Chapter XXI · (continued 2)

¹ Register of the Privy Council, Volume I., page 234; Volume II., pages 181, 689, 702, 708. Very full information of the life and of the writings of Buchanan will be found in Dr. Irving’s Memoirs, published in 1807, the second edition in 1817. Buchanan kept up a literary correspondence with some of the most learned and famous scholars of the age. A very able, discriminative, and exceedingly interesting biography of Buchanan, by Mr. P. H. Brown, was published in 1890; it is the best account of the life and works of this great Scotsman which has yet appeared.

Although Buchanan wrote very little in the language of the people, his Latin works have had much influence, not only in Scotland but also on the Continent. He was universally recognised as an elegant Latin poet, and a very successful writer of classic prose.

A review of his Latin poems does not come within the scope of this work, but his prose writings demand some notice. His largest and most popular work is the History of Scotland in twenty books. Though the early portion of it is unmistakably fabulous, it is written throughout with great animation and force. For the part of it which relates to the history of the sixteenth century, he is an original and contemporary authority, and from his official position it may reasonably be assumed that he had access to the most trustworthy sources of information for the later portion of his history. Though an ardent party man, he had a strong sense of justice, a good judgment, and a love of truth. His narrative is enriched with wise and just political reflections, and his sentiments are almost always liberal, and for the time even radical. This feature of his History drew down upon it the vengeance of all who were attached to Romanism, all the enemies of freedom and all the lovers of despotism; even at this day, there are some who utterly detest the political principles of George Buchanan. The personal responsibility of kings for their conduct which he emphatically asserted in his history, was the most unpalatable of all opinions, and it met with virulent and bitter opposition.

But the work in which Buchanan most fully and logically developed the principles of political freedom is the De Jure Regni apud Scotos, published in 1579. This work was written in the form of a dialogue, and is a masterly compend of political thought. It at once excited a large degree of attention.¹ The principles which he enunciated were clear and decisive; they were derived from reason and experience, and unflinchingly directed against every form of tyranny. The argument was put in the following form:​—Men were naturally formed for society, but in order to arrest the internal broils that sprang up among them, they created kings, and in order to restrain the power of their kings, they enacted laws. As the community is the source of legal power it is greater than the king, and may therefore judge him; and since the laws are intended to restrain the king in case of collision, it is for the people, not for the ruler, to interpret them, as otherwise they could have no assurance that their interests would be safe. It is the duty of the king to associate himself with the law, and to govern exclusively according to its decisions. A king is one that rules by law, and in accordance with the interests of the people; but a tyrant is one that rules by his own will, and contrary to the interests of the people. An opinion has been promulgated that a king who is hampered by recognised constitutional ties, may be resisted if he violates them, but that a tyrant who reigns where no constitution exists must be always obeyed; this view, however, is wholly false. The people may justly make war against such a ruler, and may pursue him till he be slain. Buchanan illustrated and sent home these political opinions by examples drawn from history. He had also the merit of completely disentangling politics from the puerile conceits and endless subtleties of the Catholic theologians.

¹ There were several editions of the dialogue published in a separate form, in 1580, 1581, one at Glasgow 1750; one at London 1765; and it has been repeatedly translated into English: besides it was printed with all the editions of Buchanan’s works, except the first. As we have seen, it was condemned by the Scottish parliament in 1584, but probably this had little effect in retarding its circulation. At the end of last century there was a manuscript version of the dialogue in English, in the Lambeth Library. In 1680, a translation was published, but the place of printing was concealed: English translations of it appeared at Edinburgh, 1691; at London, 1689, 1721, 1799.

There have been many editions of Buchanan’s other works, of the history there have been at least twenty editions. His translation of the Psalms into Latin metre was long and universally admired, and has passed through numerous editions both in England and Scotland, and in other countries. In the beginning of the present century Dr. Irving wrote​—“Buchanan’s paraphrase continues to be read in the principal schools of Scotland, and perhaps in those of some other countries. Lauder’s attempt to supersede it by that of Johnston proved unsuccessful. During the lifetime of Buchanan, it had begun to be introduced into the schools of Germany; and its various measures had been accommodated to appropriate melodies, for the purpose of being chanted by academics. Pope Urban VII., himself a poet of no mean talent, is said to have averred that it was a pity it was written by so great a heretic, for otherwise it should have been sung in all churches under his authority.”​—Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Buchanan, pages 130‒131.

Buchanan’s writings in the Scottish dialect are two political pamphlets, which were written in support of the King’s party, one entitled “An Admonitioun direct to the trew Lordis maintenaris of Justice and Obedience to the King’s Grace,” and the other called the “♦Chamaeleon.” They both originated from the critical state of the Kingdom immediately after the murder of the Regent Moray, and show the keen and practical interest which Buchanan took in the politics of his day; and also his insight into the real position of the nation at the time. In the Admonitioun his chief contention is that the only hope for religion and liberty in Scotland depended on the safety of the young King; and the aim of the pamphlet was to show the King’s supporters the national ruin that would issue from the defeat of their cause. He insisted that the Hamiltons were the chief enemies of the King’s cause. The Chamaeleon was directed against Maitland of Lethington, who had joined the Queen’s followers, and used his talents and energy to subvert the King’s party; and he more than any one else was the moving spirit of Mary’s party. Lethington was then in the Castle of Edinburgh, and tidings having reached him that such a pamphlet was forthcoming, on the night of the 14th of April, 1571, Captain Melvin was sent from the Castle to Lekpreuik’s house to seize him, and if possible to obtain the manuscript of the offensive pamphlet. The printer, however, having had warning, made his escape; but the publication of the Chamaeleon was stopped, and it was not printed till 1710. Lekpreuik went to Stirling, and there he printed in the summer of 1571 Buchanan’s Admonitioun direct to the trew Lordis. These two pamphlets of Buchanan are very good specimens of Scottish prose literature; although the form of his sentences is in the Latin style, the expression is clear and effective. The Scottish Text Society have recently published Buchanan’s two Scottish pamphlets, edited by Mr. P. Hume Brown.

The teaching of the reformed preachers has prepared the Scots for the reception of the political opinions proclaimed by Buchanan: they were in harmony with the spirit of the time, and had a great influence. They offer a striking contrast to the slavish opinions then entertained by the majority of the English clergy. The English Church for more than a hundred and fifty years was the servile handmaid of monarchy, and the steady enemy of political liberty and freedom,¹ while the body of the English Puritans and the Scotch clergy struggled hard against the despotism of the Crown, and the clergy of the Church of England. They constantly taught the doctrine of the divine right of kings; and insisted that passive obedience and absolute submission to the will of the king was the first and highest duty of the people. The clergy of Scotland taught and preached a very different doctrine; they, at least, were not afraid of rebellion when it was necessary, and to maintain that it was unlawful for the people to rise against their King, if he proved an unworthy ruler or had encroached upon their freedom, would have been the last thing that they would have thought of.

¹ Hallam’s Constitutional History of England, Volume I., page 415. Jeremy Taylor said: “Eternal damnation is prepared for all impenitent rebels in hell with Satan the first founder of rebellion. Heaven is the place of good, obedient subjects, and hell the prison and dungeon of rebels against God and their prince.”​—Homily on Wilful rebellion. Quoted in Lecky’s History of Rationalism, Volume II., page 149.

