
on another nation. If men could always
retain thoie juft impreflions of things
they at fome times have upon their minds,
they would be much more fteady in their
actions. And as I may boldly fay, that
no man is to be found in this houfe,'
who, at fome time or other, has not had
that juft fenfe of the miferable condition
to which this nation is reduced by a de-
pendence upon the Englifh court, I mould
demand no more but the like impreflions
at this time to pafs all the limitations
mentioned
ioo SPEECHES op
mentioned in the draught of an ad I have
already brought into this houfe ; fmce
they are not limitations upon any prince,
who fhall only be king of Scotland, nor
do any way tend to feparate us from
England; but calculated merely to this,
end, that fo long as we continue to be
under the fame prince with our neigh?
Ipour nation, we may be free from the
influence of Englifh councils and minir
fters; that the nation may not he im-
poveriflied by an expenfive attendance
at court, and that the force and exercife
of our government may be, as far as
is poflible, within ourfelves. By which
means trade, manufactures, and hufbandry
will flourilh, and the affairs of the nation
be no longer neglected, as they have been
hitherto.
Thefe are the ends to which all the limi-
tations
ANDREW FLETCHER. lot
tations are directed, that Englifh councils
may not hinder the ads of our parlia-
ments from receiving the royal aflentj
that we may not be engaged without our
confent in the quarrels they may have:
with other nations ; that they may not
bbflrucl: the meeting of our parliaments,
hor interrupt their fitting ; that we may
not ftand in need of porting to London
for places and peniions, by which, what-
ever particular men may get, the nation
miift always be a lofer ; nor apply for the
remedies of our grievances to a court,
where, for the moft part, none are to be
had. On the contrary, if thefe conditions
of government be enacted, our conftitu-
tion will be amended, and our grievances
be eafily redrefled by a due execution of
our own laws, which to this day we have
never been able to obtain. The beft and
wifei
icn SfEEC'HtS OF
wifeft men in England will be glad to
hear that thefe limitations are fettled by
us. For though the ambition of courtiers
lead them to defire an uncontroulable
power at any rate ; yet wifer men will
confider, that when two nations live un-
der the fame prince, the condition of the
one cannot be made intolerable, but a fe-
paration mufl inevitably follow, which
will be dangerous if not deftructive to
both. The fenate of Rome wifely deter-
mined in the bufmefs of the Privernates,
that all people would take hold of the firft
opportunity to free themfelves from a,n
uneafy condition ; that no peace could be
lafting, in which both parties did not find
their account ; and that no alliance was
ftrong enough to keep two nations in
amity, if the condition of either were
made worfe by it. For my own part,
my
ANDREW FLETCHER. 103
my lord chancellor, before I will confent
to continue in our prefent miferable and
languifhing condition after the deceafe of
her majefty, and heirs of her body failing,
I fhall rather give my vote for a fe-
paration from England at any rate. I
hope no man, who is now poflefTed of
an office, will take umbrage at thefe con-
ditions of government, though fome of
them feem to diminifh, and others do en-
tirely fupprefs the place he poflefles : for
befides the fcandal of preferring a private
intereft before that of our country, thefe
limitations are not to take place imme-
diately. The queen is yet young, and by
the grace of God may live many years, I
hope longer than all thofe me has placed
in any truft; and fhould we not be happy,
if thofe who, for the future, may defign
to recommend themfelves for any office,
could
J04 SPEECHES OF
could not do it by any other way than
the favour of this houfe, which they who
appear for thefe conditions well deferve
in a more eminent degree ? Would we
rather court an Englifh minifter for a
place than a parliament of Scotland ? Are
we afraid of being taken out of the hands
of Englifh courtiers, and left to govern
ourfelves ? And do we doubt whether an
Englifh miniftry or a Scots parliament
will be moil for the intereft of Scotland ?
But that which feems moft difficult in this
queftion, and in which if fatisfaction be
given, I hope no man will pretend to be
diflatisfied with thefe limitations, is the
intereft of a king of Great Britain. And
here I {hall take liberty to fay, that as the
limitations do no way affed: any prince
that may be king of Scotland only, fo
they will be found highly advantageous
4 to
ANDREW FLETCHER. 105
to a king of Great Britain. Some of our
Hate kings, when they have been per-
plexed about the affairs of Scotland, did
let fall fiich expreffions as intimated they
thought them not worth their application.
And indeed we ought not to wonder if
princes, like other men, mould grow
weary of toiling where they find no .ad-
vantage. But to fet this affair in a true
light : I defire to know, whether it can be
more advantageous to a king of Great
Britain to have an .unlimited prerogative
over this country, in our prefent ill con-
dition, which turns to no account, than
that this nation, grown rich and powerful
under thefe conditions of government,
Ihould be able upon any emergency to
furnim a good body of land forces, with
a fquadron of fhips for war, all paid by
ourfelves, to aflift his majefty in the wars
L he
106 SPEECHES OF
he may undertake for the defence of the
proteftant religion and liberties of Europe.
Now, fince I hope I have ihewn, that
thofe who are for the prerogative of the
kings of Scotland, and all thofe who are
poflefled of places at this time, together
with the whole Englifh nation, as well as
a king of Great Britain, have caufe to be
fatisfied with thefe regulations of govern^
ment, I would know what difficulty can
remain ; unlefs that, being accuftomed tp
live in a dependency, and unacquainted
with liberty, we know not fo much as the
meaning of the word j nor, if that mould
be explained to us, can ever perfuade our-
felves we mail obtain the thing, though
we have it in our power, by a few votes,
to fet ourfelves and our pofterity free. To
fay that this will flop at the royal aflent,
is a fuggeftion difrefpedtful to her majefty,
and
ANDREW FLETCHER. 107
and which ought neither to be mentioned
in parliament, nor be confidered by any
member of this houfe. And, were this a
proper time, I am confident I could fay
fuch things as, being reprefented to the
queen, would convince her, that no per-
,fon can have greater intereft, nor obtain
more lading honour, by the enacting of
thefe conditions of government, than her
majefty. And if the nation be affifted ia
this exigency by the good offices of his
grace the high commiffioner, I {hall not
doubt to affirm, that in procuring this
bleffing to our country from her majefty,
he will do more for us, than all the great
men of that noble family, of which he is
defcended, ever did ; though it feeme to
have been their peculiar province for di-
vers ages, to defend the liberties of this
nation againft the power of the Englifh
L 2 and
io8 SPEECHES OF
and the deceit of courtiers. What further
arguments can I ufe to pcrfuade this houfe
to enact thefe limitations, and embrace
this occafion, which we have fo little de-
ferved ? I might bring many ; but the
moft proper and effectual to perfuade all,
I take to be this : that our anccftors did
enjoy the moft effential liberties contained
in the act I propofed : and though fome
few of lefs moment are among them
which they had not, yet they were in
poffeflion of divers others not contained
in thefe articles: that they enjoyed thefe
privileges when they were feparated from
England, had their prince living among
them, and confequently flood not in fo
great need of thefe limitations. Now,
fince we have been under the fame prince
with England, and therefore ftand in the
greateft need of them, we have not only
neglected
ANDREW FLETCHER* 169
neglected to make a due provifion of that
kind, but in divers parliaments have given
away our liberties, and upon the matter
fubje&ed this crown to the court of Eng-
land ; and are become fo accuftomed to
depend on them, that we feem to doubt
whether we fhall lay hold of this happy
opportunity to refume our freedom. If
nothing elf* will move us, at leaft let us
not ad in oppofition to the light of our
-own reafon and confcience, which daily
reprefents to us the ill conftkution of our
government, the low condition into which
we are funk, and the extreme poverty, dif-
trefs, and mifery of our people. Let us
confider whether we will have the nation
continue in thefe deplorable circumftances,
and lofe this opportunity of bringing free-
dom and plenty among us. Sure the heart
of every honeft man muft bleed daily, to
L 3 fee
no SPEECHES OF
fee the milery in which our commons-,
and even many of our gentry, live ; which
has no other caufe but the ill conflitution
of our government, and our bad govern*
ment no other root but our dependence
upon the court of England. If our king*
lived among us, it would not be ftrange
to find thefe limitations rejected. It is
not the prerogative of a king^of Scotland
I would diminifh, but the prerogative of
Englifh minifters over this nation. To
conclude, thefe conditions of government
being either fuch as our anceftors enjoyed,
or principally directed to cut off our de-
pendence on art Englifh court, and not to
take place during the life of the queen ;
he who refufes his confent to them, what-
ever he may be by birth, cannot fure be a
Scotfman by affection. This will be a true
teft to diftinguifh, not whig from tory,
7 prefby-
ANDREW FLETCHER. in
prefbyterian from epifcopal, Hanover from
St. Germains, nor yet a courtier from a
man out of place ; but a proper teft to
diftinguim a friend from an enemy to his
country. And indeed we are fplit into fo
many parties, and cover ourfelves with fo
many falfe pretexts, that fuch a teft feems
neceflary to bring us into the light, and
mew every man in his own colours. In
a word, my lord chancellor, we are* to
confider, that though we fuffer under
many grievances, yet our dependence up-
on the court of England is the caufe of
all, comprehends them all, and is the band
that ties up the bundle. If we break this,
they will all drop and fall to the ground :
if not, this band will ftraiten us more and
more, till we mail be no longer a people.
I therefore humbly propofe, that, for
the fecurity of our religion, liberty, and
L 4 trade,
i 12 SPEECHES or
trade, thefe limitations be declared, by a?
refolution of this houfe, to be the con-
ditions, upon which the nation will re-
ceive a fucceffor to the crown of this
realm, after the deceafe of her prefent ma-
jefty, and failing heirs of her body, in
cafe the faid fucceffor {hall be alfo king or
queen of England.
V.
LORD CHANCELLOR,.
L AM forry to hear what has been juft
now ipoken from the throne. I know the
stuty I owe to her majefty, and the re-
fped that is due to her commiffi oner; and
therefore fhall fpeak with a juft regard tx>
both. Bin: the duty I oxve to iny country
obliges me to ,iay, that what we have now
heard from the throne, mull of neceffity
5 proceed?
ANDREW FLETCHER. 115
proceed from Englifh councils. If we had
demanded, that thefe limitations ihould
take place during the life of her majefty,
or of the heirs of her body, perhaps we
might have no great reafon to complain,
though they mould be refufed. But that
her majefty mould prefer the prerogative
of me knows not who, to the happinefs
of the whole people of Scotland ; that me
mould deny her aflent to fuch conditions
of government as are not limitations upon
the crown of Scotland, but only fuch as
are abfolutely neceflary to relieve us from
a fubjedion to the court of England, muft
proceed from Englifh councils; as well
becaufe there is no Scots minifter now at
London, as becaufe I have had an ac-
count, which I believe to be too well
grounded, that a letter to this effect has
been fent down hither by the lord trea-
furer
H4 SPEECHES OF .
furer of England, not many days ago*
Befides, all men who have lately been at
London well know, that nothing has been
more common, than to fee Scotfmen of
the feveral parties addreffing themfelves
to Englifh miniflers about Scots affairs ;
and even to fome ladies of that court,
whom, for the refped I bear to their re-
lations, I mall not name. Now, whether
we mall continue under the influence and
fubjedion of the Englilh court ; or whe-
ther it be not high time to lay before her
majefty, by a vote of this houfe, the con-
ditions of government upon which we
will receive a fuccefibr, I leave to the
wifdom of the parliament. This I muft
fay, that to tell us any thing of her ma-
jefty's intentions in this affair, before we
have prefented any ad to that purpofe for
the royal aflent, is to prejudge the caufe,
and
ANDREW FLETCHER. 115
and altogether unparliamentary. I will
add, that nothing has ever ihewn the
power and force of Englifh councils upon
our affairs in a~more eminent manner at
any time^ fmce the union of the crowns.
No man in this houfe is more convinced
of the great advantage of that peace which
both nations enjoy by living under one
prince. But as, on the one hand, fome
men, for private ends, and in order to get
into offices, have either neglected or be-
trayed the intereft of this nation, by a
mean compliance with the Englifh court ;
fo on the other fide it cannot be denied,
that we have been but indifferently ufed
by the Englifh nation. I fhall not infift
upon the affair of Darien, in which, by
their means and influence chiefly, we fuf-
fered fo great a lofs both in men and
money, as to put us almoft beyond hope
of
u6 SPEECHES OF
of ever having any confiderable trade; artd
this contrary to their own true intereft,
which now appears but too vifibly. I
fhall not go about to enumerate inftances
of a provoking nature in other matters,
but keep myfelf precifely to the thing we
are upon. The Englifh nation did, fome
time paft, take into confideration the no-
mination of a fucceflbr to that crown ; an
affair of the higheft importance, and, one
would think, of common concernment to
both kingdoms. Did they ever require
our concurrence ? Did they ever defire
the late king to caufe the parliament of
Scotland to meet, in order to take our
advice and confent ? Was not this to tell
us plainly, that we ought to be concluded
by their determinations, and were not
worthy to be confulted in the matter?
Indeed, my lord chancellor, confidering
their
ANDREW FLETCHER. 117
their whole carriage in this affair, and the
broad inlmuations we have now heard,
that we are not to expect her majefty's
aflent to any limitations on a fucceflbr
(which muft proceed from Englim coun-
cils), and confidering we cannot propofe to
ourfelves any other relief from that fervi-
tilde we lie under by the influence of that
court ; it is my opinion, that the houfe
come to a refolution, That: after the de-
cs qfe of her majejly^ heirs of her body fall-
ing , iv e 'will Jepar ate our crown from that
of England.
VI.
My LORD CHANCELLOR,
T-
HAT there fhould be limitations on
a fucceflbr, in order to take away our de-
pendence on the court of England, if both
nations
ii$ SPEECHES OF
nations mould have the fame king, no
man here feems to oppofe. And I think
very few will be of opinion, that fuch
limitations fhould be deferred till the meet-
Ing of the nation's reprefentatives upon
the deceafe of her majefty. For if the
fucceflbr be not named before that time,
every one will be fo earneft to promote
the pretenfions of the perfon he moft
affects, that new conditions will be alto-
gether forgotten. So that thofe who are
Onry in appearance for thefe limitations,
and in reality againft them, endeavour for
their laft refuge to miflead well-meaning
men, by telling them, that it is not ad-
vifable to put them into the act of fecurity,
as well for fear of lofing all, as becaufe
they will be more conveniently placed in
a feparate acl:. My lord chancellor, I
would fain know if any thing can be
more
ANDREW FLETCHER. 119
more proper in an act which appoints the
naming and manner of admitting a fuc-
ceffor, than the conditions on which we
agree to receive him. I would know, if
the deferring of any thing, at a time when
naturally it mould take place, be not to
put a flur upon it, and an endeavour to
defeat it. And if the limitations in quef-
tion are pretended to be fuch a burden in
the act, as to hazard the lofs of the whole,
can we expect to obtain them when fe-
parated from the ad ? Is there any com-
mon fenfe in this ? Let us not deceive om>
felves, and imagine that the act of 1696
does not expire immediately after the
queen and heirs of her body ; for in all
that act, the heirs and fucceflbrs of his late
majefty king William are always reftrained
and fpecirled by thefe exprefs words, ' ac-
* cording to the declaration of the eftates,
* dated
i2o SPEECHES or
* dated the nth of April 1689.' So that,
unlefs we make a due provifion by fome
new law, a difTolution of the government
will enfue immediately upon the death of
her majefty, failing heirs of her body.
Such an at therefore being of abfolute
and indifpenfable neceflity, I am of opi-
nion, that the limitations ought to be in-
ferted therein as the only proper place
for them, and fureft way to obtain them :
and that whoever would feparate them,
does not fo much defire we mould obtain
the aft, as that we fhould lofe the limi-
tations.
VII.
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
1 HOPE I need not inform this honour-
able houfe, that all ads which can be pro-
pofed
ANDREW FLETCHER. 121
poled for the fecurity of this kingdom,
are vain and empty proportions, imlefs
they are fupported by arms ; and that to
rely upon any law, without fuch a fecu~
rity, is to lean upon a madow. We had
better never paf* this act : for then we ihall
not imagine we have done any thing for
our fecurity ; and if we think we can do
any thing effectual without that provifion,
we deceive ourfelves, and are in a moft
dangerous condition. Such an act cannot
be faid to be an aft for the fecurity of
any thing, in which the moft neceflary
claufe is wanting, and without which all
the reft is of no force : neither can any
'kingdom be really fecured but by arming
the people. Let np man pretend that we
have ftanding forces to fupport this law ;
and that, if their numbers be not fufficient,
we may raife more. It is very well known
M
122 SPEECHES OP
this nation cannot maintain fo many {land-
ing forces as would be neceflary for our
defence, though we could entirely rely
upon their fidelity. The pofleffion of arms
is the diftincliion of a freeman from a
flave. He who has nothing, and belongs
to another, muft be defended by him, and
needs no arms : but he who thinks he is
his own mafter, and has any thing he
may call his own, ought to have arms to
defend himfelf and what he poflefFes, or
elfe he lives precarioufly and at difcretion.
