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 1622.
 
 LIVES 
 
 OF 
 
 SCOTTISH POETS; 
 
 WITH 
 
 IBortraits antr Fipettes. 
 
 But he was of " the north countrie," 
 
 A natioit fam'd for song. The Minstrel. 
 
 THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THOMAS BOYS, LUDGATE HILL; 
 
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 AND co; w. turnbull; smith and son; retd and 
 
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 Glasgow: A. BROWN AND CO. ; G. CLARKE; A.WATSON; 
 
 AND D WYLLiE ; Aberdeen. 
 
 1822.
 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 or 
 PART III. 
 
 PACE. 
 
 James the Sixth 1 
 
 Sin Richard Maitland 57 
 
 Arthvr Johnston 68 
 
 Hamilton of Bangour 77 
 
 Hamilton of Gilbertfield 98 
 
 Samuel Colvil 101 
 
 Alexander Ross 105 
 
 John Armstrong 115 
 
 John Ogilvie 135 
 
 James Macpherson 148 
 
 Charles Salmon , 169 
 
 441339
 
 PORTRAITS 
 
 IN 
 
 PART III. 
 
 i. . 
 
 . . James the Sixth. 
 
 2. .. 
 
 . . John Armstrong. 
 
 3. .. 
 
 . . Hamilton of Bangou 
 
 4. .. 
 
 . . James Macpherson. 
 
 5. .. 
 
 . . Arthur Johnston. 
 
 Vignette .... Edinburgh Castle
 
 2 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 The most profound philosopher that England ever 
 perhaps produced, has, in his Essay on the Advance- 
 ment of Learning, spoken of James in terms which 
 the meanest pretender to letters of the present day 
 would be ashamed to father. 
 
 It is probably true, as the Jesuit Gratian remarks, 
 that " there is no prince, however contemptible or 
 vicious, who will not find flatterers to extol him as 
 one of the fust of men, nay, almost to revere him as a 
 God."* It is not always, however, that men, whose 
 praise is worth regarding, are to be prevailed upon to 
 play the flatterer's part. When we do find indivi- 
 duals, eminent for their genius and discernment, sa- 
 crificing their honor and sincerity at the shrine of 
 royalty, it is a proof of sometliing more than personal 
 meanness. The fact is a type of a degraded age. It 
 marks a time, when, even to the ablest of men, the 
 only way to preferment was to cringe and flatter ; 
 when truth and liberty had as yet little or nothing to 
 do with the direction of national concerns ; when 
 hereditary wisdom and divine right were the only 
 acknowledged sources of a people's prosperity. It 
 is, as Apollonius saith, " for slaves to lie, and for 
 freemen to speak truth." 
 
 The period when James flourished may indeed be 
 regarded as the tAvilight state of British freedom. 
 The beautiful image of Milton had still to be realized. 
 The eagle had still to " kindle her undazzled eyes 
 at the full mid-day beam; to purge and unscale hr r 
 long abused sight at the fountain of heavenly radi- 
 ance." 
 
 * " Reflexions Politiques."
 
 POETS. — JAMES THE SIXTH. 3 
 
 Although the contemporary flatterers of James had 
 their apologj-^ in the spirit of the age in which they 
 lived, there have been others, who, without any such 
 apology, have been nearly as partial to his character. 
 The acute, but faithless, Hume, has, in our own day 
 of just and liberal notions, had the boldness to declare 
 that a reign " more unspotted and unblemished" than 
 that of James does not adorn the British annals. 
 
 It would be more singular to share in such an opi- 
 nion, than to diflfer from it. The spots and blemishes 
 in James's character will be found to be numerous, 
 and, like the stains of Rizzio's blood in his mother's 
 chamber, not to be washed out. 
 
 James was the son of Queen Mary, by her ill-fated 
 husband and cousin, Henry Lord Darnley, and was 
 bom in Edinburgh Castle on the 19th June, 1566. 
 
 In the following year, his mother being forced to 
 resign the crown, James was proclaimed king, and the 
 Earl of Morton, who was at the head of the insur- 
 gents, was appointed regent. The infant prince was 
 sent to Stirling Castle, to be brought up under the 
 charge of the Earl and Countess of Mar. As he grew 
 in years, the Earl of Mar's brother, Alexander Erskine, 
 became the chief superintendant of his education ; 
 and under him four preceptors were employed, the 
 celebrated George Buchanan, Peter Young, (after- 
 wards knighted) and the two abbots of Cambusken- 
 neth and Dryburgh, both related to the noble family 
 of Mar. " Alexander Erskine," says Sir James Mel- 
 vil, " was a gallant well-natured gentleman, loved and 
 honoured by all men, for his good qualities and great 
 discretion ; no ways factious nor envious ; a lover of 
 all honest men, and desirous ever to see men of good 
 B ^
 
 4 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 conversation about the prince, rather than his own 
 nearer friends, if he found them not so meet. The 
 two abbots were wise and modest. My lady Mar 
 was wise and sharp, and held the king in great awe ; 
 and so did Mr. George Buchanan. Mr. Peter Young 
 was more gentle, and was loath to offend the king at 
 any time ; carrying himself warily, as a man who 
 had a mind to his own weal, by keeping of his ma- 
 jesty's favour ; but Mr. George was a stoic philoso- 
 pher, who looked not far beforehand ; a man of no- 
 table endowments for his learning and knowledge of 
 Latin poesy ; much honoured in other countries, plea- 
 sant in conversation, rehearsing at all occasions mo- 
 ralities short and instructive, whereof he had abund- 
 ance, inventing where he wanted." 
 
 James appears to have been, in his youth, of a very 
 docile but timid disposition : he was an apt scholar, 
 and soon acquired a proficiency in letters which re- 
 flected no discredit on his instructors. Buchanan, 
 in a manly dedication to the young monarch, of his 
 treatise, De Jure Regni, written when James was in 
 his thirteenth year, speaks of him in the following 
 favorable terms : " I have deemed its publication," 
 he says, " expedient, that it may at once testify my 
 zeal for your service, and admonish you of your duty 
 to the community. Many circumstances tend to 
 convince me that my present exertions will not prove 
 fruitless; especially your age, yet uncorrupted by 
 perverse opinions ; a disposition above your years, 
 spontaneously urging you to every noble pursuit ; a 
 facility in obeying not only your preceptors, but all 
 prudent monitors ; a judgment and dexterity in dis- 
 quisition, which prevent you from paying much re-
 
 POETS. — JAMES THE SIXTH. 5 
 
 gard to authority, unless it be confirmed by solid 
 argument. I likewise perceive, that, by a kind of 
 natural instinct, you so abhor flattery, the nurse of 
 tyranny, and the most grievous pest of a legitimate 
 monarchy, that you as heartily hate the courtly sole- 
 cisms and barbarisms, as they are relished and affected 
 by those who consider themselves the arbiters of 
 every elegance, and who, by way of seasoning their 
 conversation, are perpetually sprinkling it with majes- 
 ties, lordships, excellencies, and, if possible, with other 
 expressions still more nauseous. Although the bounty 
 of nature and the instruction of your governors, may, 
 at present, secure you against this error, yet am I 
 compelled to entertain some slight degree of suspicion, 
 lest evil communication, the alluring nurse of the 
 vices, should lend an unhappy impulse to your still 
 tender mind ; especially as I am not ignorant with 
 what facility the external senses yield to seduction. 
 I have, therefore, sent you this treatise, not only as a 
 monitor, but even as an importunate and sometimes 
 impudent dun, who, in this turn of life, may convey 
 you beyond the rocks of adulation, and may not 
 merely offer you advice, but confine you to the path 
 which you have entered ; and if you shi uld chance 
 to deviate, may reprehend you and recall your steps. 
 If you obey this monitor, you will ensure tranquillity 
 to yourself and your family, and will transmit your 
 glory to the most remote posterity." 
 
 It is easy to perceive, under all this tone of com- 
 fortable anticipation, some strong misgivings on the 
 part of his venerable preceptor. The very pointed 
 manner in which he applauds the prince's instinctive
 
 O LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 abhorrence of flattery, and dwells on the many risks 
 which he runs of being seduced by it, was in fact 
 only a subtle way of instilling that sort of sentiment 
 in which James was most deficient. Instead of hat- 
 ing adulation, one of the earliest propensities which 
 James evinced was an exceeding avidity for it ; and 
 far from requiring that " authority should always be 
 confirmed by solid argument," it was in general 
 enough, that some favorite or minion solicited the 
 acquiescence of his judgment. His facility in com- 
 plying with requests had early alarmed the sa- 
 gacity of Buchanan ; and hence the patriotic an- 
 xiety with which he expresses his fears that it may 
 give an unhappy impulse to his future character. 
 Chytraeu5 has, on the authority of Buchanan's ne- 
 phew, recorded a curious expedient which he adopted 
 for the purpose of correcting this foible in his pupil's 
 character. He presented the king with two papers, 
 which he requested him to sign ; and James, after 
 having slightly interrogated him respecting their con- 
 tents, readily aftixed his signature to each, without 
 the precaution of even a cursory perusal. One of 
 them was a formal transfer of the regal authority to 
 Buchanan for the space of fifteen days. After Bu- 
 chanan, had quitted the royal presence, one of the 
 courtiers accosted him by his usual title ; but Bu- 
 chanan reproving him, announced the new dignity 
 which had been conferred upon him, and, with that 
 hupiour for which he was distinguished, began to act 
 the sovereign. He afterwards preserved the same 
 deportment towards the king himself ; and when 
 James expressed his surprise at such extraordinary 
 conduct, Buchanan reminded him of having resigned
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 7 
 
 the crown. This reply did not tend to lessen the con- 
 fusion of James, who demanding some farther expla- 
 nation, Buchanan produced the instrument by which 
 he was formally invested with the sovereignty. Re- 
 suming the character of tutor, he then seriously ad- 
 monished the young prince on the folly of assenting 
 to the petitions of any person in so rash a manner. 
 
 The impression which the salutary lessons of Bu- 
 chanan might have made, was probably much lessened 
 by " the awe" in which, as Melvil tells us, he kept 
 his royal pupil. Buchanan appears to have cared 
 little about the 'sort of regard for himself which he 
 inspired ; and in this surely he shewed nothing of the 
 philosopher. " The honourable task," says one of his 
 biographers, " which the voice of his country had as- 
 signed to his old age, he discharged w ith simple inte- 
 grity, and was little solicitous what impression the 
 strictness of his discipline might leave on the mind 
 of his royal pupiL" Nothing can well be conceived 
 more ridiculous than integrity like this ; it is like 
 beating and hardening a soil before the seed is sown. 
 In estimating the merit of the discipline which 
 he imposed, the impression which it was to leave 
 on the mind of the pupil was the first and last 
 thing to be considered. To give his precepts 
 effect, he should have used every effort to make the 
 preceptor revered and loved. Buchanan appears, on 
 the contrary, to have demeaned himself so as to be 
 most heartily detested by the young prince. James 
 used, in after life, to say of some person high in of- 
 fice about him, " that he ever trembled at his approach, 
 it minded him so of his pedagogue Buchanan." Of 
 the rude sort of discipline to which he was subjected.
 
 8 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 two remarkable instances have been recorded ; neither 
 of which is at all to Buchanan's credit. The king 
 having coveted a tame sparrow which belonged to his 
 play-fellow, the master of Mar, solicited him without 
 effect to transfer his right ; and, in attempting to wrest 
 it out of his hand, he deprived the poor little animal 
 of life. Erskine loudly lamented its fate, and the 
 circumstances were reported to Buchanan, who lent 
 his young sovereign a box on the ear, and told him 
 that he was himself a true bird of the bloody nest to 
 which he belonged. The incident was one from which 
 a more judicious tutor, a Fenelon or a Lindsa}^ would 
 have taken an opportunity of inculcating a most af- 
 fecting moral and political lesson ; but in the blow 
 and sarcasm of Buchanan, wc see nothing but another 
 of those exertions of mere brutal force, which he was 
 at the moment affecting to condemn ; and a want of 
 liberality, alike unworthy of him as a man and as a 
 preceptor. The other instance of Buchanan's disci- 
 pline does him still less honour ; it shows that he 
 could act as passionately from motives of personal 
 resentment, as from any pretended desire to vindicate 
 the rights of humanity. A theme which had been 
 prescribed to the royal pupil, was the conspiracy of the 
 Earl of Angus and other noblemen during the reign of 
 James the Third. After finishing it, James was diverting 
 himself with the master of Mar. Buchanan, who was, 
 in the mean time, intent on reading, finding himself 
 annoyed by their mirth, requested the king to de- 
 sist ; but as no attention was paid to the hint, he 
 threatened to accompany his next injunction with 
 something more impressive than words. James, whose 
 ear had been tickled by the quaint application of the
 
 POETS. — JAMES THE SIXTH. 9 
 
 apologue mentioned in his theme, archly replied, that 
 he should be glad to see who would bell the cat. Bu- 
 chanan immediately threw aside his book with indig- 
 nation, and bestowed upon the delinquent that species 
 of discipline which is deemed most ignominious. The 
 Countess of Mar being attracted by the wailing which 
 ensued, rushed into the room, and demanded of Bu- 
 chanan, " how he presumed to lay his hand upon the 
 Lord's anointed ?" To this interrogation he is said 
 to have returned the coarsest possible answer; desir- 
 ing her ladyship to kiss what he had whipped. 
 
 The regent, Morton, having rendered himself unpo- 
 pular by various acts of rapacity and cruelty, so strong 
 an opposition was raised against him, that in 1577 he 
 was under the necessity of resigning the government 
 into the hands of the young king. The resignation, 
 nevertheless, was but temporary. In less than a year 
 after, Morton, repairing to Stirling, contrived to gain 
 over the garrison to his interest, and then seizing his 
 majesty's person, resumed his former authority. James, 
 however, found means to despatch a letter secretly to 
 Edinburgh, complaining of this treatment, when great 
 commotions were instantly excited. The citizens 
 threatened to march to his relief, and Morton, to avert 
 the storm, found it necessary to convey the king to 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 The entrance of James into his capital was cele- 
 brated by a splendid pageant ; the style of which 
 probably contributed not a little to give a fixed ascen- 
 dancy to that inherent vanity of character, of the 
 effects of which Buchanan was so justly apprehensive. 
 As he entered the West Port, a party of masks, repre- 
 senting a deputation of the wise men of the east.
 
 10 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 hailed him as a second Solomon come to bless the 
 nations. The story of the two women striving for 
 the child was then represented, to signify to the peo- 
 ple the surpassing wisdom which they might expect 
 to find in the decrees of their young sovereign. As 
 he advanced, Love presented him with the k-eys of 
 the city ; Peace harangued him in the language of 
 Arcadia ; Plenty offered her congratulations in that 
 of Campania ; and Justice, as a more home-bred 
 deity, told him in plain Scotch, " how unco glad she 
 was to see him." His majesty then repaired to St. 
 Giles's Church, where Religion made a solemn ad- 
 dress to him in Hebrew ; after which, a worthy divine 
 expounded, in a short sermon of two hours and a half, 
 the causes, circumstances, and consequences of the 
 distressed state of the kingdom of Israel, that is to 
 say, the modern kingdom of Israel, inhabited by that 
 chosen people of God, the Scotch. After sermon, his 
 majesty repaired to the market cross, where he found 
 Bacchus bestriding a hogshead, and distributing bum- 
 pers of wine among the people ; while trumpets sound- 
 ed, and the multitude helped to rend the air with 
 their shouts. The king then descended the High 
 Street, towards the ancient palace of Holyrood ; as he 
 entered which, the shades of all the Scottish kings 
 from Fergus I., appeared to welcome him as the living 
 representative of their manifold virtues. 
 
 James, who was as yet only in his twelfth year, 
 made but a boy's use of his liberty. He was no sooner 
 released from the stern controul of Morton, than he 
 gave himself up to the guidance of two favorites, the 
 Duke of Lennox and the Earl of Arran, who, with the 
 policy usual to favorites, made it their study to occu-
 
 POETS. — JAMES THE SIXTH. 11 
 
 py the young monarch's attention with a constant 
 round of amusements, and to fill him with disgust for 
 such as presumed to hint that a king jure divino 
 ought to have any thing more serious to attend to. 
 They contrived, by these means, to arrogate to them- 
 selves the whole exercise of the regal authority ; and 
 exercising it only for private ends of the worst descrip- 
 tion, soon brought the administration of their royal 
 master into the greatest odium and contempt. 
 
 A party of thd nobles, headed by the Earl of Gowrie, 
 entered into a combination to rescue their young sove- 
 reign from this degrading state of subserviency. " As 
 the king," says Crawford, " was returning from stag 
 hunting in Athole, in his way towards Dunferm.ling, 
 he was invited by the Earl of Gowrie to his house of 
 Ruthven, near Perth. The earl, who was at the head 
 of the conspiracy, instantly sent to advertise his friends 
 of what had happened. Whereupon, several of the 
 discontented nobility, and all those that were in the 
 English interest at hand, repaired to Ruthven, where, 
 without any ceremony, they resolved to detain the 
 king and keep him prisoner. The next da}^ when 
 the king was essaying to go out, they stopt him ; 
 wherefore, growing into a passion and weeping, Sir 
 Thomas Lyon boldly, though rudely, told him, ' it 
 was no matter for his tears — better that bainis greet 
 tlian bearded men.' " 
 
 The conspirators went through the form of present- 
 ing a remonstrance to their royal captive, stating "the 
 false accusations, calumnies, oppressions, and perse- 
 cutions which they had suffered for two years, by 
 means of the Duke of Lennox and the Earl of Arran, 
 the like whereof were never heretofore borne in Scot-
 
 12 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 land." James, yielding to the necessity of his situa- 
 tion, sent an order to Lennox to quit the kingdom, 
 and another for the imprisonment of Arran ; and, at 
 the same time, issued a proclamation discharging all 
 commissions which he had given to either of them, 
 and declaring that in so doing he acted not from com- 
 pulsion, but from a view to the good of the common- 
 wealth. 
 
 The party who had now got James into their power, 
 had certainl^'^ the good of their country at heart ; but 
 it must be confessed that thej^ employed their ascen- 
 dancy in a way little calculated t j win over the young 
 prince to a cordial approbation of the course which 
 had been forcibly imposed upon him. Disciples of 
 the reformed religion, they suffered its ministers to 
 have a degree of influence over them in matters per- 
 taining to the civil administration, which to no priest- 
 hood can ever be conceded with safety. Instead of 
 endeavoring to moderate the fier}- zeal of presbyte- 
 rianism, they rather encouraged it to wander into ex- 
 cesses, not only personally offensive to the kbg, but 
 subversive of the most important attributes of the 
 sovereign authority. It was a zeal without know- 
 ledge ; which, left to itself, did not disdain to des- 
 cend to acts of the pettiest hostilit^^ When Henry 
 the Third of France sent over an ambassador to James, 
 the Presbyterian preachers refused to believe, that 
 the envoy of a Catholic king could come for any other 
 purpose than with some secret design to restore the 
 Catholic religion ; and, acting on this shrewd suspi- 
 cion alone, they proceeded to inveigh against him by 
 name from their pulpits, in a manner which set all 
 propriety and decency at defiance. And when the
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 13 
 
 itiac'istrates of Edinburgh had, at the request of the 
 king, appointed a day for publicly entertaining the 
 ambassador and his suite, the clergy thought it a right 
 cunning trick of their craft, to order a general fast to 
 be observed on the occasion, and, that there might be 
 no evasion of it, they took care to keep the people all 
 day in church by the length of their sermons ! 
 
 The reign of the Gowrie administration did not 
 however last long. James contrived to escape out of 
 the hands of his keepers ; and calling his old favorite, 
 Arran, and others of like disposition around him, issued 
 a proclamation', declaring his majesty's detention at 
 Ruthven to be an act of treason on the part of all 
 concerned in it ; and promising pardon only on con- 
 dition of their making the most prompt and abject 
 submission. An attempt by Gowrie and his friends 
 to protect themselves from the eflfects of this re-action 
 was unsuccessful ; and Gowrie, being taken, was 
 tried, condemned, and executed for treason. 
 
 Arran now ruled with undivided sway ; James gave 
 himself up entirely to his direction, and was in fact 
 only king in name. The most important offices of 
 the state were conferred on the favorite, and he " so 
 ruled," says Crawford, "as to make the whole sub- 
 jects tremble under him, and every man to depend 
 upon him." 
 
 The sagacious, though austere, Buchanan thus be- 
 held all his worst fears respecting his royal pupil real- 
 ized. He saw him the confirmed slave of that pro- 
 pensity to flattery and favouritism, which he had early 
 marked in his disposition, and against which he had 
 so assiduously but vainly endeavoured to fortify his 
 mind. The treatise which Buchanan had written, for a 
 
 TAUT 3.] c
 
 14 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 perpetual admonition to James, of the reciprocal rights 
 of kings and their subjects, he had now the mortification 
 to find not only proscribed at court, but, through the 
 influence of the court, solemnly condemned by the 
 legislat^ire. Buchanan had ventured to mamtain that 
 all po\ver is derived from the people ; that it is more 
 safe to entrust our liberties to the definite protection 
 of the laws, than to the precarious discretion of the 
 king ; that the king is bound by those conditions, 
 under which the supreme power was originally com- 
 mitted to his hands ; that it is lawful to resist, and 
 even to punish, tyrants.* Such doctrines as these were 
 little palatable to the sort of persons who had now 
 the direction of James's conduct, and in a parliament 
 which they called in the year 1584, they procured an 
 act, condemning the Dialogue Be Jure Regni, as also 
 the History of Scotland, which Buchanan had writ- 
 ten in the same spirit, as unfit to remain for a record 
 of truth to posterity ; and commanding every person 
 who possessed copies of them, to surrender them 
 
 * During the earlier part of James's minority, and 
 when Buchanan was supposed to have some influence 
 over the young king's proceedings, several coins were 
 struck, with a remarkable inscription borrowed from 
 the Emperor Trajan. One side presented a naked 
 sword, supporting a crown on its point, and surrounded 
 with this legend. Pro Me. Si Merear. lit, Me. " I give 
 you this sword to use for me, but if I deserve it, to 
 plunge into me." " Hoc lemma," says Ruddiman, 
 " (quo et suum adversus reges ingenium prodit) Geor- 
 gium Buchananum Jacobi VI. praeceptorem subrainis- 
 trassc oranes consentiunt." a. s.
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 15 
 
 within forty days, under a penalty of two hundred 
 pounds, in order that they might be purged of the 
 " offensive and extraordinary matters" which they 
 contained.* 
 
 The severity with which Buchanan speaks, in his 
 History, of the conduct of Queen Mary, is said to 
 have been one considerable cause of its thus sharing 
 
 * So slow was the progress of rational liberty, that 
 for a century after, the Dialogue De Jure Regni 
 continued an object of legislative proscription. In 
 1664, the privy council of Scotland issued a procla- 
 mation, prohibiting all subjects, of whatever degree, 
 quality, or rank, from transcribing or circulating any 
 copies of a manuscript translation of the Dialogue 
 De Jure Regni. And in 1683, the university of Ox- 
 ford doomed the work to the flames, along with those 
 of Milton, Languet, and several other political here- 
 tics ! It may not be out of place to add the charac- 
 ter which has been given of this once proscribed work, 
 by one of the ablest political writers of our own day. 
 " Buchanan," says Sir James Mackintosh, in his De- 
 fence of the French Revolution, " seems to have 
 been the first scholar who caught from the ancients 
 the noble flame of republican enthusiasm. This 
 praise is merited by his neglected, though incompara- 
 ble tract De Jure Regni, in which the principles of 
 popular politics, and the maxims of a free govern- 
 ment, are delivered with a precision and enforced 
 with an energy which no former age had equalled, 
 and no succeeding one has surpassed." 
 
 A. S. 
 
 c2
 
 16 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 the fate of the Dialogue De Jure Regni. Nor can it 
 be denied, that much ought to be conceded to the 
 warmth of a son's resentment for a mother's wrongs. 
 But James had never hitherto shewn any thing of the 
 feelings of a son towards his unhappy parent, and has 
 therefore no claim to apology on that account. He 
 had never as yet evinced more than a passing concern 
 for her misfortunes ; nor, though rising into manhood, 
 had he taken any step to rescue her from the afflicting 
 captivity to which a treacherous and cruel rival had 
 consigned her. A generous gallantry had, time after 
 time, given birth to schemes for her release ; but 
 the world had long waited in vain for the hour, when 
 filial duty and national honour were to arm a son and 
 sovereign in the ill-fated Mary's behalf. 
 
 When Elizabeth w as, at length, on the eve of con- 
 summating her cruelty to Mary, by an act of atrocity 
 as wicked as any recorded in the annals of time, — when 
 death on the scaffold w as the threatened termination of 
 Mary's sufferings, — 'Jarnes did, from a regard to de- 
 cency, what affection would probably never have 
 prompted. He sent a remonstrance to Elizabeth, 
 protesting against the illegality of the proceedings 
 against his mother, and pledging his credit both at 
 home and abroad, to revenge any injury offered to 
 her person. Elizabeth, however, paid no attention to 
 his remonstrance ; and the murder of Mary was per- 
 petrated. 
 
 The King of France too remonstrated against the 
 bloody deed ; but, if Rapin may be credited, Bel- 
 lievre, the French ambassador, had, at the same time, 
 orders to solicit privately the execution of Mary. 
 Had the Scotch envoy orders of the same kind ? The
 
 POETS. — JAMES THE SIXTH. 17 
 
 suppositiou shocks belief; yet Rapin does add, that 
 Gray, the Scotch envoy, also advised in private the 
 making her away, saying, " a dead woman bites 
 not." Ambassadors may, at times, act without or- 
 ders ; but it is seldom that they hazard what they 
 are not quite sure will be agreeable to their masters. 
 
 When the tidings of his mother's fate reached 
 James, he exhibited every outward sign of grief and 
 indignation. Elizabeth, in writing to him on the 
 su! ject, had the impious effrontery to appeal to the 
 supreme Judge of Heaven and Earth, that she was 
 innocent of Mary's death ; but James seemed to re- 
 ject, with proper disdain, her hypocritical excuses, 
 and even set about preparations for war. 
 
 There, however, his wrath ended ; for no war en- 
 sued. James soon resumed his friendly correspon- 
 dence with the English court, and even descended to 
 become a pensioner on the bounty of his mother's 
 destroyer. 
 
 The pusillanimity of James, on this occasion, met 
 soon after with a reproof, which, though not very 
 generally known, is sufficiently remarkable. An 
 English ship happened to be seized upon the west 
 coast by Roderick Macneil, Laird of Barray, sur- 
 named Roy the Turbulent. Queen Elizabeth com- 
 plained of it to James, as an act of piracy, com- 
 mitted upon her subjects, and insisted on redress. 
 The Laird of Barray was accordingly brought to 
 trial, at Edinburgh, for the offence. He was inter- 
 rogated, why he treated Queen Elizabeth's subjects 
 with such injustice ? Macneil replied, that he 
 thought himself bound by his loyalty to retaliate, as 
 much as lay in his power, the unpardonable injury
 
 18 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. I 
 
 done by the Queen of England to his own sovereign, 
 and his majesty's mother. Macneil was, notwith- 
 standing, found guilty, and his life and estate for- 
 feited. James, however, felt too sensibly the force 
 of the defence set up, to allow the sentence to be 
 carried into execution. He not only granted Mac- 
 neil his life, but so ordered matters, that the forfei- 
 ture of property was rendered merely nominal. The 
 crown gave a grant of the property to the tutor of 
 Kintail, who conveyed it back to Macneil, on condi- 
 tion of an annual payment of the trifling amount of 
 sixty merks Scots, or 31. 6s. Sd. sterling. This was 
 giving Elizabeth satisfaction after her own dissembling 
 fashion, and is perhaps the only incident connected 
 with this dark passage of Scotch and English history 
 on which a Scotsman can look back with satisfaction. 
 
 In the year 1589, James contracted a matrimonial 
 alliance with Ann, second daughter of Erederick 
 King of Denmark. The lad}-, on her way to Scot- 
 land, being driven back by contrary winds, James, 
 impatient at the detention of his bride, crossed the 
 seas in quest of her, and, after a winter passed in 
 feasting and revelry at Copenhagen, returned with 
 his queen to Scotland in May, 1590. 
 
 " The solemnity of the queen's coronation," says 
 Robertson, " was conducted with great magnificence ; 
 but so low had the order of bishops fallen in the opi- 
 nion of the public, that none of them were present 
 on that occasion ; and Mr. Robert Bruce, a presby- 
 terian minister of great reputation, set the crown on 
 her head, administered the sacred unction, and per- 
 formed the other customary ceremonies." 
 
 James, to shew his attachment to what was now
 
 POETS JAMES THE SIXTH. 19 
 
 become the prevailing religion of the people, took an 
 opportunity of proclaiming it in a very remarkable 
 manner, in a general assembly of the presbyterian 
 clergy, held at Edinburgli shortly after his arrival 
 from Denmark- *' He stood up," says Calderwood, 
 with his bonnet off, and his hands lifted up to heaven, 
 and said, he praised God that he was born in the time 
 of the light of the gospel, and in such a place, as 
 to be king of such a church, the sincerest kirk in the 
 ■world. The church of Geneva keep Pasche and 
 Yule (Easter and Christmas). What have they for 
 them ? They ■^lave no institution. As for our neigh- 
 bour kirk of England, their service is an evil said 
 mass in English ; they want nothing of the mass but 
 the liftings. I charge you, my good ministers, doc- 
 tors, elders, nobles, gentlemen, and barons, to stand 
 to your purity, and to exhort the people to do the 
 same, and I forsooth as long as I brook life, shall 
 maintain the same." 
 
 Notwithstanding the warmth of this protestation, 
 the presbyterian clergy appear to have placed no 
 faith in its sincerity ; and the old warfare between the 
 pulpit and throne was speedily revived. They sus- 
 pected James of a secret inclination to popery ; and 
 there is sufficient evidence extant to shew, that he 
 was, at least, no friend at heart to that presbyterian 
 church, which he publicly pretended to regard as 
 " the sincerest kirk in the world." 
 
 A deputation from another general assembly, which 
 met in May, 1592, drew from James a very different 
 sort of harangue from that which we have just quoted. 
 He expressed to the deputation, in terms of great 
 vehemence, his indignation against the clergy for
 
 20 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 speaking with so much freedom from the pulpit 
 against him and his nobility, and defending the con- 
 duct of the Earl of Murray, Buchanan, and Knox ; 
 who, added his majesty, " could only be defended by 
 traitors and seditious theologues." The deputation 
 seem, at first, to have replied with some degree of 
 reserve ; but the audience being renewed in the af- 
 ternoon, Andrew Melvin spoke out with such un- 
 measured boldness in defence of the objects of his 
 majesty's resentment, that the Chancellor (Arran) 
 told him, that he had appeared to have forgotten "the 
 errand he came for." Melvin undauntedly replied, 
 that he would not be silenced b^^ him or any other 
 subject. The king renewed his censure of the good 
 regent, (as Murray was called,) and his two adhe- 
 rents ; and particularly objected to Buchanan's book, 
 DeJure Regni. " These men," said Melvin, " placed 
 the crown on your majesty's head." " No," replied 
 James, " the crown came to me by succession, and 
 not through the favour of any man." JMelvin re- 
 joined, that " thej were, however, the instruments, 
 and whoever has prejudiced j'onr mind against them 
 is neither true to your majesty, nor to the common- 
 wealth." The king afterwards remarked, that Knox 
 
 had called his mother a , and had approved of 
 
 " the slaughter of David" in her presence. ♦' If a 
 king or queen," said Patrick Galloway, " be a mur- 
 derer, why should they not be called so r" 
 
 The jealousy with which the clergy regarded 
 James, never slept. Some new circumstance of sus- 
 picion was constantly arising to wake it into phrenzy. 
 When the Spanish armada invaded England, some 
 nobles of Scotland, who still adhered to the ancient
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 21 
 
 faith, had entered into a conspiracy in its favour j 
 and, on being detected, were banished the country. 
 After a short absence, James was prevailed on to 
 suffer their return. The clergy immediately sounded 
 the alarm of the danger from popery, and railed 
 against the king for his clemency in the bitterest 
 terms. In particular, one Black, a minister of St. 
 Andrew's, in a sermon, declared, that the king, by 
 permitting the return of the popish lords, had demon- 
 strated the treachery of his heart ; he said, that all 
 kings were the devil's children; that Satan ruled the 
 Scottish court ; '1;hat Queen Elizabeth was an atheist; 
 that the nobility were enemies to the church ; and the 
 Lords of Session a set of miscreants and bribers. 
 
 Black was summoned to answer for this extravagant 
 abuse before the privy council ; but he insisted, that 
 the conduct or language of a clergyman in the pul- 
 pit could only be tried before the ecclesiastical courts. 
 The king found himself too weak to inflict any pu- 
 nishment upon the " seditious theologue ;" and his 
 brethren, the clergy, instead of censuring his conduct, 
 ordained a solemn fast to be kept, to avert impend- 
 ing judgments, on account of the ill-treatment of the 
 faithful pastors of the church. The ministers of 
 Edinburgh shewed especial zeal on the occasion ; 
 stirred to it, we are told, by an anonymous letter, 
 which intimated that the king had some dangerous 
 scheme on foot against them. Walter Balcauqual, 
 after a long invective from the pulpit against the 
 treachery of the king and his ministers, addressed 
 himself to the nobility then present, and called on 
 them to imitate the conduct of their ancestors in 
 zealously supporting their religion ; and requested
 
 22 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 the principal persons present to meet at the end of 
 the service, to assist himself and his colleagues with 
 their advice. At this conference, a petition was pre- 
 pared and ordered to be presented to the king by two 
 noblemen, two gentlemen, and two ministers. The 
 persons who presented the petition treated his majesty 
 with little ceremony ; and a multitude of people 
 crowding into the presence after them, the king be- 
 came alarmed, and withdrew suddenly into another 
 room, the doors of which he ordered to be made fast. 
 When the people learned that the king had thus evaded 
 giving an ear to their complaints, they became quite 
 outrageous, and, if they had not been restrained by 
 the deacon convener, to whom it belonged to unfurl 
 the bluei blanket,* there was great danger that they 
 would have forced open the doors, and destroyed the 
 king and all that were with him. 
 
 James, to avoid a second petition, withdrew from 
 Edinburgh to Linlithgow, from which he issued a pro- 
 clamation, reciting the " treasonable uproar" which 
 had driven him from the capital, and commanding 
 the Lords of Session to remove from it as "an unsafe 
 place for the ministration of justice," and " all noble- 
 men and barons to despatch them to their homes, and 
 not presume to convene either in that or any other 
 place, without his majesty's licence, under the pain 
 of his highness's displeasure." 
 
 The obedience shewn to this proclamation was 
 more general and implicit than might have been ex- 
 
 * The ancient banner ; the unfurling of which was 
 a signal of danger, on which all the citizens of Edin- 
 burgh were bound to rally around it.
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 23 
 
 pected. The rage of the people subsided wonder- 
 fully ; and their ministers, after attempting in vain 
 to procure an association of the nobility and gentry 
 in their defence, were under the necessity of flying to 
 England. A meeting of parliament was called by 
 James ; and the tumult having been declared high 
 treason, a resolution was adopted to commence a pro- 
 cess against the incorporation of Edinburgh. The 
 affair, however, was finally hushed up, by the city's 
 agreeing to pay to the king a fine of 20,000 raerks. 
 
 The attention of the people was now drawn to an 
 event which has^ been justly termed one of the most 
 problematical in Scottish history — the celebrated 
 Cowrie Conspiracy. James shall himself be the rela- 
 ter of the story of this extraordinary transaction. 
 
 On the 5th of August, 1600, says the authentic ac- 
 count which his majesty published, when James was re- 
 siding atFalkland, going out to hunt in the morning, he 
 was accosted by Alexander Ruthven, who informed 
 him, that on the preceding evening he had seized a 
 stranger, who had under his cloak a pot filled with a 
 vast quantity of foreign gold ; that he had secured 
 the stranger, and thought it his duty to inform the 
 king. James suspected him to be a foreign priest, 
 come to excite commotions in the kingdom, and wished 
 to send authority to the magistrates of Perth to en- 
 quire into the matter; but Ruthven eagerly persuaded 
 the king to go in person for that purpose. The king 
 accordingly went to Perth, with only twenty persons 
 in his train, and was met by the Earl of Gowrie and 
 several citizens. The king was invited to a repast at 
 the earl's house, during which the earl is said to have 
 looked pensive and embarassed. When the repast
 
 24 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 was over, and his majesty's attendants had retired to 
 dine in another room, Ruthven whispered James, that 
 now was the time to go to the chamber where the 
 stranger was kept. James assenting, Ruthven con- 
 ducted him up a staircase, and then through several 
 apartments, the doors of which he locked behind 
 him, till he came to a small study, in which there 
 stood a man clad in armour, with a sword and a dag- 
 ger by his side. The king, who expected to have 
 found one disarmed and bound, started, and inquired 
 if this was the person ? On this, Ruthven snatching 
 the dagger from the girdle of the man in armour, and 
 holding it to the king's breast, " Remember," said 
 he, " how unjustly my father suffered by your com- 
 mand ; you are now my prisoner ; submit to my dis- 
 posal without resistance or outcry ; or this dagger 
 shall avenge his blood." James expostulated with 
 Ruthven ; entreated and flattered him. The man in 
 armour stood all the while motionless. Ruthven pro- 
 tested, that if the king raised no outcry his life should 
 be safe ; and then, moved by some unknown reason, 
 retired from the closet to call his brother, leaving to 
 the man in armour the care of the king, whom he 
 bound by oath not to make any noise in his absence. 
 While the king was in this critical situation, his 
 attendants growing impatient to know whether he 
 had retired, one of Gowrie's servants entered hastily, 
 and told them the king had just rode away to Falk- 
 land. All of them rushed out into the street, and 
 Gowrie seconding their hurry, called for their horses 
 to be got ready. By this time, his brother, Alexan- 
 der Ruthven, had joined the king, and swearing that 
 there was no alternative, but that he must die, oifercd
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 25 
 
 to bind his hands. Unarmed as James was, he scorn- 
 ed to submit to tliat indignity, and closing with the 
 assassin, a fierce struggle ensued. The man in ar- 
 mour still stood as before, amazed and motionless ; 
 and the king, dragging Ruthven towards a window, 
 which, during his absence, he had persuaded the per- 
 son with whom he was left to open, cried, with a wild 
 and aifrighted voice, " Treason ! Treason ! Help ! I 
 am murdered." 
 
 His attendants heard and knew the voice, and saw 
 at the window a hand v.hich grasped the king's neck 
 with violence. They flew to his assistance. The 
 Duke of Lennox and Earl of Mar, with the greater 
 number, ran up the principal staircase, but found all 
 the doors shut. Sir John Ramsay, with a few others, 
 entering by a back staircase which led to the apart- 
 ment where the king was, found the door open, and 
 rushing upon Ruthven, who was still struggling with 
 the king, struck him twice with his dagger, and thrust 
 him towards the staircase, where Sir Thomas Erskine 
 and Sir Hugh Herries met and killed him ; Ruthven 
 crying with his last breath, " Alas ! I am not to 
 blame for this action." During this scuffle, the man 
 in armour, who had been concealed in the study, 
 escaped unobserved. Along with Ramsay, Erskine, 
 and Herries, one AVilson, a footman, returned into 
 the room w here the king was ; but before they had 
 time to close the door, Gowrie rushed in with a drawn 
 sword in each hand, followed by seven of his at- 
 tendants well armed, and, with a loud voice, threat- 
 ened them all with instant death. Ramsay and his 
 party, though so unequal in numbers, faced the earl, 
 and a smart encounter ensued ; Ramsay pierced 
 
 TART 3.] D
 
 26 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Gowrie through the heart, who fell down dead with- 
 out uttering a word ; and his followers having received 
 several wounds, immediately fled. A great noise still 
 continued at the door opening from the principal 
 staircase, where many persons were labouring in vain 
 to force a passage. The king, being assured that they 
 were Lennox, JMar, and his otlier friends, ordered them 
 to be admitted. On their rushing forward and find- 
 ing the king unexpectedly safe, nothing could exceed 
 the warmth of their congratulations ; and James fall- 
 ing on his knees with all his attendants around him, 
 otfered solemn thanks to God for so wonderful a de- 
 liverance. 
 
 The danger, however, was not yet over. The in- 
 habitants of the town, whose Provost Gowrie was, 
 and by whom he was extremely beloved, hearing of 
 the fate of the two brothers, ran to arms and sur- 
 rounded the house, threatening revenge and making 
 use of many insolent and opprobrious expressions 
 against the king. James endeavoured to pacify the 
 enraged multitude by speaking to them from the 
 window ; he admitted their magistrates into the 
 house, and related to them the whole circumstances as 
 they had occurred ; these being repeated to the people, 
 their fury subsided and they dispersed. The bodies 
 of tlie two brothers were committed to the custody of 
 the magistrates of Perth, and the king returned in the 
 evening to Falkland. 
 
 Diligent search was made for the man in armour, 
 from whom great discoveries were expected ; but 
 Henderson, the Earl of Cowrie's steward, who, upon 
 a promise of pardon, confessed himself to be the man, 
 declared he was quite a stranger to the designs of his
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 27 
 
 master, and though placed in the closet by his 
 command, he did not even know for what end that 
 station had been assigned him. Three other attend- 
 ants of the earl being convicted of assisting him in his 
 assault upon the king's servants, were executed at 
 Perth ; but they could throw no light on the particu- 
 lar object which their master had in view. 
 
 A violent dispute on the subject of this conspiracy 
 ensued between the king and the clergy. The latter 
 asserted, that the minute detail published by the 
 court was a mere fabrication to cover a plan which 
 James had fornled and executed for destroying two 
 popular characters who were favorable to the pres- 
 byterian interest, and whose family was odious to 
 James. They, therefore, refused to return public 
 thanks to God for the king's escape, and some of 
 them, en this account, were banished. Nor was it 
 at home alone that the story of the conspiracy was 
 discredited. Osbom tells us, that not a Scotsman 
 could be met with beyond sea who did not laugh at 
 it, and agree that the relation murdered all possibility 
 of credit. 
 
 It was, indeed, a strange story. Two brothers 
 conceive the design of murdering the king in revenge 
 for their father's death ; and the mode which they de- 
 vise as the fittest for the bloody purpose, is to wile 
 the king to their own castle, so that there may be no 
 doubt who committed the deed, nor any chance of 
 escaping the punishment which it merited ! James 
 is conducted into a closet to be murdered, in the 
 presence of a man in armour, who, though in armour, 
 is placed there for no other purpose than to look on ; 
 the assassins being careful that the foul deed should 
 D 2
 
 28 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 not be committed without some person to witness, 
 and, if necessary, to swear afterwards which of the 
 brothers struck the deadly blow. Gowrie has not 
 heart enough for the job, and throws the execution of 
 it on his brother Alexander, who, instead of poignard- 
 ing James at once, as he might have done, and as any 
 ordinar}^ assassin would have done, first proceeds, 
 with all the decent formality of a public executioner, 
 to apprise James that his last hour is now come, and 
 that he must, for quietness sake, suffer his hands to 
 be tied ! James, animated by the desperation of the 
 moment, with a courage which nature had denied 
 to him constitutionally, struggles with Ruthven, and, 
 in spite of the odds against him, succeeds in dragging 
 the assassin to the window ; which window, by the 
 wa^', James, as if he foresaw what was to happen, had 
 cunningly taken care to prevail on the man in armour 
 to open, while Gowrie had gone out for his brother ! 
 Minutes elapse before Sir John Ramsay, alarmed by 
 the cries of the king, can reach the closet ; and 
 James is all this while struggling for his life against a 
 man armed with a dagger, and escapes without a single 
 wound or even scratch to swear by ! Ruthven, 
 though so hard pressed, though on the brink of ex- 
 posure and destruction, never asks his man in armour 
 to lend a hand ; and the man in armour as unaccoun- 
 tably stands by and never offers to take his master's 
 part ! Gowrie rushes in to his brother's aid, and not 
 content with one trusty rapier, comes armed with a 
 sword in each hand ! In short it would be endless to 
 recapitulate all the absurdities witli which the story is 
 fraught. It is from beginning to end a mass of pal- 
 pable invention. We may well say with JMr. Robert
 
 POETS. — JAMES THE SIXTH. 29 
 
 Bruce, one of the clerg^nnen who demurred at thank- 
 ing the Almighty for the discomfiture of this pre- 
 tended conspiracy ; " if we must, on pain of death, 
 reverence his majesty's reports of this transaction, we 
 will reverence them ; but we cannot say we are per- 
 suaded of the truth of them." 
 
 The only part of this nnsterious proceeding, of 
 which, unfortunately, there is no reason to doubt, is 
 that the two brothers were violently put to death by 
 the king's followers, when, if they had done any thing 
 to merit death, they might have been as easily seized 
 and brought to ^a legal trial. It is shocking to sup- 
 pose, that James could have been accessary to a plot 
 for taking away the lives of two innocent men be- 
 loved for their virtues ; but he has left us no alter- 
 native between believing so, or believing another story 
 which sets all credibility at defiance. It was the duty 
 of James, as he regarded his character, to shew that a 
 tragical event, in which he played so principal a part, 
 was justifiably brought about ; and since he has 
 failed — miserably failed, in doing so, the world can- 
 not be to blame that doth accuse him. 
 
 In 160S, the death of Queen Elizabeth opened, for 
 James, the way to the English throne. On the sun- 
 day previous to his departure for England, he went to 
 the church of Saint Giles, as if to take a solemn fare- 
 well of the subjects of his native kingdom. The mi- 
 nister preached an appropriate discourse ; and, the 
 people seeming to be much moved, the king addressed 
 them, at the end of the service ; — expressed his great 
 attachment to them ; requested them not to be de- 
 jected on account of his departure ; and promised, 
 that as his power of serving them was now increased, 
 D 3
 
 30 LIVES OF EMINExNT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 they should derive a proportionable advantage from 
 
 his liberality. 
 
 It was thouglit by some individuals of consideration 
 in England, particularly Lord Cobliam, Sir Walter 
 Raleigh, and Sir John Fortescue, that the accession of 
 a stranger to the English throne, afforded a favorable 
 opportunity for fixing, in a more precise manner than 
 had yet been done, the bounds of the royal preroga- 
 tive ; and they were, therefore, desirous of having a 
 declaration of rights prepared for James's assent, in 
 the same manner as was afterwards done with respect 
 to William, at the revolution of 1688. In this wise 
 and patriotic design, however, they were overruled by 
 Cecil, Northumberland, and others of greater influence, 
 who wished to curry favour with the new monarch ; 
 and James was allowed to ascend the English throne, 
 unfettered by a single stipulation. 
 
 The opinions which James was known to entertain, 
 on the subject of kingly power, made this want of 
 a compact the more to be lamented. The flatterers, 
 with whom he had, from his boyhood, been surrounded 
 had completely eradicated all that respect for popular 
 rights, which his early preceptor, Buchanan, had la- 
 boured to instil into his mind ; and by his solemn 
 proscription of the Dialogue De Jure Regni, he had 
 proclaimed to the world, that it was b}' the tenure of 
 divine and hereditary right alone, he held the sove- 
 reignty of one kindom, and aspired to that of another. 
 When, accordingly, he was allowed to take posses- 
 sion," without ceremony, of the vacant tlirone of Eng- 
 land, he did so with an idea that he succeeded to the 
 same nearly unlimited power, which, for upwards of a 
 century, had been exercised by the English sovereigns.
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 31 
 
 The able conduct and peculiar conjunctures of cir- 
 cumstances to which his predecessors were so much 
 indebted for the preservation of the sceptre, he seems 
 to have entirely overlooked ; and to one who could 
 imagine that they had reigned so long by the mere 
 force of their divine right, it was a matter of natural 
 inference, that there could be no danger or difficulty 
 in trusting to the same convenient sanction for what- 
 ever he should please to do ; no matter, how impru- 
 dent, unjust, intolerant, or capricious. 
 
 That this is no exaggerated picture of James's real 
 sentiments, is proved by his public declarations on 
 more than one occasion. In a speech to parliament 
 in 1621, he was pleased to reprove them in very sharp 
 terms, for not saying " that their privileges were de- 
 rived from the grace and permission of him and his 
 ancestors.'' And when the same parliament protested 
 that " the liberties, franchises, privileges, and juris- 
 dictions of parliament are the ancient and undoubted 
 birthright and inheritance of the subjects of England ;" 
 he was so enraged, that, sending for the journals of the 
 Commons, he, with his own hand, before the covmcil, 
 tore out this protestation, and ordered his reprobation 
 of such extraordinary doctrine to be recorded in the 
 Council book. 
 
 Had James been a prince of ability and virtue, it 
 would have been a matter of indifference what his 
 speculative opinions were, respecting the relationship 
 between kings and their subjects. He would have 
 ruled well in spite of them ; nor would the want of a 
 constitutional compact have been greatly felt. But 
 being of a weak mind and corrupt disposition, the 
 extravagant notion which he entertained of the royal
 
 32 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 prerogative, could only be expected to serve as an 
 apology for unbounded folly and great wickedness. 
 
 To the interested policy of Cecil and his party, we 
 may, thertfore, in a great measure ascribe the calami- 
 ties which were brought upon the English and Scottish 
 nations, by the arbitrary pretensions of the Stuart 
 race. They might have established the rights of the 
 people on a sure basis, and they did not ; for the sake 
 of sharing in the first spoils of despotism, they gave up 
 their country into its hands for ages. 
 
 One of the first uses which James made of his new- 
 ly-acquired power, was of a nature peculiarly calcu- 
 lated to give oflfence to the English nation. He was 
 followed to England as to another Canaan, overflow- 
 ing with milk and honey, by numbers of the neediest 
 and least worthy of his countrv-men ; and, true to the 
 promise which he made when leaving Edinburgh, he 
 was not sparing to them of the good things which he 
 had it now in his power to bestow. Wealth and ho- 
 nors were showered upon them with the most indecent 
 profusion ; nay, so public did the reproach become, 
 that James was under the necessity of making 
 some apology for it to parliament. The manner in 
 which he excused himself presents a curious specimen 
 of ingenuous assurance. " Had I been oversparing 
 to them," said he, " they might have thought Joseph 
 had forgotten his brethren, or that the king had been 
 drunk with his new kingdom. If I did respect the 
 English when I came first— what might the Scotch 
 have justly said, if I had not in some measure dealt 
 bountifully with them that so long had served me, so 
 far adventured themselves with me, and been so faith- 
 ful to me ? Such particular persons of the Scottish
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 33 
 
 nation as might claim any extraordinary merit at my 
 hands, 1 have already seasonably rewarded ; and I 
 can assure you that there is none left for whom I 
 mean extraordinarily to strain myself farther." 
 
 It is true, that, bountiful as James was to his own 
 countrymen, he was still more so to some of his new 
 subjects. Sir Anthony Weldon tells us, that " they 
 that then lived at court, and were curious observers of 
 every man's actions, could have affirmed that Salis- 
 bury, Suffolk, and Northampton, and their friends did 
 get more than the whole nation of Scotland, Dunbar 
 excepted. All the Scots in general scarce got the 
 tythe of these English getters." 
 
 The English nation had doubtless great reason to 
 complain of the prodigality of their new monarch ; 
 but, not because he shewed more favour to the natives 
 of the one kingdom, than those of the other ; they 
 had to lament a prince intoxicated by his exaltation ; a 
 prince whose ear was to be gained by any one, whether 
 Scotch or English, who could minister to his vanity 
 or amusement ; a prince, unable to appreciate either 
 the value of what he gave away, or the merit of 
 khose on whom it was bestowed. " Merit, as such," 
 (Harris sa3's very truly, " was always neglected or over- 
 looked by him ; he knew it not, or regarded it not, but 
 [preferred his flatterers to all others." 
 
 James, in a speech to parliament. Anno 1609, 
 owned that " at his entrance into England, they saw 
 |him make knights by hundreds, and barons in great 
 number." Osborn assures us, that in the first two 
 jyears of his reign, he made the amazing number of 
 one thousand and twenty -two knights; and from 
 Torbuck's Parliamentary Debates, we learn that he
 
 34 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 added no less than sixty-two members to the peerage I — 
 Such a prostitution of honors and preferments would 
 have been of pernicious example, on whomsoever 
 conferred ; but to the English nation it was certainly 
 no small aggravation of the evil, that any large pro- 
 portion of them should have been borne off by indi- 
 viduals, who were aliens to the country at whose ex- 
 pense they took place. It is impossible not to sub- 
 scribe to the justice of what Harris sa^s on this head. 
 " Had there been an union of the two kingdoms, this 
 had doubtless been good policy ; but as there was 
 not, these preferments could serve no other end, but 
 to create jealousies among the English, and excite 
 complaints. For why should men of another country 
 have the power of legislation? Why should tiny 
 whose property lay elsewhere, and whose connections 
 were at a distance, have a power of enacting laws 
 which they themselves might easily get out of the 
 reach of, and their families be free from ? But such was 
 the will of James, who, though he seldom considered 
 himself, cared not to be counselled, and therefore ge- 
 nerally acted unwisel3\" 
 
 The attachment which James had professed while 
 in Scotland, for the Presbyterian church, " the sin- 
 cerest church in the world," as he was pleased to 
 call it, led the Puritans in England, a sect of kindred 
 spirit and doctrines, to indulge strong hopes of favour, 
 in the sight of their new sovereign. An address sign- 
 ed by no less than seven hundred and fifty ministers 
 of this persuasion, was presented to James, congratu- 
 lating him on his accession to the throne. James, 
 however, quickly convinced them, that they had fal- 
 len into a very unscriptural delusion in " putting their
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 35 
 
 faith in princes." The celebrated conference at Hamp- 
 ton-court was summoned, for the professed purpose of 
 examining into the objections of the puritans, against 
 the doctrine, government, and discipline of the esta- 
 blished church ; but in reality to afford James an op- 
 portunity of publicly recanting all he had ever said in 
 their favour, and of shewing with what kingly decen- 
 cy he could abuse and laugh at men, among whom he 
 had before blessed heaven, it was his lot to be cast. 
 " I will tell you," said he, to the lords and bishops ; 
 "I have lived among this sort of men ever since I was 
 ten years old ; btit I may say of myself, as Christ 
 said of himself, though I have lived among them, yet 
 since 1 had ability to judge, I was never of them," 
 Speaking of Scotch Presbyterianism, he added, that 
 " it agreed with a monarchy as God, and the Devil. 
 That Jack and Tom, and Will and Dick, shall 
 meet, and at their pleasure censure me and ray coun- 
 cil, and all our proceedings.' Then Will shall stand 
 up and say, it must be thus ; then Dick shall reply, 
 and say, * Nay, marry, but we will have it thus.' " — 
 If this, concluded he, addressing himself to the pu- 
 ritan delegates, was all they aimed at, " he would 
 make them conform, or would hurry them out of the 
 land, or else do worse."* We may see from this, 
 that it w as not without abundant reason the Scot- 
 tish clergy distrusted James's professions of at- 
 tachment to their religion j and those who may be 
 
 * Barlow's Account of the Conference at Hampton 
 Court.
 
 36 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 disposed to condemn the acrimonious style of warfare 
 which they waged against him from their pulpits, 
 ought to make considerable allowance for the fact, 
 that it was against an enemy who would have de- 
 stroyed them if he could, that they contended. 
 
 The English puritans, so far from having the laws 
 against them relaxed, found them, throughout the 
 whole of James's reign, enforced with greater seventy 
 than ever. The consequence, as Oldcastle well re- 
 marks, was, that " those sects who were not danger- 
 ous at first, became so at last ; for nothing is found 
 more true in nature and experience than this, that 
 they who are oppressed by governments will endea- 
 vour to change them ; and that he who makes himself 
 temble to multitudes will have multitudes to fear." 
 
 The decided part which James took against (lie 
 puritans gained him, of course, boundless praise from 
 their prelatical opponents. Archbishop Whitgift, in 
 complimenting James on the part he took in the 
 Conference^ said, that " undoubtedly his majesty 
 spake by the special assistance of God's spirit ?" 
 And Bishop Bancroft (who had a step to gain which 
 the archbishop had not) falling on his knees, pro- 
 tested that, " his heart melted with joy, and made 
 haste to acknowledge unto Almighty God his singu- 
 lar mercy in giving them such a king, as since Christ's 
 time the like had not been."* "What can we think of 
 the honesty of men who could descend to such im- 
 pious flattery as this, or of the understanding ol :i 
 prince who could listen to it with satisfaction ? 
 
 * Barlow.
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 37 
 
 James, not content with thus abjuring the religion 
 in which he had been brought up, and which he had 
 sworn " as long as he brooked life to maintain," re- 
 solved to exert all the increased authority and power 
 which he possessed to force his countrymen to abjure 
 it also. " I will have one doctrine," said he at the 
 conference, " and one discipline ; one religion in 
 substance and in ceremony." That religion he re- 
 solved should be episcopacy ; asserting, that it was 
 as much diviiKB ordinationis as royalty itself. " No 
 bishop, no king," was an aphorism for ever in his 
 mouth. James, however, over-rated his power pro- 
 digiously, in supposing that he could force back this 
 rejected dogma on the Scottish people. The doc- 
 trines of presbyterianism had gained an acceptance 
 among them which nothing could weaken ; and James 
 saw all his etForts to produce a change absolutely 
 abortive. He even paid a visit to Scotland, (a. d. 
 1617,) with the express design of restoring episco- 
 pacy ; but it was only to have the ra rtification of 
 being personally convinced of the possibility of a 
 king's being so foolish as to attempt what was impos- 
 sible. 
 
 Although the fires of persecution were not re-lighted 
 in Scotland, it must have been rather from a want of 
 power than will on the part of James, that they were 
 not. He gave proofs in England, that there was no 
 extremity, however cruel, to which his despotic spirit 
 would not carry him. In 1611 » he caused two of his 
 EngUsh subjects, Bartholomew Legate and Edward 
 Wightman, to be burnt for heresy ; the one at Smith- 
 field, and the other at Litchfield. And what can any 
 one imagine were their heresies ? Legate was a IMa- 
 
 PART 3.] E 
 
 441339
 
 38 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 nichean, and Wightman thought he was the prophet 
 spoken of in the eighteenth of Deuteronomy ! 
 
 The history of James's life in England was stained 
 by but too many similar acts of arbitrary cruelty% 
 The whole of his internal government consisted, in- 
 deed, of little else than acts of aggression on the 
 rights and liberties of his people, frequently aggrava- 
 ted by peculiar features of wantonness and rigour. 
 The murder of Sir Walter Raleigh, the glory of his age 
 and nation, to please the court of Spain ; the pardon 
 of his majesty's favorite, the Duke of Somerset, and his 
 lady, for poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury, after ha- 
 ving invoked, on his knees, the vengeance of heaven 
 on himself and his posterity, if he did not yield 
 them up to justice ; the imprisonment of the Earl of 
 Northumberland for fourteen years, in addition to an 
 exaction of thirty thousand pounds, on a mere suspi- 
 cion, unsupported by the least proof, of his being 
 privy to the gunpowder plot ; the committal to the 
 tower of several members of the House of Commons, 
 and the banishment of others for presuming to assert 
 that the people of England possessed any right which 
 did not flow entirely from the grace and favour of 
 their sovereigns: — such were a few of those acts, 
 which gave a character of oppression and profligacy 
 to the domestic administration of James, seldom be- 
 fore exceeded in the history of England. 
 
 Nor did James confine himself to conduct, the evil 
 of which might perish with him. In the sufficiency 
 of his self-conceit, he must needs become a legislator, 
 and confer on England a law, which was to do the 
 work of ignorance and inhumanity long after he 
 should be no more. It is painful to be obliged to
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 39 
 
 speak thus severely of a prince of our native line ; 
 but, can less be said of that law which first made 
 witchcraft a crime in England, and has been the 
 cause of consigning hundreds and thousands to an 
 ignominious death, for an impossible offence ? James 
 had, before leaving Scotland, written and published a 
 " Treatise on Daemonologie," in which he had endea- 
 voured, with great shew of learning, to " resolve die 
 doubting hearts of many," as to the " fearful abound- 
 ing of those detestable slaves of the devil, witches 
 or enchanters," and established, to his own satisfac- 
 tion, that " wilches ought to be put to death accord- 
 ing to the law of God, the civil and imperial law, 
 and the municipal law of all Christian nations." He 
 now resolved to let his English subjects have the be- 
 nefit of this sensible discovery ; and found the parlia- 
 ment foolish enough to concur with him in passing 
 that law, on which so many capital convictions have 
 taken place for witchcraft, and which remained, for 
 upwards of a century, a disgrace to the statute book, 
 and to the national character. 
 
 A tyrant at home, James was a truckler abroad ; 
 and though England enjoyed an unwonted length of 
 peace during his reign, it was a blessing gained by a 
 sacrifice of character and advantages, for which it ill 
 compensated. He had scarcely seized the sceptre, 
 when he gave peace to Spain without being asked 
 for it; and thus lost, as Comwallis, the ambassa- 
 dor whom he sent to Madrid, says in a letter to 
 Cecil, " such an opportunity of winning honor and 
 wealth," as England never before possessed. He 
 afterwards allowed the Spaniards, whom he had thus 
 foolishly favoured, to ill-treat, defraud, and even mas- 
 E 2
 
 40 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 sacre* British subjects with impunity. He beheld 
 his son-in-law, the Elector Palatine, and in him the 
 protestant cause, about to be overwhelmed b^- a coa- 
 lition of enemies ; and to save both, sent over — an aid 
 of one regiment of foot ! He saw the Palatinate lost 
 through his pusillanimity, and then weakly imagined 
 that he could reason princes, flushed with victory, 
 out of their conquest. He allowed his unfortunate 
 daughter, her husband, and her children, to drag out 
 a long exile in a foreign land, without aifording them 
 any of those helps which duty and humanity required 
 at his hands. He suflfered the British flag, which 
 had never before known dishonor, to be grossly in- 
 sulted, and our merchant ships to be pillaged, by the 
 Dutch ; contenting himself with sending a remon- 
 strance, which the Dutch, viewing it as it deserved, 
 passed over unheeded. Nay, as if there had been 
 no fitter way for an independent prince to resent in- 
 juries, than to heap favours on his enemies ; notwith- 
 standing all the Dutch had done, he consented to de- 
 liver up to them the cautionary towns which they 
 had deposited in the hands of Queen Elizabeth, on 
 their paying five millions less than the sum for which 
 they stood pledged ; and thus relieved them besides 
 from that state of dependance on Britain, which had 
 
 * Sir Walter Ealeigh speaks of it as a known fact, 
 that " the Spaniards murthered twenty-six English- 
 men, tying them back to back, and then cutting 
 their throats, when they had traded with them a whole 
 month, and came to them on the land without so 
 much as one sword."
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 41 
 
 been hitherto regarded as the right arm of our con- 
 tinental policy. The massacre at Amboyna was now 
 all that was wanted to place beyond doubt, whether 
 it was possible to rouse a spark of the man or sove- 
 reign in him. He submitted to this unexampled in- 
 jury, even without requiring satisfaction, and contented 
 himself with whiningly telling the Dutch ambassador, 
 " that he had never heard nor read a more cruel and 
 impious act than that of Amboyna. But," continued 
 he, " I do forgive them, and I hope God will ; but 
 my son's son* shall revenge this blood, and punish 
 this horrid massacre." 
 
 Need we be surprised that such a course of con- 
 duct should have made James an object of ridicule 
 among foreign nations, and of contempt with his own? 
 All over the continent, caricatures of him were to be 
 seen, exhibiting him in the most ludicrous situations. 
 In one place, he was represented with a scabbard 
 without a sword ; in another, with a sword stuck so 
 fast in the scabbard, that no body could draw it ; and 
 in a third, carrying a cradle after his poor daughter, 
 the Electress Palatine, who, with dishevelled hair and 
 tattered garments, was trudging along with a child on 
 her back. The French had their epigram too on the 
 occasion, the point of which is, with some loss of 
 elegance, preserved in the following old version. 
 
 * James proved a false prophet. It was left to 
 ( Cromwell to obtain satisfaction for this, as well as 
 other wrongs, which Britain had endured during the 
 reigns of his legitimate predecessors. a. s.
 
 42 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 While Elizabeth was England's king. 
 That dreadful name through Spain did ring ; 
 How alter'd is the case — ad sa' me ! 
 These jugling days of gude Queen Jamie.* 
 
 But although the sword of James was truly one 
 which nobod3- could draw,t he had a pen which was 
 at almost every one's service, and which, if goose 
 quills could do the work of armies, would have done 
 wonders. In a speech delivered at Whitehall in 
 1609, he was pleased to say, that " with his own pen 
 he had brought the pope's quarrel upon him, and 
 proclaimed public defiance to Babylon." His majesty 
 alluded to an Apology, which he had written, for the 
 Oath of Allegiance, (appointed to be taken after the 
 detection of the gunpowder plot,) in answer to an 
 
 * Tandis qu'EIizabeth fut Ro}^ 
 L'Anglois fut d'Espague I'eflEToy ; 
 Maintenant, devise et coquette 
 Regi par la Reine Jaquette. 
 t He is said to have had, from infancy, an uncon- 
 querable aversion to tlie sight of a naked sword, de- 
 rived, it is supposed, from the shock which his mo- 
 ther, when pregnant with him, received from the as- 
 sassination, in her presence, of David Rizzio. When 
 conferring the honor of knighthood, it was as much 
 as he could do to hold the sword for the moment, and 
 he always lessened the terror by turning away his 
 head. It is curious to observe, bow completely this 
 physical peculiarity had transferred itself to his moral 
 character. a. s.
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 43 
 
 attack made on it by two briefs of Pope Paulus 
 Quintus, and a letter from Cardinal Bellarraine. Ac- 
 cording to Bishop Montague, his majesty had, at 
 first, merely intended to write instructions to the 
 Bishop of Winchester, how an answer ought to be 
 drawn up ; " but it fell out true, that the poet saith, 
 
 -^amphora ccEpit 
 
 Institui : currente rota urceus exit, 
 
 for the king's pen ran so fast, that in the compass of 
 six days his majesty had accomplished that which he 
 now calleth his Apology ; which when my lord of 
 Canterbvury that then was, (Bancroft,) and my lord 
 of Ely, (Andrews,) had perused, they thought it so 
 sufficient an answer both to the pope and cardinal, 
 as needed no other." This Apology soon drew forth 
 a number of replies, which induced James to follow 
 it up with a " Premonition to all most mighty mo- 
 narchs, kings, free princes, and states of Christen- 
 dom;" copies of which were transmitted through his 
 ambassadors to every court in Europe. It met, how- 
 ever, with but an indifferent reception ; there were 
 some courts even uncivil enough to refuse to have 
 any thing to do with it. From Winwood, it appears, 
 that there was as much manoeuvring to get a copy of 
 the book put into the King of Spain's hands, as 
 would have sufficed to conclude half a dozen treaties. 
 It ended in the Duke of Lerraa's apprizing the En- 
 glish ambassador, that " the King of Spain would 
 never receive, much less give reading to, any book 
 containing matter derogatory to his religion and obe- 
 dience to the see of Rome." This silenced our am-
 
 44 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 bassador ; he did not dare to present the book ; and 
 brought it back with him to England. This, as Har- 
 ris observes, must have been a provoking aflfront " to 
 one so full of his own abilities as James I He thought 
 doubtless, that his fellow kings, with attention, would 
 have read his works, applauded his talents, and mag- 
 nified his art and dexterity in controversy. But he 
 was mistaken ; few foreigners spoke well of his writ- 
 ings." His pen appears, in short, to have been about 
 as impotent as his sword. 
 