The Scottish poets of the later half of the sixteenth century were not of high rank, and therefore need not detain us long. None of their writings appear to have been very popular, and they did not exercise much influence on the people. The name of Sir Richard Maitland, of Lethington, a lawyer, a Lord of Session, and a Privy Councillor, in the reign of Queen Mary, is associated with the history of Scottish poetry more from the fact of his having been a collector of the verses and poems of others, than for the importance of his own compositions. He was born in 1494, and after a long, an active, and honourable life, during the last twenty years of which he was deprived of his eyesight, died in March 1586, at the great age of ninety. His poems were all written after his sixtieth year, and they bear the impress of the sober reflection of mature age. None of his verses are soaring or glowing, but they contain some very pointed references to the state of society and the events of the period. The subjects of most of his poems are lamentations for the disturbed state of his country, such as the feuds amongst the nobles, the discontent of the common people, complaints against the courts for long delay in deciding cases, and the depredations of the border thieves. Touching a remedy for the delay of law suits, Maitland advised the King to increase the number of judges, and to augment their salaries out of the funds of the abbacies, parsonages, and provestries, which were then at the disposal of the Crown. His poems were first printed in a separate and complete form in 1830 by the Maitland Club; some of them, however, had appeared before in Pinkerton’s Ancient Scottish Poems, and in other collections of early poetry.¹

¹ Pinkerton’s Ancient Scottish Poems, Volume II., page 275‒345, 349‒353. Sibbald’s Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, Volume III., pages 76, 319.

Maitland’s collections of early Scottish poetry consists of two volumes, containing two hundred and seventy-two pieces, and specimens of these have long been before the public. He was the author of a book entitled The History and Chronicle of the House and Surname of Seytoun, which was printed for the Maitland Club in 1829.

George Bannatyne was a writer of verses, but was more remarkable as a collector of early poetry, with the history of which department of our vernacular literature his name is inseparably associated. He formed his collection in the year 1568, when a young man, while the plague was raging in Scotland. His manuscript is neatly transcribed, and extends to eight hundred pages folio. He was engaged on it for three months. In the beginning of the manuscript he states that he was forced to have recourse to old and mutilated copies. There are only a few of his own compositions in the collection, two of which deal with amatory subjects. He concludes the manuscript with an address to the reader in the following words:—

“Here ends this book, written in time of pest,

When I fra labour was compelled to rest,

Into the three last months of this year,

From our Redeemer’s birth, to know it here,

Ane thousand is, five hundred, threescore eight.

Of this purpose no more needs be taught.

So, till conclude, God send us all good end,

And after death eternal life us send.”¹

¹ Many particulars about the poems contained in this manuscript may be seen in Ancient Scottish Poems, published by Lord Hailes in 1770; in Pinkerton’s Ancient Scottish Poems; in a volume printed by the Bannatyne Club, containing a memoir of the worthy collector, Bannatyne; by Sir Walter Scott, and in several of the writings of the late Dr. Laing, relating to the early poetry of Scotland.

Only a few of Bannatyne’s own poems are preserved, and they have not much poetical merit, though they are interesting as the effusions of one that was so instrumental in transmitting to posterity the early poetry of bygone generations.

Alexander Scott wrote poetry during this period, and his poems were edited by the late Dr. Laing, but nothing has been definitely ascertained concerning his parentage or profession. From his writings it appears that he was married; but his wife deserted him, and fled with some wanton man; however, after expressing his sorrow for this mishap, he avowed his determination to choose another wife, and to forget the faithless one. His poems are mostly founded on subjects of an amatory character, and he often shows a considerable degree of fancy and harmony. The longest of his productions is entitled “A New-Year’s Gift to Queen Mary when she came first hame,” but it has little poetic merit. His “Justing between Adamson and Sym” appears to be an imitation of “Christ’s Kirk of the Green.”¹

¹ Alexander Scott’s Poems, 1821. Dr. Irving’s History of Scottish Poetry, pages 417‒424. Eighteen of his pieces are included in Sibbald’s Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, Volume III., pages 115‒175.

Alexander Arbuthnot was born in 1538 at Pitearles, in Mearns, and educated at the University of St. Andrews. In 1561 he passed to France, and for five years prosecuted the study of the law under Cujacius, in the University of Bruges. He returned to Scotland in 1566, with the intention of following the profession of law, but was induced to enter the ministry, and became an able adherent of the Reformation. He was highly respected for his learning and knowledge, and in 1568 was appointed Principal of the University of Aberdeen. He took an active part in the proceedings of the Church Courts, and was twice elected Moderator of the General Assembly. To the study of theology he joined the study of letters, and was the author of an elegant Latin work entitled “Orations on the Origin and Dignity of the Law,” which was printed at Edinburgh in 1572. In his poems, which are in the Scottish language, he mostly confines himself to subjects of a serious cast, and some of his pieces are pervaded with a pleasing air of melancholy and a warm benignity. He died in 1583, regretted by his contemporaries, who united in recording his virtues.¹

¹ Spottiswood; Delitiæ Poetarum Scotorum II., page 120. Dr. M‘Crie’s Life of Melville, Volume I., pages 114‒117, 283.

Only four or five of Arbuthnot’s poems are preserved. The most lively of them is the one entitled “The Praise of Women,” which extends to 224 lines, and contains a very warm encomium of the fair sex. His effusion entitled “The Miseries of a Poor Scholar,” is rather an interesting composition, and shows that he had a vein of keen and glowing, though somewhat carping, sentiment.¹

¹ These two poems are included in Pinkerton’s Ancient Scottish Poems, Volume I., pages 138‒155; and quotations are given in Dr. Irving’s History of Scottish Poetry, pages 432‒436.

Among the writers of rhyme of this period may be mentioned John Davidson, who was born about the year 1549 at Dunfermline. He studied at the University of St. Andrews from 1567 to 1570; and afterwards became a Regent of St. Leonards College. He was a strong adherent of the Reformation; and took a warm interest in promoting education amongst the people. He wrote a metrical panegyric on John Knox, entitled “A Brief Commendation of Uprightness,” which was printed at St. Andrews in 1573. The aim of this rhymed production is to record in popular language the memorable service that the Reformer rendered to the nation. Every stanza of the poem closes with the word uprightness. About the same time he composed a poem called “A Dialogue between a Clerk and a Courtier,” which was printed in the beginning of the year 1574. It contains an exposure of a practice adopted by the Regent Morton for the purpose of retaining at his own disposal a large part of the thirds of benefices, by uniting two, three, or four churches under the care of one minister, thus restoring the abuse of pluralities. Morton was much offended at the outspoken style of the poem; and its author was cited and convicted before a court at Haddington, and banished from the country. Lekpreuik, the printer of the rhyme, was also prosecuted, and imprisoned for some time in the Castle of Edinburgh.¹ They were indicted on an Act of Parliament, of 1551, “against blasphemous rhymes.” There is little in Davidson’s book that could have given reasonable ground of alarm to any well regulated government, as it merely describes a subject of public interest in a comparatively sober manner. Davidson returned to Scotland after the fall of Morton, and, as we have seen in preceding pages, took an active part in the proceedings of the Church.

¹ Poetical Remains of John Davidson, 1829; Melville’s Diary, pages 27, 28; Life of Knox, pages 447‒460; 1855. Annals of Scottish Printing, by Dickson and Edmond, pages 205, 270‒71.

