Note 597 — Chapter II · SUMMARY.

The following entry in the Treasurer’s Accounts, the 21st day of August, 1537, “Item, to Master George Balquhanan at the King’s command ... xx lib.” certifies that the royal widower did not omit to reward the learned poet. Again, in July, 1538, upon the occasion of the commemoration services on the anniversary of Queen Magdalene’s death, Master George Balquhanan received a gown of Paris black, lined with black satin, &c., also £20 at the King’s commands; so that, considering the relative value of money in that century, he was much more nobly guerdoned for his pains than he would have found himself, belike, in the present day. It is, however, to be noted that the said Master George Buchanan was a courtier at that time, having been preferred, for his singular erudition, and, Knox adds, “his honest behavior,” to the place of tutor to the King’s illegitimate children, whom the great Reformer designates by a coarser name. While engaged in this office, Buchanan was the recipient of gowns, hose, bonnets, doublets, and various other gear from the royal wardrobe-stores, as early as February 16, 1536.—Treasurer’s Accounts in the Royal Record Office at Edinburgh, cited by David Laing, Esq. in his learned edition of the Works of John Knox, vol. i. p. 71.