 Are there, then, no fair points in James's character 
 on which one may, for a moment, rest with satisfac- 
 tion ? Vain of learning in himself, he respected and 
 patronized it in others ; but in return, he required a 
 degree of adulation which put the sincerity of genius 
 to the blush. Even the master spirit of Bacon was 
 forced to descend to the most disgusting flatteries to 
 secure some share in his favour. Ben Jonson was 
 thrown into prison for daring to say just what he 
 thought ; and the learned Vorstius, though a foreign- 
 er, was, through his influence, (for he could crush a 
 poor author, when he durst not look the pettiest po- 
 tentate in the face,) persecuted to destruction, for 
 differing with him in opinion. He promoted the 
 arts, but without being able to appreciate their me- 
 rits : desirous of employing Inigo Jones, but not 
 exactly knowing how, he set him upon discovering, 
 that is, guessing, who were the founders of Stone- 
 henge ! He sought to encourage trade ; but it was 
 by privileges and monopolies, the greatest enemies 
 to successful trade which power ever devised. These 
 were, it is true, in the spirit of the age, but they were 
 still more according to the spirit of James, who de-
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 45 
 
 lighted in conferring benefits only in as far as they 
 shewed an exertion of power. One good only did 
 England owe to James, of which we may venture to 
 speak with unqualified praise. He \vas the means of 
 accomplishing that translation of the Holy Scriptures 
 which we still use, which not only exceeded all that 
 •went before it in purity, but still remains, and will 
 probably long remain, without a rival. 
 
 The portion of his dominions which he governed 
 best, was that with which he had the least to do. 
 Ireland made a greater stride in civilization during 
 his reign, than fer a whole century preceding. The 
 measures taken for its improvement were marked by 
 great sagacity, comprehension, and energy ; a praise 
 in which it is scarcely necessary to say, James could 
 personally have little share. He was fortunate in the 
 choice of his viceroys ; and that is perhaps the ex- 
 tent of the praise which belongs to him in regard to 
 Ireland. 
 
 The same attachment to favorites, which distin- 
 guished James before his arrival in England, con- 
 tinued with him to the last. Arran was succeeded 
 I by Somerset, and Somerset by Villiers, who, with no 
 other recommendations than a fine person and in- 
 sinuating manners, gained so strong a hold on the 
 king's affections, as to be raised, within the space of a 
 few 3'ears, from the rank of a private gentleman to be 
 Duke of Buckingham and Admiral of England. The 
 ascendancy which all his favorites, especially Buck- 
 ingham, acquired over him, was of the most degrading 
 description. He could refuse them nothing ; and 
 there was nothing, however insulting, which he would 
 not bear at their hands. Clarendon tells us, that
 
 46 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 when James once attempted to dissuade Buckingham 
 from a step to which he had before thoughtlessly 
 given his consent, the haughty minion had the rude- 
 ness to tell his majesty, that " Nobody could believe 
 any thing he said ; that he plainly discerned that he 
 had been communicating with some rascal, who had 
 furnished him with those pitiful reasons he had alleged, 
 (in apology for his breach of promise,) and that he 
 doubted not, but he should hereafter know who his 
 counsellor had been." 
 
 James, at the same time, was not without some few 
 persons about him who could speak to him in the lan- 
 guage of disinterestedness and truth. Mention is parti- 
 cularly made of one Ferguson, who had been his play- 
 fellow when 3-oung, and had accompanied him into 
 England, who, availing himself of the rights of friend- 
 ship, frequently took the liberty of advising, and 
 sometimes admonishing, or rather reproving, his so- 
 vereign. He was a man truly honest ; he inherited 
 from his ancestors an independent patrimony, and 
 had no ambition to be wealthier than they had left 
 him. The king was, however, often vexed by his 
 freedoms, and, at length, said to him, between jest 
 and earnest, "You are perpetually censuring ray 
 conduct : I'll make jou a king some time or other, 
 and let us see what sort of a king you will be." Ac- 
 cordingly, one day the company at court being very 
 jovial, it came into his majesty's head to execute this 
 project ; and so, calling Ferguson, he ordered him 
 into the chair of state, bidding him " there play the 
 king," while, for his part, he would personate " John- 
 ny Ferguson." This farce was, in the beginning, 
 very agreeable to the whole company. The mock
 
 POETS JAMES THE SIXTH. 47 
 
 sovereign put on the airs of royalty, and talked to 
 those about him in a strain much like that of the 
 real one, only with less pedantry. All were infinitely 
 pleased with the joke, and it was quite a comedy, till 
 the unlucky knave turned the tables, and began, all 
 of a sudden, to moralize on the vanity of honour, 
 wealth, and pleasure ; to talk of the insincerity, ve- 
 nality, and corruption, of courtiers and servants of 
 the crown ; to shew how entirely they had their own 
 interests at heart, and how generally their pretended 
 zeal and assiduity were the disguise of falsehood and 
 flattery. This discourse produced a change in some 
 of the countenances of the listeners, and even the 
 real monarch did not relish it altogether. But the 
 monitor did not stop here ; he proceeded to level a 
 particular satire at the king, which made his majesty 
 more seriously repent that he had introduced the en- 
 tertainment, for it painted him in his true colours, as 
 ; one that never " loved a wise man, nor rewarded an 
 I honest one, unless they sacrificed to his vanity ; while 
 ! he loaded those, who prostituted themselves to his 
 
 I will, with wealth and honours." The mimic king, 
 pointing directly to James, (who had agreed to per- 
 
 { sonate Ferguson,) and raising his voice, " There 
 ! (said he) stands a man, whom I would have you imi- 
 ! tate. — The honest creature was the comrade of my 
 i childhood, and regards me with a most cordial aifec- 
 . tion to this very moment. He has testified his friend- 
 ship by all the means in his power, studying my 
 i welfare, guarding me from evil counsellors, prompt- 
 ,| ihg me to princely actions, and warning me of every 
 
 I I danger; for all which, however, he never asked me 
 for any thing ; and by Jove, though I squandered
 
 48 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 thousands upon several of you, yet in the whole 
 course of my life I never gave him a farthing." The 
 king, nettled by this sarcasm, cried out to Ferguson, 
 " Augh ! you pawky loon, what wad ye be at ? 
 Awa' afF my thrane, and let's hae nae mair o' your 
 nonsense." 
 
 In the spring of 1625, James was seized with an 
 ague, which baffled the power of medicine ; and on 
 the 27th of March, he expired, being then in the 59th 
 year of his age. 
 
 His remains were interred, with great magnificence, 
 at Westminster. The funeral oration, or sermon, was 
 delivered by William, Bishop of Lincoln and keeper 
 of the seals, and was afterwards published under the 
 title of" Great Britain's Solomon." A grosser piece 
 of flattery^ never perhaps fell from the pulpit ; yet it 
 is amusing for its ingenuity, and is important, as 
 shewing the light in which the friends of the departed 
 monarch were %villing he should appear. The text 
 from which it was preached was 1 Kings, xi. 41 . 42. 
 43. And the rest of the words of Solomon, and all that 
 he did, and his icisdom, are they not written in the book 
 of the acts of Solomon, &c. " For the bulke or the 
 mould," said the worthy bishop, " I dare presume to- 
 say, you never read in your lives of two kings more 
 fully paralleled amongst themselves, and better dis- 
 tinguished from all other kings, besides themselves. 
 King Solomon is said to be unigenitus coram matre 
 sua, the only sonne of his mother, — Prov. 4. 3. So 
 was King James. Solomon was of a complexion 
 white and ruddy, — Canticles, v. 10. So was King 
 James. Solomon was an infant king, puer parvulus, 
 a little child, — 1 Chron. xxii. 5. So was King James^
 
 POETS. — JAMES THE SIXTH. 49 
 
 a king at the age of thirteen months. Solomon be- 
 gan his reign in the life of his predecessor, — 1 Kings, 
 1. 32. So, by the force and compulsion of that 
 state, did our late sovereigne King James. Solomon 
 was twice crowned and anoynted a king, — 1 Chron. 
 xxix. 22. So was King James. Solomon's minority 
 was rough, through the quarrels of the former sove- 
 reigne. So was that of King James. Solomon was 
 learned above all the princes of the east, — 1 Kings, 
 iv. 30. So was King James above all the princes in 
 the universal world. Solomon was a writer in prose 
 and verse, — 1 vKings, iv. 32. So, in a very pure 
 and exquisite manner, was our sweet sovereigne King 
 James. Solomon was the greatest patron we ever 
 read of to church and churchmen, and yet no greater 
 (let the house of Aaron now confess) than King 
 James. Solomon was honoured with ambassadors 
 from all the kings of the earth,' — 1 Kings, iv. last 
 verse ; and so you know was King James. Solomon 
 was a main improver of his home commodities, as 
 you may see in his trading with Hiram, — 1 Kings, 
 V. 9. ; and, God knows, it was the daily study of 
 King James. Solomon was a great maintainer of 
 shipping and navigation, — 1 Kings, x. 14 ; a most 
 proper attribute to King James. Solomon beautified 
 very much his capital city with buildings and water- 
 works, — 1 Kings, ix. 15. So did King James. Every 
 man lived in peace under his vine and his fig-tree in 
 the days of Solomon, — 1 Kings, iv. 35. And so 
 they did in the blessed days of King James. And 
 yet towards his end. King Solomon had secret ene- 
 mies, Kazan, Hadad, and Jeroboam ; and prepared 
 for a war upon his going to his grave ; so had and so 
 PART 3.] F
 
 50 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 did King James. Lastly, before any hostile act 
 that we read of in the history, King Solomon died 
 in peace, when he had lived about sixty years ; and 
 so you know did King James."* 
 
 Not satisfied with the praise conveyed by this pa- 
 rallel, which was, in many respects, curious enough, 
 the right reverend preacher proceeded to insist, more 
 at large, on the matchless perfections of his departed 
 majesty. " Every action," he said, " of his sacred 
 majesty was a virtue and a miracle, to exempt him 
 from any parallel amongst the modern kings and 
 princes." " He was," in short, " unto his people to 
 the hour of his death another cherubim, with a fla- 
 ming sword to keep out enemies from this paradise of 
 ours." 
 
 Such was the glowing eulogiura which a prelate, 
 who knew James well, thought it not unbecoming in 
 him, as a minister of truth, to pronounce over his re- 
 mains ; but, as Harris quaintly remarks, " for court 
 bishops, by some fate or other, from the time of Con- 
 stantine, down at least, to the death of James, and a 
 little after, they have had the character of flatterers, 
 and are therefore always to have great abatements 
 made in their accounts of those who have been their 
 benefactors." The believers in this pious fable could 
 never have been many ; and, in modem times, it has 
 
 * Scandal might have supplied the bishop with art 
 additional coincidence, as striking as any he has 
 mentioned. When Henry IV. of France was told, 
 that James delighted to be compared to another 
 Solomon. " What !" replied he, " and is he really 
 the son of David ?" (Rizzio.) a. s.
 
 POETS. — JAMES THE SIXTH. 51 
 
 only to boast of the respect of Mr. Hume, who could 
 believe in this when he could believe in nothing else. 
 
 WhatBolingbroke says of James appears exti-emely 
 just. " He had no virtues to set off, but he had fail- 
 ings and vices to conceal. He could not conceal the 
 latter, and, void of the former, he could not compen- 
 sate for them. His failings and his vices therefore 
 stand in full view ; he passed for a weak prince and 
 an ill man, and fell into all the contempt wherein his 
 memory remains to this day." 
 
 The mode by which Hume has contrived to arrive 
 at so different ^a conclusion does credit to his inge- 
 nuity; but there is no other character, which, put 
 through the same process, would not come out quite 
 as " unspotted and unblemished." He allows, that 
 James's failings and his vices stand in full view, but 
 assumes, out of a peculiar tenderness, that they were 
 all the natural offspring of so manj^ excellent quali- 
 ties. James was pusillanimous — it arose from a love 
 of peace ; he was cunning — it was the failing of 
 wisdom ; he was profuse — it was the excess of gene- 
 rosity ; he was pliable and, childish — it was the over- 
 flowing of good nature ; he was pedantic — it was the 
 foible of a man overlearned : whereas, the naked truth, 
 separated from all assumption, is, that he had benefit- 
 ed little by all he had learned ; was no more good- 
 natured than the froward child who is allowed its own 
 way in every thing ; wholly without generosity ; 
 wholly without wisdom ; and lamentably destitute of 
 the stuff which warlike men are made of. 
 
 The whole course of his life was in accordance 
 with these deficiencies of the head and heart. It was 
 made up of threats and compliances, of fondnesses 
 F 2
 
 52 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 and treacheries, of sacrifices and aggressions. He ad- 
 mitted of no limits to his will, but m ant of power ; 
 no hold upon his affections, but unabated adulation. 
 He was submissive only when he could not help it, or 
 what is the same thing, when he had not the courage 
 to be otherwise ; faithful only as long as it suited his 
 interest or his pleasure. When he deprecated vio- 
 lence, it was only because he was afraid to resort to 
 it ; for when he could play the tyrant with impunity, 
 none could delight in the part more. With princes 
 at the head of armies, he would use words only ; but 
 when he met with a poor heretic, whom all his words 
 could not persuade, he threw him into the fire. Ma- 
 lignity in power could do no worse. 
 
 As an author, James is distinguished beyond most 
 kings ; but had he been only an author, his name 
 would probably have long ere now sunk into oblivion. 
 Beside the works which have been before incidentally 
 mentioned, — his Djemonology, — his Apology for the 
 Oath of Allegiance, — his Premonition to all most 
 Mighty Monarchs, and his Remonstrance for the 
 Rights of Kings, — he wrote " the Essayes of A 
 Prentise on the Divine Art of Poesie." " Poetical 
 Exercises at Vacant Hours, containing the Furies and 
 the Lepanto ;" " the Trew Law of Free Monarchy ;" 
 some paraphrases on different passages of scripture ; 
 the " BA2IAIK0N AnPON ;" a Declaration concerning 
 Vorstius; a " Counterblast to Tobacco;" and part 
 of a " Translation of the Psalms of King David." 
 
 The " BA2IAIK0N AilPON," the most important of 
 these works, was addressed to his " dearest son and 
 natural successor. Prince Henry," and was divided 
 into three parts ; " The first teacheth your duty to-
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 63 
 
 wards God as a Christian ; the next, your duty in 
 your office as a king ; and the third informeth you, 
 how to behave yourself in indifferent things." " Not- 
 withstanding," says a high authority, " the great 
 alterations and refinements in national taste since 
 that time, we must allow this to be no contemptible 
 performance, and not to be inferior to the works of 
 most contemporary writers, either in purity of style, 
 or justness of composition."* Viewed merely as a 
 literar}' exercise, it may be entitled to this commen- 
 dation ; but, if we regard it as a serious compendium 
 of the duties of ^sovereigns, it has faults for which no 
 elegance of composition can atone. It abounds in 
 despotic sentiments, in partial recollections of history, 
 and in most pernicious advice. 
 
 The " Trew Law of Free Monarchy," which was 
 published about the same time as the BA2IAIK0N 
 AX2P0N, seems to have been intended as a companion 
 to it. " The bent of it," says Calderwood, " was 
 directed against the course of God's work, in the re- 
 formation of our kirk, and elsewhere, as rebellious to 
 kings." It affirms the strange doctrine, that " the 
 king is above the law, and that he is not bound 
 thereto but of his good will, and for good example 
 giving to his subjects." This was what James was 
 pleased to consider as " Free Monarchy" ! Need 
 we be surprised, that from such doctrines there 
 " gushed forth," to use the words of Lord Orrery, 
 " a torrent of misery, which not only bore down his 
 son, but overwhelmed the three kingdoms ?" 
 
 * Dr. Robertson. 
 F 3
 
 54 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 The " Counterblast to Tobacco" may take its 
 place along with the Treatise on Witches. 
 
 The poetical portion of James's works, if it has no 
 great merit, is, at least, the freest from censure. 
 
 The " Essayes of a Prentice," published when 
 James was in his 18th year, include twelve sonnets 
 to the gods. — " The Uranie or Heavenly Muse trans- 
 lated ;" " The Metaphorical Invention of a Tragedy 
 callit Phoenix ;" " A Paraphrastical Translation out 
 of the Poete Lucane ;" " A Treatise of the Art of 
 Scottis Poesie ;" " The 103rd Psalm of David trans- 
 lated out of Tremellius ;" and " A Poeme of Tyme." 
 
 The Phoenix is supposed, by Sibbald, to relate to 
 Queen Mary. " Under the semblance of that fabu- 
 lous bird," he observes, " if I mistake not, the au- 
 thor attempts to exhibit the matchless beauty and 
 sufferings of his unfortunate mother, whom he repre- 
 sents as dead ; but performs his task with so much 
 caution, and with such a timid and trembling hand, 
 that one can scarcely recognize the resemblance." 
 Mr. Sibbald certainly is mistaken. James never saw 
 his mother, to remember her person, and can scarcely 
 therefore be supposed to have spoken of her even al- 
 legorically, as one whose 
 
 death maks lyfe to greif in me, 
 
 She whom I raw my eyes did ever see. 
 
 Phoenix, st. 31. 
 
 And, besides, the Phoenix was published, in 1584, 
 two years before Clary's tragical end. 
 
 The " Poetical Exercises" consisted of " the Fu- 
 ries," a translation from Du Bartas; and of the
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 55 
 
 " Lepanto," an original poem, descriptive of the bat- 
 tle of Lepanto. The preface to this publication de- 
 serves quotation for its modesty ; it would have been 
 well for James and his posterity, had he remained 
 always in as humble an opinion of his own fallibility. 
 •' Receive here, beloved reader, a short poetique 
 discours which I have selected and translated from 
 amongst the rest of the works of Du Bartas, as a viva 
 min-or of this last and most decreeped age. Heere 
 shalt thou see clearlie, as in a glass, the miseries of 
 this wavering world," &c. &c. " And in case thou 
 find, as wel in tl?is work as in my Lepanto following, 
 many incorect errors both of the dyteraent and or- 
 thography, I must pray thee to accept this reasonable 
 excuse, which is this. — Thou considers, I doubt not, 
 that upon the one part I composed these things in my 
 verie young and tender yeares, wherein Nature, except 
 she were a monster, can admit of no perfection. And 
 now, on the other part, being of riper yeares, my 
 burden is so great and continuall without any inter- 
 mission, that quhen ingyne and age could, ray 
 affairs and fasherie will not permit me to remark the 
 wrong orthography committed by the copies of my 
 unlegible and ragged hand, far les to amend my pro- 
 per errours. Yea, scarslie but at stolen moments, 
 have I the lesure to blenk upon any paper, a»d yet 
 not that with free and unvexed spirit. Albeit rough 
 and unpolished as they are, I offer them unto thee, 
 which being well accepted, will move me to haste the 
 presenting unto thee of my Apocalyps, and also such 
 nomber of the psalms as I have perfitted, and incou- 
 rage me to the ending out of the rest. And thus, 
 beloved reader, recommending these labours to thy
 
 56 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 friendlie acceptation, I bid thee hartelie farewell." 
 
 Du Bartas returned the compliment -which James 
 had paid him, by translating, in return, the Battle of 
 Lepanto into French heroic verse. This translation 
 was published at Edinburgh in 1591 ; and among the 
 commendatory copies of verses which accompanied it, 
 was the following sonnet from James himself, which 
 may be taken as a favorable specimen of his poetic 
 talent. 
 
 Sonnet. 
 
 The azure vaulte, the crystall circles bright, 
 
 The gleaming fyrie torches powdered there. 
 The changing round, the shining beamie light. 
 
 The sad and bearded fyres, the monsters faire. 
 The prodiges appearing in the aire. 
 
 The rearding thunders and the blustering winds, 
 The foules in hue and shape, and nature raire, 
 
 The prettie notes that winged musicians finds 
 In earth, the saAnrie flouris, the metalled mines, 
 
 The wholsura herbes, the hautie pleasant trees. 
 The silver streams, the beasts of sundrie kinds. 
 
 The bounded waves and fishes of the seas : 
 All these for teaching man the Lord did frame. 
 
 To do his will, whose glory shines in thame. 
 
 The personal habits of James are thus very hap- 
 pily described by Mr. Irving : — " King James was 
 of a middle stature, but possessed of none of those 
 attractions which arise from external elegance ; his 
 shape was without symmetry ; his deportment destitute 
 of ease and dignity. As his legs were hardly able 
 to support the weight of his body, he proceeded in
 
 POETS.— JAMES THE SIXTH. 57 
 
 his walk liy a kind of circular motion. His eyes, 
 which were remarkably large, he was accustomed 
 to fix on strangers with a broad uninterrupted 
 stare, which frequently compelled the more bash- 
 ful to a precipitate retreat from his presence. His 
 , skin is said to have been as soft as sarsnet. He 
 ' was of a ruddy complexion ; his hair of a light brown 
 : colour, but towards the close of his life interspersed 
 ' with white. His beard was thinly scattered on his 
 ; chin. His tongue exceeded the due proportion ; a 
 circumstance which caused him to manage his cup in 
 a manner sufficieatly disgusting. He was somewhat 
 inclined to corpulency ; but more in appearance than 
 ' reality ; for his extreme timidity induced him con- 
 ; stantly to wear a quilted doublet, of stilletto proof. 
 I The fashion of his clothes he could not be persuaded 
 j to vary ; and it was not without some reluctance that 
 ; he ever laid aside any of his old suits. So little sub- 
 ; ject to change was his mode of life, that one of his 
 courtiers was wont to declare, that if he himself were 
 ' to awake after a sleep of seven years' continuance, 
 he would undertake to enumerate the whole of his 
 , majesty's occupations, and every dish which had 
 , been placed on his table during that interval. His 
 ' natural temperament is said to have disposed him to 
 ' moderation in eating and drinking ; but during the 
 ! last years of his life, his compUance with Bucking- 
 , ham's frolicsome humour frequently immersed him in 
 riotous excess, and at an earlier period he is known 
 ; to have been engaged in scenes of low dissipation." 
 j *' James became immoderately addicted to drinking, 
 ; and his beverage was generally the strongest which 
 ^ could be procured. This course of life rendered him,
 
 58 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 at last, torpid and unwieldy ; and although he still 
 pursued the amusement of hunting, of which he was 
 excessively fond, yet when he was trussed on horse- 
 back, he maintained his posture like a lump of inani- 
 mate matter. When his hat was placed on his head, 
 he suffered it to remain in whatever position it hap- 
 pened to occupj'." 
 
 James, by his queen, Anne of Denmark, had issue, 
 Henry, who died in his 20th year, a prince celebrated 
 for his virtues, and the darling of the people whilst 
 living ; Charles, who succeeded to the throne ; and 
 Elizabeth, who was married to the unfortunate Fre- 
 derick, Prince Palatine of the Rhine. 
 
 D. S. 
 
 \
 
 POETS.— SIR RICHARD MAITLAND. 69 
 
 SIR RICHARD MAITLAND. 
 
 The family of Maitland, to whom we are indebted 
 'fertile most valuable collection existing of the an- 
 cient poetry of Scotland, and which has itself given 
 a poet of some e'jiinence to the country, has long 
 been one of the most distinguished in the south 
 east of Scotland. The name, as anciently written, 
 I was Mautalant- The first of the race who gained a 
 1 place in story was a Sir Richard Maitland, baron or 
 jlaird of Thirleslane in Haddingtonshire, who lived 
 about the middle of the thirteenth century, and was 
 famous for his valour. 
 
 Of auld Sir Richard of that name 
 We have heard sing and say ; 
 Of his triumphant nobill fame. 
 And of his auld baird gray. 
 And of his nobill sonnis three, 
 Quhilk that tyme had no maik ;* 
 Quhilk made Scotland renounit be, 
 And all England to quaik. 
 
 Anon. Lines," In Prayse of Lelhington." 
 
 William Maitland of Lethington, a descendant of 
 
 * Equal.
 
 60 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSxMEN. 
 
 this Sir Richard, vras among the number of the Scot- 
 tish chiefs Avho fell in the fatal field of Flodden, in 
 1513. He was married to Martha, daughter of 
 George Lord Seaton, by whom he left a son and 
 daughter,' — Sir Richard Maitland, who became as 
 distinguished in the arts of peace, as the old Sir Rich- 
 ard was in those of war ; and Janet, who was after- 
 wards married to Hugh Lord Sommerville. In the 
 person of Sir Richard's grandson, the family was 
 subsequently raised to the peerage by the title of 
 Lauderdale, which it still deservedly enjoys. 
 
 Sir Richard Maitland was born in 1496 ; was edu- 
 cated at St. Andrews ; and studied law in France. 
 On his return to Scotland, he became a favorite with 
 James the Fifth, and served the queen of that prince, 
 Mary of Guise, in some office of trust, as appears 
 from a poem which he afterwards addressed to the 
 unfortunate Mary, on her arrival in Scotland, 1561. 
 
 ^Madame, I was true servand to thy mother. 
 And in her favour stud ay, thankfuUie, &c. 
 
 From the same poem, we learn, that Sir Richard, 
 now in his sixty-fifth year, had become afflicted with 
 that acutest of the deprivations of age, loss of sight. 
 
 And thoch that I to serve be nocht sa abil 
 As I was wont, becaus I may not see ; 
 Yet in my hairt I sail be ferme and stabil 
 To thy Hieness with all fidelitie. 
 Ay, pray and God for thy prosper itie ; 
 And that I heir thy people, with hie voice 
 And joyful hau-tis,cry continuallie 
 Vila Marie tre nobil reyne d'Ecoss !
 
 POETS. — SIR RICHARD MAITLAND. 61 
 
 Mackenzie says, that as early as 1553, Sir Richard 
 had been appointed an extraordinary Lord of Session ; 
 but of this there seems some doubt. It is certain, 
 however, that on the 12th November, 1561, he was 
 appointed one of the ordinary Lords of Session, or 
 as they are otherwise termed, Senators of the College 
 of Justice. Sir Richard assumed, on this elevation, 
 the title of Lord Lethington. On the 20th Decem- 
 ber, 1562, he was farther promoted to be a Lord of 
 Council and Lord Privy Seal. The latter of these 
 situations he was, in 1567, permitted to resign in fa- 
 vour of John, h^ second son ; but the duties of his 
 other offices he continued to discharge through all 
 the troublesome minority of James the Sixth, till 
 1584, when, borne down with weight of years, he re- 
 tired wholly from public life. He survived this 
 event only about two years, dying on the 20th 
 March, 1586, at the advanced age of ninety. 
 
 Sir Richard was married to Mary, daughter of 
 Thomas Cranston of Corsly, who appears, by the fol- 
 lowing couplet, written by their second son, John 
 I Lord Thirlstane, to have expired on the same day 
 with her husband. 
 
 Unus hymen, mens una : duos mors una diesque 
 Junxit : ut una caro, sic cinis unus erit. 
 
 By this marriage, he left three sons, William, ce- 
 lebrated in history as Secretary Lethington ; John, 
 ; afterwards Lord Thirlestane and chancellor ; and Tho- 
 mas, chiefly known as the prolocutor with Buchanan, 
 in his Treatise De Jure Regni ; as also four daughters, 
 I all of whom were respectably married, and left a nu- 
 merous offspring. 
 
 TART 3.] G
 
 62 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Sir Richard possessed among his contemporaries a 
 high character for talents, learning, and moral worth. 
 He is never mentioned by writers but with respect, 
 except by Knox, who rashi}^ charges him with having 
 taken a bribe to prevail on his kinsman, Lord Seaton, 
 in whose castle Cardinal Beaton was confined, to li- 
 berate that crafty prelate after the death of James 
 the Fifth. Sir Ralph Sadler, who was much better 
 acquainted than Knox with the secret intrigues of the 
 Scottish court, assures us, that Arran the regent, gave 
 Lord Seaton orders to set the cardinal at liberty, 
 though, to save appearances with England, he affected 
 to throw the blame on Seaton and his relatives. 
 
 It is fortunate for the character of Sir Richard, that 
 it is thus cleared of the only stain attempted to be 
 cast upon it ; for the release of Beaton was attended 
 with consequences which might well make it a re- 
 proach to any man's memory. No sooner was the 
 cardinal at liberty, than he had the address entirely 
 to defeat a treaty which had just been concluded by 
 the commissioners of England and Scotland, for a 
 marriage betwixt Queen Mary, and Edward Prince 
 of Wales ; an auspicious project, which had the 
 wishes of all the wise and good of both countries, 
 and which, had it been accomplished, might possibly 
 have averted a torrent of calamities from both. 
 
 The writings of Sir Richard, from which we can 
 now perhaps best estimate his real worth, are such as 
 do him unexceptionable honour. They shew know 
 ledge of the world, a strong sense of virtue, a feeling 
 and generous disposition. In one of his pieces, en- 
 titled " On the Malyce of Poetis," he expresses 
 warmly his detestation of those who make the muses
 
 POETS.— SIR RICHARD MAITLAND. 63 
 
 subservient to purposes of "detractioun and slander ;" 
 and adds those precepts by which he appears to have 
 been himself uniformly guided in his poetic lucubra- 
 tions. 
 
 Put not in writ, what God or man may grieve ; 
 All vertew love ; and all vices reprieve. 
 Or mak sum rayrrie toy, to gude purpose. 
 That may the herar and redar bay th rejoyse : 
 Or sum frutful and gude morality 
 Or plesand things, may stand with charrite. 
 Despyteful poets suld not tholit be 
 In common w'eils, or godlie cumpanie. 
 That sort ar redie ay to sow sedition, 
 And put gude men into suspitioun. 
 
 In the piece from which we have just quoted, there 
 is a couplet remarkable for its similarity in thought 
 to Shakespeare's celebrated passage : *' He who steals 
 my purse," &c. 
 
 " To steal ane manis fame is gritter sin 
 Nor ony gear that is the warld within. " 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton remarks, that though the thought is 
 the same, " there was no possibility of Shakespeare 
 ; seeing these poems ;" to which it may, with equal 
 ! truth, be added, that there is nothing in the sentiment 
 I so peculiar, that it might not have occurred to all the 
 ; world beside. The merit of the passage in Shakes- 
 \ peare turns wholly on the vigour and felicity of the 
 1 expression. 
 
 j Mr. Pinkerton, to whom Scottish literature is in- 
 I debted for the revival of Sir Richard Maitland's poe- 
 c 2
 
 64 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 tical remains from a long oblivion, has not deemed 
 more than twenty-seven, out of a much greater num- 
 ber of short pieces extant, deser\ung of republica- 
 tion ; and of these, there are a few which seem to 
 have strong claims to the benefit of his apology, that 
 *' he made it a point rather to give three or four pie- 
 ces that might perhaps have been omitted, than to 
 err on the other side." Of the whole of them, in- 
 deed, considered critically as claiming poetical rank, 
 it must be confessed, that there is little, if any 
 poetry in them. They are sensible moral lessons 
 conveyed in very scholar-like rhymes } but more can- 
 not be said in their praise. Almost the only instance 
 in which he has ventured on a poetic image, (and 
 how can there be poetry without imagery ?) occurs 
 in his poem " On the Folye of Ane Auld Man's 
 Maryand Ane Young Woman," where the neces- 
 sity of talking covertly on a subject, which " ane 
 auld man" of eighty had better have let alone, has 
 driven him to make one of the lowest uses of ima- 
 gery, to which it can be made subservient. 
 
 It would be contrary to nature, perhaps, to look 
 for much poetic fancy in a writer who paid his court 
 to the Muses at so late a period of life as Sir Richard 
 Maitland. Pinkerton says, that he does not seem to 
 have written a line of poetry till he had reached his 
 sixtieth year ; and though a La Fare commenced poet 
 at the same age, and a Haley not many years earlier ; 
 neither of them has been so successful as to make it 
 doubtful whether the sunshine of life is really the 
 season of fruits and flowers. 
 
 Two of the best of Sir Richard's pieces are a " Sa- 
 tire on the Age," and a Supplication " Agains Op-
 
 POETS. — SIR RICHARD MAITLAND. 65 
 
 pressioun of the Comoiins." They present strong 
 pictures of the miseries to which a distracted country 
 was subject at the period when they were written, 
 and breathe the wishes of a true patriot for their re- 
 dress. The importance of a " bold peasantry" to a 
 state has been more eloquently described by Gold- 
 smith, but not with greater truth, than in the follow- 
 ing lines : 
 
 Riche comouns ar richt profitable 
 Quhan thai, to serve their lord, ar able 
 Thair native^ country to defend 
 Fra tharae that hurt it wald pretend 
 For WE will be ouir few a nuiner 
 Gif comouns to the weir not wend 
 Nobils may not beir all the cummir. 
 
 Help the comouns, bayth lord and laird ! 
 And God thairfore sail you rewaird. 
 And gif ye will not thame supplie, 
 God will you plaig thairfore justlie 
 And your succession, eftir you 
 Gif thai sail have na mair petie 
 On the comouns nor ye have now. 
 
 " The Blind Baron's Comfort," as Dr. Percy has 
 appropriately named one piece in the collection, is 
 also interesting from the circumstances out of which 
 it arose. It is said, in a note subjoined by Sir Ri- 
 chard, to have been penned " quhain his land is of 
 the baronie of Blythe, in Lawderdaile, was heriet by 
 Rolleyt Foster, Inglisman, Capitane of Wark Castle, 
 with his cumpanye to the number of thre hunder 
 men : quha spulyeit fra the said Schir Richard, and 
 G 3
 
 66 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 fra his eldest sone ; thair senandis and tennentis ; 
 furthe of the said baronie, five thousand scheipe, 
 youngar and eider; t«a hundred nowt (cattle) ; 
 threttie hors and meirs ; and insicht (furniture) furth 
 of his hous of Blythe worth ane hundred pound ; and 
 the haill tennentis insicht of tlie haill baronie was 
 fursabil. This spulje was committed the xvi day of 
 Maij, the year mdlxx ; and the said Sir Richard 
 was threscore and xiiii yeiris of age, and growin 
 blind ; in tyuie of peace quhan nane of that cuntrie 
 lippint (laid their account) for sic thing." The 
 " comfort" which " the Blind Baron finds for this 
 cruel spoliation, consists in a pleasant ringing of 
 changes on the name of the estate which was laid 
 waste. 
 
 Blind man be blythe, altho' that thow be wranglt, 
 Thoch Blythe be herreit, tak no melancholic 
 Thou sail be blythe, quhan that they sail be hangit, 
 That Blythe has spulyeit sa maliciousle. 
 Be blythe and glaid, 6cc. 
 
 This was but wordy comfort, it must be confessed, 
 for losses of such magnitude as those which the baron 
 enumerates ; and Sir Richard seems to have felt so, 
 for in a subsequent piece, entitled " Solace in Age," 
 he says : 
 
 Thoch I be sweir to ryd or gang ; 
 
 Thair is sumthing, I've wan tit lang. 
 
 Fane have I wald 
 
 Thame punysit that did me wrang ; 
 
 Thoch I be aid. 
 
 It is as a collector of ancient Scottish poetry,'
 
 POETS SIR RICHARD MAITLAND. 67 
 
 however, rather than as a poet, that Sir Richard 
 Maitland's name will live. The Maitland collections 
 now deposited in the Pepysian Library, at Magdalen 
 College, Cambridge, consist of two volumes ; a folio, 
 begun by Sir Richard, about 1555, and continued 
 till 1586, the year of his death ; and a quarto in the 
 hand-writing of Miss Mary Maitland, his third daugh- 
 ter, which appears to have been almost wholly written 
 during the last year of her father's life, and under bis 
 direction. Besides correct copies of all Sir Richard's 
 own poems, these volumes contain the most authentic 
 transcripts existing of the productions of many pre- 
 ceding and contemporary poets, of whom, but for 
 this collection, nothing but their names might have 
 survived. These manuscripts remained in the Mait- 
 land family, till the Duke of Lauderdale (the only 
 duke of the name) presented them, with other MSS., 
 to Samuel Pepys, Esq. Secretary of the Admiralty to 
 Charles II. and James II. and one of the earliest 
 collectors of rare books in England. Mr. Pepys, 
 dying 26th May, 1703, in his 71st year, ordered, by 
 his will, the Pepysian Library, at Magdalen College, 
 Cambridge, to be founded, in order to preserve his 
 very valuable collection entire. Here the Maitland 
 Collections slumbered almost unnoticed for nearly a 
 century, till the attention of Mr. Pinkerton was di- 
 rected to them by Dr. Percy ; when Mr. P. made a 
 selection from them, which he published, in 1786, in 
 two small 8vo. volumes. 
 
 The pieces in the folio manuscript amount to one 
 hundred and seventy-six, of which only forty-seven 
 had been printed previous to Mr. Pinkerton's publi- 
 cation. Of the remaining one hundred aad twenty-
 
 68 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 nine, five are duplicates, and fifty-two have been 
 deemed by Mr. Pinkerton undeserving of revival. 
 The quarto manuscript comprehends ninety-six pieces, 
 but forty-tn of them are duplicates of poems in the 
 folio, and only twenty-eight have been selected as 
 worth publishing. 
 
 Among the pieces in Mr. Pinkerton's selection are 
 several epitaphs on Sir Richard jMaitland ; one by 
 Thomas Hudson ; another by Robert Hudson ; and 
 two by anonymous hands. One of the last, alluding 
 to the circumstance of Sir Richard and his wife 
 expiring on the same day, closes with a happy 
 couplet. 
 
 But yit quhat Death has prest to do, their love so 
 
 to devyde, 
 Love hes againe, surmounting Death, defy'd. 
 
 But the lines, which, upon the whole, do most 
 justice to the character of the worthy knight, are 
 those of T. Hudson ; they are encomiastic, without 
 being either fulsome or ridiculous. 
 
 The sliding tyme so slilie slips away. 
 It reaves from us remembrance of our state. 
 And, quhil we do the oair of tyme delay, 
 We tyne* the tide, and so lament too late. 
 Then to eschew such dangerous debait 
 Propone for patron, manlie Maitland knycht ; 
 Leame be his lyf to live in sembil raite,t 
 
 * Lose. 
 
 t In like manner.
 
 POETS. — SIR RICHARD MAITLAND. ( 
 
 With love to God, religion, law, and rycht ; 
 
 For as he was of vertu lucent lycht, 
 
 Of ancient bluid, of nobil sprit and name, 
 
 Belov'd of God, and everie gracious wycht, 
 
 So died HE auld, deserving worthy fame ; 
 
 A rare example set for us to see 
 
 Quhat we have been, now ar, and aucht to be. 
 
 A. M.
 
 70 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 ARTHUR JOHNSTON. 
 
 n 
 
 Arthur Johnston, one of the most eminent of 
 modern Latin poets, was a descendant of the family 
 of the Johnstons, of Caskieben, in the united parishes 
 of Keith-hall and Kinkell, Aberdeenshire. He was 
 the son of John Johnston, by Christian Forbes, daugh- 
 ter of William, seventh Lord Forbes, and was born in 
 the year 1587, at the house of Caskieben, of which 
 the poet has recorded this curious circumstance, — 
 that, though six miles distant from the lofty mountain 
 of Banochie, it is covered by the shadow of that moun- 
 tain, at the time of the equinox, though on no other 
 occasion. 
 
 Arthur, as he himself records, received the early 
 part of his education at the school of Kintore. 
 
 Hie ego sum, memini musarum factus alumnus : 
 Et tiro didici verba Latina loqui. 
 
 From school he was sent to the Marischal College, 
 Aberdeen ; but after a short time, went abroad, and 
 pursued his studies at the University of Padua, 
 where in 1610 he took the degree of M.D. He after- 
 wards travelled over the greater part of Europe, and 
 at last settled in France. He remained in that coun- 
 try for about twenty years, during which he w as twice 
 married, and had a family of thirteen children. Li 
 1632, he returned to his native country, and such was
 
 POETS.— ARTHUR JOHNSTON. 71 
 
 the reputation which he brought along with him, that 
 he was ahnost immediately appointed physician to 
 the king. 
 
 While in France, Dr. Johnston had acquired consi- 
 derable eminence as a Latin poet ; and it was not long 
 before he became as celebrated in this respect in his 
 own country. In 1632, he published at Aberdeen, 
 his " Parerga" and " Epigrammata," both of which 
 met with a most favorable reception among the learn- 
 ed, who thought that they saw in many parts of them, 
 the style and spirit of the best of the Roman classics 
 revived. ^ 
 
 In the Parerga, Johnston took an opportunity to 
 lash \vith merited severity, an atjempt which had then 
 recently been made by Dr. Eglesham, to depreciate 
 the merit of Buchanan's Translation of the Psalms. 
 Dr. Eglesham not content with writing a stupid criti- 
 cism, to shew that Buchanan had entirely failed in 
 catching the spirit of the original, was vain enough to 
 submit a version of the hundred and fourth psalm 
 from his own pen, as a specimen of what might be 
 done by a genius qualified for the task. He presented 
 a iit subject for ridicule, and Johnston, who was a 
 warm admirer of Buchanan, did not spare him. 
 
 It is curious enough, however, that while Johnston 
 was thus lashing Eglesham, for attempting to rival 
 Buchanan, he caught himself a double portion of the 
 very weakness, if so it may be called, which he con- 
 demned in another. He resolved to try whether he 
 ;could not excel both the writer he defended, and the 
 writer he condemned. In the following year, he 
 printed at London, a specimen of a new translation 
 of the Psalms of David, which he dedicated to
 
 72 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMNE. ' 
 
 Bishop Laud ; and encouraged by that prelate's ap- 
 probation, he completed a translation of the whole, 
 which was printed at London in 1637, and at Aber- 
 deen in the same year. 
 
 The merit of this translation, as compared with that 
 of Buchanan, became immediately the subject of a 
 celebrated controversy, in which, however, Johnston 
 did not live to take himself any share ; for, going to 
 Oxford, in 1691, to ^■is^t one of his daughters, who was 
 married to a divine of that place, he was seized with 
 an illness, of which he died in a few days, in the fifty- 
 fourth year of his age. 
 
 The controversy just alluded too, was commenced 
 by Lauder, famous or rather infamous for his conspi- 
 racy to rob Milton of his laurels. Never in his ele- 
 ment, except when stabbing a reputation, he eagerly 
 seized the opportunity of attempting to raise a name 
 for Johnston, on the ruin of Buchanan's ; and found 
 a zealous abetter, in a well intentioned, but simple 
 English gentleman, of the name of Benson, an audi- 
 tor of the imprests, who has got a niche in the Dun- 
 ciad for his pains. 
 
 " On Poets tombs, see Benson's titles writ," 
 
 »»♦♦»•* 
 
 " On two unequal crutches propt he came, 
 
 Milton's on this, on that one Johnston's name. 
 
 No less than three editions of Johnston's Psalms wei 
 printed at Benson's expense ; one of them in quarto, 
 on the plan of the Delphin classics, and with a fine head 
 of Johnston, by Vertue, was designed for the use of 
 the Prince of Wales. The auditor added a prefatory dis- 
 
 i
 
 POETS. — ARTHUR JOHNSTON. 73 
 
 course from himself, in which he set no bounds to his 
 commendation of Johnston, and spoke with surprise 
 of the esteem in which the learned had hitherto been 
 accustomed to hold the version of Buchanan. The 
 defence of Buchanan against this joint attack of ro- 
 guery and simplicity, was undertaken by Mr. Love and 
 Mr. Thomas Ruddiman, who not only covered the 
 assailants with confusion, but, by their able expositions 
 of the beauties of Buchanan, raised his version of the 
 Psalms into even higher repute than it before possessed. 
 Poor Benson lived to have a full sense of the folly into 
 which he had bttn betrayed ; and, in chagrin at the 
 awkward attempt which he had made to gain a name 
 in letters, threw up the pursuit entirely, and would 
 not look at a book for several years before he died.* 
 
 * Dr. Warton has endeavoured to rescue Benson from 
 the contempt, with which he is too commonly spoken 
 of. " He translated," he says, " faithfully, if not very 
 poetically, the second book of the Georgics, with use- 
 ful notes; he printed elegant editions of Johnston's 
 Psalms ; he wrote a discourse on versification ; he 
 rescued his country from the disgrace of having no mo- 
 nument erected to the memory of Milton, in West- 
 minster Abbey ; he encouraged and urged Pitt to tran- 
 slate the ^neid, and he gave Dobson £1000 for his 
 Latin translation of Paradise Lost." Notes on the 
 Dunciad. — Another instance of his liberality is record- 
 ed, which merits notice. In 1735, a book was pub- 
 lished, entitled, "The Cure of Deism." The author, 
 Mr. Elisha Smith, was at that time confined in the 
 , Fleet prison, for a debt of ^£200. Benson, pleased 
 
 P^RT 3.] H
 
 74 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSxMEN. 
 
 Ruddiman, while he maintained the superiority of 
 Buchanan's translation, was not sparing of due praise 
 to that of Johnston. He was pleased to say, that 
 for elegance and purity of diction, sweetness and 
 smoothness of verse, in short all the ingredients that 
 are required to the composition of a great and mas- 
 terly poet, Johnston was inferior to none, and supe- 
 rior to most of the age in which he lived. " J^ay," 
 adds he, " I will allow farther, that in my judgement 
 he deserves the preference to the far greater part of 
 those that have lived since or before him." 
 
 A more recent critic. Lord Woodhouselee, in his 
 Life of Kairaes, is of opinion, that although John- 
 ston's version " as a whole is certainly inferior, 3'et 
 there are a few of his psalms, which in comparison 
 will perhaps be found to excel the corresponding 
 paraphrase of his rival." He instances particularly 
 the 2-lth, 30th, 42nd, 74th, 81st, 82nd, 102nd, and, 
 above all, the 137th. The same ingenious critic, in 
 his Essay on the Principles of Translation, commends 
 Johnston for the scrupulous care with which he has 
 uniformly avoided the application to the Almighty, 
 of epithets suited only to the Pagan mythology, an 
 error into which Buchanan has more than once fallen ; 
 as, for example, when he transfers the first line of the 
 speech of Venus to Jupiter, in the 10th ^neid, to the 
 address to the Deity, which begins the 4th Psalm. 
 O pater, O hominum divumque aiterna potestas ! 
 
 with the work, inquired after the author, and being 
 informed of his unfortunate state, he sent him a hand- 
 some letter, enclosing the means for discharging the 
 w hole debt, fees, &c. -a. s.
 
 POETS. — ARTHUR JOHNSTON. 75 
 
 Dr. Beattie, who does not think much of any of 
 the attempts which have been made to transfer the 
 Psahns into a modern poetic dress, condemns Bu- 
 chanan for a want of emphatic conciseness and un- 
 adorned simpHcity. " Johnston," he adds, " is not 
 so verbose, and has, of course, more vigour : but his 
 choice of a couplet which keeps the reader alwa3's in 
 mind of the puerile epistles of Ovid, was singularly 
 injudicious." 
 
 Buchanan, whose genius was as remarkable for its 
 versatility as its compass, has employed no fewer 
 than twenty-nine varieties of metre in his version ; 
 but Johnston has confined himself entirely to the 
 elegiac stanza, except in one psalm, the 119th, in 
 which each verse presents a new measure. 
 
 The merit of Johnston's version dwindles, after all, 
 into very narrow limits. What Buchanan had done 
 well before, Johnston has not, on the whole, done so 
 well ; and out of a mass of therefore abortive labour, 
 there are only about half a dozen psalms which are 
 worth preserving, as better than those of his rival. 
 Had Johnston been less envious of the fame of Bu- 
 chanan, he would have benefited his own. The same 
 genius and toil which he wasted on this fruitless com- 
 petition, might, if employed orx some diflferent and 
 original subject, have conducted him to an undisputed 
 immortality. 
 
 Beside the works which have been incidentally 
 mentioned, Johnston wrote a translation of the Song 
 of Solomon into Latin Elegiac Verse ; and " Musae 
 Aulicse," or commendator}' verses on a number of 
 his most distinguished contemporaries. He also
 
 76 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 edited the " Deliciae Poetarum Scoticorum ;" a work 
 to which he was a large and valuable contributor, 
 and of which Dr. Johnson has been pleased to say, 
 that " it would do honour to any country." 
 
 H.B.
 
 POETS. — HAMILTON OF B.4NG0UR, 77 
 
 HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 
 
 " There have I seen a Hamilton submitting his 
 verses to the correction and criticism of a fair circle, 
 who did not trust alone to beauty the most superior, 
 for the preservation of their empire over mankind." 
 Col. Caustic. Lounger, No. 14. 
 
 William Hamilton, of Bangour, the poet of the 
 polite world in Scotland, at the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century, was born in 1704. He was de- 
 scended from an ancient family, of independent cir- 
 cumstances, in Ayrshire : and, born to elegant society, 
 wanted nothing which a liberal education could sup- 
 ply to render him its ornament. Amidst the lighter 
 dissipations of gay life, he cultivated a taste for lite- 
 rature, and acquired an intimate acquaintance with 
 tlie best writers, both of modem times and of anti- 
 quity. The bent of his own mind was to poetry, and 
 he made some early essay's in it, which, being shewn 
 about among his friends, obtained a degree of appro- 
 bation which incited him to persevere in his court to 
 the Muses. When the rebellion of 1745 broke out, he 
 took the side which most men of generous tempera- 
 ment were apt to take in those days — he joined the 
 cause of the Pretender, and celebrated his first sue-
 
 78 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 cess at Preston-pans, in the well-known Jacobite ode 
 of " Gladsrauir." After the battle of Culloden, 
 which put an end to the contest, he fled into the 
 mountains, and passed through many perils and hard- 
 ships before he succeeded in effecting his escape into 
 France. His exile, however, was short. He had left 
 many friends and admirers among the fortunate party 
 behind him, who took the earliest opportunity of pro- 
 curing his pardon from government, on which he 
 returned home, and resumed possession of his pater- 
 nal estate. His health, however, which was naturally 
 delicate, and probably not a little injured by his mi- 
 litary adventures, requiring the benefit of a warmer 
 climate, he not long after returned to the continent, 
 and took up his abode at Lyons, where he continued 
 to reside, till a lingering consumption carried him off 
 in the fiftieth year of his age. 
 
 A volume of poems, by Hamilton, was first pub- 
 lished at Glasgow in 1748, and aftenvards reprinted ; 
 but it was a pirated publication, made not only with- 
 out the author's consent, but without his name ; and, 
 as might be expected, abounded in errors. It re- 
 mained to his friends, after his death, to publish from 
 his original manuscripts the first genuine and com- 
 plete collection of his works. It appeared at Edin- 
 burgh in 1760, with a head by Strange, who had 
 been a fellow adventurer with Hamilton in the Stuart 
 cause. 
 
 The poems of Hamilton failed for some time to 
 attract any particular notice, and were becoming, 
 indeed, almost forgotten ; when an able criticism in 
 the Lounger, from the pen of the late Professor Ri- 
 chardson, of Glasgow, awakened the public to a
 
 POETS.— HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 79 
 
 juster sense than they seemed before to entertain of 
 their merits. 
 
 " The poems of Hamilton," says Mr. Richardson, 
 " display regular design, just sentiments, fanciful in- 
 vention, pleasing sensibility, elegant diction, and 
 smooth versification." The justness of this encomium 
 he illustrates by an analysis of Hamilton's principal 
 poem, called Contemplation, or the Triumph of Love. 
 He dwells particularly on the quality of fanciful in- 
 vention, as being that of all others which distinguishes 
 and is chiefly characteristic of poetical composition. 
 He admits, that Hamilton is " not endowed with all 
 the powers of invention, nor with those of every 
 kind." — " His imagination is employed among beau- 
 tiful and engaging, rather than among awful and mag- 
 nificent images ; and even when he presents us with 
 dignified objects, he is more grave than lofty, more 
 solemn than sublime, as in the following passage :" 
 
 Now see the spreading gates unfold, 
 Display'd the sacred leaves of gold. 
 Let me with holy awe repair 
 To the solemn house of pray'r ; 
 And as I go, O thou, my heart. 
 Forget each low and earthly part. 
 Religion, enter in my breast, 
 A mild and venerable guest ! 
 Put oif, in contemplation drown'd. 
 Each thought impure in holy ground ; 
 And cautious tread, with awful fear, 
 The courts of heaven — for God is here. 
 Now ray grateful voice 1 raise ; 
 Ye angels, swell a mortal's praise,
 
 80 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 To charm with your own harmony 
 The ear of Him who sits on high ! 
 
 " It is not asserted," adds Mr. Richardson, when 
 exemplifying " tlie pleasing sensibiiit}'" which he 
 ascribes to Hamilton, that he " displays those vehe- 
 ment tumults and ccstacies of passion, that belong to 
 the higher kinds of lyric and dramatic composition. 
 He is not shaken with excessive rage, nor melted 
 with overwhelming sorrow ; yet when he treats of 
 grave or affecting subjects, he expresses a plaintive 
 and engaging softness. He is never violent and ab- 
 rupt, and is more tender than pathetic. Perhaps 
 " the Braes of Yarrow," one of the finest ballads 
 ever written, may put in a claim to superior distinc- 
 tion. But even with this exception, I should think 
 our poet more remarkable for engaging tenderness, 
 than for deep and affecting pathos." — " In like man- 
 ner, when he expresses the joyful sentiments, or de- 
 scribes scenes and objects of festivity, which he does 
 very often, he displays good humour and easy cheer- 
 fulness, rather than tiie transports of mirth or tlie 
 brilliancy of wit." Mr. Richardson exemplifies these 
 characteristics by some of Hamilton's descriptions of 
 female beauty. One of the passages which he quotes, 
 presenting a picture of the gentler and livelier graces, 
 is peculiarly happy, and conveys a strong impression 
 of Hamilton's poetical powers. 
 
 In everlasting blushes seen, 
 Such Pringle shines of sprightly mien ; 
 To her the power of love imparts. 
 Rich gift ! the soft successful arts
 
 POETS. — HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 8i 
 
 That best the lover's fires provoke, 
 The lively step, the mirthful joke. 
 The speaking glance, the am'rous wile, 
 The sportful laugh, the winning smile. 
 Her soul, awak'ning every grace, 
 Is all abroad upon her face ; 
 In bloom of youth, still to survive, 
 All charms are there, and all alive. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie, the ingenious editor of the Loun- 
 ger, enforced the judgement pronounced by his criti- 
 cal correspondent, by a note, in which he observes, 
 " It will not methinks require the enthusiasm of a 
 laudator temporis acti, like Colonel Caustic, to receive 
 a peculiar satisfaction in tracing the virtues and the 
 beauty of a former age, in the verses of one who ap- 
 pears to have so warmly caught the spirit of the first, 
 to have so warmly felt the power of the latter. Nor 
 ma}' it be altogether without a moral use, to see, in the 
 poetical record of a former period, the manners of 
 our own country in times of less luxury, but not per- 
 haps of less refinement, when fashion seems to have 
 conferred superiorities fully as intrinsic as any she 
 can boast at present ; to have added dignity of sen- 
 timent to pride of birth, and to have invested supe- 
 rior beauty with superior grace and higher accom- 
 plishments." 
 
 The fame of Hamilton has also found a warm vin- 
 dicator in Lord Woodhouselee, who thus speaks of 
 him in his Life of Kaimes : — " With the elegant and 
 accomplished William Hamilton, of Bangour, whose 
 amiable manners were long remembered with the 
 tenderest recollection by all who knew him, Mr.
 
 82 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Home (Lord Kaimes) lived in the closest habits of 
 friendship. The writer of these Memoirs has heard 
 him dwell with delight on the scenes of their youth- 
 ful days, and he has to regret, that many an anec- 
 dote, to which he listened with pleasure, was not 
 committed to a better record than a treacherous me- 
 mory. Hamilton's mind is pictured in his verses. 
 They are the easy and careless effusions of an elegant 
 fancy, and a chastened taste ; and the sentiments 
 they convey are the genuine feelings of a tender and 
 susceptible heart, which perpetually owned the domi- 
 nion of some favorite mistress ; but whose passion 
 generally evaporated in song, and made no serious or 
 permanent impression. His poems had an additional 
 charm to his conleraporaries, from being commonly 
 addressed to his familiar friends of either sex, by 
 name. There are few minds insensible to the sooth- 
 ing flattery of a poet's record." 
 
 Notwithstanding this concurrence of high critical 
 authorities, in favour of Hamilton's claims to poetical 
 renotvn, the attention of tlie public appears to have 
 been only called to, not fixed upon, his works. Al- 
 though tliov have been since inserted in the new edi- 
 tion (by Johnson and Chalmers) of the English 
 Poets, there has been no demand for a separate edi- 
 tion ; nor is Hamilton among those writers whom 
 we often hear quoted either by the learned or the 
 
 Are we then to conclude, that too high a station 
 has been attempted to be assigned to him ? The 
 public voice seems to pronounce in the atfirraative ; 
 and it is not often that the public voice is in the 
 wrong. In the present instance, however, there
 
 POETS.— HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 83 
 
 : seems strong reason to question the perfect justness 
 
 of its decision. Although Hamilton's claims may 
 
 not reach to a place in the highest class of our poets ; 
 
 j yet there are few of a secondary order who can, with 
 
 , fairness, take rank above him. 
 
 The period at which Hamilton wrote must always 
 bi a material circumstance for consideration, in form- 
 ; ing a proper estimate of his merits. He was one 
 I of the first of his countrymen, who, after that long 
 1 night of darkness which elapsed between 1615 and 
 I 1715, illumined only by the passing meteors, Stirling 
 and Drumraond, returned to life and nature, in re- 
 turning to the use of the common language, either in 
 its Scotch or English garb. After the accession of 
 [James to the English throne, it had, somehow or 
 1 other, ceased to be thought creditable, among our 
 I men of learning, to write in any language but what 
 i men of learning alone could understand. Either dis- 
 I daining to cultivate that more polished dialect of the 
 , old Anglo-Saxon, which had now become the lan- 
 guage of the court, because it happened to be that of a 
 I people still unhappily regarded with a rival feeling, 
 j or distrustful of the success they might attain in it, 
 I they threw themselves into the arms of the Latin 
 t muses, with whom they passed a joyless solitude of 
 I many ages. Men of genius no longer thought or 
 i wrote but in trammels ; for, be the degree of faraili- 
 'arity with a foreign or dead language wliat it 
 'may, it can nevi r rival the ease with which one 
 ! speaks the language of his nativity ; and what 
 iwas worse, they no longer wrote for the niulti- 
 ' tude, without whose inspiring approbation there can 
 I be no such thing as prosperity in national literature.
 
 84 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Genius was thus not only repressed, but wasted ; 
 not only obscured, but wedded to obscurity. An 
 author who writes in a living tongue, though known, 
 at first, only to a few, may hope in time to be known 
 to all ; but the posterity, by whom alone the Latinists 
 of those days could expect to be remembered, was 
 the posterity of scholais, always a limited commu- 
 nity, and not always a ver^'^ caring one about the ho- 
 nours of departed genius. Many a worthy name 
 may thus have been suffered to drop into oblivion, 
 nor can we be at all sure, that it is by those whose 
 reputation has chanced to survive, that we ought to 
 judge of the literary talent which existed in Scotland 
 during the long and gloomy, yet classic, period of 
 which we have been speaking. 
 
 At the dawn of the eighteenth century, the scho- 
 lastic spell was, at length, broken ; and Ramsay, in 
 the native Scottish dialect, and Hamilton in English, 
 shewed how much fonder the Muses were to be 
 wooed, even in homespun attire, than in the grave 
 clothes of a Horace or an Ovid. It may, with safety, 
 be asserted, that in the works of Hamilton alone 
 there is more genuine poetry, than in the whole cen- 
 tury of Latin poets who preceded him ; and though 
 not so highly esteemed as he deserves to be, still 
 he is read, while they have long teased to be known 
 to the general reader, except by name. 
 
 As a first adventurer in English composition, Ha- 
 milton must be allowed to have obtained no ordinary 
 success. In his language, he shews nearly all the 
 purity of a native ; his diction is various and power- 
 ful ; and his versification but rarely tainted with pro- 
 vincial errors. He delights, indeed, in a class of
 
 POETS HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 85 
 
 words, which, though not rejected by the best En- 
 glish writers, have a certain insipidit}^ which only a 
 refined English ear perhaps can perceive ; such as 
 beauteous, bounteous, dubious, and even melancholeous. 
 The same peculiarity may, I think, be remarked of 
 most of the early Scottish writers in the English lan- 
 guage ; in Thomson it is particularly observable. 
 We sometimes meet also in Hamilton with false quan- 
 tities ; but they seem oftener to proceed from making 
 a Procrustian of a poetic licence, than from ignorance 
 or inadvertence, as in the following verse. 
 
 Where'er the beauteous heart-compeller moves. 
 She scatters wide perdition all around : 
 
 Blest with celestial form, and crown'd with loves. 
 No single breast is refractory found. 
 
 E/eo-i/ on the Youngest Grace. 
 
 Lord Woodhouselee calls Hamilton's poems the 
 " easy and careless effusions" of " an elegant fancy 
 and a chastened taste." This is not quite compati- 
 ble with " the regular design'' which Richardson 
 discovers in them ; nor, indeed, with what Lord 
 Woodhouselee himself elsewhere tells us, that " it 
 appears from Hamilton's letters, that he communi- 
 cated his poems to his friends for their critical re- 
 marks, and was easily induced to alter or amend 
 them by their advice." The poem of Contemplation, 
 for instance, he sent to Mr. Home, (Lord Kaimes,) 
 who suggested some alterations, which were thus ac- 
 knowledged in a letter from Hamilton, dated July, 
 1739. " I have made the corrections on the moral 
 part of Contemplation, and in a post vvill send it to 
 
 VART 3.] 1
 
 86 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Will. Crawford, who has the rest, and will transmit it 
 to you. I shall write to him fully on the subject." 
 The Will. Crawford here mentioned was the author 
 of the beautiful pastoral ballad of Tweedside, 
 " which," says Lord Woodhouselee, " with the aid 
 of its charming melody, will probably live as long as 
 the language is understood." Hamilton had evidently 
 too passionate a devotion to the Muses, to be careless 
 in his attentions to them. His poems themselves 
 bear all the marks of studious production ; they 
 shew great ease, but it is the ease resulting from art. 
 The writing of poetry, indeed, seems to have formed 
 the chief business of Hamilton's life. We find this 
 very pleasantly manifested in one of his letters to 
 Mr. Home, dated September, 17-18. Mr. Home had 
 sent him some remarks on Horace, of the same tenor, 
 it would appear, with those which he afterwards pub- 
 lished in his Elements of Criticism, and Hamilton 
 thus alludes to them : " I am entirel}'^ of your opi- 
 nion with respect to your observations on Horace. 
 He certainly wanders from his text — but still they 
 are the wanderings of Horace. Whj^ we are never 
 contented with our lot, but still envy the condition 
 of others, was a noble subject, and it were to be 
 wished he had adorned it as well as he could from 
 his own experience ; satisfied, as he seems to have 
 been, with his own pursuits and the fame they had 
 acquired him. Let rae put Horace's question to my- 
 self. Why don't I acquiesce in the determination of 
 heaven, to which I have myself so much contributed? 
 Why don't I rest contented with that small, perhaps, 
 indeed, but sincere, portion of happiness furnished 
 6(/ my poetry and a few kind friends? Why concern
 
 POETS. — HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 87 
 
 myself to please Jeanie Stewart, or vex mjself about 
 that happier man to whom the lottery of life may 
 have assigned her? Qui Jit Mecenas, qui Jit. Whence 
 comes it? Alas ! whence, indeed ? 
 
 Too long by love, a wandering fire, misled. 
 My better days in vain delusion fled. 
 Day after day, year after year, withdrew. 
 And beauty blest the minutes as they flew ; 
 Those hours consum'd in joy, but lost to fame. 
 With blushes I review, but dare not blame : 
 A fault which easy pardon might receive. 
 Did lovers judge, or could the wise forgive! 
 But now to Wisdom's healing springs I fl}^ 
 And drink oblivion of each charmful eye. 
 To love revolted, quit each pleasing care, 
 Whate'er was w itty, or whate'er was fair. 
 
 Your's, &c. 
 
 Almost the whole of Hamilton's poems are of an 
 amatory cast ; but it would seem, that we must add 
 him to the number of poets, not a few, to whom love, 
 with all its pangs, has been only a fancy's dream. As 
 Lord Woodhouselee truly remarks, his " heart per- 
 petually owned the dominion of some favorite mis- 
 tress ; but his passion generally evaporated in song, 
 and made no serious or permanent impression." The 
 " Jeanie Stewart," of whom he speaks so laraent- 
 ingly in the letter before quoted, complained to Mr. 
 Home, that she was teazed with Hamilton's dangling 
 attentions, which she was convinced had no serious 
 aim, and hinted an earnest Avish to get rid of him. 
 " You are his friend," said she, " tell him, he ex- 
 I 2
 
 88 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 poses both himself and me to the ridicule of our ac- 
 quaintance." " No, madam," said Mr. Home, 
 who knew how to appreciate the fervor of Hamilton's 
 passion, " you shall accomplish his cure yourself, 
 and by the simplest method. Dance with him at to- 
 night's assembly, and shew him every mark of your 
 kindness, as if you believed his passion sincere, and 
 had resolved to favour his suit. Take my word for 
 it, you'll hear no more of him." The lady adopted 
 the counsel, and the success of the experiment was 
 complete. 
 