The literary merits of the piece, which offended the Regent, are not great. The versification, however, is easy, and the conversation is carried on in a natural and spirited style. Shortly after its publication, Davidson composed a poem to the memory of Robert Campbell of Kinyeancleugh, a man that had shown his attachment to the reformed religion by his steadfast support of Knox. Campbell died while endeavouring to shelter Davidson from the effects of persecution, and the latter gratefully commemorated the virtues of his protector. The poem was published in 1595. Having returned from exile, Davidson was appointed minister of the parish of Liberton in 1579. Afterwards he incurred the displeasure of the King, and had to leave his charge, and retired to England. After his return he preached at various places in and around Edinburgh; and in 1596 he became minister of Prestonpans. But owing to his opposition to the King’s scheme of Church polity, he was imprisoned for a time, and afterwards his action was restricted to his own parish. After a life of activity and earnest work, he died in 1604, leaving behind him a collection of papers relating to the ecclesiastical history of Scotland.¹

¹ Poetical Remains of J. Davidson; Dr. M‘Crie’s Life of Melville, Volume I., pages 131‒132, 449‒453. Davidson’s other writings consisted of a letter in answer to Dr. Bancroft’s attack on the Church of Scotland: an account of Scottish Martyrs, written in Latin, but this work is now lost; though Calderwood had the use of it when he compiled his history: a Catechism entitled, “Some helps for young scholars in Christianity,” Edinburgh, 1602, which was reprinted in 1708. “A little before his death he penned a treatise, De Hostibus Ecclesiæ Christi, wherein he affirms the erecting of bishops in this Kirk is the most subtle thing to destroy religion that ever could be devised.”​—Row’s History.

There were several other minor versifiers in the latter part of this century, but their productions are hardly of sufficient importance to warrant any lengthy notice. Robert Semple was a versifier of some repute in his day; he wrote a poem on the siege of the Castle of Edinburgh, which was printed in 1573. Another of his rhymes is entitled, “The Legend of the Bishop of St. Andrews;” this was an attack upon the character of Archbishop Adamson; but Semple’s compositions are rather coarse. Scottish Poems of the Sixteenth Century, Volume I.; Pinkerton’s List of the Scottish Poets; Birrel’s Diary, page 14; Ramsay’s Evergreen, Volume I., pages 67, 71.

There were also a number of anonymous poems and rhymes relating to public events, published about this time.​—“The Testament and Tragedy of the late King Henry Stuart of good memory;” another, “A declaration of the Lord’s just Quarrel,” both were printed in 1569; and are very bitter against Queen Mary. “A Tragedy in the form of a Dialogue, in commemoration of the merits and fate of the regent Moray,” was published in 1570. This performance has little or no poetic value; many of the author’s expressions are in extremely bad taste. Some parts however of the Regent’s public service was clearly stated, and his subjection of the borderers was narrated quite distinctly. This rhyme is printed in Scottish Poems of the Sixteenth Century. “The Lamintation of Lady Scotland,” which was published in 1572, is a production of a similar description; but it contained some important information regarding the state of the people; and the oppressive character of the nobles was very plainly stated. Lady Scotland concluded with a fling at the practices of the dignitaries of the Roman Church. Scottish Poems of the Sixteenth Century. There were several rhymers who frequented the court of James VI., some of them Englishmen, but their writings are of little interest.​—Dr. Irving’s History of Scotish Poetry, pages 461‒470.

Alexander Montgomery was one of the most eminent and popular of the Scottish poets of the later half of the sixteenth century. Of his life and character very few facts are known. He seems to have been for sometime employed in the service of James VI.; while it also appears that he experienced some of the vicissitudes of favour which so often fall to the lot of the courtier. It is supposed that he died about 1609. Several of his short poems occur in Bannatyne’s manuscript, and must have been composed forty years before his death.¹ Montgomery’s poems are numerous, embracing sonnets and short pieces of very varied degrees of merit. It has been supposed that his taste was partly formed by the study of the Italian poets, as some of his quaint turns of fancy betray their Italian origin. He has written on many subjects, and tried his ingenuity in a variety of measures, but his happiest efforts were those of a lyric cast. To him amorous subjects afforded the most common themes for the exercise and the display of his powers. He had a good command of language, and, like some of his predecessors, especially of words of abuse and scorn.²

¹ Poems of Alexander Montgomery, by Dr. D. Laing; Biographical Notices, pages 5‒16; 1821.

² The production entitled “The flyting between Montgomery and Polwart” (Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth) teems with the coarsest and most abusive strings of terms to be found in any language. It is equally as coarse and vulgar as the performance between Dunbar and Kennedy, in the same department. Montgomery began the sport with the following lines:—

“Polwart, yee peip like a mouse amongst thornes;

Na cunning yee keipe. Polwart, yee peip;

Ye look like a sheipe, and yee had twa hornes.

Polwart, yee peip like a mouse amongst thornes.

Beware what thou speiks, little foule earth tade;

With thy Cannigate breiks, beware what thou speiks,

Or there sal be wat cheiks for the last that thou made.

Beware what thou speiks, little foule earth tade.”

—Page 103.

The quantity of low slang that occurs in this composition is very great, and many of the words are still current among the lowest class in Scotland.

His greatest effort is “The Cherrie and the Slae,” a poem of considerable ingenuity, extending to one hundred and fourteen stanzas, comprising one thousand five hundred and ninety-five lines. The poem begins in an amatory mood, and ends with a moral. Though the allegory is rather obscure, and the thought too dim, many of the stanzas are rich in imagery and smooth in diction. It was very popular, and continued to be printed till a recent period.¹

¹ As far as known, the first edition of The Cherrie and the Slae was published at Edinburgh in 1597; in that year two editions were printed by Robert Waldegrave. Several stanzas were afterwards added by the author to an impression which appeared in 1615, from the press of Andrew Hart. The subsequent editions were​—one at Edinburgh, 1536; another there, 1675; another, 1706; and one inserted in Ramsay’s Evergreen, 1724; one at Aberdeen, 1645: and editions printed at Glasgow in 1668, 1746, 1751, 1754, 1757, and 1768; and a modernised edition printed at Edinburgh, 1779: The Scottish Text Society issued a complete edition in 1886‒87, edited by Dr. James Cranstoun, with numerous notes and a very useful Glossary.

Montgomery’s sonnets were mostly all addressed to some of his contemporaries or friends, to the King, the Lords of Session, and to others, male and female. They have not much poetical merit, nor much interest now; some of his miscellaneous poems, however, are more valuable and interesting. The following lines are from his short piece headed “The Opposition of the Court to Conscience”:—

“The court some qualities requires

Which conscience cannot but accuse;

And specially such as aspiris

Mon honest adulation use.

I dar not say, and doubly deill,

But court and conscience wallis not weill.

Sin every minioun thou must make

To gar them think that thou art theirs,

Howbeit thou be, behind their back,

No furtherer of their affairs,

But mett them moonshin ay for meill;

So court and conscience wallis not weill.”¹

¹ Poems, pages 136, 137; Dr. Laing’s Edition.

Montgomery also versified several of the Psalms, and wrote many devotional verses.¹

¹ Poems, pages 247‒287.

We have already seen that James VI. was fond of displaying his learning and his theological knowledge. He was equally anxious to show his subjects and the world that he was a poet. In 1584, when only eighteen years of age, he published his first work, entitled “Essays of a Prentice in the Divine Art of Poesie.” This publication consists of a mixture of poetry and prose: the poems are mostly a kind of sonnet. None of them are of high merit, but, emanating from such an exalted personage, they were greatly praised, and James was soon recognised as a poet and a scholar. He appeared as a contributor to the Cambridge collection of verses on the death of Sir Philip Sidney, published in 1587. In this book the king’s verses were placed first.¹ His subsequent writings were numerous, but a review of them would not repay the trouble and the space which it would occupy. It may at once be stated that his books have contributed nothing to the advancement of an enlightened and liberal policy of government, nor to the progress of civilisation.²

¹ There is much information about the writings of James the VI. in Dr. Harris’s account of his life, 1753.