And though for a while thofe who have
the fword in their power abflain from
doing him injuries ; yet, by degrees, he
will be awed into a fubmiffion to every ar-
bitrary command. Our anceftors, by being
always armed,; and frequently in action,
defended thcmfclvcs againft the Romans,
Danes, and Englifli ; and maintained their
liberty
ANDREW FLETCHER. 123
liberty againft the incroachments of their
own princes. If we are not rich enough
to pay a fufficient number of ftanding
forces, we have at leaft this advantage,
that arms in our own hands ferve no lefs
to maintain our liberty at home, than to
defend us from enemies abroad. Other
nations, if they think they can trull ftand-
ing forces, may, by their means, defend
themfelves againft foreign enemies, But
we, who have not wealth fufficient to pay
fuch forces, mould pot, of all nations un-
der heaven, be unarmed. For us then to
continue without arms, is to be directly
in the condition of flaves : to be found
unarmed, in the event of her majefty's
death, would be to have no manner of
fecurity for our liberty a property, or the
independence of this kingdom. By being
unarmed, we every day run the rifk of our
M 2 all
124 SPEECHES OF
dl, fmce we know not how foon that
event may overtake us : to continue ftill
unarmed, when, by this very adl now
under deliberation, we have put a cafe,
which happening may feparate us from
England, would be the grpfleft of all fol-
lies. And if we do not provide for. arm-
ing the kingdom in fuch an exigency, we
mail become a jeft and a proverb to the;
world.
VIII.
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
J.F in the fad event of her majefty's de-..
ceafe without heirs of her body, any con-
fiderable military force mould be in the
hands of one or more men, who might
have an understanding together, we are
not very fure what ufe they would make.
of
ANDREW FLETCHER. 125
of them in fo nice arid critical a conjunc-
ture. We know, that as the moft juft and
honourable enterprifes, when they fail,
are accounted in the number of rebellions;
fo all attempts, however unjuft, if they
fucceed, always purge themfelves of all
guilt and imputation. If a man prefume
he mall have fuccefs, and obtain the utmoft
of his hopes, he will not too nicely exa-
mine the point of right, nor balance too
fcrupuloufly the injury he does to his
country. I would not have any man take
this for a reflection upon thofe honour-
able perfons, who have at prefent the
c.ommand of our troops. For, befides
that we are not certain who fhall be in
thofe commands at the time of fuch an
event, we are to know that all men ,are
frail, and the wicked and mean-fpirited
world has paid too much honour to many,
M 3 who
X26 SPEECHES OP
who have fubverted the liberties of theif
country. We fee a great difpofition at this
time in fome men, not to confent to any
limitations on a fucceflbr, though we
fhould name the fame with England.
And therefore fmce this is probably the
lad opportunity we {hall ever have of
freeing ourfelves from our dependence on-
the Englifli court, we ought to manage it
with the utmoft jealoufy and diffidence
of fuch men. for though we have or-
dered the nation to be armed and exer-*
cifed, wjhich will be a fufficient defence
when done; yet we know not but the
event, which God avert, may happen be-
fore this can be effected. And we may
eafily imagine, what a few bold men, at
the head of a fmall number of regular
troops, might do, when all things are in
confufion and fufpenfe. So that we ought
t to
ANDREW FLETCHER. 127
to make effectual provifion, with the ut*
moft circumfpection, that all fuch forces
may be fubfervient to the government
and intereft of this nation, and not to the
private ambition of their commanders. I
therefore move> that immediately upon
the deceafe of her majefty, all military
eommiffions above that of a captain be
hull and void.
IX.
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
1 KNOW it is the undoubted preroga-
tive of her majefty, that no act of this
houfe fhall have the force of a law with-
out her royal aflent. And as I am confident
his grace the high commiffioner is fuffi-
ciently inftructed, to give that aflent to
M 4 every
128 SPEECHES OF
every act which mall be laid before him ;
fo more particularly to the act for the fe-
curity of the kingdom, which has already
puffed this houfe : an act that preferves us
from anarchy : an act that arms a de-
fencelefs people : an act that has coll the
reprefentatives of this kingdom much time
and labour to frame, and the nation a very
great expence : an act that has paffed by a
great majority : and above all, an act that
contains a caution of the higheft import-
ance for the amendment of our conftitu-
tion. I did not prefume the other day,
immediately after this act was voted, to
defire the royal aflent ; I thought it a juft
deference to the high commifTioner, not
to mention it at that time. Neither would
I now, but only that I may have an oppor-
tunity to reprefent to his grace, that as he
who gives readily doubles the gift j fo his
grace
ANDREW FLETCHER. *2<j
grace has now in his hands the moft glo-
rious and honourable occafion, that any
perfon of this nation ever had, of making
himfelf acceptable, and his memory for
ever grateful to the people of this king-
dom : fince the honour of giving the royal
aiTent to a law, which lays a lafling foun-
dation for their liberties, has been referved
to him.
X.
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
the day that the aft for the fecurity
of the kingdom pafled in this houfe, I did
not prefume to move for the royal aflent.
The next day of our meeting, I men-
tioned it with all imaginable refpecl: and
deference, for his grace the high com-
miflioner,
139 SPEECHES OF^
miflioner, and divers honourable peffons
feconded me. If now> after the noble
lord who fpoke laft\ I infill upon it, I
think I am no way to be blamed. I fhall
not endeavour to mew the neceflity of
this act, in which the whole fecurity of
the nation now lies, having fpoken to
that point the Other day ; but mall take
occafion to fay fomething concerning the
delay of giving the royal aflent to acts
paffed in this houfe ; for which I could
never hear a good reafon, except that a
commiflioner was not fufficiently in-
ftructed. But that cannot be the true
reafon at this timCj becaufe feveral aU
have lain long for the royal aflent : in
particular, that to ratify a former act*
fdr turning the convention into a parlia-
ment, and fencing the claim of right,
which no man doubts his grace is fuffi-
ciently
ANDREW FLETCHER. 131
ciently inftni&ed to pafs. We muft
therefore look elfewhere for the reafon
of this delay j and ought to be excufed
in doing this ; fince fo little regard is had,
and fo little fatisfaction given to the re-
prefentatives of this nation^ who have for
more than three months employed them-
felves with the greateft afliduity in the fer-
vice of their country, and yet have not feen
the leaft fruit of their labours crowned with
the royal afTent. Only one act has been
touched, for recognizing her majefty's
juft right, which is a thing of courfe.
This gives but too good reafon to thofe
who fpeak freely, to fay that the royal
aflent is induflrioufly fufpended, in order
to oblige fome men to vote, as-fhall be
moft expedient to a certain intereft ; and
that this feffion of parliament is continued
fo long, chiefly to make men uneafy, who
have
iji SPEECHES OF
liave neither places nor penfions to bear
their charges ; that by this means ads
for money, importation of French wine,
and the like, may pafs in a thin houfe,
which will not fail immediately to re-
ceive the royal affent, whilft the acts that
concern the welfare, and perhaps the
very being of the nation, remain un-
touched.
XL
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
.IJEING under fome apprehenfions that
her majefty may receive ill advice in this
affair, from minifters who frequently mif-
take former had practices for good pre-
cedents, I defire that the third act of the
firft fefjion of the lirfl parliament of king
Charles the Second may be read.
Act
ANDREW FLETCHER. 133
4ft the third of the frft fejjlon^ Par. /,
Car. II.
Act ajferting his majeftys royal prerogative^
in calling and diffolving of' parliaments ,
and making of laws ^
i HE eftates of parliament, now con-
* vened by his majefty's fpecial authority,
' confidering that the quietnefs, inability,
' and happinefs of the people, do depend
* upon the fafety of the king's majefty's
* facred perfon, and the maintenance of
* his fovereign authority, princely power,
6 and prerogative royal ; and conceiving
1 themfelves obliged in confcience, and
* in difcharge of their duties to almighty
* God, to the king's majefty, and to their
* native country, to make a due acknow-
* ledgment thereof at this time, do there-
* |bre unanimoufly declare, that they will,
4 with
134 SPEECHES OF
* with their lives and fortunes, maintain
* and defend the fame. And they do
* hereby acknowledge, that the power of
c calling, holding, proroguing, and di-
* folving of parliaments, and all conven*
' tions and meetings of the eftates does
c folely refide in the king's majefty, his
* heirs and fucceflbrs. And that as no
* parliament can be lawfully kept, without
* the fpecial warrant and prefence of the
* king's majefty, or his commiffioner;
* fo no acts, fentences or ftatutes, to be
' palTed in parliament, can be binding
'* upon the people, or have the authority
* and force of laws, without the fpecial
* authority and approbation of the king's
* majefty, or his commiffioner interponed
* thereto, at the making thereof. And
4 therefore the king's majefty, with ad-
* vice and confent of his eftates of parlia-
' mcnt,
ANDREW FLETCHER. 135
< ment, doth hereby refcind and annul all
' laws, ads, ftatutes, or practices that have
* been, or upon any pretext whatfoever
* may be, or feem contrary to, or incony
* fiftent with, his majefty's juft power
4 and prerogative above-mentioned ; an4
* declares the fame to have been unlawr
* ful, and to be void and null In all
* time coming. And to the end that
* this act and acknowledgment, which
' the eftates of parliament, from the fenfe
* of their humble duty and certain know-
* ledge, have hereby made, may receive
* the more exact obedience in time coming;
* it is by his majefty, with advice afore-
4 faid, ftatute and ordained, that the punc-
' tual obfervance thereof be Specially re-
* garded by all his majefty's fubjects, and
6 that none of them, upon any pretext
* whatfoever, offer to call in queftion, im-
136 SPEECHES OF
* pugn, or do any deed to the contrary
* hereof, under pain of treafon.'
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
THE queftions concerning the king's
prerogative and the people's privileges are
nice and difficult. Mr. William Golvin,
who was one of the wifefl men this na-
tion ever had, ufed to fay concerning de-
fenfive arms, that he wifhed all princes
thought them lawful, and the people un-
lawful. And indeed I heartily wifh, that
fomething like thefe moderate fentiments
might always determine all matters in
queftion between both. By the confti-
tution of this kingdom, no act of the
eflates had the force of a law, unlefs
touched by the king's fceptre, which was
his undoubted prerogative. The touch of
his fceptre gave authority to our laws, as
his
ANDREW FLETCHER. 137
his (lamp did a currency to our coin : but
he had no right to refufe or with-hold
either. It is pretended by fome men, that,
in virtue of this ad, the king may refufe
the royal affent to acts patted by the
eftates of the kingdom. But it ought to
be confidered, that this law is only an
acknowledgment and declaration of the
king's prerogative, and confequently gives
nothing new to the prince. The act ac-
knowledges this to be the prerogative of
the king, that whatever is pafTed in this
houfe, cannot have the force of a law
without the royal aflent, and makes it
high treafon to queftion this prerogative 5
becaufe the parliament, during the civil
war, had ufurped a power of impofmg
their own votes upon the people fop law,
though neither the king, nor any perfon
commiflionated by him were prefent : and
N thi
138 SPEECHES OF
this new law was wholly and fimply di-
rected to abolifh and refcind that ufurpa-
tion, as appears by the tenour and expreis
words of the ad: ; which does neither ac-
knowledge nor declare, that the prince
has a' power to refufe the royal aflent to
any act prefented by the parliament. If
any one fhould fay, that the lawgivers
defigned no lefs, and that the principal
contrivers and promoters of the act fre-
quently boailed they had obtained the
negative, as they call it, for the crown ; I
defire to know how they will make that
appear, fmce no words are to be found in
the act, that ihew any fuch defign ; efpe-
cially if we confider that this law was
made by a parliament that {poke the moft
plainly, leaft equivocally, and moft fully
of all others concerning the prerogative.
And if thofe who promoted the paffing of
this
ANDREW FLETCHER. 139
this act were under fo flrong a delufion,
to think they had obtained a new and
great prerogative to the crown by a de-
claratory law, in which there is not one
word to that purpofe, it was the hand of
Heaven that defeated their defign of de-
ftroying the liberty of their country. I
know our princes have refufed their aflent
to fome acts fmce the making of this law:
but a practice introduced in arbitrary times
can deferve no confideration. For my
own part, I am far from pufhing things
to extremity on either hand : I heartily
enter into the fentiments of the wife man
I mentioned before, and think the people
of this nation might have been happy in
miftaking the meaning of this law, if fuch
men, as have had the greateft credit with
our princes, would have let them into the
true fenfe of it. And therefore thofe,
N 2
140 SPEECHES OF
who have the honour to advife her ma-
jefty, fhould beware of inducing her to a
refufal of the royal aflent to the aft for
the fecurity of the kingdom^ becaufe tho-
unwarrantable cuftom of rejecting adrs
was introduced in arbitrary times-
XII.
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
IT is often faid in this houfe, that par-
liaments, and efpecially long feflions of
parliament, are a heavy tax and burden
to this nation : I fuppofe they mean as
things are ufually managed : otherwife I
fhould think it a great reflection on the
wifdom of the nation, and a maxim very
pernicious to our government. But in-
deed in the prefent ftate of things, they
are a very great burden to us, Our par-
- * liament
ANDREW FLETCHER. 141
liament feldom meets in winter, when the
feafon of the year, and our own private
affairs, bring us to town. We are called to-
gether for the moft part in fummer, when
our country bufmefs, and the goodnefs of
the feafon, make us live in town with re-
gret. Our parliaments are fitting both in
feed time and harvelt, and we are made to
toil the whole year. We meet one day in
three ; though no reafon can be given why
we mould not meet every day, unlefs fuch
a one as I am unwilling to name, left
thereby occafion mould be taken to men-
tion it elfewhere to the reproach of the
nation. The expences of our commif-
iioners are now become greater than thofe
of our kings formerly were : and a great
part of this money is laid out upop. equi-
page, and other things of foreign manu-
fa&ure, to the great damage of the king-
N 3 dom.
141 SPEECHES OF
dom. We meet in this place in the after-
noon, after a great dinner, which I think
is not the time of doing bufmefs ; and are
;n fuch confufion after the candles are
lighted, that very often the debate of one
fmgle point cannot be finifhed ; but muft
be put off to another day. Parliaments
are forced to fubmit to the conveniences
of the lords of the feffion, and meetings
of the boroughs ; though no good reafon
can be given, why either a lord of the
feffion, or any one deputed to the meet-
ings of the boroughs, mould be a member
of this houfe ; but, on the contrary, ex-
perience has taught us the inconvenience
of both. When members of parliament,
to perform the duty they owe to their
country, have left the moft important af-
fairs, and quitted their friends many times
in the utmoft extremity, to be prefent at
this
ANDREW FLETCHER. 143
this place, they are told they may return
again ; as we were the other day called
together only in order to be difmifled.
We have been for feveral days adjourned
in this time of harveft, when we had the
moft important affairs under deliberation ;
that as well thofe, who have neither place
nor penfion, might grow weary of their at-
tendance, as thofe whofe ill ftate- of health
makes the fervice of their country as dan-
gerous, though no lefs honourable than if
they ferved in the field. Do not thefe
things fhew us the neceffity of thofe limi-
tations I had the honour to offer to this
houfe ? and particularly of that for lodging
the power of adjournments in the parlia-
ment ; that for meetings of parliament to
be in winter; that for impowering the
prefident to give the royal aflent, and af-
certaining his fakry ; with that for ex-
N 4 eluding
J44 SPEECHES OF
eluding all lords of the feffion from being
members of parliament? Could one imagine
that in this parliament, in which we have
had the firft opportunity of amending our
conftitution by new conditions of govern*
ment, occafion mould be given by reiterat-
ing former abufes, to convince all men of
the neceffity of farther limitations upon a
fucceflbr ? Or is not this rather to be at-
tributed to a peculiar providence, that
thofe who are the great oppofers of limir
tations, mould, by their conduct, give the
beft reafon for them ? But I hope no
member of this houfe will be difcouraged
either by delay or oppofition ; becaufe the
liberties of a people are not to be main-
tained without pailing through great dif-
ficulties, and that no toil and labours ought
to be declined to preferve a nation from
flayery,
XIII.
ANDREW FLETCHER. 145
XIII.
MY LORD CHANCELLOR,
1 HAVE waited long and with great
patience for the refult of this feflion, to
fee if I could difcover a real and fmcere
intention in the members of this houfe, to
reftore the freedom of our country in this
great and, perhaps, only opportunity. I
know there are many different views
among us, and all men pretead the good
of the nation. But every man here is
obliged carefully to examine the things
before us, and to acl: according to his
knowledge and confcience, without re-
gard to the views of other men, what-
ever charity he may have for them : I fay,
every man in this place is obliged, by the
oath
146 SPEECHES OF
oath he has taken, to give fuch advice
as he thinks mofl expedient for the good
of his country. The principal bufmefs
of this feflion has been the forming of
an act for the fecurity of the kingdom,
upon the expiration of the prefent entail
of the crown. And though one would
have thought, that the moft eflential
thing which could have entered into fuch
an act, had been to afcertain the condi-t
tions on which the nation would receive
a fuccefTor, yet this has been entirely
waved and over-ruled by the houfe. Only
there is a caution inferted in the act, that
the fucceffor mall not be the fame perfon
who is to fucceed in England, unlefs fuch
conditions of government be iirft enacted,
as may fecure the freedom of this nation.