 In poetry, however, no man could breath a fiercer 
 flame. In some rather conceited lines, " Upon hear- 
 ing his picture was in a Lady's Breast," he chides it 
 for 
 
 Ingrossing all that beauteous heaven 
 That Chloe, lavish maid, has given ; 
 
 And then passionately exclaims : 
 
 I cannot blame thee : were I lord 
 Of all the wealth these breasts atFord, 
 I'd be a miser too, nor give 
 An alms to keep a God alive. 
 
 A noble burst of fancy ! The most genuine pas- 
 sion will seek in vain for a more expressive image of 
 the boundless avarice of love. 
 
 To the merit of the poem of Contemplation, Pro- 
 fessor Richardson has done such ample justice, as to 
 leave little room for additional observation. He re- 
 marks, with great truth, that Hamilton is here more 
 grave than lofty, more solemn than sublime. When 
 he attempts " to soar the heights of Deity," to dis-
 
 POETS. — HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 89 
 
 cover the designs of the Creator with respect to the 
 present and future state of man, to 
 
 search the perfect laws, 
 
 That constant bind th' unerring cause, 
 
 his conceptions are without either the grandeur 
 suited to the subject, or the novelty which might ex- 
 cuse the attempt to scan what Milton had scanned 
 with almost more than mortal ken before. Some of 
 the questions, into which he throws his cogitations, 
 are strange enough. 
 
 When Time shall let his curtain fall, 
 Must dreary nothing swalloiv all ? 
 Must we th' unfinished piece deplore, 
 Ere half the pompous piece be o'er ? &c. 
 
 Ivlr. Richardson has observed, with equal truth, 
 that he is " more tender than pathetic ;" but he has 
 passed unnoticed the marked effect which this cast of 
 mind has had on the character of this particular 
 poem. The " struggles, relapses, recoveries, and 
 final discomfiture, of a mind, striving with an obsti- 
 nate and habituated passion," might have been sup- 
 posed to present many situations of deep interest ; 
 but it cannot i^e said, that deep interest is the sort of 
 feeling excited by any part of the poem of Contem- 
 plation. We see love alternately driven away and 
 returning, without feeling moved to more than a 
 smile at the archness of the sly intruder. We see 
 him triumph at last, without pit3'ing his victim, thougli 
 compelled to admire the elegance of the strains in 
 which the vanquished Strcplion resigns himself to his 
 fate. 
 
 I 3
 
 90 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Pass but some fleeting moments o'er, 
 This rebel heart shall beat no more ; 
 Then from my dark and closing eye 
 The form belov'd shall ever fly, 
 The tyranny of love shall cease, 
 Both laid down to sleep in peace ; 
 To share alike our mortal lot, 
 Her beauties and my cares forgot. 
 
 Of the poems by Hamilton, not devoted to love, 
 the most deserving of notice is " The Episode of the 
 Thistle," which appears to have been intended as 
 part of a larger work, never completed, called "The 
 Flowers." It is an ingenious attempt, by a well de- 
 vised fable, to account for the selection of the thistle 
 as the national emblem of Scotland. The poet opens 
 the subject with the following elegant apostrophe : 
 
 Thrice happy plant ! fair Scotia's greatest pride ; 
 Emblem of modest valour, unprovok'd 
 That harmeth not ; provok'd that will not bear 
 Wrong unreveng'd. 
 
 -How oft beneath 
 
 Its martial influence, have Scotia's sons 
 Through every age with dauntless valour fought 
 On every hostile ground ! while o'er their breast, 
 Companion to the silver star, blest type 
 Of fame, unsullied and superior deed. 
 Distinguished ornament ! this native plant 
 Surrounds the sainted cross, with costly row 
 Of gems emblaz'd, and flame of radiant gold, 
 A sacred mark, their glory and their pride !
 
 POETS.— HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 9l 
 
 The poet then proceeds to relate how the illustrious 
 plant first rose to renown. The Scots and Picts had 
 long been inveterate enemies ; but, 
 
 when Achaius reign'd^ 
 
 By the disposing will of gracious Heav'n 
 Ordain'd the prince of peace, fair Ethelind, 
 Grace of the Pictish throne, in rosy youth 
 Of beauty's bloom, in his young heart inspir'd 
 Spousal desires ; soft love and dove-ey'd peace 
 Her dowry. Then his hymeneal torch 
 Concord high brandish'd, and in bonds of love 
 Link'd the contending race. 
 
 This union had not long taken place, when the 
 Picts were invaded by the Saxons under Athelstane. 
 Hungus, King of the Picts, solicits the aid of his new 
 friend and relation, Achaius, who joins him with a 
 chosen band of Scottish warriors. The two armies are 
 on the eve of battle, when, as Achaius lay slumbering 
 in his tent, the tutelar saint of Scotland, St. Andrew, 
 appeared to him in a vision : 
 
 in his right hand he held 
 
 A cross, far beaming through the night ; his left 
 A pointed thistle rear'd. " Fear not," he cry'd, 
 " Thy country's early pride, for lo ! to thee 
 Commission'd, I from Heav'n's eternal king, 
 Ethereal messenger of tidings glad. 
 Propitious now am sent : then be thou bold. 
 To-morrow shall deliver to thy hand 
 The troops of Athelstane. But, oh ! attend, 
 Instructed from the skies, the terms of fate 
 Conditional assign'd ; for if misled
 
 92 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 By sacred lust of arbitrary sway, 
 
 Thou, or of thee to come, thy race shall wage 
 
 Injurious war, unrighteous to invade 
 
 His neighbour's realms ; who dares the guilty deed, 
 
 Him, Heaven shall desert in needful hour 
 
 Of sad distress, deliver'd o'er a prey 
 
 To all the nations round. This plant I bear. 
 
 Expressive emblem of thy equal deed : 
 
 This, inoffensive in its native field. 
 
 Peaceful inhabitant and lowly grows ; 
 
 Yet who with hostile hands its bristly spears 
 
 Unpunish'd may provoke i And such be thou, 
 
 Unprompt t' invade and active to defend." 
 
 The Saxons are defeated ; and Achaius, returning 
 home, is not unmindful of the heavenly dream. 
 
 to inspire 
 
 Love of heroic worth and kindle seeds 
 Of virtuous emulation in the soul 
 Ripening to deed, he crown'd his manly breast 
 "With a refulgent star, and in the star. 
 Amidst the rubies' blazC; distinguish'd shines 
 The sainted cross, around whose golden verge 
 Th' embroider'd thistle, blest inclosure ! winds 
 A warlike foliage of ported spears 
 Defenceful. 
 
 He confers similar insignia on a chosen number of 
 his followers, and institutes the order of the Thistle, 
 
 Inviolate and sacred, to preserve 
 The ordinance of Heav'n. 
 
 The poet then glances briefly at the fortunes 
 
 of the
 
 POETS. — HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 93 
 
 thistle, till 
 
 In Britain's shield 
 
 The northern star mingles with George's beams. 
 Consorted light ! and with Hibernia's harp 
 Breathing the spirit of peace and social love, 
 Harmonious power ! the Scottish thistle fills 
 Distinguish'd place, and guards the English rose. 
 
 The plan of tliis episode, and the political sentiments 
 of which it is made the vehicle, are alike deserving of 
 praise. History might supply us with a more au- 
 thentic origin for our national emblem, but it could 
 not supply us with one more fraught with moral pur- 
 pose, or more accordant with every patriotic feeling. 
 The blank verse which the author has adopted in this 
 poem, does not seem to have been altogether adapted 
 to his powers : yet a reader must be struck with the 
 felicity with which more than one of the passages 
 which have been quoted are modulated. 
 
 The only piece which Hamilton wrote in his native 
 language was " the Braes of Yarrow," designated by 
 Mr. Richardson, as " one of the finest ballads ever 
 written." Another critic, whose opinion of the an- 
 cient ballad poetry of Scotland must be allowed to 
 have considerable weight, has passed a very different 
 judgment upon it. " It is," says Mr. Pinkerton, " in 
 very bad taste, and quite unlike the ancient Scottish 
 manner, being even inferior to the poorest of the old 
 ballads with this title. His repeated words and Hues 
 causing an eternal jingle, his confused narration and 
 affected pathos, throw this piece among the rubbish of 
 poetry." Although a warm participator in Mr. Rich-
 
 94 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 ardson's general admiration of Hamilton, I am inclined, 
 in this instance, to agree with IMr. Pinkerton. The 
 jingle and affected pathos of which he complains, are 
 indeed sickening. 
 
 Lang maun she weep, laug maun she, maun she weep, 
 Lang maun she weep with dule and sorrow, ice. 
 
 Then build, then build, ye sisters, sisters sad, 
 Ye sisters sad, his tomb with sorrow, &c. 
 
 It is for those who ean attune their voices to such 
 rant, to discover where the pathos of it lies. Simpli- 
 city and melody were never surely so departed from 
 before. 
 
 There exists in MS. a fragment of a poem by Ha- 
 milton, not published in his works, called the " Maid 
 of Gallowshiels." It is an epic of the heroi-comic 
 kind, intended to celebrate the contest between a 
 piper and fiddler, for the fair Maid of Gallowshiels. 
 Hamilton had designed to extend it to twelve books, 
 but has only completed the first and a portion of the 
 second. Dr. Lcyden, who owns himself indebted to 
 the friendship of Dr. Robert Anderson for his know- 
 ledge of this MS. gives the following account of it in 
 his preface to the " Complaynt of Scotland." — " In the 
 first (book) the fiddler challenges the piper to a trial 
 of musical skill, and proposes that the maid herself 
 should be the umpire of the contest." 
 
 Sole in her breast the favourite youth shall reign, 
 Whose hand shall sweetest wake the warbled strain ; 
 And if to me the ill-fated piper yield. 
 As sure I trust, this well contested field,
 
 I POETS.— HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 95 
 
 I High in the sacred dome his pipes I raise, 
 ; The trophy of my fame to after days ; 
 
 That all may know as they the pipes survey, 
 ' The fiddler's deed and this the signal day. 
 
 All Gallowshiels the daring challenge heard, 
 '; Full blank they stood, and for their piper fear'd ; 
 I Fearless alone he rose in open view, 
 
 And in the midst his sounding bagpipe threw. 
 
 <' The history of the two heroes is related with various 
 episodes ; and the piper deduces his origin from Colin 
 of Gallowshiels, whd bore the identical bagpipe at 
 the battle of Harlaw, with which his descendant re- 
 solves to maintain the glory of the piper race. The 
 second book, the subject of which is the trial of skill, 
 commences with tht following exquisite description 
 of the bagpipe." 
 
 Now in his artful hand the bagpipe held. 
 Elate, the piper wide surveys the field. 
 O'er all he throws his quick discerning eyes. 
 And views their hopes and fears alternate rise. 
 Old Glenderule, in Gallowshiels long fara'd 
 For works of skill, the perfect wonder frara'd; 
 His shining steel first lopp'd, with dexterous toil. 
 From a tall spreading elm the branchy spoil. 
 The clouded wood he next divides in twain. 
 And smoothes them equal to an oval plane. 
 Six leather folds in still connected rows 
 To either plank conformed, the sides compose ; 
 The wimble perforates the base with care, 
 A destin'd passage opening to the air ; 
 But once inclosed within the narrow space, 
 The opposing valve forbids the backward race.
 
 96 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Fast to the swelling bag, two reeds combin'd. 
 Receive the blasts of the melodious wind. 
 Round from the twining loom, with skill divine 
 Embost, the joints in silver circles shine ; 
 In secret prison pent, the accents lie, 
 Until his arm the lab'ring artist ply : ' 
 Then duteous they forsake their dark' abode, 
 Fellows no more, and wing a sep'rat^ road. 
 These upward through the narrow channel glide 
 In ways unseen, a solemn murmuring tide ; 
 Those thro' the narrow part, their journey bend 
 Of sweeter sort, and to the earth descend. 
 O'er the small pipe at equal distance, lye 
 Eight shining holes o'er which his fingers fly. 
 From side to side the aerial spirit bounds : 
 The flying fingers form the passing sounds, 
 That, issuing gently thro' the polish'd door, 
 Mix with the common air and charm no more. 
 
 This gift long since old Glenderule consign'd, 
 The lasting witness of his friendly mind. 
 To the fam'd author of the piper's line. 
 Each empty space shone rich in fair design : 
 Himself appears high in the sculptur'd wood. 
 As bold in the Harlean field he stood. 
 Serene, amidst the dangers of the day. 
 Full in the van yoa might behold him play ; 
 There in the humble mood of peace he stands. 
 Before him pleas'd are seen the dancing bands. 
 In mazy roads the flj'ing ring they blend, 
 So lively fram'd they seem from earth t' ascend. 
 Four gilded straps the artist's arm surround, 
 Two knit by clasps, and two by buckles bound. 
 His artful elbow now the youth essays, 
 A tuneful squeeze to wake the sleeping lays.
 
 POETS HAMILTON OF BANGOUR. 97 
 
 With lab'ring bellows thus the smith inspires 
 To frame the polish'd lock, the forge's fires ; 
 Couceal'd in ashes lie the flames below, 
 'Till the resounding lungs of bellows blow ; 
 Then mounting high, o'er the illumin'd room 
 Spreads the brown light, and gilds the dusky gloom ; 
 The bursting sounds in narrow prisons pent. 
 Rouse, in their cells, loud rumbling for a vent. 
 Loud tempests now the deafen'd ear assail ; 
 Now gently sweet is breath'd a sober gale : 
 As when the hawk his mountain nest forsakes. 
 Fierce for his prey his rustling wings he shakes ; 
 The air impell'd by th' unharmonious shock, 
 Sounds clattering and abrupt through all the rock. 
 But as she flies, she shapes to smoother space 
 Her winnowiiig vans, and swims the aerial space. 
 
 G. R. 
 
 PART 3.]
 
 98 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 HAMILTON OF GILBERTFIELD. 
 
 The name of Hamillou of Gilbertfield has suffered 
 in celebrity from its similarity to that of a greater 
 poet; but, if not illustrated by works of such merit as 
 those of Hauiilton of Bangour, it is connected with 
 productions of too much merit to justify a slight re- 
 gard. A writer, whose strains could inspire an Allan 
 Ramsay with emulation, could not have been of a 
 class doomed to be forgotten. Oblivion will be kind 
 to him on this account alone, as Sir Walter Raleigh 
 beautifully tells us she has been to the adorer of 
 Laura : 
 
 Oblivion laid Petrarch on Laura's tomb.* 
 
 Mr. Hamilton, of Gilbertfield, was the son of 
 Hamilton of Ladylands. He entered the army early 
 in life ; but, after considerable service, returned to his 
 paternal home with no higher rank than that of a lieu- 
 
 * Raleigh must of course be presumed to express 
 somewhat hyperbolically his opinion of the Italian 
 poet The line occurs, I believe, in a set of verses in 
 commendation of some very inferior poet, on whose 
 appearance Oblivion is said to have performed this 
 service for Petrarch. a. s.
 
 POETS.— HAMILTON OF GILBERTFIELD. 99 
 
 tenant. His time was now divided between the sports 
 of the field, the cultivation of several valued friend- 
 ships with men of genius and taste, and the occasional 
 production of some effusion of his own, in which the 
 gentleman and the poet were alike conspicuous. His 
 intimacy with the author of the Gentle Shepherd, 
 three of his Epistles to whom are to be found in the 
 common editions of Ramsay's works, commenced in 
 an admiration, on Ramsay's part, of some pieces which 
 had found their way into circulation from Hamilton's 
 pen. 
 
 When I begoud first to con verse. 
 
 And cou'd your " Ardry whins" rehearse. 
 
 Where bony Heck ran fast and fierce. 
 
 It warm'd my breast ; 
 Then emulation did me pierce, 
 
 Whilk since near ceast. 
 
 May I be licket wi' a bittle. 
 Gin of your numbers I think little, 
 Ye're never ragget, shan, nor kittle. 
 But blyth and gabby ; 
 And hit the spirit to a tittle 
 I Of standart Habby. 
 
 [ Ramsay to Hamilton. 
 
 Towards the close of his life, Hamilton resided at 
 ■ Letterick, in the county of Lanark, and there he died 
 I at a very advanced age in 1751. 
 
 1 His principal productions are to be found in Wat- 
 1 son's Choice Collection of Scots Poems. One of these, an 
 ! Elegy on Habbie Simpson, the piper of Kilbarchan, 
 t K 2
 
 100 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 records a very poetic circumstance in the ancient 
 manners of our country. 
 
 " wha will cause our shearers shear ? 
 
 Wha will bend up the brags of weir." 
 
 It appears, that, in former times, it was the custom 
 for a piper to play behind the reapers while at work ; 
 and to the poetical enthusiasm thus excited and kept 
 alive, we are probably indebted for many of those airs 
 and songs which have given Scotland so unrivalled a 
 celebrity, while the authors of them remain as un- 
 known as if they had never existed. 
 
 In 1722, INIr. Hamilton published an abridgement, 
 in modern Scottish, of Henry the Minstrel's Life of 
 Wallace ; but it has not added any thing to his fame. 
 Dr. Irving has only recorded the general opinion, 
 when he says, that it was " an injudicious and useless 
 work." 
 
 C. H.
 
 POETS.— SAMUEL COLVIL. 101 
 
 SAMUEL COLYIL. 
 
 It is a matter of literary history, of which the 
 Scotch have perhaps no great reason to be proud, that 
 among the crowd of imitators of Butler's admirable 
 poem of Hudibras, Scotsmen should hold the foremost 
 place. There has been a London Hudibras* and an 
 Irish Hudibras,t''and even a Dutch| Hudibras ; but it 
 is generally allowed that they all fall short of what is 
 called the Scotch Hudibras, or more properly speak- 
 ing "The Whigs' Supplication," by Samuel Colvil : and 
 that again is as far exceeded by the Knight of the 
 Kirk, and other works of Meston. To be the best of 
 imitators, however, is but sorry renown. They are, 
 indeed, servum pecus. To use a simile which Butler, in 
 hh Characters, seems to have provided for these Scotch 
 followers — an imitator " catches his wit like the itch, of 
 somebody else that had it before, and when he writes 
 he does but scratch himself; his muse is not inspired, 
 but infected with another man's fancy." 
 
 * " Vulgus Britannicus ; or. The British Hudibras : 
 containing The Secret History of the Late London 
 Mob," &c. 1710. 
 
 t " The Irish Hudibras ; or, Fingalean Prince," 
 1695. 
 
 X " Hogan Moganidcs ; or, The Dutch Hudibras," 
 1674. 
 
 K 3
 
 102 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Of Colvil's personal history nothing is known. His 
 first appearance as a writer is supposed to have been 
 in 1673. A work printed at Edinburgh in that year 
 is extant, entitled " An Historical Dispute of the Pa- 
 pac}' and Popish Religion," which bears to be written 
 by " Sam. Colvil," but whether this was the same 
 individual who wrote the " Whigs' Supplication" is 
 not certain. The latter work was published at London, 
 in duodecimo, in the year 1681. It was much read, 
 and has even continued to be read, down to a late 
 period. Many editions of it have been printed, and 
 one at St. Andrew's in 1796. 
 
 The degree of popularity which a work has main- 
 tained is usually allowed to indicate its degree of merit : 
 but this conclusion, which would hold in any other 
 case, scarcely holds in the present. Colvil has bor- 
 rowed so largely from the original Hudibras, that it is 
 impossible to say, how far he is indebted for the repu- 
 tation of his work to his own genius, and how far to 
 Butler's. It is not the design and manner, merely, 
 which he has borrowed ; he has actually adopted a 
 great many entire passages, without the slightest 
 alteration. 
 
 As Butler's Hudibras was a satire on the zealots of 
 the reign of Charles the First, so Colvil's relates to the 
 insurrection of the Scottish Covenanters, in the reign 
 of Charles the Second. After much wrestling of the 
 spirit, they resolve to indite a supplication to the king ; 
 and the Gude Man, their chief, despatches his 'squire to 
 London, to present it to his Majesty. The 'squire 
 meets, in London, with his prototype, Ralpho, and a 
 dispute commences between them, on the merits of 
 Presbytery, which the former defends against the rail-
 
 POETS.— SAMUEL COLVIL. 103 
 
 Jery of the latter. The supplication is presented to 
 the king with a long speech from the 'squire, whose 
 farewell to London closes the poem. 
 
 The plan of the " Supplication" is better than its 
 execution. Its portraitures of character are feebly 
 drawn, and the narrative tediously protracted. There 
 is abundance of that odd combination which forms so 
 material a feature of the Hudibrastic school ; but it is, 
 too generally, oddity without wit. 
 
 So we may prove 
 
 Cameleons, beef and cabbage eaters — 
 
 ******* 
 
 That horse are men, and owls are ounces — 
 ****** 
 
 That tallow cakes are amber-grease ; 
 That sun and moon are Cheshire cheese. 
 
 The author is occasionally, however, both spirited 
 and ingenious ; and, had he struck out a new path 
 for himself, instead of dully plodding in that of ano- 
 ther, might have acquired a respectable rank among 
 minor poets. The following telescopic view of things 
 not to be seen in the moon, may serve as a fair speci- 
 men of his style. 
 
 Cavaliers on horseback prancing, 
 Maids about a May-pole dancing. 
 Men in taverns, wine carousing, 
 Beggars by the highway lousing. 
 Soldiers forging ale-house brawlings. 
 To be let go without their lawings : 
 Stirs in streets, by grooms and pages. 
 Mountebanks playing on stages,
 
 104 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Gardens planting, houses bi<rgiug. 
 States and princes fleets outrigglng-5 
 Antic fashions of apparels. 
 Mates and princes picking quarrels, 
 Wars, rebels, and horse-races, 
 Proclaim'd at several market places, 
 Captors bringing in their prizes. 
 Commons cursing new excises, 
 Young wives their old husbands horning. 
 Judges drunken every morning, 
 Augmenting law-suits and divisions. 
 By Spanish and by French decisions ; 
 Courtiers their aims missing, 
 Chaplains, widow ladies kissing. 
 Men to sell their lands itching 
 To pay th' expences of their kitchen. 
 Frequent changes, states invading. 
 Pulpits forcing and persuading. 
 Great jars for cloves and maces. 
 For bishops, lordships, and their graces ; 
 Preachers contradicting fast. 
 This year, what they preach'd the last, 
 Making, in the conscience, room 
 For a change, the year to come. 
 
 A. C.
 
 POETS.— ALEXANDER ROSS. 105 
 
 ALEXANDER ROSS, A.M. 
 
 I Alexander Ross, the author of " the Fortunate 
 Shepherdess," was the son of a small farmer, in the 
 ; parish of Kincardine O'Neil, and county of Aberdeen, 
 j and born about the year 1700. He studied at Aber- 
 Ideen, and took the degree of Master of Arts. On 
 . quitting the University, he obtained the appointment 
 of Schoolmaster t^ the parish of Birse, in his native 
 I county ; and shortly after married. 
 ' In 1733, he removed to the parish of Lochlee, in 
 lAngusshire; and here, in the humble and laborious 
 I occupation of a teacher of youth, Mas suffered to 
 I linger out a life, extended to the more than ordinary 
 i term of eighty-three years. He died in the month 
 i of May, 1783, leaving a son and four daughters. 
 I " Ross," says Dr. Irving, " has been described as 
 a man of simple manners, of a religious deportment, 
 I assiduous in discharging the duties of his station." 
 1 And this character, concise as it may appear, will, as 
 Dr. Irving neatly and truly adds, " be found to include 
 ■ every essential quality." 
 
 It has been conjectured, that Ross's original des- 
 tination was the church, and that he had been obliged 
 through poverty of circumstances to abandon the pur- 
 suit. The course of study necessary for taking orders 
 in Scotland is not however so expensive, nor the inci- 
 dental helps so few, that a young man, after having 
 attained the degree of M.A., could have had much 
 difficulty in perfecting his scheme of life, had he stea-
 
 106 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 dily pursued it. A condition still raore poetical than 
 sheer poverty may be assigned to Ross. He married, 
 when others find it prudent to wait ; and thus brought 
 early cares upon him, which obliged him first to halt 
 by the way, and then, for want of some generous hand 
 to help hira forward, kept him a schoolmaster for life. 
 Helenare, or the Fortunate Shepherdess, was first pub- 
 lished at Aberdeen in the year 1768, together with a 
 few Scottish songs. In the exordium, he thus feelingly 
 depicts the penury of his condition. 
 
 Come, Scota, thou, that anes upon a day 
 
 Garr'd Allan Ramsay's hungry heart-strings play 
 
 The merriest sangs that ever yet were sung, 
 
 Pity anes mair, for I'm outthrow as clung. 
 
 'Twas that grim gossip, chandler-chafted want. 
 
 With threed-bair claithing and an ambry scant, 
 
 Made him cry on thee, to blaw throw his pen 
 
 Wi' leed* that well might help him to come ben. 
 
 And crack amo' the best o' ilka sex, ^ 
 
 And shape his houghs to gentle bows and becks. m 
 
 He wan thy heart, well wordy o't, poor man : 
 
 Tak yet anither gangrell by the ban. 
 
 As gryt's my mister, an' my duds as bare. 
 
 And I as sib as he was, ilka hair, 
 
 Mak me but half as canny, there's no fear, 
 
 Tho' I be auld, but I'll yet gather gear. 
 
 Shortly after the publication of the poem, a com- 
 mendatory criticism upon it appeared in the Aberdeen 
 Journal, with the fictitious signature of Oliver Oldstyle, 
 accompanied by an epistle to Ross, in the Scottish 
 
 * Language. 
 
 I
 
 POETS. — ALEXANDER ROSS. 107 
 
 ' dialect. The author of both productions was generally 
 understood to be Dr. Beattie ; and they have remained 
 so long ascribed to him without contradiction, that 
 there can be little doubt of their being from his pen. 
 'As the criticism contains a pretty correct estimate of 
 [Ross's work, and the epistle presents Beattie in a dif- 
 Iferent poetical dress from that in which he is commonly 
 known to the public, no apology can be necessary 
 •for transcribing them at length from the fugitive record 
 ;in which they appeared. 
 
 To the Printer of the Aberdeen Chronicle. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have read the " Fortunate Shepherdess," and 
 iother poems, in broad Scotch, just published at Aber- 
 •deen, by Mr. Alexander Ross, of Lochlee. This writer 
 ihas given us the provincial dialects of Angus, Mearns, 
 'and Aberdeenshire, in great perfection ; and I am 
 convinced his work will be highly amus'ng to all who 
 irelish that sort of composition. A nice critic might, 
 perhaps, take exception at his plot, at the prolixity of 
 ,3ome speeches, and at the impropriety of some parti- 
 Icular incidents and sentiments ; but Mr. Ross, in his 
 'preface, hath made so modest an acknowledgement of 
 these and other faults, which he thinks may be found 
 in the performance, that it is impossible for a good- 
 laatured reader not to excuse them. Many genuine 
 strokes of nature and passion, and many beautiful 
 touches of picturesque description, are to be seen in 
 !this work. There is even an attempt at character, 
 'which, in one or two instances, is by no means unsuc- 
 :essful. In his songs there is an easy turn of humour
 
 108 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 and versification: some of them have long been known 
 to the common people of this country, who sing them 
 with much satisfaction and good humour. I beg leave 
 to transmit to this facetious author, by the channel of 
 your paper, the following lines, which may please 
 some of your readers, and cannot, I think, offend any 
 and am, 
 
 Sir, 
 Your humble Servant, 
 
 Oliver Oldstile. 
 
 I 
 
 To Mr. Alexander Ross, at Lochlee, author of the 
 Fortunate Shepherdess and other poems in the broad 
 Scotch dialect. 
 
 O Ross, thou wale of hearty cocks, 
 Sae crouse and canty with thy jokes ! 
 Thy hamely auldwarl'd muse provokes 
 
 ■Me for awhile. 
 To ape our guid plain countra' folks 
 
 In verse and stile. 
 Sure never carle was haff sae gabby 
 E're since the winsume daj's o' Habby, 
 O mayst thou ne'er gang, clung, or shabby, 
 
 Nor miss thy ^naker! 
 Or I'll ca' fortune nasty drabby. 
 
 And say — pox take her! 
 O may the roupe ne'er roust thy weason, 
 May thirst thy thrapple never gizzen ! 
 But bottled ale in mony a dizen, 
 
 Aye lade thy gantry ! 
 And fouth o'vivres a' in season, 
 
 Plenish thy pantry !
 
 POETS. — ALEXANDER ROSS. 109 
 
 Lang may tby stevin fill wi' glee 
 The glens and mountains of Loch lee. 
 Which were right gowsty but for thee, 
 
 Whase sangs enamour 
 Ilk lass, and teach wi' melody 
 
 The rocks to yamour. 
 
 Ye shak your head, but, o' my fegs, 
 Ye've set auld Scota* on her legs, 
 Lang had she lyen wi' beifs and flegs, 
 Burabaz'd and dizzie ; 
 Her fiddle wanted strings and pegs, 
 * Waes me ! poor hizzie ! 
 
 Since Allan's death naebody car'd 
 For anes to speer how Scota far'd. 
 Nor plack nor thristled turner war'd 
 
 To quench her drouth. 
 For frae the cottar to the laird 
 
 We a' rin South. 
 
 The Southland chiels indeed hae mettle. 
 And brawly at a sang can ettle. 
 Yet we right couthily might settle 
 
 O' this side Forth. 
 The devil pa}'^ them wi' a pettle 
 
 That slight the North. 
 
 Our countra leed is far frae barren. 
 It's even right pithy and aulfarren, 
 Oursells are neiper-like I warran 
 
 * The name Ross gives to his muse. 
 PART 3.] L
 
 110 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 For sense and smergh. 
 In kittle times when faes are yarring. 
 We're no tliought ergli. 
 
 Oh ! bonny are our greensward hows. 
 Where through the birks the birny ro^vs, 
 And the bee bums, and tlic ox lows, 
 
 And saft winds rusle ; 
 And shepherd lads on sunny knows 
 
 Blaw the biythe fusle. 
 
 It's true, we Norlans manna fa' 
 To eat sae nice or gang sae bra'. 
 As they that come from far awa, 
 
 Yet sma's our skaith. 
 We've peace (and that's well wortli it a') 
 
 And meat and claith. 
 
 Our fine new spangle sparks, I grant ye, 
 Gie' poor auld Scotland raony a taunt ye ; 
 They're grown sae ugertfu' and vaunty. 
 
 And capenioited. 
 They guide her like a canker'd aunty 
 
 Tliat's deaf and doited. 
 
 Sae comes of ignorance 1 trow. 
 
 It's this that crooks their ill fa'r'd mou' 
 
 Wi' jokes sae coarse, they gar fouk spue 
 
 For downright skonner j 
 For Scotland wants na sons enew 
 
 To do her honour. 
 
 I here might gie a skreed o' names, 
 Dawties of Heliconian dames !
 
 POETS ALEXANDER ROSS. llj 
 
 The foremost place Gawin Douglas claims ; 
 
 That canty priest. 
 And vvha can match the fifth King James 
 For sang or jest? 
 
 Montgomery grave, and Ramsay gay, 
 Dunbar, Scot,* Hawthornden, and mae 
 Than I can tell ; for o' my fae, 
 
 I maun break afF ; 
 'Twould take a live lang simmer day 
 
 To name the haff. 
 
 The saucy chiels — I think they ca' them 
 
 Criticks', tlie muckle sorrow claw them, 
 
 (For mense nor manners ne'er could awe them 
 
 Frae their presumption.) 
 They need nae try thy jokes to fathom ; 
 
 They want rumgumption. 
 
 But ilka Meams and Angus bairn, 
 Thy tales and sangs by heart shall learn. 
 And chiels shall come frae yont the Cairn — 
 
 — Amounth right yousty, 
 If Ross will be so kind as share in 
 
 Their pint at Drousty.f 
 
 * In the Aberdeen Chronicle, there is the following 
 foot-note, explaining who was the individual whom the 
 author of the epistle here meant : — " Author of the Vi- 
 sion, a poem remarkable for pathos and elegance of de- 
 scription." The author of the Vision, however, was 
 Allan Ramsay, and Scot was only a nom de guene. 
 See Life of Ramsay. a. s. 
 
 t An alehouse in Lochlee.
 
 112 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 The plot of the Fortunate Shepherdess, to which 
 Dr. Beattie hints some exception might be taken by 
 a nice critic, is certainly by no means pleasing. Am- 
 bition triumphs over the affections of the heart ; and 
 the humble, yet sincere lover, is discarded for a rival, 
 whose chief recommendation is his wealth. But in 
 the progress of the tale, there are beauties developed, 
 which would justify even a warmer eulogium than 
 Dr. B. has pronounced upon the work. " The cele- 
 brated Dr. Blacklock," says Dr. Irving, " as I have 
 learnt from one of his pupils, regarded it as equal to 
 the pastoral comedy of Ramsay." And Mr. Pin- 
 kerton, who unfortunately could see nothing in the 
 Gentle Shepherd to entitle it to a place among good 
 compositions, says of Ross : — " Some of the descrip- 
 tions are exquisitely natural and fine. The language 
 and thoughts are more truly pastoral than any I have 
 yet found in any poet, save Theocritus." 
 
 The songs published along with the Fortunate 
 Shepherdess, include some which have not only, as 
 Dr. B. remarks, been long known to the people of 
 Angus, Mearns, and Aberdeenshire, but are very ge- 
 neral favorites in Scotland ; " TJie rock and the uee 
 pickle toiv ;" "Married and icoo'd and a';" "The 
 bride's breast knot ;" &c. There are also several songs 
 interspersed through the poem itself ; and one which 
 is very pleasing in the third canto, entitled the 
 " Braes of Flaviana." It is to the tune of the Lass 
 of Patie's Mill. 
 
 Of all the lads that be 
 On Flaviana's braes, 
 'Tis Colin bears the gree.
 
 POETS. — ALEXANDER ROSS. US 
 
 An' that a thousand ways ; 
 Best on the pipe he plays, 
 Is merry, blyth, an' gay, 
 ' An' Jeany fair,' he says, 
 * Has stown my heart away. 
 
 Had I ten thousand pounds, 
 I'd all to Jeany gee, 
 I'd thole a thousand wounds 
 To keep my Jeany free : 
 For Jeany is to me, 
 O f all the maidens fair, 
 My jo, and ay shall be. 
 With her I'll only pair. 
 
 Of roses I will weave 
 For her a flow'ry crown. 
 All other cares I'll leave. 
 An' busk her hafFets round ; 
 I'll buy her a new gown, 
 Wi' strips of red an' blew. 
 An' never mair look brown, 
 For Jeany'li ay be new. 
 
 My Jeany made reply ; 
 
 ' Syn ye ha'e chosen me. 
 
 Then all my wits I'll try, 
 
 A loving wife to be. 
 
 If I my Colin see, 
 
 I'll lang for naething mair, 
 
 Wi' him I do agree 
 
 In weal an' wae to share.' 
 
 Altliough the " Fortunate Shepherdess" was re- 
 x3
 
 114 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 ceived so favorably among the learned, its circulation 
 appears, at first, to have been slow. A second edi- 
 tion was not called for till 1778 ; but since then, 
 editions have multiplied, and the work is now among 
 the most valued of the cottage classics throughout all 
 that part of the north east of Scotland, where the 
 Buchan dialect is spoken. 
 
 The second edition was dedicated, by Ross, to 
 the Duchess of Gordon, in terms which indicated a 
 sense of obligation ; but the favours received could 
 not have been great, which still left the best pastoral 
 poet of his age to depend on the drudgery of a 
 country-school for the means of subsistence. 
 
 Ross seems to have continued his court to the 
 Muses till long after the divine flame had left him. 
 His grandson, the Rev. Alexander Thomson, minister 
 of Lentrathan, in Forfarshire, informs us,* that du- 
 ring " the days of old age and infirmity," he com- 
 posed a poem, entitled " The Orphan," and signified 
 his intention of committing it to the press, together 
 with others of his productions ; but was prevailed 
 upon by Dr. Beattie, one of his best friends, to re- 
 linquish a scheme, that seemed to endanger the repu- 
 tation which he had already acquired. 
 
 A. T. 
 
 *• Campbell's Introduction to the History of Poetry 
 in Scotland.
 
 POETS. — ARMSTRONG. 115 
 
 ARMSTRONG. 
 
 The banks of the Liddel, in Roxburghshire, have 
 the honor of giving birth to John Armstrong, one of 
 the most learned and polished poets our country has 
 produced. 
 
 • Such the stream, 
 
 On whose Arcadian banks I first drew air. 
 Liddel till now, except in Doric lays 
 Tun'd to her murmurs by her love-sick swains. 
 Unknown in song ; though not a purer stream 
 Through meads more flow'ry, more romantic groves. 
 Rolls towards the western main. Hail, sacred flood! 
 May still thy hospitable swains be blest 
 In rural innocence ; thy mountains still 
 Teem with the fleecy race ; thy tuneful woods 
 For ever flourish ; and thy vales look gay 
 With painted meadows and the golden grain. 
 
 Book III. Art of Preserving Health. 
 
 Armstrong's father was minister of the parish of 
 Castleton, through which the Liddel flows. After 
 going through the usual course of education at Edin- 
 burgh, with more than ordinary reputation, young 
 Armstrong took the degree of M. D. on the 4th of 
 February, 1732. His thesis, the subject of which 
 was De Tube Purulente, was published as the forms
 
 il6 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 of the university require. Armstrong sent a copy of 
 it, three days afterwards, to Sir Hans Sloane, accom- 
 panied by the following ingenuous letter in the Latin 
 language.* 
 
 " Vir eruditissime dignissimeq. 
 
 Indolis tuae suavitatem late celebra- 
 tam,plurimum commendat, quod juveni obscuro, neq. 
 tibi noto, patrocinio tuo favere baud dedigneris. En, 
 studiorum suorum primitias, qualescunq. sint, tibi 
 tremul^ manu offert. Ut munusculi prelium (quod 
 sentio quam sit exiguura) aliquo modo patroni digni- 
 tati responderet — sed absit tyroni talis spes. Lenitate 
 atq.candore tibi propriis soils confido. Hisce innixus, 
 opusculura tenue, incultumq. te benigne accepturum 
 spero. Interim, ut, probitatis exemplum atq. philo- 
 sophorum coelibus decus, diu vivas atq. valeas ob- 
 nixe precatur. 
 
 Tai observantissimus, 
 
 Joannes Armstrong. 
 Dabam Edinburgi, 7° die 
 Februarii, A.D. 1732. 
 
 To Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. 
 President to the Royal So- 
 ciety and Colled ge of Phy- 
 sicians, London." 
 
 •Whether this letter attracted any notice from the 
 Jeamed president, we are not informed. It appears, 
 
 Sloane MSS. No. 4036.
 
 POETS.— ARMSTRONG. 117 
 
 that two years aftenvards. Dr. Armstrong transmitted 
 to the lloyal Society a paper on the " Alcalescent 
 disposition of Animal Fluids," which was read, 
 though not printed, in their transactions. It is pre- 
 served among the MSS. of Dr. Birch, then Secretary 
 of the society, in the British Museum, (No. 4433.) 
 
 It seems, that while a student, Armstrong had 
 begun to pay his court to the Muses. One of his 
 first attempts was a descriptive sketch, in imitation 
 of Shakespeare, which, he informs us, met with the 
 approbation of Thomson, Mallet, and Young. He 
 wrote, also, aboui this period, part of a tragedy in 
 imitation of Shakespeare. 
 
 In 1735, we find him in London attracting some 
 .notice by a humorous fugitive piece in 8vo., entitled 
 ," An Essay for abridging the study^ of Physic ; to 
 jwhich is added, a Dialogue between Hygeia, Mer- 
 ,cury, and Pluto, relating to the practice of Physic, 
 ;is it is managed by a certain illustrious society ; as 
 ilso an Epistle from Usbeck the Persian to Joshua 
 Ward, Esq." It was dedicated " to the Antacademic 
 Philosophers, to the generous despisers of the schools, 
 ,0 the deservedly celebrated Joshua Ward, John 
 ,VIoor, and the rest of the numerous sect of inspired 
 )hysicians, by their roost devoted servant and zealous 
 'idmirer." This work was said, at the time, to ex- 
 libit the very spirit of Lucian ; but now that the 
 upostures which it exposed are forgotten for others 
 f greater novelty, but little of this spirit can be 
 iiscovered. The satire is just, but wasted on ephe- 
 meral topics. 
 
 In 1737, he published " A Synopsis of the History 
 nd Cure" of that class of diseases which furnish
 
 118 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 " the sect of inspired physicians," with their moet 
 lucrative practice ; and shortly after, *' The Economy 
 of Love," a poem. The object of both productions 
 seems to have been the same, and though it was an 
 object sufficiently consistent with professional assi- 
 duity, it brought no honor to his character, either as 
 a man of letters or a moralist. In the one, he allured 
 with syren power the youth of the land to those in- 
 discretions for which the other presented tlie cure ; it 
 was, in short, altogether a business matter, in which 
 self-interest supplied the cunning, and genius the ca- 
 pital. As a physician, and a poor physician, he 
 panted after practice ; and not content with encounter- 
 ing the quacks who engrossed it, with the might of 
 learning and skill, he was ungallant enough to call in 
 the Muses, to assist him in his interested rivalry. It 
 would seem, however, that he failed in obtaining the 
 reward he anticipated. The "Economy of Love" 
 sold rapidly, but it brought but little practice to the 
 author of •' The Synopsis of the History and Cure." 
 
 At a later period. Dr. Armstrong appears to have 
 suppressed the most obnoxious passages of "The 
 Economy of Love," in a new edition which bore to 
 be " revised and corrected by the author." He 
 would have done better could he have suppressed it 
 entirely. It is still a licentious poem, and remains 
 very properly excluded from every collection of poe- 
 try — even from his own collection of his works. 
 From one of the cases on literary property, it ap- 
 pears, that the whole sura he received for it from his 
 publisher, Mr. Millar, was only fifty guineas. 
 
 The " Art of Preserving Health," by which Dr. 
 Armstrong made ample atonement to his injured re-
 
 POETS ARMSTRONG. 119= 
 
 putation, was published in 1744. It raised him in- 
 stantly to a place among the first poets of his age, 
 and was universally read and admired. 
 
 In 1746, he was appointed one of the physicians 
 i to the hospital for lame and sick soldiers, behind 
 ! Buckingham-house, through the influence, it is be- 
 1 lieved, of Dr. Mead, whom he had thus handsomely 
 , invoked in his last poem : 
 
 I O thou ! belov'd by all the graceful arts, 
 
 ( Thou, long the fav'rite of the healing powers ; 
 
 1 Indulge, O Mead ! a well design'd essay, 
 
 ■ Howe'er imper^ct : and permit, that I 
 
 [ My little knowledge with my country share, 
 
 [ Till you the rich Asclepian stores unlock, 
 
 I And with new graces dignify the theme. 
 
 I In 1751, he presented the public with " Benevo- 
 i lence," an epistle to Eumenes ; and in 1753, " Taste," 
 i an epistle to a young critic. In 1758, he published 
 , " Sketches or Essays on various subjects," under the 
 title of Launcelot Temple, Esq. The sale of this 
 ^ work was remarkably rapid, owing, in some measure 
 I probably, to a fable of the day, that Mr. Wilkes, then 
 I in the zenith of his popularity, had assisted in its 
 , production. Its merit was not of the highest order, 
 ' and it is not among the collections of Essays that are 
 : now generally read. 
 
 In 1760, Dr. Armstrong was honored by the dis- 
 ' tinguished appointment of physician to the forces in 
 1 Germany. While engaged on this service, he trans- 
 i mittcd to JMr. Wilkes, in England, an epistle in 
 f rhyme, which soon afterwards found its way into
 
 120 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 print, under the title of " Day, an epistle to John 
 Wilkes, Esq. of Aylesbury." " without the know- 
 ledge," as was pretended in a prefatory advertise- 
 ment, " or consent of the author, or of the gentleman 
 to whom it is addressed." 
 
 On the peace. Dr. Armstrong returned to London, 
 and resumed, but with little success, his practice as a 
 physician. In 1770, he published a Collection of his 
 works in two volumes, containing the productions al- 
 ready mentioned, with the exception of the Economy 
 of Love, and Dnj, the Epistle to Mr. Wilkes, and 
 the following hitherto unpublished pieces.—" Imita- 
 tions of Shakespeare and Spenser." " The Universal 
 Almanack, by Noureddin Ali." " The Forced Mar- 
 riage," a tragedy which was offered to Garrick in 
 1754, but rejected ; and some additional " Sketches." 
 In an advertisement prefixed to these volumes. Dr. 
 A. modestly says, he had, at last, '* taken the trouble 
 upon him to collect his works, and to have them 
 printed under his own inspection ; a task that he had 
 long avoided ; and to which he would hardly have 
 submitted himself, but for the sake of preventing 
 their being, at some future time, exposed in a ragged 
 mangled condition, and loaded with more faults than 
 they originally had." 
 
 In 1771, he took " a short ramble through some 
 parts of France and Italy," in company with Mr. 
 Fuseli, the painter, and published a discontented ac- 
 count of it on his return. In 1773, he closed his 
 litecary career, by the publication of a quarto volume 
 of " Medical Essays," in which he accounts for his 
 not having such extensive practice as some of his 
 brethren, on the ground of his not being qualified to
 
 POETS.— ARMSTRONG. 121 
 
 employ the usual means of forcing his way, by a 
 ticklish state of spirits, and a distempered excess of 
 sensibility. 
 
 The peculiar circumstances under which " Day>" 
 or the Epistle by Mr. Wilkes, was published, 
 have already been noticed ; it still remains to relate 
 some consequences which arose out of it, of a very 
 disagreeable description, and which there is reason to 
 believe, tended in no small degree to embitter the 
 latter years of Dr. Armstrong's life. The poem con- 
 tained a lively satire on the follies of " the day ;" but 
 of so general a nature, that the author had doubtless 
 hoped to see 
 
 his taxing like a wild goose fly. 
 
 Unclaimed of any man. 
 
 In one unlucky line, however, he happened to hit 
 off a character so suited to what Churchill, with 
 Avhom he had been on habits of intimacy, either 
 thought of himself, or conceived the public thought 
 of him, that nothing would persuade him but that 
 he was personally held out to ridicule. The offensive 
 line occurs in the following passage : 
 
 " What news to day ? I ask you not what rogue, 
 What paltry imp of fortune's now in vogue ; 
 What forward blund'ring fool was last prefcrr'd. 
 By mere pretence distinguish'd from the herd ; 
 With what new cheat the gaping town is smit ; 
 What crazy scribbler reigns the present wit ; 
 What stuff for winter the two Booths have mixt. 
 What bouncing mimic grows a Roscius next." 
 
 It is needless to say, how reasonable it was in Mr. 
 PART 3.] M
 
 122 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. • 
 
 Churchill to conclude, that there could be no otlier 
 " crazy scribbler," except the author of the Rosciad, 
 in the writer's eve ; or to point out the modesty with 
 which he so readily arrogated to himself the charac- 
 ter of the reigning wit of the day ; and still less is 
 it necessary to dwell on the good grace with which 
 an author, who required such large allowances for the 
 deliberate licentiousness of his own pen, should be 
 enraged at so mere a chance medley on the part of 
 another. Churchill was resolved to be revenged, and 
 in his poem, called " The Journey," thus repaid one 
 accidental hit, by twenty mortal stabs at the reputa- 
 tion of a man whom he had once owned as his friend, 
 and joined with all the world in admiring as a writer. 
 
 •' Let them with Armstrong, taking leave of sense. 
 
 Read musty lecturer on Benevolence ; 
 
 Or con the pages of his gaping Day, 
 
 Where all his former fame was thrown away, 
 
 Where all but barren labour was forgot. 
 
 And the vain stiffness of a letter'd Scot ; 
 
 Let them with Armstrong pass the term of light. 
 
 But not one hour of darkness ; when the night 
 
 Suspends this mortal coil, when mem'ry wakes. 
 
 When for our past misdoings conscience takes 
 
 A deep revenge, when by reflection led 
 
 She draws his curtains, and looks comfort dead. 
 
 Let ev'ry muse be gone ; in vain he turns. 
 
 And tries to pray for sleep : an ^tna burns, 
 
 A more than iEtna, in his coward breast. 
 
 And guilt, with vengeance arm'd, forbids the rest ; 
 
 Though soft as plumage from young Zephyr's wing, 
 
 His couch seems hard, and no relief can bring ;
 
 POETS.— ARMSTRONG. 123 
 
 Ingratitude hath planted daggers there, 
 
 ^o cood man can deserve, no brave man bear. 
 
 About the same time, a coolness took place be- 
 tween Dr. Armstrong and Mr. Wilkes, on account of 
 the obloquy which the latter was perpetually endea- 
 vouring to cast on the Scottish nation in his North 
 Briton ; and this led to the disclosure of some rather 
 embarrassing circumstances, respecting the publication 
 of the Epistle which had provoked the ire of Church- 
 hill. Armstrong had always alfected to disapprove 
 of its publication, and spoke of it as a production 
 designed only for private perusal. How far this was 
 the real state of the case, will be seen from the fol- 
 lowing letters, which now appeared in succession in the 
 Public Advertiser, the favorite vehicle of Wilkes, but 
 which have never been republished in any of the 
 biographical collections. 
 
 To the Printer of the Public Advertiser. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I am not surprised that the patriot of Prince's 
 Court* attacks Sir John Dalrymple for his detection 
 of that pseudo patriot, Algernon Sydney, as that 
 same Algernon received the wages of iniquity, as our 
 present worthy patriot does, undoubtedly, at least 
 probably, from the rivals and enemies of our country. 
 But the patriot seems to quit his proper and usual 
 
 * Prince's Court was, at that time, the residence of 
 Mr. Wilkes. a. s.
 
 124 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 tract in deceiving only his intimates and friends ; for 
 I am assured that Sir John Dalrymple is neither the 
 one nor the other. He always took more delight in 
 exposing his friends than in hurting his enemies. We 
 know, at least I am assured of the fact, that a very 
 worthy and ingenious friend of this impostor trusted 
 him with a jeu d'esprit of a poem, incorrect indeed, but 
 which bore every mark of a true, though ungovcrned, 
 genius. This poem, though rough as it was, he car- 
 ried to A. Millar, late Bookseller in the Strand, and 
 published it in his friend's name, without his know- 
 ledge. This is a fact, Mr. Printer ; therefore, I think 
 Mr. W. should let alone Scotch writers. 
 
 Dies. 
 (Public Advertiser, March 23, 1773.} 
 
 In the Public Advertiser of March 24, 1773, there 
 is a letter, which, after quoting the preceding attack 
 of Dies as one of the various calumnies circulated 
 against jMr. Wilkes, thus proceeds — 
 
 " Your correspondent, sir, is pleased to appeal 
 to a dead Bookseller ; I appeal to the living author, 
 who is now in London. He desired the poem might be 
 published : it was written for the public eye : he di- 
 rected the Bookseller to call on JMr. W. for tlie copy. 
 The Bookseller produced his credentials, under the 
 author's own hand, upon which Mr. W. gave him the 
 manuscript of the poem. It was aftertvards published 
 in the kindest way for the author's reputation, as a 
 Fragment. I believe he will not chuse to restore the 
 passages, which were omitted in the first edition of 
 1760. W^hen he does, the kindness, and perhaps the
 
 POETS ARMSTRONG. 125 
 
 judgment, of the Editor will appear, I am told, in a 
 very strong and favourable light. The Poem was not 
 published till the Bookseller had received a second 
 positive order for that purpose, from the author, after 
 several objections to the publication had been trans- 
 mitted to him in Germany, and amendments made 
 by himself. li was a favourite child, not without 
 merit, although scarcely quite so much as the fond 
 father imagined. Mr. Churchill wrote the four fol- 
 lowing lines on that poem, which were never forgiven. 
 They,are in the Journey. 
 
 ' Or con the pages of his gaping Day, 
 Where all his former fame was thrown away, 
 Where all, but barren labour was forgot. 
 And the vain stiffness of a lettered Scot.' 
 
 To the Printer of the Public Advertiser. 
 Sir, 
 
 I thought that Mr, W's Scotch friend would, 
 €re this day, have forgot that " Day," which it must be 
 confessed added very little reputation to his former 
 literary fame. The cynical empiric ought to remem- 
 ber that it was by his own express orders that Day 
 came to light. I doubt not but the ingenious author 
 of the Sketches has given the aid of his literary talents 
 to Sir John ; but methinks he ought to vouchsafe to 
 content himself with giving private applause to what 
 is, in part, his own work, and to avoid puffing up its 
 merits before a public, not very fond of his misanthro- 
 pical, scotchified, and dull observations. His vain 
 attempts at humour are long known, and as long
 
 126 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 despised. If ever Mr. W. honoured him with his 
 company, sure I am, it was more to laugh at his cyni- 
 cal folly and absurdity, than to receive either informa- 
 tion or delight from his conversation. 
 
 *' I desire him, however, to confine his rancorous 
 belchings to the private conversation of his very few 
 friends left. I may be tempted to drag him forth, by 
 name, to public chastisement, for I cannot, with pa- 
 tience, see the hero, to whom we owe our liberty, 
 reviled by the poisonous breatli of a man, already de- 
 tested for his kno^vn averson to mankind. This may 
 serve, for this Day, in answer to Dies. 
 
 Nox. 
 (Public Advertiser, April 1, 1773.^ 
 
 These letters, as may well be supposed, gave great 
 offence to Dr. Armstrong. 
 
 On the 7th of April, he called on Mr. Wilkes, at 
 his house, and accused him of being the author of this 
 attack on his character, in very abrupt terras. 
 
 In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1792, the sub- 
 stance of this conversation, as minuted down (appa- 
 rently by Mr. Wilkes) immediately after it took place, 
 is preserved, and it is curious, 
 
 Mr. Wilkes, on being charged with the attack, ob- 
 served that he had been roughly treated in the letter 
 signed Dies. " Yes," said the Doctor, " but I be- 
 lieve you wrote that on purpose to bring on the con- 
 troversy — I am almost sure of it." Wilkes refused to 
 answer interrogatories, and referred the Doctor to jNIr. 
 Woodfall, the printer. 
 
 Dr. A, — •' Whoever has abused me, sir, is a villain ;
 
 POETS ARMSTRONG. 127 
 
 and your endeavours, sir, to set Scotland and England 
 together, are very bad." 
 
 Mr. Wilkes remarked, that the Scots had done that, 
 thoroughly, by their own conduct ; said that he had 
 never attacked the Doctor personally, but on the con- 
 trary had complimented him in conjunction with 
 Churchill in his mock Dedication to Mortimer. He 
 appealed to the Doctor, if he had not himself in- 
 veighed against Scotland, in the severest terms ? 
 
 The Doctor answered, " I only did it in joke, sir ; 
 you did it in bitterness : besides, it was my country." 
 
 After some further conversation, Dr. A. observed, 
 " I was happier with you than any man in the world, 
 for a great many years, and complimented you not a 
 little in the Day." 
 
 Mr. W. — " I am abused, in Dies, for that publica- 
 tion, and for the manner of it, both which you 
 approved." 
 
 Dr. A.—" I did so." 
 
 Mr. W. — " I was abused at first, I am told, in the 
 manuscript of Dies, for having sold the copy, and put 
 the money in my pocket, but that charge was sup- 
 pressed in the printed letter." 
 
 Dr. A.—" I know nothing of that." 
 
 The interview then terminated, without further 
 explanation. 
 
 There are two things of which no person will, pro- 
 bably, have any doubt, after perusing these singular 
 proceedings : first, that Wilkes was really, as Ann- 
 strong affirmed, the author of the whole of the corres- 
 pondence in the Public Advertiser, and attacked him- 
 Bclf, in order to furnish some sort of apology for be-
 
 128 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 tracing his former friend ; and second, that the storj' 
 told in that correspondence, about Armstrong's privity 
 to the publication of " Day," is the true one. The 
 whole of the little plot has the marks of Wilkes's 
 finesse about it, nor is it possible to assign any motive 
 which could induce Armstrong to start a controversy, 
 that was so sure to end to his own disadvantage. 
 When the charge is advanced he does not attempt to 
 deny it — he is angry because he cannot ; he goes to 
 complain, but obtains no satisfaction ; and then sits 
 down in silence under the exposure. 
 
 The deception disclosed was, after all, of a very ve- 
 nial description ; and Armstrong, though he had rea- 
 son to feel deeply hurt at the artifice and treachery of 
 Wilkes, had none to be ashamed of the part he had 
 himself acted in this transaction. 
 
 Dr. Armstrong died at his house in Russel-street, 
 Covent-garden, on the 7th September, 1779 ; and, to 
 the surprise of his friends, who thought him poor, left 
 behind him more than three thousand pounds, saved 
 out of a ver^' moderate income. 
 
 The character of Armstrong seems, on the whole, to 
 have been of an amiable,though somewhat splenetic cast. 
 By his friends, among whom he numbered some of the 
 ablest and worthiest men of his time — Thomson, 
 Granger, Theobald, Birch, Mead, Sir John Pringle, 
 6cc. he was much respected and esteemed. Several of 
 them have borne strong testimony to the goodness of 
 his heart, and general sincerity of his conduct. — He 
 was blunt in his manners, and not very choice in his 
 conversational language ; but these asperities were 
 quickly forgot in the liveliness of obsen'ation and dry
 
 POETS.— ARMSTRONG. 129 
 
 humour with which they were accompanied. He is 
 said to have been indolent and inactive, and fonder, 
 at all times, of making one of a social party of literary 
 friends, than of attending any serious occupation ; and 
 to this, perhaps, as much as to that " distempered ex- 
 cess of sensibility," of which he talks in his Commen- 
 taries, we may ascribe the little success he experienced 
 in his profession. In Dr. Birch's papers* there is a 
 Tavern invitation from Armstrong to the Doctor, 
 which, as illustrating the personal habits of some of 
 the literati of tliose days, is curious. The following is 
 a copy. » 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 If you are to be at leisure next Friday, 
 Mr. Spencet and I shall be glad to meet you about two 
 atRicliard's Coffee-house, within Temple-bar, from 
 %vhence we shall adjourn to any Tavern you please, 
 to dine together. If Friday is not convenient for 
 you, please leave word at the bar here : at meeting 
 we shall agree upon some day next week. I am, 
 Dear Sir, 
 Your most humble and obliged servant, 
 John Armstrong. 
 " RaivthweWofl;. 
 Wednesday Evening, 
 October 6, 1742." 
 
 ' With the author of the Seasons, Dr. Armstrong was, 
 
 * No. 4300 Birch's papers, British Museum, 
 t The collector of the Anecdotes. 
 X Where was Rawthwell's ?
 
 130 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 from his first coming to London, in the habits of pe- 
 culiar intimacy ; and he is generally understood to 
 have been his coadjutor in the composition of the 
 " Castle of Indolence," to both a most congenial sub- 
 ject. The sixty-eighth stanza was entirely written by 
 Armstrong. 
 
 The reputation of Armstrong, as a poet, must rest 
 chiefly on his " Art of Preserving Health ;" but that 
 has merit enough of itself to bear him on the w ings of 
 renown through many a distant age. In point of 
 classical elegance, purity, and simplicity of style, as 
 well as truth of sentiment, it is not perhaps excelled 
 by any poem of the Didactic kind, in the English 
 language. The subject was one " unattempted, yet 
 in prose or rhyme." 
 
 the secret wilds, I trace, 
 
 Of nature, and with daring steps proceed 
 Through paths the Muses never trod before. 
 
 Book I. 
 
 The field was encompassed with difficulties, for 
 though it opened man}- sources of poetical ideas, still 
 the leading tlieme was of the most ordinary matters 
 of human existence ; — eating, drinking, and sleeping ; 
 pain, sickness, and disease ; all the infirmities, in short, 
 which flesh is heir to. The skill and imagination 
 which were required to give grace and elevation to 
 such topics as these, could only belong to a mind of 
 the highest order. The task, as Dr. Warton remarks, 
 (in his reflections on Didactic Poetry, prefixed to his 
 Edition of Virgil,) was reserved to Armstrong, and he 
 has executed it nobly.
 
 POETS. — ARMSTRONG. 131 
 
 ! The author appears throughout to have had Lucre- 
 
 I tius in his eye ; but he has shewn himself no servile 
 
 imitator. If we compare the opening invocation of 
 
 Hygeia by Armstrong with the invocation of Venus 
 
 by Lucretius, or both their descriptions of a pestilence, 
 
 we shall be convinced that it was the rivalry of equals. 
 
 I The approach of Hygeia through " the blue serenity of 
 
 , Heaven," and the dispersion of the various baleful 
 
 ; forms of disease and death into the loathsome gloom, 
 
 i are conceived and pourtrayed in the very highest 
 
 ' spirit of poetry. The instance of wide wasting pes- 
 
 ! tilence, which Armstrong has selected for a trial of 
 
 his strength with 'the Roman poet, in grand and pa- 
 
 I thetic description, is distinguished by one extremely 
 
 poetical circumstance. The instance he selects, is 
 
 • that of the sweating sickness, which laid England 
 
 waste during the reign of the tyrant Richard. It 
 
 ' was a notion universally entertained by the common 
 
 people of that period, that the disease attacked and 
 
 was fatal to Englishmen alone, and that it was not 
 
 ihiiited in its rage to England, but extended to En- 
 
 frlishmen, wherever Englishmen were to be found 
 
 . throughout the world. A sublimer idea of the aveng- 
 
 iiii; power of Heaven over a guilty race, and one more 
 
 calculated to inspire a deep awe into the mind, it is 
 
 , impossible to imagine. Armstrong appreciated it with 
 
 a poet's eye, and has availed himself of its agency 
 
 with very happy elFect. 
 
 O'er the mournful land. 
 
 Til' infected city pour'd her hurrying swarms ; 
 Ivous'd by the flames that fir'd her seats around 
 -I h' infected country rush'd into the town.
 
 132 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Some, sad at home, and in the desart some, 
 
 Abjur'd the fatal commerce of mankind; 
 
 In vain: where'er they fled, the fates pursu'd ; 
 
 Others, with hopes more specious, cross'd the main. 
 
 To seek protection in far distant skies ; 
 
 But none tliey found. It seem'd the general air, 
 
 From pole tu pole, from Atlas to the East, 
 
 "Was then at enmity with English blood ; 
 
 For, but the race of England, all were safe 
 
 In foreign climes ; nor did this fury taste 
 
 The foreign blood which England then contain'd. 
 
 ^^^le^e should they fly ? The circumambient Heaven 
 
 Involv'd them still; and every breeze was bane. 
 
 Where lind relief? The salutary art 
 
 Was mute ; and startled at the new disease. 
 
 In fearful whispers hopeless omens gave. 
 
 To Heaven with suppliant rites they sent their prayers. 
 
 Heaven heard them not. Of every hope depriv'd, 
 
 Fatigued with vain resources ; and subdu'd 
 
 With woes resistless, and enfeebling fear ; 
 
 Passive they sunk beneath the weighty blow. 
 
 Nothing but lamentable sounds was heard ; 
 
 Nor aught was seen but ghastly views of death. 
 
 Infectious horror ran from place to place, 
 
 And pale despair. 'Twas all the business then. 
 
 To tend the sick, and in their turns to die. 
 
 In heaps they fell : and oft one bed, they say, 
 
 The sick'ning, dying, and the dead, contain'd. 
 
 Armstrong has been reproached with exaggeration 
 in his description of the " moist malignity" and va- 
 riableness of the English climate, in which all the 
 seasons are said to " mix in every monstrous day." It
 
 POETS ARMSTRONG. 133 
 
 must be confessed that the picture is overcharged; 
 and perhaps in no part of the work is more excep- 
 tionable matter to be found, than in the passages on 
 this subject. 
 
 " Our fathers talk 
 
 Of summers, balmy airs, and skies serene : 
 Good heaven ! For what unexpiated crimes 
 This dismal change ?" 
 The author here assumes it as a fact, that " a dis- 
 mal change" in the climate has taken place, when it 
 would have served the purposes of both truth and 
 j)oetry better, tp have corrected a vulgar prejudice, 
 and illustrated that interesting operation of mind, by 
 which " our fatliers talk" of the days of their youth, 
 as days when all nature smiled around them. 
 
 "The brooding elements, 
 
 Do they, your powerful ministers of wrath. 
 Prepare some fierce exterminating plague ? 
 Or is it fix'd in the decrees above 
 That lofty Albion melt into the main ?" 
 This, it must be confessed, is very genuine bombast. 
 
 The colours, in which Dr. Armstrong has painted 
 the English climate, are so greatly exaggerated, as to 
 have sometimes suggested a doubt, whether it was 
 really the English climate which the Doctor had in 
 his mind's eye at the time ; that climate so appropri- 
 ately invoked by his friend and countryman Thomson, 
 by the epithet of " merciful." — Looking into the 
 " Beauties of Scotland," something extremely like a 
 solution of this doubt has presented itself, and which, 
 if correct, will aflford a striking example of the influ- 
 ence of early impressions on the mind. 
 
 N
 
 134 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 The topographist, describing the banks of the Lid- 
 del, Armstrong's native stream, previous to its junc- 
 tion with another river, called the Hermitage, says, 
 " this part of the country is mountainous, high, cold 
 and moist, and lies under the thick and solitary gloom 
 of continualfogs." 
 
 Let us contrast this witli what Armstrong says of 
 England. 
 
 Steep'd in continual rains, or with raw fogs 
 Bedew'd, our seasons droop : incumbent still, 
 A ponderous heaven o'erwhelras the sinking soul. 
 
 The descriptions we see are the same, without even 
 a single circumstance of variation. Is it unfair then, 
 to conclude that they were derived from the same 
 source, and that when Armstrong thought he was de- 
 scribing England, he was only recording his recollec- 
 tions of the scenery of his youth ? 
 
 N. J.
 
 POETS. — JOHN OGILVIE. 135 
 
 DR. OGILVIE. 
 
 John Ogilvie, D.D. was tiie son of the Reverend 
 Mr. Ogilvie, one of the ministers of Aberdeen. He 
 was born about the year 1733, and educated at tlie 
 Marischai college^ Aberdeen. He qualified himself 
 with very little difficulty for the church, and obtained 
 a license to preach long before he was acknowledged 
 by that tuneful fraternity, among whom he seems to 
 have been most ambitious to be enrolled. 
 
 About the period, at which Dr. Ogilvie began to 
 write verses, there were in Scotland several of the pro- 
 fession of which he was a member, who were inspired , 
 either by the poetical spirit, or the spirit of reforming 
 the abuses which had crept in upon genius; and 
 amongst those, Ogilvie took his station, destined bot^i 
 to aid, in giving refinement to the morality of the 
 age, and in adding to the treasures of the higher de- 
 partments of literature. 
 