² In the list of King James’s works the following may be mentioned:​—1. Ane Fruitful Meditation, containing a plain and facile exposition of the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth verses of the twentieth chapter of Revelations, in form of a sermon; set down by the most Christian king, and sincere professor and chief defender of the truth, James the Sixth, King of Scots. Edinburgh, 1588. 2. Demonology, in form of a dialogue, divided into three books, Edinburgh, 1597; again, 1600; and at London, 1603. 3. His Majesty’s Poetical Exercises in vacant hours, Edinburgh, 1591. 4. Instructions to his Son, Prince Henry. Basilicon Doron, 1603. 5. The True Law of Free Monarchies, 1598. 6. Counterblast to Tobacco. 7. Mysteries of State. 8. His other writings chiefly consist of speeches, declarations, and the like. There is an enumeration of them in Dr. Watt’s Bibliotheca Britannica, Volume II., page 541.

Towards the end of the century, there is some indication of an improvement in the moral sentiment and tone of the popular literature. Alexander Hume, minister of Logie, who died in 1609, produced in the later years of his life a number of hymns or sacred songs. A volume which he printed at Edinburgh in 1599, contains eight hymns, a short poem on the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and a prose Epistle in which he records the experiences of his youth. In the Epistle he expresses himself pretty freely respecting the corruption of the judges, and animadverts boldly on the Scottish Court.¹ His hymns are very unequal, but the versification is occasionally fluent and easy; and some of his descriptions are natural and vigorous. The following lines are taken from the hymn entitled “the Day Festival:”—

“O perfect light! which shed away

The darkness from the light,

And left one ruler o’er the day,

Another o’er the night.

Thy glory, when the day forth flies,

More vively does appear,

Nor at midnight unto our eyes,

The shining sun is clear;

The shadow of the earth anone,

Removes and drawis by;

Syne in the east when it is gone,

Appears a clearer sky:

Which soon perceives the little larks

The lapwing, and the snipe;

And tunes their songs, like nature’s clerks,

O’er meadow, moor, and stripe.

What pleasure ’twere to walk and see

Endlong a river clear,

The perfect form of every tree

Within the deep appear;

The salmon out of crooves and creels

Up hauled into skouts,

The bells and circles on the weills

Through louping of the trouts.

O then it were a seemly thing,

While all is still and calme,

The praise of God to play and sing

With cornet and with shalme.”

This is certainly a great advance from the rude and coarse rhymes of the “Gude and Godlie Ballads.” There is an ease and artless vividness of description in this beautiful hymn which renders it exceedingly pleasing to read; and it must have been more touching when sung.

¹ “Hymns or sacred songs, wherein the right use of poetry may be espied. By Alexander Hume. Whereunto are added, the experience of the author’s youth and certain precepts, serving to the practice of sanctification.” Edinburgh, 1599.

James Melville, the nephew of Andrew Melville, whose valuable and interesting Diary has been often referred to in the preceding pages of this work, also indulged in writing Scottish poetry. In early life he acted as a professor at Glasgow and at St. Andrews, and afterwards as a parish minister. He was one of the ministers that were deprived of their livings and liberty after the accession of the King to the throne of England. He died at Newcastle in 1614. He was a mild and estimable man, more remarkable for his piety than for any original poetic power. In 1599 his work entitled a “Catechism” was published at Edinburgh. The first part of it is in prose, and consists of prayers and meditations for different occasions, directions for self-examination, a form of examination for those seeking to be admitted to the communion, in the order of question and answer. The second part is in verse, and has the following title​—“A Morning Vision, or Poem for the Practice of Piety, in devotion, faith, and repentance: wherein the Lord’s Prayer, Belief, and Commands, and so the whole Catechism, and right use thereof, is largely expounded.” He composed many other religious pieces in verse, but his poetry is very homely and tame; and it appears that his Catechism was not popular. His writings are interesting, however, as specimens of the native language, and for the curious and plain statement of customs and notions which prevailed in Scotland in his day.¹

¹ James Melville’s Diary, edition by Robert Pitcairn, Prefatory Notice, pages 8‒31, 45. The editor gives a list of his various works, pages 44‒48. But the Diary itself is by far the most valuable of his writings to the student of history.

The fashion of the age led the learned to make attempts to write Latin poetry and rhymes. The quantity of effort spent in learning to read and compose in the Latin language was enormous; and although this had a tendency to improve the standard of culture, it may be doubted if it was not carried too far. We are also told that “in all the schools and colleges, and from the age of six to sixteen, the youth spoke and heard nothing but Latin;” also that in their correspondence and ordinary conversation with each other, the learned used the Latin tongue.¹ Supposing this to be literally true, it can hardly be said to have been the most effective way to develop the faculties of the mind, or to advance the civilisation of the nation. This mode of culture tends to separate men of letters from the general community, and prevents them from exercising an influence over the mind of the people; and thus deprives literature of the advantages to be derived from its diffusion among all ranks of society. It may be said, indeed, that the Scottish Latinists of this period exercised an indirect influence upon the national mind, which in one sense may be granted; but after the Reformation the spell of Latin Christianity was broken, and in Protestant nations the Latin language as a formative power inevitably became greatly circumscribed. This was a consequence of the Reformation, whether learned men saw it or not, that did not effect its operation.

¹ Dr. M‘Crie’s Life of Melville, Volume II., pages 328, 330‒332. “But perhaps, the most extraordinary circumstance in the history of our literature at this period was the enthusiasm with which Latin poetry was cultivated by our countrymen; divines, lawyers, physicians, country-gentlemen, courtiers, and statesmen, devoted themselves to this difficult species of composition, and contended with each other in the various strains which the ancient masters of Roman song had employed. The principal poems in the collection entitled ‘Delitiæ Poetarum Scotorum’ were originally published, or at least written, at this time. They are of course possessed of very different degrees of merit, but of the collection in general we may say that it is equal to any of the collections of the same kind which appeared in other countries, except that which contains the Latin poems composed by natives of Italy. If this was not the classic age of Scotland, it was at least the age of classical literature in it, and at no subsequent period of our history have the languages of Greece and Rome been so successfully cultivated, or the beauties of their poetry so deeply felt and so justly imitated. Besides Andrew Melville, the individuals who attained the greatest excellence in this branch of literature were Sir Thomas Craig, Sir Robert Ayton, Hume of Godscroft, John Johnston, and Hercules Rollock.” To these may be justly added​—Archbishop Adamson, who wrote sacred poetry, translations of various books of the Bible in verse, a Catechism, and other treatises in Latin. He died in extreme poverty in 1591. He also wrote several works which have never been published.

Remembering the comparatively unsettled state of the nation, the religious and theological literature produced in the later part of the century was considerable. Before this period no commentary on Scripture, nor any collection of sermons, had appeared in Scotland; for the writings on the Four Gospels of the Scottish Scholastic, John Mair, were published in Paris. But Robert Rollock, the first Principal of the University of Edinburgh, was an earnest educationalist and a warm promoter of literature, whose name is closely and honourably associated with the history of education and religious literature in Scotland. In connection with his profession, he composed commentaries on many parts of the Bible, some of which were published at Edinburgh toward the end of the century, and were shortly after reprinted at Geneva, and commended by several foreign divines. He wrote in Latin, and though his mode of exposition was not free from the fetters of the pedantic logic of Scholasticism, and themes that involved the most momentous moral issues were handled as mere abstractions. Having formed certain premises, the intermediate conclusions to which the rules of their method led, they treated these deductions as logical symbols, and reasoned them out, utterly ignoring the difficulty and the doubt which so often attends the steps of moral reasoning. Everything rested on the truth of the definitions and the premises; and to change or doubt any of these was fatal to the whole structure. Protestantism has only gradually and with difficulty extricated itself from this purely dogmatic method; and even yet we are not altogether clear of its meshes. Rollock’s good sense and feeling of the practical often appears in his commentaries on the Scripture in spite of the art of the dialectician, though in some of his Latin writings he revels in dialectics. His sermons in the Scottish dialect, published at Edinburgh in 1599, from notes taken by some of his students, are pretty concise and practical discourses, and exhibit him in a favourable light. His work entitled “God’s Effectual Calling,” originally published in Latin at Edinburgh, 1597, is rather an elaborate performance. It formed a portion of the system of theology which he taught. In this treatise Rollock touches upon a variety of topics relating to the Scriptures; and like other Protestant divines of the period, exhibits an unhesitating and firm belief in revelation. He mentions various early translations of the Old and New Testament, and briefly discusses the authorship and claims of the Vulgate. Passing to the consideration of translations into the modern tongues, he inquires whether it is lawful to translate the Bible into every modern language, whether the common prayers should be in the mother tongue, and whether the people should read the Scriptures. The arguments of the Roman Catholics against the free communication of the Bible to the people he minutely examines and effectively exposes.¹

¹ Select Works of R. Rollock: Wodrow Society, 1849, Volume I., pages 127‒160. A list of his works is given at pages eighty-nine and ninety-five of the introduction to this volume. Some of his writings were popular for several generations after his death.