But this is a general and indefinite claufe,
and liable to the dangerous inconveniency
4 of
ANDREW FLETCHER. 147
of being declared to be fulfilled by giving
us two or three inconfiderable laws. So
that this feffion of parliament, in which
we have had fo great an opportunity of
making ourfelves for ever a free people,
is like to terminate without any real fe-
curity for our liberties, or any eflential
amendant of our conftitution. And now,
when we ought to come to particulars, and
enact fuch limitations as may fully fatisfy
the general claufe, we muft amufe our-
felves with things of little fignificancy,
and hardly mention any limitation of mo-
ment or confequence. But inftead of this,
acts are brought in for regulations to take
place during the life of the queen, which
we are not to expect:, and quite draw us
off from the bufmefs we mould attend.
By thefe methods divers well-meaning
men have been deluded, whilil others
have
148 SPEECHES OP
have propofed a prefent nomination of a
fucceflbr under limitations. But I fear the
far greater part have defigned to make
their court either to her majefty, the
houfe of Hanover, or thofe of St. Ger-
mains, by maintaining the prerogative in
Scotland as high as ever, to the perpetual
enflaving of this nation to the minifters
of England. Therefore I, who have never
made court to any prince, and I hope
never mall, at the rate of the leaft pre-
judice to my country, think myfelf obliged,
in difcharge of my confcience, and the
duty of my oath in parliament, to offer
fuch limitations as may anfwer the general
claufe in the at for the fecurity of the
kingdom. And this I dp in two draughts,
the one containing the limitations by
themfelves ; the other with the fame limi-
tations, and a blank for inferting the name
of
ANDREW FLETCHER. 149
of a fucceflbr. If the houfe fhall think fit
to take into confideration that draught
which has no blank, and enact the limita-
tions, I fhall reft fatisfied, being as little
fond of naming a fucceflbr as any man.
Otherwife, I offer the draught with a
blank ; to the end that every man may
make his court to the perfon he moft af-
feds ; and hope by this means to pleafe
all parties : the court, in offering them an
opportunity to name the fucceffor of Eng-
land, a thing fo acceptable to her majefty
and that nation : thofe who may favour
the court of St. Germains, by giving them
a chance for their pretenfions ; and every
true Scotfman, in vindicating the liberty
of this nation, whoever be the fucceffor.
FIRST
SPEECHES of
FIRST DRAUGHT.
* v>/UR fovereign lady, with advice and
* confent of the eftates of parliament, fta-
4 tutes and ordains, that after the deceafe
4 of her majefty, whom God long pre-
4 ferve, and failing heirs of her body, no
' one fhall fucceed to the crown of this
* realm that is likewife fucceflbr to the
* crown of England, but under the limi-
4 tations following, which, together with
4 the oath of coronation and claim of
1 right, they fhall fwear to obferve. That
4 all places and offices, both civil and mili-
4 tary, and all penfions formerly conferred
1 by our kings, fhall ever after be given
4 by parliament. That a new parliament
4 fhall be chofen every Michaelmas head-
4 court,
ANDREW FLETCHER. 151
* court, to fit the mil of November there-
* after, and adjourn themfelves from time
* to time till next Michaelmas ; and that
* they choofe their own prefident. That a
* committee of thirty-fix members, chofen
1 by and out of the whole parliament,
* without diftinction of eftates, mail, dur-
* ing the intervals of parliament, under the
* king, have the adminiftration of the
* government, be his council, and account*
* able to parliament; with power, in ex-,
' traordinary occafions, to call the parlia-
* ment together.'
SECOND DRAUGHT.
* V-/UR fovereign lady, with advice -and
4 confent of the eftates of parliament, fta-
* tutes and ordains, that after the deceafe
4 of
151 SPEECHES or
* of her majefty, whom God long pre-
* ferve, and heirs of her body failing,
' fhall fucceed to the
* crown of this realm. But that in cafe
* the faid fucceflbr be likewife the fuc-
* ceflbr to the crown of England, the
' faid fucceffor {hall be under the limita-
* tions following/ &c.
No man can be an enemy to thefe limi-
tations, in cafe we have the fame king
with England, except he who is fo fhame-
lefs a partifan either of the court at St.
Germains, or the houfe of Hanover, that
he would rather fee Scotland continue to
depend upon an Englifh miniftry, than
that their prerogative mould be any way
leflened in this kingdom. As for thofe
who have St. Germains in their view, and
are accounted the highefl of all the pre-
rogative-
ANDREW FLETCHER. ' 153
rogative-men, I would afk them, if we
fhould affift them in advancing their prince
to the throne of Great Britain, are we, for
our reward, to continue ftill in our former
dependence on the Englifh court ? Thefe
limitations are the only teft to difcover a
lover of his country from a courtier either
to her majefty, Hanover, or St. Germains.
For prerogative men, who are for enflaving
this nation to the directions of another
court, are courtiers to any fucceflbr ; and
let them pretend what they will, if their
principles lead neceiTarily to fubjecl: this
nation to another, are enemies to the na-
tion. Thefe men are fo abfurd as to pro-
voke England, and yet refolve to continue
flaves of that court. This country muft
be made a field of blood, in order to ad-
vance a papift to the throne of Britain.
If we fail, we fhall be flaves by right of
O conqueft.
154 SPEECHES OF
conqueft ; if we prevail, have the happi-
iiels to continue in our former flaviih de-
pendence. And though to break this yoke,
all good men would venture their all, yet
I believe few will be willing to lie at the
mercy of France and popery, and at the
fame time draw upon themfelves the in-
dignation and power of England, for the
fake only of meafuring our ftrength with
a much more powerful nation ; and to be
fure to continue Hill under our former de-
pendence, though we mould happen to
prevail. Now, of thofe who are for the
fame fucceffor with England, I would afk,
if in that cafe we are not alfo to continue
in our former dependence ; which will not
fail always to grow from bad to worfe,
and at length become more intolerable to
all honeft men, than death itfelf. For my
own part, I think, that even the moft
zealous
ANDREW FLETCHER. 155
zealous proteftant in the nation, if he have
a true regard for his country, ought rather
to wifh, were it confiftent with our claim of
right, that a papift fhould fucceed to the
throne of Great Britain, under fuch limi-
tations as would render this nation free
and independent, than the moft proteftant
and beft prince, without any. If we may
live free, I little value who is king : it is
indifferent to me, provided the limitations
be enacted, to name or not name ; Ha-
nover, St Germains, or whom you will.
XIV.
My LORD CHANCELLOR,
AlIS grace, the high commiffioner, hav-
ing acquainted this houfe, that he has in-
ftrudions from her majefty, to give the
O 2 royal
156 SPEECHES OF
royal affent to all ads pafled in this feflion,
except that for the fecurity of the king-
dom, it- will be highly neceflary to pro-
vide fome new laws for fecuring ouv
%
liberty upon the expiration of the prefent
entail of the crown. And therefore I mall
ipeak to the firft article of the limitations
contained in the fhort act I offered the
other day ; not only becaufe it is the firft
in order, but becaufe I perfuade myfelf
you all know that parliaments were for-
merly chofen annually ; that they had the
power of appointing the times of their
meetings and adjournments, together with
the nomination of committees to fuper-
intend the adminiftration of the govern-
ment during the intervals of parliament :
all which, if it were neceflary, might be
proved by a great number of public adts.
So that if I dcmonftrate the ufe and ne~
ceffity
ANDREW FLETCHER. 157
ceflity of the firft article, there will re-
main no great difficulty concerning the
reft
My LORD CHANCELLOR,
THE condition of^ people, however
unhappy, if they not only know the caufe
of their mifery, but have alfo the remedy
in their power, and yet mould refufe to
apply it, on-e would think, were not to be
pitied. And though the ctndition of good
men, who are concluded and opprefled by
a majority of the b.ad, is much to be la-
mented ; yet chriftianity teaches us to mew
a greater meafure of compaflion to thofe
who are knowingly and voluntarily obfti-
nate to ruin both themfelves and others.
But the regret of every wife and good
man muft needs be extraordinary, when
he fees the liberty and happinefs of hi*
O 3 countty
"' 58 SPEECHES OF
country not only obftruded, but utterly
extinguifhed by the private and tranfitory
intereft of felf-defigning men, who indeed
very often meet their own ruin, but moft
certainly bring deftru&ion upon their pof-
terity by fuch courfes. Sure, if a man who
is intrufted by others, mould, for his own
private advantage, betray that truft, to the
perpetual and irrecoverable ruin of thofe
who trufled him, the livelieft fenfe and
deeped remorfe for fo great guilt, will un-
doubtedly feize and terrify the coafcience
of fuch a man, as often as the treacherous
part he has acted mall recur to his
thoughts ; which will moft frequently
happen in the times of his diftrefs, and
the nearer he approaches to a life in
which thofe reinorfes are perpetual. But
I hope every man in this houfe has fo
confidered thefe things, as to preferve
him
ANDREW FLETCHER. 1^9
him from falling into fuch terrible cir-
cumftances : and (as all men are fubjedt
to great failings) if any perfon, placed in
this moft eminent truft, is confcious to
himfelf of having ever been wanting in
duty to his country, I doubt not he will
this day, in this weighty matter, atone for
all, and not blindly follow the opinion
of other men, becaufe he alone muft ac-
count for his own adions to his grea
Lord and Mafter.
The limitation, to which I am about
to fpeak, requires, that all places, offices,
and penfions, which have been formerly
given by our kings, mail, after her majefty
and heirs of her body, be conferred by
parliament, fo long as we are under the
fame prince with England. Without this
limitation, our poverty and fubjedlion to
the court of England will every day in-
O 4 creafe 5
160 SPEECHES OF
creafe ; and the queftion we have now be-
fore us is, whether we will be freemen or
Haves for ever ? whether we will continue
to depend, or break the yoke of our de-
pendence ? and whether we will choofe to
live poor and miferable, or rich, free, and
happy ? Let no man think to object, that
this limitation takes away the whole power
of the prince. For the fame condition of
government is found in one of the moft
abfolute monarchies of the world. I have
very good authority for what I fay, from
all the beft authors that have treated of the
government of China ; but mall only cite
the words of an able minifter of ftate,
who had very well confidered whatever
had been written on that fubject ; I mean
Sir William Temple, who fays, ' That for
* the government, it is abfolute monarchy,
* there being no other laws in China,
< but
ANDREW FLETCHER. 161
4 but the king's . orders and commands ;
* and it is likewife hereditary, ftill de-
* fcending to the next of blood. But all
* orders and commands of the king pro-
' ceed through his councils ; and are made
* upon the recommendation or petition of
* the council proper and appointed for that
* affair : fo that all matters are debated, dc-
* termined, and concluded by the feveral
' councils ; and then upon their advices
* and requefts made to the king, they are
* ratified and figned by him, and fo pals
* into laws. All great offices of ftate are
' likewife conferred by the king, upon the
* fame recommendations or petitions of
c his feveral councils ; fo that none arc
4 preferred by the humour of the prince
e himfelf, nor by favour of any minifter,
by flattery or corruption, but by the
' force or appearance of merit, of learn-
i6i SPEECHES OF
* ing, and of virtue ; which obferved by
* the feveral councils, gain their recom-
* mendations or petitions to the king.'
Thefe are the exprefs words of that mi-
nifter. And if under the greateft abfolute
monarchy of the world, in a country
where the prince actually refides; if among
heathens this be accounted a necefTary part
of government for the encouragement of
virtue, mail it be denied to Chriftians liv-
ing under a prince who refides in another
nation ? Shall it be denied to a people,
who have a right to liberty, and yet are
not capable of any in their prefent circum-
ftances without this limitation ? But we
have formed to ourfelves fuch extrava-
gant notions of government, that even in
a limited monarchy nothing will pleafe,
which in the leaft deviates from the model
of France, and every thing elfe muft ftand
3 branded
ANDREW FLE-TCHE&. 165
branded with the name of commonwealth.
Yet a great and wife people found this
very condition of government neceflary
to fupport even an abfolute monarchy.
If any man fay, that the empire of China
contains divers kingdoms ; and that the
care of the emperor, and his knowledge
of particular men, cannot extend to all : I
anfwer, the cafe is the fame with us ; and
it feems as if that wife people defigned
this conftitution for a remedy to the like
inconveniences with tliofe we labour un-
der at this time.
This limitation will undoubtedly enrich
the nation, by flopping that perpetual
ifTue of money to England, which has re-
duced this country to extreme poverty.
This limitation does not flatter us with
the hopes of riches by an uncertain pro-
ject j does not require fo much as the con-
dition
164 SPEECHES OF
dition of our own induftryj but, by faving
great fums to the countiy, will every year
furnifh a ftock fufficient to carry on a
confiderable trade, or to eftablifh fome
ufeful manufacture at home, with the
higheft probability of fuccefs : becaufe our
minifters, by this rule of government,
would be freed from the influence of Eng-
Hfh councils ; and our trade be entirely in
our own hands, and not under the power
of the court, as it was in the affair of Da-
rien. If we do not obtain this limitation,
our attendance at London will continue
to drain this nation of all thofe fums
which mould be a ftock for trade. Be-r
fides, by frequenting that court, we not
only fpend our money, but learn the ex-
penfive modes and ways of living, of a
rich and luxurious nation : we lay out
yearly great fums in furniture and equi-
ANDREW FLETCHER. 165
page, to the unfpeakable prejudice of the
trade and manufactures of our own coun*
try. Not that I think it amifs to travel
into England, in order to fee and learn,
their induftry in trade and hufbandry. But
at court what can we learn, except a
horrid corruption of manners, and an ex-
penfive way of living, that we may for
ever after be both poor and profligate ?
This limitation will fecure to us our
freedom and independence. It has been
often faid in this houfe, that our princes
are captives in England ; and inded one
would not wonder if, when our intereft
happens to be different from that of
England, our kings, who muft be fup-
ported by the riches and power of that
nation in all their undertakings, fhould
prefer an Englifh xntereft before that of
this country. It is yet lefs- ftrange, that
Englifh
i66 SPEECHES of
Engliih minifters fhould advife and pro-
cure the advancement of fuch perfons to
the miniftry of Scotland, as will comply
with their meafures and the king's orders ;
and to furmount the difficulties they may
meet with from a true Scots intereft,
that places and penfions fhould be be-
llowed upon parliament-men and others :
I fay, thefe things are fo far from wonder,
that they are inevitable in the prefent
flate of our affairs. But I hope they
likewife fhew us, that we ought not to
continue any longer in this condition.
Now, this limitation is advantageous to
all. The prince will no more be put
upon the hardfhip of deciding between
an Englifh and a Scots intereft j or the
difficulty of reconciling what he owes
to each nation, in confequence of his
coronation oath. Even Englifh minifters
will
ANDREW FLETCHER. 16.7
will no longer lie under the temptation
of meddling in Scots affairs : nor the
minifters of this kingdom, together with
all thofe who have places and penfions,
be any more fubjecl: to the worft of ail
flavery. But if the influences I men-
tioned before mail ftill continue, what
will any other limitation avail us ? What
mall we be the better for our act concern-
ing the power of war and peace ? fmce,
by the force of an Englifh intereft and
influence, we cannot fail of being engaged
in every war, and neglected in every
peace.
By this limitation, our parliament will
become the moft uncorrupted fenate of all
Europe. No man will be tempted to vote
againft the intereft of his country, when
his country mail have all the bribes in her
own hands ; offices, places, penfions. It
will
168 SPEECHES OF
will be no longer necefTary to lofe one
half of the public cuftoms, that parlia-
ment-men may be made colle&ors. We
will not defire to exclude the officers of
Hate from fitting in this houfe, when the
country mail have the nomination of them ;
and our parliaments, free from corruption,
cannot fail to redrefs all our grievances.
We mall then have no caufe to fear a re-
fufal of the royal aflent to our ads ; for
we mall have no evil eounfellor, nor
enemy of his country, to advife it. When
this condition of government mail take
place, the royal aflent will be the orna-
ment of the prince, and never be refufed
to the defires of the people. A general
unanimity will be found in this houfe,
in every part of the government, and
among all ranks and conditions of men.
The diftinctions of court and country
2 party
ANDREW !<LETCHR. 169
party mall no more be heard in this na-
tion; nor fhall the prince and people
any longer have a different intereft. Re-
wards and punifhments will be in the
hands of thofe who live among us, and
confequently beft know the merit of men;
by which means, virtue will be recom-
penfed, and vice difcouraged, and the
reign and government of the prince will
jflourim in peace and juftice.
I mould never make an end, if I mould
profecute all the great advantages of this
limitation ; which, like a divine influence,
turns all to good, as the want of it has
hitherto poifoned every thing, and brought
all to ruin. I fhall therefore only add
one particular more, in which it will be
of the higheft advantage to this nation.