 Dr. Ogilvie officiated as minister of Midmar, in 
 the county of Aberdeen, from the year 1759, up to a 
 late period of his life, having never hazarded his li- 
 cence to preach by writing for the stage ; an act 
 for which other distinguished persons have been pu- 
 nished in consequence of the general persuasion, 
 that the most effectual mode of raising disgust at the 
 grossncss of the dramatic exhibitions of earlier days, 
 N 2
 
 136 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 is by writing or preaching against them, and not li\ 
 introducing to the public, in their theatres, the purest 
 images of the passions. 
 
 The literary works which he produced during this 
 period, were, however, extremely numerous. The 
 events of his life, indeed, are nothing but a succession 
 of appearances in prose or rhyme. In 1758, hepublisli- 
 ed the Day of Judgement, a Poem ; in 1759, another 
 edition of the Day of Judgement corrected, with an 
 Ode to Melancholy, Ode on Sleep, Ode on Time, Lines 
 to the 3Iemory of Mr. H. M. an Elegy, Lines to the 
 IMemory of the late pious and ingenious Mr. Harvey, 
 with a paraphrase of tlie tliird chapter of Habbakuk ; 
 in 1762, Poems on several subjects, to which was pre- 
 fixed, an Essay on the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients, 
 in two letters, inscribed to the Right Hon. James Lord 
 Deskfoord ; in 1763, Providence, an Allegorical Poem, 
 in three books; in 1765, Solitude, or the Elysium of 
 the Poets, a Vision, to which was subjoined an 
 Elegy ; in 1769, Paradise, a Poem, and two volumes 
 of Poems on several subjects ; in 1777, Rona, a 
 Poem ; in 177-1, Philosophical and Critical Observa- 
 tions on the nature, characters, and various species of 
 composition ; in 1783, an enquiry into the causes 
 of the Infidelity and Scepticism of the Times ; in 
 1793, the Theology of Plato, compared with the prin- 
 ciples of the Oriental and Grecian Philosophy ; in 
 1801, Britannia, an Epic Poem, in twenty books, to 
 which was prefixed a Critical Dissertation on Epic 
 Machinery ; and in 1802, an Examination of the 
 Evidence from Prophecy, in behalf of the Christian 
 Religion.
 
 POETS.— JOHN OGILVIE. 137 
 
 Dr. Ogilvie closed a long life, devoted to literary 
 pursuits, and to the faithful discharge of his duties 
 as a Christian minister, in the year 1814, and 81st of 
 his age. 
 
 In speaking of the literary character of Dr. Ogilvie, 
 the first thing that must strike every one is the vast 
 disparity between the quantity he has written, and 
 the degree of celebrity which he has acquired. The 
 name is scarcely known in poetry, and in prose still 
 less; notwithstanding the pile of volumes which at- 
 tests the pains taken to raise it into notice. 
 
 It is difficult ^to imagine, that while a Beattie, a 
 Reid, a Blacklock, and many others of the same 
 asra with Ogilvie, have obtained their due meed of 
 praise, such neglect could have been the portion of 
 genius deserving of a better fate. It is unquestiona- 
 bly true, however, that Ogilvie was a man of very 
 great genius, and that his works shew it. Are the 
 public then to blame, that they have suffered them to 
 fall into such obscurity ? This it would be vain to 
 affirm, unless it could be accompanied with some 
 hope of seeing them yet read, of which it must be 
 confessed there is no hope. The truth is, that the 
 public were not to blame. Ogilvie, with powers far 
 above the common order, did not know how to use 
 them with effect. He was an able man, lost. His 
 intellectual wealth and industry were wasted in huge 
 and unhappy speculations. Of all his books, there 
 is not one which, as a whole, can be expected to 
 please the general reader. Noble sentiments, bril- 
 liant conceptions, and poetic graces, may be culled 
 in profusion from the mass ; but there is no one pro- 
 duction in which they so predominate (if we except 
 
 N J
 
 138 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 some of his minor pieces) as to induce it to be se- 
 lected for a happier fate than the rest. Had the same 
 talent which Ogilvie threw away on a number of ob- 
 jects been concentrated on one, and that one chosen 
 with judgement and taste, he might have rivalled 
 in popularity the most renowned of his contempora- 
 ries. 
 
 Among Ogilvie's larger works, that of " Provi- 
 dence" is, perhaps, entitled to the first place. In his 
 preface to it, he says, " the subject of the present 
 essay falls so naturally under the cognizance of every 
 reflecting mind, that we have no reason to be surprised 
 when we find it treated in the most copious manner 
 by many writers, both ancient and modern. It is, 
 however, certain, in general, that philosophical disser- 
 tations, in w^hatever degree intrinsically valuable, lose 
 their eflfect on the bulk of mankind, when they arc 
 not enlivened with those graces which contribute to 
 amuse the imagination. It is on this account that we 
 find a moral work, in which we find the most import- 
 ant truths are accurately investigated, overlooked as 
 uninteresting ; w hen a series of incidents, which are 
 calculated to impress upon the mind some beneficial 
 rule of conduct, is perused w ith satisfaction, and sel- 
 dom fails to establish a favourable prepossessiim. So 
 much stronger is the impulse which leads us to search 
 for pleasure, than that w hich prompts us to desire in- 
 struction." Under the deepest impression of the truth 
 of this maxim, Ogilvie commences his poem, and con- 
 ducts it with such a strict adherence to the form which 
 he condemns, that, in spite of himself, he falls into 
 the ranks of those who fail from that excessive anxiety 
 to instruct, which calculates upon the necessity of
 
 POETS. — JOHN OGILVIE. 139 
 
 .ibandoning all idea of causing amusement. But 
 there are, in this poem, several passages of great poe- 
 tical beauty, wliicli, if they formed parts of a more 
 popular work, would often be quoted as evidences of 
 the first school.— The following lines upon Contem- 
 plation are delightful. 
 
 " I turn'd my wandering steps aside. 
 And sought the deepest shade. There close iminur'd, 
 Where scarce a zephyr stirr'd the rustling boughs, 
 Silent I sat, and gave my thoughts to range 
 O'er worlds remote, as working fancy led 
 The stream of meditation ; blaming now. 
 And now absolving Providence. Alone 
 I sat not long. A mountain's clifted side 
 (Seen through a visio) shevv'd a gloomy cave, 
 Hollow and deep, where scarce the quivering ray 
 Had sprinkled glimmering twilight. The high roof, 
 Curv'd like the arch of heaven, hung awful o'er 
 The solemn vault below ; through whose wide bound 
 The long loud voice in many a lengthening moan 
 Rolls on the listening ear. Advancing slow 
 From this dark cell of solitary thought, 
 I raark'd a venerable sage ; his cheek 
 Furrow'd by Time, and o'er hu hoary head 
 The cold white hand of sleicly stealvig Age 
 Had shower d its lucid silver : sweetly mild 
 His looks, his mien; and, rais'd to heaven, his eyes 
 Beam'd like fair Evening's dewy star that shines 
 With placid radiance : graceful was his form, 
 And simple his attire ; his bending hand 
 Lean'd on an ivory staff, the prop of age ; 
 Yet firm his step, as one whose youthful blood
 
 140 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Warra'd, not inflam'd, by Reason's temperate cheer, 
 Had ting'd the florid cheek, nor felt the blast 
 Of cold consumption. With slow step he scal'd 
 The clifF, and walking to the shade, on me 
 Bent a soft look, that pitied while it awed." 
 
 In another part of " Providence," he describes Fan- 
 cy in a strain of equally elevated poetry. 
 
 " Her keenly-piercing eye 
 Glanc'd o'er the scene, that lighten'd as she came 
 With hasty step, and shook her dazzling wings 
 That sparkled in the sun : a wavy robe 
 Mantled her bosom, sweeping as she trod 
 In loose luxuriance, and the zephyr sigh'd 
 Soft through its swelling folds. Jler right hand held 
 A globe, where nature's towering fabric rose 
 A living picture ! All the scenes that glow 
 Gay-rob'd and lovely, in some airy dream 
 Where spring comes tripping o'er the low green dale, 
 And strews its lap with flowers. The^e o'er the piece 
 Profusely shone. Her left a magic rod 
 Sustain'd ; that, waving asshewill'd, transform'd 
 The face of things, as wildly working thought 
 Call'd up discordant images, or, rul'd 
 By reason, form'd them gradual, to confirm 
 Some truth, ^^et dubious to th' inquiring mind." 
 
 Among Dr. Ogilvie's minor poems, there is a very 
 pleasing and interesting one, called " Solitude ;" tlie 
 best work, perhaps, as a whole, which he has produced. 
 The design of it is to give the reader an idea, in as 
 short a compass as possible, of the character, merit, 
 and peculiar excellencies of the most eminent British
 
 POETS.— JOHN OGILVIE. 141 
 
 pucts. nie author has contrived, for this purpose, a 
 sort of poetical Eiysium for their residence, and eii- 
 j deavourcd to vary the scenery of it, according to the 
 f manners of the different poets with whom it is peo- 
 pled. Some of these pictorial descriptions are sketched 
 with great taste and discrimination. We have Chau- 
 cer tuning his pipe amid a rustic scene, where 
 
 Rich, yet confus'd, the intermingling sprays 
 Uncouthly gay their simple flowers display'd ; 
 
 Nor here had fashion plann'd the wildering maze. 
 Nor art's soft touch th' entangling shruhs obey'd. 
 
 But o'er the whole, majestic nature strode 
 Her form, disdainful'of the mimic hand ; 
 
 The brightening wilderness before her glow'd. 
 Behind, gay plenty cloth'd the 'broider'd land. 
 
 A little hamlet in the midst appear'd, 
 
 ^Yhere antique figures stood expos'd to view ; 
 
 Of r ugh materials was the structure rear'd, 
 And rouiKi its walls the clasping ivy grew. 
 
 Not far a laurel's spreading boughs were seen, 
 Beneath whose umbrage sat a careless swain ; 
 
 The Dryads tripping o'er the daisied green. 
 
 And bleating flocks confess'd his powerful strain. 
 
 Shakespeare sits " in regal glory," on " a cliff which 
 o'erhangs the main," and there, obsequious to Fancy's 
 
 — varying call. 
 
 The fairy region, at the magic sound. 
 Girt with the hanging wood or mouldering wall. 
 Now bloom'd a villa, or a desert frown'd.
 
 142 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN'. 
 
 And airy tenants o'er the dimpling stream 
 
 Hung loose ; or high in aim, in effort bold, 
 Suck'd hues ethereal from the dazzling beam, 
 
 To tinge the violet's velvet coat with gold : 
 Or spoil 'd the citron of its rich perfume. 
 
 Or caught the light-drop in the liquid air ; 
 Or from the \Yren's breast pick'd the little plume, 
 
 To braid the tresses of the Naiad's hair. 
 O'er all bright Ariel shone. His devious wing 
 
 Now swept soft fragrance in the spic}' gale ; 
 Or, fluttering from the dewy lip of spring, 
 
 Brush'd nectar'd balm, and shower'd it o'er the 
 dale. 
 O'er the dim top a gloomy arbour bow'd, 
 
 The boughs dark-shadowing veil'd the vaulted blue ; 
 But opening, fair beneath, the vistoed wood 
 
 Gave the gay climes that radiant burst to view. 
 Here Shakespeare sat. 
 
 All these external descriptions, however, are 
 greatly surpassed by those passages in which the 
 author depicts the subjects in which each poet de- 
 lighted. In the following sketch of Spenser, he has 
 caught the very spirit and sweetness of that divine 
 
 author : 
 
 " I mark'd a fairy train 
 
 Like clouds gay gleaming 'mid th' aerial blue ; 
 In floating radiance o'er th' illumin'd plain, 
 
 A glittering tribe, the light assembly flew. 
 Where art with nature's rich luxuriance strove, 
 
 Half prun'd, half rambling, rose the leafy sprays ; 
 A shepherd swain amid the gloomy grove 
 
 Play'd, wildly-sweet, his simple roundelays.
 
 POETS.— JOHN OGILVIE. ]43 
 
 Of hardy knight he told, of fairy queen, 
 Of lover wan, by weeping brook reclin'd ; 
 
 Of wizard old, that spread his nets unseen ; 
 Of damsel fair, to wicked wight resign'd. 
 
 Meanwhile, around him hung the shining throng, 
 So sweetly-various flow'd th' enchanting strain ; 
 
 The Fay that bore his laurel wreath along 
 
 Was rapt, and stretched her eager arm in vahu 
 
 Not till the swain's melodious plaint was o'er, 
 Ceas'd the soft, silent, sympathetic tear ; 
 
 The syren's warbljng from the vocal shore, 
 
 Thrill'd with such melting notes th' enraptur'd ear. 
 
 Of Milton, it is beautifully said — 
 
 " Awhile in converse high the angel guest 
 
 Held him ; then sweeping o'er the sounding strings, 
 j Such strains he pours, as 'raid the climes of rest 
 ; Thrill the high audience when Urania sings." 
 
 I The grandeur and universality of Shakespeare's 
 ; genius, are represented by some noble images : 
 
 " Graceful he mov'd, and scann'd the waste of air, 
 As his strong arm tJi' avenging bolt could wield ; 
 
 Or catch the tempest by the ragged hair. 
 
 Or bid an earthquake whelm the blasted field." 
 
 Ossian, Dr. Ogilvie thinks equal to Shakespeare : 
 \ Not distant far another bard was seen, 
 j (The place was varied, but their height the same.) 
 
 This opinion he defends in a note, which does 
 credit to his ingenuousness, whatever may be thought
 
 144 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 of its critical acumen. " The author is suliicientiy 
 aware, that by placing Ossian in so exalted a situa- 
 tion, he will give offence to some very critical and 
 even to some good-natured readers, which last class 
 he would please by an^' concession in his power. — 
 The former w ill accuse him of presumption, and want 
 of all poetical taste, for placing any British poet oh 
 a level with Shakespeare, who has so long and so 
 justly maintained an undisputed pre-eminence : the 
 latter, of partiality to a poet, who (in conformity to 
 the absurd distinction which has prevailed among 
 Britons for some time) must, in a peculiar sense, be 
 deemed his countryman. To the first of these he 
 would observe, that his intention in placing near to 
 each other the two greatest natural geniuses of which 
 any age or country can boast, is not so much to 
 represent them as equally excellent, as, by exhibiting 
 them in one view, to give the reader as just an idea 
 as possible of their separate characters. This remark 
 will in a great measure obviate the objection of par- 
 tiality, by which, in the present case, he should 
 be sorry that any reader supposed him to be actu- 
 ated. He gives his own opinion of the merit of 
 Ossian, and is incapable of this illiberal pre- 
 possession." 
 
 The manner in which the son of Fingal is intro- 
 duced is strikingly picturesque. 
 
 The power of musing to his thoughtful mind 
 Had lent her eagle pinions. O'er the main 
 
 He hung : — The spirit of the hollow wind 
 Wak'd on his harp the long-lamenting strain.
 
 POETS. — JOHNOGILVIE. 145 
 
 Loose fell his hoary locks ; the fanning air 
 Sigh'd through the venerable hairs ; his head 
 
 A crown adom'd ; his swelling chest was bare ; 
 His limbs the warrior's rougher vesture clad. 
 
 \o film o'ershadowing dimm'd his piercing sight, 
 NvT felt Ills vigorous form the waste of time ; 
 
 But tall and ardent as the sons of light, 
 
 On the rude beech, he look'd, he trod sublime. 
 
 The author, at the close of the poem, subjoins an 
 interesting note, in which he mourns the neglect 
 which most of the poets, whom he celebrates, ex- 
 perienced from their countrymen. " Let us not, 
 however," he adds with great candour and good 
 sense, " be so partial as to ascribe this series of un- 
 happy events altogether to ingratitude, or even to the 
 bad taste of a rude and undistinguishing people. 
 Calm reflection will suggest other, and perhaps juster 
 causes, from which these effects may be traced. The 
 talents which form an accomplished writer, and those 
 which qualify a man for rising in life, are in them- 
 selves essentially dilFerent, and are very seldom 
 united in any one person. Indeed, it is scarcely 
 possible, that this union can take place unless in 
 some uncommon and particular instances. The man 
 of letters is formed in solitude ; the man of the 
 world in society. It is evident, that before these can 
 be properly blended, an affluent fortune must concur 
 with native genius, and with a disposition suited to 
 make a moderate use both of solitude and society. 
 Where these advantages do not meet together, the 
 man of letters becomes proud, sullen, reserved, from 
 
 r-ART 3.] o
 
 146 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 the inward consciousness of superior merit, joined 
 with little experience of life or manners ; and thus 
 the disagreeable companion effaceth the impression 
 which is made by the writer. Diffidence and mo- 
 desty, which are likewise the attendants of genius, 
 however amiable in themselves, are yet, by no means, 
 calculated to render their possessor opulent. They 
 are shades, indeed, Mhich heighten the graces of me- 
 rit to the discerning ; but they are shades likewise, 
 which conceal it from the giddy and superficial. If 
 we add to these causes, the envy which eminence, in 
 any profession, naturally excites, we shall account, 
 at least in a great measure, for the narrow and con- 
 tiacted circumstances in which men of genius are 
 permitted to live." 
 
 The quotations which have been made from Dr. 
 Ogilvie's works, have, it is hoped, sutficed to shew 
 that he was indeed a man of great, though unhappily- 
 directed, talents. Had he been fortunate enough to 
 have hit on some subject of striking interest, it would 
 not now have been necessary to select passages from 
 the immense body of his works, in testimony of his 
 claims upon the applause of the world. 
 
 Dr. Ogilvie was one of the few Scotsmen of whom 
 Dr. Johnson entertained a favorable opinion. The 
 sanctity of the character of Ogilvie, the religious ten- 
 dency of his writings, in some measure abated the 
 fierce antipathy- with which the great English critic 
 regarded the nation whose literary efforts have raised 
 thera to so high a rank in the intellectual history of 
 mankind. It was to Dr. Ogilvie that the unreason- 
 able Johnson uttered the sarcasm relative to Scotch 
 prospects. When in London, Ogilvie one day, in
 
 POETS.— JOHN OGILVIE. 147 
 
 Johnson's company, observed, in speaking of grand 
 scenery, that Scotland had a great many wild pros- 
 pects. " Yes, sir," said Johnson, " I believe you 
 have a great many. Norway, too, has noble wild 
 prospects, and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious 
 noble wild prospects. But, sir, let me tell you, the 
 noblest prospect which a Scotsman ever sees, is the 
 high road that leads him to London." " I admit," 
 rejoined Ogilvie, " that the last prospect is a very 
 noble one ; but I deny that it is as wild as any of 
 those we have enumerated." 
 
 W. B. 
 
 o 2
 
 148 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 JAMES MACPHERSON. 
 
 Mr. ]Macpherson, so celebrated for his share in the 
 production of the reputed poems of Ossian, was 
 bom at Kingussie, in the county of Inverness, 
 in the year 1738. He was the son of a respect- 
 able, but not affluent, fanner. After receiving 
 the necessary elementary education, he was entered 
 of the King's College, Aberdeen, in the session or 
 term of 1751-52. When he had studied about two 
 years at this university, an act was passed, adding 
 two months to the length of its annual terras. The 
 increased expense attending such a protracted ab- 
 sence from their homes, induced all the poorer stu- 
 dents to remove to the Marischal College, where the 
 term continued of the usual duration. Of this num- 
 ber was Macpherson. 
 
 As a student, IMacpherson was not distinguished 
 beyond his fellows, except for a love of poetical 
 idling, in preference to abstruse study. He is blamed 
 for diverting the attention of the younger students 
 from their more serious pursuits, by his humorous and 
 doggrel rhymes. 
 
 In 1758, when as yet but in his twentieth year, he 
 published a heroic poem in six cantos, called the 
 Highlander. It presented the indications of a strong 
 but uncultivated genius. The author himself was so
 
 POETS. — JAMES MACPHERSON. 149 
 
 little pleased with it, that he is said to have endea- 
 voured to withdraw it from circulation ; but great ex- 
 ertion could scarcely have been necessary to suppress 
 what no person inquired after. It has never, it is 
 believed, been reprinted. 
 
 Macpherson bad been destined for the church, but 
 he does not appear to have ever taken orders. For 
 a short time, he taught a school at Ruthven, in Ba- 
 denoch, whence he removed to be private tutor in 
 the family of Mr. Graham, of Balgowan. 
 
 In 1760, he surprised the world with the publica- 
 tion of " Fragn/ents of Ancient Poetry, collected in 
 the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the 
 Gaelic or Erse language." The avidity with which 
 these seemingly long-neglected remains of a rude 
 and remote period were sought after and examined, 
 was only to be equalled by the delight which readers 
 of taste experienced, in discovering in them a vein 
 of poetry which would have done honour to the most 
 polished periods of the national history. Mr. Gray, 
 Mr. Home, Dr. Blair, and many other competent 
 judges, were loud in their praises. As these " Frag- 
 ments" were represented to be only specimens of a 
 larger body of poetry, of a similar description, which 
 was dispersed over the Highlands, it was eagerly pro- 
 posed to Macpherson to undertake a mission, to trace 
 out and preserve every thing else of the kind extant. 
 Macpherson entered willingly into the scheme, and 
 a handsome sum of money being subscribed among 
 his friends and admirers to defray the attendant ex- 
 penses, he gave up his situation in Mr. Graham of 
 Balgowan 's, and set off a relic-hunting through the 
 Highlands. 
 
 o3
 
 150 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 The success of his researches, as reported by him- 
 self, exceeded all anticipation. He discovered one 
 complete Epic poem of six bcroks, called, " Fingal ;" 
 and another as complete of eight books, called, " Te- 
 mora,'' both composed by " Ossian, the son of Fin- 
 gal." A translation of the former he published in 1762, 
 and of the latter in 1763 ; and so extensive was their 
 sale, that he is said to have cleared by them no less 
 than ^1,200. 
 
 The authenticity of these poems was at first believ- 
 ed by many in its fullest extent, even b}'^ men of high 
 character in the literary world. Dr. Blair, in particular, 
 was so persuaded of the truth of IMacpherson's state- 
 ment, that he wrote an elaborate Dissertation to prove 
 the antiquity, and illustrate the beauties, of the poems. 
 There were others, however, of equal reputation for 
 critical acumen, who could not be persuaded of the 
 possibility of picking up complete Epics in this way, 
 among the traditional literature of a country ; and who, 
 besides, from the style of the poems themselves, openly 
 pronounced them to be forgeries. Some few again, 
 who doubted, but were willing to believe, and among 
 these, Mr. David Hume, put the question upon a very 
 simple issue : — Shew us the original poems, from w liich 
 you say these translations have been made ; and tell 
 us how they have been thus wonderfully preserved 
 during so man}^ centuries. 
 
 Nothing could have been fairer than this appeal ; 
 but j\lr. Macpherson, from motives of which all reason- 
 able men could form but one opinion, haughtily re- 
 fused to give the public any satisfaction on the sub- 
 ject. Dr. Blair, however, who felt his critical charac- 
 ter endangered by this silence, exerted himself to pro-
 
 POETS. — JAMES MACPHERSON. 151 
 
 cure at second-hand a variety of testimonies in favour 
 of the authenticity of the poems. He published 
 eleven letters from gentlemen and clergymen of res- 
 pectability in the Highlands, all tending to prove that, 
 in 1763, there were living in the Highlands and Islands 
 of Scotland, several persons, who either possessed an- 
 cient Gaelic manuscripts , or could recite long passages 
 from traditionary Gaelic poems, which agreed in their 
 subject, and often in their composition, with those pub- 
 lished in English by Macpherson. Still the public 
 were not satisfied. All this was but secondary evidence, 
 in a case where, jf the pretext set up by Macpherson 
 were true, the most direct evidence was to be had. 
 Where, it was again asked, are the original poems 
 themselves ? 
 
 The question continued in this unsettled state, when 
 in 1764, JMr. Macpherson received an invitation to ac 
 company Governor Johnston to Pensacola, as his se- 
 cretary. Shortly after his arrival in America, however, 
 he disagreed with his employer, and immediately re- 
 turned home, paying a visit in his way to several of 
 the West India Islands, and the North American Colo- 
 nies. 
 
 He now resumed his literary pursuits, and produced 
 " An Introduction to the History of Great Britain 
 and Scotland," a work which, he says^ " he was indu- 
 ced to proceed in by the sole motive of private amuse- 
 ment ;" and which, he might have added, was calculat- 
 ed only to amuse others. As a piece of history, 
 nothing could be less authentic or instructive ; it was 
 a dream throughout, at variance with the best autho- 
 rities and with the most obvious probabilities. It has 
 accordingly long ceased to be of the least weight in his- 
 tory, and only deserves remembrance for the elegance
 
 152 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 of its stjle, and the fine fancy which pervades it. The 
 description which he gives of the Paradise of the 
 ancient British Nations, breathes all the fire of some 
 of the finest passages of Ossian ; and, as it may serve 
 at once to shew the literary character of the work, 
 and its value as matter of history, may merit quota- 
 tion. 
 
 " The ancient inhabitants of Britain," he says, 
 " to enjoy the felicity of a future state, ascended not 
 into heaven with the Christians, nor dived under the 
 ocean with the poets of Greece and Rome. Their 
 Flath-Innis, a noble Island, lay surrounded with 
 tempest in the western ocean. Their brethren on the 
 continent, at an early period, placed the seats of the 
 blessed in Britain ; but the Britons themselves, as %ve 
 shall have occasion to shew, removed their Fortunate 
 Island very far to the west of their country." * * * * 
 " The Scottish bards, with their compositions in verse, 
 conveyed to posterity some poetical romances in 
 prose. One of those tales which tradition has brought 
 down to our times, relates to the Paradise of the Cel- 
 tic nations. The following extract will contribute to 
 illustrate the detached information, which the writers 
 of Greece and Rome have transmitted from antiquity, 
 concerning the Fortunate Islands. 
 
 " In former days, (says the bard,) there lived in 
 Skerr, a magician of high renown. The blast of wind 
 waited for his commands at the gate ; he rode the 
 tempest, and the troubled wave otFered itself as a pil- 
 low for his repose. His eye followed the sun by day, 
 his thoughts travelled from star to star in the season 
 of night. He thirsted after things unseen. He 
 sighed over the narrow circle which surrounded his
 
 POETS.— JAMES MACPHERSON. 153 
 
 days. He often sat in silence beneath the sound of 
 liis groves, and he blamed the careless billows that 
 rolled between him and the green isle of the west. 
 
 " One day, as the magician of Skerr sat thoughtful 
 
 upon a rock, a storm arose from the sea : a cloud 
 
 under whose squally skirts the foaming waters com- 
 
 I plained, rushed suddenly into the bay, and from its 
 
 } dark womb, at once issued forth a boat, with its white 
 
 i sails bent to the wind, and hung round with an hun- 
 
 I dred moving oars. But it was destitute of mariners ; 
 
 I itself seeming to live and move. An unusual terror 
 
 ' seized the aged niagician. He heard a voice, though 
 
 he saw no human form. ' Arise, behold the boat of 
 
 ' the heroes, — arise, and see the green isle of those who 
 
 have passed away.' 
 
 i " He felt strange force on his limbs, he saw no per- 
 i son, but he moved to the boat. The wind immediate- 
 ly changed. In the bosom of the cloud he sailed 
 away, seven days gleamed faintly round him, seven 
 nights added their gloom to his darkness. His ears 
 were stunned with shrill voices. The dull murmur of 
 winds passed him on either side. He slept not, but 
 his eyes were not heavy ; he ate not, but he was not 
 hungry. On the eighth day, the waves swelled into 
 mountains, the boat was rocked violently from side to 
 side. The darkness thickened around him, when a 
 thousand voices at once cried out, " The Isle," " The 
 Isle !" The billows opened wide before him, the calm 
 land of the departed rushed in light on his eyes. 
 
 " It was not a light that dazzled, but a pure, placid, 
 and distinguishing light, which called forth every ob- 
 ject to view in their most perfect form. The isle 
 spread large before him, like a pleasing dream of the
 
 154 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 soul ; where distance fades not on the sight ; where 
 nearness fatigues not the eye. It had its gently slop- 
 ing hills of green, nor did they wholly want their 
 clouds : but the clouds were bright and transparent, 
 and each involved in its bosom the source of a stream, 
 a beauteous stream, which, wandering down the steep, 
 was like the faint notes of the half-touched harp to 
 the distant ear. The vallles were open and free to 
 the ocean ; trees loaded with leaves, which scarcely 
 waved to the light breeze, were scattered on the green 
 declivities and rising grounds. The rude winds walk- 
 ed not on the mountain, no storra took its course 
 through the sky. Ail was calm and bright ; the pure 
 sun of autumn shone from his blue sky on the fields. 
 He hastened not to the west for repose, nor was he 
 seen to rise from the east. He sits in his height, and 
 looks obliquely on the Noble Isle. In each valley 
 is its slow moving stream. The pure waters swell 
 over the banks, yet abstain from the fields. The 
 showers disturb them not, nor are they lessened by 
 the heat of the sun. On the rising hills are the halls 
 of the departed — the high-roofed dwellings of the he- 
 roes of old." 
 
 Thus far, says Mr. Macpherson, is the talc wor- 
 thy of translation. Incoherent fables succeed the 
 description, and the employments of the blessed 
 in their Fortunate Island, differs in no respect from 
 the amusements of the most uncultivated inhabitants 
 of a mountainous country. The bodies with which 
 the bard clothes his departed heroes, have more 
 grace, and are more active, than those they left behind 
 them in this world ; and he describes, with peculiar 
 elegance, the beauty of the women. After a very
 
 POETS.— JAMES MACPHERSON". 155 
 
 tionsient vision of the noble isle, the magician of Skerr 
 returned home in the same miraculous manner in 
 which he had been carried across the ocean. But 
 though, in his mind, he comprehended his absence in 
 sivteen days, he found every thing changed at his re- 
 . turn. No trace of his habitation remained ; he knew 
 [uot the face of any man. He was even forced, says 
 I the tale, to make inquiry concerning himself ; and 
 tradition had scarcely carried down his name to the 
 generation, who then possessed the island of Skerr. 
 Two complete centuries had passed away since his 
 departure ; so imperceptible was the flight of time in 
 [ the felicity of thc^Celtic Paradise. 
 I The departed, according to the tale, retained, in the 
 midst of their happiness, a warm aff'ection for their 
 I country and living friends. They sometimes visited 
 t the first ; and by the latter, as the bard expresses it, 
 ! they were transiently seen in the hour of peril, and 
 i especially on the near approach of death. It was 
 then, that at raid-night, the death-devoted, to use the 
 words of the tale, were suddenly awakened by a 
 strange knocking at their gates ; it was then that they 
 heard the indistinct voice of their departed friends, 
 calling them away to the noble Isle. " A sudden 
 joy," continues the author of the tale, " rushed in upon 
 their minds, and that pleasing melancholy which 
 looks forward to happiness, in a distant land.'' It 
 is worthy of being remarked, that though those who 
 died a natural death, were not excluded from the Celtic 
 Paradise, the more pleasant diversions of theFlath-Inn- 
 is or the noble Isle, rendered the Celtic Nations care- 
 less about a transitory life, which must terminate in 
 happiness. They threw away with indifference, the
 
 156 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 burden, when it galled them, and became in some 
 measure independent of fortune in her worst extreme. 
 They met death in the field with elevation and joy of 
 mind ; the^' sought after him with eagerness, when op- 
 pressed with disease, or worn out with age. To the 
 same cause, and not to a want of docility of disposi- 
 tion and temper, we ought to ascribe their small pro- 
 gress in the arts of civil life, before the Phajnicians 
 and Greeks, with their commerce, and the Romans 
 with their arms, introduced a taste for luxury into the 
 regions of the west and north. 
 
 In 1773, Mr. Macpherson produced a translation 
 of the Iliad of Homer, into the same sort of poetic 
 prose as his poems of Ossian. 3Ien of taste, as ap- 
 pears from his preface, had long solicited him to un- 
 dertake the work ; and there were not wanting indivi- 
 duals, who, now that it was completed, pronounced it 
 to be one of the first productions of the age. " The 
 pomp and magnificence of his diction," we were told, 
 " conveyed without diminution the dignity of his au- 
 thor, and the smoothness of his periods placed the 
 power and elegance of the English language in a more 
 favorable point of view than it had hitherto appeared 
 in." It is certain, however, that such was not the 
 opinion cither of the mass of good judges, or of the 
 public at large ; from the former of whom it met only 
 witli ridicule, for the bad taste in which it was con- 
 ceived ; and from the latter, witli the neglect which is 
 due to presumptuous competition. 
 
 The dispute, as to the authenticity of Macpherson's 
 Poems of Ossian, which had, in the mean time, been 
 suftered to die away, while the poems themselves con- 
 tinued to rise in popularity, was now revived with greater
 
 POETS. — JAMES MACPHERSON. 157 
 
 icrimony than ever by Dr. Johnson. In the course 
 of the tour which Dr. Johnson made, in company with 
 JMr Boswell, to the Hebrides, he made various in- 
 quiries concerning the traditionary poems said to exist 
 among the Highlanders ; but the information he ob- 
 tained only tended to confirm the pre-conceived no- 
 tions of Johnson, who, always prejudiced against 
 Scotsmen and Scottish literature, had condemned 
 Macpherson, almost without examination, as a literary 
 impostor. In his Narrative of the Tour, speaking of 
 these poems, he says, " I believe they never existed 
 in any other form than that which we have seen. The 
 editor or author never could shew the original ; nor 
 can it be shewn by any other. To revenge reasonable 
 incredulity, by refusing evidence, is a degree of inso- 
 lence with which the world is not yet acquainted, and 
 stubborn audacity is the last refuge of guilt. It would 
 be easy to shew it, if he had it ; but whence could it 
 be had ? It is too long to be remembered, and the lan- 
 guage had formerly nothing written. He has doubt- 
 less inserted names that circulate in popular stories, 
 and may have translated some wandering ballads, if 
 any can be found • and the names and some of the 
 images being recollected, make an inaccurate auditor 
 imagine, by the help of Caledonian bigotry, that he 
 has formerly heard the whole." Again : " I have yet 
 supposed no imposture but in the publisher ; yet I am 
 far from certain that some translations have not been 
 lately made, that may now be obtruded as parts of 
 the original work. Credulity, on one part, is a strong 
 temptation to deceit on the other, especially to deceit 
 of which no personal injury is the consequence, and 
 which flatters the author with his own ingenuity. The 
 TAUT 3.] p
 
 158 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Scots have something to plead for their easy reception 
 of an improbable fiction : they are seduced by their 
 fondness for their supposed ancestors. A Scotchman 
 must be a sturdy moralist, who does not love Scotland 
 better than truth : he will always love it belter than 
 inquiry ; and if falsehood flatters his vanity, will not 
 be very diligent to detect it. Neither ought the Eng- 
 lish to be much influenced by Scotch authority ; for 
 of the past and present state of the whole Erse natioD> 
 the Lowlanders are at least as ignorant as ourselves. 
 To be ignorant is painful, but it is dangerous to quiet 
 our uneasiness by the delusive opiate of hasty persua- 
 sion." These observations, which, it must be allowed, 
 Macpherson had amply provoked, by his contempt of 
 the " reasonable incredulity" entertained by the public, 
 and which, with all their severity, mingled no small 
 degree of truth, gave so much off'enceto Macpherson, 
 that he wrote a letter to Dr. Johnson, threatening him 
 with personal chastisement. This absurd proceeding 
 produced from Dr. Johnson the following severe an- 
 swer : 
 
 " Mr. James Macpherson, 
 
 " I received your foolish and impudent letter. 
 Any violence offered to me I shall do my best to repel ; 
 and what I cannot do for myself, the law shall do for 
 me. I hope I shall never be deterred from detecting 
 what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian. 
 
 " What would you have me retract ? 1 thought your 
 book an imposture ; I think it an imposture still. For 
 this opinion I have given my reasons to the public, 
 whicli I here dare you to refute. Your rage I defy. 
 Your abilities, since your Homer, are not so formida-
 
 POETS.— JAMES MACPHERSON. 159 
 
 ble ; and what I hear of your morals, inclines me to 
 pay regard, not to what you shall say, but to what 
 you shall prove. You may print this if you will. 
 
 S. J." 
 
 Macpherson was recalled to reason by this manly 
 defiance. He made no attempt to carry his threats 
 into execution ; nor does he appear to have taken any 
 further notice of Johnson, if we except some embel- 
 lishments, which he is said to have furnished to the 
 answer to the Tour to the Hebrides, which appeared 
 in 1779 from the pen of Mr. Macnicol. It appears 
 that the manuscript of this answer was sent to Mac- 
 pherson at London for publication ; and Macnicol 
 used to say, that most of the scurrilous passages, in 
 which the answer abounds, were interpolated after it 
 went into Macpherson's hands. 
 
 Mr. Macpherson now directed his attention to the 
 composition of a " History of Great Britain, from the 
 Restoration to the Accession of the House of Hanover," 
 which he produced in 1775, in two vols. 4to. In the 
 course of this work, he found it necessary to give quite 
 a new complexion to many important transactions of 
 this period, and to the characters of most of the emi- 
 nent men concerned in them ; but aware how much 
 the apocryphal character of his pen must have indis- 
 posed the public to credit any more of his discoveries, 
 he took the prudent step of publishing, at the same 
 time, the proofs upon which he had proceeded, in two 
 quarto volumes, under the title of " Original Papers, 
 containing the Secret History of Great Britain, from 
 the Restoration to the Accession of the House of Ha- 
 nover ; to which are prefixed, Extracts from the Life
 
 160 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 of James II., as written by himself." These papers 
 
 were chiefly collected by 3Ir. Carte. 
 
 This history had one great fault, if it may so be 
 called, with which no person expected to have been 
 able to reproach the author of " the Introduction'' — 
 it was too true. It deprived the history of our glo- 
 rious revolution of much of that lustre and beauty 
 in which it had stood hitherto arrayed; and proved, 
 that in that, as in all great turns of national aftairs, 
 much of base selfishness and intrigue were combined 
 with genuine patriotism and benevolence. 
 
 The Whigs, whose credit as a party is so mixed 
 up with the events of the revolution, were much irritated 
 at the light thus thrown on its sacred history, and 
 observed no bounds in their censure of the author. 
 The volumes of " Original Papers," however, formed 
 such a panoply of evidence, as all their vituperation 
 could not demolish ; nor were the world unaraused to 
 observe, that the same individual who had before 
 professed such disdain of original documents now 
 triumphed on the strength of them. Were they 
 to blame for again concluding, that had it been in tht- 
 power of Mr. ^Macpherson to produce the original 
 poems from which he had professed to make hi- 
 translations, he would have done so ? 
 
 The political tact displayed in this history appears 
 to have recommended Mr. Macpherson to the notice 
 of Government, by whom he was employed to com- 
 bat, the arguments of the revolted Americans for In- 
 dependence. He wrote a pamphlet for this purpose, 
 which was published in 1776, and circulated with 
 much industry, intituled, " The Rights of Great 
 Britain asserted against the claims of the Colonies, 
 being an answer to the Declaration of the General
 
 POETS.- JAMES MACPHERSON. 161 
 
 Congress." Under the same auspices he also com- 
 posed " A short History of the Opposition during the 
 last Session of Parliament, 1779," which attracted a 
 good deal of notice, and was, on account of the 
 splendid elegance of its style, very generally ascribed 
 to Mr. Gibbon. 
 
 As a reward for these services, INIr. Macpherson 
 was appointed agent for the Nabob of Arcot, and in 
 this capacity exerted his talents in several appeals to 
 the public, in behalf of that unfortunate prince. — 
 Among other productions, he wrote the " Letters from 
 Mohammed Ah Chan, Nabob of Arcot, to the Court 
 of Directors ; tt) which is annexed, a state of Facts 
 relative to Tanjore, with an appendix of Original 
 Papers," published in 1777 ; and he is generally sup- 
 posed to have been the author of a fragment of a work 
 which appeared in 1779, under the title of " The 
 History and Management of the East India Company, 
 from its origin in 1660, to the present times : vol. 1 , 
 containing the aflfairs of the Carnatic ; in which the 
 rights of the Nabob are explained, and the injustice 
 of the Company proved." 
 
 In 1780, Mr. Macpherson who was now, by his 
 own genius and industry, in very opulent circum- 
 stances, and had acquired a name of considerable 
 weight in the political world, was brought into Par- 
 liament for the borough of Camelford. He was re- 
 elected for the same place in 1784 and 1790 ; but it 
 does not appear that, during the whole of his Parlia- 
 mentary career, he ever was a speaker. 
 
 It had always been the secret wish of Macpherson's 
 heart, to return and enjoy the otium cum dignitate on 
 his native soil, and in 1789 an opportunity occurred 
 p 3
 
 162 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 of gratifying this national and peculiarly Scottish 
 feeling, in its fullest extent. The estate of E.etz, 
 situated in the parish in which he was bom, was for 
 sale : he became the purchaser ; changed the name 
 from Retz to Belville, and having erected upon it a 
 splendid mansion, commanding a very romantic and 
 picturesque view, retired thither to spend the re- 
 mainder of his days. 
 
 Mr. Macpherson was now unhappily, however, in 
 a very declining state of health, and did not long en- 
 joy the pleasure of this dignified retirement. He 
 died at Belville, on the 17th February, 1796. Mrs. 
 Grant, in her Letters from the Mountains, gives the 
 following interesting particulars of his death. " Finding 
 some inward symptoms of his approaching dissolution, 
 he sent for a consultation, the result of which arrived 
 the day after his confinement. He was perfectly sen- 
 sible and collected, yet refused to take any thing pre- 
 scribed to him to the last ; and that on this principle, 
 that his time was come, and it did not avail. He felt 
 the approaches of death, and hoped no relief from 
 medicine, though his life was not such as one should 
 like to look back on, at that awful period : indeed, 
 whose is ? It pleased the Almighty to render his last 
 scene most affecting and exemplar^'. From the mi- 
 imte he was confined, till a verj- little before he ex- 
 pired, he never ceased imploring the divine mercy, in 
 the most earnest and pathetic manner : — people about 
 him were overawed and melted by the fervour and 
 bitterness of his penitence : he frequently and eam- 
 cstlj- entreated the prayers of good serious people, 
 of the lower class, who were admitted. He was a very 
 good natured man, and now that he had got all his
 
 POETS JAMES MACPHERSON. 163 
 
 schemes of interest and ambition fulfilled, he seemed 
 to reflect and grow domestic ; and shewed, of late, a 
 great inclination to be an indulgent landlord, and very 
 liberal to the poor, of which 1 could relate various in- 
 stances, more tender and interesting than flashy or 
 ostentatious. His heart and temper were originally 
 good : his religious principles were, I fear, unfixed and 
 fluctuating ; but the primary cause that so much ge- 
 nius, taste, benevolence, and prosperity, did not pro- 
 duce or diff"use more happiness, was his living a 
 stranger to thd comforts of domestic life, from which 
 unhappy connexions excluded him." 
 
 By his will, dated in June, 1793, after distributing 
 among his relatives and friends property to a large 
 amount, he bequeathed ^'1000 to Mr. John Mac- 
 kenzie, of Fig-tree-court in the Temple, to defray the 
 expense oi printing and publishing Ossian in the origi- 
 nal ; directed ^fSOO to be laid out in erecting a mo- 
 nument to his memory, in some conspicuous situation 
 at Belville ; and ordered that his body should be 
 carried from Scotland, and interred in Westminster 
 Abbey. His remains were, accordingly, brought 
 from the place where he died, and interred in Poet's- 
 corner. 
 
 Immediately after Macpherson's decease, the High- 
 land Society of Scotland, with the view of bringing to 
 a termination, if possible, the still undecided con- 
 troversy, as to the authenticity of the poems as- 
 cribed by him to Ossian, appointed a Committee of 
 their number, to institute a regular inquiry into the 
 subject. 
 
 In the time of nominating this committee, the so- 
 ciety were peculiady fortunate. Dr. Blair, Professor
 
 164 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 Ferguson, Dr. Carlyle, and Mr. John Home, the prin- 
 cipal advisers and promoters of the original publication 
 of Macpherson, and many other gentlemen of respec- 
 tability who had been intimately acquainted with 
 Macpherson, and had either assisted him in his re- 
 searches, or witnessed the prosecution of his underta- 
 king, were then living ; and the immediate descendant 
 of the last of the Caledonian bards remained to give 
 his testimony as to the manner in which Macpherson 
 had become possessed of an antient Gaelic manuscript, 
 which was said to have supplied him with great part 
 of his materials. 
 
 While the committee were proceeding with their 
 labours, a powerful antagonist of the antiquity of the 
 poems started up in the person of Mr. Malcolm 
 Laing, who, at the end of his History of Scotland, 
 published in 1800, gave an elaborate dissertation on 
 their merits. He contended, that the works published 
 by Macpherson contained several false and incorrect 
 allusions to the History of Britain during its subjec- 
 tion to the Romans ; that the manners of the High- 
 landers, as described in these poems, differ exceed- 
 ingly from those which are represented by historians 
 who treat of the same period, and in particular, that 
 the manners depicted in Ossian are much more refined 
 than those which appeared in the Highlands at a 
 period considerably later ; that these compositions 
 betray many palpable imitations of the Greek and 
 Roman classics, of the Scriptures, and of other writings, 
 and, therefore, could not have been produced by 
 Ossian, who must have been unacquainted with these 
 sources ; that all the traditionary poems hitherto dis- 
 covered in the Highlands refer to the middle ages.
 
 POETS JAMES MACPHERSON. 165 
 
 comprehending the ninth and tenth centuries ; that 
 : no Gaelic manuscript, as yet found, is older than the 
 fifteenth century ; that the poems ascribed to Ossian 
 nearly resemble, in their style and modes of expression, 
 ' the Highlander, formerly published by Macpherson 
 ' as his own composition, and that it is more than pro- 
 1 bable, that the Erse manuscripts produced by Mac- 
 pherson were translations of his own pieces from the 
 I English, &c. 
 
 The objections of Mr. Laing met with two zealous 
 respondents in Mr. Archibald M'Donald of Liverpool 
 and the Rev. Dr. Graham of Aberfoyle, the former of 
 whom published " some of Ossian's lesser poems ren- 
 dered into verse, with a Preliminary Discourse, in 
 answer to Mr. Laing's Critical and Historical Disser- 
 tation on the Antiquity of Ossian's Poems ;'' and the 
 latter "An Essay on the Authenticity of the Poems 
 of Ossian, in which the objections of Malcolm 
 Laing, Esq. are particularly considered and refuted ; 
 to which is added. An Essay on the Mythology of 
 Ossian's Poems, by Professor Richardson of Glasgow 
 College." 
 
 The public judgement, however, still remained sus- 
 pended until, in 1810, the Report of the Committee 
 of the Highland Society made its appearance. It 
 ■was drawn up by Mr. Mackenzie, the chairman of the 
 committee, and was well calculated to reconcile even 
 the most opposing opinions on the subject. After 
 detailing the course of inquiry which the committee 
 had pursued, and referring to a copious appendix of 
 documents, they thus state what they conceive and 
 what posterity will probably agree with them in con- 
 sidering to have been the real state of the case.
 
 166 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 "The committee can, with confidence, state its 
 opinion that such poetry did exist; that it was com- 
 mon, general, and in great abundance ; that it was uf 
 a most impressive and striking sort ; in a high degree 
 eloquent, tender, and sublime. The committee is pos- 
 sesssed of no documents to shew how much of his col- 
 lection Mr. M. obtained in the form of what he has 
 given to the world. The poems and fragments which 
 the committee has been able to preserve, contain often 
 the substance, and sometimes almost the literal ex- 
 pression, the ipsissima verba, of passages given by Mr. 
 Macpherson in the poems of which he has published 
 translations, but the committee has not been able to 
 obtain any one poem, the same in title and tenor with 
 the poems published by him. It is inclined to believe 
 that he was in use to supply chasms, and to give con- 
 nection by inserting passages which he did not find, 
 and to add what he conceived to be dignity and de- 
 licacy to the original composition, by striking out pas- 
 sages, by softening incidents, by refining the lan- 
 guage ; in short, by changing what he considered 
 as too simple or too rude for a modern ear, and ele- 
 vating what in his opinion was below the standard of 
 good poetry. To what degree, however, he exercised 
 those liberties, it is impossible for the committee to 
 determine. The advantages he possessed, which the 
 committee began its inquiries too late to enjoy, of c 1- 
 lating from the oral recitation of a number of persons, 
 now no more, a very great number of the same poems 
 on the same subjects, and collating those difler- 
 ent copies or editions, if they may be so called, re- 
 jecting what was spurious or corrupted in one copy, 
 and adopting from another, something more genuine
 
 POETS.— JAMES MACPHERSON. 1C7 
 
 and excellent in its place, afforded him an opportunity 
 of putting together what might fairly enough be cal- 
 led an original whole ; of much more beauty and 
 with much fewer blemishes than the committee be- 
 lieves it now possible for any person or combination 
 of persons to obtain." 
 
 It will be obsers'ed, that the committee say, that 
 they have " not been able to obtain any one poein the 
 same in title and tenor icith the poems published ;" and 
 this, notwithstanding the originals left by Mr. Macpher- 
 son for publication. The fact is, that the latter had 
 no character of authenticity, and that they fully justi- 
 fied the suspicion so long entertained by the public, 
 that I\Ir. Macpherson was all but the sole author of 
 the poems which he ascribed to Ossian. Agreeably 
 to the will of Mr. Macpherson, these pretended ori- 
 ginals were published in a very splendid form, ac- 
 companied by two dissertations, one by Sir John Sin- 
 clair, and the other by Dr. Macarthur, besides a 
 translation by the latter of an Italian dissertation on 
 the Ossianic Controversy, written by the Abbe Ce- 
 sarotti, who had translated the poems of Ossian into 
 Italian ; but both Editors appear to have fallen into a 
 mistake as to the object which was to be ser\'ed by 
 the publication. They have laboured hard to keep 
 up the old fiction that Macpherson was a mere trans- 
 lator ; whereas JMacpherson's own design in directing 
 this publication, was doubtless to put an end to this 
 fiction ; and to inform posterity to whom their gra- 
 titude is truly due for the poems of Ossian. 
 
 Macpherson's character, it is true, loses something 
 in point of moral rectitude and sincerity by this re-
 
 168 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 suit; but it gains in originality of genius, what will an 
 age hence make his obstinacy of pretence as a trans- 
 lator forgotten. 
 
 J. E.
 
 POETS.— CHARLES SALMON. 169 
 
 CHARLES SALMON. 
 
 Charles Salmon is a name, which may he pro- 
 nounced in many a poetic circle without exciting a 
 single recollection ; yet it was the name of one whom 
 Ferguson not ^only loved as a friend, but owned as 
 no unworthy rival, in his court to the Muses. Like 
 Ferguson, he was early lost to the world ; but, less 
 happy in his poetical fortunes, the memorials which 
 he left of his genius have, with a few exceptions, been 
 either lost through the casualties of private possession, 
 or remain dispersed and neglected among some of 
 the many fleeting repositories to which the effusions 
 of youthful genius are so often irrecoverably con- 
 signed. 
 
 The particulars, which the writer of the present 
 imperfect attempt at some notice of Salmon's life, 
 is able to communicate respecting him, are few, but 
 interesting. They were communicated to him by 
 one who knew Salmon well, and esteemed because 
 he knew him. 
 
 Charles Salmon was a native of Edinburgh, and 
 is supposed to have been born between the years 
 1745 and 1750. His parents filled some inferior 
 employment about the theatre, during the manage- 
 ment of Mr. Digges ; but though in humble circum- 
 stances, they appear to have given their son a good 
 
 PART 3.] Q
 
 170 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 education. He evinced always a superior taste in 
 composition, and was fond of quoting rhetorical rules. 
 He was bred to the business of a printer, in the house 
 of the celebrated Walter Ruddiman ; and in Ruddi- 
 man's Weekly Magazine, he made his first juvenile 
 attempts in rhyme, unknown, it is believed, to his 
 employer. 
 
 A love of social pleasures and of poetry, go too 
 commonly together. Salmon became, at an early 
 age, the boon companion of most of the fine spirits 
 of his o%vn rank in life, and of a rank a little above it 
 in Edinburgh, and few were the clubs of good fel- 
 lows, of which he was not a member. He sung an 
 excellent song, and yielded to few in conversational 
 talent, delighting his associates by his vivacity, good 
 humour, and occasional fits of ardent enthusiasm. 
 Among the most valued friends he acquired, was Ro- 
 bert Ferguson the poet. He inherited from his parents 
 a strong attachment to the cause of the Pretender, 
 whose name, indeed, he shared with a brother, called 
 Stewart Salmon ; and this devotion to a hopeless 
 cause gave an air of romance to his character, which 
 did not lessen the interest it inspired. A club still 
 subsisted in Edinburgh, called the Royal Oak Club, 
 composed wholly of professed Jacobites, and of this 
 society Salmon became poet-laureate. In this capa- 
 city-, he composed a song, called " The Royal Oak 
 Tree," which became a standard favorite with the 
 club, and was sung on all their great occasions. The 
 following copy of the words is taken from an obscure 
 collection of Jacobite songs, published by Robert- 
 son, of the Horse Wynd, Edinburgh ; in which, how- 
 ever, it appears without the name of the author.
 
 POETS.— CHARLES SALMON. 171 
 
 THE ROYAL OAK TREE. 
 
 Tune. — The Mulberry Tree. 
 
 Ye true sons of Scotia, together unite. 
 And yield all your senses to joy and delight; 
 Give mirth its full scope, that the nations may see 
 We honour our standard, the great royal tree. 
 All shall yield to the Royal Oak Tree ; 
 Bend to thee, 
 Majestic Tree, 
 Cheerful was he who sat in thee, 
 And thou, like him, thrice honoured shall be. 
 
 When our great sov'reign, Charles, was driv'n from 
 
 his throne. 
 And dar'd scarce call the kingdom or subjects his own, 
 Old Pendril, the miller, at the risk of his blood, 
 Hid the King of our Isle, in the King of the Wood. 
 
 All shall yield, S^c. 
 
 In summer, in winter, in peace, or in war, 
 'Tis acknowledged, with freedom, by each British tar. 
 That the oak of all ships can best skreen us from harm ; 
 Best keep out the foe, and best ride out the storm. 
 
 All shall yield, 8)C. 
 
 Let gard'ners and florists of foreign plants boast. 
 And cull the poor trifles of each distant coast ; 
 There's none of them all, from a shrub to a tree, 
 Can ever compare, great Oak Royal, with thee. 
 All shall yield, Sec. 
 
 Salmon is also supposed to have written, about 
 q2
 
 172 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 this time, a song, which he was fond of singing, be- 
 ginning, 
 
 On a bank of flowers, on a summer's day, 
 
 Where lads and lasses met ; 
 On the meadow green, each maiden gay. 
 
 Was bj- her true lore set : 
 Dick fill'd his glass, drank to liis lass, 
 And Charles's health around did pass. 
 
 Huzza they cry'd, and a' reply'd, 
 
 " The Lord restore our king." 
 
 Salmon, at last, found himself immersed in a course 
 of life to which the finances of a journeyman printer 
 were wholh' unequal ; and in conjunction with ]Mr. 
 George Fulton, another journeyman printer, (after- 
 wards distinguished as a teacher in Edinburgh,) he 
 came to the prudent resolution of quitting Edinburgh. 
 A printing concern had been commenced by a Mr. 
 Jackson, at Dumfries, the first of the kind established 
 in that place, and thither Salmon and Fulton bent 
 their steps, in the hopes of obtaining employment. 
 In this they were not disappointed ; they were both 
 immediately engaged. 
 
 For Salmon, this change was productive of none of 
 its anticipated good. He had neither the disposition 
 nor the fortitude to resist the fascinations of society, 
 and his poetic and convivial talents soon made his ac- 
 quaintance as much cultivated in Dumfries, as it had 
 been in Edinburgh. He found that he had only 
 changed a large circle of dissipation for a smaller, in 
 which the syren pleasure held him more closely 
 within her grasp. The society in which he here mix- 
 ed was of a better description, in point of rank, tha'ii
 
 POETS.— CHARLES SALMON. 173 
 
 that of Edinburgh, but in other respects it was a great 
 deal worse. Habits of drinking and idling prevailed 
 at this period among the young men of Dumfries, to 
 an extent unequalled perhaps in any other town in 
 Scotland. The narrowness of Salmon's finances com- 
 pelled him to partake with some reserve in their liba- 
 tions ; yet occasions would occur, when, abandoning 
 himself to the impulse of the moment, he would vie 
 with them in their worst excesses. 
 
 Among the friends whom he had left at Edinburgh, 
 there was none his separation from whom he more re- 
 gretted than Robert Ferguson ; and it would seem 
 that the regard had been mutual. Salmon had not 
 been long at Dumfries when he was surprised one af- 
 ternoon by the sight of his old friend bursting in upon 
 him, attired in a light walking dress, and covered all 
 over with dust. Ferguson had walked all the way 
 from Edinburgh to see him. 
 
 At the suggestion of some of the more prudent of 
 his gay companions, Salmon issued proposals for pub- 
 lishing a collection of his poetical effusions, under the 
 modest title of, " Poems by a Printer." From the 
 misfortunes which afterwards befel him, this collection 
 never saw the light ; but there is reason to believe 
 that he had accumulated a sufficient number of poems 
 to have formed a very respectable volume. Several 
 of them had appeared in Ruddiman's IMagazine and 
 in the Dumfries Weekly Magazine, established by 
 Mr. Jackson, on a similar plan, and may perhaps still 
 be traced. The friend, to whom the writer of this me- 
 moir is indebted for such information as it contains 
 of Salmon, remembers to have heard him recite two 
 imitations, or rather parodies, of the Deserted Village
 
 174 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 and Splendid Shilling, as parts of his intended publi- 
 cation. The subject of the former was " Auld Reikie," 
 and of the latter, " The Threadbare Coat." There 
 ^vere also a variety of occasional pieces, addressed to 
 the friends with whom he associated, including some 
 names which would have vouched for the regard in 
 which, though poor and humble, Charlie Salmon was 
 held by individuals of the first respectability. 
 
 Whatever prospects of poetical renown Salmon may 
 have formed, one night of fatal dissipation came and 
 destroyed them all. In a fit of intoxication, he fell 
 into the company of a recruiting serjeant, and the same 
 friend who had last seen him with a white cockade 
 in a paper cap, working a press to the song of " The 
 crown is Charlie's right, is it no ? is it no ?" saw him 
 next morning enlisted under the black cockade, or, as 
 Salmon was wont with other Jacobites to call it, the 
 curse of God. Poor Salmon ! When asked by one of 
 his friends how he could have been so misled, he an- 
 swered, with a smile at his own simplicity, " I listed 
 for a lieutenant." 
 
 The regiment in which he had enlisted was the Sea- 
 forth Highlanders, and without waiting to excite what 
 he dreaded more than the bitterest reproach, the com- 
 miseration of pretended friends, he hastened to join it. 
 In the memorable mutiny which some time afterwards 
 broke out in this regiment at Edinburgh, when they 
 seized possession of Arthur's Seat, and set the power of 
 government at defiance, Salmonis said to been called 
 upon, in consequence of his knowledge of English 
 and superior address, to take the management for his 
 comrades of the negociation which ensued for their 
 return to duty. The regiment was ultiraatelj' embarked
 
 POETS.— CHARLES SALMON. 175 
 
 for India, and Salmon was heard of no more. 
 
 Of the merits of a writer of whose works we know 
 so little, it would be rash to form any conclusive 
 judgement. The pieces which have happened to sur- 
 vive the general fate of his productions, may perhaps 
 be those which were least entitled to have any in- 
 fluence on the decision. He appears to have been 
 rather a writer who promised much, than who had 
 realized much. The elegy which is subjoined, and 
 wliich is the best of his productions that can be traced 
 in Ruddiman's Magazine, shews a fine tone of feel- 
 ing, but abounds in puerilities and imitations. 
 
 An Elegy, written in the Abbey Church, Edinburgh. 
 
 Fled from the mansions of the great and gay. 
 Where idle pleasure wastes her fleeting breath, 
 
 Thro' this sad cell I'll take my lonely way. 
 
 And view the havock made by time and death. 
 
 2. 
 
 And, as I enter, let no swelling rage. 
 
 No thoughts impure, my pensive bosom load. 
 
 But sweet religion all the man engage : 
 For this was once the sacred house of God. 
 
 Where oft Devotion, with her pious train. 
 In silent contemplation spent her days. 
 
 Or wak'd to extacy the glowing strain. 
 
 With grateful accents, to her Maker's praise.
 
 176 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 No more shall youth and beauty grace this shrine. 
 Or pious sages to the portals throng ; 
 
 No more the arch shall meet the voice divine. 
 Receive the sound, or echo back the song. 
 
 The pride and glory of our country's fled, 
 The great supporters of the nation's laws, 
 
 The statesmen, heroes, and the kings are dead, 
 
 Who fought thro' fields of blood in freedom's cause. 
 
 Vast heaps of kindred here bestrew the ground, 
 And skulls and coffins to my view arise ; 
 
 Here's friend and foe profusely scatter'd round, 
 And here a jaw, and there a thigh-bone, lies. 
 
 7. 
 
 Perhaps this hand has, in some bloody fray. 
 With lusty sinews grasp'd the flaming brand, 
 
 Fought thro' the dreadful carnage of the day. 
 And drove Oppression from its native land. 
 
 Yet fame and honour are but empty things, 
 The fleeting sunshine of uncertain day ; 
 
 For statesmen, peasants, beggars, lords, and kings. 
 All fall alike to cruel Time a prey.
 
 POETS.— CHARLES SALMON. 177 
 
 9. 
 
 Tho' men, mere men, may unregarded rot. 
 And buried in their native dust consume. 
 
 Shall Scotland's great commander be forgot. 
 And moulder, unregretted, iu the tomb? 
 
 10. 
 
 Will no kind bard in grateful numbers sing 
 The mighty wonders of each hero's arm ? 
 
 Will no kind friend protect a clay-cold king. 
 
 Collect his bones, and keep them safe from harm ? 
 
 11. 
 
 Would some sweet muse assist me in the song, 
 I'd dwell with rapture on the glowing strain. 
 
 Roll the smooth tide of harmony along. 
 Till echo undulate applause again.' 
 
 12. 
 
 When night's dark curtain hid the beams of da}'^ 
 From these sad eyes, m}^ soul should banish sleep ; 
 
 Again I'd raise the sympathetic lay. 
 
 And teach the sullen monument to weep. 
 
 13. 
 
 Ye sons of Scotland ! tho' you cannot raise 
 Your long-lost monarch from the silent bier. 
 
 Their deeds are worthy of the highest praise, 
 And simple gratitude demands a tear.
 
 178 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 14. 
 
 For you they bore the faulchion and the shield, 
 For you each piercing winter blast they stood. 
 
 For you they struggled in the hostile field. 
 For you they wither'd in their crimson blood. 
 
 15. 
 
 Let no base slander on their mern'ry fall. 
 Nor malice of their little faults complain ; 
 
 They were such men, as, take them all in all, 
 We shall not look upon their like again, 
 
 16. 
 
 Here lies the partner of the hero's bed, 
 
 Whose every feature wore unequall'd grace : 
 
 Can Love's soft murmurs raise this death-struck head. 
 Or take the pale complexion from the face ? 
 
 17. 
 
 Go then, ye fair ! exert your utmost skill. 
 Employ each art to keep your beauty fast ; 
 
 Try each perfume, use paint, do what you will. 
 Of this sad colour you must be at last. 
 
 18. 
 
 Ah, me ! how melancholy seem these walls. 
 To earth returning with a quick decay ! 
 
 Take heed, O Man ! for, as each atom falls. 
 So wastes thy little spark of life away.
 
 POETS.— CHARLES SALMON. 
 
 179 
 
 19. 
 
 O thou, my soul, from worldly vices fly. 
 And follow Innocence where'er she strays ; 
 
 See with what ease an honest man can die, 
 None but the wicked wish for length of days. 
 
 Solus. 
 
 Edinburgh, 
 
 May 25, 1771. 
 
 MAURICE, PRINTER, FENCHURCH-S IREKT.
 
 PUBLISHED ^iDV.Llfl31 By XBOY3 7 LUDGAXE-niLL 
 
 WTPRViT^} "
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 ]MGfc:. 
 
 Alexander Hume 1 
 
 John Bellenden 1^ 
 
 Mark Alexander Boyd 26 
 
 William V/ilkie o7 
 
 Robert Fergusson 58 
 
 William Julius Mickle 96 
 
 Alexander Geddes 128 
 
 James Grah ame lt)5
 
 1. • 
 
 3. . 
 
 5. . 
 
 PORTRAITS 
 
 IN 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 . William Julius Mickle. 
 .- Mark Alexander Boyd. 
 . Alexander Geddes. 
 . Robert Fergusso.v. 
 . James Graiiame. 
 
 Vignette .... Linlithgow Castle.
 
 LIVES 
 
 OF 
 
 EiMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 ALEXANDER HUME. 
 
 The Reformation in religion, though favorable to the 
 general developement of the national intellect, was 
 extremely inauspicious to the Scottish muse. The 
 Roman Catholic clergy, with the systematic design 
 of averting enquiry into their doctrines or practices, 
 had given peculiar encouragement to every sort of 
 mental exercise, which, by occupying the imagina- 
 tions of the people, might exclude the calmer work- 
 ings of reason and reflection. They patronized plays 
 and masques ; they recommended the reading of 
 romances in preference to all other works ; and even 
 within those walls, sacred to devotion, were not 
 ashamed to manifest a fonder acquaintance with the 
 Tales of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, 
 than with the works of that Divine Master, whose 
 PART 4.] B
 
 2 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 mission of salvation it was their duty to promulgate. 
 Barclay, in his Ship of Fools, has thus distinctly 
 marked out these ungodly practices to reprobation. 
 
 The battayles done, perchauace in small Britayne, 
 
 In France or Flanders, or to the worlde's ende. 
 Are told in the quere, of some, in wordes vayne. 
 
 In midst of matins, instead of tlie Legende ; 
 
 And other gladly to hear the same intende, 
 Much rather than the service for to heare ; 
 The Rector Chori is made the messenger — 
 And in the morning, when they come to the quere. 
 
 The one beginneth a fable or a histcrie ; 
 The other leaneth their eares it to heare, 
 
 Taking it instead of the invitorie ; 
 
 Some other taketh response in time and memory ; 
 And all of fables or jestes of Robinhood, 
 Or other trifles that scantly are so good ! 
 
