Social Life in Scotland
Chapter XVI. - Literary and Scholastic

WHEN in the eightieth year of the Christian era the Romans penetrated into that part of the island now called Scotland, they found the natives not unacquainted with letters and the arts of life. And it is considerably uncertain whether the Roman occupation, which continued 350 years, tended to promote popular culture, or to advance among the natives the course of civilisation. As the imperialists desired the suppression of those warlike tribes who offered them resistance, it is probable that any real culture which accrued to the inhabitants while they occupied the country, was chiefly due to the passionate earnestness of the native bards.

Not many years after the Romans had withdrawn, other races effected settlements on the northern, eastern, and western shores. These settlers were members of that great northern people who from the Danube and the Euxine had migrated to the shores of the Baltic. In their train followed the Dalriad Scots, who first landing on the Irish coast of Antrim, next rested at Kintyre. Attracting the Celtic inhabitants by their woollen garments, they were by them styled Sgeucluich or Scots, an appellative which after the lapse of centuries came to designate the general population. Not unfamiliar with Christian doctrine, the Sgeucluich gave a welcome to St Columba, assigning him, in 563, a congenial home in the island of Iona. By St Columba were reduced into a system the fragments of knowledge associated with Pagan worship. The earlier Christian scholars were ministers of religion.

In cultivating secular learning, Christian teachers ignored the aesthetic,—for fiction had engendered superstition, and fancy had created the gods. Eschewing the imaginary, they allowed history, defaced by legend, to perish with it; that portion only being retained which invigorated the energies and stimulated prowess. And hence survived the snatches of Fingalian verse. The poems and hymns ascribed to St Columba evince no inconsiderable vivacity, but are strictly of a devotional character, with a special reference to his personal surroundings. Literary activity awakened in the sixth century, was in the seventh advanced by Adamnan in his life of the western apostle. Then and subsequently missionaries from Iona, proceeded everywhere, to ultimately settle in retreats associated with the elder superstition, and where with Christian sentiment and the lore of learning, they imbued undisciplined and warlike chiefs.

From lona moved into Northumberland the venerable Aidan, who, fixing his seat in the Isle of Lindisfarne, there in the princely Oswald secured an intelligent interpreter. Constructing a monastery at Melrose, Aidan therefrom, in 651, sent forth St Cuthbert, through whose ardour and eloquence Lothian peasants acquired a. moderate culture and learned to pray. The clerical element continued to obtain influence and force. Bede, who died in the year 735, relates that in the island the gospel was preached in the languages of the Angles, Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins. Of these languages Latin was common to all lettered Churchmen. By the Angles was used a kind of Low German, which resembled the Frisian, and by the Britons the language now spoken in Wales, while the Scots and Picts spoke dialects of the Irish, which, like the British, was cognate to the same Celtic original. When under Kenneth Macalpin, in 844, the Scots and Picts amalgamated in a new nationality, Saxon was slowly introduced. In Saxonia, proper, or Lothian, next in Galloway, and latterly in the territory to the north of the Forth and Clyde, the Anglo-Saxon language took root, spread, and latterly made rapid progress.

Early in the eleventh century, under the beneficent sway of Macbeth, letters were, in the religious houses, diligently cultivated. In the reign of Malcolm Canmore, the Scottish clergy understood only the Gaelic or Celtic tongue. This we learn from the incident that when they were addressed in Saxon by Queen Margaret, Malcolm was required as an interpreter. As Saxon was now the language of the Court, its propagation obtained a new impulse. But Gaelic or Celtic maintained a tenacious hold in the outlying districts, making a final retreat to the uplands only in the thirteenth century. At the coronation of Alexander III., in 1249, when a Highland sennachy described in Gaelic the dignity of the royal descent, was used at Court for the last time the language of the Picts.

Of the national annals which Culdee scribes prepared in the monasteries, none earlier than the tenth century survive. The "Pictish Chronicle," which closes with a history of Kenneth III., who died in 994, was compiled in his reign, while to the eleventh century belong the "Duan Albanach," a series of rude chronicles, both of the Scots and Picts, together with some lives of the saints.

What degree of social refinement was superinduced by the Norman settlements which took place in Scotland during the reign of David I. may not be adequately determined; it was certainly not impressed upon the contemporary literature. From the reign of Malcolm Canmore till that of Alexander III. the literary field is nearly sterile. Reaction came with Thomas Learmont, or the Rhymer, otherwise styled of Ercildoune—from lands on the Leader in the county of Berwick, of which he was the owner. Whether Learmont composed that version of the romance of "Sir Tristrem," attributed to him by Sir Walter Scott, may not absolutely be determined. The MS. from which it is printed is of the middle of the fourteenth century, and the complicated rhymes presented in the poem would indicate a North of England, rather than a Scottish origin. And while Robert of Brunne, who flourished about 1303, describes the Rhymer as author of a romance of the story of Sir Tristrem, we find in the opening stanza that Thomas of Ercildoune is named in the third person:-

"I was at Erceldoune
With Tomas spak Y thare;
Ther herd Y rede in roune,
Who Tristrem gat and bare."

Surely this is the language of another poet, who may to the sage of Ercildoune have been indebted for his materials! In the character of a prophet the Rhymer has survived his verses. He is alleged to have foretold the calamitous death of Alexander III., also the future union of the crowns. Mentioned by Barbour, Learmont is celebrated by Wyntoun and Henry, and as a seer is generally commemorated by the historians. Through his learning he had attracted the common people, who, startled by his knowledge, came to ascribe to him the power of divination, a belief which among the unlearned the progress of time served materially to intensify.

With the national energy evoked in the struggle for liberty, following the aggressions of the first Edward, was re-awakened that popular minstrelsy which, apart from the muse of St Columba, or of his period, had slumbered from the Fingalian age. Already have been quoted the lines preserved by Wyntoun, in which the Scottish peasantry deplored the premature death of Alexander III. Next, at the siege of Berwick, in 1296, do we find the gallant defenders deriding King Edward in the following stanza:—

"Wend Kyng Edewarde, with his Iange shankes,
To have gete Berwyke, al our unthankes?
Gas pikes hym,
And after gas dikes hym."

According to Fabyan, the English chronicler, Scottish minstrels celebrated the victory of Bannockburn in these lines:—

"Maydens of Englande, sore may ye morne,
For your lemmans ye have lost at Bannockysborne,
With heue a lowe.
What! weneth the King of Englande
So soone to have wonne Scotlande?
With rumbylow."

Among the peasantry minstrelsy became common; it was useless, writes Barbour, to make record of Border exploits, since these were "ilk, day at play sung by the maidens."

During the reign of King Robert the Bruce, a minstrel was retained at Court, and Robert II. granted to his minstrel, Thomas Acarsone, a yearly pension of ten pounds.

To the commencement of the fourteenth century belong the "Taill of Rauf Coilzear," and the "Pystyl of Swete Susane;" also the poetical romances of "Gawen and Gologras," and "Galoran of Galloway." These compositions, evincing a vigorous poetical conception, though defaced by intricate rhymes and tedious alliteration, are from the pen of Sir Hew of Eglintoun, the "Huchowne" of Wyntoun, and who is also celebrated by Dunbar. Belonging to the Courts of David II. and Robert II., Sir Hew espoused the half-sister of the latter, and in 1361 held office as justiciary of Lothian. Dying soon after 1376, his daughter Elizabeth married John Montgomery of Eglisham, carrying his estates into a family which, by the title of Eglinton, was afterwards ennobled. To the same age belong the alliterative verses which form the anonymous compositions of "Morte Arthur" and "Syr Gawain and the Green Knight."

Next appears John Barbour, archdeacon of Aberdeen, whose career, extending from 1316 to 1395, inaugurated a new era in vernacular poetry. An ardent student, he at a mature age proceeded to Oxford, there to familiarise himself with learning, also with the best models of English poetry. The whole of Barbour's writings have not been preserved, but his poem of "The Brus" is at once a monument of his literary taste and poetical culture.

Lacking the graces of modern verse, Barbour's style is nevertheless terse, brief, and pointed, and is pervaded throughout by a directness of aim and a dignified simplicity. While his encomium on freedom is unsurpassed, he celebrates the triumphs of chivalry alike in the national cause and when attained by a gallant enemy. Through Sir Allan Cathcart and others, who took part in the struggle at Bannockburn, he became familiar with the circumstances of the battle, and those he has depicted with the animation of an eye-witness. Few poets more graphically describe the clashing of swords and the crash of lances, or so vividly depict the soil stained with blood and strewn with the mangled bodies of the slain. Barbour attains his utmost force as he delineates the personal character of his hero, celebrating his patience under trial, his hopefulness under reverses, and his qualities of generosity and self-denial which, endearing him to his followers, commanded at length the admiration of his foes. Yet his fairness as an historian is blemished by his ignoring the exploits of Wallace, and, with unpardonable negligence, confounding that Robert Bruce who with Baliol competed for the crown, with his grandson the hero of Bannockburn.