We all know, that the only way of en-
ilaving a people is by keeping up a fland-
P i ing
jyb- SPEECHES OF
ing army ; that by ftanding forces all
limited monarchies have been deftroyed ;
without them none; that fo long as any
Handing forces are allowed in a nation,
pretexts will never be wanting to increafe
them ; that princes have never fuffered
militias to be put upon any good foot,
left ftanding forces mould appear mine--
ceflary. We alfo know that a good and
well-regulated militia is of fo great im-
portance to a nation, as to be the principal
part of the conftitution of any free govern-
ment. Now, by this limitation, the na-
tion will have a fufficient power to render
their militia good and effectual, by the
nomination of officers : and if we would
fend a certain proportion of our militia
abroad yearly, and relieve them from time
to time, we may make them as good as
thofe of Switzerland are j and much more
able
ANDREW FLETCHER. 171
able to defend the country, than any
una&ive (landing forces can be. We
may fave every year great fums of money,
which are now expended! to maintain a
ftanding army, and, which is yet more,
run no hazard of lofmg our liberty by
them. We may employ a greater number
of officers in thofe detachments, than we
do at prefent in all our forces both at
home and abroad ; and make better con-
ditions for them in thofe countries that
need their affiftance. For being freed
from the influences of Englifh councils,
we ihall certainly look better than we
have hitherto done to the terms on which
we may fend them into the armies either
of England or Holland ; and not permit
them to be abufed fo many different ways,
as, to the great reproach of the nation,
they have been, in their rank, pay, cloth-
P 2 ing,
172 SPEECHES OF
ing, arrears, levy-money, quarters, tranf-
port-fhips, and gratuities.
Having thus Ihewn fome of the great
advantages this limitation will bring to
the nation (to which every one of you
will be able to add many more) ; that it-
is not only confiftent with monarchy,
but even with an abfolute monarchy:
having demonftrated the neceffity of fuch
a condition in all empires, which contain
ieveral kingdoms ; and that without it
we mull for ever continue in a depend-
ence upon the court of England ; in the
name of God, what hinders us from em-
bracing fo great a bleffing ? Is it becaufe
her majefty will refufe the royal aflent
to this act ? If me do, fure I am, fuch a
refufal muft proceed from the advice of
Englim counfellors ; and will not that
be a demonftration to us, that after her
majefty,
ANDREW FLETCHER. 173
iajefty, and heirs of her body, we muft
not, cannot any longer continue under
the fame prince with England ? Shall we
be wanting to ourfelves? Can her majefty
give her affent to this limitation upon a,
fucceflbr before you offer it to her ? Is
he at liberty to give us fatisfadion in
this point, till we have declared to Eng-
land, by a vote of this houfe, that unlefs
we obtain this condition, we will not
name the fucceflbr with them ? And then
will not her majefty, even by Englifh
advice, be perfuaded to give her affent ;
unlefs her counfellors mail think fit to
incur the heavy imputation, and run the
dangerous rifk, of dividing thefe nations
for ever ? If therefore either reafon, ho-
nour, or confcience, have any influence
Upon us ; if we have any regard either
to ourfelves or pofterity ; if there be any
P 3 fuck
174 SPEECHES OF ANDREW FLETCHER,
fuch thing as virtue, happinefs, or repu-
tation in this world, or felicity in a future
ftate, let me adjure you by all thefe not
to draw upon your heads everlafting in-
famy, attended with the eternal reproaches
and anguifh of an evil confcience, by
making yourfelves and your pofterity
miferable,
ESSAY
ON THE
GENIUS, CHARACTER, AND WRITINGS
O F
JAMES THOMSON
THE POET.
Intended as a Bafis for writing properly the Life of
that truly excellent Man.
Br DAVID STUART, EARL OF BUCHAN.
To the Shad* of Thomfon.
If Britain, palfied, cannot feel thefe lays
Warm in the heart, and burfting forth thy praifc,
Me from Boeotia let the fates convey,
Or death remove me to a brighter day ;
To fcenes exalted, where the noble fouls
Of men like thee no fervile court controuls ;
Scenes where the good no modeft worth conceals,
And where no praife the worthlefs coxcomb fleals J
ESSAY, &c.
JTOETRY, that divine energy (for I
cannot call it art) which lifts the man of
clay from the dirty world he inhabits to
the regions of fancy, is a gift of Heaven,
and, like all her gifts, is inimitable, and dif-
ficult to be defcribed.
In the philofophical, or as I would ra-
ther choofe to call it, original language of
the Greeks, it is exprefled by a vocable
defcriptive of its power, which is crea-
tion.
In the Gothic, and all its derivatives ia
all languages approaching to originality,
the name is fynonymous. In old Englifh
and
iy8 ESSAY ON THE
and Scottifh it is called making^ and poets
were denominated makers.
It is my purpofe in the following Eflay
to honour and defcribe the chief maker of
Scotland ; to fhew the fuperiority of his
genius, to do juftice to his character as
a ma'n, and to illuftrate his merit as
an author, by exhibiting examples of
them all.
I {hall begin with a quotation from
Samuel Johnfon's Preface to Thomfon's
Poems, becaufe k is well exprefled, and
will furniih a good text for illuftrating
the genius of the poet ; though it is evi-
dent from Johnfon's verfes, that he him-
felf was very far from being a maker.
In the counterpoint (as I may call it)
. f poetry he was a mafter ; but of the
grounds and melodies he was incapable.
What
LIFE OF THOMSON, 179
What then is to/If , but the internal powers
A dive, and ftrong, and feelingly alive
To each fine impulfe ? a difcerning fenfe
Of decent and fublime, with quick difguft
From things deform'd, or disarranged, or grofa
In fpecies ? This, nor' gems, nor ftores of gold,
Nor purple (late, nor culture can beftow;
But God alone, when firft his active hand
Imprints the fecret bias of the foul.
Pleafures of the Imag. b. iii. v. 51 j.
" Thomfon's mode of thinking and of
expreffing his thoughts (writes Johnfon)
is original. His blank verfe is no
more the blank verfe of Milton, or of
any other poet, than the rhymes of
Prior are the rhymes of Cowley. His
numbers, his paufes, his di&ion, are of
his own growth, without tranfcription,
without imitation. He thinks in a pe-
culiar train, and he thinks always as a
man of genius ; he looks round on na-
ture and on life with the eye which na-
3 turc
i So % ESSAY ON THE
ture beftows only on a poet; the eye
that diftinguimes, in every thing prefented
to its view, whatever there is on which
imagination can delight to be detained,
and with a mind that at once compre-
hends the vaft, and attends to the minute.
" The reader of the Seafons wonders
that he never faw before what Thomfon
mews him, and that he never yet has felt
what Thomfon imprefles."
It was emphatically faid by the greateft
of men to his audience, when he was
explaining the vital principles of holinefs,
" He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!"
So it is needlefs to mufter up a legion of
words to infufe the knowledge of what
conftitutes a genuine poet. The genius
of a poet will bear witnefs to itfelf. Po-
etry is the flower of fentiment, and mufic
is its odour ; fo that what is faid of the
one is proportionably applicable to the
other ;
LIFE OF THOMSON. 1 8 f
other; and RoufTeau's defcription of ge-
nius in mufic will be found equally juft
in the one as in the other. " Seek not
to know what is genius ; if thou haft it,
thy feelings will tell thee what it is ; if
thou haft it not, thou never wilt know
it."& c .
Yet as the chafte enjoyment of beauty,
and the juft perception of the fymmetiy
and picturefque perfection of nature, is
in the higheft degree conducive to the
fenfe and practice of virtue, it is of high
jnoment to enquire what kind of culture
is moft friendly to the attainment of tafte,
which is the handmaid of genius.
May it not be rationally fuppofed, that,
without any predifpofmg circumftances
in the bodily frame, a child will receive
the impreflions that are moft conducive
to that glorious combination of them
6 (which,
1 82 ESSAY ON THE
(which, when matured to permanent
thought, we call genius) in the country,
more readily than in towns or villages,
where every thing is too complex for
their underftanding ?
Will not an education lefs artificial,
and tending more to fpontaneous con-
templation of natural objects, be more
favourable to its attainment than the con-
trary ? And would it not be proper to
allow children to feed more upon their
own thoughts than on the thoughts and
inftructions of others ?
Would it not be better to have lefs
myftery and technical inftitution in in-
fancy and youth, and more natural know-
ledge and fentiment than we fee exhibited
in fchools and private tuition? And laftly,
would it not be better to beftow more
time in forming philofophers and citizens,
than
LIFE OF THOMSON. 183
than in training up fchoolmafters and
milliners? But here I ftop. Thomfon
patted his infancy and early youth in the
picturefque and pafloral country of Ti-
viotdale in Scotland, which is full of the
elements of natural beauty, wood, water,
eminence and rock, with intermixture
of rich and beautiful meadow. The ho-
rifon was bounded by the Cheviot, a land
of fong and of heroic achievement ; the
venerable ruins of Jedburgh, Dryburgh,
Kelfo, and Melrofe, were at hand, to add
fuitable impreflions to the whole.
His mother had been well educated,
was a woman of uncommon fenfibility,
and endowed with fublime affections.
He was cherifhed by Sir William
Bennet, at Chefters, near Jedburgh, the
moft accomplifhed country gentleman in
that part of Scotland, Every thing un-
doubtedly
i <5 4 ESSAY ON THE
doubtedly confpired to attune the genius
of Thomfon to fentiment and fong.
" He afk'd no more than fimple nature gave,
.*' He lov'd the mountains, and enjoy'd their ftorms;
" No falfe defires, no pride-created wants
" Difturb'd tne peaceful current of his time,
" And through the reftlefs, ever-tortur'd maze
"Of pleafure or ambition, bid it rage."
It is believed that, at Dryburgh, with
Mr. Kaliburton, of New-mains, a friend
of his father's, he firft tuned his Doric
reed, to which he alludes in his Autumn :
" Wafh'd lovelyfrom theTweed(pure parent ftream\
" Whofe paftoral banks firft heard my Doric reed.
Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto (too), after-
wards Lord Juftice Clerk, a man of ele-
gant tafte, was kind to young Thomforr.
Thomfon fent him a copy of the firf!
edition of his Seafons, which Sir Gilbert
{hewing
LIFE OF THOMSON. 185
fhewing to a relation of the poet's who
was gardener at Minto, he took the book,
which was finely bound, into his hands,
and having turned it round and round, and
gazed on it for fome time, Sir Gilbert
faid to him, " Well, David, what do you
think of James Thomfon now ? There's
a book that will make him famous all
over the world, and his name immortal 1"
" Indeed, Sir," faid David, " that is a
grand book ! I did not think the lad had
had ingenuity enough to have done fuch
a neat piece of handicraft."
Striking example of the effects of fitu-
ation and culture upon tafte and fenti-
ment !
That Thomfon's youth was refpecl:-
able appears from the countenance he
received
1 86 ESSAY ON THE
received from Meflfrs. Riccalton and Guft-
hart j and the continued attentions of the
latter to the children of Mrs. Thomfon
reflect honour upon his memory, ana>
excite fentiments in the feeling heart
that deferve to be meditated and revolved:
and I hope I am not writing for Chinefe
pedlars, with fteel-yards at their button-
holes, but to men and women who have
ftill fomething in them that preceded the
corruption of our commonwealth !
Thomfon, having been encouraged by
Lady Grizel 'Bail lie to try his fortunes
in London, embarked at Leith in the
autumn of the year 1725, bedewed with
the tears of his amiable and affectionate
mother^the heart-felt recollection of which
produced on her death, which happened not
long after, the following unpremeditated
but
LIFE OF THOMSON. 187
but beautiful verfes, which, though not
prepared for the prefs, I have given from,
a copy in the author's own hand-writing.
ON THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER *.
From an original, in ,the Poets own hand-ivriting, in
the collection of the Earl of Buchan.
YE fabled mufes, I your aid difclaim,
Your airy raptures, and your fancied flame :
True genuine woe my throbbing breaft infpires,
Love prompts my lays, and filial duty fires. ;
The foul fprings inftant at the warm defign,
And the heart dictates every flowing line.
See ! where the kindeft, bed of mothers lies,
And death has mut her ever-weeping eyes ;
Has lodg'd at lail peace in her weary breaft,
And lull'd her many piercing cares to reft.
No more the orphan train around her (lands,
While her full heart upbraids her needy hands !
* Elizabeth Trotter, of a genteel family in the neigh-
bourhood of Grecnlaw io Berwickfhire.
Qj> No
i88 ESSAY ON THE
No more the widow's lonely fate me feels,
The (hock fevere that modeft want conceals,
Th' oppreflbr's fcourge, the fcorn of wealthy pride,
And poverty's unnumber'd ills befide.
For fee ! attended by th' angelic throng,
Through yonder worlds of light flie glides along,
And claims the well earn'd raptures of the fky.
Yet fond concern recalls the mother's eye ;
She feeks the helplefs orphans left behind ;
So hardly left t fo bitterly rcfign'd !
Still, ftill ! is fhe my foul's divineft theme,
The waking vifion, and the wailing dream :
Amid the ruddy fun's enliv'ning blaze
O'er my dark eyes her dewy image plays,
And in the dread dominion of the night
Shines out again the fadly pleafmg fight.
Triumphant virtue all around her darts,
And more than volumes ev'ry look imparts
Looks, foft, yet awful, melting, yet fcrene,
Where both the mother and the faint are feen.
But ah hthat night that torturing night remains j
May darknefs dye it with its deepeft ftains,
May joy on it forfake her rofy bow'rs,
And fcreaming forrow blaft its baleful hours,
When
LIFE OF THOMSON. 189
When on the margin of the briny flood *
Chill'd with a fad prefaging damp I ftood,
Took the laft look, ne'er to behold her more,
And mix'd our murmurs with the wavy roar,
Heard the laft words fall from her pious tongue,
Then, wild into the bulging vefTel flung,
Which foon, too foon convey'd me from her fight.
Dearer than life, and liberty and light !
Why was I then, ye powers, referv'd for this ?
Nor funk that moment in the vaft abyfs ?
Devour'd at once by the relentlefs wave,
And whelm 'd for ever in a wat'ry grave ?
Down, ye wild wimes of unruly woe !
I fee her with immortal beauty glow,
The early wrinkle care-contracted gone,
Her tears all wiped, and all her forrows flown ;
Th' exalting voice of Heav'n I hear her breathe,
To footh her foul in agonies of death.
I fee her through the manfions bleft above,
And now me meets her dear expecting love.
Heart-cheering fight ! but yet, alas ! o'erfpread
By the damp gloom of Grief's uncheerful made,
* On the fhore of Leith, when he embarked for
London.
Come
i go ESSAY ON THE
Come then of reafon the reflecting hour,
And let me truft the kind o'er-ruling Power,
Who from the right commands the fhining day,
The poor man's portion, and the orphan's (lay !
THOMSON'S ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF AIKMAN, THE
PAINTER *.
From a MS. of the Authors oivn band-writing in the
collection of the Earl of Buchan.
OH could I draw, my friend, thy genuine mind,
Juft, as the living forms by thee defign'd,
Of Raphael's figures none fliould fairer mine,
Nor Titian's colours longer laft than mine.,
A mind
* Mr. Aikman died at London, on the 7th of June,
O. S. 1731, from whence his remainswere fent to Scotland,
and interred in the Gray-Friars church-yard, clofe by
thofe of his only fon, who had been buried only a few
months before.
\
Mr. Aikman was the fon of William Aikman of Cairny,
Efq. (fheriff depute of Forfarfhire, a lawyer of eminence,
and
LIFE OF THOMSON. 191
A mind in wifdom old, in lenience young,
From fervent truth where every virtue fprung j
Where all was real, modeft, plain, fincere ;
Worth above {how, and goodnefs unfevere :
View'd round and round, as. lucid diamonds throw
Still as you turn them a revolving glow ;
So did his mind reflect with fecret ray,
In various virtues, heav'n's internal day,
Whether in high difcourfe it foar'd fublime,
And fprung impatient o'er the bounds of Time, .
and in nomination for ajudge's gown at the time of his
death) by Margaret, filler of Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik,
Baronet.
He was borr^ on the 24th of October 1682, and was
educated by his parents with great care, and deftined for
the profeffion of the law. Nature thought fit to defline
and fit him for another more elegant, not lefs liberal, and
certainly much more delightful. He went to Italy in the
year 1705, and returned to Britain in 1710, not only a
good painter, but an accomplifhed and agreeable man.
In the Gothic reigns of George I. and II. he could look
for nothing but money for ftarch heads and periwigs,
and ftarch heads and periwigs was he forced to delineate
and paint till his dying day. O che fciagura !
04 Or
192 ESSAY ON THE
Or wand'ring nature through with raptur'd eye,
Ador'd the hand that turn'd yon azure flcy :
Whether to focial life he bent his thought,
And the right poife of mingling naffions-, fought,
Gay converfe blefs'd ; or in the thoughtful grove
Bid the heart open every fource of love.
New varying lights ftill fet before your eyes
The juft, the good, the focial, or the wife.
For fuch a death who can, who would, refufe
The friend a tear, a verfe the mournful mufe ?
Tet pay we juft acknowledgment to Heaven,
Though fnatch'd fo foon, that Aikman e'er was
given.
A friend, -when dead, is but remov'dfromjight,
Hid in the lujlre df eternal light :
Oft 'with the mind hi "wonted converfe keeps
In the lone *walk, or luhen the bodyjleeps
Lets in a wand'ring ray, and all elate
Wings and attrafts her to another Jlate * ;
And when the parting Jlorms of life are o'er t
May yet rejoin him on a happier Jhore.
* This and the three preceding lines are not in the
MS. of Mrs. ^orbes Aikman.
As
LIFE OF THOMSON. 193
As thofe we love decay, we die in part,
String after firing is fever'd from the heart ;
Till loofen'd life at laft but breathing clay,
Without one pang, is glad to fall away.