 In the same spirit, we find Hoccleve, an author of 
 the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, who although no 
 priest, was a candidate f^r the honors of the priest- 
 hood,* deliberately advising Sir John Oldcastle to 
 desist from the study of " holy writ," and peruse 
 Lancelot de Lake, Vegece or the Siege of Troie 
 on Thebes ; or, if he be absolutely determined to 
 read the Bible, to confine his .studies to Judicvm 
 
 * '•' He whilom thought to have been a priest, but 
 now is married, having long waited for a benefice." 
 Particulars of his history, as collected from his poems, 
 in Art. Hoccleve. — Chalmer$' Bios. Diet.
 
 POETS. — ALEXANDER HUME. 3 
 
 Regum, Josue, Judith, Paralipomena, and 
 Machabe, " than which," he adds, 
 
 " ]\Iore authentic shalt thou fynde none 
 Ne more pertinent to chivalrie." 
 
 Works of romance being thus fostered by the 
 clergy, and highJy suited besides to the habits of a 
 rude and martial age, took naturally a strong hold on 
 the minds of the people, and formed their chief 
 sources of mental recreation for several ages. The 
 Reformation, which broke down so many old preju- 
 dices, did not, ^however, spare this among the num- 
 ber. As Mahomet began his mission by proscribing 
 the Persian romances, which were, previously, the 
 delight of the Arabian tribes, so the Reformers, both 
 of Scotland and England, distinguished the com- 
 mencement of their religious warfare, by an instant 
 proscription of the whole race of fabulous heroes and 
 ideal personages, whose exploits it was the chief pro- 
 vince of the antient ballads and songs to hand down 
 to posterity. 
 
 Both elrich elfs, and brownies stayed. 
 
 And green-gowu'd fairies daunc'd and play'd, 
 
 When old John Knox and other some 
 
 Began to plott the bags of Rome ; 
 
 They suddenly took to their heels, 
 
 And did no more frequent these fields. 
 
 Cleland.* 
 
 L. Ramse^^ in his " Practice of the Divill," gives 
 the foremost place to the reading of the stories of 
 
 * " Cieland, Lieutenant Colonel of the Camero-
 
 4 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 " Robinhood and Guy," and " Bevis of Southampto7i." 
 In like manner, Vaughan, in his Church Militant, 
 exclaims : 
 
 Unhappy are those scribes who catch no soules 
 For Christ, if so they may, by holy scroules ; 
 And much to blame are those of carnal brood, 
 AVho loath to taste of intellectual food. 
 Yet surfeit on old tales of Robin Hood, 
 Of Frier's cowles, or of Saint Benet's hood. 
 Of Patrik's broiles, or of St. George's launce, 
 Of Errant knights, or of the Fairy daunce ; 
 But yee, who are bom of intellectual seed. 
 Scorn your best part with honey'd gall to feed. 
 
 Among the devices to which the reformed clergy 
 had recourse, to counteract the popular attachment 
 to their old ballads and songs, the first and least in- 
 genuous was that of changing the application of 
 them from carnal to spiritual matters, by means of 
 various adroit substitutions and interpolations. In 
 1597, there appeared, at Edinburgh, " A Compen- 
 dious Book of Godlie and Spiritual Sangis and Bal- 
 latis," (generally attributed to an unknowTi author of 
 the name of Wedderburn,) the whole of which are 
 
 nian regiment, who fell in the battle of Dunkeld, com- 
 posed a long satirical poem " on the Highland host 
 ■who came to destro^'^ the western shires in 1678," 
 which is more angry than witty ; and, like the other 
 poems of that author, published in 1697, equally 
 defective in versification and poetical talent." 
 
 Leyden.
 
 POETS.— ALEXANDER HUME. D 
 
 merely pious travesties of the profane ballads and 
 songs then most in vogue. The impression which 
 the reading of them produces is like tiiat derived 
 from all serious distortions, less amusing than painful. 
 In the following specimens, the words in italics dis- 
 tinguish the " godly and spiritual" deviations from 
 the profane texts. 
 
 I. 
 With huntis up, with huntis up, 
 It is now perfite day ; 
 Jesus ow king is gane an hunting, 
 Quha likes to speed they may. 
 
 II. 
 The windblawis cauld ; furious and bald. 
 This lang and mony a day ; 
 But Christ's mercie, we man all die, 
 Or keep the cald wind away. 
 
 III. 
 Hey 1 now the day dawis ; 
 Now Christ on us cawis, 
 Now welth on our wawis 
 Appeiris none. 
 
 Now the word of God rings, 
 Whilk is king of all kings. 
 Now Christis flock sings. 
 The nicht is neere gone. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Tell me now and in what wise. 
 How that I suld my lufe forga, 
 Baith day and night, ane thousand sighs 
 Thir tyrans waikens me with wae. 
 b3
 
 6 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 The honor of attempting a purer mode of correct- 
 ing the popular taste is due to Alexander Hume, mi- 
 nister of Logic, who deser%-es, for what he has done 
 in this respect, to assume a high station among the 
 poets of his country. Mr. Hume was the second 
 son of Patrick, fifth baron of Polwarth, from whom 
 the present family of Marchmont is lineally descend- 
 ed. He was originall}^ destined for the bar, and, 
 according to the custom of that period, pursued the 
 study of the law, for several years, at one of the uni- 
 versities in France. His professional progress, after 
 his return to Scotland, is thus related by himself, in 
 an " Epistle to Maister Gilbert Montcrief, Mediciner 
 to the King's Majestie, wherein is set down the Inex- 
 perience of the Author's Youth." 
 
 Quhenthat I had employ 'd my youth and paine 
 
 Four years in France, and was retum'd againe, 
 
 I lang'd to learn and curious was to knaw 
 
 The consuetudes, the custome, and the law, 
 
 Quhairby our native soil was guide aright. 
 
 And justice done to everie kind of wight. 
 
 To that effect, three yeares, or near that space, 
 
 I haunted maist our highest pleading place. 
 
 And senate, quhair great causes reason'd war. 
 
 My breast was bruisit with leaning on the bar ; 
 
 My buttons brist, I partly spitted blood. 
 
 My ears war deif d with maissars cryes and din, 
 
 Qukilk procutoris and parties callit in. 
 
 1 daily learnit, but could not pleisit be ; 
 
 I saw sic things as pitie was to see, 
 
 Ane house owerlaid with process sa misguidit, 
 
 That sum too late, sum never war decydit :
 
 POETS. — ALEXANDER HUME. 7 
 
 The pair abusit ane hundredth divers wayes ; 
 Postpon'd, difFer'd with shifts and mere delayes, 
 Consumit in gudes, ourset with greif and paine ; 
 Your advocate maun be refresht with gaine, 
 Or else he fails to speake or to invent 
 Ane gude defence or weightie argument. 
 Ye " spill your cause," ye " trouble him too sair," 
 Unless his hand anointed be with mair. 
 
 Disgusted with the bar, Mr. Hume sought prefer- 
 ment at court, but met with no success. 
 
 ■ to the court I shortly me addrest. 
 
 Believing well to chuse it for the best ; 
 But from the rocks of Cyclades, from hand 
 1 struck into Charybdis' sinking sand. 
 
 He afterwards candidly confesses : 
 
 I little gain deserved, and less I gat. 
 
 Some matrimonial speculation appears to have 
 next crossed his wayward fancy. 
 
 True Damon's part to play, I would me bind. 
 But Pytliia as kind, yet I could never find. 
 
 He, at last, resolved to seek in the bosom of the 
 church for that comfort which he had wasted his 
 youth in pursuing elsewhere ; and, entering into or- 
 ders, was appointed rector or minister of Logie in 
 Fifeshire, the names of ecclesiastical offices then 
 floating between prelacy and presbytery. 
 
 Mr. Hume appears to have determined on this
 
 8 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 change of life, less from worldly motives, than from 
 an awakened sense of the importance of religious 
 truth, and a conviction of the superiority of the gos- 
 pel calling over all others. He soon gave signal 
 proof both of his zeal and his ability, by the publica- 
 tion of that collection of poems which has procured 
 for him a niche in the Temple of Fame. It was 
 entitled " Hymnes or Sacred Songs ; wherein the 
 right use of poetry may be espied ; whereunto are 
 added, the Experience of tiie Author's Youth, and 
 certain precepts serving to the practice of sanctifica- 
 tion." The work was dedicated to " the faithful and 
 vertuous Lady Elizabeth Melvil," whom he extols as 
 a successful cultivator of sacred poetry.* 
 
 In an address to the Scottish youth, which follows 
 this dedication, the author thus piously deplores the 
 false direction which he conceived the poetic genius 
 of the country had hitherto taken. — " In princes' 
 courts, in the houses of great menn, and the assem- 
 
 * This lad}' is by courtesy generally styled Lady 
 Culross. She published " Ane Godly e Dream com- 
 pylit in Scottish meter, by M (rs) M (elvill) Gentle- 
 woman in Culross." Edin. 1603, 4to. A subsequent 
 edition gives her name in full, — " A Godly Dream, 
 by Ehzabeth Melvill, Lad^^ Culros, younger. At 
 the request of a special friend. Aberdeene, im- 
 printed by E. Raban, Laird of Letters, 1644," 8vo. 
 The -work was long popular among the Scottish pres- 
 byterians. Armstrong relates, in his Essays, that he 
 recollected having heard it sung by the peasants to a 
 plaintive air. a. s.
 
 POETS ALEXANDER HUME. 9 
 
 bleis of yong gentlemen and 3"ong damesels, the 
 cliief pastyrae is to sing profayne sonnets and vaine 
 ballatis of love, or to rehears some fabulos faites of 
 Palmerine, Araadis, or uther such lyke reveries, and 
 suche as either have the airte or vain poeticke, of 
 force they must shew themselves cunning follovveris 
 of the dissolute cthnicke poets, bothe in phrase and 
 substance, or else they sal be had in no reputaunce. 
 Alas ! for pitie ! Is this the richt use of a Christiane's 
 talent?" — "Sometime," he adds, " I delighted in 
 such fantasies myself, after the manner of riotous 
 young men ; and, had not the Lord in his mercy 
 pulled me aback and wrought a great repentance in 
 me, I had doubtless run forward and employed my 
 time and study in that profane and unprofitable ex- 
 ercise, to my own perdition." He then proceeds to 
 reason with his readers as to the possibility of sacred 
 history furnishing a sufficiency of suitable incidents 
 for poetry. " Would thou entreat," he says, " of 
 prodigious miracles ? Look the books of Genesis or 
 Exode, or the works of our Saviour, of the prophets 
 and apostles. Would thou have a subject of valiant 
 deeds of arms ? Read the books of Josua and the 
 Judges, and of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 
 Would thou have store of wise sentences ? Read the 
 Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Would thou have a sub- 
 ject of love ? Look the Song of Songs ; the love 
 betwixt Christ and his Church. Would thou rejoice 
 or lament — praise or dispraise— comfort or threaten — 
 pray or use imprecation ? Imitate the old Hebrew, 
 David, in his psalms, as a pattern of all heavenly 
 poesy." 
 The aim of Mr. Hume's own poems, however, is
 
 10 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 not so much to exemplify the poetical use which may 
 be made of the treasures of sacred history, as to de- 
 monstrate a much more important proposition — 
 namely, that a poet may gather all the materials for 
 the most exalted poetry from the great book of nature 
 alone, v/ithout having recourse to either history or 
 fable, and without touching on the " naughtie subject 
 of fleschly and unlawful love," on which he laments 
 that poetic genius should ever be employed. It is 
 unnecessary, at this time of day, to enter into the 
 question, how far he was correct in this scheme of 
 narrowing the limits of poetry, which, without love and 
 romance, would be like beauty plucked of its roses ; 
 but it must be allowed, that, in as far as his example 
 tended to invite the cultivators of poetry to a more fa- 
 miliar acquaintance with the beauties of external na- 
 ture, as well as to a more habitual reference from 
 " nature to nature's God," it was an effort as honor- 
 able to the good taste as to the piety of the author. 
 Nor was the experiment without the recommendation 
 of a very singular degree of success. The principal 
 of these sacred poems, entitled, by the author, " the 
 Day Estivall," is altogether an extraordinary produc- 
 tion for the age in which it was produced. It presents 
 the picture of a summer's day from the dawn to the 
 twilight ; painted with a fidelity to nature, a liveli- 
 ness of coloring, and a tasteful selection of circum- 
 stances, which mark the hand not only of a master, 
 but of one worthy of being the founder of a school, 
 w^hich was in after ages to boast of a Denham and a 
 Thomson for its disciples. The poem opens with the 
 following appropriate invocation to the Father of 
 Light :
 
 POETS.— ALEXANDER HUME. 11 
 
 O pcrfite light! quhilk schaid awa^', 
 
 The darkness from the light. 
 And set a ruler ou'r the day, 
 
 Ane other ou'r the night. 
 
 Thy glorie, when the day forth flies, 
 
 Mair 'vinely dois appear ; 
 Nor at midday unto our eyes 
 
 The shining sun is clear. 
 
 The author then proceeds -^vith his description, 
 which is divided into four parts — the dawn, morning, 
 mid-day, and ev&iiing. The dawn is thus sweetly in- 
 troduced : 
 
 The shaddow of the earth anon 
 
 Reniooves and drawes by ; 
 Siiie in the east, when it is gon, 
 
 Appeares a clearer sky. 
 
 Quhilk sune perceaves the little larks. 
 
 The lapwing, and the snype ; 
 And tunes their sangs, like nature's clarks, 
 
 Ou'r meadow , mure, and stryp. 
 
 The description of morning presents some equally 
 leasing passages ; the conclusion particularly invites 
 quotation, on account of the free use which a cele- 
 brated poet, of a later period, has made of one of 
 the stanzas. 
 
 Sa silent is the cessile air. 
 
 That everie cry and call 
 The hills and dales, and forest fair. 
 
 Again repeat them all.
 
 12 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 The rivers fresh, the caUor streames, 
 
 Ou^r rocks can saftlie rin ; 
 The icater cleare, like crystall seames, 
 
 An' 7naks a pleamii' din. 
 
 The fields and earthly superfice 
 
 With verdure green is spread. 
 And naturallie, but artifice 
 
 In party colours clad. 
 
 The flourishes and fragrant flowres 
 Through Phoebus' fostering heat, 
 
 Refresht with dew and silver showers, 
 Cast up an odour sweit. 
 
 The clogged busy humming bees, 
 
 That never think to drown. 
 On flowers and flourishes of trees 
 
 Collect their liquor brown. 
 
 No one can doubt, that Ramsay had the second of 
 these verses before him, when he wrote of Habbie's 
 How. 
 
 Bct%veen twa birks, out o'er a little lin, 
 The water fa's, and maks a singan din ; 
 A pool breast-deep beneath, as clear as glass. 
 Kisses w ith easy whirls the bord'ring grass. 
 
 It is singular, that being so well acquainted with ' 
 this poem, Ramsay did not include it in his " Ever- 
 green." It had certainly a justcr claim to share in 
 that title, than one half of the pieces which it in- 
 cluded.
 
 POETS.— ALEXANDER HUME. 13 
 
 la the description of mid-day, we meet with some 
 interesting traits of the popular habits at the period 
 when tlie author wrote, which would seem to indicate 
 a state of comfort, vastly superior to any thing we 
 know of in our own times. The sun has reached its 
 zenith, 
 
 Nocht guided be na Phaeton, 
 
 Nor chained in a chyre ; 
 Bot by the high and holy one, 
 
 Whilk does allwhere inspire : 
 
 The labourers that timely raise. 
 
 All wearie, faint, and weake. 
 For heat, hame to their houses gaes, 
 
 Noone meate and sleepe to take. 
 
 The callour wine in caves is sought, 
 
 JMens' brothing breists to cule. 
 The water cald and cleare is broughte. 
 
 And sallads steept in ule. 
 
 Some plucks the honie plum, and peare. 
 
 The cherrie and the pesche ; 
 Some likes the reamand London beare 
 
 The bodie to refresh. 
 
 Wine and oil and " London Beer"* are rare things 
 
 * The tradition in England is, that there was no 
 malt liquor known by the appellation of beer, as dis- 
 tinguished from the ancient liquor called ale, till the 
 reign of Henry VIIL But had this been the case, 
 
 PART i.] c
 
 14 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 to be found among the comforts of Scottish labourers 
 two centuries ago ; and one cannot help suspecting 
 that the reverend author, notwithstanding his sys- 
 tematic exclusion of fiction, must, in this instance, 
 have slightly availed himself of the poetical preroga- 
 tive. He probably ascribed to the people in common, 
 luxuries which belonged only to the higher orders. 
 
 The return of animation and activity with the cool 
 of the evening is thus spiritedly delineated. 
 
 Furth fairis the flocks to seek their fude 
 
 On everie hill and plaine. 
 Ilk labourer as he thinks gude 
 
 Steppes to his turne againe. 
 
 The rayons of the sun we see 
 
 Diminish in their strength ; 
 The schade of everie tower and tree 
 
 Extended is in length. 
 
 Great is the calrae, for everie quhair 
 
 The wind is sitten downe, 
 The reik thraws right up in the air. 
 
 From everie tovver and towne. 
 
 " London Beer" could scarcely have become an arti- 
 cle of general use in Scotland within fifty years after, 
 when Hume wrote. The fact is, that beer was known 
 in England at a period much anterior to the reign of 
 Henry the Eighth. In Rymer's Foedera, (12th tome, 
 p. 4?1) there is mention made of a licence from Henry 
 YII. in 1492, to a Fleming, for exporting fifty tons 
 of ale, called " here" or " beer." a. s.
 
 POETS. — ALEXANDER HUME. 15 
 
 Their firdoning the bony birds, 
 
 In banks they do begin. 
 With pipes of reides the jolie herds 
 
 Hald up the merrie din. 
 
 The maveis and the philomeen. 
 
 The sterling whissiles lowd. 
 The cuschets on the branches green 
 
 Full qtuetly they crowd. 
 
 The twihght, or " gloamin," at length closes the 
 scene. 
 
 i 
 
 The gloamin comes, the day is spent. 
 
 The sun goes cut of sight, 
 And painted is the Occident 
 
 Witli purpour sanguine bright. 
 
 « K * * ^ 
 
 O ! then it were a seemly sight. 
 
 While all is still and calme, 
 The praise of God to play and sing 
 
 With comet and with shalrae. 
 
 But now the herds wi' mony schout 
 
 Call other be their name, 
 " Ga Billie, turn our good about. 
 
 Now time is to gae hame." 
 
 W^i' belly fu the beasts belive 
 
 Are turned fra the corn, 
 Quhilk soberly they hame ward drive, 
 
 Wi' pipe and lilting horn. 
 
 ***** 
 
 All labourers draw hame at even, 
 And can to other say, 
 c 2
 
 16 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 " Thanks to the Gracious God of Heaven 
 Quhilk sent this summer day." 
 
 The poem altogether is of an extremely pleasing 
 cast. The author paints to the eye ; and with an 
 ease which shews him to have been a fond and dili- 
 gent observer of nature. At the same time, it is im- 
 possible not to perceive marks of deficiency arising 
 from the restraint which he had imposed on himself, 
 with respect to the class of subjects, worthy of being, 
 in his opinion, included within the " right use of 
 poesy." As if it were only in external nature that 
 the Aliuighty hand is to be discovered, the affections 
 of the heart have no place in his description ; and 
 while almost every other living being is depicted, 
 woman alone is not once mentioned from the begin- 
 ning to the end of the poem. How differently has 
 Milton sung of the m()ming ! 
 
 " When the ploughman near at hand 
 Whistles o'er the furrow'd land, 
 And the milk maid singeth blithe, 
 And the mower whets his scythe ; 
 And event shepherd tells his tale 
 Under the hawthorn in the dale." 
 
 Who can be insensible to the charm which the last 
 couplet throws over the whole of this passage ? But 
 the point will not admit of argument. A " Summer's 
 Day'' without " a tale under the hawthorn," is just as 
 contrary to nature, as a Winter's day without a fire, 
 and a story by the fire-side. 
 
 Still, as already observed, Hume deserves praise for 
 setting even the limited example which he did of a
 
 POETS ALEXANDER HUME. 17 
 
 greater attention to nature tlian had before been ge- 
 neral with our poets. His example, it is true, pro- 
 duced no followers ; but that is to be ascribed partly 
 to the neglect into which the Scottish tongue and 
 Scottish poetry fell, on the removal of James the Sixth 
 to England, and partly to the civil and religious dis- 
 sentions which agitated the country, and " withered 
 the laurels on the brows of her bards." 
 
 In every age which generous spirits bore. 
 
 The muse was cherish'd, and had strength to soar ; 
 
 Disturb'd by civil tumult, she withdrew. 
 
 From cities f^r, and la}^ conceal'd from view : 
 
 So the bright passion flower, in sunshine days 
 
 Its varied colour to the light displays ; 
 
 But when the black'ning sun pours down a storm. 
 
 Close folds its leaves, and hides its radiant form ; 
 
 Nor can the careful florist then behold 
 
 Its purple lustre, and its beams of gold. 
 
 Welsted. 
 
 Beside the " Hymns or Sacred Songs," Mr. Hume 
 wrote a poem, which has never been published, on the 
 defeat of the Spanish Armada. It is entitled, " The 
 Triumph of the Lord after the maner of men," and 
 delineates a triumphal procession, similar to those of 
 the ancient Romans, in which the spoils of the con- 
 quered enemy are exhibited in succession. The open- 
 ing passage may suffice for a specimen. 
 
 Richt as the prynce of day beginnes to spring. 
 And larkes aloft raelodiouslie to sing. 
 Bring furthe all kynde of instrumentis of weir 
 To gang befoir, and raak ane noyce cleir ; 
 c 2
 
 18 LIVES OF EMINEM SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Gar trumpetis sounJe the awful battelis blast. 
 On dreadful drummes gar stryke alarum fast ; 
 Mak showting sbaliues, and peircing pliipheris sliill 
 Cleene cleave the cloods, and pierce the hiest hill, 
 Caus niichtelie the weiilie nottis breike, 
 Or Hieland pipes, Scottes and Hybemicke, 
 Let heir the shraicks of deadlie clarions, 
 And syne let off ane volie of cannons. 
 
 Leyden, who had an opportunity of seeing the 
 poem, says, that it shews considerable invention, (in 
 combination and arrangement only it is presumed,) 
 and that the versification is vigorous and flowing. 
 
 J. H.
 
 POETS.— JOHN BELLENDEN. 19 
 
 JOHN BELLENDEN. 
 
 The ascertained facts in the life of John Bellenden, 
 the poetic and elegant translator of Boece, are few, 
 and encumbered with conjectures. He was the son 
 of Thomas Bellenden, of Auchinoul, who was direc- 
 tor to the chanci^ry during the minority of James the 
 Fifth. The time and place of his birth are unknown. 
 He is supposed to have received his education in 
 France ; but for no better reason than that his 
 works are " frequently intermixed with words of Gal- 
 lic derivation." The inference from his works ought 
 rather to be the reverse, for it appears certain from 
 them, that in very early life he was employed about 
 the person of the young monarch. 
 
 And fyrst occurrit to my remembring. 
 How that I wes in service with the kyng, 
 Pat to his grace, in yeires tenderest. 
 Clerk of his Coraptis. Vertue and Vyce. 
 
 Bellenden rose into great favor with the prince, 
 and was rewarded by the appointments of Archdeacon 
 of Murray and Canon of Ross ; but we learn from 
 the same poetic authority just quoted, that he after- 
 wards lost the employments which he held in the 
 royal household, through the envy of some persons 
 of greater interest.
 
 2U LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 hie envy me from his service cast. 
 
 Be thaym that had the court in governing, 
 As bird bot plumes is herryt of her nest. 
 
 James, however, retained his personal regard for 
 Bellenden, and so strong an impression of his literary 
 talents, as to select him from all the learned men 
 about his court, to execute a task which his majesty 
 had much at heart, and which did honor to the intel- 
 ligence and patriotism of so young a prince. The 
 history of Scotland had been excellently written by 
 Hector Boethius, or Boece, but it was in the Latin 
 language, and thus a sealed book to the great mass 
 of the Scottish people. James, who was a friend to 
 the spread of information, though circumstances had 
 entangled him in an opposition to the reformed reli- 
 gion, emplo^^ed Bellenden to translate it into the 
 Scottish tongue, 
 
 the tale of our progenitours, 
 
 Their greit raanheid, wisdom, and hie honours 
 
 Quhair we may clear, as in a mirrour, see 
 
 The furious end somtymes of tyranie ; 
 Somtymes the gloir of prudent govemours. 
 
 Ilk state apprysit in thair facultie. 
 
 Vertue and T'l/ce. 
 
 The translation was completed and published in 
 1536, in folio. Bellenden introduced into it two 
 poems by himself, of considerable length ; the one 
 entitled '• The Proheme of the Cosmographie," 
 (published in the Evergreen under the title of Vertue 
 and Vyce,) and the other, " The Proheme of the 
 History ;" at the end, there is an " Epistil direckit be
 
 POETS.— JOHN BELLENDEN. 21 
 
 ye Translatoure to the Kingis Grace." His majest}^ 
 pleased with the performance, next recommended to 
 Bellenden's attention, a similar translation of Livy's 
 Roman history ; but when he had advanced the length 
 of the first five books, circumstances interfered to pre- 
 vent its completion. Bellenden had shewn himself a 
 strenuous opposer of the Reformation, and rather than 
 remain to witness its triumphs, he left the country, 
 and sought refuge at Rome, where he died, as Demp- 
 ster thinks (ut puto) in 1550. 
 
 Such is all that can, with certainty, be stated of 
 Bellenden's personal history. Dempster and other 
 writers say, that he became a doctor in his day ; and 
 Mackenzie, with still greater liberality, confers on 
 him the honor of knighthood ; there appears, how- 
 ever, to be no authority for either assumption. Bel- 
 lenden himself claims no higher title either in his 
 translation of Boece, or the fragment of that of Livy, 
 (the IMS. of which is preserved in the Advocates' 
 library') than that of plain " IMaister John Ballen- 
 den, Archdenc of Murray." The doctorship is said 
 moreover to have been of the Sorbonne ; but the as- 
 sertion is plaj'ed with in a manner which shews that 
 it is of no value. One writer tells us, that on obtain- 
 ing the archdeaconry of Moray, " he perhaps opened 
 his passage to this dignity, by taking the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity in the Sorbonne 5" and another, 
 that " as he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity 
 in Ihe Sorbonne, it may be supposed that he had pur- 
 sued a regular course of study in the university of 
 Paris." The whole is evidently mere conjecture. 
 
 Beside the works which have been mentioned, 
 Bellenden is said to have written a Treatise De Litera
 
 22 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Pxithagorce, and various other productions which have 
 fallen into oblivion. In the Hyndford MSS. in the 
 Advocates' library there are \mo copies of an unpub- 
 lished prolusion of Bellenden's on the Conception of 
 Christ ; and to the MS. translation of the five books 
 of Livy, there is prefixed a prologue of twenty stanzas.* 
 
 The translation of Boece is executed with great 
 freedom, and contains many emendations and en- 
 largements of the original text. Hoiiinshed, who has 
 published an English version of it, has used the same 
 freedom with Bellenden, which the latter did with 
 Boece, and has made several large interpolations and 
 additions out of Major Lesley and Buchanan. Hoi- 
 iinshed, or, at least his co-operator, Fr. Thinne, has far- 
 ther brought down the history to a much later period. 
 " Fr. Thinne," says the Bishop of Carlisle, " is the 
 chief author of the whole story, after the death of 
 King James the First, and the only penman of it from 
 1571 to 1586." 
 
 As a writer of original genius, Bellenden's poetical 
 productions place him in a high rank. " He was un- 
 questionably," says Dr. Campbell, " a man of great 
 parts, and one of the few poets his country had to 
 boast. As many of his works remain as fully prove 
 this, inasmuch as they are distinguished by that noble 
 enthusiasm which is the very soul of poetry." 
 
 The " Proheme of the Cosmography," or, as Allan 
 Ramsay has not inappropriately designated it, " Ver- 
 
 * The latter has been lately published, by Leyden, 
 in a note to his Introductory Dissertation to the Com- 
 playnt of Scotland. a. s.
 
 POETS. — JOHN BELLENDEN. 23 
 
 tue and Vyce," is the most pleasing of these pieces. 
 It belongs to the class of allegorical visions so common 
 to the early ages of our poetry. The author, tired 
 with the " ardent laI?our" of translation, falls asleep, 
 when his fancy transports him into the following 
 pleasing scene. 
 
 Methochtl was into a plesand mead, 
 
 Quhair Flora made the tender bluims to spread 
 
 Throw kindly dew, and humours nutritive, 
 Quhen golden Titan with his flames sae reid 
 Above the seas upraist his glorious heid, 
 
 Defoundingi down his heit restorative 
 
 To every fruit that nature made to live, 
 Whilk was afore into the winter deid 
 
 With stormis cauld, and har-frost penetrive. 
 
 A silver fountain sprang with water cleir 
 Into that place, quhair I approchit neir ; 
 
 Quhair I did sone espy a fellon reird 
 Of courtly gallants in their gayest weir. 
 Rejoicing them in season of the zeir. 
 
 As it had been of JMayis sweit day the feird. 
 
 Their gudelie havings made me nocht afFeird ; 
 With them 1 saw a crownit king appear 
 
 With tender downs arising on his beird. 
 
 Their courtly gallants sett, and their intents 
 To sing and play on divers instruments ; 
 
 According to this princis appetyte 
 Twa lady is fair came pransand owre the bents, 
 Thair costly claething shew'd their mighty rents ; 
 Quhat heart micht wish, they w anted not a myte. 
 The rubies shone upon their fingers quhyi ;
 
 24 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 And finally I knew by thair consents 
 This Vertue was, that uther hight Delyte. 
 
 The two goddesses proceed to exert all their powers 
 of persuasion to induce the prince, by whom the au- 
 thor evidently intends his young sovereign, James the 
 Fiftli, to chuse one of them " for his empress." 
 
 And first Delyte said thus : 
 
 ' Maist valiant knycht, in actions amorous. 
 
 And lustycst that ever nature wrocht, 
 Quha in the fl mr of 3'outh melifluous 
 With notes sweit, and sang melodious 
 
 Awaketh heir amang the flowirs soft ; 
 
 Thou has nae game, but in thy mirry thocht 
 My heavenly bliss is so delicious. 
 
 All wealth in card, bot it, availeth not. 
 
 This address presents so just a picture of what James 
 was in real life, that to preserve propriety of character, 
 " Delyte" must have been his choice ; but the author, 
 averse to represent him as deliberately preferring De- 
 lyte to " Vertue," especially after some excellent les- 
 sons which he puts into Virtue's mouth, thus adroitly 
 leaves the determination to be guessed at by the reader. 
 
 Phebus be this his fyrie cart did wry 
 
 Frae south to west declynand bissily. 
 To dip his steids into the westliu main. 
 
 When rysing damps ouresaild his visage dry 
 
 With vapours thick, and cluddet all the sky. 
 And NotushTym, the wind meridian 
 With wings donk, and fedders full of rain
 
 POETS. — JOHN BELLENDEN. 25 
 
 Awakent me, that I could not espy 
 
 Quhilk of the twa was for his lady tane. 
 
 The plan of this episode is defective, because it falls 
 short of what poetic justice required ; but it presents 
 a favorable specimen of the author's powers of poesy. 
 Considering the state of the language at the period at 
 which he wrote, his diction is easy, his expressions 
 rich and select, and a tone of feeling prevails, which 
 has, indeed, much of that "noble enthusiasm" ascribed 
 to the author by Dr. Campbell. 
 
 G. M N. 
 
 PART 4.]
 
 26 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 MARK ALEXANDER BOYD. 
 
 Mark Alexander Bo\d, an author of considerable 
 note among the Scottish Latin poets of the sixteenth 
 century, was the son of Robert Boyd, of Pinkill, in 
 Ayrshire. He was born on the 13th of January, 
 1562, and is said to have come with teeth into tlie 
 world. While yet a child, he lost his father, and 
 came under the care of his uncle, James Boyd, Arch- 
 bishop of Glasgow. As he grew up in years, he 
 evinced a great aversion to study, and a disposition, 
 restless, fiery, and ungovernable. Quarrelling with 
 his preceptors, he eloped to Edinburgh, in the hope 
 of pushing his way at court, by the force of 
 natural talent alone ; but it was not long till he dis- 
 covered, that fate had made no exception in his favor, 
 from the general necessity of toiling up the steeps of 
 fame. All that he acquired in this stage of his pro- 
 gress, w as the blockhead reputation of having fought 
 one duel, and been the hero of numberless broils. 
 Still, however, averse to books, he resolved to follow 
 the profession of arms ; and, furnished with a small 
 stock of mone}', went over to France, with the inten- 
 tion of entering into the service of that country. 
 Shortly after his arrival, he lost all his money at 
 dice ; and it would seem, that, with that, his military 
 passion also passed away for the time. 
 
 His misfortunes at the gaming table brought on a
 
 POETS.— MARK ALEXANDER BOYD. 27 
 fit of reflection, which gave birth to a very wise re- 
 solution, of resuming those studies which, in his 
 younger j-ears, he had so foolishly forsaken and de- 
 spised. At Paris, he studied philosophy with Am- 
 boise ; eloquence, with Passerat ; and the languages, 
 with Geuebrand. Afterwards, he went to the uni- 
 versity of Orleans, where Robertus initiated him into 
 the principles of the civil law ; but in a short time, 
 he deserted Robertus for his rival, Cujacius, of Bour- 
 ges, the most celebrated civilian of his time. With 
 Cujacius, Boyd contrived to get into high . favor. 
 The old professor had an exceeding admiration for 
 the obsolete style of Ennius, and other Roman poets 
 of the same sera ; and Boyd, as a tribute of respect to 
 this good taste, wrote some pieces in imitation of En- 
 nius, which induced Cujacius to pronounce that he was 
 formed by nature for this very species of writing • that 
 is, formed by nature to write in a language and style 
 which were a thousand years dead and gone. Lot 
 us hope, that the worthy professor did not, amidst 
 this flow of commendation, forget the means by 
 which old Ennius was inspured to write as he did. 
 
 Ermius, ipse pater, nunquam, nisi potus ad arma 
 Prosiluit dicenda. Lib. 1. Epist. 19. 
 
 Inspir'd with wine old Ennius sung, and thought 
 With the same spirit that his heroes fought. 
 
 Pitt . 
 
 To a young, and certainly not a wealthy student, a 
 bottle of the professor's Falcrnian would have been an 
 agreeable compensation for the false direction which 
 his praises served to give to his genius. 
 
 I) 2
 
 28 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Bourges being visited by the plague, Boyd took re- 
 fuge at Lyons, and the same calamity having followed 
 him thither, he afterwards fied to Italy. He formed 
 here a familiar acquaintance with one Cornelius Va- 
 rus, a Florentine ; to whom, as he used often to de- 
 clare, he was more indebted in his literary pursuits 
 than to any other person in the world. If extrava- 
 gant flattery could be admitted to form part of the 
 character of a useful Mentor, there would be no 
 doubt of Varus's claim to the title. In some verses 
 of his which are extant, he asserts, that his friend 
 Boyd surpassed Buchanan, and all other British 
 poets, in a greater degree than Virgil surpassed Lu- 
 cretius, Catullus, and all other Roman poets ! A fit 
 of the ague compelled Boyd, after a short time, to 
 bid adieu to Italy and his Varus, and to return to 
 Lyons. 
 
 The civil w ar breaking out in France, revived in the 
 breast of Boyd, that military ardour which had 
 brought him to the continent, but had till now been 
 suffered to remain dormant. He joined the army 
 which came from Germany to the assistance of the 
 Bourbons, but it was unfortunately destroyed before 
 he had an opportunity of gathering a single laurel. 
 A shot in the ankle, obtained in some bush fighting 
 with the peasantry, was the only mark which he re- 
 tained of perils past. 
 
 Boyd now retired to Thoulouse, and resumed the 
 study of the civil law. The faction of the League, 
 however, soon after obtained possession of this place ; 
 and Boyd, for his short campaign in the royal cause, 
 was thrown into prison. Through the interposition of 
 some learned friends, he was soon released ; went to
 
 POETS. — MARK ALEXANDER BOYD. 29 
 
 Bourdcaux, which he did not like ; removed to Ro- 
 chelle, which he liked worse ; and, finally, settled in 
 an agreeable rural retreat on the borders of Poictou, 
 where he gave up his chief attention to the study of 
 polite literature. 
 
 Remembrances of home would, however, often in- 
 trude on this retirement, and, at length, produced a 
 resolution of returning to Scotland. He arrived there 
 in safety, but did not long survive his return, dying 
 of a slow fever in April, 1601, at Pinkill, the family 
 seat, in the 39th year of his age. 
 
 The merits (jf Boyd are thus depicted by a con- 
 temporary, whose manuscript fell into the hands of 
 Sir Robert Sibbald. " In his person, he was tall and 
 well proportioned ; he had a handsome, sprightly, 
 and engaging countenance, and in his discourse, as- 
 pect, voice, and gesture, there was something singu- 
 larly noble. He was polite, pleasant, acute, cour- 
 ' teous, a ready speaker, and entirely free from envy 
 and avarice. He could easily bear with the jaoasting 
 of the ignorant, but he disliked the coarse and abu- 
 sive manner of writing which prevailed among the 
 learned of his time. He thought it unworthy of a 
 Christian, in a literary contest, to throw out any 
 thing which should hurt the reputation of an adver- 
 sary. In injuries of an atrocious nature, he chose to 
 do himself justice by having recourse to the laws of 
 arras. Among the antients, Xenophon was his fa- 
 vourite as a philosopher, Ceesar as an historian, and 
 Virgil as a poet. So admirably was he skilled in the 
 Greek language, that he could write, dictate, and 
 converse in it, with copiousness and elegance. He 
 despised the centos then much in vogue, and said.
 
 30 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 that the authors of them, however learned, were duli 
 and ignorant men. To an excellent genius, he joined 
 a happy memory and an admirable judgement. So 
 lively and extensive were his abilities, that he could 
 dictate to three scribes in as many dilFerent languages 
 and upon different subjects. Besides his Epistles, 
 after the manner of Ovid, and his Hymns, he wrote 
 a variety of Latin poems that never saw the light. 
 He was the author of notes upon PHny, and published 
 an excellent little book, addressed to Lipsius, in de- 
 fence of Cardinal Bembo and antient eloquence. 
 He translated, likewise, Cjesar's Commentaries into 
 Greek, in the style of Herodotus, but would not per- 
 mit his translation to be made public. He afterwards 
 applied to the cultivation of poetry in his native 
 language, and attained to such excellence in it, that 
 he deserved to be placed on a level with Petrarch and 
 Ronsard. In all his compositions, he displayed more 
 genius than labour. So great were the elevation of 
 his mind and strength of his ambition, that he always 
 aimed at greater things than he could attain, and 
 hence he neglected several opportunities of being 
 advantageously settled, and led a wandering kind of 
 life abroad during fourteen jears." 
 
 There is a good deal of the Varus in this account ; 
 but making every allowance for the partiality of 
 friendship, we must still recognize in it many admi- 
 rable traits of character, combined, however, with 
 habits which furnish some reason to Pinkerton for 
 saying, that Boyd was rather " a rambling literary 
 charlatan, than a man of genius." Among the manu- 
 scripts which he left behind him, the following came 
 into Sir Richard Sibbald's possession. " In Institu-
 
 roETS. — MARK ALEXANDER BOYD. 31 
 tioncs Imperatoris Coiumenta," l59l. " L' Etat du 
 Ro;yaume d'Escosse a present." " Politicus, ad Jo- 
 anneni Metellanum, Cancellariiim Scotiae." " Scrip- 
 turn de Juris Consulto, ad Franciscum Balduinum." 
 " Poeta ad Cornelium Varum, Florentinum." " Poe- 
 mata Varia"and" Epistote." The " Epistolae" and 
 the " Hj'mni," (part of the " Poemata Yaria,") are in- 
 serted in the " Deliciae Poetarum Scotorum." Of his 
 translation of Cajsar's Commentaries into Greek, and 
 the poems in his native tongue, which are said to have 
 placed him " on a level with Petrarch andRonsard," 
 there appears to ^e no trace. We probably suffer little 
 from the want of the former ; but it is a matter of real 
 regret, that such reputed treasures as his Scottish poems 
 should have been lost to tlie language. The " Ex- 
 cellent little book," addressed to Lipsius in defence 
 of Bcmbo, and antient eloquence, is not known among 
 the bibliomaniacs of this country ; but may very 
 likely still slumber on the shelves of some continental 
 libraries. Among the unpublished MSS., Dr. Leyden 
 takes notice of one on plants, as " a work of consi- 
 derable elegance and poetical merit, which deserves 
 to be inserted in any future edition of the " Deliciae 
 Poetarum Scotorum." " This author," he adds, 
 " has combined the mythological history of plants 
 with their description, but seldom alludes to their 
 medical qualities. The titles of his poems are, 1. 
 Rosa ; 2. Viola ; 3. Lilium ; 4. Hyacinthus ; 5. Pa- 
 paver ; 6. Petilius ; 7. Nardus ; 8. Thymbra ; 9. 
 Linum ; 10. Calendula ; 11. Iris ; 12. Crocus.*" 
 
 * Preface to " the Coraplaynt of Scotland."
 
 32 LIVES or EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 It may be proper to remark, that the title of 
 " Hymni," given by Boyd to one branch of his po- 
 ems, does not imply, as it may seem to do, that they 
 are of a devotional nature. They are on various sub- 
 jects, and none of them devotional. One of them is 
 addressed to Patrick Shavpe, one of his old preceptors 
 at Glasgow, and in terms of affection and gratitude, 
 which form some atonement for the refractoriness of 
 his youth. 
 
 Te duce, si primum Pamassi comua vidi 
 
 Ac Aganippaj perfudi labra liquore, 
 
 Non tantum voces, non triti carmen amici. 
 
 Nee tenuem florem nee olentis brachia thymbra, et 
 
 Accipito, banc animam, mequc intra pictora condc. 
 
 A. B.
 
 POETS.— NINIAN PATERSON. 33 
 
 NINIAN PATERSON. 
 
 Among the staunch royalists of Scotland, just pre- 
 vious to the revolution, Ninian Paterson, minister of 
 Liberton church, holds a prominent station. He 
 styles himself " Glasguensis," and is supposed, with 
 some appearance of probability, to have been a rela- 
 tion of John Paterson, Bishop of Galloway, after- 
 wards Archbishop of Glasgow, to whom he addressed 
 several poems, in a collection, which he published 
 in 1678, under the title of " Epigrammatum libri 
 octo cum aliquot psalmonum paraphrasi poetica." 
 The greater number of these epigrams relate to mo- 
 ral or scriptural subjects, and have little of the epi- 
 grammatic character beyond the name. Many of 
 them derive an extrinsic interest from commemora- 
 ting, among other remarkable contemporaries of the 
 author, 
 
 " Names once known, now dubious or forgot." 
 
 In point of language, they are superior to the ge- 
 neral order of tramontane Latinity, and shew fre- 
 quently considerable energy both in thought and 
 expression. At the end of the collection, there is 
 an English version of a Latin ode, by Florence Wil- 
 son, published in his Treatise De Tranquilitate AnimcE. 
 The following stanza may serve as a specimen : 
 IMella absynthia non dabunt 
 Uvas nee tribulus ; sic mala gaudia
 
 34 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Vitse qui sequitur brevis 
 In fructum petit ex arbore non sua. 
 
 Thus translated by Paterson : 
 
 As sure no honey from the wormwood drops, 
 Nor berries on the prickled thistle grows ; 
 
 So he, who, from this short life, pleasure hopes, 
 He seeks the fruit that this tree never knows. 
 
 During the troubles which agitated the latter years 
 of the reign of Charles the Second, Paterson appears 
 to have thought, that his majesty followed measures 
 of too indulgent -a character, and gave vent to his 
 spleen in a sort of rhyming diary of his opinions, 
 which he published in 1679, under the title of "The 
 Fanatick Indulgence." Prefixed to it, there was an 
 Epistle to James Duke of Albany, afterwards James 
 II. ; and at the close, a Welcome to His Royal High- 
 ness, to Scotland. The duke, was a prince whose con- 
 duct suited better than that of the easy Charles, with 
 the parson of Liberton's views of public policy ; and 
 we need not, therefore, be surprised to find him ex- 
 claiming, 
 
 AH my desire, great sir, is, that I may 
 
 Live, like an atom, in the radiant ray 
 
 Of your life-giving heart and glorious light, 
 
 Whose crisping spires ma}* make me warm and bright. 
 
 Ttie " Fanatic Indulgence," as appears from the 
 preliminary epistle to the Duke of Albany, had re- 
 mained for a considerable time, in the author's hands, 
 unpublished.
 
 POETS. — NINIAN PATERSON. 35 
 
 • Great sir, this poem still conceal'd have I, 
 I Till time hath christen'd it a prophecy ; 
 
 Indulgence, now unmask'd, strives to tryst 
 
 • With John of Leyden against Antichrist. 
 
 ' This is the Trojan house, wherein there lies 
 ' Catsbie and Vaulx, with new conspiracies ; 
 'This the Shaftsburian-crocodile his blind, 
 To hire the Scots rogues to English commons' minds. 
 The poem itself is a coarse and intemperate pro- 
 duction. The author thus rates the king for his at- 
 tachment to the unkingly virtue of " tame mercie." 
 When now my loyal subjects looked for 
 ISomeHalcyonian days, the tempests roar ; 
 ; And to our eyes, on every rising wave, 
 1 Death sits in triumph, and presents a grave : 
 [And in the midst of our despaires and fears, 
 iTears drown our sighs, and sighs dry up our tears. 
 'We are like Job's, these nineteene years perplext, 
 Betwixt distractions, and destructions vext : 
 ***** 
 
 ***** 
 [f antient sages' saws with you have credite ; 
 
 jlo spare a vice, it is the way to spread it. 
 
 jraine mercie is the breast that suckles vice, 
 
 [Till, hydra-like, her heads she multiplies. 
 
 ;In sparing thieves and murderers, all see 
 
 I A. private favour's public injurie ; 
 
 ;'5hould pitie spare, and let the gangrene spread, 
 
 'Until the bodie's wholly putrified? 
 
 !\Vhat surgeon would do this, but he that's mad ? 
 
 'He's cruel to the good, who spares the bad ! 
 
 Paterson's English poetry is much inferior to his
 
 36 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Latin ; and he did well, when bidding adieu to the 
 Muses in the following lines, to return to the lansuao^e 
 in which he \vooed them with most success. 
 
 Sat musis nugisque datum, suspendo sacratis 
 Jam Libertonae barbita muta tholis, 
 
 Musa, Vale ! quendam leximen dulce labor um 
 Posthac nee votis solicitanda meis. 
 
 1 
 
 The intolerant spirit manifested by Paterson ap- 
 pears to have provoked the ire of the puritanical 
 part}', b}- whom his character has, more in the spirit 
 of revenge than of truth, been severely assailed. In 
 a work, entitled " An Answer to Scots Presbyterian 
 Eloquence displayed," he is branded as a hypocrite 
 in religion, and a profligate in manners ; but, if we 
 ma}' judge from his works, no calumny could be 
 more unfounded. His sentiments, though mingled 
 with a great deal of prejudice and bad temper, are 
 in the main those of a man of piety and virtue. 
 
 T. K.
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM WILKIE. 37 
 
 Dr. AVILKIE. 
 
 William Wilkie was the son of a respectable 
 farmer in the parish of Dalraeny, in the county of 
 Linlithgow ; and born on the 5lh of October, 1721. 
 After receiving a common school education, he was 
 sent at the ago of 14 to the university of Edinburgh ; 
 but ere he had completed his academical course his 
 father died : leaving the charge of the farm, and the 
 protection of a mother and three sisters, to devolve 
 upon the young student. From the near vicinage of 
 Edinburgh, and the laxity of attendance permitted by 
 the usages of Scottish universities, he was however 
 enabled both to carry on the business of the farm, 
 and to continue his collegiate appearances till he ob- 
 tained the degree of licentiate in the Scottish church. 
 While yet a youth, Wilkie is said to have shewn 
 strong indications of poetic talent. In the statistical 
 account of the parish of Dalraeny, there is a copy 
 of some indiiferent verses On a Storm, alleged to have 
 been written by him when in his tenth year. Dr. Gleig, 
 in the life of Wilkie which he has inserted in the Sup- 
 plement * to the Encyclopedia Britannica, inclines to 
 regard this as " a story fabricated to raise the Scottish 
 poet to the same eminence witli Pope, whose versifica- 
 tion he is allowed to have imitated with success." He 
 
 ^ First Supplement. 
 PART 4.] E
 
 38 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 does not doubt that Wilkie wrote these verses during 
 some part of his earl-j life ; but he thinks it improba- 
 ble that they were written so early as his tenth year, 
 because he " displays a notion, a confused notion 
 indeed, of the laws of electricity, which a boy in 
 his tenth year, and at a period when electricity 
 was little understood, could nut have acquired." 
 The propriety of this remark is strongly confirmed 
 by an interesting fact, of which Dr. G. was cer- 
 tainly not aware, which at once accounts for young 
 Wilkie's confused knowledge of electricity, and fixes 
 the period when he acquired it. The Professor of 
 Xatural Philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, 
 at the time when Wilkie went through his academical 
 course, was the celebrated Colin Maclaurin ; and 
 among other mysteries of nature which he unfolded 
 to his students, none was more important, or attended 
 with more remarkable circumstances, than that of the 
 phenomenon just alluded to. Mr. Maclaurin had 
 tw o classes : a public class, to w hich all had access ; 
 and a private one, consisting of a select number of the 
 students, of better parts and more inquisitive minds 
 than ordinary, to whom he lectured on the higher 
 parts of philosophy. At a meeting of the latter class 
 one evening, the Professor informed them that he had 
 just received a letter from a learned friend of his on 
 the continent; containing, as he said, discoveries in 
 Natural Philosophy, which were of so extraordinary 
 and whimsical a nature, that he could give no man- 
 ner of credit to them ; and could only conclude that 
 the judgement of his worthy friend was failing, and that 
 he had communicated the reveries of an infected imagi- 
 nation as discoveries in science. He then produced
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM WILKIE. 39 
 
 the letter, and read, how, that in the neighbour- 
 hood of the place where the writer lived, it had been 
 discovered, that by turning a glass globe quickly 
 round upon its axis, and at the same time rubbing it 
 upon certain substances, it was heard to crackle and 
 seen to emit sparks of fire; that if any person touched it 
 at that time he suffered a violent shock, and seemed 
 to have received a blow upon the wrists ; with many 
 other things to the same purpose, which now rank 
 among the most ordinary phenomena of electricity. 
 Mr. Maclaurin observed, that though strongly per- 
 suaded, that th^ey were mere chimeras of imagination 
 instead of facts, as his friend affirmed, yet as the ope- 
 rations of nature were sometimes very extraordinary, 
 and as he had on every former occasion found his 
 friend a very sober sensible man, not ready to be 
 misled b^^ false appearances, he would not reject as a 
 fiction any thing which he had asserted, till he had 
 given it a fair trial ; and as he had described in a very 
 particular manner the apparatus necessary for pro- 
 ducing such singular effects, he would cause one of the 
 machines to be made in a short time, and repeat the expe- 
 riment. This ho accordingly did. Buthowgreatwashis 
 surprise to find, that upon trial, all the experiments turn- 
 ed out exactly as they had been described ! He immedi- 
 ately called together his students; reminded them of his 
 former incredulity ; repeated the experiments before 
 them, and shewed them how much he had been mistaken, 
 and what inj ustice he had done his ingenious friend. He 
 concluded with warning all those who heard him to profit 
 by the lesson which this occurrence afforded, andnever to 
 reckon any thing which was delivered as a new discovery 
 impossible, however improbable it might appear, till 
 e2
 
 40 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 they had given it the fairest trial. Nor did Mr. 
 Maclaurin rest here. He went to bis public class, 
 which bad as yet heard notiiing of the discovery, and 
 revealed to his younger students all that had passed 
 on the subject. To which class Wilkie belonged, does 
 not appear ; but from the profound knowledge of Na- 
 tural Philosophy which he displayed in after life, it is 
 probable that he ranked among the select few. In either 
 case, his mind must have been struck with a discovery, 
 made and communicated under circumstances so pe- 
 culiar ; and nothing was more natural, than, that on 
 returning home, the " confused notion," (for as yet 
 it could be nothing more,) which he had acquired on 
 the subject of electricity, should have found its way 
 into a poetical effusion, which begins with asking, 
 
 What penetrating mind can rightly form 
 A faint idea of a raging storm ? 
 Who can express, of elements the war. 
 And noisy thunder roaring from afar ? 
 
 The production of the poem, according to this expla- 
 nation, must be referred to his fifteenth, or sixteenth, 
 or probably seventeenth year; written it certainly 
 was, in the course of that period, and not earlier. 
 
 Among the friends whom Wilkie acquired at col- 
 lege, he had the pleasure of ranking Robertson, Hume, 
 Home, Fergusson, and Adam Smith, all names of 
 the first renown in Scottish literature. In his esti- 
 mate of their relative merits, he used to give the pre- 
 ference for sound judgment to Robertson, and for in- 
 vention to Adam Smith. The latter ascription has 
 surprised most people. It would seem that Wilkie 
 had mistaken the mereh' metaphysical ingenuity.
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM WILKIE. 41 
 
 which gave birth to the Theory of Moral Sentiments, 
 for that power of producing new images and new 
 combinations, to which the name of invention more 
 properly belongs. Instead of excelling his compeers, 
 there was scarcel}'^ one of them to whom Smith was 
 not inferior in this respect. With Hume and Home, 
 at least, he can hold no competition. 
 
 After obtaining his licence as a preacher of the 
 Gospel, Mr. Wilkie withdrew entirely to Dalmeny, 
 there to await such ecclesiastical preferment as fortune 
 might have in store for him ; assisting only occasion- 
 ally in some neighbouring churches, and devoting his 
 chief attention to the labours of the farm, while poe- 
 try and philosophy occupied his leisure hours. Ten 
 years had passed away in this humble sort of life, 
 when he happened to be called upon to perform divine 
 service in the church of Ratho ; the charge of 
 which was then vacant. Among his hearers on the 
 occasion was the Datron of the living, the Earl of 
 Lauderdale. His lordship was so much pleased with 
 the style in which the young probationer acquitted 
 himself in the pulpit, that after the service of the 
 day was over, he invited him to dine with him at the 
 family seat of Hatton ; and to stay there all night. 
 
 The favourable impression which his lordship had con- 
 ceived ofWilkie, was greatly heightened by their inter- 
 view ; he found in his guest a man of agreeable, though 
 somewhat eccentric manners, and of various and pro- 
 found information. Pleased that his patronage placed 
 it in his power to raise so worthy an individual 
 from obscurity, his lordship, next morning, presented 
 Wilkie with the presentation to the vacant living. 
 
 Almost immediately after his induction to the pas-
 
 42 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 loral charge of the parish of Ratho, 1753, Mr. 
 Wilkie published at Edinburgh, an epic poem, which 
 had been the fruit of his previous years of contempla- 
 tive retirement. It was entitled " The Epigoniad," 
 and extended to nine books. In Scotland the work 
 was well received ; but in England it met with few 
 readers, and was rather severely handled by the Cri- 
 tical and Monthly Reviewers. The subject of the poem 
 is drawn from the fourth Iliad, where Sthenelus gives 
 Agamemnon a short account of the sacking of Thebes. 
 
 when the youth of Greece, by Theseus led, 
 
 Retum'd to conquer where their fathers bled. 
 
 These young heroes were known to the Greeks 
 under the name of the Epigoni, or descendants, and 
 for this reason, the author has given to the poem the 
 title of Epigoniad ; a name most unfortunately chosen, 
 for as the circumstance from which it was derived was 
 known only to a very few of the learned, the public 
 were not able to conjecture what could be the subject 
 of the poem, and felt little solicitous to inquire after 
 what suggested nothing to expectation. A tradition 
 remained among the Greeks, that Homer had taken 
 Thebes for the subject of a poem, which is lost, and 
 Wilkie seems to have pleased himself with the thought 
 of reviving the work, as w^ell as of treading in the 
 footsteps of the Grecian bard. Had he possessed all 
 the genius however which was requisite for the task, 
 there was a want of policy in undertaking it ; tlie 
 subject and the name were alike infelicitous. It is 
 not in any modern production that tlie learned will 
 choose to retrace the manners and actions of those 
 heroes, whom Homer and Virgil have immortalized ;
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM WILKIE. 43 
 
 and the world at large could be expected to feel little 
 interest in anv new addition to scenes and characters, 
 so different from those with which they are familiar, 
 and so far removed from their own times. Accord- 
 ingly, the Epigoniad, though possessed of great merit 
 as an Epic, and rich in poetic charms, entirely- failed 
 in exciting general interest. The sale of the poem 
 among the author's friends in Scotland, having never- 
 theless exhausted the first edition, a second was 
 published in 1759, to which was added a Dream in 
 the manner of Spenser. A very generous effort was 
 at the same tirap made to recall the attention of the 
 public to its merits, by Wilkie's old fellow student, 
 Hume, who published a letter to the editors of the 
 " Critical Review," in which he appealed against 
 their former condemnation of the work, and expatiated 
 at great length and with much fervor of encomium 
 upon its beauties. He represented it as a work 
 abounding in " sublime beauties," and as " one of 
 the ornaments of our language." Among the spe- 
 cimens by which he illustrated his criticism, he refer- 
 red particularly to the Episode on the death of Her- 
 cules, in the seventh book, as exhibiting a sublimity of 
 imagination and energy of style which entitle it to 
 compare wiih any poetry in the English language. 
 " Nothing," he adds, " can be more pathetic than 
 the complaint of Hercules, when the poison of the 
 Centaur's robe begins to prey upon him." As tlie pas- 
 sage is perhaps the best in the poem, and may serve 
 both to shew the degree of discrimination which Hume 
 mingled with his praise, and to furnish a fair idea of 
 Wilkie's capacity as a poet, the repetition of the quo- 
 tation will not, it is hoped, be deemed out of place.
 
 44 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Sov'reign of heav'n and earth ! whose boundless sway 
 
 The fates of men and mortal things obey. 
 
 If e'er delighted, from the courts above. 
 
 In human form you sought Alcraene's love ; 
 
 If fame's unchanging voice to all the earth 
 
 With truth proclaims you, author of raj^ birth ; 
 
 "Whence, from a course of spotless glory run. 
 
 Successful toils and wreaths of triumph won, 
 
 Am I thus wretched ? Better that, before. 
 
 Some monster fierce had drank my streaming gore, 
 
 Or crush'd by Cacus, foe to Gods and men, 
 
 M}^ batter'd brains had strew'd his rocky den ; 
 
 Than, from m^' glorious toils and triumphs past, 
 
 To fall subdu'd by female arts at last. 
 
 O cool my boiling blood, ye winds that blow 
 
 From mountains loaded with eternal snow. 
 
 And crack the icy clitFs • in vain ! in vain ! 
 
 Your rigour cannot quench my raging pain ! 
 
 For round this heart the furies wave their brands, 
 
 And wring my entrails with their burning hands. 
 
 Now, bending from the skies, O wife of Jove ! 
 
 Enjoy the vengeance of thy injur'd love : 
 
 For fate, by me, the thund'rer's guilt atones, 
 
 And, punish'd in her son, Alcmene groans : — 
 
 Tlie object of your hate shall soon expire ; 
 
 Fix'd on my shoulders, preys a net of fire ; 
 
 Whom, nor the toils nor dangers could subdue. 
 
 By false Euryslheus dictated from you ; 
 
 IS^or tyrants lawless, nor the monstrous brood 
 
 Which haunts the desert or infests the flood ; 
 
 !N'or Greece, nor all the barb'rous climes that lie 
 
 Where Phoebus ever points his golden eye,
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM WlLKIE. 45 
 
 A woman hath o'erlhrown ! Ye Gods ! I 3'ield 
 To female arts, unconquer'd in the field. 
 M3' arms — alas ! are these the same that bow'd 
 Anteus, and his giant force subdu'd ? 
 That dragged Xcmea's monster from his den ? 
 And slew the dragon in his native fen ? 
 Alas ! alas ! their mighty muscles fail. 
 While pains infernal ev'ry nerve assail : 
 Alas ! alas ! I feel in streams of woe 
 These eyes dissolve, before untaught to flow. 
 Awake, my virtue, oft in dangers try'd, 
 Patient in toils, in deaths unterrify'd. 
 Rouse to my aid ; nor let my labours past 
 With fame achiev'd, be blotted by the last. 
 Firm and unmov'd, the present shock endure ; 
 Once triumph, and for ever rest secure. 
 
 Mr. Hume, in the same letter, thus speaks of the 
 '♦ Dream in the manner of Spenser," which Wilkie 
 had appended to the second edition of the Epigoniad. 
 " The poet supposes himself to be introduced to Ho- 
 mer, who censures his poem in some particulars, and 
 excuses it in others. This poem is indeed a species 
 of apology for the Epigoniad, written in a very lively 
 and elegant manner : it may be compared to a well- 
 polished gem of the purest water, and cast into the 
 most beautiful form. Those who would judge of our 
 author's talents for poetry, without perusing his larger 
 work, may satisfy their curiosity bj^ running over this 
 short poem. They will see the same force of imagi- 
 nation and harmony of numbers which distinguish his 
 longer performance ; and may thence, with small ap-
 
 46 LIVES OF EMINEM SCOTSMEN. 
 
 plication, receive a favourable impression of our au- 
 thor's genius." 
 
 Nolnithstanding this ardent tribute from friendly 
 criticism, and the great weight of Hume's authoritv, 
 there appears to have been in tlie Epigoniad a gra- 
 vitating tendency, which no praise could counteract. 
 The poem continued, as before, little read, and has 
 become every day less and less known. Mr. Chalmers 
 has indeed included it among his " Works of the Eng- 
 lish Poets ;" but with a qualification which deprives 
 the compliment of all value, and does upon the whole 
 little credit to his independence of opinion. " As I 
 have nothing (he says) to oppose to the neglect with 
 which Wilkie's poems have been treated, I hope 1 
 shall be pardoned for inserting Mr, Hume's very 
 elaborate criticism, whatever effect it may produce." 
 The plain truth after all, is, that the Epigoniad, though 
 distinguished by great powers of invention, by a per- 
 fectly intimate acquaintance with what we may be 
 allowed to call classic costume, by strength though not 
 ease of diction, and by frequent shooting lights which 
 remind one of the presence of perpetual day, is not 
 altogetlicr such a poem as persons will read, who read 
 with any other purpose than that of reading them- 
 selves asleep. 
 
 In 1759, Mr. Wilkie was elected Professor of Na- 
 tural Philosophy in the University of St. Andrew's. 
 On removing thither, he took his sisters to reside with 
 him and attend to his domestic affairs. At this pe^ 
 riod his whole fortune did not exceed £200. With 
 this sum he purchased a fesv acres of almost waste 
 land, in the neighbourhood of St. Andrew's ; but by
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM WILKIE. 47 
 
 his skill in husbandry speedily brought them into a 
 state of cultivation, which was the surprise and envy 
 of his neighbours. As a teacher, he is said to have 
 displayed great knowledge of science, with an easy 
 and familiar mode of illustration, which fixed the at- 
 tention as well as the regard of his pupils. He was, 
 at the same time, extremely close in his mode of rea- 
 soning ; and to those who came to his lectures without 
 a sufficient preparation of geometry, and habits of 
 strict attention, it was apt to appear obscure. 
 
 In 1766, the University of St. Andrew's con- 
 ferred upon Mr. Wilkie the degree of Doctor in 
 Divinity. 
 
 After a long estrangement from the Muses, he pro- 
 duced, in 1768, a small collection of " Fables," which 
 he dedicated to his early patron, the Earl of Lauder- 
 dale. Although superior in merit to his Epigoniad, 
 they were attended with even less success. They were 
 obvious imitations of the manner of Gay ; but though 
 not always original, were distinguished by a propriety 
 of sentiment and ease of expression, which even Gay 
 has not often excelled. Sensible of the objection 
 which existed to the want of novelty in his precepts, 
 the author has thus endeavoured to obviate it : 
 
 You say 'tis vain in verse or prose 
 To tell what ever^^ body knows. 
 And stretch invention to express 
 Plain truths, which all men will confess : 
 Go on, the argument to mend. 
 Prove that to know, is to attend. 
 And that we ever keep in sight 
 What reason tells us once is right ;
 
 48 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Till this is done, you must excuse 
 The zeal and freedom of my muse. 
 In hinting to the human kind 
 What few deny, but fewer mind. 
 
 To these sensible arguments, it may be added, that 
 some are formed to propose new maxims, whilst others 
 find themselves more fitted to illustrate those already 
 received. Nor is it easy to be determined who con- 
 tributes most to the interests of morality, the indivi- 
 dual who advances new maxims, which, on account 
 of that very novelty, are likely to lueet with oppo- 
 sition ; or he, who, adopting positions universally 
 assented to, is at more leisure to decorate them with 
 the cliarms of ornamented diction and brilliancy of 
 fancy. 
 
 Of these Fables, one of the best is " The liare and 
 the Parian* ;" the chief design of which, the author 
 tells us, was " to give a true specimen of the Scottish 
 dialect, where it may be supposed to be most perfect, 
 namely, in Midlothian, the seat of the capital." The 
 style is precisely that of the vulgar Scottish ; and that 
 the matter might be suitable to it, the poet has chosen 
 for the subject, a little story adapted to the ideas of 
 peasants. It is a tale commonh' told in Scotland 
 among the country people, and may be looked upon 
 as of the kind of those aniles fahella, in which Horace 
 observes, his country neighbours were accustomed to 
 convc}' Iheir rustic philosophy. After proposing the 
 moral, that no creature is so contemptible as to be 
 safely made the object of derision, the author pro- 
 ceeds ; 
 
 * Crab.
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM WILKIE. 49 
 
 Ye hae my moral, if I am able 
 I'll fit it nicely wi' a fable. 
 A hare, ae morning chanc'd to see 
 A partan creeping on a lee, 
 A fishwife wha was early oot 
 Had drapt the creature thereabout. 
 Mawkin bumbas'd and frighted sair 
 To see a thing but hide and hair,* 
 Which if it stur'd not, might be laen 
 For naething ither than a stane, 
 A squnt-vvise wambling, sair beset 
 Wi' gerse and rashes like a net. 
 First thoughl: to rin for't (for bi kind 
 A hare's nae fechter ye maun mind). 
 But seeing that wi' a' its strength 
 It scarce could creep a tether length, 
 The hare grew baulder and cam near^ 
 Turn'd playsome, and fargat her fear. 
 Quoth Mawkin, " Was there ere in nature 
 Sae feckless and sae poor a creature ? 
 It scarcely kens, or I'm mistaen. 
 The way to gang or stand its lane. 
 See how it steitterst ; I'll be bund 
 To rin a mile of up-hill grund 
 Before it gets a rig-braid frae 
 The place its in, though doon the brae." 
 