Robert Bruce, whom we have seen in preceding pages, as a bold and popular preacher, was a man of strong and vigorous mind, intensely earnest, honest, and steadfast in principle. His sermons in the Scottish dialect were published at Edinburgh in 1590 and 1591; and are exceedingly interesting specimens of vernacular composition, shortly before the period when it was generally superseded by modern English. They are full of doctrinal points and arguments, remarkably regular in style and clear in expression. He had a good sense of method, and the faculty of making an intricate subject intelligible to the ordinary understanding.¹

¹ His sermons were translated into English, and published at London in 1617; they were reprinted for the Wodrow Society.​—Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, Volume I., page 18.

Robert Pont was born about 1528. Educated in St. Leonard’s College at St. Andrews, he early embraced the reformed opinions, and his name appeared among the members of the first General Assembly. From this time till his death in 1606, he took an active part in the affairs of the Church. In 1572, with the consent of the General Assembly, he accepted an appointment to act as a senator of the college of justice, and he held a seat on the bench till 1584. He was chosen minister of St. Cuthbert’s Church, Edinburgh, in 1574; the same year, he was appointed to revise all the books that were printed and published.

Pont was one of the most learned of the early ministers of the Church of Scotland. In 1566 he published A Translation and Interpretation of the Helvetian Confession. At the request of the General Assembly, he composed three sermons against sacrilege in 1594, which were published in 1599. This is an interesting subject, and has been often touched on, in preceding chapters; yet a short quotation from a well informed contemporary cannot be out of character:​—“From the year of our Lord 1560 to this present time, the greatest study of all men of power of this land has been, by all kinds of inventions, to spoil the Kirk of Christ of her patrimony, by chopping and changing, diminishing of rentals, converting of victual in small sums of money, setting of feus under the value, long tackes upon tackes, with two or three life-rents, with many twenty years of a tack, annexations, erections of Kirk-rents into temporal livings and heritage, pensions, simple donations, erecting of new patronages, union of teinds, making new abbots, commendators, priors, and other papistical titles, which ought to have no place in a reformed Kirk and country, with many other corrupt and fraudful ways, to the detriment and hurt of the Kirk, the schools, and the poor, without any stay or gainsaying.”¹ His other writings chiefly related to chronology. “A new treatise on the right reckoning of the years and ages of the world and men’s lives, and of the state of the last decaying age thereof, this year of Christ, containing sundry singularities worthy of observation, concerning courses of times and revolutions of the heavens, reformation of kalendars, and prognostications,” etc., published at Edinburgh, 1599. His work, entitled Chronologiam de Sabbatis, was published at London in 1626. He also wrote a tract on the union of the kingdoms, in the form of a dialogue, which was published in 1604. In this dialogue he gives a deplorable description of the tyranny of the aristocracy, the weakness of the law, and the terrors of the judges, who trembled before the power of the nobles.²

¹ Pont’s Sermons against Sacrilege.

² History of the Church and Parish of St. Cuthbert’s, 1829; Tytler’s Life of Sir Thomas Craig, page 218; Wodrow’s Biographical Collections, Volume I.

The Reformation movement was admirably adapted to call forth any latent talent that existed in the nation; as it tended to arouse the latent powers of the mind, and to widen the range of ideas and the objects of study. After the Revolution, the department of jurisprudence began to receive more attention; and indeed, it may be said that in Scotland the teaching of the civil law only commenced at this period. Previously, the canons were the great object of study; those who delivered lectures occasionally on the civil law were in priests’ orders. It was not till the later part of the sixteenth century that the institutes and pandects began to be substituted for the sacred canons and decretals. Dr. Edward Henryson edited and wrote a preface to a collection of the acts of parliament, from 1424 to 1564, which was published at Edinburgh in 1566: this volume, however, is rather carelessly arranged.¹ Sir John Skene, the clerk registrar, edited a collection of the Acts of Parliament, from 1424 onwards to the later part of the sixteenth century, which was published at Edinburgh in 1597. He also, for the first time, published in 1609, in Latin and in English, a collection of the laws and constitutions of Scotland, from the days of Malcolm II. to the reign of James I.; to this he added a treatise on the explanation of difficult words and terms.² Although modern investigators have found many reasons for the rejection and modification of not a few of Skene’s opinions and conclusions touching the early laws of Scotland, it must be acknowledged that his labours were valuable and meritorious, and at the time of their publication threw much light on the ancient customs and laws of Scotland.

¹ Dr. Henryson is the author of a work, entitled Commentatio Title X. Libri Secundi Institutionum de Testamentis Ordinandis, published in 1555. It is a kind of running commentary, and it was inserted in the great work of Gerard Meerman, Novus Thesaurus Juris Civilis et Canonici. Henryson is reported to have written some other books, which are not now extant.

² Skene’s first edition of the Regiam Majestatem, was published in 1613; and the origin and authorship of this book has caused much disquisition.

Sir Thomas Craig was an eminent and successful lawyer in the reign of James VI. His best known work is the learned treatise on the feudal law, “Jus Feudale, Tribus Libris Comprehensum,” which he finished in 1603, but it was not published till 1655, forty-seven years after the author’s death. It is written in a vigorous Latin style. It obtained a wide and authoritative reputation; many translations and editions of it were published. He was a vigorous thinker, and made the first regular attempt to treat the feudalism of Scotland in a philosophic spirit. It is not surprising, however, that he failed to explain the peculiar form that feudalism had assumed in Scotland; when he wrote, feudalism was full of life in the kingdom; and it may be questioned, if a professional lawyer is the best qualified person to give a true exposition of the system in operation around him. Every one that has tried to grasp and comprehend the special form of feudalism which so long prevailed in this country, is well aware of the difficulties of the subject. As we have seen, Scotch feudalism was not a natural growth of the clan organisation. In the days of Craig, the distinctive feature of feudalism was connected with the holding of land​—the customary rights and claims of the superior, and the obligation of his vassals to satisfy all his demands; but one by one, here and there, the feudal burdens were gradually lightened and outgrown, till at last the tenants of the land only paid a money rent.