Unhappy he who lateft feels the blow,
Whofe eyes have wept o'er ev'rv friend laid low,
Dragg'd ling'ring on from partial death to death,
And dying, all he can refign is breath.
SONG WRITTEN IN HIS EARLY YEARS, AND AFTER
WARDS SHAPED FOR HIS AMANDA,
From a MS. in the collection of the Earl of Buchan.
FOR ever, Fortune, wilt thou prove
An unrelenting foe to love ;
And when we meet a mutual heart,
Come in between and bid us part ;
Bid us figh on from day to day,
And wifh and wifh the foul away;
Till youth and genial years are ftown,
And all the life of life is gone ?
But bufy bufy ftill art thcu,
To bind the lovelefs joylefs vow,
ESSAY ON THE
The heart from pleafure to delude,
And join the gentle to the rude * ;
For pomp, and noife, and fenfelefs {how,
To make us nature's joys forego,
Beneath a gay dominion groan,
And put the golden fetter on !
To DR. DE LA COUR, in IRELAND.
On his Profpeft of Poetry.
HAIL gently-warbling De la Cour, whofe fame,
Spurning Hibernia's folitary coaft,
Where fmall rewards attend the tuneful throng,
Pervades Britannia's well-difcerning ifle :
In fpite of all the gloomy-minded tribe
That would eclipfe thy fame, ftill mall the mufe,
High foaring o'er the tall Parnaffian mount
* For once, O Fortune ! hear my prayer,
And I abfolve thy future care :
All other blcffirtgs I refign, f
Make but the dear Amanda mine !
The original of this alfo, as prepared for his miflrefs,.
is in Lord Buchan's pofleffion.
With
LIFE OF THOMSON. 195
With fpreading pinions fmg thy wondrous praife,
In {trains attun'd to the feraphic lyre.
Sing unappall'd, though mighty be the theme !
O ! could (he in thy own harmonious (train,
Where fofteft numbers fmoothly flowing glide
In trickling cadence ; where the milky maze
Devolves in filence ; by the harfher found
Of hoarfer periods ftill unruffled, could
Her lines but like thine own Euphrates flow -
Then might {he fmg in numbers worthy thee.
But what can language do, when Fancy finds
Herfelf unequal to the lovely tafk ?
Can feeble words thy vivid colours paint,
Or (hew the fweets which inexhauftive flow ?
Hearken ye woods, and long-refounding groves ;
Liften ye flreams, foft purling thro' the meads,
And hymning horrid, all ye tempefts roar.
Awake, ye woodlands ! fmg, ye warbling larks,
In wildly lufcious notes ! But moft of all,
Attend, ye grateful fair, attend the youth
Who fweetly fings of nature and of you :
From you alone his confcious bread expects
Its foft rewards, by fordid love of gain
Unbiafs'd, undebas'd ; to meaner minds
Belong
196 ESSAY ON THE
Belong fuch narrow views ; his nobler foul,
Tranfported with a gen'rous thirft of fame,
Sublimely rifes with expanded wings,
And through the lucid empyrean foars.
So the young eagle wings its rapid way
Thro'heaven'sbroad azure-; fometimesfp rings aloft,
Now drops, now cleaves with even-waving wings
The yielding air, nor feas nor mountains flop
Its flight impetuous, ga2ing at the fun
With irretorted eye, whilft he pervades
A tracklefs void, and unexplor'd before.
Long had the curious traveller flrove to find
The ruins of afpiring Babylon
In vain for nought the niceft eye could trace
Save one wide, wat'ry, undiftinguifh'd wafte :
But you with more than magic art have rais'd
Semiramis's city from its grave j
You have revers'd the fcripture curfe, which faid,
Dragons mall here inhabit ; in your page
"V^e view the rifing fpires ; the hurried eye
Diftracted wanders through the verdant maze;
In middle air the pendent gardens hang,
Tremendous ceiling ! whilfl no folar beam
> alls cm the Icjigthen'd gloom beneath ; the woods
Project
LIFE OF THOMSON. 197
Project above a fteep-alluring (hade ;
The finim'd garden opens to the view
Wide-ftretching viftas, while the whifp'ring wind-
Dimples along the breezy-ruffled lake.
Now every tree irregular, and bufts
Are prodigal of harmony : the birds
Frequent th' aerial wood, and nature blumes,
Aiham'd to find herfelf outdone by art :
Thefe and a thoufand beauties could I fing,
Collecting like the ever-toiling bee
From yonder mingled wildernefs of flow'rs
The aromatic fweets ; while you, great youth !
O'er thy decaying country chief prefide ;
Be thou her genius call'd, infpire her youth
With noble emulation, to arrive
At Helicon's fair font, which few, alas !
Save you, have tafted of Hibernian youth,
Thy country, tho' corrupted, brought thee forth,
And deem'd her greateft ornament j and now
Regards thee as her brighten, northern ftar.
Long may you reign as fuch; and fliould grimTime,
With iron teeth, deprive us of our Pope,
Then we'll tranfplant thy blooming laurels frefh
From your bleak fhorc to Albion's happier coafl.
198 ESSAY ON THE
Tbomfons Letter to Mr. George Rofs *.
London, November 6th, 1736.
DEAR Ross,
I OWN I have a good deal of aflurance,
after afking one favour of you, never to
anfwer your letter till I aik another. But
not to mince the matter, and all apologies
apart, hearken to my requeft My fitters
have been advifed by their friends to fet
up at Edinburgh a little milliner's mop ;
and if you can conveniently advance to
them twelve pounds, on my account, it
will be a .particular favour. That will
fet them a-going, and I defign from time
to time to fend them goods from hence.
My whole account I will pay you when
you come up here, not in poetical paper
* From an original in Lord Buchan's collection.
credit,
LIFE OF THOMSON. 199
credit, but in the folid money of this dirty
world. I will not draw upon you, in
cafe you be not prepared to defend your-
felf ; but if your purfe be valiant, pleafe
to enquire for Jean or Elizabeth Thomfon,
at the Reverend Mr. Gufthart's ; and if
this letter be not a fufncient teftimony
of the debt, I will fend you whatever
you defire.
It is late, and I would not lofe this
poft. Like a laconic man of bufmefs,
therefore, I -muil here flop fhort ; though
I have feveral things to impart to you,
and, through your canal, to the deareft,
trueft, heartieft youth that treads on
Scottifh ground. The next letter I write
you (hall be wafhed clean from bufmefs
in the Caftalian fountain.
I am whipping and fpurring to finifh
a tragedy for you this winter, but am
7 ftill
200 ESSAY ON THE
ftill at fome diftance from the goal, which
makes me fear being diftanced. Re-
member me to all friends, and above
them all to Mr. Forbes. Though my
affection to him is not fanned by letters,
yet is it as high as when I was his brother
in the virtu, and played at chefs with him
in a poft-chaife.
I am, dear Rofs,
Moft fmcerely and affectionately yours,
JAMES THOMSON.
to Mr. George Rofs.
London, Jan. 12, 1737.
, DEAR SIR,
HAVING ben entirely in the country
of late, finimmg my play, I did not re-
ceive- yours till fome days ago. It was
kind in you not to draw rafhly upon me,
which at prefent had put me into danger:
but
LIFE OF THOMSON. 201
but very foon (that is to fay, about two
months hence) I fhall have a golden
buckler, and you may draw boldly.*
My play * is received in Drury-lane
play-houfe, and will be put into my lord
chamberlain's or his deputy's hands to-
morrow. May we hope to fee you this
winter, and to have the afliftance of your
hands, in cafe it is ated ? What will be-
come of you ? I am afraid the creepy f
and you will be acquainted. Forbes, I
hope, is cheerful, and in good health.
Shall we never fee him ? or mail I go to
him before he comes to us ? I long to fee,
him, in order to play out that game of
chefs which we left unfinifhed. Re-
member me kindly to him, with all the
* Agamemnon.
j- Stool, vtfed in the Scotch churches for doing
penanee-
R zealous
202= ESSAY ON THE
zealous truth of old friendmip. Pettie *
came here two or three days ago : I havf
not yet feen the round man of God to
be. He is to be parfonified a few days
hence. How a gown and caflbck wiH
become him I and with what a holy leer
he will edify the devout females ! There
is no doubt of his having a call ; for he
is immediately to enter upon a tolerable
Jiving. God grant him more, and as
fat as himfelf. It rejoices me to fee one
worthy, honeft, excellent man raifed, at
leaft to an independency. Pray make
* Rev- Mr. Patrick Murdoclij the oily man of
God of the Caftle of Indolence.
*' A little, round, fat, oily man of
" Was one I chiefly mark'd among die fry 5.
ft He had a roguifh twinkle in his eye,
* And (hone all glittering with unholy dewy
*' If a tight damfcl chaunc'd to trippen by.'*
LIFE OF THOMSON. 103
ifty compliments to my Lord Prefident *
and all friends. I fhall be glad to hear
more at large from you. Juft now I
am with the alderman, who wifhes you
all happinefs, and defires his fervice to
Jock. Believe me to be
Ever mod affectionately yours,
JAMES THOMSON.
"Thomfon to Mr. Lyttelton^ afterwards
Lord Lyttelton.
London, July I4th, 1743-
DEAR SIR,
I HAD the pleafure of yours fome
pofts ago, and have delayed anfwering it
hitherto, that I might be able to deter-
mine when I could have the happinefs of
waiting upon you.
Hagley is the place in England I moft
defire to fee ; I imagine it to be greatly
-* Prefident Forbes.
R 2 delightful
264 S 3 A t ON THE
delightful in itfelf, and I know it to be
fo to the higheft degree by the company
it is animated with.
Some reafons prevent my waiting upon,
you immediately ; but if you will be fo
good as let me know how long you de-
fign to flay in the country, nothing mall
hinder me from paffing three weeks or'
* month with you before yon leave it.
As this will fall in autumn, I mall like
it the better, for I think that feafon of
the year the moft pleafing,. and the moft
poetical. The fpirits are not then; difll-
pated with th,e gaiety of ipfing, and the
glaring light of fummer, bur compofed
into a ferious and tempered joy. The
year is perfect. In the mean time I will
go on with corrd&ing the Seafons, and
Jiope to carry down more than one of*
them with me. The mules, whom you
obligingly fay I fhall bring along with
me,
LIFE OP THOMSON-. 205
me, I mall find with you the mufcs
of the great fimple country, not the little,
fine-lady mufes of Richmond-hill.
I have lived fo long in the neife, or
at leaft the diftant din of the town, that
I begin to forget what retirement is;
with you I fhall enjoy it in its higheft
elegance, and pureft fimplicity. The
mind will not only be foothed into peace,
but enlivened into harmony. My compli-
ments attend all at Hagley, and partial*-
Jarly her * who gives it charms to you 1
it never had before.
Believe me to be ever,
With the greateft refped,
Moft affedionately yours,
JAMES THOMSON.
* Lucy Fortefcue, daughter of Hugh Fortefcue,
Efq. of Filleigh, in the county of Devon, married
R 3 *
xo6 ESSAY ON T # E
Thorn/on s Letter to his Sifter, Mrs. Jean
) at Lanark.
Hagley, in "Worcefterfliire,
October 4th, 1747.
MY DEAR SISTER,
I THOUGHT you had known me
better than to interpret my iilence into a
decay
to Mr. Lyttelton in the year 1 742, whofe amiable
qualities, exemplary conduct, and uniform practice
of religion and virtue, rendered her the delight and
regret of all her acquaintance. She died in the
beginning of the year 1 746, in the apth year of her
age, leaving her hufband one fon, Thomas, the
late Lord Lyttelton, and a daughter, Lucy, married
in the year 1765 to Lord Valentia. Who has not
feen and wept over the beautiful monody confe-
crated to her memory by the good Lord Lyttelton ?
If there is a living foul that has read it without
emotion, \ envy not their condition upon a throne.
It
LIFE OF THOMSON, 207
decay of affe&ion, efpecially as your be-
haviour has always been fuch as rather to
increafe than to diminifh it. Don't ima-
gine, becaufe I am a bad correfpondent,
that I can ever prove an unkind friend and
brother. I muft do myfelf the juftice to.
It is full of every thing that gives dignity to man.
Her epitaph at Hagley is lefs known.
" Made to engage all hearts, and charm all eyes,
" Tho' meek, magnanimous ; tho' witty, wife J
" Polite, as all her life in courts had been ;
" Yet good, as me the world had never fccn c
** The noble fire of an exalted mind
" With gentled female tendernefs combin'd.
*' Her fpeech was the melodious voice of love ;
" Her fong, the warbling of the vernal grorc j
" Her eloquence was fweeter than her fong,
* Soft as her heart, and as her reafon ftrong.
" Her form each beauty of her mind exprefs'd ;
<* Her mind was rirtue, by the Graces drefs'd..
tell
R 4
x>S ESSAY ox THE
tell you, that my affections are naturally
very fixed and conftant; and if I had
ver reafon of complaint againft you (of
which, by the bye, I have not the leaft
ftiadow), I am confcious of fo many de-
feds in myfelf, as difpofe me to be not a
little charitable and forgiving.
It gives me the trueft heartfelt fatif-
fadtion to hear you have a good kind
hufband, and are in eafy contented cir-
cumftances : but were they otherwife, that
would only awaken and heighten my ten-
dernefs towards you. As our good and
tender-hearted parents did not live to
receive any material teftimonies of that
higheft human gratitude I owed them
(than which nothing could have given
me more pleafure)^ the only return I can
make them now, is by kindnefs to thofe
thej
LIFE OF THOMSON. 205
they left behind them. Would to God
poor Lizzy* had lived longer, to be a far-
ther witnefs of the truth of what I fay,
and that I might have had the pleafure of
feeing
* Elizabeth, married to Mr. Bell, mother of the
jprefent Dr. Bell, re&or of the parifh of Coldftream^
in Berwickfhire, a gentleman who pofTefles much
of the worth and genius of his uncle, and who is
now employed in preparing a new and collate4
edition of Thomfon's Works, with a more correct
account of his life than has hitherto appeared ; in
"which pious work I have done myfelf the honour
to afford fome little afliftance in the collection of
materials. To this edition it is propofed to prefix
an engraving from the poet's buft in Weftminfter
Abbey, and another from the iketch of a monument
drawn by Mr. Hicky, which was tranfmitted to th
Earl of Buchan by Sir Jofhua Reynolds.
The text of this new edition for the Seafons it
intended to be that in 4to. of the year 1730, in
which Autumn made its firft appearance : the addi-
tions
2io ESSAY ON THE
feeiog once more a fitter who fo truly
dcferved my efteem and love. But me is
happy, while we muft toil a little longer
here below : let us however do it cheer-
fully and gratefully, fupported by the
pleafmg hope of meeting yet again on a
fafer more, where to recollect the ftorms
and difficulties of life will not perhaps be
inconfiftent with that blifsful ftate. You
did right to call your daughter by her
name, for you muft needs have had a
tions and alterations to be printed in italics. The
following is a ftatement of the additional lines made
to the Seafons after that edition :
lines
To Spring 85
Summer - - 599
j Autumn - - 96
Winter - - 188
968
particular
LIFE OF THOMSON. 211
particular tender fricndmip for one an-
other, endeared as you were by nature, by
having pafled the affectionate years of your
youth together, and by that great foftener
and engager of hearts, mutual hardfhip.
That it was in my power to eafe it
a little, I account one of the moft ex-
quifite pleafures of my life. But enough
of this melancholy, though not unpleaf-
ing ftrain.
I efteem you for your fenfible and
difmterefted advice to Mr. Bell, as you
will fee by my letter to him : as I approve
entirely of his marrying again, you may
readily afk me, why I don't marry at all ?
My circumftances have hitherto been fo
variable and uncertain in this fluctuating
world, as induce to keep me from engag-
ing in fuch a ftate; and now, though
they are more fettled, and of late (which
you
112, ESSAY ON YHK
you will be glad to hear) confiderably im-
proved, I begin to think myfelf too far
advanced in life for fuch youthful under-
takings, not to mention fome other petty
reafons that are apt to ftartle the delicacy
of difficult old bachelors. I am, however,
not a little fufpicious, that was I to pay a
vifit to Scotland (which I have fome
thoughts of doing foon), I might poflibly
be tempted to think of a thing not eafily
repaired if done amifs. / have always
been of 'opinion , that none make better wives
than the ladies of Scotland ; and yet who
more forfaken than they, while the gen-
tlemen are continually running abroad all
the world over ? Some of them, it is true,
are wife enough to return for a wife.
You fee I am beginning to make intereft
already with the Scots ladies. But no
more of this infectious fubjecl:. Pray let
5
.LIKE OP THOMSON.
me hear from you now and then ; and
though I am not a regular correfpondent,
yet perhaps I may mend in that refpeft.
Remember me kindly to your hufband %
and believe me to be
Your moil affectionate brother,
JAMES THOMSON.
(Addreflfed) To Mrs. Thomfon, in Lanark.