 IMawkin wi' this began to frisk. 
 An' thinkin there was little risk, 
 Clapt baith her feet on partan's back. 
 And tum'd him awald^ in a crack. 
 
 * Without hide and hair. tStaggers. |Topsy turvy. 
 
 PAllT 4.] F
 
 60 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSiMEN. 
 
 To see the creature sprawl, her sport 
 Grew twice as good, j^et prov'd but short. 
 For, patting wi' her fit in pla^-, 
 Just whar the partan's nippers lay, 
 He gript it fast, which made her squeel 
 And think she bourded wi' the deil ; 
 She strave to rin, and made a fistle. 
 The tither catch'd a tough bur thrisle 
 Wliich held them baith till o'er a dyke 
 A herd carae stending* wi' his tyket, 
 And fell'd poor Mawkin, sarely ruing 
 Whan forc'd to drink of her ain bre^vin'. 
 
 The success of " the Fables" would probably have 
 been less indifferent, had they turned less on the au- 
 thor's personal disappointment as an Epic writer. 
 The greater part of them are undisguised hits at the 
 critics, for not discovering in his Epigoniad a merit 
 which it did not possess. The public saw with pain 
 this carping at a judgement which they had so fully 
 confirmed, and shewed, by a continuance of their dis- 
 favour, the folly of contemning general opinion. Dr. 
 Wilkie seems to have sat for his own picture in one of 
 his Fables, TJie Young Lady and the Looking Glass : 
 
 To bid 30ur friend his errors mend 
 Is almost certain to olFend ; 
 Though you in softest terms advise, 
 Confess him good, admit him wise, 
 In vain you sweeten the discourse — 
 He thinks you call him fool, or worse. 
 
 Leaping. f ^og.
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM VVILKIE. 51 
 
 And tj have forgot the parting reproof in his Dia- 
 logue between " The Author and a Friend :" 
 
 Then take your yys.y, 'tis folly to contend 
 
 With those who're told tlieirfaults, but will notniend. 
 
 Dr. Wilkie had almost all his life been subject to 
 ague, and, in order to escape its visitations, he fell 
 into habits which were ultimately the means of short- 
 ening his days. To keep up a perspiration, he lay in 
 bed under a load of no fewer than twenty-four 
 blankets ; and to avoid all chance of the cold damp, 
 he never slept from home without requesting to be 
 indulged with b^d-linen previously used by some of the 
 family ! When he went out, he wore several flannel 
 jackets, waistcoats, and top coat, and over all a great 
 coat and gown, presenting altogether a grotesque 
 magnitude of appearance. His frame became, by this 
 system of living, rapidly debilitated, and after a lin- 
 gering illness, he died en the 10th October, 1772, in 
 his fifty-second year. 
 
 Although Wilkie commenced his professorship with 
 only £200, he is said to have died worth £3000, 
 accumulated in the course of thirteen 3-ears by par- 
 simonious living. His character in this res-pect has, 
 however, been well vindicated by those who knew 
 him intimately. " Much of his life," it is truly said, 
 " Avas spent in poverty ; and a strong sense of the 
 value of independence induced him to become saving 
 as soon as he could spare any thing from his imme- 
 diate wants, and the necessity of his sisters, for whom 
 he appears to have provided with all the affectionate 
 concern of a parent. By avoiding the expenses of 
 hospitality in a hospitable country, he incurred the 
 f2
 
 52 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 suspicion of avarice ; but he was known to be liberal 
 to the poor, and ought not to be blamed if he pre- 
 ferred the silent dictates of his heart to the ostenta- 
 tious fashion of society." It is said by another 
 authority, that " he was in the habit of spending 
 very considerable sums to relieve poor housekeepers 
 struggling under the oppression of poverty," and tliat 
 " in the most private manner he used to exact a pro- 
 raise of secrecy from those who were the objects of 
 his bounty." 
 
 The manners of Dr. Wilkie, in private life, were 
 altogether extremely eccentric. The bulk of dress 
 which helped to ruin his constitution, was relieved by 
 no sort of elegance or attention ; his clothes seemed 
 as if thrown upon him by a pitchfork, and as if a 
 brush they never knew ; his wig was always awry ; 
 and such was his habitual carelessness of appearances, 
 that when a preacher, he would even forget when in 
 the pulpit to take his hat off his head : add to these 
 circumstances, that he used tobacco to excess, and the 
 picture of a moving piece of dusty lumber will be 
 complete. 
 
 His fits of musing were man}-, and contributed un- 
 doubtedly, in no small degree, to confirm his habits 
 of negligence ; they made him often ridiculous in 
 private society, and something still worse in public. 
 When any thing risible occurred to him in these silent 
 dreamings, he would, without saying a word, and in 
 whatever company', burst into a loud fit of laughter, 
 which he afterwards explained as well as he could, 
 and, as may be expected, seldom happily. At the 
 connvial table, such absences were only calculated to 
 provoke a smile ; but when they were seen interfering
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM WILKIE. 53 
 
 with even his most serious public duties — at one time, 
 forgetting to pronounce the blessing after public ser- 
 vice, at another, dispensing the sacrament without 
 consecrating the elements — one could not help wish- 
 ing that he had been altogether a poet, and no divine. 
 
 As a poet, Wilkie had two remarkable peculiarities. 
 He was the first, and perhaps the only individual of 
 the fraternity, who was deeply conversant with that 
 most unpoetical of all subjects. Fluxions ; and he 
 never could read aloud the smoothest verse, in such 
 a manner, as to preserve either the measure or the 
 sense, although his own compositions in verse are 
 not deficient in smoothness or elegance. 
 
 When actively engaged in conversation, and per- 
 haps then only, Wilkie shone to advantage in private. 
 The originality of his opinions, delivered with a bold 
 freedom of manner, and enlivened by frequent sallies 
 of wit and humour, made alwaj^s a great impression 
 on his hearers ; and there were few good judges who 
 did not leave his company with a high opinion of his 
 talents. He was particularly happy in transferring 
 to his conversation, whether on literary or philosophi- 
 cal subjects, the phrases and terms of common life. 
 Having lived during the earlier part of his life, alter- 
 nately with the literary men about the University of 
 Edinburgh, and with the farmers in his own neigh- 
 bourhood, he had acquired a perfect intimacy with 
 the modes of both ; and was thus qualified to shine 
 equally amidst a company of peasants or of phi- 
 losophers. 
 
 Of his literary friends, most of whom were more 
 fortunate than himself in their literary adventures, 
 Wilkie always spoke without chagrin or envy. He 
 r 3
 
 54 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 was angry with the critics for their want of luerc^^ to 
 his Epigoniad, but not displeased that they discover- 
 ed in the Douglas, and in the Histories of the House 
 of Tudor and of Stuart, some of the first productions 
 of the age. He was fond of telling anecdotes of their 
 authors, and describing the peculiarities of their ge- 
 nius, disposition, and liabits. It is said, however, that 
 towards the close of his life, he broke oft" all correspon- 
 dence with Hume and Robertson ; though for what 
 reason we are not informed. 
 
 A handsome tribute to the memory of Wilkie was 
 paid by another son of the Muses, Robert Fergusson, 
 who had studied under him, and had been much 
 indebted to his friendship. It was published in the 
 first number of Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine which 
 appeared after the announcement of Dr. Wilkie's 
 death. It has great merit, and is happily not too 
 long for transciiption. 
 
 Eclogue to the Memory of Dr. William Wilkie. 
 
 GEORDIE AXD DAVIE. 
 
 Geordie. 
 Blaw saft my reed and kindly to ray maen, 
 Weel may ye thole a saft and dowie strain, 
 Nae mair to you shall shepherds in a ring 
 Wi' blythness skip, or lassies lilt and sing ; 
 Sic sorrow now maun sadden ilka e'e. 
 An' iika waefu shepherd grieve wi' me. 
 
 Davie. 
 "Wharefor begin a sad and dowie strain. 
 Or banish lilting frae the Fifan plain ?
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM WILKIE. 55 
 
 Though simmer's gane, an' we naeJanger view 
 The blades o' claver wat we' pearls o' dew, 
 Cauld winter's blackest blasts we'll eithly cowr, 
 Our eldins driven, an' our har'st is owr ; 
 Our rucks fu' thick are stackit i' the yard. 
 For the Yule feast a sautit mast's prepar'd. 
 The ingle nook supplies the simmer fields. 
 An' aft as mony gleefu' maments yields ; 
 Sw^Hh man, fling a' your sleepy springs awa', 
 An' on your canty whistle gie's a blaw : 
 Blythness, I troj/, maun lighten ilka e'e, 
 An' ilka canty callant sing like me. 
 
 Geordie. 
 Na, na ; a canty spring wad now impart 
 Just threefald sorrow to my heart; 
 Thof to the weet my ripen'd aits had fawn, 
 Or shakewinds owr my rigs wi' pith had bla^vn, 
 To this I could hae said, " I care na by," 
 Nor found occasion now my cheeks to dry. 
 Crosses like thae, or lack o' warld's gear. 
 Are naething whan we tyne a friend that's dear. 
 Ah ! waes me for you, ^V'illy ! mony a day 
 Did I wi' you, on yon broom thackit brae 
 Haud aff my sheep, an' let them careless gang. 
 To hearken to your cheery tale or sang, 
 Sangs that for ay, on Caledonia's strand 
 Shall fit the foremost mang her tunefu' band. 
 
 I dreamt yestreen his deadly wraith I saw, 
 Gaing by my een, as white 's the driven snaw ; 
 My colley Ringie, youf'd an' yowi'd a' night, 
 Cour'd an' crap near me in an unco fright. 
 I waken'd fley'd, an' shook baith lith and limb, 
 A cauldness took me, an' my sight grew dim ;
 
 56 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 I kent that it forcspak apprcachin wae, 
 Whan my poor doggie was disturbit sae. 
 Nae sooner did the day begin to dawn 
 Than I beyont the kuowe sae speedy ran, 
 Whare I was keppit wi' the heavy tale 
 That sets ilk dowie sangster to bewail. 
 
 Davie. 
 An' wha on Fifan bents can weel refuse 
 To gie a tear of tribute to his muse ? 
 Farewell ilk cheery spring, ilk canty note 
 Be daffin, an' ilk idle play forgot ; 
 Bring ilka herd the moumfu', mournfu' boughs, 
 Rosemarj^ sad, and ever-dreary yews ; 
 Thae sal be steepit i' the saut, saut tear. 
 To weet wi' hallow'd draps his sacred bier, 
 Whase sangs will aye in Scotland be rever'd, 
 "While slow-gawn owsen turn the flow'ry swaird. 
 While bonny lambies lick the dews of spring. 
 While gaudsraen whisle, or while birdies sing. 
 
 Geordie. 
 'Twas na for weel tim'd verse or sangs alane, 
 He bore the bell frae ilka shepherd swain ; 
 Nature to hira had gien a kindly lore. 
 Deep a' her mystic ferlies to explore ; 
 For a' her secret workings he could gie 
 Reasons, that wi' her principles agree. 
 Ye saw yoursel how weel his mailin thrave. 
 Ay better faughed and snodded than the lave ; 
 Lang had the thristles and the dockens been 
 In use to wag their taps upo' the green, 
 \Miare now his bonny rigs delight the view. 
 An' thrivin hedges drink the callar dew.
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM VVILKiE. 57 
 
 Davie. 
 They tell me, Geordie, he had sic a gift, 
 That scarce a starnie blinkit frae the lift. 
 But he wou'd some ald-warld name for it find 
 As gart him keep it freshly in his mind ; 
 For this some ca'd him an uncanny wight ; 
 The clash gaed round, " he had the second sight," 
 A tale that never fail'd to be the pride 
 Of grannies spinnin at the ingle side. 
 
 Geordie. 
 But now he's gane, an' Fame that whan alive, 
 Secnil lets ony 9' her vot'ries thrive. 
 Will frae his shinin name, a' motes withdraw. 
 And on her loudest trump her praises blaw. 
 Lang may his sacred banes untroubl'd rest ! 
 Lang may his truft in gowans gay be drest ! 
 Scholars and bards unheard of yet shall come 
 And stamp memorials on his grassy tomb. 
 Which in yon ancient kirk-yard shall remain 
 Fam'd as the urn that hads the IMantuan swain. 
 
 W. W.
 
 58 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 ROBERT FERGUSSOX. 
 
 Robert Fergltsson was bom at Edinburgh, on 
 the fifth of September, 1750. His father, ^^i]llam 
 Fergusson, was an accountant in the British Linen- 
 Hall ; a situation of respectability, but of small emo- 
 lument He is said to have possessed some poetical 
 talent ; but no proofs of it are extant. Young 
 Robert, ^vho was destmed to raise the name of Fer- 
 gusson to a place among the first poets of his country, 
 ■was, in infancy, of so very weakly a constitution, 
 that little hopes were entertained of his arriving at 
 manh; od. By the tender care of his parents, how- 
 ever, he gradually acquired strength ; and at the age 
 of six years, was sent to an English school, where 
 he attained a proficiency in reading and recitation, 
 so rapidly, that before a year elapsed, he was 
 transferred to the High School of Edinburgh, to study 
 the Latin tongue. He remained at this seminary 
 four years ; and, notwithstanding frequent inter- 
 missions of attendance, occasioned by the infirm state 
 of his health, he was able, not only to maintain an 
 honourable competition with his fellows, but to excel 
 most of them. For some reason or other, which does 
 not appear, he was now removed to the grammar 
 school of Dundee, where he continued two years, 
 and then went to the university of St. Andrew's. A 
 gentleman, of the name of Fergusson, had left bur- 
 saries, for the education of two bovs of the same
 
 POETS ROBERT FERGUSSON. 50 
 
 name, at this university ; and ?v[r. William Fergiisson 
 was fortunate enough to procure one of them for his 
 son ; the expense of whose future education was 
 thus materially lessened. 
 
 At the university, Fergusson became, as at school, 
 speedily distinguished for a quickness of parts, which 
 superseded assiduity of application ; united how- 
 ever, with a fondness for society and amusement, 
 which presaged a wayward life. Frank, kind-hearted, 
 and frolicsome, he gained the general esteem of his 
 fellow-students, and in all their youthful follies bore 
 a leadhig part. His exploits, on one of these occa- 
 sions, were attended with rather an unfortunate issue. 
 On the evening preceding the distribution of some 
 annual prizes, the successful and disappointed 
 combatants had a fierce encounter, in which, Fer- 
 gusson was reported to have been one of the most 
 forward combatants. The principal aggressors, in- 
 cluding Fergusson, were formally expelled ; but in 
 consequence of their penitential submissions, were, 
 within a few da3S, restored. The eccentric Dr. 
 Wilkie, author of the Epigoniad, with whom Fer- 
 gusson had become a great favourite, is said to have 
 particularly exerted his interest on this occasion, in 
 behalf of the 3oung otFender. 
 
 A place of favourite resort with the students, on 
 winter nights, was the Porter's Lodge : which Fer- 
 gusson has made the subject of some pleasing reminis- 
 cences, in his elegy on John Hogg, the Porter. 
 
 Say, ye red gowns ! that aften here 
 Hae toasted cakes to Katie's beer : 
 Gin 'ere thir days hae had their peer, 
 Sae blyth, sae daft ;
 
 60 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Ye'll ne'er again, in life's career. 
 Sit half sae saft. 
 
 While pursuing his stadies at St. Andrew's, Fer- 
 gusson is said to have begun to direct his attention 
 to poetry, and to have written many occasional 
 pieces, which attracted the particular notice of the 
 professors, as well as of his fellow-students. None 
 of his published poems, however, can be referred to 
 so early a period ; all of theinhave the marks of long 
 subsequent production. Dr. Irving mentions, that 
 some fragments of a dramatic cast, written with Fer- 
 gusson's own hand, are to be found on the blank leaves 
 of a book, which was in his possession while at St. 
 Andrew's. The following verses are all that can be 
 distlncriy read ; they are puerile, but from the period 
 at which they were written, objects of curiosity. — 
 
 Therefore, 'tis meet, that Sisera be crown'd 
 With all the honour worthy of his service : 
 And that tliis day for mirth be set apart, 
 To celebrate the deeds and valiant acts 
 Display'd by him in war. 
 
 Conquest alone, ra}- liege, repays our toil ; 
 But, since it is your sovereign inclination. 
 This day to grace us with a pompous triumph. 
 As swift as thought ray deeds shall fly, to serve 
 In all your after battles. 
 
 He had, we are told, commenced, at this time, 
 a tragedy, on the story of Sir William Wallace, but 
 relinquished it after rinishing the first two acts, be-
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 61 
 
 cause he met with another drama on the same sub- 
 ject, and was apprehensive of being regarded as a 
 copyist. 
 
 Fergusson's original destination was the church. 
 To his name, on his class books, he used to add 
 " Student of Divinity ; " but it does not appear, 
 that he ever entered on the actual study of divinity. 
 After attending tlie preliminary courses of Humanity, 
 Science, and Philosophy, which occupied the four 
 years to which his bursary extended, he returned 
 to Edinburgh. His father was now dead, and his 
 mother in poor circumstances. He found it imme- 
 diately necessary to have recourse to some employ- 
 ment, for the means of subsistence ; and in the hope 
 of being assisted in this object by a maternal uncle, 
 Mr. John Forbes, a gentleman of opulence, who re- 
 sided in Aberdeen, he paid him a visit. Mr. Forbes 
 received him with kindness, and told him, to make 
 his house his home for the present ; but with an insen- 
 sibility to his ultimate welfare, which shewed as much 
 weakness of head as want of heart, he took no 
 pairs to put the youth in a way of providing for 
 himself 5 and after the lapse of six months, the ne- 
 phew's clothes beginning to assume rather a poetic 
 appearance, he was no longer deemed a fit guest for 
 his uncle's table ; and, to the disgrace of that uncle's 
 memory, was rudely turned out of doors. Poor 
 Fergusson, stung to the quick at the harsh treatment 
 which he had received, retired to a little solitary inn, 
 that stood at a small distance, where he despatched a 
 letter to his unfeeling relative, couched in the most 
 indignant, but manly, terms. The letter appears 
 to have produced a momentary impression of shame 
 
 PART i.] o
 
 1 
 
 62 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. " 
 
 on the uncle ; he despatched a messenger after Fer- 
 gusson, with a few shillings, to defray his expenses 
 on the road to Edinburgh. — A pitiful boon, which, 
 it is probable, Fergusson was not in circumstances to 
 refuse. He travelled all the way on foot, and was so 
 fatigued by his journey, and depressed in spirits, 
 that he reached his mother's house extremely ill, and 
 remained so for several days. 
 
 Dr. Irving, and other biographers of Fergusson, 
 say, that when he began to recover strength, he 
 composed two poems, in reference to his adventure 
 in the north ; the one, on The Decay of Friendship, 
 and another. Against repining at Fortune. Tlie ap- 
 plicability of the titles appears, however, to be the 
 only authority for this statement. Neither of these 
 pieces made their public appearance till some years 
 afterwards. His visit to Aberdeen must have been 
 made when he was about liis eighteenth year, that is, 
 in 1767 or 1768 ; but the Decay of Friendship was 
 not published (in Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine) 
 till September, 1772 ; and the lines, Against repin- 
 ing at Fortune, not till 24th September, 1772. Besides, 
 in neitlier of the poems is there any thing which 
 can be supposed to have a direct reference to the con- 
 duct of his uncle, which would, doubtless, have 
 been the case, had they been written in the first 
 warmth of his resentment. 
 
 Fergusson was now reduced to such necessitous cir- 
 cumstances, that he was content to submit to the 
 drudgery of copj'ing papers in the office of the 
 commissary's clerk, and afterwards, in that of the 
 sheriff's clerk, for the means of subsistence ; an oc- 
 cupation, to which it was his unfortunate lot to 
 remain chained for the rest of his life.
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 63 
 
 The editor of the first collection of his poems as- 
 serts, that he coniraenced tlie study of the law, as 
 a profession ; but made no progress in it, on account 
 of the sprightliness of his genius, which rose superior 
 to so dry and sedentary a pursuit. The assertion 
 is without foundation. He copied law papers for 
 bread, like the English Chief Justice, Saunders ;* 
 and might, possibly, have picked up enough of law 
 knowledge, in the course of time, to become even a 
 Chief Justice ; but beyond that very vague chance, 
 neither his hopes nor plans extended. The editors 
 of the Enc. Brit, in their article on Fergusson, em- 
 brace the opportunity of making some very sensible 
 
 * Sir Edmund Saunders, Lord Chief Justice of 
 the Court of King's Bench, towards the close of the 
 seventeenth century, was originally, a strolling beg- 
 gar about the streets, without known parents or re- 
 lations. He came often to beg scraps at Clement's 
 Inn, where his sprightliness and diligence made the 
 society desirous to extricate him from his miserable 
 situation. As he appeared desirous to learn to write, 
 one of the attornies fixed a board up at a window, 
 on the top of a staircase, which served him as a desk, 
 and there the beggar-boy sat, and wrote after co- 
 pies of court and other hands, in which he at 
 length acquired such expertness, as in some mea- 
 sure to set up for himself, and commence hackney 
 writing. He also took all opportunities of improv- 
 ing himself, by reading such books as he could bor- 
 row ; and in the course of years became an attorney, 
 counsel, and ultimately Chief Justice. — Biog. Dict^ 
 G 2
 
 64 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 observations on the pretended incompatibility of the 
 study of the law, with such liveliness of genius as 
 Fergusson possessed. " We might instance," they 
 say, " ditlerent lawyers at our own bar, who, with 
 great poetical talents in their youth, have risen to 
 the summit of their profession ; but, to avoid per- 
 sonal distinctions at home, we shall take our ex- 
 amples from England. The genius of the late Earl 
 of Mansfield was, at least, as lively as that of Mr. 
 Fergusson ; and if lie had pleased, he could have 
 been equally a poet ; yet he submitted to the drudgery 
 of studying a law, still drier than that of Scotland. 
 To the fine taste of Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, 
 and to his classical compositions, both in prose and 
 verse, no man is a stranger, who is at all conversant 
 in English literature : yet, that elegant scholar and 
 poet, after he had risen to tlie dignity of Dean of 
 Carlisle, submitted to the drudgery of studying, 
 through the medium of barbarous Latin, the eccle- 
 siastical law of England, from the earliest ages ; and 
 declared, that by dint of perseverance, he came, 
 in time, to relish it as much as the study of Homer 
 and Virgil. Whatever may be thought of Milton's 
 political principles, no man can read his controver- 
 sial writings, and entertain a doubt, that he also 
 could have submitted to the drudgery of studying 
 the law. The truth is, that a man of real vigour of 
 mind may bring himself to delight in any kind of 
 study which is useful and honourable. Such men 
 were Lord Mansfield, the Bishop of Rochester, and 
 Milton. But whether through some radical defect 
 in his nervous system, or in consequence of early 
 dissipations, Mr. Fergusson, with many estimable
 
 POETS.— ROBERT FERGUSSON. G5 
 
 qualities, was so utterly destitute of mental vigour, 
 that, rather than submit to what his friends call 
 drudgery, he seemed to have looked with a wistful 
 eye to some sinecure place." 
 
 The last observation will, perhaps, be regarded 
 as an exception to the good sense and feeling, which 
 pervade the rest of this passage. It is, surely, a very 
 false supposition, to imagine that Fergusson, who 
 courdbend himself to the drudgery of being a mere 
 copying machine, could not muster determination 
 enough, to submit to the mental labour of studying 
 any science which would have conducted him to an 
 honourable independence. The truth is, that poor 
 Fergusson had neither the opportunity, nor the means,. 
 of following the law, as a profession. The bar was 
 too remote an aim, for one so destitute : and the infe- 
 rior branches of the profession were not to be attained 
 except through a servitude, unsuitable to the period of 
 life at which he had arrived. Fergusson was glad to 
 commence copying papers for his daily bread ; and, like 
 others, whom accident has thrown into a course of 
 life contrary to their inclination, was prevented by 
 the pressure of daily necessity from adventuring on 
 ; a better. 
 
 " Alone, the oar he plied ; the rapids nigh ; 
 I To pause, but for a moment, was to die." 
 
 Some friendly hand might have interposed its aid, 
 t to give a happier direction to his fortunes ; but none 
 I such was held forth. Let it not, therefore, be imput- 
 ed to Fergusson as a fault, that he but yielded to a 
 tide of events, which he could not controul. 
 G o
 
 66 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Tlie writer in the Encyclopedia lias Ixintcd at the 
 probability, that " early dissipation may have con- 
 tributed to that want of mental vigour," which he 
 makes the source of Fergusson's declension in life. 
 But the dissipation of Fergusson had not commenced 
 at the time he was under the necessity of betaking 
 himself to the mean employment, in which he conti- 
 nued till the close of his days. Having been, for many 
 years, absent from Edinburgh, he returned to it 
 almost an entire stranger ; and it was not till the 
 publication of the poetry, with which he solaced his 
 leisure hours, had brought him into notice about two 
 years after, that he acquired friends and companions, 
 and was drawn by them into the vortex of pleasure. 
 When Fergusson came back from Aberdeen, he could 
 not have passed his nineteenth j'car ; but it was not 
 till 1771, when he was in his twenty-first year, that 
 his pieces began to make their appearauce, in Ruddi- 
 man's Weekly Magazine. * 
 
 That Fergusson, at last, plunged into a course of 
 dissipation, hostile to all steadiness of purpose, and 
 calculated, artificially, to increase the difficulty of 
 emancipating himself from the low condition of life 
 into which he had fallen, must, with feelings of sor- 
 row, be allowed. Possessing great powers of fasci- 
 
 *Dr. Irving says, that " beforehe reached the twen- 
 tieth year of his age, many of his Utile poems made 
 their .appearance in Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine." 
 But this must be a mistake. The JMagazine only 
 commenced in July, 1768, when JMr. Fergusson was 
 in his nineteenth year : and in the first four volumes, 
 there is not an acknowleged line from his pen.
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FEKGUSSON. 67 
 
 nation in company ; the broadest humour with the 
 keenest wit ; singing, mimicr}-, and story telling, 
 each in an unrivalled degree ; an open heart, for 
 ever overflowing with fine and generous emotions ; 
 his company became eagerly courted by persons of 
 all classes in life. Fergusson obeyed the call of plea- 
 sure with too unreserved an alacrity ; and was but too 
 often led into the company of men, who, simply 
 ambitious of partaking in the excesses of genius, 
 cared not to what extremes of folly they urged him 
 on ; and who, unfortunately, could make no com- 
 pensation, when ^ the hour of revelry was past, for 
 the sacrifices of time and character which their 
 selfish feelings had exacted. 
 
 The mind of Fergusson would often' return, with 
 sadness, to the bright hopes which shed a radiance 
 over his earlier years ; for, though no unwilling vo- 
 tary of pleasure, he was sufficiently conscious of 
 the profitless nature of the round of dissipation in 
 which it had now involved him. It was, probably, 
 on some occasion of this kind, that he wrote the elegy 
 on the Decay of Friendship, which has been ascribed 
 to so much earlier a period. It abounds in circum- 
 stances which can only have reference to this day of 
 merriment and glee. 
 
 Flatter}^ ! alluring as the syren's \a.y, 
 
 And as deceitful, thy enchanting tongue ; 
 
 How have ye taught my wav'ring mind to stray, 
 Charm'd and attracted by the baneful song.
 
 68 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 To wake emotions in the youthful mind, 
 
 Strephon, with voice melodious, tun'd the song ; 
 Each sylvan youth, the sounding chorus join'd. 
 
 Fraught with contentment 'mid the festive throng. 
 
 But ah ! these youthful sportive hours are fled ; 
 
 These scenes of jocund mirth are now no more 
 No healing slumbers 'tend my humble bed ; 
 
 No friends console the sorrows of the poor. 
 
 And what avail the thoughts of former joy ? 
 
 What comfort they in the adverse hour ? 
 Can they the canker-worm of care destroy, 
 
 Or brighten Fortune's discontented lour ? 
 
 To the lone corner of some distant shore. 
 In dreary, devious pilgrimage I'll fly. 
 
 And wander pensive, where Deceit no more 
 Shall trace my footsteps with a mortal eye. 
 
 There, solitary, saunter o'er the beach, 
 
 And to the murra'ring surge my grief disclose ^ 
 
 There, shall my voice, in plaintive wailings, teach 
 The hollow caverns to resound ray woes. 
 ******* 
 
 Adieu ! ye fields, where I have fondly stray'd : 
 Ye swains, who once the fav'rite Damon knew : 
 
 Farewell, ye sharers of my bounty's aid ; 
 Ye sons of base ingratitude, adieu ! 
 
 The fits of repentance and amendment, which
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 69 
 
 Isuch reflections produced, were, however, but of 
 • momentary duration ; lasting, generally, only till 
 some new allurement invited him to a new oblivion of 
 his cares. His mind was of a cast which sought ra- 
 ther for circumstances of consolation under raisfor- 
 |tune, than for tlie means of overcoming it ; turning 
 liintoan aticctation of philosophic indifference, what 
 ;.was, after all, no better than a tame submission to 
 I'lthings as he found them. This is strikingly pour- 
 }:trayed, in his verses Against repining at Fortune, 
 which may be received as a synopsis of a specious 
 ' process of reasonyig, but too familiar to all dissolute 
 . sons of genius. After complaining of Fortune, the 
 ! author thus apostrophizes Nature : — 
 
 1 Nature, thou look'st with more impartial eyes : 
 1 Smile then, fair Goddess ! on my sober lot, 
 ' I'll neither fear her fall, nor court her rise. 
 
 When early larks shall cease the matin song ; 
 
 When Philomel at night resigns her la^-s ; 
 When melting numbers to the owl belong ; 
 
 Then shall the reed be silent in thy praise. 
 
 Can he, who with the tide of Fortune sails, 
 I More pleasure from the sweets of Nature share ; 
 ; Do Zephyrs waft him more ambrosial gales, 
 Or do his groves a gayer liv'ry wear ? 
 
 jTo me, the heav'ns unveil as pure a sky ; 
 ' To me, the flow'rs as rich a bloom disclose ; 
 'The morning beams as radiant to m}' eye ; 
 And darkness guides me to as sweet repose.
 
 70 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSxMEN. 
 
 The genuine sincerity of such reflections can in 
 no way be better illustrated, than by the very next 
 verses which Fergusson published in his poetical Iti- 
 nerary, Ruddiman's Magazine. The}- are entitler' 
 " Braid Claith." 
 
 Ye, wha are fain to hae your name 
 Wrote in the bonny book of fame ; 
 Let merit nae pretension claim 
 
 To laurel'd wreath : 
 But hap ye weel, baith back and wame. 
 
 In sude braid claith. 
 
 Braid claith lends fouk an unco heeze ; 
 Makes mony kail-worms, butterflees ; 
 Gies mony a doctor his degrees, 
 
 For little skaitli : 
 In short, you may be what you please 
 
 "\Vi' gude braid claith. 
 
 For thof ye had as wise a snout on. 
 As Shakespeare, or Sir Isaac Newton, 
 Your judgment, fouk wad hae a doubt on ; 
 
 I'll tak my aith ; 
 Till they could see ye wi' a suit on, 
 
 O gude braid claith. 
 
 Fergusson, unable to resist the temptations whiLi\ 
 the town daily, cr rather nightly, presented, had con- 
 ceived the determination of flying from them. He 
 took lodgings at a small distance from town ; made 
 frequent excursions into the country ; and at last, 
 finding that the syren pleasure still waylaid hiiu
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 71 
 
 \Mieievcr he roved on Scottish ground, thought of 
 going to sea, to try his fortune. All this shews, if 
 not much resolution, at least, much good intention ; 
 a dread of the abyss to which he vvas hastening, but 
 an unhappy inability to escape it. 
 
 While on one of these country" rambles, a clergy- 
 man discovered him, wandering, in a pensive mood, 
 through the church-yard of Haddington. The wor- 
 thy divine, though unacquainted with Fergusson, ap- 
 pears to have known his person and character ; and 
 entering into conversation with him, took advantage 
 of the many memorials of human mortality scattered 
 around them, to touch with energy and feeling, though 
 without the seeming of any personal allusion, on the 
 madness of those, who, heedless of the awful account 
 which they must render at last, waste the precious 
 moments of this life in a ceaseless round of gaiety 
 and licentiousness. The applicability of this casual 
 lesson to his own situation, and to his train of feeling 
 at the moment, sunk deep into the mind of Fer- 
 gusson ; and he returned to Edinburgh, fully resolv- 
 ed to enter upon an amended course of life. This, 
 like most of his resolutions, however, quickly yield- 
 ed to new seductions, and had become almost for- 
 gotten, when an incident, of somewhat a romantic 
 cast, recalled forcibly to mind the lessons of his 
 church-yard monitor. In the room adjoining that 
 in which Fergusson slept, a starling was kept. One 
 night, a cat, having found its way down the chim- 
 ney, seized the starling, which awoke IMr. Fergus- 
 son by the most alarming screams. He rose, and dis- 
 covered the cause of the alarm, but too late to save 
 the poo]^ bird. The circumstance gave rise to reflec-
 
 72 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 tions, which banished sleep from his pillow for the rest 
 of the night. How truly had the often-recited lesson 
 of his youth been exemplified.— " He shall come upon 
 thee in Ihe night , as a thief comeih, and thou shalt not 
 know when he cometh T' How terrible had been the 
 fatal stroke, to a sinless and unaccountable creature ! 
 Could it be less so, to one who shared of the sinful- 
 ness common to humanity ; -who might be seized in 
 the midst of sins unnumbered and unrepented ; and 
 to whom death \vas not oblivion, bat the passage to a 
 state of eternal misery or happiness ? Indulging in this 
 train of thought, rendered more awful by the solemn 
 stillness of the night, day light found him wrought up 
 to a pitch of remorse, bordering on despair. He rose, 
 not as he was wont, to mix again w ith the social and 
 gay, but to be a recluse from society, devoured by 
 the remembrance of follies past. AH his vivacity 
 had forsaken him ; those lips, which never opened 
 but to impart delight, were closed as by the hand of 
 death ; and '' on his countenance sat horror plumed." 
 Even this impression, however deep and appalling 
 it was, vanished in the course of time. Fergusson's 
 nature was of too social a cast to resist the attrac- 
 tions of pleasure long. Yielding to one kind impor- 
 tunity after another, he gradually relapsed into his 
 old course of gaiety and dissipation. Happily, how- 
 ever, for the interests of poetry if not for his own, 
 he still laboured with assiduity in the service of 
 the Muses. During the years 1772 and 3773, 
 which embrace the worst periods of his dissipation, 
 scarcely a week elapsed without some valuable con- 
 tribution to Ruddiman's Magazine. His poetic fervour, 
 indeed, seemed always greatest when he was new
 
 POETS---ROBERT FERGUSSON. 73 
 
 from the inspirations of the festive circle ; and most 
 t)f his pieces bear obvious marks of having been the 
 rapid result of passing suggestions and occurrences. 
 In August, 1773, he published a poetical account 
 cf the expedition to Fife and the Island of May on 
 board the Blessed Endeavour of Dunbar, Captain 
 Roxburgh Commander. The party appear to have 
 been inhospitably received ontheFifan shore, and Fer- 
 gusson thus pours cut on it the vials of a poet's wrath. 
 
 " To Fife we steer, of all beneath the sun 
 The most unhallovv'd mid the Scotian plains I 
 And here, sad emblem of deceitful times. 
 Hath sad Hypocrisy her standard borae. 
 Mirth knows no residence, but ghastly Fear 
 Stands trembling and appal'd at airy sights. 
 Once only, only oiice, (reward it, O ye powers !) 
 Did Hospitality, with open face 
 And winning smile, cheer the deserted sight, 
 That else had languished for the blest return 
 Of beauteous day to dissipate the clouds 
 Of endless night and superstition wild. 
 That constant hover o'er the dark abode." 
 This reproach gave such offence to the swains of 
 Fife, tliat one of them, in that true spirit of locality 
 which led Captain Forbes to challenge Wilkes, sent 
 a similar message to Fergusson ; 
 
 " Some canker'd, surly, sour-mow'd carline 
 " Bred near tlie Abbey o' Dunfarmline." 
 Instead of accepting the invitation, however, the 
 bard treated it with the ridicule which it deserved. 
 
 In the course of the same year, Fergusson took a 
 ramble to Dumfries, to visit an old poetic companion, 
 
 PART 4.] H
 
 74 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 of the name of Charles Salmon,* who had left Edin- 
 burgh, to follow the business of a printer with Mr. 
 Jackson, the publisher of the Dumfries Weekly 
 Magazine. He was accompanied bv a Lieutenant 
 Wilson of the navy ; the son of a INlr. Wilson, well 
 known at onetime as a lecturer on elocution in Edin- 
 burgh, and the author of several occasional pieces of 
 poetry, which appeared in the public journals with 
 the signature of Claxidero. Fcrgusson presented him- 
 self to the curious gaze of the Dumfries wits, in rather 
 a strange plight. His person and dress were in the 
 greatest disorder : he wore, instead of a coat, a short 
 white flannel jacket ; and having performed the 
 journey on foot, was all over dust. He seemed for 
 all the world like a recruit after a long march, instead 
 of tlie gay minstrel, " on pleasure bent." He apolo- 
 gized for his dishabille by saying, that his friend and 
 himself had taken rather sudden leave of " Auld 
 Reikie ;" they had been carousing together the pie- 
 ceding night, and after leaving the tavern at peep 
 of morn, had indulged in some such pranks as those 
 so pleasantly relatt-d in the epilogue spoken by Mr. 
 Wilson, in the character of an Edinburgh Buck. 
 
 " for valour's dazzlinrr sun 
 
 Up to his bright meridian had run, 
 And like renowned Quixote and his squire, 
 Sports and adventures were our sole desire. 
 * * * » * J * 
 
 Now had they borrow 'd Argus' eyes, who saw us. 
 All was made dark and desolate as chaos : 
 
 * See Memoir of Salmon in Part III.
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 75 
 
 Lamps tumbled after lamps, and lost their lustres, 
 Like doomsday when the stars shall fall in clusters. 
 Let fancy paint what dazzling glory grew, 
 From christal gems, when Phoebus came in view : 
 Each shatler'd orb ten thousand fragments strews. 
 And a new Sun in every fragment shews." 
 
 To end their frolic, or, perhaps, to escape its con- 
 sequences, Fergusson proposed, that without going 
 home, they should start off to Dumfries, on a visit 
 to their old friend Charlie Salmon. The challenge 
 was readily accepted, and away they hied. Salmon, 
 proud of hi^ visitor, introduced him to all the ad- 
 mirers of genius about Dumfries, in whose society 
 lie found quite another Edinburgh, of high delight 
 and ruinous excess. His reminiscence of the banks of 
 the Nith was however of a different sort from that of the 
 Fifan plains ; for in the hour of parting, being pressed 
 to leave some memorial of his Nithsdale excursion, 
 he wrote on the instant (as lie did most of his pieces) 
 the following complimentary verses : they have not 
 appeared in any collection of his works, nor indeed 
 in print, unless it may have been in the Dumfries 
 Weekly Magazine, which the writer of the present 
 memoir has no opportunity of consulting. He is 
 now mdebted for them to a manuscript copy taken 
 at the time, by one who had he pleasure of seeing 
 Fergusson, when on this poetic ramble.* 
 
 * And the honour of following closer on his footsteps, 
 than any one of all the Scottish bards who intervened 
 between him and Burns. Mr. Scott, in his notes to the 
 Lady of the Lake, speaking of the ceremony of shoot-
 
 76 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Verses on visiting Dumfries. 
 The gods, sure, in some canny hour, 
 To bonny Nith ha'e ta'en a tour, 
 Where bonnj^ blinks the caller flow'r, 
 
 Beside the stream ; 
 And, sportive, there ha'e shawn their povv'r 
 
 In fairy dream ! 
 Had Kirkhill* here but kent the gaet, 
 The beauties on Dumfries that wait. 
 He'd never turn'd his canker'd pate, 
 
 0' satire keen. 
 When ilka thing's sae trig and feat 
 
 To please the een. 
 I ken, the stirrah loo'd fu' weel 
 Amang the drinking loons to reel ; 
 On claret brown or porter sweel, 
 
 Whilk he cou'd get ; 
 After a shank o' beef he'd peel. 
 
 His craig to whet. 
 Marshals and Bushbyst then had fund 
 Some kitchen gude to lay the grund. 
 And Cheshire mites wi' skill to hund. 
 
 And fley awa 
 The heart-scad, and a scud o' wund 
 
 Frae stamack raw ! 
 
 ing for the silver gun at Dumfries, says, "it is the sub- 
 ject of an excellent Scottish poem, entitled the Siller 
 Guri, 1808, by Mr. John Mayne, which surpasses the 
 efforts of Fergusson and comes near those of Burns.'* 
 
 * Churchill the satirist. 
 
 t The chief innkeepers in Dumfries.
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FLRGUSSON. 77 
 
 Had Horace liv'd, that pleasant sinner, 
 Who loo'd gude wine to synd his dinner, 
 His muse, though dowf, the deil be in her, 
 
 Wi' bhthest sang. 
 The drink wad round Parnassus rin her 
 Ere it were lang ! 
 
 Nae mair he'd sung to auld Mecaenas 
 The blinking een o' bonny Venus ; 
 His leave at ance he wud ha'e ta'en us 
 
 For claret here. 
 Which Jove and a' his gods still rain us 
 > Frae year to year ! 
 
 O ! Jove, man ! gie's some orro pence, 
 Mair siller, and a wee mair sense, 
 I'd big to you a rural spence. 
 
 And bide a' simmer ; 
 And cauld frae saul and body fence 
 
 Wi' frequent brimmer ! 
 
 R. Fergusson. 
 Towards the end of 1773, Fergusson published a 
 collection of his poems, including such pieces as had 
 appeared in Ruddiraan's Magazine, and a few others. 
 " Auld Reikie," the first canto of an intended poem 
 of some length, followed ; it was dedicated to Sir 
 W^iiliam Forbes, the friend and biographer of Dr. 
 Beattie, but, as Dr. Irving tells us, that worthy 
 Baronet despised 
 
 " The poor ovations of a minstrel's praise." 
 
 He was even, it seems, offended at the liberty which 
 Fergusson had taken, in dedicating it to him with 
 out permission. 
 
 u3
 
 78 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 The dissipated course of life which had now so long 
 been habitual with Fergusson, began, at length, to 
 hasten towards its natural termination. His bodily 
 frame, never very strong, became broken and ema- 
 ciated ; his mind lost all coherence, and sunk from 
 weakness into a state of utter lunacy : fears of the 
 future returned and usurped entire dominion over his 
 disordered intellects. Religion was now his only theme, 
 and the Bible, as with Collins, his constant companion.* 
 The few unpublished manuscripts which he had in his 
 possession he committed to the flames, and the only 
 consolation which the recollection of his poetry 
 seemed to afford him, was, that it had never been pros- 
 tituted to the service of vice or irreligion. 
 
 From this afflicting state of mental alienation, he ex- 
 perienced a temporary relief and began again to visithis 
 friends. One night however he had the misfortune to 
 fall from a staircase, and was carried home in a state of 
 insensibility. Frenzy ensued, and as his poor mother 
 was not in circumstances to command the attendance 
 requisite, in her own house, she was under the painful 
 necessity of removing him to the public Asylum. A few 
 of his most intimate friends, having watched a proper 
 opportunity, found means to convey him tliither, by 
 decoying him into a chair, as if he had been about to pay 
 
 * " He had withdrawn from study, and travelled 
 with no other book than an English Testament, such as 
 l;hildren carry to the school, when his friend took it 
 into his liead, out of curiosity, to see what companion 
 a man of letters had chosen. " 1 have but one 
 book," said Collins, " but it is the best." 
 
 Johnson's Life of Collins.
 
 POETS.— ROBERT FERGUSSON. 79 
 
 some evening visit. When they had reached the place 
 of their destination, all was wrapt in profound silence. 
 The poor youth entered the dismal mansion ; he cast 
 his eyes wildly around and began to perceive his 
 real situation : the discovery awakened every feeling 
 of his soul. He raised a hideous shout, which being 
 returned by the wretched inhabitants of every cell, 
 echoed along the vaulted roofs, and produced in the 
 minds of his companions sentiments of unspeakable 
 horror.* 
 
 When he was afterwards visited by his mother and 
 sisters, they found him lying in his cell, calm and col- 
 lected. He expressed a perfect knowledge of his 
 melancholy condition ; recalled to their recollection 
 a presentiment which he had often felt, of thus ending 
 his days ; but endeavoured to comfort them with as- 
 surances of his being humanely used in the Asylum. 
 At parting, he entreated his sister to come and fre- 
 quently sit by him, in order to dispel the gloom 
 which overcast his mind. But, alas ! they parted 
 never to meet again. A few days after, the melan- 
 choly tidings came, that poor Fergusson had breath- 
 ed his last. He died on the 16th of October, 1774, 
 in the twenty-fifth year of his age. His remains 
 were interred in the Canongate church-yard. 
 
 In a poetical will and codicil, which Fergusson 
 published the year before his death, he had confided 
 the task of writing his epitaph to one of his most in- 
 timate companions, William Greenlaw.f 
 
 * Irving. 
 
 t The following notice of Greenlaw appeare,d in 
 the Edinburgh Magazine and Review, a few weeks 
 after his death.
 
 80 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 <' Let honest Greenlaw be the staff. 
 On which I lean for epitaph : 
 And that the Muses, at ray end. 
 May know I had a learned friend, 
 
 " Died, at Edinburgh, JMr. William Greenlaw, 
 preacher of the gospel, in the sixty third year of his 
 age. Though he followed not the profession to 
 which he was bred, he was deeply skilled in theology : 
 the few discourses he composed, discovered an abun- 
 dance of matter that would have sparkled through 
 entire volumes of modem sermons. His views also in 
 astronomy and all the branches of mathematics were 
 profound and uncommon, but he meant chiefly to 
 distinguish himself by his knowledge of the learned 
 languages : the study of them was the great object of 
 his life, and the progress he made in them was pro- 
 portioned to his acuteness and assiduity. He 
 taught them privately in Edinburgh, above twenty 
 years ; and there was so little jealousy in his nature, 
 that he freely bestowed his knowledge on those 
 teachers who wished to protit by his communica- 
 tions. What peculiarly distinguished him, was a 
 flow of inoffensive humour ; a gift rarely possessed 
 by the natives of Scotland. His heart was warm and 
 open, his social spirit unbounded. Of money he 
 professed a contempt, and he refused a living, which 
 his friends would have pressed upon him. With an 
 ambition to excel, he was yet careless of his reputa- 
 tion"; conscious of his own merit, he allowed men to 
 judge of him as they pleased. His manners were 
 simple, his figure ungainly. In a licentious age he 
 made a vow of chastity, and what is more surprising,
 
 POETS.— ROBERT FERGUSSON. 81 
 
 Whate'er of character he's seen, 
 In me thro' humour or chagrin ; 
 I crave his genius may narrate in 
 The strength of Ciceronian Latin." 
 
 Greenlaw, however, died without performing the 
 friendly oifice thus bequeathed to him. The loss of 
 Fergusson was, indeed, not unlamcnted by his poeti- 
 cal contemporaries. The press teemed with affectionate 
 tributes to his memory. One of the best of these, 
 written by Mr. Tait, author of the Cave of Morar, is 
 commonly appended to the editions of Fergusson's 
 works. JMr. Wood, the respectable comedian of the 
 Edinburgh theatre, who ranked among the most es- 
 teemed friends of Fergusson, tendered some lines 
 which might have supplied " honest Greenlaw's" 
 omission ; but though of considerable merit, they have 
 been hitherto passed unnoticed by all Fergusson's 
 biographers. 
 
 Epitaph intended for the late Robert Fergusson. 
 Mild Nature smil'd upon her sportive hard. 
 But Fortune from his sight her blessings hurl'd. 
 His spirit maddened at the lean reward. 
 Burst from its bonds, and left th' ungrateful world. 
 
 W. Woods. 
 Fergusson has Uius commemorated his regard for 
 Mr. Woods, in his will : — 
 
 he kept it. The last years of his life were rather 
 unfortunate ; the constant use he had made of his fa- 
 culties seems to have impaired them. But he had 
 not the misery to survive their extinction ; death came 
 to him when his friends wished for it."
 
 82 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 " To Woods, whose genius can provoke 
 
 His passions to the bowl or sock, 
 
 For love to thee, and to the nine. 
 
 Be my immortal Shakspeare thine : 
 
 Here may you thro' the alleys turn. 
 
 Where FalstafF laughs, where heroes mourn, 
 
 And boldly catch the glowing fire. 
 
 That dwells in raptures on his lyre." 
 
 Of all the poets, however, who have attempted to 
 do justice to the memory of Fergusson, none has 
 performed the task in a more feeling or discriminat- 
 ing manner than Dr. Geddes, in his " Epistle to the 
 Scottish Society of Antiquaries, on being chosen a 
 correspondent member." 
 
 " Whare now the njmphs that wont to feed 
 Their flocks upon the banks o' Tweed, 
 An' sang sa mony a winsom air 
 About the bus aboon Traquair ? 
 Waes me ! sin' Ramsay disappear'd, 
 Their tunefu' voice is na mair hear'd : 
 Nor ha' their charms sin syne been shown, 
 Except to Fergusson alone. 
 lU-wierdet wight! whawud prefer 
 A reaming bicker o' Bell's beer, 
 To a' the nectar that distills 
 Fre Phoebus' munt in sucar't rills ; 
 And loo'd Aid Reikie's boussom lasses, 
 Mair than tlie maidens o' Parnassus ; 
 Yet he had ilka art to please. 
 And win the dortiest een of these : 
 'His was the reed, sae sweet and shrill. 
 That sang The lass of Patie's Mill;
 
 I 
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 83 
 
 That tempcr't Hammy's native fire ; 
 And Forbes' fife, sa feat and trim 
 Was left, butony doubt, to him ; 
 Butnowther reed, nor lyre, nor fife. 
 Regarded he, but drank thro' life, 
 And leugh until the cald o' death 
 Chill'this hcart-blude, and stop't his breath; 
 He died, puir sauI ! and \vi' him died 
 The relict ?,luse, o' Mither-Lied." * 
 
 The spot, which contained the ashes of poor Fer- 
 gusson, remained for a long time without any monu- 
 ment to mark^it out to the eye of the inquiring 
 stranger. It was reserved to the kindred spirit of 
 Bums to repair this national neglect. " In relating," 
 says Dr. Currie, " the incidents of our poet's life in 
 Edinburgh, we ought to have mentioned the senti- 
 ^ ments of respect and synipathy with which he traced 
 out the grave of his predecessor, Fergusson ; over 
 whose ashes, in the Canongate church-yard, he obtain- 
 ed leave to erect an humble monument ; which will be 
 vievved by reflecting minds with no common inte- 
 rest ; and which will awake in the bosom of kindred 
 genius, many a high emotion." On one side of the 
 stone, he caused the following epitaph, of his own 
 composition, to be engraven : 
 
 " No sculptur'd marble here, nor pompous lay ! 
 
 No storied urn, nor animated bust I 
 This simple stone directs pale Scotia's way 
 
 To pour her sorrows o'er her poet's dust." 
 
 I'he other side bears this inscription : 
 
 I 
 
 * Mother tongue.
 
 84 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 " By special grant of tlie Managers 
 
 To Robert Burns, — who erected this stone, 
 
 This burial-place is ever to remain sacred to the 
 
 memory of 
 
 Robert Fergusson." 
 
 How fondly Fergusson was beloved by his friends, 
 was evinced in a very remarkable manner by a 
 circumstance which occurred shortly after his 
 death ; and which shews, that though he must ever 
 be ranked amongst the neglected sons of genius, 
 those who shared his intimacy are least to be re- 
 proached widi that neglect. Among his numerous 
 gay associates, many, doubtless, were unprofitable 
 through utter heedlessness ; but there were ethers, 
 who only wanted the power, to have made the greatest 
 sacrifices for the sake of their ingenious friend. There 
 was one who lived to have that power, and he exercised 
 it nobly. He was a young gentleman of the name 
 of Buniet. Having gone oat to the East Indies, he 
 soon found himself on the road to afiiuence ; and re- 
 membering the less fortunate situation of the friend 
 whom he admired above all others, he sent Fergusson 
 a cordial invitation to come over to India ; pointed 
 out the mode by A\hich the requisite permission might 
 be obtained ; and at the same time, enclosed a 
 draught for one hundred pounds, to defray the ex- 
 penses of his outfit. A generous deed ! But alas ! 
 it came too late. — It fell " as a sunbeam on the blast- 
 ed" blossom." Before the letter arrived, poor Fer- 
 gusson had breathed his last. Deeds, like this, are 
 rare in the history of youthful attachments ; un- 
 exampled, perhaps, in the chances of humble genius.
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 85 
 
 Mr. Burnet's benevolent intentions v.ere, indeed, 
 frustrated by the stroke of death, but they will have 
 their reward in an honourable fame ; for, while the 
 name of Fergusson lasts, that of Burnet can never 
 be forgotten. 
 
 Of the fascinating charm which Fergusson carried 
 with him into society, scarcely any description can 
 convey an adequate idea. A gentleman, who had 
 felt and owned its power, speaks thus of it, in a 
 letter to Burns. — " While I recollect with pleasure 
 his extraordinary talents and many amiable qualities, 
 it affords me the greatest consolation, that I am ho- 
 noured with the correspondence of his successor in 
 national simplicitjr and genius. That I\Ir. Burns 
 has refined in the art of poetry, must readily be ad- 
 mitted : but notwitiistanding many favourable repre- 
 sentations, I am yet to learn that he inheriis his con- 
 vivial powers. There was such a richness of conver- 
 sation, such a plenitude of fancy and attraction in 
 him, that, when I call the happy period of our in- 
 tercourse to my memory, I feel myself in a state of 
 delirium. I was, then, younger than him by eight 
 or ten years ; but his manner was so felicitous, that 
 he enraptured every person around him, and infused, 
 into the hearts of the young and old, the spirit and 
 animation which operated on his own mind."* 
 
 It is but too true, that these great social qualifi- 
 cations alienated him from habits of temperance and 
 sobriety, " without which," as one of his biographers 
 justly remarks, " no character can be proposed as an 
 
 * Currie's Life of Burns. 
 TART 4.] I
 
 86 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 example worthy of imitation." Yet, much allow- 
 ance surely must be made for the unfortunate cir- 
 cumstances in which Fergusson was placed, which 
 left him, at an age which is a crisis in the lives of all 
 men, without any fixed object of honourable pursuit — 
 as a ship without a rudder, to be tossed to and fro 
 by every passing wind ; much allowance, too, for the 
 sovereign powers of that juice, of which Fergusson 
 has sung as he felt : — 
 
 whose care-controuling pow'rs 
 
 Could ev'ry human misery subdue, 
 And wake to sportive joy the leisure hours. 
 That to the languid senses hateful grew." 
 
 It is also due to the character of Fergusson, to ob- 
 serve, that whatever sacrifices his habits of dissipa- 
 tion involved, that of a spirit of independence was 
 not among the number. " He never disgraced his 
 Muse with the servile strain of panegyric ; he flatter- 
 ed no illiterate peer, nor sacrificed his sincerity, in 
 order to advance his interest." * Such is the lan- 
 guage of a writer, whose testimony, on the subject, 
 I quote the more willingly, that it may serve to coun- 
 teract a harsh and extremely inconsistent assertion 
 of his own, in another place, that Fergusson, when 
 his funds were in an exhausted state, " had re- 
 course to mean and despicable shifts." Had there 
 been even some colour of pretence for the imputa- 
 tion, we might again say to this writer, in his own 
 words, — " Yet over his frailties, let humanity drop a tear; 
 
 Irving.
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 87 
 
 let his virtues only be remembered, let his vices sink 
 into oblivion.^'* 
 
 In appreciating the poetical genius of Fergusson, 
 " it ought to be recollected," sajs Dr. Currie, very 
 justly, " that his poems are the etfusions of an irre- 
 gular, though amiable, young man," who " wrote 
 for his amusement, in the intervals of business or dis- 
 sipation." They were all, with very few exceptions, 
 short as the impulses which gave rise to them were 
 momentary ; hit off at once, and sent for publication 
 in the unpolished state in which tliey first came from 
 his pen. " Auld Reikie," the longest of his poems, 
 is almost the only one which was begun on an extend- 
 ed plan. It was originally oiFered as a first Canto ; but 
 never received any important additions. 
 
 Although, therefore, we must expect to meet, in 
 Fergusson's works, with man}^ instances of crude 
 thought and faulty expression, and, perhaps, with little 
 of that reach of imagination which belongs to vigorous 
 and continued exertion ; yet, if we would describe 
 Fergusson by those qualities by which he will be 
 best recognized by his admirers, we must speak of 
 the ease and sprightliness of his manner, the fide- 
 lity of his delineations of men and manners, the fan- 
 cy with which he has embellished, and the just ob- 
 servation with which he has enriched, them. 
 
 His best poems are those in the Scottish language. 
 If we except his Last Will and the Codicil, his Epilogue 
 of the Edinburgh Buck, and Verses written at the Her- 
 mitage of Braid, none of his English productions rise 
 
 * Life of Fergusson. — Original Edition, p. 35. 
 I 2
 
 88 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 above mediocrity. It would seem, however> that this 
 arose less from a want of a perfect acquaintance with 
 the English language, as many passages which may 
 rank witli the purest specimens of English classic poetry 
 serve to shew ; than from his having preferred his native 
 tongue for most of his happier themes, and particularly 
 those which n lated to Scottish life and manners. 
 
 " The popularity of his Scottish poems," says Ir- 
 ving, '* is a strung proof of their intrinsic merit." A 
 stronger could not be wished. " In that part of the 
 island," he adds, " where their beauties can be pro- 
 perly understood and relished, few productions of a 
 similar description have been so universally admired ; 
 they are read by people of every denomination." 
 
 Dr. Currie, and Dr. Irving after him, consider " The 
 Farmer's Ingle" as the " happiest of all Fergusson's 
 productions." It possesses indeed superior merit, and 
 acquires an additional interest from having undoubt- 
 edly suggested to Bums, the subject of his admirable 
 poem of the Cotter's Saturday Night. The distance 
 between the two poems is, however, great ; and one 
 may be excused for seeking a better comer-stone for 
 Fergusson's poetical reputation, than " The Farmer's 
 Ingle." Bums has surpassed Fergusson in his deli- 
 neation of the rural fireside, for one reason among 
 others, that he knew it better. Fergussscn, who had 
 lived about town and college from his Infancy, was at 
 home in describing the incidents of a town life, such 
 as the Daft Days, the King's Birth Day, the Election, 
 Leith Races, and Tlie Hallow Fair ; but he went from 
 it, when he took a ramble in fanc}^ to " The Farmer's 
 Ingle," where he had never been but a passing visitor. 
 Perhaps no better proof of this could be adduced than
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 89 
 
 the Tact, that Fergusson, in attempting a picture of 
 the incidents which fill up tlie evening hours under 
 the roof of a Scottish farmer, should have omitted a 
 circumstance so peculiarly characteristic of this walk 
 in life, and of which Burns has made so sublime a use, 
 as the performance of evening worship. This pious 
 and excellent practice had begun to be much ne- 
 glected in our towns, even in Fergusson's time ; but 
 was then, as it is now, very generally observed by 
 the inhabitants of the country, particularly those of 
 the western counties. 
 
 " O Scotland I much I love thy tranquil dales ; 
 But most on Sabbath eve, when low the sun 
 Slants through the upland copse, 'tis my delight. 
 Wandering, and stopping oft, to hear the song 
 Of kindred praise arise from humble roofs." 
 
 Grahame. 
 
 Had Fergusson often passed his nights under such 
 roofs, it is scarcely conceivable that this " simple 
 service," the source of so many pleasing and poetic 
 reflections, would not have found a place among his 
 reminiscences : the want of it forms a great deficiency 
 in the poem, and would alone be a sufficient reason 
 fur not regarding " The Farmer s Ingle" as " the 
 happiest of all his productions." 
 
 " Hame Content," a satire, and " Leith Races," 
 are either of tliem well entitled to take the precedence 
 of "The Farmer's Ingle." They surpass it both in 
 melody of numbers and in gaiety of fancy, and are 
 not inferior to it in circumstantiality of painting. In 
 all his works, Fergusson has nothing finer than the
 
 90 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 concluding verses of the one poem, and the initial 
 stanzas of the other. 
 
 In " Hame Content," the author, after ridiculing 
 those who fly to foreign climes in quest of pleasure, 
 breaks out into the following delightful vindication 
 of the poetical and rural charms of his own beloved 
 Scotia : 
 
 " The Amo and the Tiber, lang 
 Hae run full clear in Roman sang ; 
 But, save the rev'rence of the schools ! 
 They're baith but lifeless dowy pools. 
 Dought they compare \vi' bonny Tweed, 
 As clear as ony lammer-bead ? 
 Or are their shores mair sweet or gay 
 Than Fortha's haughs, or banks o' Tay ? 
 Tho' there the herds can jink the show'rs, 
 'JMang thriving vines and myrtle bow'rs. 
 And blaw the reed to kittle strains, 
 "While echo's tongue commends their pains ; 
 Like our's, they canna warm the heart 
 Wi' simple saft bewitching art. 
 On Leader haughs and Yarrow braes. 
 Arcadian herds ^vad tyne their lays. 
 To hear the mair melodious sounds 
 That live on our poetic grounds. 
 
 Come, Fancy, come and let us tread 
 The simmer flow'ry velvet bed. 
 And a' your springs delightfu' lowse, 
 On Tweeda's banks, or Cowden knows. 
 That, taen wi' thy enchanting sang, 
 Our Scottish lads may round ye thrang, 
 Sae pleas'd, they'll never fash again 
 To court you on Italian plain ;
 
 POETS.— ROBERT FERGUSSON. 91 
 
 Soon will they guess ye only wear 
 The simple garb o' Nature here ; 
 Mair comely far, and fair to sight. 
 Whan in her easy cleething dight. 
 Than in disguise ye was before 
 On Tiber's or on Arno's shore. 
 
 O Bangour ! * now the hills and dales 
 Nae mair gie back thy tender tales ! 
 The birks on Yarrow now deplore 
 Thy mournfu' muse has left the shore : 
 Near what bright burn or crystal spring. 
 Did you your winsome whistle hing ? 
 The muse shall there, wi' wat'ry e'e, 
 Gie the dunk swaird a tear for thee ; 
 And Yarrow's genius, dowy dame ! 
 Shall there forget her blude-strain'd stream. 
 On thy sad grave to seek repose, 
 Wha' moum'd her fate, condol'd her woes." 
 
 In the poem of " Leith Races," as well as that of 
 *' The Farmer's Ingle," Fergusson has the honour of 
 having Burns for an imitator. The commencement of 
 the Holy Fair is as close a copy of the opening stanzas 
 of "Leith Races," as can well be conceived ; indeed, 
 none but a genius, bold in its own strength, could 
 have ventured on such an appropriation. Fergusson 
 thus commences : 
 
 " In July month, ae bonny morn. 
 
 Whan Nature's rokelay green 
 Was spread o'er ilka rigg o' com, 
 
 * Hamilton of Bangour.
 
 92 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN* 
 
 To charm our roving e'en ; 
 Glowring about, I saw a quean, 
 
 The fairest 'neath the lift. 
 
 Her een were o' the siller sheen, 
 
 Her skin like snawy drift, 
 
 Sae white that day." 
 
 The Nymph having accosted him, he thus re- 
 joins : 
 
 " And wha are ye, my winsome dear. 
 
 That takes the gate sae early ? 
 Whare do 3-e win, gin ane may speir ? 
 
 For I right mickle ferly. 
 That sic braw buskit laughing lass, 
 
 Her bonny blinks should gie, 
 An' loup, like Hebe, o'er the grass. 
 
 As wanton and as free, 
 
 Frae dule this day. 
 
 " I dwall araang the caller springs. 
 
 That weet the Land o' Cakes, 
 An' aften tune my canty strings. 
 
 At bridals and late wakes. 
 They ca' me Mirth ; I ne'er was kcnd 
 
 To grumble, or look sour ; 
 But blyth wad be a lift to lend, 
 
 Gif ye wad sey my pow'r. 
 
 An' pith, this day." 
 
 " A bargain be 't, and by my fegs, 
 
 Gif ye will be my mate, 
 Wi' you I'll screw the cheery pegs. 
 
 Ye shanna find me blate j
 
 POETS.— ROBERT FERGUSSOX. 93 
 
 We'll reel and ramble thro' the sands, 
 
 And jeer wi' a' we meet, 
 Nor hip the daft and gleesonic bands. 
 
 That fill Edina's sheet, 
 
 Sac thrang this day." 
 
 The following is the exordium of the " Holy Fair :" 
 
 " Upon a simmer Sunday morn, 
 
 When Nature's face is fair, 
 I walked forth to view the corn. 
 
 An' snufF the caller air. 
 The rising sun o'erGalston muirs, 
 
 Wi' gforious light was glintin ; 
 The hares w ere hirplin down the furs, 
 
 The lav'rocks they war chantin, 
 
 Fu' sweet that day. 
 
 As lightsomely I glowr'd abroad. 
 
 To SPG a scene sae gaj', 
 Three hizzies, early at the road. 
 
 Cam skelpin up the way ; 
 Twa had manteeles o' dolefu' black. 
 
 But ane wi' lyart lining, 
 The third that gaed a wee a back. 
 
 Was in the fashion shining, 
 
 Fu' gay that day, &c." 
 
 Nor can it be said, that, in this instance. Burns 
 has improved on his model ; the superiority lies de- 
 cidedly with Fergusson. 
 
 The " Mutual Complaint of Plainstanes and Cause- 
 way," another piece of great merit by Fergusson, 
 appears also to have given Burns the idea of his 
 poem of the Twa Brigs. The manner in which he
 
 94 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 establishes the personification of the two imaginary 
 interlocutors, presents a happy specimen of his faci- 
 lity of invention, and that satirical humour which 
 more or less penades all his poems. 
 