William Welwood was for sometime Professor of Law in the University of St. Andrews, and published several useful treatises on juridical subjects. He wrote both in Latin and English. In one of his works, he drew a parallel of the points of resemblance between the Jewish and the Roman codes. His tract on ecclesiastical processes was intended to distinguish the forms of procedure in the civil courts, from the forms that should be used in the Church courts, touching citation, the mode of trial, and appeals. His abridgment of sea laws​—one of the most useful of his productions​—was the first systematic book on maritime jurisprudence which appeared in Britain. But Welwood ventured into other fields: he wrote a treatise on practical theology, which was published at Middleburgh in 1594. He had an inquiring mind, and in all his writings there is a worthy desire to turn his knowledge to the good of mankind.¹

¹ This work has the following title: “Abridgment of all Sea Laws; gathered forth of all Writings and Monuments, which are to be found among any People or Nation upon the Coasts of Great Britain and the Mediterranean Sea,” London, 1613. Watts’ Bibliotheca Britannica, Volume II., page 957. The learned Selden afterwards wrote on this subject, in the seventeenth century, and even later various points of the law relating to the sea were fiercely disputed.

This very industrious man was also connected with the progress of physics and the arts. In 1577, while teaching at St. Andrews, he obtained from the Government a patent for a new mode of raising water with greater facility from coal pits, sinks, and low places. He afterwards published an account of his plan, and of the principles upon which he calculated that it would produce the intended effect: this publication appeared in 1582. It is an interesting indication of the state of hydraulic science at the time, and of the experiments which gradually led to the discovery and to the application of its true principles.¹ In 1594, Parliament granted to two men the exclusive right of making certain pumps for raising and forcing water out of mines.²

¹ His plan of raising water has been thus summarised:​—“If Welwood had persevered in his experiments, he might have accidentally made the discovery which afterwards occurred to Galileo. He proposed to produce the effect by means of a leaden pipe bent into a syphon, and extended on the exterior so as to discharge the water at a point below the surface of the well. Having shut up the two extremities of the pipe, he introduces water into both legs by an aperture at the upper point or elbow of the syphon, till they are completely full; and then closing this aperture with great exactness, and opening both ends of the syphon, he maintains that the water will flow out of the exterior or lower leg, as long as there is any in the well. It cannot, he argues, flow out of the shorter leg, for it has no head or difference of level to give it the power of issuing in that direction. It cannot flow out of both legs at the same time; for then it behoved to separate somewhere in the middle, which, according to him, is impossible, as nature abhors a vacuum. Therefore, it must flow out of the well by the longer leg. The well is supposed to be 45 cubits deep (for our author was not possessed of the important fact that water will not rise to a height above 33 feet). In other respects the principles of his demonstration are not more unscientifical than those which Galileo would have employed sixty years after the time of Welwood.” Dr. M‘Crie, Life of Melville, Volume II., pages 320‒321.

² Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, Volume IV., page 176.

But the most celebrated name in connection with the history of science in Scotland was John Napier of Merchiston. This remarkable man, who contributed so much to extend the bounds of knowledge, was born in the year 1550. He was educated at the University of St. Andrews, and afterwards in France at the University of Paris. He had returned to Scotland before 1571, and for many years took an active interest in the affairs of the Church. He was twice married, and had a family of sons and daughters. Although he was of a studious and inquiring turn of mind, he was by no means a mere recluse, as he attended to his domestic duties and the business of his father, who was connected with the mint and mining operations of Scotland. In short, he interested himself in many projects, and seems to have passed a comparatively happy life. He died in the month of April, 1617.¹

¹ M. Napier’s Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston, 1834, pages 56, 91, 104‒107, 129‒131, 147‒173, 227‒234, 282, 415, 430; Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, Volume III., page 559.

The dominant feelings and the belief of the age had taken a firm hold upon Napier’s mind, as his earliest publication manifested. This was an ingenious and extremely curious book, containing an exposition of the whole Revelations of St. John. He prefaced this work with a short poetical address to Antichrist; and to his interpretation, he annexed certain oracles of Sibylla, which he conceived to agree with the Revelations and other parts of Scripture.¹ The full title of this work will perhaps give a better idea of its contents than any lengthy description: “A Plain Discovery of the Revelations of St. John, set down in two Treatises; the one searching and proving the true interpretation thereof; the other applying the same paraphrastically and historically to the text: by John Napier; with a resolution of certain doubts, moved by some well affected brethren; whereunto are annexed certain oracles of Sibylla, agreeing with the Revelations and other places of Scripture; and also an epistle omitted in the last edition, 1645. This was printed for Andrew Wilson, and sold at his shop at the foot of the Ladie’s Steps.”

¹ A Plain Discovery of the Revelations of St. John, page 61; edition 1645.

The conclusions which he draws from the introductory and expositive treatise on the Revelations of St. John were thus stated in his own words:​—“Then for conclusion, by these interpretative propositions followeth four things, marvellous and notable. First, that the interpretation of every part of the Revelations is accessory or consectory to another​—that is to say, it is so chained and linked together, that every mystery opens the other, to the discovery of the whole. Secondly, that the first half of the book is orderly​—that is to say, it containeth in order of time the most notable accidents that concerneth God’s Church, from the time of Christ’s baptism successively to the latter day. Thirdly, that every history prophesied is limited or dated with its own number of years. Fourthly, and last of all, that whatsoever history is more orderly and summarily than plainly set down in the first orderly part of the book, the same is repeated, interpreted, or amplified in the last part of the book, which therefore we call the amplicative part of the book, dividing the whole Revelations according to the following table, before we proceed to the principal matter.”¹ The table which Napier drew is ingenious and elaborate, and his interpretation and exposition of the Book of Revelations is fully as sensible as many others that have appeared since his day. This treatise must have been comparatively popular, as the first edition was published at Edinburgh in 1593, and the fifth, corrected and amended, appeared in 1645.

In 1596, Napier published a letter, entitled “Secret Inventions, profitable and necessary in those days for the defence of this Island, and withstanding of strangers, enemies of God’s truth and religion.” The inventions which he proposed do not appear to be very hopeful, and at first sight they seem to hover between the possible and impossible; yet some of his schemes were not incredible or beyond the limits of realisation. The following are the words in which he announced the new inventions:—

“First, the invention, proof, and perfect demonstration, geometrical and algebraical, of a burning mirror, which receiving the dispersing beams of the sun, doth reflect the same beams altogether united and concurring precisely in one mathematical point, in the which point most necessarily it engenders fire, with an evident demonstration of their error who affirm this to be made a parabolic section. The use of the invention serveth for burning the enemies’ ships at whatsoever appointed distance.

“Secondly, the invention and sure demonstration of another mirror which, receiving the dispersed beams of any material fire or flame, yields also the former effect, and serveth for the like use.

“Thirdly, the invention and visible demonstration of a piece of artillery, which shot passeth not linally through the enemy destroying only those that stand on the random thereof, and from them flying idly as others do; but passeth superficially, ranging abroad within the whole appointed place, and not departing forth of the place till it hath exhausted its whole strength, by destroying those that be within the bounds of the said place. The use hereof not only serveth greatly against the army of the enemy on land; but also by sea it serveth to destroy and cut down, and one shot the whole masts and tackling of so many ships as be within the appointed bounds, so long as any strength at all remains.

“Fourthly, the invention of a round chariot made of metal of the proof of double musket, which motion shall be by those that be within the same, more easy, more light, and more speedy by much, than so many armed men would be otherwise. The use hereof, as well in moving, serveth to break the array of the enemy’s battle, and to make passage, as also in staying and abiding within the enemy’s battle, it serveth to destroy the environed enemy by continual charge and shot of harquebush through small holes; the enemy in the meantime being abashed, and altogether uncertain what defence to use against a moving mouth of metal.

“These inventions, besides devices of slaying under the water, with divers other devices and stratagems for harming of the enemies, by the grace of God and work of expert craftsmen I hope to perform.”¹

¹ M. Napier’s Memoirs of John Napier, pages 247, 248.