BUT
* Mr. Thomfon was relof of the grammas
fcnool at Lanark, and from him, or Mrs. Thomfon,
Mr. Bofwell obtained a copy of the original of thig
letter, which original is now in the poflelfion of
Mr. James Craig, architect, Thomfon's youngeft
filter's fon, who is likewife porTefled of copies of
Thomfon's juvenile poems, of his fnuff-box, and
feal of arms, which hung at his watch, and of hia
riginal portrait painted by Hudfon, for Mr. Millar,
{he bookfeller, which was prefented to him by Lady
Grant, firft married to that worthy friend of the
poet's,
214 s S A Y ON THE
BUT the higheft encomium of Thom-
foa is to be given him on account of his at-
tachment to the caufe of political and civil
liberty. A free conftitution of, govern-
ment, or what I would beg leave to call
the autocracy of the people, is the panacea
of moral difeafes, and after having been
fought for in vain for ages, has been dif-
covered in the bofom of truth, on the
right hand of common fenfe, and at the
feet of philolbphy ; the printing prefs has
been the difpenfary, and half the world
poet's, and was a daughter of Johnfon, the engraver
to the Bank of Scotland.
Lord Buchan prefented to Mr. Craig the plafler
of Paris caft of the buft of Thomfon, which was
intended to have been crowned on Ednam-Hill, and
he gave a Iketch for a monument to the memory of
his uncle for that confpicuous fituation.
have
LIFE OF THOMSON. i$
become voluntary patients of this
healing remedy.
It is glorious for Thomfon's memory
that he fhould have defcribed the platform
of a perfect government, as Milton de-
fcribed the platform of a perfect garden
the one in the midft of Gothic inftitutions
of feudal origin, and the other in the
midft of clipped yews and fpouting lions.
Eighteen years after Thomfon's death
the late Lord Chatham agreed with me in
making this remark ; and when I faid,
" But, Sir, what will become of poor Eng-
land, that doats on the imperfedtions of
her pretended conftitution ?" he replied,
K My dear Lord, the gout will difpofe of
me foon enough to prevent me from feel-
ing the confequences of this infatuation :
but before the end of this century either
the parliament will reform itfelf from
within,
2i6 ESSAY ON THE
within, or be reformed with a vengeance
from without." Pythonick fpeech,fpeedily
to be verified !
' Should then the times arrive (which Heaven avert!)
** That Britons bend unnevv'd, not by the force
" Of arms, more generous, and more manly, quellM,
* But by corruption 's foul-dejefting arts,
" Arts impudent, and grofs ! by their own gold,
*' /// part beilow'd to bribe them to give all :
*< With party raging, or imrneiVd mjlotb,
* Should Jlamelefs pens for fly corruption plead;
" The hired affaflms of the commonweal !
That nation fhall another Carthage be."
Tritons \ be firm ! nor let corruption fly
Twine round your hearts indiflbluble chains *
The fteel of Brutus buril the grofler bonds
By Cxfar caft o'er Rome ; bui Hill remain'd
The foft enchanting fetters of the mind,
And other C&fars rofe. Determin'd hold
Your I^DEPtKDANCE j for, that once deftroy'd,
Unfounded,
LIFE OF THOMSON. 217
Unfounded, FREEDOM is a morning dream,
That flits aerial from the fpreading eye.
No wonder that, when the brutal John-
fon tried to read liberty when it firil ap-
peared, he foon delifted, when Johnfon's
countrymen try to read France's liberty,
and defift !
" Pudet hsec opprobria nobis, et dici potuific,
Et non potuifle refelli !
Though I have riot the tranfcenderit
honour of being a member of the Britifh
parliament, let not the powerful defpife
my fayings I am the voice of one cry-
ing in the wildernefs of politics Make
Jlraigbt your ways, for the empire of dc-
lujton is at an end.
Tbomfo
'on
ai8 ESSAY ON THE
'Tbomfon to Mr. Paterfon, of the Leeward
I/lands*.
DEAR PATERSON,
IN the firft place, and previoufly to my
letter, I muft recommend to your favour
and protection, Mr. James Smith, fearcher
* Mr. Paterfon, a companion of Thomfon, after-
wards his deputy as furveyor general of the Lee-
ward Iflands, and his fucceflbr in the office, ufed
to write out fair copies of his works, feveral of
which are in my collection. This gentleman, as
Murdoch informs us, courted the Tragic Mufe, and
wrote a piece in that line, with Arminius for its
hero.
When he prefented it to the manager of Drury-
lane play-houfe, the hand-writing of Edward and
Eleonora being immediately recognifed, it was
fcouted, and he was? glad to fell it for a trifle to
a good-natured bookfeller.
Murdoch's Life of Thomfon.
IB,
LIFE OF THOMSON. 219
in St. Chriftopher's, and I beg of you, as
occafion fhall ferve, and as you find he
merits it, to advance him in the bufmefs
of the cuftoms. He is warmly recom-
mended to me by Sargent, who in verity
turns out one of the befl men of our
youthful acquaintance, honeft, honour-
able, friendly, and ' generous. If we are
not to oblige one another, life becomes
a paltry felfiih affair, a pitiful morfel in
a corner ! Sargent is fo happily married,
that I could almoft fay, the fame cafe
happen to us all.
That I have not anfwered feveral letters
of yours, is not owing to the want of
friendmip, and the fincereft regard for
you ; but you know me well enough to
account for my filence, without my fay-
ing any more upon that head ; befides, I
have very little to fay, that is worthy to
82 be
220 ESSAY ON THE
be tranfmitted over the great ocean. The
world either futilifes* fo much, or we
grow fo dead to it, that its tranfadions
make but a feeble impreffion on us. f Re-
tirement and nature are more and more
my paffion every day ; and now, even
now, the charming time comes on :
heaven is juft upon the point, or rather
in the very act, of giving earth a green
gown. The voice of the nightingale is
heard in our lane J.
You
* A verb coined by Thomfon from the adjetlive
futile.
f On this account it has been fuggefted, that the
moft proper monument for Thomfon would be a
modeft Doric portico, adjoining to a cottage (lored
with the beft books on natural hiftory, to be kept
by fome of the poet's poor relations, with a falary.
$. The bird-catchers about London generally
obferve the fong of the nightingale in the firft or
fecond
LIFE OF THOMSON. 221
You muft know that I have enlarged
my rural domain much to the fame di-
menfions you have done yours the two
fields next to me ; from the firft of which
I have walled no, no, paled in about
as much as my garden confifted of before;
fo that the walk runs round the hedge,
where you may figure me walking any
time of the day, and fometimes under
night. For you, I imagine you reclining
under cedars and palmettos, and there
enjoying more magnificent (lumbers than
are known to the pale climates- of the
fecond week of April. This letter of Thomfon's
having no date, it is impoffible to determine exa&ly
from circumflances when it was written ; but as
the firing began at Maeftricht in the firft week, it
may be guefled that the letter was written about
the middle of the month, fince he fpeaks in the clofe
of the letter of the news of the fiege being frefli.
S 3 north ;
222 ESSAY 6N THE
north ; {lumbers rendered awful and
divine, by the folemn ftillnefs and deep
fervors of the torrid noon. At other
times I imagine you drinking punch in
groves of lime or orange trees, gathering
pine apples from hedges as commonly
as we may blackberries, poetifmg under
lofty laurels, or making love under full-
fpread myrtles. But to lower my ftyle
a little as I am fuch a genuine lover of
gardening, why don't you remember me
in that inftance, and fend me fome feeds
of things that might fucceed here during
the fummer, though they cannot perfect
their feeds fufficiently in this, to them,
ungenial climate, to propagate ? in the
which cafe is the calliloo j that, from the
feed it bore here, produced plants puny,
ricketty, and good for nothing. There
are other things certainly with you, not
yet
LIFE OF THOMSON. 223
yet brought over hither, that might flou-
rifh here in the fummer-time, and live
tolerably well, provided they were fhel-
tered during the winter in a green-houfe.
You will give me no fmall pleafure,
by fending me, from time to time, fome
of thefe feeds, if it were no more than to
amufe me in making the trial *.
* The amufements of Thomfon were chiefly the
contemplation of nature, the ftudy of natural hif-
tory as a fcience, voyages and travels, and the phi-
lofophy of civil hiftory ; of which laft he has given
an excellent fpecimen in his Liberty, as he has of
the firft in his Seafons and Caftle of Indolence.
Gardening, except in the ftiff ornamental ftyle of
Holland, had made but little progrefs in England
in the days of Thomfon. There were no Curtife?,
Aytouns, or Forfythes, ftill lefs any Wheatlys or
Walpoles. Philip Miller, the author of the Gar-
dener's Dictionary, was almoft the only man who
could be of ufe to Thomfon in his researches.
S 4 With
224 ESSAY ON THE
With regard to the brother gardeners,
you ought to know, that, as they are half
vegetables, the animal part of them will
neyer have fpirit enough to confent to the
tranfplanting of the vegetable into diftant
dangerous climates : they, happily for
themfelves, have no other idea but to dig
on here, eat, drink, fleep, and kifs their
wives.
As to more important bufmefs, I have
nothing to write to you. You know befl
the courfe of it. Be (as you always muft
be) juft and honeft ; but if you are un-
happily romantic, you mall come home
without money, and write a tragedy on
yourfelf. Mr. Lyttelton told me that the
Grenvilles and he had ftrongly recom-
mended the perfon the governor and you
propofed for that confiderable office, lately
fallen vacant in your department, and that
there
LIFE OF THOMSON. 225
there were good hopes of fucceeding. He
told me alfo that Mr. P. had faid it was not
to be expected that offices fuch as that is,
for which the greateft intereft is made here
at home, could be accorded to your recom-
mendation : but that, as to the middling
or inferior offices, if there was not fome
particular reafon to the contrary, regard
would be had thereto. This is all that
can be reafonably defired ; and if you are
not infected with a certain Creolean dif-
temper (whereof I am perfuaded your
foul will utterly refill the contagion) as I
hope your body will that of their natural
ones), there are few men fo capable of that
unperimable happinefs, that peace and fa-
tisfadion of mind that proceed from being
reafonable and moderate in our defires, as
you are. Thefe are the treafures, dug from
an inexhauftible mine in our own breafts ;
which
226 ESSAY ON THE
which, like thofe in the kingdom of hea-
ven, the ruft of time cannot corrupt, nor
thieves break through and fteal. I muft
learn to work at this mine a little more,
being ftruck off from a certain hundred
pounds a year which you know I had.
Weft, Mallet, and I were all routed in one
day. If you would know why out of
refentmentto our friend* in Argyll-ftreet.
Yet
* George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton. Whether
we contemplate the character of this worthy man in
public or private life, we are juflified in affirming that
he abounded in virtues not only fufficient to create
reverence and efteem, but to excite the affectionate
remembrance of all who had the honour and plea-,
fure of his acquaintance. " His wit was nature by
" the Graces dreft"
" His was the large ambitious wifli,
" To make men blefl ; the figh for fuffering worth
' Loil in obfcurity ; the noble fcorn
"Of
LIFE OF THOMSON. 227
Yet I have hopes given me of having it
reftored with intereft, fome time or other.
Ah ! that fome time or other is a great de-
ceiver. Coriolanus has not yet appeared
upon the ftage, from the little dirty jea-
loufy of Tullus * I mean of him who
was defired to ad Tullus towards him f
" Of tyrant pride ; the fearlefs great refolve,
" TV awaken'd throb for virtue and for fame,
" The fympathies of love ad friendfliip dear ;
" With all the focial offspring of the heart."
* Garrick.
f Quin. Thofewho wifh to amufe themfelveswith
the broils of the theatre may confult Davies's Dra-
matic Mifcellanies, and his Life of Garrick, for the
campaigns (as the theatricals are pleafed to call them)
of the winters 47 and 48. For my own part, I admire
the great Frederick of Pruffia, who coming to his con-
cert, and finding the muficians quarrelling, exclaimed
with a good-natured fmile " Arrangez vous, co-
quins."
who
228 ESSAY ON THE
who can alone act GoriolarmSi, Indeed,
the firil has entirely jockeyed the laft ofF
the ftage for this feafon ; but I believe he
will return on him next feafon, like a
giant in his wrath. Let us have a little
more patience, Paterfon; nay, let us be
cheerful. At laft all will be well ; at leaft
all will be over here I mean : God for-
bid it mould be hereafter. But as fure
as there is a God, that will not be fo *.
Now that I am prating of myfelf, know
that after fourteen or fifteen years, the
Caftle of Indolence comes abroad in a
*~ It is pleafing to fee the laft expreffions of the
poet's confidence, that the form of the foul is eter-
nal 5 that great fpirits perifh not with the body.
There may be worthlefs vefiels, and there may be
Teflels fitted for deftruclion ; but of all that Heaven
has endowed with feelings to enjoy it, nothing fhall
be loft, and the King of Heaven fhall raife it up
again at the laft day \
t fort-
LIFE OF THOMSON. 229
fortnight *. It will certainly travel as far
as Barbadoes. You have an apartment in
it, as a night penfioner, which you may
remember I filled up for you during our
delightful party at North Ham. Will
ever thefe days return again ? Don't you
remember your eating the raw fifh that
was never caught ? All our friends are
* The Caftle of Indolence is the fined poem of
the kind in any language worthy of the ripened
tafte of Thomfon, and of a poliflied age.
O thou, whofe genius, powerful yet refin'd,
Whofe bard-like virtues, and confummate fkill
To touch the finer fprings that move the heart,
Join'd to whate'er the Graces could beftow,
And all Apollo's animating fire,
Gave thee with pleafmg dignity to mine
At once the friend, the ornament, and joy
Of Phcebus' fons permit a rural mufe,
Thus in thy words to hail thy honour'd made !
Thus to proclaim thee to a downward age
The friend of virtue, liberty, and love.
pretty
230 ESSAY ON THE
pretty much in ftatu quo, except it be
poor Mr. Lyttelton. He has had the
fevereft trial an humane tender heart can
have * : but the old phyfician Time will
at laft clofe up his wounds, though there
muft always remain an inward fmarting.
Mitchel j~ is in the houfe for Aberdeen-
fhire, and has fpoken modeftly well : I
hope he will be in fomething elfe foon.
None deferves better : true friendfhip and
humanity dwell in his heart. Gray is
working hard at pafling his accounts. I
{poke to him about that affair. If he
* The death of his Lucy.
f Sir Andrew Mitchel of Thainftoun. Not a
word of exaggeration. He was an excellent man.
It is. needlefs for me to attempt faying any thing
about a man who was efteemed by Frederick the
Great, and beloved by his acquaintance and rela-
tions.
gives
LIFE OF THOMSON. 23 1
gives you any trouble about it, even that
of dunning, I fhall think of it ftrangely ;
but I dare fay he is too friendly to do it.
He values himfelf juftly upon being friend-
ly to his old friends, and you are among
the oldeft. Symmer is at laft tired of
quality, and is going to take a femi-
country houfe at Hammerfmith. I am
forry that honeft fenfible Warrender (who
is in town) feems to be ftunted in church
preferment. , He ought to be a tall cedar
in the houfe of the Lord. If he is not fo
at laft, it will add more fuel to my indig-
nation, that burns already too intenfely,
and throbs towards an eruption. Peter
Murdoch is in town, tutor to Admiral
Vernon's fon, and is in good hopes of
another living in Suffolk, that country of
tranquillity, where he will then burrow
himfelf
232 ESSAY ON THE
himfelf in a wife and be happy. Good-
natured obliging Millar is as ufual.
Though the Dodtor* increafes in his
bufmefs,
* Dolor Armftrong. Armftrong was a worthy
man, a good phyfician, and perhaps one of the beft
fcientific dida&ic poets in the world, as appears
from his poem on the Art of preferving Health.
Thomfon {ias defcribed his abfent moods in the
Caftle of Indolence, in the tenth ftanza:
" With him was fometimes join'd in filent walk,
" (Profoundly filent, for they never fpokc)
" <5ne fhyer ftill, who quite detefted talk ;
" Oft ftung by fpleen, at once away he broke,
" To groves of pine, and broad o'crfliadowing oak ;'
" There, inly thrill'd, he wander'd all alone,
" And on himfelf his penfive fury woke j
' He never utter'd word, fave when firft Hione
** The glittering ftar of eve Thank Heaven ! the da\
is done.'*
When the good Doftor was with the Britifh army
LIFE OF THOMSON. 233
bufmefs, he does not decreafe in fpleen ;
but there is a certain kind of fpleen, that
is both humane and agreeable, like Jacques
in the play. I fometimes have a touch of
it. But I muft break off this chat with
you about our friends, which, were I to
indulge it, would be endlefs As for poli-
tics we are I believe upon the brink of
a peace. The French at prefentare va-
pouring in the fiege of Maeftricht, at the
fame time they are mortally fick in their
marine, and through all the vitals of
France. It is a pity we cannot continue
the war a little longer, and put their ago-
nifmg trade quite to death. This fiege,
in Flanders, as furgeon or phyfician, he was taken
prifoner one day, taking what he called a flroll be-
yond the lines. I cannot but remember with high
pleafure that worthy character. He died September
30, 1779, much regretted by all who had the plea-
fure of his acquaintance.
T I take
234 ESSAY ON THE
I take it, they mean as their laft flourim
in the war. May your health, which
never failed you yet, ftill continue, till
you have fcraped together enough to re-
turn home, and live in fome fnug corner,
as happy as the Corycius Senex, in
Virgil's fourth Georgic, whom I recom-
mend both to you and myfelf as a perfect
model of the trueft happy life. Believe
me to be ever moft fincerely, and affec-
tionately,
Yours, &c.
JAMES THOMSON.