 " Since Merlin laid Auld Reikie's causeway, 
 
 And made her o' his wark right sauc3', 
 
 The spacious street and plainstanes, 
 
 Were never heard to crack but anes, 
 
 Whilk happened in the hinder night. 
 
 Whan Eraser's ulie tint its light : 
 
 Of Highland sentries, nane were waukin. 
 
 To hear their cronies glibly taukin : 
 
 For them this wonder might hae rotten, 
 
 And, like night robb'ry, been forgotten, 
 
 Had na a cadie, wi' his lanthom. 
 
 Been gleg enough to hear them bant'rin, 
 
 Wha cam to me neist morning early. 
 
 To gie me tidings o' this ferly. 
 
 Ye tauntin loons, trow this nae joke. 
 For anes the ass of Balaam spoke. 
 Better than lawyers do forsooth. 
 For it spake naething but the truth ; 
 Whether they follow its example. 
 You'll ken best w ban you hear the sample." 
 
 That Bums should have taken the works of Fer- 
 gusson so often for his guide, is as high a tribute as 
 perhaps ever was paid to their merit. The Bard of 
 Coila has indeed candidly acknowledged, in a letter 
 to Dr. Moore, that he had nearly abandoned poetr^', 
 Avhen, in his twenty -third year having become ac- 
 quainted with the works of Fergusson, he " strung 
 anew his wildly-sounding lyre, with emulating vigor."
 
 POETS. — ROBERT FERGUSSON. 95 
 
 It has been observed as somewhat remarkable, 
 that Fergusson, though peculiarly distinguished for 
 the harmony of his voice and the delicacy of his ear, 
 never paid any serious attention to song writing. — 
 Burns was the favorite child, for whom the Muses 
 had reserved this department ; and Fergusson, in 
 sympathetic obedience to their decree, attempted 
 not to trespass upon it. His mind was probably of 
 too quick and epigrammatic a turn to fall into that 
 simple flow of impasssioned feeling which constitutes 
 the essence of song writing. 
 
 In all the works of Fergusson, indeed, the effect 
 aimed at and produced, is rather to please the fancy 
 than touch the heart. In his Ode to the Bee, he has 
 himself supplied us with the genuine character of 
 his Muse : 
 
 " Like thee, by fancy wing'd, the Muse 
 Scuds ear' and heartsome o'er the dews, 
 Fu' vogie and fu' blyth to crap 
 The winsome flow'rs frae A'^ature's lap ; 
 Twining her living garlands there, 
 That lyart time can ne'er impair." 
 
 D. C.
 
 96 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 
 
 William Julius Mickle was bom at Langholm, in 
 Dumfrieshire, on the 29th of Sept. 1734. He was 
 the third son of the Rev. Alex. 3Iickle, minister of 
 Langholm, who had been previously a preacher among 
 the dissenters in London ; and superintended the 
 translation of Bayle's Dictionary, to which he is said 
 to have contributed the greater part of the addition- 
 al notes. William Julius was educated along with his 
 brothers at the grammar school of Langholm, and like 
 almost all distinguished poets, is said to have early be- 
 trayed indications of his being bom of the fraternity. 
 He loved to read poetry, and like Pope was enchanted 
 with Spenser ; nor could he resist a natural impulse 
 to imitate the object of his admiration. Nothing 
 is extant however to shew that he established any 
 claim to rank with Windsor's bard, among les enfam 
 celebres ; and it may be presumed, that the produc- 
 tions of Mickle's boyhood were in no respect supe- 
 rior to the common run of puerile compositions. 
 
 Mr. Mickle, the father, becoming aged and infirm, 
 he obtained the permission of his presbytery to resign 
 the active duties of his parish to an assistant ; and re- 
 moved to Edinburgh for the better education of his 
 family, which was numerous. William, whose ele- 
 mentary education had not been completed, was sent 
 to the high school of Edinburgh, where he attained
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 97 
 
 a competent proficiency in both the Latin and Greek 
 languages. 
 
 Two years after the Rev. Mr. JMickle came to re- 
 side at Edinburgh, his brother-in-law, a brewer in the 
 neighbourhood of that city, died ; and Mr. Mickle 
 embarked the chief part of his fortune in the purchase 
 of the brewery, the business of which he continued 
 in the name of his eldest son. William Julius, now 
 in his fifteenth year, was also taken from school to be 
 employed as a clerk in the establishment. He re- 
 mained in this situation till his twenty-first year, 
 when an arrangement was made by which the whole 
 charge and property of the brewery were transferred 
 to him, on condition of granting his father a share of 
 the profits during his life, and paying a certain sum 
 to his brothers and sisters, at stated periods, after his 
 father's decease, which happened within three years 
 after. 
 
 Family considerations, more than any inclination 
 for trade, are said to have induced Mickle to fall in 
 with this plan of life. Although he liad left school, 
 not for the university, but the counting-desk, he had 
 continued in private to pursue his literary studies with 
 the greatest ardour, and has been often heard to de- 
 clare, that before he was eighteen, he had written two 
 tragedies and half an epic poem ; all of which he 
 consigned to the flames. Nor did the weightier con- 
 cerns which now devolved iipon him, at all estrange 
 him from his favorite studies. Several poetical pieces 
 from his pen appeared from time to time in the 
 Scot's Magazine ; and two of these, one, " On passing 
 through the Parliament Close at Midnight ;" and the 
 other, entitled " Knowledge, an Ode ;" were reprinted 
 
 PART 4,] K
 
 98 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 in the second volume of Donaldson's Collection of 
 Original Poems, by Scottish Gentlemen. In 1762, 
 he sent to London for publication, an ethic poem, 
 which Mas brought out by Becket, under the title of 
 " Providence, or Arandus and Emilee ;" but without 
 the author's name. The critics were di%'ided in opi- 
 nion as to its merits ; and its success was extremely 
 indifferent. Mickle, not disheartened, wrote a letter 
 to Lord Ly ttelton, esteemed the politest scholar of his 
 time, in which, assuming the name of William More, 
 he begged his lordship's candid opinion of the poem. 
 " It is," he said, " the work of a young man, friendless 
 and unknown ; but were another edition to have the 
 honour of Lord Lyttelton's name at the head of a de- 
 dication, such a pleasure would enable me to put it in 
 a much better dress than what it now appears in." 
 He concluded with requesting, that his lordship's 
 answer might be left for him at a coffee-house in 
 Holborn, where he had directed one of his brothers, 
 then in London, to call for it. 
 
 While Mickle's visions of poetical renown were 
 thus under a cloud for the moment, something much 
 worse had happened to his worldly concerns. The 
 poet, as may readily be imagined, proved but an 
 indifferent brewer : he left the business to servants, 
 who are said to have abused his confidence, but whose 
 only fault probably was, that they could not do both 
 their master's duty and their own ; and, in addition 
 to the losses which his negligence thus brought upon 
 him, his good nature induced him to become security 
 to a considerable extent for others, who turned out 
 insolvent. Embarrassments thickened, while expe- 
 dients diminished : a bankruptcy became at last in-
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 99 
 evitable ; and, in order to avoid a tlireatened arrest, 
 he was under the painful necessity of leaving his home 
 in the month of April, 1763. 
 
 On the 8th of May following, Mickle arrived in 
 London, less dejected in spirits, than strong in the 
 hope so natural to a young and vigorous mind, that 
 in this great mart for talent some new line of life would 
 speedily open to him, by which he might yet repair 
 all his losses, discharge his debts, and relieve his fa- 
 mily from the distress in which his failure and the 
 consequent dispersion of the family property must 
 have involved them. Nor did fortune seem to smile 
 adverse. He had the pleasure of finding an answer 
 Avaiting for him, to the letter which he had sent to 
 Lord Lyttelton. It was polite and encouraging. 
 His lordship assured him, that he thought his ge- 
 nius in poetry deserved to be cultivated ; but would 
 not advise fhe republication of the poem without 
 considerable alterations. He declined the offer of a 
 dedication, as a thing likely to be of no use to the 
 author " as nobody minded dedications ;" but sug- 
 gested that it might be of some use, if he were to 
 come and read the poem with his lordship, when 
 they might discourse together upon its merits. In 
 the mean time, he exhorted Mickle to endeavour to 
 acquire greater harmony of versification, and to take 
 care tliat his diction did not loiter into prose, or be- 
 come hard by new phrases or words unauthorised by 
 the usage of good authors. In answer to this con- 
 descending, judicious, and truly friendly letter, Mickle 
 informed his lordship of his real name, and enclosed 
 another specimen of his poetry, entitled " Pollio, an 
 Elegiac Ode, written in a wood uearPvOslin Castle, on 
 K 2
 
 100 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 the death of one of his brothers." His Lordship re- 
 plied, in terras still more flattering than before. He 
 gave it as his opinion, that the Elegy, after a few cor- 
 rections which he would point out, when he had the 
 pleasure of seeing the author, would be as perfect as 
 any thing of the kind in the English language. The 
 interview here sought for took place in the month of 
 February, 1764. His lordship received Mickle with 
 the utmost politeness and affability, begged him not 
 to be discouraged at such difficulties as every young 
 author must expect to encounter, but to cultivate his 
 very promising poetical poweis ; adding, with his ha- 
 bitual condescension, that he would become his 
 schoolmaster. 
 
 Mickle, with Lord Lyttelton for his patron and 
 preceptor, thought his fortune, as a man of letters, now 
 made. After several other interviews and many excel- 
 lent lessons in the poetic art from his lordship, Mickle 
 hinted a wish to send forth a volume to the world ; and he 
 submitted, for his lordship's liual approval, the pieces 
 which he designed should compose the volume, namely, 
 "Providence"greatIy amended since its first appearance, 
 " Pollio," and " An Elegy on Mary Queen of Scots." 
 
 Lord Lyttelton communicated his judgement on 
 this projected volume, in a long letter to Mickle ; in 
 which, after much praise of the first two pieces, and 
 pointing out some emendations of which they were 
 susceptible, he declined criticising any part of the 
 Elegy on Mary, because he wholly disapproved of 
 the subject. He thought, that poetry should not con- 
 secrate what history must condemn ; and, in tlie %"iew 
 which his lordship had taken of the history of Mary, 
 be thought her entitled to pity, but not to prnise.
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 101 
 Micklc bcnved with submission to his lordship's 
 opinion ; and, after a short time, sent him another 
 copy of " Providence," improved according to his 
 suggestions, as also an " Ode on May Day," which 
 he hoped, his lordship would deem fit to supply the 
 place of the Elegy v/hich he had rejected. 
 
 The manuscript of "Providence" was returned by the 
 noble critic, so marked and blotted as to be scarcely 
 any longer legible. What opinion he expressed of the 
 new Ode does not appear, but it was, in all pro- 
 babilit}^ equally unfavourable, for, from this moment, 
 the whole scheme of publication fell to the ground. 
 Despairing of ever pleasing his fastidious patron, 
 Mickle abandoned the attempt 5 and no volume of" 
 poems ever appeared. 
 
 To Mickle, this was a severe blow. He had been 
 now two years about town, without any other means 
 of subsistence, than the scanty remuneration which 
 he received for some occasional contributions to the 
 Magazines, and some remittances from his brothers ; 
 always looking forward, and leading his friends to 
 look forward, to the publication of the projected 
 volume, as the means of extricating him from his 
 difficulties, and giving him that name in the world, 
 Avhich would lead ultimately to independence. The 
 favourable opinion of a critic of such rank and repu- 
 tation as Lord Lyttelton, and his active influence 
 with his friends, could not have failed to usher the 
 work prosperously into the world ; but Avhen, af- 
 ter relying so confidently on both, he found him- 
 self assured of neither, it is not surprising, that, part- 
 ly in disgust and partly in despair, he should have 
 thrown aside his reed till some happier day. 
 K 3
 
 102 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 It now occurred to Mickle, that, although he had 
 not been able to please Lord Lyttelton as a poet, he 
 must, at least, have acquired such a place in his good 
 opinion, that his lordship would be happy to exert 
 his influence, to procure for him some civil or com- 
 mercial appointment. He waited on his lordship, 
 and said, that he had resolved to go and push his for- 
 tune in the West Indies ; and requested his lord- 
 ship's recommendation to his brother, William Henry 
 Lyttelton, Esq., who was, at that time. Governor 
 of Jamaica. His lordship expressed great readiness 
 to assist his views ; but intimated, that a recommen- 
 dation to his brother would be of no real use, as the 
 Governor's patronage Avas generally bespoke long 
 before vacancies took place. Jamaica, besides, was 
 not, in his opinion, the place for a man of Mickle's 
 abilities ; England was the theatre on which he was 
 formed to shine ; but here again, unfortunately, his 
 lordship could only give him his good wishes, for 
 his lordship, being in opposition, could ask no fa- 
 vours. In the East Indies, he thought, his influence 
 might be of some service ; but, indeed, he could not, 
 as a friend, advise Mickle to leave London, where 
 he hoped soon to see his " Odes " published, the 
 sale of which he would aid with his good opinion. 
 
 Thus closed a very mortifying interview, from 
 which Mickle retired, with a conviction, which every 
 one must be ready to share with him, that whatever 
 interest Lord Lyttelton might once have taken in his 
 welfare, it had now subsided into a sentiment of the 
 politest indifference. Mickle, however, uhile he 
 abandoned all hopes from his lordship's patronage, 
 betrayed no coarse resentment at the treatment which
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 103 
 he had experienced, but conthiued to speak in the 
 most respectful manner of the advantages which he 
 had derived from his critical lessons. To this, he 
 was probably induced, as much by prudential con- 
 siderations as by his real feelings on the subject. 
 For, although no one can well approve of that ex- 
 treme fastidiousness which Lord Lyttelton displayed 
 witli respect to Mickle's poetry ; a fastidiousness, 
 which seems to have been indulged quite as much for 
 the gratification of the noble critic's own taste, asfor the 
 benefit of the author, whose situation may be likened 
 to that of the statuary of old, who sunk to the ground 
 from want, while the Mecaenas of his day was amus- 
 ing himself with discovering specks in the marble of 
 a piece destined to "enchant the world ;" although 
 the courtesy, which first invited and then trifled 
 with the confidence of one, whose success in life was 
 dependant on the issue, was, to say the least of it, 
 inconsiderate ; yet, so high did Lord Lyttelton's ge- 
 neral character stand for good feeling, correct judge- 
 ment, and literary discrimination, that to have pro- 
 claimed a quarrel with his lordship, would have ex- 
 cited against the oflxast from his friendship an un- 
 conquerable prejudice in all the world beside. In 
 justice to his lordship too, it must be remarked, that 
 over all the circumstances which might have palliated 
 or justified his conduct towards Mickle, an impenetra- 
 ble veil is cast. We know, neither how nmch his pa- 
 tience may have been tried by the stubborn vanity 
 of a young author ; nor how much his sense of inde- 
 pendence may have been offended by the want of self- 
 exertion manifest in the whole of IMickle's dangling 
 on his lordship. We are in no certainty, that his
 
 104 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 lordship was apprised of the full extent of Mickle's 
 necessities ; and still less are we sure, that the re- 
 quest, which w as made in earnest, for a recommenda- 
 tion to his lordship's brother, had not all the air of a 
 fit of spleen, brought on b}" the blotted state in which 
 Mickle's manuscripts had been returned to hini. 
 There was doubtless, as in all cases, faults on both 
 sides ; Mickle may have hoped for too much, and 
 Lyttelton may have done less than it was in his 
 power, and he was fairly called upon, to do. 
 
 Mickle's prospects were now so overcast, that, hear- 
 ing that the situation of corrector to the Clarendon 
 Press at Oxford was vacant, he was content to offer 
 himself as a candidate, and having succeeded in obtain- 
 ing the appointment, he removed thither in 1765. Dur- 
 ing the same year, he published " PoUio,*' the elegy 
 which had been so much commended by Lord Lyttel- 
 ton; and two years after, "The Concubine," a poem in 
 two cantos, in the manner of Spenser. The former 
 did not attract much notice, but nothing could be 
 more flattering than the reception of the latter. It 
 appeared, at first, anonymously •, and while it re- 
 mained so, was ascribed successively to some of the 
 most eminent poets of the day. In a short time, it 
 went through three editions. 
 
 A desire of gaining a name in the scholastic 
 society in which he now mingled, for something 
 more to their taste than mere poetry, appears to have 
 withdrawn Mickle for a time from the service of the 
 Muses. A Dr. Har^vood had published a new 
 " Translation of the New Testament," which, if we 
 may adopt the account given of it by those whom it 
 od'ended, was so verj- foolish that it was " scarcely
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 105 
 
 possible to read it with gravity." The task of ex- 
 posing this self-exposed translation of the most serious 
 of all books, was that by which Mickle essayed to 
 procure for himself the character of a scholar. He 
 published a pamphlet, entitled, " A Letter to Doctor 
 Harwood, wherein some of his evasive glosses, false 
 translations, and blundering criticisms, in support of 
 the Arian heresy, contained in his liberal translation 
 of the New Testament, are pointed out and confuted.'' 
 The production was well fitted to please those for 
 whem it was specially intended. It lashed the Arian 
 with as much severity, as if, instead of the most 
 foolish, he had been one of the most formidable an- 
 tagonists, the Church had ever encountered ; and it 
 maintained pertinaciously the coraprehensibility of 
 points of faith, which it is not permitted us to com- 
 prehend. All this was so much after the usual fa- 
 shion of religious controversialists, that it scarcely 
 required the addition of what is less common with 
 them, a respectable share of learning, and considerable 
 skill in argument, to make the Corrector of the Cla- 
 rendon Press hailed as a powerful auxiliary, by those 
 whose side he espoused. His letter was called a 
 Defence of Christianity, and it was probably as much 
 so as one-half of the publications which go by that 
 name; but, in reality, it was nothing more than an 
 abusive attack on a man of singular opinions, who, 
 by all accounts, only deserved to be laughed at. 
 
 Mickle took a better way, soon after, of evincing 
 his attachment to revealed religion, by writing, "Vol- 
 taire in the Shades, or Dialogues on the Deistical 
 Controversy." The work shewed all the warmth of
 
 106 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 a sincere believer, and no small felicity in exposing 
 
 the sophistries of the enemies of the faith. 
 
 Yet. after all, these polemical exercises were but 
 unprofitable digressions from the true path of his 
 genius. The faith was in no want of defenders, while 
 the Muses could ill spare the tribute due from so 
 favourite a son. It was with pleasure, therefore, his 
 friends saw his return to their service announced by 
 the appearance, in 1771, of proposals for printing by 
 subscription, a translation of the Lusiad of Camoens, 
 by W. J. Mickle. He had, it appeared, long revolved 
 this important design in his mind, and had fully pre- 
 pared himself for its execution, by acquiring an inti- 
 mate knowledge of the Portuguese language and his- 
 try. The " Lusiad" had hitherto received from the 
 public most unmerited neglect ; and from Voltaire, 
 Kaimes, and other critics, who derived their know- 
 ledge of it through very faulty translations, great 
 injustice ; but it appeared to Mickle, as he has since 
 made it appear lo the world, one of the first— perhaps 
 the very first — of modern epic poems. " Camoens," 
 says Mickle, " was tlie first genuine and successful 
 poet who wooed the modern Epic Muse, and she gave 
 him the wreath of a first lover : A sort of Epic poetry 
 unheard of before ; or, as Voltaire calls it, une nouvelle 
 esptce d' Epopee. And the grandest subject it jis (of 
 profane history) which the world has ever beheld. — 
 A voyage esteemed too great for man to dare ; the 
 adventures of this voyage, through unknown oceans 
 deemed unnavigablc ; the Eastern world happily dis- 
 covered, and for ever indissolubly joined and given 
 to the Western ; the grand Portuguese empire in the
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 107 
 
 East founded ; the huraanization of mankind and 
 universal commerce the consequence ! What are the 
 adventures of an old fabulous hero's arrival in Britain j 
 what are Greece and Latiura, in arms for a woman, 
 compared to this ! Troy is in ashes, and even the 
 Roman empire is no more : but the eflFects of the 
 voyage, ad ventures J and bravery of the hero of the Lu- 
 siad, will be felt and beheld, and perhaps increase in 
 importance, while the world shall remain." — " Al- 
 though the subject of Camoens," he again remarks, 
 with great truth, " be particularly interesting to his 
 countrymen, it has also the peculiar happiness to be 
 the poem of fevery trading nation. It is the Epic 
 poem of the birth of Commerce ; and in a particular 
 manner, the Epic poem of that country, which has 
 (now) the control and possession of the commerce 
 of India." 
 
 The only English version which had been made of 
 the Lusiad was that of Richard Fanshaw, published 
 during the usurpation of Cromwell, for whom he was 
 ambassador at Lisbon. It conveyed, however, but a 
 ■wretched idea of the original, and had been the means 
 of misleading both Voltaire and Kaimes, who knew 
 Camoens only through this disguised medium. In 
 consequence of rendering stanza for stanza, it had the 
 appearance of being exceedingly literal, but was in 
 fact exceedingly unfaithful. Uncountenanced by his 
 original, Fanshaw 
 
 " teems with many a dead born jest." 
 
 Nor had he the least idea of the dignity of the epic 
 style, or of the true spirit of poetical translation. 
 Literal translation of poetry, as Mickle well ob-
 
 108 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 serves, " is in reality a solecism. You may construe 
 your author indeed, but if, with some translators, you 
 boast that you have left your author to speak for 
 himself, that you have neither added nor diminished, 
 you have in reality grossly abused him and deceived 
 yourself. Your literal translation can have no claim 
 to the original felicities of expression, the energy, ele- 
 gance, and fire of the original poetry. It may bear 
 indeed a resemblance, but such a one as a corpse in 
 the sepulchre bears to the former man, when he mov- 
 ed in the bloom and vigor of life. 
 
 Nee verbum verbo curabis reddere, fides 
 
 Interpres 
 
 was the taste of the Augustan age. None but a poet 
 can translate a poet. The freedom which this pre- 
 cept gives will, therefore, in a poet's hands not only 
 infuse the energy, elegance, and fire of his author's 
 poetry into his own version, but will give it also the 
 spirit of an original." 
 
 Such were the views with which Mickle ventured 
 on the important task of presenting the Lusiad in a 
 new dress to the English public. There was much 
 boldness and candour in his avowal of them ; but no 
 one could be offended with a writer, for shewing that 
 he had a proper understandiug of the task which he 
 had undertaken. 
 
 After issuing his proposals for the translation, 
 Mickle sent a small specimen of tlie liftli book, to be 
 inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine, in which it ap- 
 peared March, 1771 ; and a few months after he 
 printed at Oxford the whole of the first book. 
 
 These specimens met with so much approbation 
 from the literary world, and his list of subscribers 
 
 J
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 109 
 
 filled so rapidly, that Mickle felt encouraged to give 
 up his time entirely to the completion of the work. 
 With this view he relinquished his situation at the 
 Clarendon Press, and went to reside with Mr. Tom- 
 kins, a farmer at Forest Hill, about five miles from 
 Oxford. The subscriptions for the work, being after the 
 good old fashion paid in advance, he was placed at 
 ease as to his expenses during this retirement, and 
 thus enabled to reap the fullest advantage from the 
 leisure and quiet which it afforded. 
 
 Among the persons who interested themselves 
 most in the success of the work, Mickle has expressed 
 his particular obligations to the ingenious Mr. Magel- 
 lan, of the family of the celebrated navigator ; to 
 many Portuguese gentlemen who obliged him with 
 books and information ; to Governor Johnstone, 
 " whose ancestors had been the hereditary patrons of 
 the ancestors of the translator," and to whom " in a 
 great measure, the appearance of the Lusiad in Eng- 
 lish is due." " And while thus," to continue in his own 
 words, " he recollects with pleasure the names of 
 many gentlemen from whom he has received assis- 
 tance or encouragement, he is happy to be enabled 
 to add Dr. Johnson to the number of those, whose 
 kindness for the man and good wishes for the trans- 
 lation call for his sincerest gratitude." Nor has he 
 omitted a due tribute to the memory of Dr. Gold- 
 smith. He saw a part of the version, but did not live 
 to receive the thanks of the translator. 
 
 But though, previous to publication, Mickle was 
 thus aided by the countenance of so many individuals 
 of eminence and weight, he confesses that he was not 
 without his fears for the sale of the work. He thought, 
 
 PART 4.] L
 
 110 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 that though the age was auspicious to Science and the 
 Arts, " Poetry was neitlier the general taste, nor the 
 fashionable favourite of the times ;" and he quotes 
 Goldsmith to shew, that, in a country verging to the 
 extremes of refinement. Painting and Music at first 
 rival Poetry, and at length supplant her. How 
 little ground there was for supposing that England 
 had reached tiiat state in the time of Mickle, let the 
 many admirable poems which have appeared within 
 the half century which has since elapsed ; let the 
 growing avidity of the public for poetry, and their 
 yet incipient taste for other fine arts, attest. To lament 
 the times in w hich wc live, as worse than all that have 
 gone before them, is one of the common-place freaks 
 of morbid sensibility ; and Mickle, it would appear, 
 was not entirely exempt from it. 
 
 While the translation of the Lusiad was in progress, 
 Mickle, to avoid the langour incident to uniformity of 
 occupation, made several stray excursions with the 
 Muses. In 1772 he formed that collection of fugi- 
 tive poetry, which was published in four volumes by 
 George Pearch, bookseller, as a continuation of Dod- 
 sley's collection, and contributed to it, from his own 
 pen, the " Elegy on Mary Queen of Scots," and 
 " Hengistand Mey," a ballad. He sent also several 
 other occasional pieces, both in prose and verse, to 
 the periodical publications. It has been asserted 
 [Gent. Mag. vol. LXI. p. 402.] that Mr. Evans em- 
 ployed him to fabricate some of the old ballads con- 
 tained in his collection; but the charge, thus coarsely 
 made, dwindles on investigation into the harmless cir- 
 cumstance of his being the author of one ballad of 
 great beauty in that collection, called " Cumnor Hall,"
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. Ill 
 which liad no other pretence to antiquity about it, 
 than, that it was in the spelling of Queen Elizabeth's 
 period. It is a poetical version of the interesting 
 legend preserved in Ashmole's History of Berkshire, 
 respecting the tragic fate of the lady of the celebrated 
 Earl of Leicester, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth. 
 As the ballad from the scarcity of Evans's work is 
 little known, and as it furnishes us incidentally 
 with a very happy specimen of Mickie's poetical 
 powers, its repetition here will not, it is hoped, be 
 deemed out of place. In the following copy, the 
 antique spelling is dropped. 
 
 CUMNOR HALL. 
 
 The dews of Summer night did fall. 
 The moon, sweet regent of the sky, 
 
 Silver'd the walls of Cumnor Hall, 
 And many an oak that grew thereby. 
 
 Now, nought was heard beneath the skies. 
 The sounds of busy life were still. 
 
 Save an unhappy lady's sighs, 
 That issued from that lonely pile. 
 
 " Leicester," she cried, " is this the love 
 " That thou so oft hast sworn to me ? 
 
 " To leave me in this lonely grove, 
 " Immur'd in shameful privity ? 
 
 " No more thou com'st with lover's speed, 
 ** Thy once beloved bride to see ; 
 
 " But, be she alive, or be she dead, 
 " I fear, stern Earl's the same to thee. 
 l2
 
 112 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 " Not so the usage 1 received, 
 
 " When happy in my father's hall ; 
 " No faithless husband then me grieved, 
 " No chilling fears did me appal. 
 
 " I rose up with the cheerful morn, 
 
 " No lark more blythe, no flow'r more gay ; 
 
 " And like the bird that haunts the morn, 
 " So merrily sung the live long day. 
 
 " If that my beauty is but small, 
 " Among court ladies all despised ; 
 
 " Why didst thou rend it from that hall, 
 " Where, scornful Earl, it well was prized ? 
 
 " And when you first to me made suit, 
 " How fair I was, you oft would say ! 
 
 " And, proud of conquest — pluck'd the fruit, 
 " Then left the blossom to decay. 
 
 " Yes, now, neglected and despis'd, 
 " The rose is pale, the lily's dead ; 
 
 " But he that once their charms so priz'd, 
 " Is, sure, the cause those charms are fled. 
 
 " For know, when sickening grief doth prey, 
 " And tender love's repaid with scorn, 
 
 " The sweetest beauty will decay — 
 " What flow'ret can endure the storm ? 
 
 " At court, I'm told, is beauty's throne, 
 " Where every lady's passing rare ; 
 
 ". That eastern flowers, that shame the sun, 
 " Are not so glowing — not so fair. 
 
 " Then, Earl, why didst thou leave the beds 
 " Where roses and where lilies vie,
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 113 
 *' To seek a primrose, whose pale shades 
 " Must sicken when those gaudcs are by ? 
 
 " 'Mong rural beauties, I was one : 
 
 " Among the fields, wild flowers are fair. 
 
 " Some country swain might me have won, 
 " And thought my beauty passing rare. 
 
 " But, Leicester, or I much am wrong, 
 " Or 'tis not beauty lures thy vows ; 
 
 " Rather ambition's gilded crown, 
 
 " Makes thee forget thy humble spouse. 
 
 " Then, Leicester, why, again I plead, 
 " (The injured surely may repine), 
 
 " Why didst thou wed a country maid, 
 
 ' ' When some fair princess might be thine ? 
 
 " Why didst thou praise my humble charms, 
 " And, oh, then leave them to decay ? 
 
 " Wh}' didst thou win me to thy arras, 
 
 " Then leave me to mourn the live-long day ? 
 
 " The village maidens of the plain 
 
 " Salute me lowly as they go ; 
 " Envious, they mark my silken train, 
 
 " Nor think a Countess can have woe. 
 
 " The simple nymphs ! they little know, 
 " How far more happy 's their estate ; 
 
 " To smile for joy — than sigh for woe, 
 " To be content — than to be great. 
 
 *' How far less blest am I than them ! 
 
 " Daily to pine and waste with care ! 
 " Like the poor plant, that from its stem 
 
 " Divided, feels the chiHing air. 
 l3
 
 114 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 " Not, cruel Earl ! can I enjoy 
 " The humble charms of solitude ; 
 
 " Your minions proud, my peace destroy, 
 " By sullen frowns, or pratings rude. 
 
 " Last night, as sad, I chanc'd to stray, 
 " The village death-bell smote my ear ; 
 
 " They wink'd aside and seemed to say, 
 " Countess, prepare — thy end is near. 
 
 " And now, while happy peasants sleep, 
 " Here I sit lonely and forlorn, 
 
 " No one to soothe me as I weep, 
 " Save Philomel on yonder thorn. 
 
 " My spirits flag, my hopes decay, 
 
 " Still that dread death-bell smites my ear, 
 
 " And many a boding seems to say, 
 " Countess, prepare — thy end is near." 
 
 Thus, sore and sad, that lady griev'd. 
 In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear ; 
 
 And many a heartfelt sigh she heav'd. 
 And let fall many a bitter tear. 
 
 And ere the dawn of day appear 'd. 
 In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear. 
 
 Full many a piercing scream was heard, 
 And many a cry of mortal fear. 
 
 The death-bell thrice was heard to ring. 
 An aerial voice m as heard to call. 
 
 And thrice the raven flapp'd its wings 
 Around the tow'rs of Cumnor Hall. 
 
 The mastiflf howl'd at village door. 
 The oaks were shatter'd on the green :
 
 VOETS. — WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 115 
 Woe was the hour, for never more 
 That hapless Countess e'er was seen. 
 
 And, in that manor, now no more 
 Is cheerful feast and sprightly ball ; 
 
 For ever, since that dreary hour. 
 Have spirits haunted Cumnor Hall. 
 
 The village maids, with fearful glance. 
 Avoid the ancient moss-grown wall. 
 
 Nor ever lead the merry dance 
 
 Among the groves of Cumnor Hall. 
 
 Full many a traveller oft hath sigh'd. 
 And pensive wept the Coimtess' fall, 
 
 As wandering onwards, they 've espied 
 The haunted tow'rs of Cumnor Hall. 
 
 In 1775, the entire translation of the Lusiad at 
 length made its appearance, in a quarto volume, print- 
 ed at Oxford. To illustrate the poem and vindicate 
 its importance, the author prefixed ; first, an Intro- 
 duction, refuting the opinion of those theorists in 
 political philosophy, who lament that either of the 
 Indies was ever discovered, and who assert, that com- 
 merce is only the parent of degeneracy and the nurse 
 of vice ; second, a History of the Discovery of India ; 
 third, a History of the Rise and Fall of the Portu- 
 guese Empire in the East; fourth, a Life of Camoens ; 
 and lastly, a Dissertation on the Lusiad, and Obser- 
 servations upon Epic Poetry. The text of the poem 
 was also enriched with many learned and copious 
 notes. 
 
 The volume was, by the advice of his friend. Com- 
 modore Johnston, dedicated to the then Duke of
 
 116 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Buccleugh, a nobleman universally esteemed for his 
 liberal support of every eflort calculated to promote 
 the honour or advantage of bis country. But either 
 from the work not being properly brought under the 
 Duke's notice, or from some other unexplained cause, 
 it drew forth no mark of favour to the author ; and 
 Mickle, with less prudence than he evinced on h's 
 estrangement from Lord Lyttelton, resented the ne- 
 glect by suppressing the dedication to his Grace in 
 all the subsequent editions. With the world, the 
 conduct of a nobleman of such honourable reputation 
 as the Duke of Buccleugh was sure to be open to a 
 thousand favourable explanations ; but only one thing 
 could be inferred, from the mode which the author 
 took of expressing his resentment, namely', that he 
 had been induced to dedicate the work to his Grace, 
 in the hope of some -reward, which he was angry he 
 did not get. Although this is pretty much the case 
 with most dedications, it is not usual to be so plain 
 in avowing it. 
 
 The approbation which the work received from the 
 public, at ail times the best patrons, was such as to 
 make ample amends for this instance of patrician 
 neglect. The first edition of the Lusiad, consisting 
 of a thousand copies, had so rapid a sale, that a se- 
 cond was called for in June, 1778. The author era- 
 braced the opportunity of making considerable amend- 
 ments ; and added to the notes, a whole treatise on 
 the religious tenets and philosophy of the Brahmins. 
 
 Sooii after the first publication of the Lusiad, Mickle 
 had been advised, bj^ his friends, to try his ta- 
 lents on a Tragedy. The subject which he chose 
 was " the Siege of Marseilles," in the reign of Fran-
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 117 
 cis the First. The piece being completed, it was 
 offered to Garrick for representation. The answer 
 returned, was in the usual style of managerial refu- 
 sals. The " Siege of Marseilles had great merit 
 as a poem, but it w anted stage effect." It was not, 
 however, absolutely rejected, but referred to a sort of 
 Committee of Revision, consisting of the two War- 
 tons, and Home, the author of Douglas. In com- 
 pliance with their opinion, Mickle made great alte- 
 rations upon it ; and thus amended, Thomas Warton 
 recommended it in the most earnest manner to Gar- 
 rick. Mr. James Boswell also exerted all his influ- 
 ence with Garrick to procure a favourable decision. 
 " Permit me now," said he, in a letter to Garrick, 
 "again to recommend to your patronage, Mr. 
 Mickle 's tragedy ; which, I rejoice to hear, has now 
 passed through the hands of both the Wartons. By 
 encouraging Mickle, you will cherish a very worthy 
 man, and I really think, a true poetical genius. Let 
 me add, that your goodness to him will be an addi- 
 tional obligation to your humble servant ; who will 
 venture to say, that you have never had a warmer 
 and more constant, or a bolder admirer and friend at 
 all times, and in all places, than himself ; though 
 you have had multitudes, of greater distinction and 
 abilities. All these things considered, I w ould hope 
 that Mr. Mickle, who has waited Jong in the anti- 
 chamber, will soon be introduced, and not be shoved 
 back by others, who are more bustling and forward." 
 The Roscius was, however, not to be won over. 
 He still continued fixed in his opinion, that the Tra- 
 gedy would not succeed on the slage ; and finally 
 declined having any thing to do with it.
 
 118 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Mickle -was greatly irritated at the obstinacy of 
 Gamck, and being informed by some officious per- 
 son, that he had followed his refusal by some expres- 
 sions of personal disrespect, he became so enraged, 
 as to threaten to write a new Dunciad, of which 
 Garrick should be the hero. His friend, Mr. Bos- 
 well, remonstrated with him upon the folly of the 
 attempt, but he was slow to be dissuaded. "As to 
 Garrick's being out of shot reach," said he, in a 
 letter to Mr. B. " let me conjure you not to be of- 
 fended with me if I tell you, that our opinions dis- 
 agree. His great abilities, as an actor, are indispu- 
 table, but in every other respect he is one of the 
 people. I have the happiness to be acquainted with 
 some, the greatest part of the literati of England, 
 and to a man, they despise him as a critic and author. 
 I have heard a name at which Garrick would tremble, 
 talk with ineffable contempt of his Jeu de Theatre, 
 — and the pieces he brings on the stage. When I 
 told the name now mentioned, that I would attack 
 Garrick's taste, through the sides of the trash he has 
 brought on the stage, 'there,' said he, * is a broad 
 MARK, and you will hurt him.' " 
 
 Other friends, more considerate than this one, at 
 whose name Garrick would have trembled, joined with 
 Mr. Boswell in deprecating an attack, which, though 
 it might do injury to Mr. Garrick, could bring no 
 benefit to Mr. Mickle ; and overcome, at length, 
 by their representations, he gave his scheme of resent- 
 ment to the winds. 
 
 In 1778, he published a new and amended edition 
 of his popular poem of " the Concubine," to which 
 he now gave the name of" Sir Martyn," as the origi-
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 119 
 
 iial title had been found to convey a very erroneous 
 idea both of the subject and spirit of the poem. 
 
 Notwithstanding the success of his literary adven- 
 tures, Mickle was still dependent on the continued 
 exertion of his pen for the means of existence. He 
 had received nearly a thousand pounds for the Lusiad, 
 but all of that sum which he could spare from his im- 
 mediate necessities he appropriated to the payment 
 of his debts and the maintenance of his sisters. Being 
 thus without any regular provision for the future, 
 his friends endeavoured, about this time, but inelFectu- 
 ally, to procure him a pension from the Crown as a 
 man of letters. * It is said, tliat Dr. Lowth, the 
 bishop of London, made an offer of providing for him 
 in the church ; but that Mickle declined the offer, lest 
 his uniform support of revealed religion should be 
 imputed to interested motives. According to another 
 authority, he declined entering into orders, because 
 a clerical life was not suited to his disposition ; * and 
 as this explanation involves no such extraordinary re- 
 finement of feeling as the other, it is that which plain 
 minds will probably prefer. 
 
 In 1799, he published a pamphlet, entitled " a 
 candid Examination of the reasons for depriving the 
 East India Company of its charter, &c. ; with Stric- 
 tures on some of the self-contradictions and histo- 
 rical errors of Dr. Adam Smith, in his reasons for the 
 abolition of the said company." 
 
 In the montii of May if the same year, his steady 
 friend Commodore Johnston, being appointed to the 
 
 * Anderson.
 
 120 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 command of the Rom ncy man of war, and Commodore 
 of a small squadron which was destined for the Tagus, 
 he immediately nominated Mickle to be his Secretary, 
 in order that he might participate in the good fortune 
 that might ensue from prizes captured on that station. 
 The pleasure w ith which he accepted of this appoint- 
 ment, was much enhanced by the prospect which it 
 gave him of visiting the native shores of his favourite 
 Camoens, whither the fame of his translation had 
 already reached. In November 1779, he arrived at 
 Lisbon, and was instantly sought after and treated 
 with every possible mark of respect by the principal 
 nobility, gentry, and literati cf Portugal. The 
 Royal Academy of Portugal elected him a member 
 of their body, and Prince John, Duke of Braganza, 
 who presided on the occasion, presented him with 
 his portrait, as a token of his particular regard. 
 
 Vy'hile he remained at Lisbon, the pursership of 
 the Brilliant became vacant, and the Commodore, 
 determined to lose no opportunity of making the 
 fortune of his ingenious friend, appointed JMickle to 
 the situation. 
 
 After a year's absence, the squadron returned to 
 England, and iMickle was appointed to remain at 
 London as joint agent, for the disposal of a number 
 of valuable prizes taken during the expedition. 
 
 The profits from the whole of this maritime ad- 
 venture were such as made Mickle independent for 
 life. They enabled him to discharge all his remain- 
 ing debts in Scotland, and to make a suitable pro- 
 vision for such of tiie members of his family as still 
 looked up to him for support. These duties discharged, 
 he thought he might now without reproach fulfil
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 121 
 others of a tenderer nature. He repaired to Fo- 
 rest Hill, and married Mary the daughter of Mr. 
 Robert Tomkins, with whom he resided while trans- 
 lating the Lusiad ; and, with the object of his affec- 
 tions, he obtained a considerable addition to his for- 
 tune. 
 
 Mickle now took a house at Wheatly near Oxford, 
 Avith the view of passing there the remainder of his 
 days in comfort and ease ; but the failure and death 
 of a banker, with whom he was connected as agent 
 for the prizes, and a chancery suit, to which he was 
 driven for recovery of part of his wife's fortune, in- 
 volved him in several heavy losses, and completely 
 broke in upon that tranquility on which he had fondly 
 reckoned. He still however employed his pen on 
 occasional subjects. In 1782, he published " The 
 Prophecy of Queen Emma," a ballad, with an ironical 
 preface, containing an account of its pretended au- 
 thor, and discovery and hints for vindicating the 
 authenticity of the poems of Ossian and Rowley. 
 He also contributed a series of Essays, entitled, " the 
 Fragments of Leo," and some other articles, to the 
 European Magazine. His last production was " Esk- 
 dale Braes," a song written by the desire of a friend, 
 in commemoration of the place of his birth. 
 
 Mr. Mickle died after a short illness at Forest 
 Hill, on the 20th of October, 1788, in the fifty-fifth 
 year of his age, and was buried in the church yard 
 of that parish. He left one son, for whose benefit a 
 collection of his father's poems was published by sub- 
 scription, in one volume quarto. 
 
 The personal character of Mickle has been very 
 clearly drawn by two writers. " His manners," says 
 
 PART 4,] M
 
 122 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Mr. Ireland, " were not of that obtrusive kind, by 
 which many men of the second or third order force 
 themselves into notice. A very close observer might 
 have passed many hours in Mr. JMickle's company, 
 without suspecting that he had ever written a line of 
 poetry. A common physiognomist would have said, 
 that he had an unmasked face. Lavater would have 
 said otherwise ; but neither his countenance nor 
 manners were such as attract the multitude, When 
 his name was once announced, he has been more 
 than once asked if the translator of Camoens was any 
 relation to him ? To this he usually answered, with a 
 good natured smile, that they were of the same fa- 
 mily. Simplicity, unaffected simplicity, was the 
 leading feature of his character. The philosophy of 
 Voltaire and David Hume was his detestation. He 
 could not hear dieir names with temper. For the 
 bible he had the highest reverence, and never sat 
 silent when the doctrines or precepts of the Gospel 
 were cither ridiculed, or spoken of with contempt." 
 
 " Mickle," says Mr. Isaac Reed, was " in every point 
 of view a man of the utmost integrity, warm in his 
 friendship, and indignant only against vice, irreligion, 
 or meanness. The compliment paid by Lord L3'ttel- 
 ton to Thomson, might be applied to him witli the 
 strictest truth : not a line is to be found in his works, 
 which, " dying, he would wish to blot." During the 
 greatest part of his life, he endured the pressure of 
 a narrow fortune without repining, never relaxing in 
 his industry to acquire, by honest exertions, that in- 
 dependence which he at length enjoyed. He did 
 not shine in conversation ; nor would any person 
 from his appearance have been able to form a fa-
 
 POETS. — WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 123 
 vourable judgement of his talents. In every situa- 
 tion in which fortune placed him, he displayed an 
 independent spirit undebased by any meanness, and 
 when his pecuniary circumstances made him on one 
 occasion feel a disappointment with some force, he 
 even then seemed more ashamed at his want of dis- 
 cernment of character, than concerned for his loss. 
 He seemed to entertain, with reluctance, an opinion, 
 that high birth can be united with a sordid mind. He 
 had, however, the satisfaction ofreflecting, thatno ex- 
 travagant panegyric had disgraced his pen. Con- 
 tempt certainly came to his aid, though not soon ; 
 he wished to forget his credulity and never after con- 
 versed on the subject by choice. To conclude, his 
 foibles were but few, and those inoffensive ; his vir- 
 tues were many and his genius was considerable. He 
 lived without reproach, and his memory will always 
 be cherished by those who were acquainted with 
 him." 
 
 The poetical fame of Mickle seems, in general es- 
 timation, to rest on his being the translator of the 
 Lusiad. For, though his original pieces abound with 
 the strongest evidences of native genius, they fade 
 from our recollection, when we look to the poetic 
 omnipotence with which he has made a poem, the 
 pride of another language, equally the pride of our 
 own. It was his ambition, " to give a Poem that 
 might live in the English language," and he has done 
 so. MicUe^s Liisiad is universally allowed to be 
 only inferior to Popes Iliad, and it already rivals it 
 in popularity. The time is not perhaps far distant 
 when it raaj' be even more generally read. Homer 
 has been highly praised for his judgement in the se-
 
 124 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 lection of a subject which interested his countrymen ; 
 but it certainly is not from the interest he inspires, but 
 simply for the beautj^ of his poetry, that he is read 
 and admired in modern times. When, therefore, such 
 a poem as the English Lusiad comes into the field of 
 competition, a poem which not only possesses all that 
 living interest which the Grecian epic has lost, but 
 is nearly if not fully equal to it in those poetical charms 
 which are " for all time ;" it seems not unreasonable 
 to anticipate, that it will ere long take the lead in po- 
 pularity. 
 
 Nor conquests fabulous, nor actions vain. 
 The IMuse's pastime, here adorn the strain, 
 Orlando's fury, and Rugero's rage. 
 And all the heroes of th' Adnian page. 
 The dreams of bards surpass'd, the world shall view, 
 And own their boldest fictions maybe true ; 
 Surpass'd and dimm'd by the superior blaze [plays. 
 Of Gama's mighty deeds, which here bright truth dis- 
 Lusiad, Book I. 
 
 The freedom with which Mickle entered on the 
 task of this translation, he is said to have carried 
 farther than the laws of translation will allow ; but, 
 as has been well remarked, the liberties he has taken 
 are of a kind with which translations cannot usually 
 be charged, for he has often introduced beauties of 
 his own, equal to any that came from the pen of Ca- 
 moens. It is true that he has left the curious reader 
 the trouble of discovering the various deviations of the 
 translations from the original ; but let us listen to his 
 own apology. " Even farther liberties seemed to 
 him in one or two instances advantageous ; but a
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 125 
 
 minuteness in the mention of these, would not in these 
 pages appear with a good grace. He shall only add, 
 that some of the most eminent of the Portuguese lite- 
 rati, both in England and on the continent, have ap- 
 proved of these freedoms ; and the original is in the 
 hands of the world." (Dissertation on the Lusiad. 
 Third Edition.) 
 
 Nor is it as a poet alone, that Mickle has done 
 honour to the memory of the poet he has translated. 
 In the critical dissertation prefixed to the work, and 
 in the various notes appended to the text, he has 
 successfully vindicated Camoeus from the numerous 
 misrepresentations, of which, beyond any other writer 
 that ever lived, he has been the object. The English 
 nation may be said to have owed this compensation 
 to the fame of the Lusitanian bard ; for not only did 
 A'^oltaire, as before mentioned, but also Rapin, two of 
 the most violent assailants of the Lusiad, derive 
 their impressions of it from the old and faithless 
 English version of Fanshaw.* Mickle has been no 
 
 * AVhen Voltaire's Essay on the Epic Poetry of the Eu- 
 ropean Nations, which contains his attack on Camoens, 
 was at the press, in London, he happened to shew a 
 proof sheet of it to Colonel Bladon, the translator of 
 Caesar's Commentaries. The Colonel, who had leen 
 in Portugal, asked him if he had read the Lusiad ? 
 Voltaire confessed he had never seen it, and could 
 not read Portuguese. The Colonel put Fanshaw's 
 translation into his hands, and in less than a fortnight 
 after, Voltaire's lying and slanderous critique made 
 its appearance."
 
 126 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 where happier in his defence of Camoens, than in the 
 raanner in which he repels the charge of indecency, 
 fuhninated with such confidence by Voltaire, that 
 according to him, no nation, except the Portuguese 
 and Italian, could tolerate the scenes described in 
 the Lusiad. " Not to mention Ariosto," sajs 
 Mickle, " whose descriptions will often admit of no 
 palliation, Tasso, Spenser, and Milton, have always 
 been esteemed as the chastest of poets ; yet, in the 
 delicacy of warm description — the inartificial modesty 
 of nature — none of them can boast the continued 
 uniformity of the Portuguese poet. Though there is 
 a warmth in the colouring of Camoens, which even 
 the genius of Tasso has not reached ; and though the 
 island of Armida is evidently copied from the Lusiad ; 
 yet those, who are possessed of the finer feelings, will 
 easily discover an essential difference between the love 
 scenes of the two poets — a diflference greatly in favour 
 of the delicacy of the former. Though the nymphs, in 
 Camoens, are detected naked, in the woods and in the 
 streams, and though desirous to captivate, still their 
 behaviour is that of the virgin who hopes to be the 
 spouse. They act the part of offended modesty : 
 even when they yield, they are silent ; and behave 
 in every respect like Milton's Eve, in the state of 
 innocence, who 
 
 '• what was honour knew — " 
 
 And who displayed 
 
 ** Her virtue and the conscience of her worth, 
 That would be wooed, and not unsought be won." 
 
 I
 
 POETS.— WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE. 127 
 
 To sura up all, the nuptial sanctity draws its hallow- 
 ed curtains, and a masterly allegory shuts up the 
 love scenes of Camoens." 
 
 "In a word," he adds, " so unjust is the censure 
 of Voltaire ; a censure which never arose from a com- 
 parison of Camoens with other poets, and so ill- 
 groi'.nded is the charge against him, that we cannot 
 but admire his superior delicacy ; a delicacy not 
 even understood in his age, when the grossest ima- 
 gery often found a place in the pulpits of their most 
 pious divines. We know what liberties were taken 
 by the politest writers of the Augustan age ; and 
 such is the change of manners, that Shakespeare and 
 Spenser might, with justice, appeal from the judgement 
 of the present, when it condemns them for indecency. 
 Camoens, however, may appeal to the most polished 
 age ; let him be heard for himself ; let him be com- 
 pared with others of the first name, and his warmest 
 descriptions need not dread the decision." Let the 
 comparison, however, we may add, be made in the 
 version of Mickle, in which the fire of Camoens 
 will be found to burn so pure, that he might almost 
 say, — Virginibus puerisque canto. 
 
 M. M.
 
 128 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 DR. GEDDES. 
 
 Alexander Geddes was born in the year 1737. He 
 was the son of a small farmer at Arradowl in the 
 parish of Ruthven and county of Banff, and of Janet 
 IMitchell, a native of Nether Dallacby in the parish 
 of Bellay. His parents were of the Roman Catholic 
 religion, and, among the few books which they pos- 
 sessed, the most rare to persons of their denomination, 
 was a copy of the vulgar English bible. As soon as 
 young Geddes had been taught to read, by a village 
 schoolmistress of the name of Sellar, he took great 
 delight in perusing this family' bible, and before he 
 had reached his eleventh year, he is said to have 
 known all its history by heart. 
 
 The Laird of Arradowl having engaged a student 
 from Aberdeen, of the name of Shearer, to be domes- 
 tic tutor to his two sons, he looked about among his 
 neighbours for two or three boys of the most pro- 
 mising parts, who might be admitted to a gratuitous 
 participation in the lessons given to his sons — a noble 
 example, well worthy of imitation by men of opulence 
 in every village throughout the kingdom. Geddes 
 was one of three on whom his generous selection fell ; 
 and a-second was his cousin, John Geddes, afterwards 
 Bishop of Marrocco, or titular Bishop of Dunkeld. 
 
 At the age of fourteen, Geddes, through the influ- 
 ence of the same worthy individual, A\as admitted
 
 POETS. — DR. GEDDES. 129 
 
 into the academy of Scalan, in the Highlands, a free 
 Roman Catholic seminar}-, intended for the prepara- 
 tory instruction of such young men of that persuasion 
 as are afterwards to be qualified for holy orders in 
 some foreign university. 
 
 Never was a seminary better fitted, by its natural 
 situation, to be a nursery for young monks, than 
 Scalan. It lay in a lone dell, so overtopped by lofty 
 mountains, as to require almost as perpetual a use of 
 the lamp, as the subterranean cell of Demosthenes. 
 Of the gloom in which it was involved, an idea may 
 be formed from the following reply of Geddes, to one 
 of his fellow students, who had obtained leave to pay 
 a visit to his friends at a distance, and who asked him 
 if he had any commands he could execute ? " Pra}', 
 be so kind," replied Geddes, " as to make particular 
 enquiries after the health of the Sun : fail not to pre- 
 sent my compliments to him, and tell him, I still hope 
 I shall one day be able to renew the honour of a per- 
 sonal acquaintance with him." 
 
 In this seminary, he added, to a knowledge of the 
 bible in the vulgar English, a knowledge of it in the 
 vulgar Latin ; but beyond this, he appears to have 
 gained little by seven years' long exclusion from the 
 light. 
 
 On attaining the age of twenty-one, Geddes was 
 removed to the Scotch College at Paris, of which the 
 worthy Mr. Gordon was then principal. Here he 
 completed his knowledge of the Latin language, and 
 added a competent acquaintance with the Hebrew, 
 Greek, French, Spanish, German, and Low Dutch. 
 School divinity and biblical criticism were, however, 
 the chief objects which occupied his attention. He
 
 130 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 had now an opportunity, of which he assiduously 
 availed himself, of enriching his knowledge of the 
 bible, by a close acquaintance with the originals ; and 
 was soon able to mark where the difference lay, be- 
 tween the Latin of St. Jerome, and the English of 
 King James's translators. " I had both versions/' 
 says he, " constantly before me ; and I now discover- 
 ed the cause of the great difference between them. 
 The study of the English translators, I found, had 
 been to give a strictly literal version, at the expense 
 of almost every other consideration ; while the author 
 of the Vulgate had endeavoured to render his originals 
 equivalently into such Latin as was current in his 
 age. If e%er I translate the bible, said I, then it 
 must be after this manner." The scheme of a new 
 translation of the bible had in fact already taken full 
 possession of his mind. The partiality which he had 
 accidentally acquired under his father's roof, for the 
 study of its sacred pages, had been so nursed and 
 strengthened by every circumstance in his subsequent 
 education, that it was now become the master passion, 
 from which all the rest of his life was fated to take 
 its complexion and character. 
 
 After an absence of six years, he returned to Scot- 
 land, in 1764. He was immediately ordered by his 
 ecclesiastical superior to fix his residence at Dundee 
 as an officiating priest to the Catholics of the distrin 
 of Angus. But he was scarcely settled here, when 
 the Earl ofTraquair, a Catholic nobleman, invited him 
 to become an inmate in his family ; and to his Lord- 
 ship's seat, on the pastoral banks of the Tweed, hr 
 accordingly removed in May, 1765. "Here, 
 says he, " I had plenty of time and a toleral '■
 
 POETS.— DR. GEDDES. 131 
 
 library, to enable me to coniinue ray favourite study. 
 The ancient versions in the Poly glott were now alter- 
 nately read and occasionally compared ; and from 
 this lecture and comparison, I was every day more 
 and more satisfied, that a verbal version of the bible 
 is not the most proper to convey its meaning and 
 display its beauties." 
 
 When he had resided upwards of a twelvemonth in 
 the hospitable mansion of Lord Traquair, he was 
 reluctantly compelled to tear himself away from the 
 pleasures which it afforded, by an interesting cir- 
 cmnstaiice, of which Mv. Good gives the following 
 particulars : * 
 
 " A female relation of the noble Earl was at that 
 time a co-resident in the house, and constituted a part 
 of the family. The merit of Mr. Geddes was pro- 
 minent ; her own charms, and the regard she openly 
 professed for him, were not less so : too soon he felt 
 himself the prey of an impression, which he well knew 
 it was not possible for him to indulge, and BuxtorfF 
 was in danger of being supplanted by Ovid. He 
 turned philosopher, but it was in vain ; self expostu- 
 lation was useless ; and the well-meditated resolutions 
 of a day were often put to flight in a moment. But 
 one step remained to be taken : he embraced it, and 
 with more hardihood than is often necessary to obtain 
 a victory, sounded a retreat. He had made, perhaps 
 too hastily. Ids vow of religious celibacy, and its 
 sanctity was not to be trifled with. Of two evils, he 
 had still the consolation to think, that he had chosen 
 the least ; and, with much reluctance of heart, but an 
 approving and sustaining conscience, he abruptly 
 broke away from the delightful shades and the 
 more delightful conversations of Tweedale, in less
 
 132 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 than two je?irs after his arrival there; and, leavinu 
 behind him a beautiful but confidential little poem, 
 entitled, "The Confessional," addressed to the fair 
 yet innocent author of his misfortunes, he once more 
 took leave of his native countr}'. and tried to forget 
 himself amidst the greater varieties and volatilities 
 of Paris." 
 
 After remaining in the French metropolis about 
 nine months, during which, he made a variety of 
 valuable extracts on biblical criticism from the public 
 libraries, he returned to his native country in the 
 spring of 1769. He was now appointed to the 
 charge of a catholic congregation at Auchinhalrig, 
 in the county of Banff, not far distant from the place 
 of his birth. It was an uninviting charge ; the peo- 
 ple poor and bigoted ; the chapel in ruins ; and the 
 parsonage-house scarcely inhabitable. Mr. Geddcs, 
 however, was not of a spirit to be disheartened by 
 the most formidable obstacles. He lost no time in 
 pulling the old chapel down and erecting a new one 
 in its place ; he repaired find improved the parsonage- 
 house, so as to render it one of the most pleasant 
 and convenient in the country. He not only super- 
 intended tliese labours, but bore a part in them him- 
 self ; for Geddes, though most of his time had been 
 spent over books, was as ready a carpenter, and as 
 expert in the use of tlie saw and plane, as if he had 
 been professedly brought up to the trade. As good 
 a gardener too as he was a carpenter, he added to 
 the house tlie luxury of an excellent garden ; from 
 the abundance of which he contributed liberally to 
 the wants of his flock.
 
 POETS.— DR. GEDDES. 133 
 
 "— — dapibus mensas oneravjt inemptis." 
 
 Virg, Georg. 
 " He pil'd their tables with unpurchas'd stores." 
 
 " Gardening and carpentering," says Mr. Good, " were 
 at all times favourite amusements with him ; they 
 constituted liis chief relaxation from the severity of 
 study to the last moment of his life ; and I have fre- 
 quently rallied him, when at work, upon the multi- 
 plicity of his tools, which, in the article of planes 
 of dili'erent mouldings, were more numerous than 
 those of many professed artists, and at the dexterity 
 with which he handled them." 
 
 In order to soften down that bigotry for which the 
 people of Auchinhalrig were remarkable even as 
 Roman Catholics, Mr. Geddes made it his first study 
 to win their affections. In this he succeeded so 
 effectually, that he seemed at last, to use the ex- 
 pression of one who was intimately acquainted with 
 liim at the period, " to live in the hearts of every one 
 of his hearers." His personal kindness to them was 
 inexhaustible ; his attention to the duties of his office, 
 punctilious ; the people venerated while they loved 
 him. The lessons of a man so regarded could not fail 
 of making a deep and lasting impression. They 
 were lessons of liberality and brotherly love. He 
 exhorted his hearers to think for themselves, and to 
 allow, without hostility, the same privilege to others. 
 He disclaimed the old fashioned and iniquitous doc- 
 trine, that faith ought not to be held with heretics, 
 as altogether foreign to the spirit of genuine catholi- 
 city ; and earnestly and unceasingly recommended 
 
 PART 4.] N
 
 134 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 charity unto all men, as one of the first of Christian 
 virtues. 
 
 Such precepts, and such conduct, lessened greatly, 
 if it did not entirely remove, that rigid disinclination 
 to associate, which had hitherto operated as a wall 
 of partition between the Catholics of Auchinhalrig 
 and their Protestant neighbours ; while they recom- 
 mended JMr. Geddes to many invaluable friendships 
 among the most distinguished characters of the latter 
 persuasion. Among these, may be enumerated the 
 Earl of Buchan, Lord Findlater, Principal Robert- 
 son, Dr. Beattie, Dr. Reid, and, indeed, almost all 
 the professors both of Edinburgh and Aberdeen. 
 
 But while Mr. Geddes had thus the pleasure of 
 melting into Christian charity many of the hearts of 
 his own congregation, he had the mortification to 
 find, that his conduct only provoked the resentment 
 of his clerical brethren. Bishop Hay, his diocesan, 
 menaced him with suspension from his ecclesiastical 
 functions, unless he became more circumspect in his 
 life and conversation, and kept himself uncontami- 
 naled by heretical intercourse. The chief delin- 
 quency with which he was charged, was his occa- 
 sh)nal appearance in the church of a Protestant friend, 
 Mr. Crawford, the worthy minister of an adjoining 
 parish. After some epistolary correspondence, ia 
 which Geddes is said to have hurled defiance at the 
 narrow-minded prelate, the affair was suffered to 
 drop. 
 
 Nor was this the only unpleasant circumstance 
 which arose to disturb his tranquility. He had per- 
 sonally contracted debts to a considerable amount, 
 in rebuilding the Chapel and repairing the Parson-
 
 POETS.— DR. GEDDES. 135 
 
 nge-House, in the confidence of being enabled to 
 discharge them by subsequent contributions from per- 
 sons of the Catholic persuasion. The creditors, how- 
 ever, became importunate before there was any ap- 
 pearance of the expected succours ; and Mr. Geddes 
 was beginning to suftcr all the pains of pecuniary em- 
 barrassment, when the late Duke of Norfolk stepped 
 forward in a very generous manner to his relief. 
 His Grace, who occasionally resided on a large fa- 
 mily estate on the Scottish borders, had heard of the 
 zeal, liberality, and learning of the priest of Auchin- 
 halrig, and expressed a wish for his acquaintance. 
 An interview was brought about through the friendly 
 intervention of the Earl of Traquair ; and, upon the 
 first intimation of the obligations which Mr. Geddes 
 had come under in his pastoral capacity, his Grace 
 was pleased to claim the privilege of discharging 
 them, as an earnest of their future friendship. 
 
 Although relieved from every pecuniary distress, 
 Mr. Geddes derived too scanty an income from his 
 congregation not to feel many deprivations. In the 
 hope of improving his circumstances, he took a small 
 farm at Enzie in Fochabers, in the immediate vicinity 
 of Auchinhalrig ; and being accommodated by a 
 friend with a sufllicient loan of money to stock it, he 
 commenced farmer with an ardour of expectation, 
 only to be accounted for on the score of extreme sim- 
 plicity. So certain did he feel of speedily realizing 
 an independent fortune, through the natural fertility 
 of his fields and the proverbial certainty of the sea- 
 sons, that he began with what people burdened with 
 affluence generally leave to the last, — building a cha- 
 pel as an appendage to bis farm. He erected, almost 
 N 2
 
 136 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 entirely on his own credit, a very neat and corarao- 
 dious place of public worihip close by his farm- 
 house : and commenced otficiating alternately here 
 and at Auchinhalrig. 
 
 The end of this second speculation needs scarcely 
 to be told. His fields did not prove so productive, 
 nor the seasons so auspicious, as he was sure they 
 would be ; his farm stock and his chapel remained 
 both unpaid for ; and in less than three years, he 
 found himself in a state of embarrassment still greater 
 than that from which the Duke of Norfolk had res- 
 cued him. 
 
 The mode which Mr. Geddes took of getting out 
 of his difficulties on the present occasion, must seem, 
 at first sight, almost as wise as that by which he fell 
 into them. To be brought to the brink of ruin by 
 farming and kirk-building, and to be saved from it 
 by turning poetaster, must be allowed to be rather out 
 of the usual course of events. " Foiled," says Mr. 
 Good, •' in the labours of the hand, he was determi- 
 ned to try whether those of the head might not be 
 more productive." Tlie experiment was attended 
 with a degree of success, which perhaps surprised no 
 one more than himself. In 1779, he published, at 
 London, " Select Satires of Horace, translated into 
 English verse, and, for the most part, adapted to the 
 present Times and Manners." These satires were 
 not altogether the production of the present moment 
 of exigency ; they had occasionally occupied his 
 previous leisure, and been gradually accumulating to 
 the date of their publication. " Early in life," saj's 
 he, in a short preface by which they were ushered 
 into the world, " some demon whispered me that I
 
 POETS. — DR. GEDDES. 137 
 
 had a turn for poetry. I readily, perhaps too readily, 
 believed him. 1 wrote, was pleased with my produc- 
 tions, and now began to publish them in hopes of 
 pleasing others." The publication succeeded so well, 
 that it produced him a profit of about one hundred 
 pounds. He gladly applied this sum to the liquida- 
 tion of his debts, and being fortunate enough to re- 
 ceive additional assistance from other quarters, which 
 he directed to the same object, he once more found 
 himself freed from difficulties, in which the ardour 
 and simplicity of his nature had involved him. 
 
 About this time. Lord Findlater having married 
 the daughter' of Count Murray, of JNIelgum, Mr. 
 Geddes was employed to instruct the fair bride in the 
 English language, with which a foreign education had 
 left her unacquainted. At the mansion of his lord- 
 ship, he formed an intimate friendship with the Rev. 
 Mr. Buchanan, minister of Cullen, and did not hesi- 
 tate occasionally to attend the church in which he 
 officiated. The indignation of Bishop Hay w as again 
 excited by a knowledge of this circumstance : he sent 
 an angry expostulation to Geddes ; and finding that 
 no attention was paid to it, he actually proceeded to 
 suspend him from the exercise of his clerical func- 
 tions. 
 