They afford evidence of his speculative powers, and the scientific bent of his mind struggling with the narrow resources within his reach to produce practical results. Although the existing conditions​—say the requisite mechanical skill​—may not admit of the immediate application of a discovery or an invention, that is no evidence of the possible value and ultimate practicability of such things. In the Introduction of this history it was observed, that the lack of combined action and organised means have always greatly retarded the realisation of many things, even after the discovery, the invention, or the knowledge of a principle, had been reached.¹ Most of the sciences began at a point too remote from the real struggle of human life to be obviously useful, and would have made no progress at all if they had waited to justify their existence by their usefulness: their progress is mainly due to their own internal, intellectual, and moral interest. If science had always been absorbed in the search after obvious utilities, the highest discoveries would never have been made, and the greatest utilities would in all likelihood have been missed.²

¹ Volume I., pages 37, 65‒71, 157‒175.

² Joseph J. Murphy. Habit and Intelligence, Volume II., pages 225, 226. “All inorganic science, at least, depends on measurement; and all other measurements ultimately depend on the measurements of space. Now space is altogether external to the mind; we think in time, and not in space; yet the measurement of time depends on that of space, and not the converse; and geometry, which is the science of the properties of space, was the earliest of the sciences.”​—Ibid.

In 1614, Napier published his Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio. This work presented a mode of calculation which greatly abridged the labour and facilitated the solution of all the vast problems involving numbers. “The general idea which Napier formed was that of two flowing points, generating magnitudes by infinitely small degrees, so regulated in their respective motions, that in the one case, the successive increments would be equal to each other; and in the other case, would differ proportionately from each other in an infinitely small degree.” He had a fine faculty of exposition, and he developed his conception with unrivalled clearness. The invention was soon known throughout Europe amongst men of science. The work was speedily translated into English by Edward Wright and Henry Briggs: the former set himself to translate it, and the latter became a warm and able co-operator of Napier’s in computing improved tables. Wright finished his translation and sent it to the author for revisal in 1615. He shortly after died, and the task then devolved upon his son, Samuel Wright assisted by Briggs, and the translation was published in London, in 1616. Edward Wright had specially directed his attention to navigation, which stood greatly in need of the aid of exact science. He published a treatise at London in 1559, entitled “Certain errors in Navigation detected and corrected;” he also computed tables of latitude, and is distinguished for his sea rings, his great quadrant, his sea quadrant, and other ingenious astronomical contrivances.¹

¹ M. Napier’s Memoirs of John Napier, pages 328, 438‒444. For comprehensive views of the theory of logarithms, see the Works of Bailly, Astronomie Moderne, Tome II.; Delambre Histoire de l’Astronomie Moderne; Montucla Histoire des Mathematiques, Tome II., page 2, et seq.; Dr. Minto’s Account of Napier’s Inventions and Writings; Colin Maclaurin’s Treatise on Fluxions, and several articles in the eighth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The only other work that Napier published in his lifetime was his short treatise on the method of computing by figured rods, known by the name of Napier’s bones, 1617: it contained the most important of his minor inventions touching various numerical properties. The following is a part of his own description of it, from the dedication to the Earl of Dunfermline:​—“Of which logarithms, indeed, I have found out another species much superior to the former; and intend, if God shall grant me longer life and the possession of health, to make known the method of construction, as well as the manner of using them. But the actual computation of this new canon I have left, on account of the infirmity of my bodily health, to those conversant in such studies; and especially to that truly and most learned man, Henry Briggs, public professor of geometry in London, my most beloved friend. In the meantime, however, for the sake of those who prefer to work with the natural numbers as they stand, I have excogitated three other compendious modes of calculation, of which the first is by means of numerating rods, and these I have called ‘Rabdologia.’ Another, by far the most expeditious of all for multiplication, and which on that account I have not inaptly called the promptuary of multiplication, is by means of little plates of metal disposed in a box. And lastly, a third method, namely, local arithmetic performed upon a chess-board.”¹

¹ M. Napier’s Memoirs of John Napier, pages 413‒415. The original edition of this little work is now extremely scarce.

In 1619 Napier’s son published the work which his father had left incomplete​—“Logarithmorum Canonis Constructio,” that is, the method of their construction. The purpose of the work is to show the way that he conquered the second difficulty in his path to the logarithms; namely, how to calculate the numbers to be intercalculated between the terms of his progressions, in order to reap the fruits of his original conception. Though the author did not live to give it the final touches, the book is teeming with profound thought, and exhibits a grasp of the subject and a clearness of exposition which is rare even among the efforts of the highest genius. Professor Playfair has well said, “Napier’s view of the subject is as simple and profound as any which after two hundred years has yet presented itself to mathematicians. The mode of deducing the results has been simplified; but it can hardly be said that the principle has been more clearly developed.” Sir John ♦Lesly has said, “his sublime invention of Logarithms about this epoch eclipsed every minor improvement, and as far transcended the denary notation, as this had surpassed the numerical system of the Greeks.” Robert Napier in the preface to his father’s posthumous work said​—“Some years ago, my father, of ever venerable memory, published the use of the wonderful Canon of Logarithms; but the construction and method of generating it, he, for certain reasons, was unwilling to commit to types, as he mentions upon the seventh and the last pages of the Logarithms; until he knew how it was judged of and criticised by those who were versed in this department of letters. But since his death, I have been assured from undoubted authority, that this new invention is much thought of by the most able mathematicians; and that nothing would delight them more than if the construction of his wonderful Canon, or so much at least as might suffice to illustrate it, were published for the benefit of the world.... I doubt, not, however, that this posthumous work would have seen the light in a far more perfect and finished state, if the author himself, who according to the opinion of the best judges, possessed among other illustrious gifts this one in particular, that he could explicate the most difficult matter by some sure and easy method, and in the fewest words​—if God had granted a longer use of life. You have the doctrine of the construction of Logarithms​—which here, he calls artificial numbers, for he had this treatise composed for several years before he invented the word Logarithms, most copiously unfolded, their nature, accidences, and various adaptations to their natural numbers, perspicuously demonstrated. I have thought good to subjoin to the construction a certain appendix, concerning the method of forming another and more excellent species of Logarithms, to which the inventor himself alludes in his epistle prefixed to the Rabdologia, and in which the Logarithm of unity is 0.... I have also published some lucubrations upon the new species of Logarithms, by that most excellent mathematician, Henry Briggs, public professor in London, who undertook most willingly the very severe labour of calculating this Canon, in consequence of the singular affection that existed between him and my father, the method of construction and explanation of its use being left to the inventor himself.”¹

¹ M. Napier’s Memoirs of John Napier, pages 417‒418, 445, et seq. This book contains a vast amount of information, but its author is rather too laudatory of the inventor of Logarithms.

Henry Briggs was the greatest mathematician of his day in England; he was a man of remarkable powers of mind, and of great industry. He is the author of several valuable treatises on Logarithms, his greatest work appeared in 1624, entitled “Arithmetica Logarithmica.” He died in 1630.

It was observed in the preceding volume, that there was little or no medical science among the Scots at the end of the fifteenth century.¹ According to the statement of the elder Scaliger, who visited Scotland about the middle of the sixteenth century, the kingdom did not contain more than one regular practitioner. It is known, however, that this learned man was rather fastidious in his taste and in his mode of life.² It is possible that he might have exaggerated a little, or that his information may have been incomplete. At least, this science had made some progress in the country before the end of the century; though as yet there was no medical school in the kingdom, as now understood; and Scotsmen intending to follow this profession were trained abroad.

¹ MackMackintosh’s History of Civilisation in Scotland, Volume I., pages 414‒415.