ODE
LIFE OF THOMSON. 235
ODE ON THE DEATH OF THOMSON.
BT MR. COLLINS.
The Scene on the Thames near Richmond.
I.
IN yonder grave a Druid lies,
Where flowly winds the dealing wave \
The year's beft fweets (hall duteous rife
To deck its poet's fylvan grave.
II.
In yon deep bed of whifp'ring reeds
His airy harp'* {hall now be laid,
That he, whofe heart in forrow bleeds,
May love thro' life the foothing (hade.
III.
Then maids and youths (hall linger here,
And while its founds at diftance fwell,
Shall fadly feem in pity's ear
To hear the woodland pilgrim's knell.
* The ./Eolian harp.
T 2 IV. Re-
$6 ESSAY ON THE
IV.
Remembrance oft flvall haunt the more
When Thames in fummer wreaths is dreft,
And oft fufpend the dafhing oar,
To bid his gentle fpirit reft !
V.
And oft, as eafe and health retire
To breezy lawn, or foreft deep,
The friend (hall view yon whitening * fpire,
And 'rriid the varied landfcape weep.
VI.
But thou, who own'fb that earthy bed,
Ah ! what will every dirge avail ;
Or tears, which love and pity fhed,
That mourn beneath the gliding fail !
VII.
Yet lives there one, xvhofe heedlefs eye
Shall fcorn thy pale fhrine glimm'ring near ?
* Richmond church, where Thomfon lies buried in the
north-weft corner of it, below the chriftening pew, without
a tablet or memorial to fay Here Thomfon lies.
With
LIFE OF THOMSON. 237
With him, fweet bard, may fancy die,
. And joy defert the blooming year.
VIII.
But thou, lorn ftream, whofe fallen tide
No fedge-crown'd fifters now attend,
Now waft me from the green hill's fide,
Whofe cold turf hides the buried friend !
IX.
And fee, the fairy valleys fade,
Dun night has veil'd the folemn view :
Yet once again, dear parted made,
Meek nature's child, again adieu !
X.
The genial meads aflign'd to blefs
Thy life, (hall mourn thy early doom ,
Their hinds and Ihepherd-girls mall drefs
With fimple hands thy rural tomb.
XL
Long, long, thy ftone and pointed clay
Shall melt the mufing Briton's eyes :
O ! vales, and wild woods, (hall he fay,
In yonder grave your Druid lies.
T 3 THE
238 ESSAY ON THE
THE REVEREND MR. WILLIAM THOMSON'S
(Sometime of >ueerfs College, Oxford)
ADDRESS TO THE SHADE OF THOMSON*.
HAIL, nature's poet ! whom (he taught alone
To Cng her works in numbers like her own :
Sweet as the thrum that warbles in the dale,
And foft as Philomela's tender tale.
She lent her pencil too, of wondrous pow'r,
To catch the rainbow, and to paint the flow'r
Of many mingling hues ; then fmiling faid
(But firft with laurel crown'd her fav'rite's head),
** Thefe beauteous children, tho' fo fair they fhine,
" Fade in my feafons let them live in thine :"
And live they mail, the charm of ev'ry eye,
Till nature fickens, and the feafons die.
* Thefe beautiful and applicable lines were pronounced
by Lord Buchan, on Ednam Hill, on the 22d of Septem-
ber 1791, when he crowned the firft edition of the Seafons
with a wreath of bays.
Annlverfary
LIFE OF THOMSON.
2 39
Anniverfary of Tbomfons Birth-day ^ 1 790.
THE Earl of Buchan, defirous of pro-
moting a fubfcription for erecting a mo-
nument to the memory of Thomfon on
Ednam Hill, circulated letters to a confi-
derable number of gentlemen of Berwick
and Roxburghfhires, in the beginning of
September, inviting them to celebrate the
22d of September at a Mrs. Spinks's, in
Ednam village, where Sir James Pringle,
Sir Alexander Don, Dr. Bell, of Coldftream,
the poet's fitter's fon, and a dozen more
gentlemen accordingly met, and pafled the
evening with attick feftivity and good hu-
mour, the Earl of Buchan fitting as prsefes
in the chair ^vhereon the poet fat when he
compofed fiis Cattle of Indolence. This
chair became the property of Dr. Arm-
T 4 ftrong,
240 ESSAY ON THE
ftrong, who had it from Sir Andrew
Mitchel, who left it to Mr. Elliot, and by
him it was obligingly fent to accommo-
date the prefident member of this fociety,
upon this occalion.
The gentlemen who aflembled on this
day refolved to meet annually on its anni-
verfary*, and to open a fubfcription for
erecting
* It is remarkable that Mrs. Mary Thomfon, fitter
of the poet, and mother of Mr. Craig, architect, was
buried on this day ; and'that while Lord Buchan was
on Ednam Hill to celebrate the anniverfary, the fon
was dropping the laft cord into the grave of Thom-
fon's filler.
The fame day likewife, though without previous
concert, the fociety, at Ednam, called the Knights of
tlie Cape, met in their hall at Ednam, to celebrate
the birth-day of the bard. Mr. Wdbds, the come-
dian, recited a handfome occafional poem of his own
compofition in honour of the day. On the toafl
being
LIFE OF THOMSON. 241
creeling a monument on Ednam Hill,
requefting the Earl of Buchan to apply to
the curators of Mr. Cuthbert, of Ednam,
the proprietor of Ednam, a minor, for a
grant of the fpot neceflary for the build-
ing and its appurtenances.
In returning from this meeting the Earl
of Buchan's carriage, in which he was
being given to the memory of Thomfon, Mr. Woods
recited) from a poem of Dr. Langhorne's, the conteft
of the Seafons, who are reprefented as appealing to
Thomfon to decide on their refpeclive merits. At
proper intervals he afterwards delivered paflages
from the four Seafons of the author, each being fol-
lowed by fongs applicable to the refpeclive fubjecls,
by other members of the fociety.\ Mr. Woods then
recited a number of paflages, fele&ed by him from
Thomfon's Poem of Liberty ; after which Rule
Britannia was fung by the whole company on their
legs, with which this attick entertainment con-
cluded.
accom-
242 ESSAY ON THE
accompanied by Sir Alexander Don, and
Mr. Thomas Potts, writer at Kelfo, was
overturned by a reftive horfe on the ap-
proach to Ednam Bridge, but without any
worfe confequences than the breaking of
the machine. In the fucceeding year,
Lord Buchan obtained a conceffion of pro-
mife from the curators of Mr. Cuthbert,
for a grant of the fpot neceffary for erect-
ing a monument on the fummit of Ednam
Hill, and he circulated letters to the gen-
tlemen who had attended the former an-
niverfary, and to many other perfons of
diftinclion and learning in Scotland ; to
MefTrs. Hayley, Mafon, Beattie, and Burns.
But very few gentlemen paid any atten-
tion to the notification ; a caft from the
buft of the poet in Weftminfter Abbey,
which had been generoufly tranfmitted by
Mr. Coutts, banker at London, to be
crowned
LIFE OF THOMSON. 243
crowned with a wreath of bays, was
broken in a midnight frolick during the
race week on the i6th of September ;
and the Earl of Buchan contented himfelf
with impofing a wreath of laurel, drefled
by Mr. Robert Craig, architect, the poet's
fitter's fon,on a copy of theSeafons, printed
1 730, in 4to, being the firft complete edi-
tion prefented by the poet to his father,
addreffing the made of the poet, in the
beautiful apoftrophe compofed for a blank
leaf of the Seafons by the Rev. Mr.
William Thomfon, of Queen's College,
Oxon, a copy of which is here pub-
limed. I fhall now fubmit to the perufal
of the reader, Mr. Burns * the Airlhire
bard's
* Robert Burns, of Air (Lire, a farmer's fon, re-
markable for a genuine vein of Doric poetry, and for
his fuperior abilities and good fenfe, which have ena-
bled
244 ESSAY ON THE
bard's apology for not attending the*
meeting, and his addrefs to the fhade of
Thomfon.
MY LORD,
LANGUAGE finks under the ardour
of my feelings, when I would thank your
Lordfhip for the honour, the very great
honour, you have done me, in inviting me
to the coronation of the buft of Thomfon.
bled him to efcape the fhipwreck of the fons of
Apollo, by continuing his profeflkm of a farmer.
Mr. Millar, of -Dalfwinton, a gentleman well
known by his great genius in mechanics, and his
eminence as a banker, generoufly gave the young
poet a comfortable and agreeable farm at Ellifland,
near Dumfries, where he wooes his ruftic mufe in
eafe with that native dignity which muft ever atife
from fuperior tafte. " Spernit humum fugiente
" penna." --
In
LIFE OF THOMSON. 24^
In my firft enthufiafm, on reading the
card you did me the honour to write to
me, I overlooked every obftacle, and de-
termined to go ; but I fear it will not be
in my power. A week or two in the
very middle of my harveft, is what I
much doubt I dare not venture on. I
once already made a pilgrimage up the
whole courie of the Tweed, and fondly
would I take the fame delightful journey
down the windings of that charming
dream.
Your Lordfhip hints at an ode for the
occafion : but who would write after^
Collins ? I read over his verfes to the
memory of Thomfon, and def paired. I
attempted three or four ftanzas in the way
of addrefs to the fhade of the bard, on
crowning his buft. I trouble your Lord-
fhip with the inclofed copy of them, which
I am
246 ESSAY ON THE.
I am afraid will be but too convincing a
proof how unequal I am to the tafk you
would obligingly aflign me. However,
it affords me an opportunity of approach-
ing your Lordfhip, and declaring how
fincerely I have the honour to be,
My Lord,
Your Lordfhip's highly obliged,
And moft devoted humble fervant,
ROBERT BURNS.
Ellifland, near Dumfries,
ayth Auguft, 1791.
ADDRESS
LIFE OF THOMSON. 247
ADDRESS TO THE SHADE OF THOMSON,
On crowning his Bujl "with a Wreath of Bays.
I.
WHILE virgin Spring, by Eden's flood,
Unfolds her tender mantle green ;
Or pranks the fod in frolic mood,
Or tunes Eolian flrains between ;
II.
While Summer with a matron grace
Retreats to Dryburgh's cooling (hade,
Yet oft delighted flops to trace
The progrefs of the fpiky blade ;
III.
While Autumn, benefactor kind,
By Tweed erects her aged head,
And fees, with felf-approving mind,
Each creature on her bounty fed ;
IV.
While maniac Winter rages o'er
The hills whence claflic Yarrow flows,
Roufing
.8 ESSAY ON THE
Roufing the turbid torrent's roar,
Or fweeping wild a wafte of fnows ;
V.
So long, fweet poet of the year,
Shall bloom that wreath thou well haft won.
While Scotia with exulting tear
Proclaims that Thomfon was her fon.
THE
LIFE OF THOMSON. 249
THE EARL OF BUCHAN'S INVITATION TO SIR JOHN
SINCLAIR, OF ULBSTER, TO BE PRESENT
AT THE FESTIVAL OF THOMSON. 1791.
SINCLAIR ! thou phoenix of the frozen Thule !
O fhape thy courfe to Tweda's lovely dream,
Whofe lucid, fparkling, gently flowing courfe
Winds like Iliflus through a land of fong :
Not as of old, when, like the Theban twins,
Her rival children tore each other's breads,
And (lained her filver wave with kindred blood :
But proudly glittering through a happy land,
The yellow harvefts bend along her fields ;
The golden orchards glow with bluming fruits j
Green are her paftoral banks, white are her flocks,
That fafely ftray where barb'rous Edward raged ;
And where the din of clafhing arms was heard
We hear the carols of the happy fwains,
Free as their lords, and with the purring looms,
Hark, hark, the weaver's merry roundelay !
The charming fong of Scotland's better day :
*Tis liberty, fweet liberty alone
Can give a luftre to the northern fun.
" Come when the Virgin gives the beauteous days,
U " And
ESS A V ON T ti E
" And Libra weighs in equal fcales the year j w
Come, and to Thomfoivs gentle fliade repair,
And pour libations to his virtuous mufe,
Where firft he drew the flame of vital air,
" Where firft his feet did prefs the virgin fnow,
" And where he tuned his charming Doric reed.'
Perhaps where Thomfoh fired the foul of fong,
Some voice may whifper in ^Eolian ftrains
To him who, wand'ring near his parent ftream.
Shall o'er the placid blue profound of air
Receive the genius of his pafling made.
Come then, my Sinclair, leave empiric Pitt,
And raging Burke, and all the hodge-podge fry
Of Tory Whigs, and whiggifli Tory knaves,
And bathe thy genius in thy country's fame :
Let Burke write pamphlets, and let Pitt declaim ;
Let us feek honour in our country's weaL
LIFE OF THOMSON.
251
Eulogy of nomfon, the Poet, delivered by
the Earl of Buchan, on Ednam Hill,
when he crowned thefrfl edition of the
Seafons with a wreath of bays, on the
lid of September, 1791.
GENTLEMEN,
IT has been the cuftom of that great and
truly to be refpe&ed nation of the French,
to pronounce, at the meetings of men of
.genius, learning, and tafte, the praifes of
the illuftrious dead ; and this cuftom has
been adopted by other countries, as, emer-
ging from barbarity, they became gradu-
ally fenfible of the infinite fuperiority of
men imbued with fcience, learning, and
tafte, over the ignorant creatures of im-
perial power.
U 2 Thcv
252 ESSAY ON THE
They faw, and deplored, the rude in-
ftitutions of their favage anceftors on the
page of hiflory, inftitutions which covered
men with honours, and beftrung them
with ribbands, according to the guft and
prejudice of illiterate princes, and left the
real benefactors and ornaments of fociety
to languifh or to pafs unnoticed in ob-
fcurity. Fortunately born as we have
been in the age of a Frederick the Great,
and of a Waihington, all men pofTefled
of any taiie or feeling (and may I add)
of common fenfe, have rejoiced, and do
now rejoice, to behold the dignity of hu-
man nature beginning to appear amidft
the ruins of Gothic fuperftition and
tyranny, and the immortal Pruflia, ftand-
ing like a herald in the proceffion of ages,
to mark the beginning of that order of,
men
LIFE OP THOMSON. 253
men who are to banifh from the earth
the filly delations of worthlefs prieft-
craft, and the monftrous prerogatives of
defpotic authority,
I think myfelf happy to have this day
the tafk affigned to me of endeavouring
to do juftice to the memory of Thomfon,
which has been prophanely touched by
the rude hands of the pedantic Samuel
Johnfon, whofe fame and reputation in-
dicates the decline of tafte in a country
that, after having produced an Alfred, a
Wallace, a Bacon, a Napier, a Newton,
a Buchanan, a Milton, a Hampden,
a Fletcher, and a Thomfon, can fubmit.
to be bullied under the rod of a fchool-
mafter, or to be led by the firings of
the fatchel of a petulant fchool-boy !
Scotland, Gentlemen, though now full
U of
254 ESSAY ON THE
of men who are above fervile compliance
with the power of the day, was, in the
days of Thomfon, a nation of proud and
poor nobles and difpirited vaflals. Except
Belhaven and Fletcher, whom he hardly
faw, and Argyll, Stair, Marchmont, and
other free fpirits, whom delicacy forbids
me to mention, there were few in the
kingdom who could encourage the poet
to rife above the mediocrity of a fettered
ftudent of divinity, or to imbue his mind
with that noble fentiment of independence
by which his life and his writings are
charaderifed and diftinguifhed. In the
family of Jervifwood, to which he was
introduced by the kindred of his mother,
he received the earlieft attentions ; and
fome verfe*s of his addrefTed to one of
that family, for the ufe of fome books,
are,
LIFE OF THOMSON. 255
are, I believe, ftitl preferved as a fpecimen
of his infantine genius.
That the lady indifcreetly alluded to
in the Life of Thomfon, fhould have
encouraged him to try his fortune in
London, is highly probable ; but that fhe
fhould have deferted him afterwards
agrees not with the nature of a fpon-
taneous patronage ; for nothing is more
natural to patrons than the defire of
feeing clue attention paid to their recom-
mendations, and following out the objects
of their protection to the attainment of
honour, that mall reflect upon themfelves.
The trifling ftory about his lofmg his
bundle on his way from Wapping to
Mallet's houfe in London, and the want
of his fhoes, is in the odour of that vulgar
malevolence, which gives a race to the
works of thefivage biographer.
U 4 The
*5^ ESSAY ON THE
The only occafion, when I had the
mifchance to meet Johnfon, was at old
Strahan's (the tranflator / of the fix firft
books of the ^Eneid), in Suffolk Street,
where I found him and Mallet cobling
thefe books for publication; and there
I remember to have heard them repeating
this ftory with glee, after having cut
down Dryden, Gawin, Douglas, Trapp,
and the other predeceffors of poor Strahan,
in the tranflation of the JEneid.
Such are the annals of critics, and po-
etafters, and with this blacking let them
be handed down to pofterity, with the
flioes of the bard of Ednam.
We are much indebted to Aaron Hill
for his kindnefs to Thomfon, and his
handfome lines in compliment to Scot-
land, now in every mouth : no more
poetry and prophecy, but matter of fact !
How
LIFE OF THOMSON. 257
How different an Aaron Hill, a Thomas
Pennant, and a Thomas Newte, from a
Samuel Johnfon ! >C
Why, fays Johnfon, are the dedications
to Winter, and the other Seafons, con-
trary to cuftom, left out in Thomfon's
collected works ? I will tell you, fhade
of Johnfon. Btcaufe little men difappear
when great men take their proper fta-
tion.
The Countefs of Hertford, fays John-
fon, ufed to invite every fummer fomc
poet to hear her verfes ; and Thomfon,
who was called for that purpofe, took more
delight in caroufmg with Lord Hertford
and his friends, than in affifting her
Ladyihip's poetical operations, who there-
fore never gave the poet another fum-
mons.
That no earl or countefs ever gave
Johnfon
*5 ESS A T ON T ITS.
Johnfon an invitation to the Country-
can etfcke no wonder, nor that Thomfon's
genius and independant fpirit mould lead
him to prefer wit and the focial board
cf an accomplished family, to the manu-
facture of courtly verfes, for a verfe-fick
countefs.
Lord Chatham, Lord Temple, Lord
Lyttelton, Sir Andrew Mitchel, Dr,
Armftrong, Mr. Gray, of Richmond-
Hill, and the oily man of God, I
have often had the pleafure to hear on
the fubjecl: of Thornfon. All of them
agreed in the teflimony of his being a
gentleman at all points, and a gentleman
by God, as well as a poet by nature, far
above the degree of our modern poets,
that are infufed into the houfe of bards,
in imitation of our modern fyftem of
peerage.
Of
LIFE OF THOMSON. 259
Of Johnfon's criticifm on the Poem of
Thomfon, entitled Liberty, I {hall fay
nothing; but I will take the liberty to fay
that Britain knows nothing of the liberty
that Thomfon celebrates !
fbom/bH
i6o ESSAY ON THE
Ybomfon to the Sifter of his Amanda^ at
Bath.
Kew Lane, Nov. 27, 1742.
MADAM,
GIVE me leave to fay that, among all
your friends, nobody longs more ardently
after the full eftablifhment of your health
than I do : firft, and foremoft, upon your
own perfonal account ; and fecondly, from
more felfilh motives, that you may foon
return to fupply to us the want of the
fun by your company. You may, per-
haps, think this compliment a little high-
ftrained ; whereas, upon the faith of a
melancholy man, and as I hope to laugh
again, I would, for three or four hours
of your company, give three or four
months of fiieh days as thefe. But at the
fame
LIFE OF THOMSON. 261
lame time I muft be fo bold as to add,
that though it be downright deep No-
vember, and you, Mifs Berry, and Mifs
Young abfent, none of us will pufh the
compliment fo far as to verify the French
author's obfervation, who begins his book
thus It was in the month of November,
when Englimmen hang and drown them-
felves And yet, I am difmal enough,
fometimes, nay would you believe it ?
as it were, vapoured. Do, dear Mrs. Ro-
bertfon, make hafte to be well.
Sorely do I grieve not to have been
one of your 'fquires that day you fet out;
for, befides the ferious pleafure of attend-
ing you and your companions, I hear
very diverting accounts of the journey,
particularly of David's navigation on
horfeback ; how it blew a hard gale of
riding with him, driving him now a great
way
262 ESSAY o& THE
way on one fide, then, helm-a-lee, oa
the other; how he had almoft committed
piracy on the highway ; and how he was
next morning, while afieep, deferted by
the fhip's crew, and left among the fa-
vages. I am furthermore informed that,
being thereunto moved by the infligation
of a galled backfide, and not having the
fear of the ladies before his eyes, he was
guilty of high treafon againft their fove-
reign beauty, by uttering certain bafe,
fcandalous, and traiterous words, for the
which he muft in due time undergo his
trial ; George Scot *, judge ; James Ro-
bertfon f , attorney general ; and William
* George Lewis Scot, afterwards fub-preceptor
to the king, and one of the commiffioners of ex-
cife.
f Mr. Robertfon, furgeon to the houfehold at
Kew. *
Paterfon
LIFE OF THOMSON. 263
Paterfon *, foreman of the jury. But, by
their mutual accufations, I find there is a
heavy charge againft them all.
To think of leaving, nay, for fome
time actually to have left, diftreffed ladies
under their protection, to travel in the
dark through infamous places, through
Maidenhead Thicket, where fo many
robberies had been committed the very
day before, is fuch a ftain upon all chi-
valry, as their return cannot entirely wipe
off. They were, indeed, upon the brink
of perdition ;' for had they not returned,
their fwords muft have been broken over
their heads, their arms reverfed, and the
ban of all gallantry publifhed againft
them. Nobody would have drunk, np-
* Paterfon, formerly mentioned, who was thea
a clerk in a compting houfe, afterwards Thomfon's
deputy as furveyor of the Leeward I Hands.
5 body
164 ESSAY ON tHE
body would have toafted with them, and
nothing but making two or three cam-
paigns in the fervice of that heroic lady,
the Queen of Hungary, could have re-
v
ftored them to any degree of honour,
I hope the ladies have at laft got their
clothes. To be at Bath, yet debarred
from the rooms, mufl have been a cruel
fituation to fuch as knew lefs how to
converfe with, and enjoy themfelves
the very fituation of Tantalus ! . up to
the lip in diverfions, without being able
to catch a drop of them. And yet, not-
withftanding all thefe diverfions, I do,
from my foul, moft fmcerely pity you,
to be fo long doomed to a place fo de-
lightfully tirefome. Delightfully, did I
fay ? No ; it is merely a fcene of waking
dreams, where nothing but the phantoms
of pleafure fly about, without any fub-
ftance
LIFE OF THOMSON. 265
ftance;or reality. 'What a round of filly
amufements, what a giddy circle of no-
thing do thefe children of a larger fize
run everyday! Nor does it only give a
gay vertigo to the head, it has equally a
bad influence on the heart. When the
head is full of nothing but drefs, and
fcandal, and dice, and cards, and rowly
powly, can the heart be fenfible to thofe
fine emotions, thofe tender, humane, ge-
nerous paflions that form the foul of all
virtue and happinefs ! Ah ! then, ye lovers,
never think to make any impreflion on
the hearts of the diffipated fair. So could
1 proceed in my tedious homily; but I afk
pardon for railing at a place you are
obliged to be at, and which I hope will
reftore you to perfect health. Yes, that
reconciles me to it again; and if my letter
was not already too long, I would make
its panegyric,
X May
266 B SS A Y ON T II t.
May I flatter myfelf with the hopes of
hearing from you? If you fend me but
your three names, and above them " We
are well,'* I fhall be glad even of that.
Madam, I am forry to acquaint you, that
your hufband, once famous for hofpitality,,
has loft it all fmce you left this place.
Pray be fo good as to lay your commands
upon him, to treat us fome night or other
with a bowl of punch, that we may drink
your healths. My beft compliments, my
moft hearty refpeds, my in fhort, all
the good wifhes my heart can form, at-
tend you all ! Believe me to be,
With the utmoft refpetl,
Madam,
Your, and Mifs Young's,
And Mifs Berry's,
Devoted humble fervant,
JAMES THOMSON.
Humorous
LIFE OP THOMSON. 267
Humorous Epiflk to a Friend^ on his
Travels.
December 7, 1742*
TRUSTY AND WELL-BLOVED DOG,
HEARING you are gone abroad to
fee the world, as they call it, I cannot
forbear, upon this occafion, tranfmitting
you a few thoughts.
It may feem prefumption in me to pre-
tend to give you any mftrudiion; but
you muft know, that I am a dog of con-
fiderable experience. Indeed I have not
improved fo much as I might have done,
by my juftiy deferred misfortunes : the
cafe very often of my betters.
However, a little I have learned ; and
fometimes, while I feemed to lie afleep
before the fire, I have overheard the con-
verfation of your travellers.
X 2 In
268 ESSAY ON THE
In the firft place, I will not fuppofe
that you are gone abroad an illiterate cub,
juft efcaped from the lam of your keeper,
and running wild about the world like
a dog who has loft his mailer,- utterly un-
acquainted with the proper knowledge,
manners, and converfation of dogs.
Thefe are the public jefts of every
country through which they run poft,
and frequently they are avoided as if
they were mad dogs. None will con-
verfe with them but thofe who fhear,
fometimes even fkin them, and often they
return home like a dog who has loft his
tail. In fhort, thefe travelling puppies
do nothing elfe but run after foreign
bitches, learn to dance, cut capers, play
tricks, and admire your fine outlandifh
howling: though in my opinion, our
vigorous, deep-mouthed Britim note is
better mufic.
I
LIFE OF THOMSON. 269
.If a timely ftop is not put to this, the
genuine breed of our ancient fturdy dogs
will, by degrees, dwindle and degenerate
into dull Dutch maftiffs, effeminate Italian
lapdogs, or tawdry, impertinent French
harlequins. All our once noble-throated
guardians of the houfe and fold will be
fucceeded by a mean courtly race, that
fnarl at honefl men, flatter rogues, proudly
wear badges of flavery, ribbands, collars,
&c. and fetch and carry flicks at the lion's
court. By the bye, my dear Marquis,
this fetching and carrying of flicks is a
diverfion you are too much addicted to,
and, though a diverfion, unbecoming a true
independent country dog. There is an-
other dog-vice, that greatly prevails among
the hungry whelps at court ; but your
gut is too well fluffed to fall into that.
What I mean is, patting, pawing, folicit-
X 3 ing,
3-7 ESSAY ON THE
ing, teafing, fnapping the morfel out of
one another's mouths, being bitterly en-
vious, and infatiably ravenous, nay, fome-
times filching when they fafely may. Of
this vice I have an inftance continually
before my eyes, in that wretched animal
Scrub, whofe genius is quite mifplaced
here in the country. He has, befides, fuch
an admirable talent at fcratching at a door,
as might well recommend him to the
office of a court-waiter A word in your
ear I wifh a certain two-legged friend
of 'mine had a little of his affiduity.
Thefe canine courtiers are alfo extremely
given to bark at merit and virtue, if ill-
elad and poor : they have likewife a nice
difcernment, with regard to thofe whom
their mafter diftinguifhes : to fuch you
{hall fee them go up immediately, and
fawning in the moft abjecl; . manner
baifer
LIFE OF THOMSON. 271
balfer leur ciil. For me, it is always a
maxim with me,
To honour humble worth, and, fcorning flats,
Pifs on the proud inhofpitable gate.
For which reafon I go fcattering my water
every where about Richmond. And now .
that I am upon this topic, I muft cite
you two lines of a letter from Bounce
(of celebrated memory), to Fop, a dog in
the country to a dog at court. She
is giving an account of her generous
offspring, among which me mentions
two, far above the vice I now cenmre :
One ufliers friends to Bathurft's door,
One fawns at Oxford's on the poor !
Charming dogs ! I have little more to
fay ; but only, confidering the great mart
of fcandal you are at, to warn you againft
flattering thofe, you converfe with, and,
X4 the
272 ESS A Y O N THE
the moment they turn to go away, back-
biting them a vice with which the dogs
of old ladies are much infected : and you
muft have been moft furioufly affected
with it here at Richmond, had you not
happened into a good family ; therefore
I might have fpared this caution. One
tiling I had almoft forgot. You have a
bafe cuftom, when you chance upon a
certain fragrant exuvium, of perfuming
your carcafe with it. Fye ! fye ! leave
that nafty cuftom to your little, foppifh,
crop-eared dogs, who do it to conceal
their own ftink.
My letter, I fear, grows tedious. I will
detain you from your flumbers no longer,
but conclude by wifhing that the waters
and exercife may bring down your fat
fides, and that you may return a genteel
accomplifhed dog. Pray lick for me, you
happy
LIFE OF THOMSON. 273
happy dog you, the hands of the fair
ladies you have the honour to attend. T
remember to have had that happinefs
once, when one, who fhall be namekfs,
looked with an envious eye upon me.
Farewell, my dear Marquis. Return, I
beg it of you, foon to Richmond ; when
I will treat you with fome choice frag-
ments, a marrow-bone which I will crack
for you myfelf, and a defTert of high-
toafted cheefe. I am, without farther
ceremony, yours fmcerely,
BUFF.
Mi Dewti too Marki. X Scrub's mark.
Letter to Mrs. R. the Sifter of Amanda.
Chriftmas Day, 1 742.
MADAM,
I BELIEVE I am in love with fome
one or all of you; for though you will not
favour
t;4 ESSAY ON THE
favour toe with the fcrap of a pen, yet I
cannot forbear writing to you again. Is
it not however barbarous, not to fend
me a few foft characters, one pretty
name to cheer my eyes withal ? How
eafily fome people might make others
happy if they would ! But it is no fmall
comfort to me, fince you will not write,
that I fhall foon have the pleafure of
being in your company. And then,
though I were downright picqued, I fhall
forget it all in a moment.
I cannot help telling you of a very
pleafing fcene I lately faw. In the
middle of a green field there ftands a peace-
ful lowly habitation ; into which having
entered, I beheld innocence, fweet inno-
cence, afleep, Your heart would have
yearned, your eyes perhaps overflowed
with tears of joy, to fee how charming
he
LIFE OF THOMSON. 275
.be looked ; like a young cherub dropped
from Heaven, if they be fo happy as to
have young cherubs there.
When awaked, it is not to be imagined
with what complacency and eafe, what
foft ferenity altogether unmixed with
the leaft cloud, he opened his eyes.
Dancing with joy in his nurfe's arms,
his eyes not only fmiled, but laughed
which put me in mind of a certain near
relation of his, whom I need not name.
What delights thee fo, thou lovely babe ?
art thou thinking of thy mother's re-
covery ? does fome kind power imprefs
upon thee a prefage of thy future happi-
nefs under her tender care ? I took the
liberty to touch him with unhallowed lips,
which reftored me to the good opinion
of the nurfe, who had neither forgot nor
forgiven my having flighted that favour
5 once.
i~6 ESSAY ON THE
once. While thus I gazed with fincere
and virtuous fadsfaction, I could moft
pathetically have addrefled the gay
wretches of the age, the joylefs inmates
of Bachelor's Hall *, and was ready to ,
repeat Milton's divine Hymn on Mar-
riage:
Hail, wedded Love ! myirerious law, true fourcc
Of human offspring, fole propriety
In Paradife of all things common elfe !
By thee adulterous luft was driven from men
Among the beftial herds to rang? j by thee,
Founded in reafon, loyal, juft and pure,
Relations dear, and all the charities
Of father, fon, and brother, firft were known.
Far be it, c.
Now that I have been tranfcribing
* Bachelor's Hall, a houfe on Richmond Hill j fo
called, from being occupied during the fummer fea-
fcn by a fociety of gentlemen from London.
fome
LIFE OF THOMSON. 277
fome lines of poetry, I think I once en-
gaged myfelf while walking in Kew-lane
to write two or three fongs. The follow-
ing is one of them, which I have Rolen
from the Song of Solomon ; from that
beautiful expreffion of Love, " Turn
away thine eyes from me, for they have
overcome me."
L
O THOU, whofe tender ferious eyes
Expreflive fpeak the mind I love;
The gentle azure of the fkieSy
The penfive fhadows of the grove :
II.
O mix their beauteous beams with mintf,
And let us interchange ouV hearts ;
Let all their fweettiefs on me ftiine,
Pour'd thro' my foul be all their darts.
.III.
Ah ! 'tis too much ! I cannot bear
At once fo left, fo keen,
278 ESSAY ON THE
In pity, then, my lovely fair,
O turn thefe killing eyes away 1
IV.
But what avails it to conceal
One charm, where nought but charms we fee
Their luftre then again reveal,
And let me, Myra, die of thee.
My beft rerpeds attend Mifs Young
and Mifs Berry, who I hope are heartily
tired of Bath, and will leave it without
the leaft regret, whomfoever they leave
pining behind them. I wifh you all a
much happier and merrier Chriftmas than
we can have without you. But in amends
you will bring us along with you a gay
ajid happy new year. Believe me to be,
with the greateft refped, and the heartieft
good wimes that all health and happinefs
may ever attend you,
Madam,
Your moft obedient,
Humble fervant,
JAMES THOMSON.
LIFE OF THOMSON.
VERSES ADDRESSED TO Miss YOUNG.
AH urge too late ! from beauty's bondage free,
Why did I truft my liberty with thee ?
And thou, why didfl thou, with inhuman art,
If not refolv'd to take, feduce my heart ?
Yes, yes, you faid (for lovers eyes fpeak true) ;
You muft have feen how fail my pafiion grew :
And when your glances chanc'd on me to fhine,
How my fond foul ecftatic fprung to thine !
But mark me, fair-one, what I now declare
Thy deep attention claims, and ferious care:
It is no common paffion fires my bread,
I muft be wretched, or I muft be tleft !
My woes all other remedy deny j
Or, pitying, give me hope, or bid me die !
To
280 ESS.AY ON 'THE LlFE, &C.
To Miss YOUNG*, WITH A PRESENT OF HIS SEASONS.
ACCEPT, loved nymph ! this tribute due.
To tender friendftiip, love, and you ;
But with it take what breath'd the whole,
O f take to thine the poet's foul.
If fancy here her pow'r difplays,
And if a heart exalts thefe lays
Tou faireft in that fancy {hine,
And all that heart is fondly thine.
* Some flight variations have been found in different
iopies which have been handed about in MS. This i
from the original*
THE END*
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