 Mr. Geddes felt but little regret at this illiberal 
 proceeding ; for ever since the success which his sa- 
 tires had experienced, he had formed in his mind the 
 resolution of trying his fortune in London, and had 
 only been prevented from executing his scheme by 
 the warmth of his attachment to his spiritual flock. 
 The tie between them was, however, now broken by a 
 power which neither could controul. Towards the
 
 138 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 end of 1779, he took an atfectionate leave of his ls\ o 
 congregations ; " and such," says Mr. Good, " was 
 the enthusiastic regard with which his courteousness, 
 his kindness, his perpetual attention to the duties of 
 his office, and especially to the instruction of the 
 younger branches of his flock, had inspired thera, 
 that at the sale of his household goods, at Enzie, 
 every one pressed forward to testify, by an extrava- 
 gant bidding, his veneration and love, as well as to 
 obtain possession of some monument of a man whose 
 name and character were so justly dear to them. I 
 am told by a lady who was present upon the occa- 
 sion, that the most insignificant articles of furniture, 
 even cups and saucers, though imperfect or broken, 
 were caught at with the utmost avidity, and that the 
 people appeared to prize the different lots thej- were 
 fortunate enough to procure, rather as relics of a pa- 
 tron saint than as memorials of a beloved pastor." 
 
 The catholics of Auchinhalrig and Fochabers were 
 not the only individuals who saw, with regret, the de- 
 parture of Geddes from his native country. To his 
 literary friends of the protestant communion in Aber- 
 deen, he had become equally endeared ; and through 
 their influence, the University of that city stepped 
 forwards with a liberality highly to its honour, and 
 conferred on I\lr. Geddes the degree of Doctor of 
 Laws. 
 
 Dr. Geddes now left Enzie ; devoted a few weeks 
 to visits of personal friendship ; and, in company 
 with Lord Traquair, arrived at London in the begin- 
 nmg of the year 1780. Through the influence of 
 that excellent nobleman, he w as almost immediately- 
 appointed to be officiating priest in the Imperial Am-
 
 POETS.— DR. GKDDES. 139 
 
 bassador's chapel. His own literary fame, and the 
 numerous complimentary letters which he brought 
 with him from his friends in the north, soon intro- 
 duced him to an acquaintance with many of the first 
 English scholars of the day ; and from the unrestrain- 
 ed use of several public and private libraries which 
 he found thrown open to him, he was led to resume, 
 with renewed ardour, his early project of accomplish- 
 ing a new translation of the Bible. The undertaking 
 might still, however, have languished for want of all 
 the requisite means, had he not had the good fortune 
 to meet with a most munificent patron for it, in the 
 late Lord Petre? The want of a good vernacular ver- 
 sion of the Scriptures, for the use of English catho- 
 lics, was an evil which had been long lamented by 
 Lord Petre ; and hearing that Dr. Geddes entertained 
 the project of supplying one, he sought an interview 
 with him. The explanation which ensued proved so 
 satisfactory to his lordship, that, with a puhlic spirit 
 and generosity rarely equalled, he engaged to allow 
 Dr. Geddes a salary of two hundred pounds per an- 
 num, while employed upon the translation, and to be 
 at the expense of whatever private library the doctor 
 might think requisite for the purpose, leaving him in 
 this respect totally unlimited. 
 
 Dr. Geddes, elated with this munificent provision, 
 entered with extraordinary ardour upon the active 
 prosecution of his favourite design. In a short time, 
 he published a sketch of the plan on which he meant 
 to proceed, under the title of an " Idea of a new 
 Version of the Holy Bible, for the use of the English 
 Catholics." " Finding," he said, " sacred criticism in 
 a favourable progress towards perfection ; having be-
 
 140 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 fore me the various readings of texts of Scripture, and 
 the several versions made from them with a biblical 
 apparatus (through the princely munificence of Lord 
 Petre), which few individuals possess ; grieved besides, 
 to observe among the English Catholics an almost 
 total want of taste for biblical studies ; and wishing 
 to remove a reproach, which, in Protestant literary 
 companies, I had often heard made on that account — a 
 reproach, too well founded to be repelled ; I thouglit 
 I could not better serve the cause of Christianity in 
 general, nor better consult the particular interest of 
 that body to which I more immediately belonged, 
 than by employing whatever portion of talents had 
 fallen to my share, in attempting a new and faithful 
 translation of the Bible, from corrected texts of the 
 original, unaccompanied with any gloss, commentary, 
 or annotations, but such as were necessary to ascer- 
 tain the literal meaning of my text ; and free of every 
 sort of interpretation calculated to establish or defend 
 any particular system of religious credence." 
 
 At the close of 1780, the Imperial Ambassador's 
 chapel was suppressed by an order from the Emperor 
 Joseph the Second. Dr. Geddes continued, however, 
 to preach occasionally at the chapel in Duke-street, 
 Lincoln's Inn Fields, till the Easter holidays of 1781^, 
 when, finding that it interfered with the progress of 
 his translation, he voluntarily withdrew from every 
 stated ministerial function, and seldom officiated in 
 any chapel whatever. 
 
 In the summer of 1781, Dr. Geddes paid a visit to 
 Scotland, during which he wrote " Linton, a Tweedale 
 Pastoral," in honor of the birth of a son and heir to 
 the noble house of Traquair. According to an ancient
 
 POETS. — DR. GEDDES. 14 
 
 prophecy of Thomas of Lermont, when an eagle 
 should be the offspring of a raven and a rook, joyful 
 tidings were to arise for " the bonny men of Twee- 
 dale;" and this popular impression Gcddes availed him- 
 self of very happily on the present occasion. The rook 
 constituted the crest in the armorial bearings of the 
 Traquaires; and his friend and patron the Earl, having 
 married into the family of the Kavenscrofts, in whose 
 arms the raven holds a chief place, the poet hailed in 
 the offspring of this alliance, the eagle predicted by 
 the prophet, on whose arrival at majority, the " bonny 
 men of Tweedale" would be in full possession of the 
 golden days of Skturn ; when 
 
 war, and discord, and domestic strife, 
 
 And all the other woes of human life. 
 
 Death, famine, plague, mortality, shall cease, 
 
 And all be iiealth, and harmony, and peace. 
 
 No more religion, with fanatic hand, 
 Shall fan the fire of faction in the land ; 
 But mild and gentle, like her heavenly sire. 
 No other flames but those of love inspire. 
 Papist and Protestant shall strive to raise. 
 In different notes, one Great Creator's praise ; 
 Polemic volumes, on their shelves shall rot, 
 And Hays and Abernethies be forgot. 
 
 The Earl and Countess of Traquair having resolved 
 to make a tour to the South of France, Dr. Geddes 
 was invited, and agreed with much pleasure to be 
 their companion on the journey. From France he 
 returned to Scotland, and from Scotland to London, 
 now burning wldi impatience to resume his theolo-
 
 142 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 gical pursuits, and accomplish the great object of las 
 life, the new translation of the Bible. About this 
 period, a fortunate accident introduced him to the ac- 
 quaintance of the celebrated Dr. Kennicolt, to whom 
 he had hardlj- made known his design, " when," says the 
 doctor, " he anticipated my wishes to have his advice 
 and assistance towards the execution of it, with a 
 degree of unreserved frankness and friendship which 
 I had never before experienced in a stranger. Not 
 contented with applauding and encouraging me him- 
 self, he pushed me forwards from ray obscurity to the 
 notice of others ; he spoke of me to Barrington, he 
 introduced me to Lowth." To Lowth, Bishop of 
 London, " one of the most elegant scholars and first 
 biblical critics of the age." At the suggestion of Dr. 
 Lowth, Geddes revised his " Idea of a new version," 
 or rather wrote an entirely new prospectus, detailing 
 fully and explicitly the plan w^hich he proposed to 
 follow in his translation. When it was completed, he 
 submitted it in manuscript to his lordship's inspection, 
 requesting that he would mark Avith a black theta, such 
 passages as might appear exceptionable. The Bishop 
 returned the manuscript with an answer highly grati- 
 fying to the feelings of the author : 
 
 " The Bishop of London presents his compliments 
 to Dr. Geddes, and returns with thanks his prospectus, 
 which he has read with some care and attention, and 
 with the fullest approbation: he finds no room for black 
 thetas ; and he doubts not but that it will give general 
 satisfaction. He cannot help wishing that Dr. Geddes 
 wo'.ld publish it; it would not only answer the design 
 of introducing his work, but would really be a useful 
 and edifying treatise for young students in Divinity"
 
 POETS DR. (iEDDES. 143 
 
 The Prospectus did, accordingly, make its ap- 
 pearance in the course of next year, under the follow- 
 ing title : " Prospectus of a New Translation of the 
 Holy Bihle, from corrected Texts of the Originals 
 compared with the ancient Versions, witii various 
 Readings, explanatory Notes, and critical Observa- 
 tions." It had a very general and satisfactory cir- 
 culation. Not only were praises liberally bestowed, 
 but valuable communications were imparted from dif- 
 ferent quarters of the kingdom, and even from fo- 
 reign countries, i he work was briefly, but elegantly, 
 dedicated to his patron. Lord Petre, " as the first 
 fruits of many years of powerful labour, in the pleas- 
 ing hope of being able one da3'- to lay before him 
 the whole harvest." 
 
 On the first of November, 1785, the Society of 
 Antiquaries of Scotland elected Dr. Gedd.s one of 
 their correspondent members, an honour which he 
 acknowledged in a poetical epistle to that respectable 
 body ; written in " geud aid Scottis phrase." " It 
 was " he says, " the hastj- production of a very few 
 leisure hours ; when, after being exhausted with the 
 incredible labour of collating a Greek manuscript, I 
 sat down, towards the close of the day, to a solitary 
 meal, and amused myself in trying how far I could 
 give to the dialect of my native country an air of no- 
 velty and elegance that might not displease even 
 a critical English reader." To have been so com- 
 posed, the poem shews great powers of versification. 
 It extends to nearly five-hundred lines, and contains 
 not a few passages of genuine poetry. The autlusr 
 is particularly happy in a personiiication of our " JMi- 
 ther Tonsjue," as
 
 144 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 " A gentlewoman bred and bom. 
 
 thoch in tatters drest 
 
 And who, though now neglected by the great. 
 Still has found an open door 
 Amang the uncorruptit poor. 
 
 There aft on ben-maist bink she sits, 
 And sliarps the edge of country wits, 
 WV routh of gabby saws an\says. 
 An' jokes an' jibes of ither days : 
 That gie sik gust to rustic sport 
 And gar the langsome night look short. 
 
 At uther times in some warm neuk 
 She to the cutchok hads a beuk 
 And reids in sik a magic tone. 
 The deeds that our forbeirs hae done, 
 
 That ye 
 
 ***** 
 
 May see the maiden stap her wheel. 
 The mistress cease to turn the reel ; 
 Lizzie wi' laddie in her hand 
 Til pot boil over, gapand stand : 
 Ev'n hungry Gib his spoon depose 
 And for a moment, spare bis brose !" 
 
 Dr. Geddes afterwards contributed to this society, 
 " A Dissertation on the Scots Saxon dialect," ami 
 two otlier poems, being translations of the fiiit Eclo- 
 gue of Virgil and the first Idillion of Theocritus, into 
 Scottish verse. The whole of these produciions are 
 to be found in the only volume of transactions which 
 the society lias yet published.
 
 POETS. — DR. GEDDES. 146 
 
 Dr. Geddes had now made considerable progress 
 with his translation of the Bible ; but, instead of 
 flying precipitately to the press, he determined to 
 avail himself of the general and ardent inclination to 
 assist him which appeared to prevail in the literary 
 world, and with laudable modesty he once more ad- 
 dressed the public, through the medium of" A Letter 
 to the Right Rev. the Bishop of London, containing 
 queries, doubts, and difficulties relative to a vernacu- 
 lar version of the Holy Scriptures." It was a sort 
 of appendix to his prospectus, and met with equal 
 success. 
 
 During the year 1787, Dr. Geddes published, " A 
 letter to the Rev. Dr. Priestley, in which the author at- 
 tempts to prove, by one prescriptive argument, that the 
 Divinity of Jesus Christ was a primitive tenet of 
 Christianity." How far the Doctor was right in his 
 doctrine, I have no curiosity to enquire. I am con- 
 tent to find that he did not abandon for the charac- 
 ter of a polemic, any of his amiable feelings as a man. 
 The sentiments with which he takes leave of his op- 
 ponent, present an example for all controversialists. 
 "I cannot," he says, " allow myself to believe, that the 
 divinity of Jesus will ever be without defenders, or 
 that its ablest defenders will not be Englishmen; 
 but, let its defenders be mild and moderate ; let 
 them imitate the conduct of him, whose cause they 
 undertake to plead ; let not their zeal, however fer- 
 vent, transport them beyond the bounds of decency 
 and decorum ; their style will not be the less nervous, 
 because it is void of asperity ; nor their arguments 
 the less conclusive because unmixt with injuries. To 
 discover Truth is professedly the aim of us all ; let 
 PART 4,] o
 
 146 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 us pursue the path that seems the most likely to lead 
 us to her abode, with ardour but not with animosity ; and 
 if we are convinced that we have been happy enough 
 . to find it out, let us not insult those w ho, in our esti- 
 mation, may have been les successful. Non contu- 
 meliis et probris vexemus alii alios ; sed honeste positis- 
 qiie prajudiciis, causam decemimus." 
 
 About this period, (1787-8) the Protestant Dissen- 
 ters made their celebrated application to Parliament, 
 for a repeal of the Test Act, and their claims were 
 advocated in a very popular pamphlet published 
 anonymously, entitled, *' The Case of the Protestant 
 Dissenters, with reference to the Test and Corpora- 
 tion Acts." Dr. Geddes published also anonymously 
 a letter upon the " Case of the Protestant Dissenters 
 addressed to a Member of Parliament. The object of 
 it was to shew, in opposition to the author of the Case, 
 that the Protestants were not, as they pretend, includ- 
 ed for a temporary and dissimulative purpose, within 
 the operation of the disqualifying acts, but that they 
 had been at all times as truly obnoxious to govern- 
 ment as papists, and, that allowing any evil to be ap- 
 prehended from a general repeal of such statutes, go- 
 vernment would have more to dread from the ma- 
 chinations of the former than of the latter. 
 
 On the commencement of the Analytical Review in 
 May 1788, Dr. Geddes was induced to take the 
 principal charge of that department, which includes 
 biblical criticism and ecclesiastical history. The first 
 article with which this journal opens, being a critique 
 on the Vari(E Leciiones of De Rossi, was from the 
 Doctor's pen. He continued connected with it for 
 five years and a half; during which period, he is
 
 POETS.— DR. GEDDES. 147 
 
 known to have contributed forty seven articles. He 
 accompanied the Review throughout its best days, 
 and it declined in sale from the moment that he with- 
 drew from it. 
 
 In the course of 1788, Dr. Geddes thought his 
 labours sufficiently advanced, to warrant another and 
 a more explicit address to the public, upon the great 
 object of his pursuits. He had already published 
 his " Idea of a new version," his " Prospectus of a 
 version ;" his " Doubts, queries, &c. relative to a new 
 version ;" and he now added to this formidable array 
 of preparation, " Proposals for printing by subscrip- 
 tion a new ve/sion, &c." 
 
 Having stated in his proposals that if any respecta- 
 ble literary character would suggest hints for improve- 
 ment, or point out sources of information, with res- 
 pect to the plan and execution of his work, he would 
 receive them with thankfulness, and consider them 
 with due attention, he soon found himself so over- 
 whelmed with packets of correspondence that he 
 thought proper, in July, 1790, to publish, " Dr. 
 Geddes's general answer to the queries, councils, and 
 criticisms, that have been communicated to him since 
 the publication of his proposals for printing a new 
 translation of the Bible." 
 
 In the controversy which broke out at this period, 
 respecting the application of the English Catholics to 
 the Legislature, for additional relief in the matter of 
 praemunire. Dr. Geddes sided with the Catholic com- 
 mittee in opposition to the bishops, and wrote " An 
 answer to the Bishop of Comana's pastoral letter, by 
 a protesting Catholic :" as also " an Encyclical letter 
 of the bishops of Rama, Aeanthos, and Centuriae, to 
 02
 
 148 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 the faithful clergy and laity of their respective dis- 
 tricts, with a continued commentary for the use of 
 the vulgar." 
 
 In 1790, Dr. Geddes pubiislied an " Epistola Maca- 
 ronica ad Fratrem," esteemed by one or t\vo writers 
 the happiest of all his sportive effusions. The subject 
 of it was a recent dinner of the Protestant Dissenters, 
 at the London Tavern, " de iis quae gesta sunt in 
 nnpero Dissentientium Conventu." " The different 
 characters," says Mr. Good," are well caught and de- 
 lineated with good nature rather than severity, and 
 the quaint intermission of Latin and English, of terms 
 classical and vulgar, commencing with one language 
 and terminating in another, of which the grave speeches 
 of the respective orators are composed, combine a 
 greater quantity of burlesque, and consequently afford 
 an ampler portion of merriment, than can ever be 
 derived from the happiest use of the Ansteyan stanza." 
 
 Mr. Good will probably however remain to future 
 ages singular in this opinion. Perhaps the only pas- 
 sa<Te in the poem which is worthy of recollection, is 
 that, where dropping abruptl}- all idea of Macaronics, 
 and elevated by the dignity of his subject, or his 
 own enthusiastic admiration, the author bursts forth 
 into the foliowhig eloquent and classical strain of pa- 
 negyric on Mr. Fox. 
 
 — ; et post hunc Foxius, ipse ; 
 
 Foxius. eloquii nostro Demosthenis aevo 
 Unicus ; et nondum venalis ! — Plauditecives . 
 Plaudite raagnanimum concivem ; plaudite verum 
 Humani juris ultorera ; et ducite plausus 
 Ter ternos, donee resonabunt voce columnar, &c. 

 
 POETS. — DR. GEDDES. 149 
 
 Witliin a few weeks after its first appearance, Dr- 
 G. published a second edition of the Epistola Macaro- 
 nica, accompanied with an English translation by a 
 friend. 
 
 During the same year he wrote a Latin Ode on the 
 acceptance of the new Constitution by Louis XVI. 
 of France, entitled " Carmen Saeculare pro Gallica 
 Gente Tyrannidi Aristocraticae Erepta ; " and also 
 an English translation of it from his own pen ; nei- 
 ther of them pieces of much worth. 
 
 In 1791 tlie Doctor was seized with a dangerous 
 fever ; and, after he had begun to recover, accepted 
 a pressing invitation to pay a visit to Lord Petre's 
 seat, in Norfolk. This produced, in the ensuing 
 year, " a Norfolk Tale, or a Journey from London 
 to No^^vich, with a Prologue and an Epilogue." It 
 is a poem, not certainly of high poetic merit, but 
 which will always be read with pleasure for its easy 
 versification, and tlie tone of good humour and gene- 
 rous feeling which runs through it. 
 
 The interesting question of the Slave Trade becom- 
 ing, at this time, a leading topic of discussion, Dr 
 Geddes was not among the last to contribute his mite 
 to the cause of humanity. Having observed, that 
 every argument which could be seriously advanced 
 against this abominable traffic had been employed 
 in vain, he advanced into the field with an argument 
 of a different description ; and pretending to embrace 
 the converse side of the question, publislied an 
 " Apology for Slavery, or Six cogent Arguments 
 against the immediate Abolition of the Slave Trade." 
 It was an appeal ad verecundiam ; managed with a 
 
 o 3
 
 150 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 dexterity, as annoying to the enemies of the aboii- 
 tion, as it must have been gratifying to its friends. 
 
 On the appearance of Cowper's Translation of the 
 Iliad in 1792, Dr. Geddes shared in the general dis- 
 appointment which it gave to the public. In a fit 
 of needless exasperation, he declared, that he would 
 translate Homer himself, and shew, that it was pos- 
 sible to make as good versification while he preserved 
 not only all the epithets and phraseologies of the 
 original, but the very order itself. He accordingly, 
 not long after, presented the public with a specimen 
 comprising the whole of the first book, done after 
 this literal fashion. How he succeeded, will be im- 
 mediately seen by the manner in which he renders 
 the beautiful invocation with which the poem com- 
 mences : 
 
 " The wrath sing, Goddess ! of tlic-son-of-Pcleus 
 Achilles, dire ; which myriads on the Greeks 
 Of woes imposed ; and many worthy souls 
 To Hades — prematurely sent, of heroes ; 
 And then a prey prepared to dogs, and all 
 The ravenous birds ; (of Jove thus was fulfilled 
 The will,) from what time firstly disagreed 
 Striving, Atrides, King of Men, and the — 
 Divine Achilles " 
 
 Such were the spirited and haiTnonious sort of lines 
 by which Dr. G. condescended to instruct a Cowpcr 
 how to write blank verse ! And so easily were they 
 executed, that in contradiction to all that Cowper 
 had said of the difficully of writing blank verse, the 
 Doctor, in a preface to the specimen, tells us, that
 
 POETS. — DR. GEDDES. 151 
 
 it is hardly credible liow readily the Greek of Homer 
 tumbles into blank verse; insomuch, that he thinks 
 he " can, with ease, cast off a hundred lines in a 
 forenoon." To make the wonder of his surpassing 
 Cowper the greater, the Doctor assures his readers, 
 that he had not, like Cowper, the smallest assistance 
 either from Mr. Fuseli, or " anj^ other profound cri- 
 tic in Homer." " The whole merit or demerit of my 
 version rests solely with myself." In justice to the 
 character of the Doctor both as a poet and critic, 
 it must be allowed, that this assurance was very ne- 
 cessary. Nobody could otherwise have believed, 
 that the autho? of so much good poetry and good 
 criticism, and the author of this rare version', were 
 one and the same person. The truth is, that the 
 Doctor never made a more unfortunate speculation in 
 all his life ; Cowper's failure was nothing to it. The 
 cause of his hallucination on the subject was no se- 
 cret to his friends. He was less offended with Cow- 
 per's translation, than out of temper with him for giv- 
 ing the character of " the best critic in Homer he had 
 ever met with " to Mr. Fuseli, of whom Dr. G. hap- 
 pened to entertain an extremely opposite opinion. 
 And to shew both Cowper and Fuseli how little they 
 knew of the matter, he commenced his new version 
 without waiting a moment to weigh his qualifications 
 for it. The amusement which his specimen gave to 
 the public opened his eyes to the blunder which he 
 had committed ; and he pVoceeded no further in his 
 ridiculous project. 
 
 His next poetical effusion was of a redeeming cha- 
 racter. It was a short piece, entitled " UAvocat du 
 Diable, the Devil's Advocate, or Satan versus Pictor :
 
 152 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 
 tried before the Court of Uncommon Pleas." The 
 subject of it was a notable action for damages, 
 brought in the Court of King's Bench by the late 
 Lord Lonsdale against the celebrated Peter Pindar, 
 for having insinuated, in one of his satires, that Mr. 
 Fuseli, after having been long hunting for an appro- 
 priate figure, from which to paint a striking picture 
 of the devil, had, at last, fixed upon that of the 
 noble Earl. Mr. Erskine was counsel for the defence ; 
 and the poem is a humorous parody of the speech 
 which he made on that occasion. 
 
 Dr. Geddes had, hitherto, contented himself with 
 lodgings in different parts of the town ; but as his 
 library had become of considerable magnitude, he 
 now took a house in AIlsop's Buildings, New Road, 
 Mary-le-bone, which he fitted up almost entirely 
 with his own hands, in a style of great literary com- 
 fort and convenience. 
 
 Although his Proposals for publishing his Transla- 
 tion of the Bible had now been a considerable time 
 before the public, the list of subscribers was not yet 
 nearly full. Relyino;, however, on the generosity of 
 the public, and trusting that the work would, sooner 
 or later, meet with its approbation, he had ventured 
 to put the first volume to the press ; and in 1792 it 
 made its public appearance. 
 
 The manner in which this volume was translated 
 cannot be said to have given general satisfaction. 
 It certainly gained the Doctor more enemies than 
 friends ; it was keenly attacked by Christians of all 
 denominations ; and among those who approved it 
 most, there were but few who chose to signalize their 
 dissent from the prevailing opinion, by taking either
 
 VOET8.— DR. GEDDES. 153 
 
 an active or open part in its defence. By none was 
 the work more abused than by the author's own Ca- 
 tholic brethren, for whose use it liad been princi- 
 pally intended. The Vicars Apostolic of the 
 V/estern, Northern, and London districts issued a 
 pastoral letter, prohibiting its use and reception 
 among the faithful committed to their spiritual ju- 
 risdiction ; but stating no other ground for this act of 
 power than that the translation had not been " ex- 
 amined and approved of by due ecclesiastical autho- 
 lity." 
 
 Dr. Geddes defended himself against this combi- 
 nation of hostilii^' in a very bold and spirited manner. 
 He first published an Address to the Public, vindi- 
 cating the impartiality of his translation, and ap- 
 pealing to their liberality against the persecution 
 which had commenced against him. He then wrote 
 privately to the Vicars, remonstrating with them 
 against the injustice they had committed in condemn- 
 ing his work in the lump without a hearing ; and not 
 receiving any answer to this remonstrance, he pub- 
 lished a letter to the Right Rev. John Douglas, the 
 Vicar Apostolic of London, but intended for the 
 whole triumvirate, in which he complained of their 
 conduct as uncharitable, illiberal, and arbitrary. 
 Speaking in this last letter of the injury he had re- 
 ceived, " Here," said he, " is a large, important, 
 expensive work, the darling child of its author and 
 the chief prop of his literary reputation, forbidden 
 to all that class of readers for whom it was more spe- 
 cially designed, without any cause assigned but the 
 want of a mere formality which is no where observed, 
 ^vhich was never observed , save in those places where
 
 154 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 an Inquisition of some sort or other had been esta- 
 blished. You say not, that you have examined it. — 
 You say not, that it is an unfaithful version. — You 
 point not out a single sentence which you find con- 
 trary to faith or morality. And yet you take it upon 
 you to proscribe it in toto. And all this, because it 
 wants, you say, the requisites which the Church 
 requires iu publishing works on scripture. You 
 should have said, my lord, which the discipline of 
 the Council of Trent requires ; for the discipline of the 
 Council of Trent is not the Church, any more than 
 the discipline of the Church is the discipline of the 
 Council of Trent." 
 
 Although there can be no doubt that the proceed- 
 ings against Dr. Geddes had taken a form of which 
 he was justly entitled to complain, yet the only point 
 about which posterity can be expected to care, is, 
 whether after all, there was any thing in Dr. Geddes's 
 version of the Scriptures, which made it proper in the 
 Vicars Apostolic to withhold their sanction from its 
 circulation. And in this point of view, it can only be 
 necessary to state a very few of the novel concep- 
 tions, on which his translation proceeds to satisfy 
 every impartial mind, that the Vicars, tliough they 
 chose to be silent, were not without ample reasons 
 to justify tlieir conduct. Dr. Geddes starts with 
 doubting whether JNIoses was the author of the Pen- 
 tateuch ; but the writer, whoever he may be, is one he 
 tells us, who upon all occasions gives into the marve- 
 lous ; adorns his narration with fictions of the inter- 
 ference of the Deity, w hen every thing happened in 
 a natural way ; and at other times dresses up fable 
 in the garb of true history. The history of the area-
 
 POETS. — DR. GEDDES. 155 
 
 tion is according to him a fabulous cosmogony ; the 
 story of the fall a mythos in which nothing but the 
 mere imagination of the commentators, possessing 
 more fancy than judgement, could have discovered 
 either a seducing devil or the promise of a Saviour. 
 It is a fable, he asserts, intended for the purpose of 
 persuading the vulgar, that knowledge is the root of 
 evil and the desire of it a crime. Moses was, it seems, 
 a man of as great talents as Numa and Lycurgus were ; 
 but, like them, he was a false pretender to personal 
 intercourse with the Deity, with whom he had no 
 immediate communication. He had the art to take 
 the advantage of rare but natural occunences, to per- 
 suade the Israelites that the immediate power of God 
 was exerted to accomplish his projects. When a 
 violent wind happened to lay dry the head of the 
 gulph of Suez, he persuaded them that God had 
 made -a passage for them through the sea, &c. &c. No 
 person certainly can say, that a translation, corres- 
 ponding with such notions as these, had the least 
 claim to the sanction, either of Catholic or of Protes- 
 tant. It might suit the disciples of some new faith, 
 but was in direct hostility with the creed of almost every 
 existing denomination of Christian believers. 
 
 It was indeed deeply mortifying, to see the la- 
 bour and promise of a whole life-time in danger of 
 being frustrated : and there is no one on whom the 
 amiable qualities of Dr. Geddes have made that im- 
 pression which they ought, but must feel for his dis- 
 appointment. But, in our sympathy for the reverses 
 of a man of genius, we must not forget the scruples of 
 others ; nor blame the guardians of an established
 
 15G LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 faith, that they preferred its preservation to the interests 
 of a merely private individual. 
 
 Notwithstanding the energy which Dr. Geddes 
 displayed in repelling the various attacks upon him, 
 he sunk at last beneath their accumulated severity. 
 He became gloomy and despondent ; and it was not 
 without some difficulty, that the assiduous attention 
 and animating eiforts of many valued friends, saved 
 him from falling into a state of confirmed melancholy. 
 Among these his noble patron Lord, Petre, still held 
 the chief place. His consoling sympathies, and ge- 
 nerous expostulations, formed at all times a source 
 of his most pleasing recollections. 
 
 It was not, however, till after a considerable inter- 
 val that Dr. Geddes was able to resume his biblical 
 studies. The works which he produced in the mean- 
 time, were of a light and fugitive nature. 
 
 In 1793, he composed two more Secular Odes 
 on the French Revolution, and printed them m ith a 
 second edition, under the title of " Carmena Secula- 
 ria Tria pro tribus Celeberrimis Libertatis Gallicje 
 Epochis." But such was the violence of party feel- 
 ing at this time, that, though printed, he was induced 
 by his friends to suppress their publication, till the 
 short peace of 1801-2. 
 
 In the same year he oiFered to the public, a trans- 
 lation, in Iambic rhyme, of Cresset's elegant and en- 
 tertaining poem, entitled, " Ver Vert, or the Parrot 
 of Nevers." He appears not to have been aware, 
 that this poem had already been translated by John 
 Gilbert Cooper, and in a manner which left little to 
 be desired. The translation of Dr. Geddes is easy
 
 POETS.— DR. GEDDES. 157 
 
 and spirited, but not upon the whole superior to that 
 of his predecessor. 
 
 In 1795, he published an " Ode to the Hon. 
 Thomas Pelhara, occasioned by his speech in the Irish 
 House of Commons on the Catholic Bill ;'' and in 
 1796, a burlesque paraphrase, in verse, of a political 
 sermon, preached by Dr. Coulthurst, on the anniver- 
 sary of his Majesty's accession, before the University 
 of Cambridge. 
 
 In 1797, the celebrated electioneering affair at 
 Bangor, in which Dr. V/arren, Bishop of the diocese, 
 made so conspicuous a figure, furnished Dr. Geddes 
 with a new tlveme for his muse. He published, on 
 the subject, a comic-heroic poem, in nine cantos, en- 
 titled, " The Battle of Bangor, or the Church's Tri- 
 umph." This is undoubtedly the best of all his pro- 
 ductions. It is skilful in its arrangement, rich in 
 fancy and humour, and, with some exceptions, ele- 
 gant in its versification. It appears to have been 
 modelled on the plan of the Rape of the Lock, or 
 rather the Lutrin of Despreaux. 
 
 During the same year, he published a second vo- 
 lume of his translation of the Bible ; and in 1800, 
 " Critical Remarks on the Hebrew Scriptures, corre- 
 sponding with a new translation ; vol. 1, containing 
 Remarks on the Pentateuch." 
 
 The demand fc;r his biblical labours had, however, 
 long ceased to keep pace either with his expectations, 
 or with the expense of their publication ; and he now 
 became involved in a series of pecuniary difl[iculties, 
 from which he saw no probability of extricating him- 
 self. In this extremity, however, his usual good for- 
 tune in money matters, did not desert him. As soon 
 
 PART 4.] i>
 
 158 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 as his embarrassments became known, " it is to the 
 credit,*' says Mr. Good, " of the age in which we live, 
 " that, without any further application on his part, 
 persons of every rank and religious persuasion, Pro- 
 testants and Catholics, clergy and laity, nobility and 
 gentry, several of whom had never known him but 
 by name, and many of whom had openly professed 
 a dislike of his favourite tenets, united in one chari- 
 table effort to. rescue him from anxiety and distress; 
 nor should it be forgotten, that some part, at least, of 
 tlie amount subscribed, proceeded from the Right 
 Reverend Bench itself. The sum collected and ex- 
 pended upon his account, from the commencement of 
 the year 1788, to the middle of the year 1800, 
 amounted to about nine hundred pounds." 
 
 Dr. Geddes, lightened in heart by this generous 
 interference, now began to prepare for publication, 
 an elaborate work, which he had originally drawn 
 up in 1782, during the riots of Scotland and England, 
 upon the subject of Sir George Savile's bill, in favour 
 of persons professing the Roman Catholic religion; 
 but had suppressed in consequence of the intemper- 
 ance of the times. It was printed in 1800, under the 
 title of " A Modest Apology for the Roman Catholics 
 of Great Britain, addressed to all moderate Protest- 
 ants, particularly to the Members of both Houses of 
 Parliament." It was published anonymously, but 
 Geddes soon became known as the author. It excit- 
 ed great curiosity both at home and abroad, and was 
 translated both into the French and German lan- 
 guages. 
 
 In 1801, Dr. Geddes was called upon to sustain a 
 loss, in comparison of wliich every loss and disap-
 
 POETS.— DR. GEDDES. 159 
 
 pointment he had before encountered was light and 
 diminutive, and from the effects of which he never 
 fullj recovered — he lost his patron, Lord Petre, who 
 died suddenly of an attack of the gout, July 2nd, 
 1801, aged sixty, equally lamented by the lower ranks 
 of life, which he benefited, and the higher, which 
 he adorned. 
 
 By his last will, his Lordship bequeathed to Dr. 
 Geddes an annuity for life, of one hundred pounds ; 
 and his son and heir shortly after intimated, in a very 
 polite and friendly letter, that to this sum he pro- 
 posed to add a salary of the same amount. 
 
 Dr. Geddes did not long survive his benefactor. He 
 died of a lingering and excruciating disorder, on the 
 26th February, 1802, in the sixty -fifth year of his age. 
 The day before his decease, he was visited, as usual, 
 by his friend M. St. Martin, a professor of theology, 
 and a doctor of the Sorbonne", who had officially at- 
 tended him as his priest, during the whole of his ill- 
 ness. On entering the room, M. St. Martin found 
 the doctor extremely lethargic, and believed him to be 
 in the utmost danger ; he endeavoured to rouse him 
 from his torpor, and proposed to him to receive ab- 
 solution. Dr. Geddes observed that in such case it 
 was necessary he should first make his confession. 
 M. St. B^artin was sensible that he had neither strength 
 nor wakefulness enough for such an exertion, and re- 
 plied, that in extremis, this was not necessary ; that he 
 had only to examine the state of his own mind, and 
 to make a sign when he was prepared. M. St. Mar- 
 tin wasa gentleman of mnch liberality of sentiment, but 
 strenuously attached to what are denominated the 
 orthodox tenets of the Catholic church ; he had long 
 r-2
 
 160 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 beheld, with great grief of heart, what he conceived 
 the great aberrations of his ancient friend ; and had 
 flattered himself that, in the case of this last illness, 
 he should be the happy instrument of recalling him 
 tea full belief of every doctrine he had rejected; and 
 with this view, he was actually prepared, upon the 
 present occasion, with a written list of questions, in 
 the hope of obtaining from the Doctor an accurate 
 and satisfactory reply. He found however, from the 
 lethargic state of l3r. Geddes, that this regular pro- 
 cess was impracticable. He could not avoid, never- 
 theless, examining the state of his mind as to several 
 of the more important points upon which they dilFer- 
 ed. " You fully," said he, " believe in the Scriptures ?" 
 He roused himself from his sleep, and said, " Cer- 
 tainly." — " In the doctrine of the Trinity ?" — " Cer- 
 tainly, but not in the manner you mean." — " In the 
 mediation of Jesus Christ ?" — " No, no, no,— not as 
 you mean : in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, — but not 
 in the atonement." Mr. Good enquired of M. St. 
 Martin if, w hether, in the course of what had occurred, 
 he had any reason to suppose that Dr. Geddes's reli- 
 gious creed either now, or in any other period of his 
 illness, had sustained any shade of difference from 
 what he had formerly professed. He replied that he 
 could not possibly flatter himself with believing it had : 
 that the most comfortable words he heard him utter, 
 were, immediately, after a short pause, and before the 
 administration of absolution, " I consent to all," but 
 that to these he could affix no definite meaning. " It 
 would have given me great pleasure," said M. St. 
 Martin, " to have heard him recant ; but I cannot 
 with certainty say, that I perceived the least dispo-
 
 POETS DR. GEDDES. 161 
 
 sltlon in him to do so, and even the expression, " I 
 consent to all," was either, perhaps, uttered from a 
 wish to oblige me as his friend, or a desire to shorten 
 the conversation, than from any change in his opi- 
 nions. After having thus examined himself, however, 
 for some minutes, he gave a sign of being ready, and 
 received absolution as I had proposed to him. I then 
 left him ; he shook my hand heartily upon quitting 
 him, and said that he was happy he had seen 
 me." 
 
 Agreeably to his own desire, his remains were in- 
 terred in the church-yard of Paddington, and in a 
 spot which he had himself pointed out, for a reason 
 which presents a striking picture of the whole cha- 
 racter of his mind, and ought for ever to silence ail 
 doubts as to the general sincerity of his Christian 
 belief, however much he may have erred on particu- 
 lar points. " I choose this spot," said he, " that when 
 summoned from my grave, to meet my God on high, 
 the first thing which may strike my sight on looking 
 up, may be that noble inscription in front of the 
 Church, " Glory to God in Heaven, and peace and 
 good-will to men on earth."* 
 
 A plain marble monument has been erected to his 
 memory by the present Lord Petre, at the outside of 
 the southwest entrance into the church ; and to those 
 who may wish to view the sod beneath which he re- 
 poses, a solitary yew tree, planted by his worth 3' friend, 
 Dr. Calder (now also deceased) will mark out the spot. 
 It is close by the side of the public road. 
 
 * The inscription on the church is in Greek.
 
 162 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 In his corporeal make Dr. Geddes was slender, 
 but the features of his countenance were large and 
 protruded. " A play of cheerfulness," says Mr. 
 Good, ** beamed uniformly from his cheeks, and his 
 animated eyes darted rather than looked benevolence. 
 Yet, such was the irritability of his nerves, that a 
 slight degree of opposition to his opinions, and espe- 
 cially when advanced by persons whose mental pow- 
 ers did not warrant such opposition, put to flight, in 
 a moment, the natural character of his countenance, 
 and cheerfulness and benevolence were exchanged 
 for exacerbation and tumult." The portrait of Dr. 
 Geddes, which is prefixed to Mr. Good's Memoirs of 
 his Life and Writings, agrees with this description ; 
 but it is an exaggerated likeness. It was taken when 
 the Doctor was in his last illness, and wasted with 
 anguish both of mind and body. A friend happening 
 to call on him the day after he had sat to the painter ; 
 "Do 3'ou know," said the Doctor, " I have been get- 
 ting my likeness taken?" "Ah ! Doctor," observed 
 his friend, " I am afraid it must have been a likeness 
 taken in agony." " Oh, no," rejoined the Doctor 
 with his usual sprightliness, " I sung Latin songs all 
 the time ! " — A very fine portrait of him when in the 
 hey-day of health and spirits is in the possession of 
 Mr. Corner, a gentleman of the Catholic persuasion.* 
 
 Dr. Geddes was fond of society, and, except when 
 under the influence of high wrought irritability, no 
 
 * From this portrait the likeness prefixed to the pre- 
 sent work has, with that gentleman's kind permission, 
 been engraved. a. s.
 
 POETS.— DR. GEDDES. 163 
 
 man possessed more companionable qualities. His 
 anecdote was always ready ; his wit always brilliant ; 
 there was an originality of thought, a shrewdness of 
 remark, an epigrammatic turn of expression in almost 
 every thing which escaped him, that was sure to cap- 
 tivate his companions, and to induce those who had 
 once met him, notwithstanding his habitual infirmity, 
 to wish earnestly to meet him again.* 
 
 His kindness of heart was constantly displaying 
 itself in acts of benevolence and friendship. The 
 moment he beheld the probability of doing good by 
 liis own exertions, the good was instantly done. 
 
 As a man of genius and learning Dr. Geddes held 
 deservedly a high rank. That his literary labours 
 took an unfortunate direction, and that his reputa- 
 tion is exposed to a rapid decay from the controver- 
 sial and offensive character of great part of his writings, 
 must, at the same time, be allowed. His effusions 
 in poetry shew, that had he devoted the strength 
 of his faculties to the service of the Muses, instead of 
 wasting them in an obnoxious contention with creeds 
 of faith, his fame might have been as elevated as his 
 happiness would have been pure and unalloyed. 
 Such as they are, they are ratlier to be considered 
 as the relaxations of a severe student than as the com- 
 positions of an author ambitious of distinction. 
 " They discover," as Dr. Ir\^ing remarks, " what 
 might have been effected, but are not sufficiently 
 elaborate to be classed amongst finished compo- 
 
 sitions. 
 
 * Mr. Good.
 
 164 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Beside the more important publications which 
 have been mentioned in the course of this narrative, 
 Dr. Geddes wrote several pamphlets of an ephemeral 
 nature, and many fugitive pieces in prose and verse, 
 In the magazines and newspapers. 
 
 He left behind him, nearly ready for'publication, 
 " A new Translaiton of the Psalms," which was after- 
 wards edited by Dr. Disne}', and Mr. Butler. It was 
 completed as far as the 11th verse of the 118th 
 Psalm, and at the time of his death, printed olF to 
 the end of the 104th. A translation of the 150th Psalm 
 was also found among his papers. The editors of the 
 work have supplied the intermediate Psalms, from 
 Bishop Wilson's edition. 
 
 W. M.
 
 POETS.— JAMES GRAHAME. 165 
 
 JAMES GRAHAME. 
 
 The Rev. Janies Grahame, author of " The Sabbath" 
 and other poems, was born at Glasgow, on the 22nd. 
 of April, 1765. His father, who was a writer in that 
 city, appears to have been a man of considerable li- 
 terary attainments, of pious habits, and excellent 
 moral character. His mother, who had been brought 
 up in similar principles, was confirmed in her early 
 impressions by the example of her husband, and the 
 united influence of both was well calculated to lay 
 the foundation of those pure sentiments of devotion 
 in the mind of the young poet, which were after- 
 wards to regulate his conduct and awaken his muse. 
 
 In early youth, Grahame is said to have been of a 
 sprightly disposition, but his vivacity declined as he 
 grew up, and long before that period when the cha- 
 racter is matured by experience, the indications of a 
 reflecting habit were manifest in his deportment and 
 conversation. This sober turn of thought commenced 
 as early as his introduction to the grammar-school of 
 Glasgow, where he received the rudiments of his edu- 
 cation. From the grammar-school, he went to the 
 university of Glasgow, where he soon recommended 
 himself, by his knowledge of the ancient classics, and 
 liis talent for Latin composition, of which he pro- 
 duced a very favorable specimen at the commence- 
 ment of his academical career. With the study of 
 literature and philosophy, he ultimately joined that 
 of civil law, and had the good fortune to obtain the 
 intimate friendship of the professor of that depart-
 
 166 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 ment, the ingenious Dr. James Millar. The branch 
 of knowledge, however, for which young Grahame had 
 always manifested the strongest prepossession, was 
 that of divinity. Admiring it as a study, he was de- 
 sirous to adopt it as a profession ; but the natural 
 anxiety of his father to provide for the temporal in- 
 terests of his son, by a course of life more likely to 
 advance them, induced him, if not to abandon, at 
 least to postpone his own wishes, and to persevere in 
 the study of the law. 
 
 In 1784, Mr. Grahame was apprenticed to his cousin, 
 Mr. Laurence Hill, Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh, 
 and, at the conclusion of his apprenticeship, became 
 a member of that respectable body, who, under the 
 title of writers to the Signet, conjoin the various oc- 
 cupations which in England are divided among at- 
 torneys, special pleaders, conveyancers, and notaries. 
 In tliis capacity, he might, from his connections in 
 Glasgow, have soon acquired an extensive and lucra- 
 tive business ; but his constitution was weak, and 
 unequal to the close confinement which it required. 
 His very relaxations, being literary, were therefore 
 sedentary, so that the evil was not to be mitigated, 
 except by an entire change of pursuit. Mr. Grahamej 
 accordingly resolved to seek, in the higher labours of 
 the profession, a relief from the more painful drudgery 
 of the writing desk, and was called to the bar on the 
 10th of March, 1795. 
 
 JMr. Grahame, however, carried with him to the pro- 
 fession of a barrister, notions which were but little 
 calculated to introduce him into extensive practice. 
 He had an extreme aversion to undertake the advo- 
 cacy of an}- cause which was at variance with his
 
 POETS.— JAMES GRAHAME. 167 
 
 own notions of equity and justice ; and when its bad- 
 ness was manifest and indisputable, would return the 
 brief and fee. A habit so singular became, as might 
 be expected, the subject of much observation, not 
 ■only among lawyers and clients, but among all per- 
 sons who take an interest in the deviations of specu- 
 lative men. That such a principle might be carried 
 to an extreme, subversive of the very justice which 
 it intended to favour, is a fact admitting no dispute ; 
 but if acted upon with caution, and applied only in 
 cases where the imposture was palpable and gross, it 
 is hard to suppose that any injury could result to 
 society from iti; adoption, by the few individuals upon 
 whom mere morality is likely to have an influence. 
 If causes sometimes find their way into court, with 
 which it is a disgrace to be concerned, occasions must 
 sometimes occur, in which it woijld be an honor to 
 decline a fee. At all events, whatever danger may 
 be apprehended from the practice in a general sense, 
 the pecuniary excitement is always at haiid to resist 
 the innovation, and preserve that system of activity 
 which is most favourable to the purposes of private 
 interest and professional advancement. 
 
 In March, 1802, Mr. Grahame married Miss 
 Grahame, the eldest daughter of Mr. James Grahame, 
 town-clerk of Annan. 
 
 In 1804, he published his poem, entitled " The 
 Sabbath,"' the merits of which constitute his chief 
 claim to the remembrance of posterity. The caution 
 with which he endeavoured to provide against disco- 
 very, as the author of this beautiful poem, is still a 
 subject of conversation in the literary circles of Scot- 
 land. He selected a printer, on whose promise of
 
 168 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 secrecy he could perfectly rely, and used to meet 
 him at obscure coffee-houses, in order to correct the 
 proofs, but never twice at the same house, for fear of 
 attracting observation. He even contrived to get the 
 work through the press without the knowledge of his 
 wife or any of his friends ; and it is remarkable, that 
 tlie person who had most reason to feel interested in 
 his success, was the last even to suspect how nearly 
 the author was allied to her. The work rapidly made 
 its popularity ; it was praised in all companies, and 
 Mr. Grahame had the satisfaction of finding, that his 
 wife was among the number of its warmest admirers. 
 It was the pleasure which he derived from the enthu- 
 siasm of her praise upon one of those occasions, that 
 finally prevailed over his determination of conceal- 
 ment. He could hear the public acknowledgement 
 with comparative indifference, but the voice of pri- 
 vate affection was too sweet to be disregarded, and 
 its tribute too valuable to be denied a recompense so 
 entirely at his command. He confessed the sin of 
 authorship, and was furgiven. That he should have 
 been desirous to conceal his name, in the first in- 
 stance, before the fate of his poem could be ascer- 
 tained, was a delicacy, or perhaps a weakness, not 
 difficult to be accounted for in this age of critical 
 asperity ; but that after its merits were admitted, and 
 while its praise was sounding in his ears, he should 
 still have had any desire to remain unknown, is a 
 circumstance which, though perhaps not inexplicable 
 to elevated minds, will doubtless appear extraordinary 
 to the common race of scribblers, who carry personal 
 vanity into all their literary attempts, and shrink 
 from the notion of anonymous industry, as the soul
 
 POETS JAMES GRAHAME. 169 
 
 shrinks from that of annihilation. 
 
 The " Sabbath" was followed, at different intervals, 
 with " Sabbath Walks," " Biblical Pictures," " Mis- 
 cellaneous Poems," " British Georgics," " Birds of 
 Scotland," " Rural Calendar," *' The Siege of Co- 
 penhagen," and " Mary Stuart, a tragedy." 
 
 Whatever benefit Mr. Graharae might have experi- 
 enced from transferring his legal pursuits to the bar, 
 it does not appear that he was yet satisfied with his 
 condition ; for on his father dying, in deference to 
 whose desire alone he had ever embarked in the pro- 
 fession of the law, his first propensity triumphed over 
 every interested motive ; and though his practice was 
 respectable and reputation advancing daily, he again, 
 and for the last time, altered his course of life, re- 
 solving to devote himself thenceforward to the service 
 of religion. The death of his father, whom he had 
 always tenderly loved, was an event which made a 
 strong impression on his feelings ; and the nature of 
 that impression probably contributed, in no slight 
 degree, to confirm him in the resolution he had now 
 taken. When death begins his ravages among those 
 who have been dear to us from childhood, and the 
 foundations of human attachment are about to give 
 way under his irresistible pressure, then it is that the 
 instinct of human vanity receives a shock within us, 
 and the cares of this life dwindle into insignificance 
 and contempt. If such is the lesson inculcated by 
 this awful monitor upon minds in any way accessible 
 to reflection, much more must it have operated on 
 one whose ordinary exercises were contemplative, 
 philosophical, and devout. 
 
 After spenduig some time at Annan to recruit his 
 
 PART 4.] Q
 
 170 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN, 
 health, which had began to decline most seriously, 
 he proceeded to Chester, and from Chester to London, 
 where he was ordained by the Bishop of Norwich, 
 on the 20th of May, 1809. In the course of the 
 same year, he was appointed to the curacy of Shepton 
 Mayne, in Gloucestershire. The following extract 
 of a letter which he wrote to one of his friends will 
 serve to shew, from his own discriminating pen, what 
 were his fetlings in first entering on the exercise of 
 the holy ministry, and the character of the flock 
 which fell to his charge. 
 
 " I am now but beginning to feel at home. At 
 first, the wandering backwards and forwards through 
 the prayer-book puzzled me sadly, but now it comes 
 quite easy to rae. I never, except the first minute or 
 two of the first day, felt any embarrassment in the 
 pulpit. This parish is small, so that the duty is ra- 
 ther easy. As to the people, (the labouring classes I 
 mean,) they are rather good, I think ; but they are a 
 dull race, and deplorably ignorant. Hardly one in 
 twenty can write, and more than the half cannot 
 read. The poor are wretchedly poor indeed, though 
 the rich are liberal, and the poor rates by no means 
 light. In religion they are far behind us (the Scotch) 
 — they^ want warmth of devotion. Few of them 
 join in the psalms, and in many churches tliere is no 
 singing at all. The lukewarmness of the people I 
 ascribe very much to the insufiSciency and supineness 
 of the clergy. There are here and there excellent and 
 zealous ministers, but the majority of them are lazy, 
 stupid, and worldly-minded. In the neighbourhood, 
 there are two or three young men, who, in the course 
 of a few years, have done much good. In short, the 
 harvest only wants labourers. With respect to the
 
 POETS. — JAMES GRAHAME. 171 
 
 gentry, they are both good and agreeable. They 
 read a good deal ; they have excellent and large col- 
 lections of books — they are clever and intelligent — 
 but to me there is a want about them, — they want 
 fire and variety. They are, in short, too rational. 
 
 " I am here as happy as I can be at a distance from 
 my friends. Our temporalities are not great, but we 
 have many comforts — a tolerable house, two gardens, 
 and a small paddock, besides seven acres for which 
 we pay rent. The church is very ancient and crazy. 
 In the steeple, there are three sweet toned bells and 
 an owl." 
 
 Some family circumstances requiring his return to 
 Edinburgh, he resigned, in April 1810, the curacy of 
 Shepton Mayne. Soon after his arrival in the Scottish 
 capital, a vacancy occurring in the care of an Epis- 
 copalian chapel of that city, called Saint George's, 
 Mr. Grahame offered himself as a candidate. He was 
 not however successful, and next went to Durham, 
 •where he was engaged to officiate for some time as 
 subcurate of St. Margaret's. Another prospect open- 
 ed at that place which led to another disappointment. 
 A minor Canonry of small emolument became vacant 
 at the expiration of the term for which he was engaged 
 at St. Margaret's, but the Dean in whose gift it was, 
 either knew so little of the talents and virtues of Mr. 
 Grahame, or appreciated them so lightly as claims to 
 his patronage, that he not only refused to appoint 
 him, but kept the canonry vacant to the end of Mr. 
 Grahame's life, though it had been twice rejected in 
 the interval by more favoured individuals. It would 
 be a waste of time and thought to search after the 
 motives of this very reverend personage for such con- 
 q2
 
 172 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 duct, but it were well for the general interests of re- 
 ligion, and the particular interests of the estaMish- 
 ment, that the promotion of real merit was an object 
 of more serious attention with the dignitaries of the 
 Church of England. The same system of favouritism 
 which reflects disgrace on the Politician, cannot surely 
 be creditable to the Divine. 
 
 Through the interest oflMr.Barrington, the nephew 
 of the Bishop of Durham, he obtained the curacy of 
 Sedgefield, a country parish in the same neighbour- 
 hood, where he commenced his duties on the 1st of 
 May, 1811. It Avas at this place, and probably through 
 the contrivance of the same gentleman, that he had 
 an opportunity of preaching before the Bishop him- 
 self. The Bishop was so favourably' impressed by his 
 eloquence, as to declare his satisfaction in the warmest 
 terms, and to accompany his praise with a promise of 
 preferment. The tide of Grahame's fortune seemed 
 to have turned at last, but it was a temporary and 
 deceitful appearance. There was every reason to 
 suppose, from the character of the worthy Bishop, 
 that the promise made without solicitation would have 
 been realized without delay, if the decline of Mr. 
 Grahame's health had not rendered it necessary for him 
 to retire, at the very moment when perseverance was 
 most likely to be rewarded. Confirmed asthma, ac' 
 companied with violent headache and other acute 
 pains, assuming altogether that malignant aspect of 
 disease which is known by the term of " a complica- 
 tion," obliged him to decline the duties of his office 
 and to visit Edinburgh for medical advice. His com- 
 plaints, however, received no alteration; dissolution 
 was not to be stayed from its last ravages on a con- 
 stitutiou weak by nature, and farther enfeebled by
 
 POETS.— JAMES GRAHAME. 173 
 
 long protracted illness. Aware of bis approaching 
 end, he was anxious to revisit his native city before 
 he died, and accordingly left Edinburgh for Glasgow 
 on the 9th. of September, but it was his fate to see 
 Glasgow no more. He died on the journey at 
 Whitehill, the residence of his eldest brother, in the 
 forty seventh year of his age, manifesting in his last 
 moments the sincerity of those religious impressions 
 by which his life had been regulated. His death took 
 place on the 14th September, 1811, and he was buried 
 in the same grave with his worthy parents. He left 
 two sons and a daughter. 
 
 The character of Grahame, whether, drawn from the 
 facts which have been enumerated in his life, or from 
 tlie tenor of his writings, or from the concurrent testi- 
 mony of those who had the happiness of his acquaint- 
 ance, or as is more reasonable from the combination 
 of those separate sources of intelligence, cannot fail 
 of recommending itself to the admirers of virtue. The 
 testimony of acquaintances, though not always free 
 from prejudice, and therefore not always to be de- 
 pended on without the addition of other evidence, 
 forms necessarily an ingredient in the estimate of every 
 character ; for there are a thousand circumstances too 
 minute to strike the distant observer, which are never- 
 theless too important to be overlooked altogether, 
 when we attempt to exhibit a faithful likeness of the 
 human heart. All who knew Mr. Grahame, agree in 
 representing his life under an aspect the most amiable. 
 His manners in the retirement of home were as mild 
 and conciliating, as his principles in the more enlarg- 
 ed relations of societ^^ were liberal and upright. 
 Though not without disappointments which would
 
 174 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 Jiave been sufficient to sour the tempers of other men ; 
 such as, in the first instance, the check imposed upon 
 his favourite inclination by the mistaken poHcy of his 
 father ; subsequently, the want of advancement in the 
 church, after he had entered into its service, an object 
 desirable even in the religious view of extending the 
 sphere of his usefulness ; and lastly the experience 
 which, like most authors of his time, he had of the 
 petulance of critiscism, aggravating by its dicta 
 the difficulties inherent in the nature of devotional 
 poetry, and consequently obstructing his reputation 
 and trifling with his fame ; — though not without the 
 excitement of such provocations, we can neither trace 
 a line of his writings, nor discover a sentence of his 
 conversation, which betray' the slightest acrimony of 
 feeling or impatience of temper. His forbearance in 
 this respect will strike us the more seriously when we 
 remember how many even of our finest Poets have 
 been exasperated beyond the bounds of decent irri- 
 tation, by creatures incapable of inflicting any other 
 injury upon intellects so far above them. This dignity 
 of composure, in the midst of worldly disappoint- 
 ments and literary evils, is chiefly attributable to 
 that religion which formed the basis of his character. 
 Something however is due to the natural constitution 
 of his mind, and perhaps something to that distant 
 hope, which warms the breast of genius under all its 
 adversities, — the hope that at some future day poste- 
 rity will do it justice. Nothing is more easy than to 
 ridicule the solitary scholar, who, in the retirement of 
 his closet, enjoys as it were the conversation and 
 applause of men whom he shall never see ; but if it 
 were not for this brilliant dream of the mind, many 
 of the most glorious monuments of excellence that
 
 POETS. — JAMES GRAHAME. 175 
 
 now adorn the world, had sunk under the discourage- 
 ments of ignorance and envy. That he must have had his 
 faulty as a man it would be folly to deny, yet, as they 
 never obtruded themselves on observation, common can- 
 doursoeras to forbid that we should draw upon our ima- 
 gination, in the absence of fact, though for the purpose 
 of giving countenance to a rule which it may be 
 readil^r allowed admits of no exception. 
 
 In proceeding to examine Mr. Grahame's pretensions 
 as a poet, it is difficult to divest ones-self entirely of 
 the prejudice which his virtues are calculated to excite 
 in favour of his muse. But, making every allowance 
 on this ground^ no ordinary share of praise must still 
 be his due. The most important exception probably 
 which can be taken to his works, is, that they are 
 almost all too exclusively religious to attract the at- 
 tention of the general reader. Perhaps it would be 
 no misrepresentation of the spirit of any age with 
 which we are acquainted, if we except only the cant- 
 ing age of Cromwell, to say, that such topics rather 
 repel than invite the curiosity which so much befriend 
 a writer. A like devotional character distinguished 
 one of Grahame's oldest precursors in descriptive 
 writing — Hume, of Logic — to whom, indeed, he bears 
 a very striking resemblance. Both of them belonged 
 originally to the profession of the law ; and both 
 abandoned it for the church ; both cultivated poetry 
 with a view to religious edification ; and both have 
 studiously refrained from all reference to that ten- 
 derest, though most selfish, of human passions. Love; 
 and lastly, both have fixed on subjects as nearly alike 
 as possible — the one, celebrating the beauties of a 
 Summer's Day ; and the other, of the Sabbath, " the 
 hallowed day." In the scale of merit, however, there
 
 176 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 is a great distance between them. Although Gra- 
 hame, like Hume, excludes love from his theme, he 
 does not, like him, omit to call up other strong emo- 
 tions of the heart in its stead ; although he looks on 
 woman with no impassioned feeling, he does not 
 banish her from his view entirely. We have, in the 
 Sabbath Day> no such meetings of lovers as are, with 
 the utmost truth of painting, described in the ballad 
 of Logan Water. 
 
 Nae mair at Logan Kirk, will he 
 Atween the preachings, meet wi' me ; 
 Meet wi' me, or when its mirk. 
 Convoy me hame frae Logan Kirk. 
 
 But we have, " at the close of evening prayer, "the 
 affecting spectacle of youth and loveliness consigned 
 to the grave : 
 
 Again tliat knell ! The slow procession stops, 
 The pall withdrawn. Death's altar, thick emboss'd 
 With melancholy ornaments (the name. 
 The record of her blossoming age), appears 
 Unveil'd ; and on it, dust to dust is thrown — 
 The final rite. Oh ! hark, that sullen sound ! 
 Upon the lower'd bier the shovell'd clay 
 Falls fast and fills the void. — 
 
 Nor, though averse to introduce scenes of love into 
 the day consecrated to Heaven, does Graharae appear 
 to have wanted any thing of a lover's feeling. Take, 
 for example, his description in the Georgics, of two 
 lovers, on an excessively cold thirty-first of De- 
 cember night : 
 
 To meeting lovers now no hill is steep, 
 No river fordless, and no forest dark :
 
 POETS.— JAMES GRAHAME. 177 
 
 And when they meet, unheeded sweeps the blast ; 
 Unfelt the snow, as erst from summer's thorn, 
 Around them fell a shower of fading flowers, 
 Shook by the sighing of the evening breeze. 
 
 Hume is simply pleasing ; Graha.ise is impressive, 
 often pathetic. The one dwells on external objects 
 alone ; the other penetrates into the inmost recesses of 
 our heart. Still, considering either of them merely as 
 writers anxious to arrive at popularity by the shortest 
 road, it must be acknowledged, that, on account of 
 the peculiarly religious character of their writings, 
 they equally mistook their vvay. 
 
 The next point to be noticed is, the manner in 
 which Grahame has executed the design which he 
 had conceived, and this will be better illustrated by 
 a few quotations taken at random, than by a thousand 
 remarks. If the following passages are not capable 
 of affording some of the highest pleasures in the 
 perusal, no pomp of commentary can raise them to 
 that distinction ; if, on the other hand, they are capa- 
 ble of delighting without such interference, it is, after 
 all, the undertaking of more ingenious than useful 
 labour, to pry into the components of that enthusiasm, 
 which by one sweep of its wing has done the business 
 already . 
 
 The dawn of the Sabbath — its difference from the 
 dawn of every other morn — is thus strikingly intro- 
 duced. 
 
 How still the morning of the hallow'd day ! 
 Mute is the voice of rural labour ; hush'd 
 The plougliboy's whistle, and the milkmaid's song. 
 The scytlie lies glittering in the dewy wreath 
 Of tedded grass mingled with fading flowers.
 
 178 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 
 That yester-morn bloom'd waving in the breeze. 
 Sounds the most faint attract the ear, — the hum 
 Of early bee, the trickling of the dew, 
 The distant bleeting midway up the hill. 
 Calmness sits thron'd on yonunraoving cloud. 
 To him who wanders o'er the upland leas 
 The blackbird's note comes mellower from the dale ; 
 And sweeter from the sky the gladsome lark 
 Warbles his heaven-tun'd song ; the lulling brook 
 Murmurs more gently down the deep worn glen ; 
 While from yon lowly roof, whose curling smoke 
 O'ermounts the mist, is heard at intervals 
 The voice of Psalms, the simple song of Praise. 
 
 The burial of beauty has been already incidentally 
 noticed, and the conclusion quoted ; the preceding 
 part of this episode is still more remarkable for the 
 spirit and pathos of genuine poetry. 
 
 But wood and wild, the mountain and the dale. 
 The house of prayer itself, — no place inspires 
 Emotions more accordant with the day. 
 Than does the field of graves, the land of rest : — 
 Oft at the close of evening prayer, the toll. 
 The solemn funeral-toll, pausing, proclaims 
 The service of the tomb ; the homeward crowds 
 Divide on either hand ; the. pomp draws near. 
 The choir to meet the dead go forth, and sing 
 I am the Resurrection and the Life. 
 Ah me ! these youthful bearers robed in white, 
 They tell a mournful tale ; some blooming friend 
 Is gone ; dead in her prime of years : — 'twas she, — 
 The poor man's friend, who, when she could not give, 
 With angel tongue, pleaded to those who could ; 
 With angel tongue, and mild beseeching eye.
 
 POETS. — JAMES GRAHAME. 179 
 
 That ne'er besought in vain, save when she pray'd 
 For longer life, with heart resign'd to die. — 
 Rejoic'd to die, for happy visions bless'd 
 Her voyage's last days, and hovering round. 
 Alighted on her soul, giving presage, 
 That Heaven was nigh. O ! what a burst 
 Of rapture from her eyes ! what tears of joy 
 Her Heaveftward eyes sufFus'd ! — Those eyes are clos'd. 
 But all her loveliness is not yet flown. 
 She smil'd in death, and still her cold pale face 
 Retains that smile, as when a waveless lake, 
 In which the win'try stars all bright appear, 
 Is sheeted, by-'a nightly frost, with ice, 
 Still it reflects the face of Heaven, unchang'd, 
 Unruffled by the breeze, or sweeping blast. 
 
 The simile, with which these lines close, is as hap- 
 pily descriptive as it is original. 
 
 But not to confine ourselves to " the Sabbath," 
 let us open " the Georgics," the least happy, as the 
 other is the most fortunate, effort of his Muse. Has 
 the Battle of Bannockburn, the " Sabbath " of Scot- 
 tish freedom, ever received a more grateful or more 
 Scotch inspiring tribute, than in the words of 
 Grahame ? 
 
 To thee, who on a lovely morn in June, 
 At break of day, knelt on the dewy sward, 
 While full in view, Inchaff"ray's abbot rear'd 
 The sacred host ! To them ! who 'ere the sheet 
 Of blood besprinkled flowers, fell in the cause 
 Of freedom and their country ! To the men. 
 Who that day's fight survived, and saw, once more, 
 Their homes, their children ; and, when silvery hairs 
 Their temples thin bespread, liv'd to recount.
 
 180 LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. 
 On winter nights, the achievements of that day I 
 To thee, be ever raised the Muse's voice 
 In grateful song triumphant ; 
 
 The extracts which have been made, are sufficient 
 to give a general idea of the character of Grahame's 
 genius and expression. His thoughts, though sel- 
 dom sublime, are never mean, and his language, 
 though mostly simple and unaftected, is not always free 
 from the charge of redundance. Grahame's great 
 power is in tenderness, and his chief failing is want 
 of energy ; yet, sometimes he hits off" a w armth and 
 compression of phrase which well deserves the name of 
 energy the most poetic. On the whole, the author 
 of "the Sabbath" may be regarded as a poet of 
 considerable genius, Avliose reputation is likely to ad- 
 vance with the moral improvements of mankind ; 
 and who, if he does not class among the first of the 
 great fraternity to which he belongs, stands too pre- 
 eminent to be disregarded. 
 
 J.H.
 
 UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA 
 
 AT 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 LIBRARY
 
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