² “At ♦Agen the elder Scaliger was now exercising the profession of a physician. That city, when he there fixed his residence, could not furnish him with a single individual capable of supporting literary conversation, and he was therefore led to cultivate an intimacy with some of the more enlightened inhabitants of Bordeaux. Buchanan, Tevius, and other accomplished scholars, who then belonged to the College of Guienne, were accustomed to pay him an annual visit during the vacation. They were hospitably entertained at his house; and he declared that he forgot the torture of his gout whenever he had an opportunity of discussing topics of learning with his guests. For the society of this singular man, who possessed some bad and many good qualities, Buchanan has expressed a natural relish” (in Latin verses).​—Dr. Irving’s Memoirs of Buchanan, pages 45‒46.

The people suffered greatly from the frequent recurrence of pestilence; and in 1568 Gilbert Skene, doctor in medicine, published at Edinburgh, “A Brief Description of the Pest,” which was the first medical treatise printed in Scotland. This treatise consists of forty-six small pages, and may be supposed to give the views of the learned of those days touching the pest. He described it as “a feverable infection, most cruel, and in sundry ways striking down many in haste. It proceeded from a corruption of the air, which has strength and wickedness above all natural putrefaction, and springs from the wrath of the just God at the sins of mankind.” He recognised, however, other causes, “as stagnant waters, corrupting animal matters and filth, the eating of unwholesome meat and decaying fruits, and the drinking of corrupt water. Great humidity of the atmosphere, dearth of victual, whereby men are forced to eat bad meat.” He adverts to the suspicious intermeddling of the comets and the shooting stars. He observed that the poor were more subject to this fearful disorder than the rich; indeed, his description of the state of the former was deplorable​—“Every one is become so detestable to another, which is to be lamented, and especially the poor in the sight of the rich, as if they were not equal with them touching their creation, but rather without soul or spirit, as beasts degenerated from mankind.” This worthy doctor’s regimen for the pest, regarding both its prevention and its cure, consisted of a vast variety of curious recipes and rules of treatment, written partly in Latin and partly in English.

Dr. Peter Lowe had practised in various parts of the Continent, and returned to his native country toward the end of this century. He published a system of surgery in 1597, giving a popular view of the healing art, along with some description of cases which had occurred in his own practice. The title of Dr. Lowe’s work will give the best idea of its character:​—“The Whole Course of Surgery; wherein is briefly set down the Causes, Signs, Prognostications, and Curations of all sorts of Tumours, Wounds, Ulcers, Fractures, Dislocations, and all other Diseases, usually practised by Surgeons, according to the opinion of all our ancient Doctors in Surgery: Compiled by Peter Lowe, Scotsman, Arellian Doctor in the Faculty of Surgery in Paris, and Surgeon Ordinary to the King of France and Navarre. Whereunto is annexed the Book of Presages of Hippocrates, divided into three parts; also the Protestation which Hippocrates caused his Scholars to make. The whole collected and translated. London, 1596.” Reprinted in 1597, 1612, 1634, 1654. It was regarded as a work of merit in its day, and was translated into several languages. Dr. Lowe also wrote a book entitled, “An Easy, Certain, and Perfect Method to Cure and to Prevent the Spanish Sickness. Published at London in 1596.”

About this time he was appointed by the Government to examine the persons that proposed to practise the art of surgery in the West of Scotland. He resided in Glasgow, and was the founder of the faculty of physicians and surgeons of that city.

Dr. Duncan Liddel was born in Aberdeen, 1561, and attained an eminent position as a professor of mathematics and as a physician. In the later part of the sixteenth, and the early part of the seventeenth centuries, he was a professor of mathematics and of medicine in the University of Helmstadt; he also acted as first physician to the court of Brunswick, and had a large practice among the families in the neighbourhood. He was elected to fill several posts of honour in connection with the University of Helmstadt, and achieved much celebrity. About 1608 he returned to Scotland, and directed his attention to the diffusion of science among his countrymen. He died in December, 1613. Dr. Liddel was the author of several works composed in Latin, which were well received on the Continent. His work entitled, “Disputationes Medicinales,” in four volumes, was published in 1605; and it was reprinted as late as 1720; it contained the theses maintained by himself and his pupils at Helmstadt from 1592 to 1605. In 1607 his well known work, “Ars Medica, succincte et perspicue explicata,” was published at Hamburg; a second edition was published at Lyons, 1624, and a third at Hamburg in 1628. This work was pretty highly esteemed during the seventeenth century. Like other works of the period in this department it treated largely on metaphysics as well as on medicine.¹

¹ A sketch of the life of Dr. Duncan Liddel, Aberdeen, 1730. There is also an interesting article relating to Dr. Liddel in the eleventh volume of the proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, by the late Mr. A. Gibb, F.S.A., Scotland, pages 450, et seq.

Having concluded the examination of the literature of the nation in the sixteenth century; we may pause a little, and reflect on the characteristics of the works, the opinions, the sentiments, and the feelings, manifested in them. Looking backwards we find that there had been some advance in physical knowledge amongst the Scots during the century, but by no means a marked progress in this department. Although Napier announced an important invention in the department of mathematical science early in the seventeenth century, no one can fail to see that the intellectual and scientific advancement of the Scots was comparatively meagre as contrasted with the radical changes of their religious belief, their sentiments and feelings. The great intellectual revival in Europe, however, was beginning to be felt in the sixteenth century. The Copernican system of the universe was first printed in 1543, but it met with much opposition, even among the learned its acceptance was extremely slow, probably not ten men in Europe had adopted it in the sixteenth century; and there is not the slightest reason to believe that any of the chief Reformers recognised or comprehended it. Even Buchanan, though not ignorant of the Copernican system, yet in his own philosophical poem, “The Sphere,” he rejected it, and followed the Ptolemaic system. Long after their day, the far famed Lord Bacon rejected the Copernican system to the last; he also treated the valuable discoveries of Gilbert about the magnet with the most arrogant contempt. When this great philosopher assumed such an attitude to the greatest conception of his age, we can hardly suppose that the mind of the Scots had as yet been in the least affected by these scientific ideas; though it is possible that some individual Scotsmen toward the end of the century might have been aware of them; but the religious revolution was accomplished before this; and the conclusion pointed to is that the Reformation depended more upon moral causes than intellectual and scientific ones. Throughout the literature of the period it will be found that there is more evidence of change in the feelings and sentiments of the people, than of any display of increasing intellectual power.

The writers in the Scottish dialect of the latter part of the century are inferior to those of the first quarter of the century in point of intellectual power. After the Reformation there is no Scottish poet equal to Dunbar or even to Gavin Douglas, the versifiers of the close of the century stand lower than those of its opening years; the balance in conception, range of imagery, of ideas, and in appropriate construction, is on the side of the earlier poets. If, however, we look to the feelings and the sentiments which were expressed in the compositions of both, the later writers appear in a more favourable light; as the extremely coarse expressions which Dunbar and Sir David Lyndsay frequently used, were gradually cast aside, and a better moral tone observed. The improvement of the moral sentiments and the broadening of the national sympathy were indicated in various directions, as in the emphatic complaints touching the oppression of the poor and the earnest efforts to relieve them.

Thus, the revolutionary waves of the sixteenth century were mainly religious and moral, and considering the state of society, not merely in Scotland, but throughout Europe, it was not surprising that the Reformers were only partly successful. The reactionary spirit of Roman Catholicism was great, and it long presented an undaunted opposition to every form of liberal policy and moral freedom; and Rome still claims a supremacy in all matters of morality and religion. The Pope is the supreme and only visible head of this planet, appointed by God to rule over the human mind, and if necessary, to spurn the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of the race. Centuries roll on, revolutions in governments, in knowledge, and in education, may be brought to pass among the nations; but the Pope remains unchanged, the same circumscribed views characterise the Popes of the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries.