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BALFOUR, (Sir) JAMES, an
eminent lawyer and public character of the sixteenth century, was the son
of Balfour of Monquhanny, in Fife, a very ancient family. In youth, being
designed for the church, he made considerable proficiency, not only in
ordinary literature, but in the study of divinity and law: which were all
alike necessary in those times for an ecclesiastic, on account of the
mixed character which the age admitted to be assumed by such individuals.
Balfour, while still a young man, was so unfortunate as to join with the
conspirators who, after assassinating Cardinal Beaton, held out the castle
of St. Andrews against the governor Arran. He seems, however, not to have
been a very cordial partisan of the conspirators. John Knox, in his own
vigorous and plain-spoken manner, styled him the Blasphemous Balfour,
on account of his having refused to communicate along with his reforming
associates. Balfour shared the fate of his companions in being sent to the
French galleys [The following anecdote of Balfour in connexion with Knox
is related by Dr M’Crie. "The galleys returned to Scotland in
summer 1548, as near as I can collect, and continued for a considerable
time on the east coast, to watch for English vessels. Knox’s health was
now greatly impaired by the severity of his confinement, and he was seized
with a fever, during which his life was despaired of by all in the ship.
But even in this state, his fortitude of mind remained unsubdued, and he
comforted his fellow-prisoners with hopes of release. To their anxious
desponding inquiries, natural to men in their situation, "If he
thought they would ever obtain their liberty," his uniform answer
was, ‘God will deliver us to his glory, even in this life.’ While they
lay on the coast between Dundee and St. Andrews, Mr. (afterwards Sir)
James Balfour, who was confined in the same ship, desired him to look at
the land and see if he knew it. Though at that time very sick, he replied,
‘Yes; I know it well, for I see the steeple of that place where God
first opened my mouth in public to his glory; and I am fully persuaded,
how weak soever I now appear, that I shall not depart this life till that
my tongue shall glorify his godly name in the same place.’ This striking
reply Sir James repeated in the presence of many witnesses, a number of
years before Knox returned to Scotland, and when there was very little
prospect of his words being verified." Life of Knox, 1st
Edit. p. 53.] and was confined in the same vessel along with Knox, from
which he escaped in 1550, along with the rest, by the tacit permission of
the French government.
Balfour seems to have
afterwards joined in the proceedings of the Reformers, but only with
courtier-like temperance, and without exhibiting much zeal in the
Protestant cause. He was preferred to the ecclesiastical appointment of
official of Lothian, and afterwards became rector of Flisk, a parish in
his native county. In 1563, he was appointed by Queen Mary to be a Lord of
Session, the court then being composed partly of churchmen, and partly of
laics. In 1564, when the Commissary court was instituted in place of the
ecclesiastical tribunal, which had been dissolved at the Reformation,
Balfour became one of the four commissaries, with a salary of four hundred
merks, while the others had only three hundred. In July, 1565, the Queen
extended the further favour of admitting him into her privy council.
Balfour was one of those
servants of the state, who, being advanced rather on account of merit than
birth, used at all times to give great offence to the Scottish nobility.
It seems to have never been supposed by this haughty class, that there was
the least necessity for ingenious or faithful service in the officials
employed by majesty; birth and following were the only
qualifications allowed by them to be of any value. Accordingly, it is not
surprising to find that the same conspiracy which overthrew the
"kinless" adventurer Rizzio, contemplated the destruction of
Balfour. He was so fortunate, however, as to escape, and even derived some
advantage from the event, being promoted to the office of clerk-register,
in room of Mr James Macgill, who was concerned in the conspiracy. He was
also about this time made a knight, and appointed to be one of the
commissioners for revising, correcting, and publishing the ancient laws
and statutes of the kingdom.
In the beginning of the
year 1567, Sir James Balfour was appointed governor of Edinburgh castle.
In this important situation, he naturally became an object of great
solicitude to the confederate lords, who, in the ensuing May, commenced a
successful rebellion against Queen Mary. It would appear that Sir James
was not now more loyal than many other persons who had experienced the
favour of Mary. He is said to have even been the means of throwing into
the hands of the confederates that celebrated box of letters, upon which
they endeavoured to ground the proof of her guilt. There can be no doubt
that he was at this time in the way of receiving high favours from the
Earl of Murray, who was the chief man opposed to the dethroned queen. He
was, in September, 1567, admitted by Murray a lord of his privy council,
and made commendator of the priory of Pittenweem; and in December, a
bargain was accomplished, by which he agreed to accept a pension of L.500
and the presidency of the Court of Session, in lieu of the clerk-registry,
which Murray wished to be restored to his friend Macgill. Sir James
continued faithful to the party which opposed Queen Mary, till the death
of Murray, January, 1569-70, when he was in some measure compelled to
revert to the Queen’s side, on account of a charge preferred against him
by the succeeding Regent, Lennox, who taxed him with a share in the murder
of Darnley. For this accusation no proof was ever adduced, but even
allowing Sir James to have been guilty, it will only add another to the
list of great men concerned in the transaction, and show the more dearly
how neither learning, rank, official dignity, nor any other ennobling
qualification, prevented a man in those days from staining his hands with
blood. Balfour outlived Lennox, and was serviceable in bringing about the
pacification between the King’s and Queen’s party, under Morton, in
1573. He would appear to have been encouraged by Morton in the task of
revising the laws of the country, which he at length completed in a style
allowed at that time to be most masterly. Morton afterwards thought proper
to revive the charge brought by Lennox against Sir James, who was
consequently obliged to retire to France, where he lived for some years.
He returned in 1580, and revenged the persecution of Morton, by producing
against him, on his trial, a deed to which he had acceded, in common with
others of the Scottish nobility, alleging Bothwell’s innocence of the
King’s murder, and recommending him to the Queen as a husband. Sir James
died before the 14th of January, 1583-4.
The Practicks of Scots Law,
compiled by Sir James Balfour of Pittendreich, president of the Court of
Session, continued to be used and consulted in manuscript, both by
students and practitioners, till nearly a century after his decease, when
it was for the first time supplanted by the Institutes of Lord Stair. Even
after that event, it was held as a curious repertory of the old practices
of Scottish law, besides fulfilling certain uses not answered by the work
of Lord Stair. It was therefore printed in 1754, by the Ruddimans, along
with an accurate biographical preface by Walter Goodal. The work was of
considerable service to Dr Jamieson in his Dictionary of the Scottish
language.
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