To the history of a single reign by the Archdeacon of Aberdeen followed the chronicles of the kingdom, composed in Latin by John of Fordun. In the cathedral of Aberdeen, of which he was a chantry priest, Fordun prepared his work, between the years 1384 and 1387, his earlier narrative being founded on monastic fables, his latter on materials supplied by English annalists, together with some authentic details found in the religious houses. Fordun's labours were supplemented by Walter Bower, who, in 1449, died Abbot of Inchcolm. Besides largely interpolating Fordun's narrative, Bower extended it from the twenty-third chapter of the sixth book, continuing the chronicle down to the death of James I., and thereby adding sixteen books. Though Fordun and Bower use no classic diction, their work, which is known as the "Scotichronicon," is not unworthy of its age.

In incitation of Barbour, Andrew of Wyntoun, prior of St Serf's Inch in Lochleven, and a canon regular of St Andrews, composed about the years 1420-4 his metrical history. To this he gave the name of "The Orygynal Cronykil," since he starts with the creation of angels, and includes the early history of the world. In preparing his work he was partly indebted to certain MSS. preserved at St Andrews, and it is to be remarked that, like Barbour and Fordun, he evinces no animosity against the English. Adopting Barbour's mode of versification, a measure of eight syllables with occasional variations, he writes with fluency, and with singular effect contrives to vary his rhymes through a formidable chronology. Without any claim to genius, he is stirring and vivacious.

The royal author of "The Kingis Quair" in the fifteenth century is the next prominent figure. Nineteen years a captive in England, James I. relieved the irksomeness of involuntary exile by sedulously cherishing the muse. Studying Chaucer, he became himself a poet, and when smitten by the charms of Joanna Beaufort, who became his queen, he composed in her honour his "quail'" or book. Commenced in 1423, his poem was not completed till after his marriage, and his return to Scotland in the following year. Framed in the fantastic allegory of the middle ales, it exhibits a vigorous fancy, and abounds in elegant diction. Lately edited by Professor Skeat from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, there has at length been secured a text of unexceptionable accuracy. To James have been assigned the ballads of "Christis Kirk on the Green" and "Perlis to the Play," compositions descriptive of rustic merriment, and abounding in exquisite humour.

Early in the fifteenth century appeared anonymously "The Battle of Harlaw," a poem descriptive of an event which occurred in the year 1411, when Donald of the Isles, with an army of ten thousand men, marched towards Aberdeen in order to plunder the city, but was intercepted at Harlaw in Mar by the Earl of Mar, when a battle was fought, attended on both sides with extraordinary slaughter. To the same period belongs "Cockelbie's Sow," a performance of singular humour, and not without a special value in preserving the names of songs, tunes, and dances contemporaneously popular. To the middle of the century has been assigned Holland's "Buke of the Howlat," an elaborate and dreary allegory of alliterative verse.

A poet of the early reign of James III., Robert Henryson, after studying on the continent, also at the newly-founded University of Glasgow, became public-notary at Dunfermline and schoolmaster of that burgh. Cherishing the national muse, he relieved her from the trammels of medieval allegory by adopting in her service a chaste imagery and elegant diction. In his "Abbay Walk," "The Prais of Aige," and "The Reasoning betwixt Deth and Man," he has in simple strains embodied the principles of an earnest faith. Social manners are depicted in his rendering of Æsop's Fables; notably in his "Taill of the Uplandis Mous and the Burges Mous;" while in his "Robene and Makyne," he has presented a pastoral, which, the earliest in our literature, has in marvellous terseness and skilful arrangement not been exceeded or even approached.

Contemporary with Henryson flourished Henry the Minstrel, a blind bard, yet whose various delineations would induce the belief that Mair is not quite accurate when he describes him as blind from his birth. Representing himself as "a bural man," that is, one of the uneducated, he has been poetically styled "the oracle of the unlettered crowd." Whatever his attainments were, he has effectively embodied in stirring verse the traditions of his hero, which were gleaned in his wanderings, while his descriptions abound in poetical vivacity. In comparison with Barbour's "Thus" his poem is lacking in dignity; but he excels the archdeacon in perspicuity, also in the quality of his verse. Prone to alliteration, he is the earliest Scottish poet who extensively uses the heroic couplet. The patriot's love for Marion Bradfute is described with idyllic grace; but in his description of battles he is defective, since his champions excel more by native strength than through any precise military skill. And he is regardless of historical accuracy, since he magnifies his hero by ascribing to him achievements which he could not have possibly performed. A pensioner on the bounty of James III., Henry also profited by the beneficence of the clergy and barons. His poem, which has been assigned to the year 1460, has frequently been printed, but it is chiefly known through the version which, in 1722, was issued by William Hamilton of Gilbertfield.

To the same age belong "the makaris," whom the poet Dunbar has celebrated in his "Lament," Sir Mungo Lockhart of Lee, Sir John Ross, John Clerk, James Affleck, and Alexander Trail; also the minstrels Ettrick, Heriot, Brown, and Stobo. Of these the names only survive. Quintin Shaw, in his six stanzas of "Advice to a Courtier," also Patrick Johnston, in "The Three Deid Powis," or Death-heads, severally evince poetical energy. Less striking is "'The Ryng of the Roy Robert," in which David Stiele celebrates the patriotism of Robert III. in upholding against Henry IV. the independence of his crown. Sir John Rowll, a priest, in his "Rowlis Cursing," a poem, of 262 verses, might, in an age more prolific in verse-making, have been wholly forgotten. In the "Thrie Tailes of the Thrie Priests of Peblis," an unknown author claims approval in the correctness of his morals. Of a much higher order is "The Freris of Berwicke," a comic tale, erroneously ascribed to Dunbar, and in which, with an exquisite humour, monkish profligacy is effectively satirized.

The next prominent figure is William Dunbar. Remotely related to the noble family of the Earls of March, he was born about the year 1460, and with a view to the Church, was educated at St Salvator's College. As a member of the Franciscan order, he travelled in England and in Picardy; but by his poetical genius attracting the notice of James IV., he renounced his habit and joined the Court. In a secret mission on the King's behalf he visited France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. From the royal privy purse he, in August of the year 1500, received a pension of £10, and which was increased from time to time till, in 1510, it was raised to £80, and so to continue till he should be promoted to a benefice not under the value of one hundred pounds. But ecclesiastical preferment, though often sought for, never came, and the poet, about the age of sixty, died unbeneficed.

As a poet Dunbar has been compared with Chaucer, and he may also be classed with Burns. Not essentially lyrical, nor with a voice attuned to the highest melody, he handles every theme with passionate force, and in every form of metre is thoroughly a master. In allegory and in narrative, in burlesque and in satire, in panegyric and in invective, he is at home. As a courtier, playful and hilarious, he is on serious themes singularly in earnest. Jocund in humour, he excels in pathos. His satire is crushing when his theme is sacerdotal arrogance, or religious pretension. Yet he is not faultless, inasmuch that his compositions intended for the Court evince an unjustifiable licence. And though the corrupt manners of his age might afford some excuse for the unseemliness of his words, these cannot justify his compromising his priestly character, or prostituting a genius wherewith he might have taught purity and inculcated moderation.

In the allegorical strain Dunbar's best poern is "The Thrissel and the Rose," an epithalium on the marriage of James IV. with the Princess Margaret of England. His poetical tournament with his friend and contemporary, commemorated in "The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy," derives a chief merit in an unrefined wit and a humour based upon scurrility. Dunbar is, in the year 1530, celebrated by Sir David Lindsay, but from that period till Allan Ramsay, in 1724, discovered his poems, and printed them in his "Evergreen," his name was all but forgotten.

In the wake of Dunbar followed Gavin Douglas, a poet whose genius was not obscured by his political errors. Third son of Archibald, fifth Earl of Angus, familiarly known as Bell-the-Cat, he was, after studying at the University of St Andrews, and obtaining orders, appointed in 1501 Provost of St Giles' church. Subsequently, on the recommendation of Queen Margaret, he was in 1516 preferred to the bishopric of Dunkeld. As a politician and churchman, addicted to intrigues, and which resulted in his deprivation, he as a poet cherished the classic muse. With an unbounded admiration of Virgil, he executed a poetical translation of the Æneid, which attracted contemporary scholars, and has frequently been printed. Of his two earlier poems, "The Palice of honour" and "King Hart," both allegories, the former was finished at the age of twenty-six, and presents evidence of correct scholarship rather than of poetical genius; in the latter, counsels intended for the young are blended with a kind of monkish piety. In the prologues and epilogues to his Virgil, lie his afforded indications of his poetical taste also of his literary opinions. In his poetry he exhibits a love of external nature; yet several of his compositions are defiled with oaths, also by an overstrained imagery.

Early in the sixteenth century historical learning was sustained by the onerous labours of Hector Boece. One of three brothers, who severally attained a measure of eminence, Hector prosecuted his studies abroad, and thereafter became Professor of Philosophy in the University of Paris. There he formed the intimacy of Erasmus, by whom he is celebrated for his eloquence. In the year 1500 he, on the invitation of Bishop Elphinston, accepted office as Principal of the University of Aberdeen. He now conceived the idea, of publishing a history of Scotland in the Latin tongue, but in executing this task he was more concerned about a correct latinity, than as to any stringent accuracy in his details. Hence in his history monkish legends and medieval romance are specially conspicuous. It is, however, not to be assumed, as by some recent writers has been done, that the authorities quoted as the sources of his history are unreal, or that they are forgeries which were imposed on his credulity. With respect to one of his chief authorities, Verenlund, archdeacon of St Andrews, it has been shown that a history of the kingdom by a person of that name was extant in the end of the sixteenth century, and it seems reasonable to regard him as that "Picardus Veyrement" who witnessed two charters granted at Falkland in 1267, and which are quoted in the Chartulary of St Andrews.

Boece's history was continued by John Ferrerius, a native of Piedmont, who extended the narrative from the death of James I. to the reign of James III., the earlier work appearing at Paris in 1526, the latter in 1574.

Deemed a valuable repository of national history, the work of Boece and his continuator was, at the instance of James V., entrusted to John Bellenden for translation into the vernacular. Bellenden, who was an accomplished latinist, commenced his labours in 1533, and completed them three years later. His translation is the earliest specimen of Scottish prose literature; and it is interesting to remark that he was rewarded with a pension of £78, in addition to his revenues as archdeacon of Moray and canon of Ross. Devoted to literary pursuits, Bellenden produced a translation of the first five books of Livy, also other writings both in prose and verse. His poetical remains evince an elegant taste, with a somewhat discursive fancy. An advanced politician, he withdrew from the country during the struggles which preceded the Reformation, and in connection with his translation of Boece's history he has in an epistle to his royal patron ventured to expatiate on the duty of kings, and to depict the evil effects of tyranny and despotism.

On behalf of James V., a version of Boece was executed in metre by William Stewart, a member of his household, latterly priest at Quothquhan. Commenced in April 1521, it was completed in September 1525, in a MS. containing 70,000 lines. From the original MS. preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, it was in 1858 as one of the Rolls publications published under the editorship of William B. D. D. Turnbull.

As a contrast to Boece's credulous relation, John Mair composed a history of Great Britain, in reality of Scotland, in which monastic legends are ignored. A professor in the Sorbonne, Mair imbibed in France opinions strongly tinctured with republicanism. When dealing with the war of independence he rejects Edward's claim of superiority, yet less condemns English aggression than the vacillating conduct of those who ought to have resisted it. Venerating Wallace as a patriot, he is uncertain whether in the circumstances of the Country his resistance to Edward was altogether prudent. Looking upon the indolence and depravity of the monks, he deprecates the injudicious liberality of princes. With no special reverence for the throne, he holds that incapable princes should be deprived. Mair completed his history prior to 1518, when he became Professor of Theology at Glasgow; in 1523 he was transferred to a similar office at St Andrews. At Glasgow he had as a pupil John Knox; at St Andrews, George Buchanan; and while both these remarkable men, by his prelections, were led to detect ecclesiastical abuses, they were happily un-moved by his philosophy. Buchanan describes him as more expert in detecting error than in vindicating truth; and with pointed reference to the name of Major, which he classically assumed, he sarcastically styles him "solo cognomine major." Contemporaneously with Mair flourished the celebrated Florence Nilson, author of the treatise "De Animi Tranquillitate," and who, on account of his learning and personal worth, is commended by Buchanan.

"The Complaynt of Scotland," [http://www.scotsindependent.org/features/scots/complaynt/index.htm] a prose work, presenting an exaggerated picture of the unsettled state of public affairs subsequent to the battle of Pinkie, has been assigned to different authors,—a preponderance of opinion being. in favour of Sir James Inglis, who, from 1508 to 1550, was a monk of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth. Strongly attached to the Romish faith, and dedicating his performance to Queen Mary of Guise, the writer, in a series of twenty chapters, addresses an admonition to all classes, in the hope, as he remarks, of bringing back the country to the comfort of former times. The clergy he counsels to concern themselves in amending their personal behaviour, rather than in extirpating heresy by the stake. Uncertain about the future of his country, he feels that some benefit might accrue by strengthening the bonds of hostility to England. Apart from its political interest, the "Complaynt" is valuable in presenting a portraiture of contemporary manners. In connection with popular literature it enumerates forty-eight tales, thirty-seven songs or ballads, and thirty dance tunes.

During the first half of the sixteenth century we discover in one who first wore the uniform of a royal page, latterly the robes of Lyon King of Arms, the poetical pioneer of important changes. Educated along with David Beaton, the future cardinal, at the University of St Andrews, David Lindsay entered the household of James IV. on the 12th April 1512, the day on which James V. was born. And when the great disaster on the field of Flodden deprived the country of its rash and adventurous sovereign, Lindsay became companion of the young king. For eleven years he was James's attendant, associate, and plaster of sports—services subsequently acknowledged by his receiving knighthood, and being installed in his heraldic office.

When he was waiting at Court, Lindsay became cognisant of that sacerdotal levity which was the special degradation of his age, and in the planner of Dunbar incited pasquils at the cost of the clergy. Relieved from Court trammels, he in 1528 composed his "Dreme," a satire upon the prevailing corruption, and which in the moral earnestness of the writer derived power and force. In his "Dreme" he supposes that he was iii the centre of the earth, and that there, in the region of hell, lie found kings and emperors, but more conspicuously popes and cardinals and bishops, the spectacle affording him an opportunity of inveigling against the vices of the clergy. Subsequent to his "Dreme," Lindsay produced "The 'Testament and Complaynt of the Kingis Papyngo," in which he strips contemporary churchmen of their pretended sanctity, scarcely leaving them a solitary virtue.

Lindsay's greatest work, "The Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis," a morality containing a mixture of real and allegorical characters, was, in February 1539-40, performed at Linlithgow, in presence of the king and queen, also of a multitude of spectators. Among other ecclesiastical abuses the poet satirizes relic worship and pardon-traffic; he also exposes the chicanery of consistorial law, and derides clerical pretentiousness. To the theme he vigorously returns in his "Monarchic," a long poern composed in his old age, and in which he especially condemns auricular confession, and the injustice of withholding the Scriptures from the laity in their own language. His other considerable poem, "The Historic of Squyer Meldrunl," a tale of chivalry, is chiefly to be remarked for a humorous vivacity.

Publicly performed under royal sanction, and circulated among the common people, Lindsay's compositions moved the clergy with apprehension, and at a Convention held at Edinburgh on the 27th November 1549, under the presidentship of Archbishop Hamilton, it was determined that all books containing rhymes, which embraced scandalous reflections upon the Church, should forthwith be delivered up. Personally the Lyon King was safe, but Friar Keillor, of the Blackfriars Monastery at Edinburgh, who followed in his wake, was arraigned and burned. Before the close of his career, Lindsay was privileged as one of the Protestant congregation at Andrews, to invite John Knox to the exercise of the ministry.

If we are justified in ascribing to James V. "The Gaberlunzie Man" and "The Jollie Beggar," we discover the period to which may be assigned the earlier of those comic ballads which retain a place in popular esteem. Psalms and hymns in the vernacular were used in those families which had embraced the Reformed doctrines, of which specimens have been pre- served in "The Compendious Booke of Godly and Spirituall Songs," by the brothers John and Robert Wedderburn.

In furthering the cause of Reformed truth, these poetical writers are entitled to special commemoration —Alexander Cunningham, fifth Earl of Glencairn, Henry Balnaves of Halhill, and Professor John Davidson of St Andrews. Thomas the hermit of Loretto is, by Lord Glencairn, represented as deploring that the Lutherans were contemning their monastic order, also reading the New Testament in English. under the form of advice to hunters, Balnaves administers counsels in allegory ; Davidson presents a metrical panegyric on John Knox, and a crushing satire on the Regent Morton's grasping policy towards the Reformed Church.

In defence of the unreformed Church the more conspicuous prose literature is embraced in the Catechism which in 15M was issued in the name of Archbishop Hamilton; also in the writings of Quintin Kennedy, abbot of Crossraguel; Ninian Winzet, abbot of the Scottish monastery at Ratisbon; and of James Tyrie, John Hamilton, William Hamilton, and Nicol Burne. On the Reformed side as prose writers are John Knox and George Buchanan. Knox composed his history of the Church in the vernacular, and which in this respect supplements the labours of Tellenden. In preparing a history of the kingdom, Buchanan adopted the manner of Boece in unreservedly accepting the testimony of the chroniclers, his attention being concentrated chiefly on his style. In their polemical writings both reformers indulge the sarcastic vein. In crushing irony Buchanan's verses on the Franciscan f iars are without a parallel, while in his Latin version of the Psalms, he has exhibited a grace of diction which had rendered famous an ancient Roman.

From the tutorage of Buchanan, James VI. derived that love of learning which considerably neutralised the vacillation of his character. So early as his eighteenth year, James issued a work entitled "The Essayes of a Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie," and not long afterwards composed his "Paraphrase of the Revelation of St John." Other poetical works followed, and latterly, as his preceptor had rendered the Psalms in Latin verse, he meditated their production in English metre; his version stopped at the 31st Psalm. Of his prose works the more considerable is "The Demonologie," and though obnoxious to ridicule, it is not without value as a record of prevailing superstitions.

Of the other poets conspicuous in the sixteenth century, a first place is due to Alexander Scott, who on amatory and other themes has composed with vivacity and sprightliness. in his poem of "The Cherrie and the Slae," which has often been printed, Alexander Montgomery evinces a profuse imagery and a classic diction.

Two indefatigable collectors of the elder minstrelsy, Sir Richard Maitland and George Bannatyne severally composed verses; the former censured the prevailing vices. As a group may be named Alexander Hume, Andrew Melville, and Alexander Arbuthnot. In his "Day Estivall," and other sacred poems, Hume is pleasing rather than powerful ; as a writer of Latin verses, Melville exhibits force and elegance; Arbuthnot (whose poetry remains unprinted in the Maitland MSS.) evinces a sportive exhilaration.

Robert [Lord] Semple, who died in 1595, composed a long poem, "The Sege of the Castel of Edinburgh;" also a pungent philippic against Archbishop Adamson. Adamson was himself an accomplished writer of Latin verse. Among the Latin poets whose compositions are included in the "Deliciae Poetarum Scotorum," the more notable are Sir Thomas Craig, David Hume of Godscroft, John Johnston, Elercules Rollock, and Sir Robert Aytoun. Apart from his Latin compositions, Sir Robert Aytoun is author of lyrics, in smooth and classic English, chiefly amatory.The more remarkable Scottish poets of the earlier portion of the seventeenth century are Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, and William Drummond of Hawthornden. 'Though the former owed his elevation to colonising enterprise and political subserviency, he is also conspicuous by his muse. Styled by James VI. his "philosophical poet," he indulges in historical parallelisms, with disquisitions in ethics and on theology. Lord Stirling's more considerable poems are his "Monarchicke Tragedies," and his Doomsday, or "the Great Day of the Lord's Judgment."

As a poet, William Drummond has formed his style upon Italian models. His "Flowers of Sion" are rich in imagery and of exquisite delicacy, while not less bright and harmonious is his poem of "Forth Feasting," which, in 1617, he composed in honour of the King's visit. In prose Drummond is inflated and rhetorical, a remark which applies both to his "Cypress Grove" and to his "History of the Five Jameses."

Among the less conspicuous verse-writers of the early part of the seventeenth century are Sir David Murray, author of the "Tragical Death of Sophonisba;" Sir Robert Kerr, Earl of Aneram, a versifier of the Psalms; Elizabeth Melville, wife of John Colviile of Culross, author of "The Godly Dream," and Zachary Boyd, minister at Glasgow, whose meritorious drama, "The Last Battle of the Soul in Death," is imperfectly sustained by his "Zion's Flowers," a paraphrase of scriptural subjects, which abound in passages grotesque and ludicrous.

Towards the close of the sixteenth and at the commencement of the seventeenth century, theological learning was represented by Robert Pollock, first Principal of the University of Edinburgh, who composed Latin commentaries on the Scriptures, also by Robert Pont, minister of St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, who published "A Translation and Interpretation of the Helvetian Confession." At Glasgow, theological learning was sustained by Robert Boyd of Trochrig, the learned Principal of the University; and by his successor, the laborious John Cameron. The discourses of Robert Bruce in the Scottish dialect confer lustre upon his age. An expositor of the Book of Revelation, and the composer of religious verses, John Napier of Merchistoun has, as the inventor of Logarithms, a claim to immortality.

Inaugurated by Napier, Scottish science was throughout the seventeenth century sustained by the honoured names of Sir Andrew Balfour, Dr Robert Morrison, Dr James Gregory, Sir Robert Sibbald, and Dr Archibald Pitcairn. Possessed of an abundant enterprise, as well as a fertile invention, Sir Andrew Balfour established the Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, reared a national hospital for the sick, projected the Royal College of Physicians, and introduced into Scotland the art of dissection. Dr Morrison's prelections on botany in the University of Oxford materially advanced that important science. Eminent as a mathematician, Dr James Gregory is chiefly remembered by his invention of the reflecting telescope. Sir Robert Sibbald is alike remarkable for his researches as a naturalist and as an historical inquirer. Harvey's Theory of the Blood was finally demonstrated by the scientific labours of Dr Archibald Pitcairn.

Juridical learning, inaugurated in the sixteenth century by the erudition of Sir Thomas Craig and Sir John Skene, was in the seventeenth sustained by the treatises of Sir Thomas Hope and the Institutions of Sir George Mackenzie and Viscount Stair.

Towards the close of the sixteenth century John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, produced his Latin History of the Scottish nation, and his "Defence of Queen Mary;" also his "History of Scotland" in the vernacular. Simultaneously appeared the defences of Queen Mary's character by Adam Blackwood, the Catholic controversialist. Next followed various historical compilers, who, in annals and chronicles, recorded the more considerable events of former years; also diarists and journal-writers, who, with more or less intelligence, denoted contemporary occurrences. Of the former class, the more notable are Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, who in a measure supplemented Boece; Sir James Balfour, whose "Annals" were printed in our own acre, and Sir John Scot of Scotstarvit, author of that strange medley of fact and calumny and fiction, "The Staggering State of Scottish Statesmen."

Among the diarists and journal-writers are the author of the "Diurnal of Occurrents;" Robert Birrel, author of the "Diary;" Robert Gordon of Straloch, also eminent as a geographer; James Gordon, author of the "History of Scottish Affairs from 1637 to 1641;" Richard Bannatyne, the journal-writer; the author of the Chronicle of Aberdeen; David Moysie, of the "Memoirs;" John Spalding and Robert Law, each writers of "Memorials;" and the diarists John Lamont and John Nicoll. But from the close of the sixteenth to that of the seventeenth century, the more systematic contributors to the national history were in the ecclesiastical connection. In point of time, the earliest is Thomas Dempster, author of the, "Historia Ecclesiastica," a work containing the lives of saints and lettered churchmen, but wholly lacking in authority. In the Presbyterian connection, "The Autobiography and Diary of James Melville, 1546-1610," "The History of the Kirk," by David Calderwood, and the "Booke of the Universall Kirk," severally present important materials. Next follow John Plow's "Historic of the Kirk, 1558-1637;" the "Letters and Journals of Principal Robert Baillie;" and the "Secret and True History of the Church," by James Kirkton. On the Episcopal side the ecclesiastical historians are John Spottiswood, Archbishop of St Andrews, and Dr Gilbert Burnet, bishop of Salisbury, both writers of great moderation and respectable authority. As conspicuous controversialists are to be remarked Bishop John Sage and Principal Gilbert Rule, the former an opposer of Presbytery—the latter its vindicator. The labours of the historians of Scottish Presbytery are supplemented by Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall in his "Historical Observes " and "Historical Notices;" also in the exhaustive "History of the Sufferings of the Church," by the indefatigable Robert Wodrow.

Of the various theological writers in the earlier portion of the seventeenth century, a few are conspicuous. By the erudite Professor Ferme was produced a valuable Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Unsettled in his ecclesiastical opinions, but withal earnest and charitable, John Dune largely contributes to the theology of his age. An uncompromising controversialist, Samuel Rutherford is scholarly and devotional. In his doctrinal writings, George Gillespie exhibits an earliest piety. Robert Fleming, author of "The Fulfilling of the Scripture" and other works is enquiring and reflective, while in "The Christian's Great Interest," William Guthrie has produced a work eminently suited for the pious household. Of a saintly disposition, Robert Leighton, Archbishop of Glasgow, in his "Commentaries" and "Discourses and Lectures" equals in literary skill the more celebrated divines of the English Church, while exhibiting a fervency peculiarly his own. And not unworthy of a permanent place in religious literature are the commentaries and theological discourses of James Durham, David Dickson, and Robert Traill.

Amidst the ecclesiastical and political strife of the seventeenth century, small place remained for emotional poetry. Yet the art was cultivated by a few. Though chiefly known as a military strategist, the Marquis of Montrose was a, graceful writer of sacred verse. In social jocundity, Robert Semple of Beltrees sustains the poetical lustre of his house, while in the rustic and humorous songs of his son Francis, the versifying faculty is vigorously maintained. In Hudibrastic measure Samuel Colville and William Cleland, the Covenanter, indulge an effective satire.

Slumbering for a time, Scottish ballad regained with the Revolution vitality and force. Lady Wardlaw composed "Hardyknute," and Lady Grizel Baillie several lays, of which that commencing "Were na my heart Licht I wad dee," was a favourite with the poet Burns. But it was reserved for Allan Ramsay to fully re-awaken the minstrel genius of his country. By his familiar epistles reviving the times of Dunbar and Lindsay, he composed songs for the cottage and the hillside, while in his pastoral comedy, "The Gentle Shepherd," he reached the zenith of simplicity and tenderness. Ramsay was followed by other poetical writers who also upheld the dignity of the national muse. A poet of the first rank, James Thomson combines in his various compositions a pious fervour with a high-souled benevolence; in his "Seasons" he presents the charms of the rural landscape in strains thrilling as they are harmonious. In his poem of "The Grave," Robert Blair depicts, in Miltonic verse, the sombre aspects of the sepulchre; and in his ballad of "William and Margaret," David Mallet evokes sentiments of solemnity and terror.

If in the seventeenth century the notes of the minstrel were intermittent, the voice of philosophy was silent. With the appearance of David Hume in the eighteenth burst forth a new intellectual spring. Hume's "'Treatise on Human Nature," published in 1737, discovered a flaw in the structure of the accepted philosophy, which, constituting a new epoch in the history of metaphysics, stimulated that course of active enquiry and exact logic, which has placed on a sound and irrefragable basis the evidence of revealed truth he sought to controvert. Replying to Hume's attack on Revelation, Dr George Campbell has in his "Essay on Miracles" evinced a vigorous acuteness and a rare discernment, while the cause of revealed religion is forcibly upheld by Dr James Beattie in his "Immutability of Truth" and in his "Christian Evidences."

In 1759 Dr Adam Smith published his "Theory of Moral Sentiments," a work which, though its leading doctrine resolving the moral feelings into sympathy is an ingeniously defended paradox, is valuable on the score of illustration. His next work, "The Wealth of Nations," which appeared seventeen years later, rained him the highest step in the ladder of philosophy, and gave him rank as founder of the science of Political Economy. An acute and powerful thinker, Dr Thomas Reid produced in 1764 his "Inquiry into the Human Mind," followed after an interval of twenty years by his treatise on "The Intellectual Powers." In spite of a somewhat ineffective style, with polemical tendencies singularly repellent, Dr Reid has by his correct reasoning materially advanced the science of morals. Of other ethical writers of the eighteenth century the more conspicuous are Henry Home Lord Kames, and James Burnet Lord Mouboddo, though the learned speculations of the latter are unhappily obscured by conclusions whimsical and impotent. In the rear of the century followed up Professor Dugald Stewart, who, without any decisive originality or force, has adorned his pages with pleasing illustrations, and rendered agreeable the pursuit of philosophy by a style perspicuous and classical.

Among the early historical writers of the eighteenth century were Thomas Innes, author of the "Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of Scotland;" Adam Anderson, author of the history of commerce, afterwards improved and extended by David Macpherson; James Anderson, compiler of "Diplomata Scotiae;" Thomas Ruddiman, the eminent grammarian, who edited Buchanan's History, and published various historical memorials; William Maitland, author of the histories of Edinburgh and London; Dr Patrick Abercrombie, author of "The Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation;" and the diligent and painstaking Walter Goodall. In his "General History of England" William Guthrie has evinced a patient industry, which is also exhibited in his Geographical Grammar. To David Hume was reserved the honour of presenting the "History of England" in a style so pleasing as to impart to uninteresting events and circumstances the charm of a fascinating romance. More careful in his authorities, Dr William Robertson has, in his "History of Scotland," also in his Histories of America and of the Emperor Charles V., used a style so exquisitely harmonious as is apt to induce an admiration of the author to the detriment of that attention which is due to his narrative.

As a companion to Gibbon's "Decline and Fall," Dr Adam Ferguson produced his "History of the Roman Republic," a work in which the results of unwearied research are presented in a style elegant and perspicuous. Similarly may be characterised Henry's "History of England," a source on which popular writers have largely drawn for well-authenticated materials. As an historical writer Dr Tobias Smollett did not excel, and John Pinkerton, laborious as an investigator, has through narrow views and wanton prepossessions, forfeited that confidence otherwise due to his learning and industry. Of the national history the well-authenticated annals are presented through the judicial exactitude of Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes. Towards the close of the century, Sir John Dalrymple, James Macpherson, the editor of Ossian, and Dr Thomas Somerville, illustrated in important works the later reigns of the House of Stewart, and traced the early progress of constitutional government. The antiquarian labours of Alexander Gordon in his "Itinerarium Septentrionale," were adequately supplemented by Major-General William Roy in his "Military Antiquities," also in the work on "Roman Antiquities" by Dr Alexander Adam.

In his "Lectures on Ecclesiastical History," Dr George Campbell unites the skill of the historian with the genius of the philosopher. Important service to historical enquirers has been rendered by Dr John Blair, in his "Chronology." The cause of historical criticism and literary research has eminently profited by the writings of William Tytler, and of his son, Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee. A History of the Scottish Church, by John Skinner, the ingenious poet, supplies interesting ecclesiastical details from an episcopal view-point. In their several "Histories," Dr Gilbert Stuart, Dr William Crookshank, and Robert Heron have, by presenting important details of Scottish national events not to be conveniently found elsewhere, disarmed any ungenerous criticism. The "History of Philip II.," by Dr Robert Watson, is a model of literary industry, as is William Russell's "History of Ancient and Modern Europe." In his "Political Index," Robert Beatson has supplied a work of reference essential to every library. The editor of "The British Poets," Dr Robert Anderson, has in presenting the works of others, and in commemorating the history of their lives, raised a monument to his own indefatigable industry. In connection with the third edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica," and as a vigorous essayist and biographical writer, Bishop George Gleig has claim to honourable remembrance.

Early in the eighteenth century doctrinal theology found congenial and acceptable expositors in Thomas Boston and Thomas Halyburton; also in the discourses and other writings of the brothers Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine. In the cause of rendering familiar the contents of the sacred volume, Alexander Cruden published his admirable "Concordance," and John Brown his "Dictionary" and "Self-Interpreting" edition of the Scriptures, while these and other theological works by the same writers Dr James MacKnight has supplemented in his "Harmony of the Gospels." As the century advanced, evangelical teaching was obscured under the pervading influence of a lifeless morality. To the non-doctrinal school belongs Dr Hugh Blair, whose "Sermons," chiefly on account of their elegant diction, experienced a reception such as had not previously been extended to any writings of the same class. Along with his "Lectures on Rhetoric," Dr Blair's "Sermons" were added to every library. Discourses and expositions evangelical and fervent were issued by Dr John Drysdale, Dr John Erskine, Dr James Fordyce, and Dr Robert Walker; and from the pen of Dr John Logan, published by his executors. In his "Pastoral Care" Dr Alexander Gerard has forcibly illustrated the duties and obligations of the sacred office; he has also produced a valuable dissertation "On the Genius and Evidences of Christianity." Also in the eighteenth century appear the earlier writings of Principal George Hill and Professor John Dick, both subsequently distinguished for their matured systems of theology. Connected with the century are the earlier writings of Principal William Laurence Brown, whose theological and other works, subsequently issued, attained a wide though not a permanent acceptance. At the close of the century, Dr Alexander Geddes, a learned but reckless and eccentric writer, produced a new translation of the Scriptures, which gave universal offence and subjected him to ecclesiastical penalties.

Following the age of Ramsay and Thomson arose a succession of nameless bards, who dedicated their effusions to the Jacobite cause. And that triumph in pastoral comedy which Ramsay had won, was now to be shared by a successful wooer of the tragic muse. Through his tragedy of "Douglas," John Home obtained a celebrity which his failure in similar efforts did not materially diminish. Genius matured before the age of twenty, Michael Bruce consecrated to descriptive and serious verse. In humorous sentiment and comic scenes Robert Fergusson luxuriated. In his "Minstrel" Professor James Beattie blends with the utterances of the poetical aspirant some lofty sentiments, a rich imagery, and an harmonious diction. In his poem of "The Shipwreck," Robert Falconer combines didactic energy with forcible description. The translator of the "Lusiad," William Julius Mickle, is, especially in his shorter poems, remarkable for a vein easy and melodious. By his graceful verse Thomas Blacklock solaced the loss of sight and gratified his contemporaries. With a passionate fervour John Logan composed lyrics secular and sacred. The pastoral and rural harmonies are sustained in the fancy of Robert Crawford, the melody of Sir Gilbert Elliot, the pathos of John Lowe and of John Mayne, and the exquisite tenderness of Jane Elliot, Lady Anne Barnard, and Anne Grant. In the songs of William Hamilton of Bangour, John Skinner, and Alexander Ross, have been attained the higher reaches of national jocundity. Songs, social and patriotic, which might otherwise have perished, were gleaned, illustrated, and preserved through the lettered industry of David Herd, George Thomson, and William Stenhouse.

In the field of minstrelsy there had been a vigorous progression, yet it may be doubted whether was reached a superiority exceeding that which three centuries before had culminated in the gifts and faculties of Dunbar. There ensued an important change. Startling his countrymen and surprising his age, Robert Burns inscribed on the national heart the forthgivings of his genius. At his touch inanimate nature became vocal, while the brook rippled music to his lyre. In the rush, in the wild flower, and in the thistle he found interpreters to his muse. In the familiar utterances of the peasant he embodied the wisdom of the philosopher, and sounded humanity to its depths. Invoking tenderness at its source, he drew sympathy from the fountain. Exuberant in social mirth, he by wholesome words gladdened the desponding. Rightly interpreting the dignity of humanity, he found in poverty a privilege, and in lack of fortune a trial of virtue. Repressing arrogance, he struck down pride, scourged pretence, and chastened frivolity. The songs of his country soiled in the mud of wires he refined and purified. Under the influence of his muse freedom acquired fresh lustre, and through the witchery of his song melody attained new strength. With his advent the national muse obtained an energetic force, and became a power to move and to delight the world.

In the poetry of the eighteenth century must be included the minstrelsy of the Gael. Rob Donn, otherwise Robert Mackay, enjoys a wide popularity; he sings chiefly of love. A master of sacred verse, Dugald Buchanan is famous as author of "The Skull," also for his hymns. Duncan Macintyre is immortal in "Bendourain." In "Caberfae," the clan song of the Mackenzies, Norman Macleod is alike remarkable for his poetry and his patriotism.

With the fanciful creations of the poet are associated those of the tale-writer. Yet in Scotland romantic prose writing did not commence till poetry, lyrical, narrative, and dramatic, had made considerable progress. Dr Tobias Smollett, who in verse had inspired patriotism, betook himself to prose fiction, less from predilection than as a source of emolument. Father of Scottish fictionists, he was followed by an interesting progeny. Connected with the country, not by birth but by early residence, EIizabeth Hamilton has in "The Cottagers of Glenburnie " presented a. vivid portraiture of rural manners. Actuated by a high moral purpose, Dr John Moore, author of "Zeluco," proved in the same direction an effective coadjutor. In the nineteenth century, fiction in verse and prose was inaugurated by the genius of Sir Walter Scott. That minstrelsy which he gleaned in secluded valleys served to enkindle and afterwards to foster his own inspiration.

In his three great poems, "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," "Marmion," and "The Lady of the Lake," Scott has blended loyalty with patriotism, chivalry with virtue, and to every scene and landscape which he depicts has imparted a beauty not its own by associations of princely valour and of faithful love. What he accomplished in verse, he with a becoming caution adventured in prose, surpassing in the numerous romances which proceeded from his pen, all his predecessors in delineating various character, and in rendering vivid every spectacle which he portrays.

Among the immediate followers of Sir Walter Scott as writers of fiction, though differing essentially in strain, are three accomplished gentlewomen, Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, [It may not detract from the dignity of historical disquisition to refer in a note to a circumstance which some years ago came to the author's knowledge in connection with Miss Ferrier. She possessed an album, to which both Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott contributed some lines of poetry, and which are still unprinted. When Burns resided in Edinburgh, Susan Ferrier was a small child, but her father, James Ferrier, Writer to the Signet, evinced hospitality towards the poet, occasionally receiving him at his house in George Street, and it is supposed that Burns added his contribution to gratify the future novelist's eldest sister. To that lady the poet addressed a short epistle, which is included in his works. Miss Susan Ferrier's album is now in the possession of her grand-niece, Lady Grant, whose late husband, Sir Alexander Grant, Bart., was the distinguished Principal of the University of Edinburgh.] Mrs Mary Brunton, and Mrs Christian Johnstone. These severally evince a hearty mirthfulness, a nice discrimination and much elevating sentiment. Though not a master of his art, John Galt, who came later, arrests attention by his humour, and in his graphic delineations commands approval and interest. The entertaining sketches of Michael Scott under the title of "Tom Cringle's Log," retain that popularity with which at the first they were hailed. Ineffective as an historian, and as an essayist more opinionative than brilliant, George Robert Gleig is in his military and other tales entertaining and vigorous.

In England periodical literature had made some progress prior to its being planted in a northern latitude. The "Scots Magazine," started as a monthly issue in 1739, received such a measure of support as to sustain its existence till 1825, when, under an altered name, it was fortified and revived. Ruddiman's "Weekly Magazine," originated in 1768, was, in 1784, completed in thirty-eight volumes. In 1779 an attempt to revive the production of serial papers such as those which adorned the age of Queen Anne, was first in the "Mirror," and subsequently in the "Lounger," creditably sustained. Henry Mackenzie, the editor of these two serials, has, in his "Man of Feeling" and other publications, left upon Scottish letters the impress of a vigorous culture. The "Edinburgh Magazine," commenced in 1783, was first edited by James Sibbald, chiefly known for his "Chronicle of Scottish Poetry" —subsequently by Dr Robert Anderson. Started in 1791, "The Bee" of Dr James Anderson—chiefly a vehicle of philosophical sentiment—sustained for three years a useful and honourable missions.

An "Edinburgh Review," projected in 1755, was intended as a half-yearly issue, but attained only a second number, though its contributors included Dr Adam Smith and Principal Robertson. Revived in 1802 the project proved an eminent success. Among the contributors were Sir Walter Scott, Professor John Playfair, Sir James Mackintosh, Sidney Smith, Francis Horner, and Henry Brougham. Through a choice diction, a striking originality of thought, and a marvellous versatility, the editor, Francis Jeffrey, sustained during the twenty-seven years he held office a reputation as the first reviewer of his time. In April 1817 "Blackwood's Magazine" began, somewhat inauspiciously, a career of future prosperity and usefulness.

Early in the eighteenth century, John Law of Lauriston, the financial projector, ventilated his views on monetary circulation, and William Paterson, founder of the Bank of England, issued his numerous papers upon trade and commerce. At a period considerably later, the eccentric John Oswald published his "Review of the Constitution." Towards the close of the century the importance of adequately ascertaining the extent and value of the national resources conduced to statistical enquiry. Chiefly through the patriotic enterprise of Sir John Sinclair were prepared agricultural surveys of the different counties, while, under his editorial care, was published in twenty-one octavo volumes a statistical account of the several parishes, from materials supplied by the incumbents. Already had George Chalmers published his "Political Annals of the United Colonies," and his "Comparative Strength of Great Britain during the present and four preceding Reigns"—works all but forgotten under the enhanced reputation derived by the industrious author, from his great though unfinished "Caledonia."

Among many able expounders of the national law, the more conspicuous in the eighteenth century, and subsequently, are John Erskine, the distinguished author of the "Principles," and "Institutes;" Baron Hume, author of the invaluable "Commentaries"; and Professor George Bell, the most esteemed of British writers on commercial jurisprudence.

Biography initiated in the seventeenth century by Thomas Dempster, was a century later followed up in the elaborate memoirs of Dr George Mackenzie; also by Sir Robert Douglas, in his "Peerage" and "Baronetage." But in point of literary skill the best biographical performance ever executed by a Scotsman was "The Life of Dr Samuel Johnson " by James Boswell. This memoir which appeared in 1790 has, in its life-like portraiture had no literary parallel.

Historical composition which in the eighteenth century had at the hands of Scottish cultivators attained a pitch of excellence, was carried into the nineteenth under the pilotage of Malcolm Laing, having completed Dr Henry's "History of England," Laing designed a "History of Scotland from the Union of the Crowns to the Union of the Kingdoms," which he has executed with judicial precision and in a forcible narrative. The History of Greece, by Dr John Gillies, Historiographer Royal, has not been displaced by more elaborate performances, and in a "History of India," James Mill has rendered creditable and permanent service. Sir Walter Scott's "Life of Napoleon," a brilliant chronicle of scenes and events, acquired new interest in a judicious abridgment. As a biographer and an historian, John Dunlop will live in his "History of Fiction" and in his "History of Roman Literature." During the earlier section of the century, Dr John Jamieson issued his "Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language," and Sir John Graham Dalyell his "Fragments of Scottish History." To the same period belong the learned and exhaustive memoirs of John Knox and Andrew Melville, by Dr Thomas M'Crie, and the learned memoir of George Buchanan and the "Lives of the Scottish Poets," by Dr David Irving.

In 1796, when Burns had completed his career of genius and of misfortune, Sir Walter Scott, by publishing his ballad of "The Wild Huntsman," afforded forcible indication that on the death of the illustrious bard had not been thrown aside the poetic mantle of his country. Three years later Thomas Campbell, at the age of twenty-one, published his "Pleasures of Hope," a poem in which pictures, steeped in the richest hues of the imagination, are combined with a polished diction and an exquisite sweetness. Having in a first effort reached the zenith of success, Campbell succeeded, through the exercise of a fastidious taste, in retaining his poetical pre-eminence. In his more popular lyrics he has upon the wildness of the romantic, engrafted the elegance of the classic school, and in the words of a competent critic, has presented "A weeded garden, of which every blossom has dedicated its beauty to the sun." By his descriptive verse and his humorous ballad of "Watty and Meg," Alexander Wilson had acquired a poetical celebrity, though, as a naturalist he had remained unknown. In song, Hector Macneill and Robert Tannahill evince much simplicity and tenderness; the latter is luxuriant and copious. Though deficient in the management of her themes, as well as in the structure of her verse, Joanna Baillie exhibits in her tragedies a strong imaginative energy.

Of the poets who appear at a later stage, a first place is due to the Ettrick Shepherd. Nursed amidst the wilds and tutored among the solitudes of nature, his strong and vigorous imagination received impressions from the mountain, the cataract, and the wilderness, and he was moved by pictures and images which these scenes were suited to awaken. In the realm of the supernatural he revels as in his native element. The emanation of a vigorous fancy, his ballad of Kilmeny is a picture of pure thought and exquisite feeling. His songs abound in delicate pathos and are replete with pastoral dignity. A friend and cherished correspondent of the bard of Ettrick was the ingenious Allan Cunningham, whose imitation of the Border ballads deceived not only the ingenious Cronnek, but even the acuteness of Sir Walter Scott. Though in his larger poems lacking constructiveness, Cunningham owns a fervent genius; his lyric muse is eminently plaintive. Exuberant in Humour and steeped in pathos, the Baroness Nairne will live in her "Laird o' Cockpen" and the "Land o' the Leal"; her lays, not excepting her Jacobite minstrelsy, evince a warm benevolence and an ardent piety. Of an impulsive nature, Dr John Leyden has upon his verses impressed the energy of his character. In his principal poem, "The Scenes of Infancy," he combines graceful versification with a genuine tenderness. In "The Sabbath," his first and best poem, James Graham presents in. touching verse a vivid illustration of the national characteristics and of rural life. In his great poem, "The Course of Time," Robert Pollok occasionally approaches, in solemn and various illustration, the dignity of Milton, while at other tinges his strain is rhetorical rather than effective. In devotional fervour and in a powerful fancy James Montgomery has few compeers; his hymns, which are among the best in the language, evince deep reverence and an ardent piety. A graceful writer of song and ballad, David Vedder, in his "Temple of Nature" affords remarkable evidence of energetic thought.

As a poet, Professor John Wilson evidences a rich fancy; his longer poems are as threads strung with flowers; the shorter, graceful delineations of serene feeling and pastoral simplicity; and while, as an essayist, his style is refined and elevating, he in fiction holds the rod of the enchanter, and can at pleasure excite laughter or produce tears. A master of the plaintive, he is in humour replete with joyousness. As a critic he is terse, subtle, and incisive.

With a strong tendency to cynicism, John Gibson Lockhart is by turns tender, benevolent, humorous, and playful. The author of stirring verses, his prose is rich and copious. As a critic, keenly pungent, he is in his tales pathetic, generous, and sentimental. While indulging bitter prejudices, and gratifying unworthy prepossessions, he has nevertheless in his "Memoir of Sir Walter Scott" produced a biography which in no secondary degree owes its interest to his skill. In his poem of "Anster Fair," Professor William Tennant has introduced into English verse the ottava rima of the Italian poets. But he disfigures his verse by elaboration, and his prose by its exuberance. Prominent as poets or verse-writers are Mrs John Hunter, Mrs Dugald Stewart, Mrs Anne Grant, Sir Alexander Boswell, Richard Gall, John Imlah, George Allan, Hamilton Paul, Thomas Pringle, Robert Allan, William Gillespie, John Struthers, Joseph Grant, William Thom, and Alexander Rodger.

Returning to the progress of philosophy, we discover the speculations of the former century carried into the present under the guidance of powerful writers. Among the more prominent are Archibald Alison, in his "Essay on the Principles of Taste;" Dr James Gregory, in his "Philosophical and Literary Essays;" Dr John Abercrombie, in his "Inquiries respecting the Intellectual Powers;" and Sir James Mackintosh, in his celebrated "Dissertation." Brilliant as a verse writer, Professor Thomas Brown has, in the originality and eloquence of his philosophical speculations, attained a first rank as a metaphysician. More recently Dr George Combe has, in a pure English style, ventilated his philosophical opinions.

Among the more powerful thinkers of our own times, Sir William Hamilton holds the first place; his contributions to mental science are marked by distinctive originality, and enforced by powerful argument. Metaphysical qualities not dissimilar have been evinced by his biographer, Professor John Veitch. In his "Institutes of Metaphysic," Professor James Frederick Ferrier has with choice language clothed much interesting speculation. In a graceful style Principal John Tulloch has exhibited the fruits of a vigorous research. In his "Method of the Divine Government," Dr James M'Cosh afforded early promise of that eminence which his subsequent labours have admirably secured. By philosophical acuteness are distinguished the moral and metaphysical writings of Principal John Cairns, Professor Alexander Campbell Fraser, Professor Robert Flint, and Professor Henry Calderwood. Into this country has Dr James Hutchison Stirling introduced the abstruse philosophy of Hegel, while Professor Edward Caird has sought to prove that the actual author of that philosophy was Immanuel Kant. As a writer on Logic, Professor Alexander Bain occupies no secondary place.

During the latter part of the eighteenth century the science of Political Economy was in his several writings carried forward by Dr Robert Wallace; also by Sir John Sinclair in his "Political State of Europe," and in some other publications. Next followed the powerful expositions of Dr Thomas Chalmers, only to be obscured under the celebrity subsequently acquired by the author as an orator and a theologian. And at a period not distant from our own, John Ramsay M'Culloch has, in his original writings, also in his various compilations, materially extended the boundaries of economic speculation. Patrick Edward Dove, and James Wilson, editor of "The Economist," have rendered important service. In the department of physical science, Scotland has produced many eminent cultivators. The science of optics has by Sir David Brewster been illustrated in various works and memoirs. Among those who have intelligently observed the movements of the heavenly bodies are Mrs Mary Somerville, General Sir Thomas Macdougall Brisbane, Dr Thomas Dick, and Professor John Nichol.

In the eighteenth century Scottish mathematical learning was sustained in the ingenious works of Professor Colin Maclaurin, Professor Robert Simson, Dr Alexander Bryce, and Professor Matthew Stewart.

Among the more eminent mathematicians of the present century are Professor John Robison, Professor John Playfair, Professor Robert Hamilton, Sir James Ivory, Sir John Leslie, and Professor William Wallace. In our own times practical astronomy is sustained by the abundant labours of Sir William Thomson and Professor Robert Grant.

Scottish mineralogical enquiry was inaugurated by Robert Wodrow, the eminent Historian of the Church, who collected shells and other organic remains, which he deposited in his manse of Eastwood. In his "History of Rutherglen," published in 1793, David Ure has to the geology of that district, devoted many interesting pages. About the same time Dr James Hutton broached his "Theory of the Earth," a work followed by the mineralogical studies of Professor Robert Jamieson, Sir James Hall, and James Headrick, in his "View of the Mineralogy of Arran." But Scottish geology first obtained a scientific basis when appeared "The Principles of Geology," a work issued in 1830-3 by Professor, afterwards Sir Charles Lyell. What Lyell intelligently initiated, Sir Roderick Impey Murchison vigorously followed up. In the hands of Hugh Miller scientific technicalities were subordinated to a graceful diction and popular embellishment. Thereafter followed the scientific treatises of William Rhiud, Charles Maclaren, Dr Henry Duncan, Dr John Anderson, Dr Robert Chambers, Thomas Davidson, and James Smith of Jordanhill. Dr David Page became conspicuous through his geological handbooks. In illustrating his theory of glacial motion, Principal James David Forbes has rendered eminent service. Among living Scottish geologists, the more prominent are Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay, the Duke of Argyle, Dr Archibald Geikie, Professor James Geikie, Benjamin N. Peach, and Dr Hugh Macmillan.

On fossil ichthyology, Dr Ramsay H. Traquair, and on other branches of paleontology Robert Kidston and John Young, have issued important papers. As an acute observer of the siluriau rocks and a skilful collector of fossils in that formation, Mrs Robert Gray holds a foremost place.

During the eighteenth century botanical researches were illustrated in the works of Sir Robert Sibbald, the essays of Professor John Hope, the "Hortus Kewensis" of William Aston, the periodical papers of Alexander Garden, and in the collections of William Roxburgh. At the close of the century horticultural science was made popular by John Abercrombie, and early in the present, through the abundant writings of John Claudius Loudoun. Scottish botany has been illustrated by David Douglas in his periodical papers, in the important contributions of George Gardner, Dr David Landsborough, James Dickson, Dr Robert Kaye Greville, Dr Patrick Neill, Professor John Hutton Balfour, and Professor George Diekie; also in the provincial labours of John Duncan and Robert Dick. Among living Scottish botanists the more conspicuous are Robert Fortune, Dr Robert Hogg, Dr James Stirton, Dr Hugh Cleglhorn, Professor Alexander Dickson, and William Carruthers. By Professor Isaac Bayley Balfour of Oxford is now being issued, under tIle auspices of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, an important work on the botany of Socotra. By his compilations in forestry, Dr John Crombie Brown is known favourably.

In other departments of natural history there are several eminent writers. What in relation to American ornithology was effected by Alexander Wilson, has by Professor William Macillivray been accomplished in relation to the birds of Scotland. Author of works on Humming and British Birds, Sir William Jardine has therein, also in the "Naturalists' Library," materially advanced ornithological science. In his "History of British Animals," and other scientific writings, Professor John Fleming renders eminent service. On "Rare Animals in Scotland," Sir John Graham Dalyell has published an important work. The fruits of wide and accurate observation appear in the works of Professor John Walker, Professor David Low, Alexander Smellie, George Low, James Wilson, and Sir Thomas Dick Lauder. As a painstaking observer, Sir Charles Wyville Thomson will be honourably remembered. In his "Birds of the West of Scotland," Robert Gray has presented the fruits of long and accurate observation. In his various ornithological writings John Harvie-Brown evinces acute observation. David Robertson has, in the department of microscopic zoology, shown a scientific aptitude. Secretary of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, James hardy has in valuable papers effectively illustrated very important branches both of zoological and botanical science. The genius of Thomas Edward as a self-taught naturalist has, by Dr Samuel Smiles, been made the theme of a most interesting biography.

After an absence from this country of nearly twelve years, chiefly in connection with his enterprise to discover the source of the Nile, James Bruce of Kinnaird, in 1774, returned to his estate,—his "Travels in Abyssinia" appearing sixteen years later. Mungo Park, who sought to discover the source of the Niger, and perished in his second expedition, has in the narrative of his adventures imparted to African travel an enduring interest. Among other Scottish travellers who have published the results of careful exploration are the eccentric William Lithgow, John Bell of Antermony, Hugh Clapperton, Dr Patrick Brydone, Sir John Malcolm, Sir Alexander Burnes, General Sir James Edward Alexander, Henry David Inglis, Dr David Livingstone, and Colonel James Augustus Grant. Notable as voyagers are Captain Basil Hall, Sir John Ross, Sir James Clark Ross, Sir John Richardson, and Dr John Rae.

Of recent native writers in the department of history the most prominent is Thomas Carlyle. Exercising a keen insight into human nature, he has in relation to historic scenes vividly reproduced the actors whom he has described; nor do his foreign style and artificial modes detract from the dignity and interest of his narrative. For his "History of Europe" Sir Archibald Alison has attained a literary pre-eminence, chiefly owing to the mass of authentic materials which he has industriously accumulated. Of the numerous writings in science and politics, and on miscellaneous themes produced by Henry, Lord Brougham, those of more general interest are his "Sketches of British Statesmen," and his "Essays on the British Constitution." Greater diligence than impartiality is by John, Lord Campbell displayed in his memoirs of the Lord Chancellors and of the Chief Justices of England. In his "History of the British Empire" George Brodie has, though in a defective style, successfully convicted David Hume of grave historical inaccuracies. An esteemed miscellaneous writer, Professor George Lillie Craik has produced a valuable history of literature, also of British commerce. A "Philological History of European Languages" by the celebrated Professor Alexander Murray was issued posthumously. Dr William Alure has produced a "Critical History of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece." In his "Political History of India," and other writings, Major-General Sir John Malcolm conjoins liberal sentiment with splendid erudition. Descended from a race of historical writers, Patrick Fraser Tytler has prepared his history of Scotland from important original materials, which with singular acuteness he has arranged. His successor in the same field, Dr John Hill Burton has presented important events to the exclusion of ephemeral, and with a masterly energy his illustrated his narrative. In its social and scholastic progress Scotland has been effectively described by Professor Cosmo Innes in his several interesting volumes. In "Scotland under her Early Kings," Edward William Robertson excites surprise by his learned and abundant criticisms. In his "Criminal Trials" Robert Pitcairn has successfully unfolded a chapter of the public morals which required careful elucidation. To the "New Statistical Account" by the parochial clergy, historical enquirers are indebted for most important details. The history of the Scottish clergy embodied in the "Fasti" of Dr Hew Scott has on the score of exhaustiveness and accuracy no parallel in ecclesiastical biography. Details of clerical life in times preceding the Reformation are set forth in Bishop Keith's "History of the Bishops," and by Dr Joseph Robertson in his "Concilia Scotiae." The laborious editor of the national records, Thomas Thomson, has a profound claim on the national gratitude. Similar service has been rendered by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, James Maidment, Professor William Stevenson, and Bishop Alexander Penrose Forbes. In his "History of the Highlands," Dr James Browne lacks considerably in his authorities. The learned author of "The Sculptured Stones of Scotland," Dr John Stuart, is to be commended for his unwearied research, acute analysis, and historical exactitude. In "Caledonia Romana" Robert Stuart has illustrated his important subject by the fruits of diligent observation.

The History of Scottish pagan worship is expounded by Dr John Smith; of the Culdees by Dr John Jamieson; of the Reformation by Dr George Cook and of the Scottish Church both by Dr Cook and by Dr William Hetherington. One of the most erudite of recent Scottish writers, Principal John Lee has, iri his "Lectures on Church History," illustrated with an exhaustive fulness some important points in ecclesiastical annals. A most accomplished antiquary and of various labours, Dr David Laing has as the editor of numerous works, including those of John Knox, rendered to the cause of the national history most invaluable service. In his "History of Scottish Poetry" and similar works, Dr David Irving has evinced a lettered industry. Scottish antiquarian learning is admirably represented in the works and dissertations of Sir James Young Simpson, Patrick Chalmers, Alexander Henry Rhind, Andrew Jervise, Dr John Alexander Smith, Dr Robert Angus Smith, James Drummond, and George Petrie. Henry (Lord) Cockburn will be remembered in the "Memorials of his Times," and Mrs Archibald Fletcher in her "Autobiography."

Of living historical writers, natives of Scotland, several are entitled to special notice. In his two great works, "Prehistoric Man" and the "Prehistoric Annals of Scotland," Dr Daniel Wilson has combined a wide literary research with ripe scientific knowledge. In his "Celtic Scotland," Dr William Forbes Skene is admirably exhaustive. As the result of earnest and careful inquiry Dr James A. Wylie has produced a "History of the Papacy," and other historical memoirs. And among other skilful writers on the ecclesiastical history of the country are specially to be remarked Dr Thomas M'Lauchlan, Professor George Grub, and Dr John Cunningham. "The History of the Scottish Coinage" is presented in the splendid quartos of Dr Robert William Cochran-Patrick. As a judicious and learned editor, Joseph Stevenson occupies a foremost place. Eminent as an essayist and as the biographer of Milton, Professor David Masson has, as editor of "The Register of the Privy Council," exhibited much accurate knowledge and a sound discernment. In connection with the duties of his office in the General Register House, as chief of the historical department, and superintendent of Record publications, Thomas Dickson has with much ability edited the "Lord High Treasurer's Accounts." With commendable care and judgment Dr George Burnett has edited the "Exchequer Rolls;" Joseph Bain the "Scottish Documents in the Public Record Office," and James Balfour Paul and John Maitland Thomson the "Register of the Great Seal." In their various writings, Dr Arthur Mitchell, Dr Joseph Anderson, Professor John Duns, and Dr Robert Munro exhibit the fruits of antiquarian learning.

Among recent writers on family history are to be honourably remembered the late Earl of Crawford, author of "The Lives of the Lindsays," and other historical works; also Mark Napier, author of the "Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose," and "of the Viscount Dundee." Genealogical research, which in the past is associated with the indefatigable labours of John Riddell, is admirably sustained in the splendid volumes, produced under the learned editorship of Dr William Fraser.

Among native miscellaneous writers, recent or living, may be denoted the more conspicuous only. Irrespective of their eminence as promoters of popular education, the brothers Dr William and Dr Robert Chambers are as essayists singularly entertaining. Edward Bannerman Ramsay, Dean of Edinburgh, has, in his well-known "Reminiscences," vividly recalled the memory of comic scenes and of the elder humour. In his numerous writings George Gilfinan portrays with a vigorous fervour those who have been remarkable for their genius or conspicuous by their virtues. Vehement and thrilling, Dr John Brown has in his sketches stirred the chord of the higher sensibilities. A considerable dramatist, John Mackay Wilson lives in his "Tales of the Borders;" and two remarkable brothers, Alexander and John Bethune, in their tales and verses. As an expositor of popular science and a genial biographer, Professor George Wilson claims honourable commemoration. Sir Alexander Grant will live in his "History of the University of Edinburgh," also in his studies in classic and general literature. Illustrating the progress of the arts, Sir William Stirling Maxwell has reflected important light on historical bypaths. Dr Andrew K. H. Loyd is remarkable for his graceful delineations and gentle teaching.

Among recent poets several names are familiar. An elegant writer of prose fiction, Thomas Aird is as a poet remarkable for his vivid ideality. Humorous in prose, David Macbeth Moir is in verse serious and grave. As ballad-writers, William Motherwell and William Edmondstoune Aytoun are at once plaintive and patriotic. In genius, Robert Nicoll is vigorously fanciful; Alexander Smith, affluent in imagery; David Gray, earnest and tender and James Macfarlan ardent and contemplative. A nursling; of the wilds, Henry Scott Riddell is majestic on the hill-side, and gleesome by the hearth. With his numbers James Ballantine associates gentle and salutary counsels; Principal John Campbell Shairp revels in the vernacular; and of a hearty and wholesome humour, George Outram and Lord Neaves are the veritable masters.

Among the living national poets, Dr Charles Mackay is the minstrel of progress. No inconsiderable lyrist, Professor John Stuart Blackie holds high rank as the translator of Æschylus and Homer. In his verses, Robert Buchanan is eminently melodious. Mrs Jane Cross Simpson and Mrs Isa Craig Knox evince a brilliant fancy. David Wingate cherishes the gentler sympathies. Sir Joseph Noel Paton is smooth and terse. Indulging a gentle sarcasm, Dr Walter Chalmers Smith is in the cause of morals vigorous and earnest. The poet of labour, Alexander Anderson is energetic, tender, and melodious. Minstrels of the Hearth and of the nursery, Matthias Barr and James Smith evince a chaste and artless simplicity.

Not unworthy of commendation as song-writers are Thomas Carstairs Latto, Francis Bennoch, William Allan, Dr Douglas Maclagan, Dr James A. Sidey, and Alexander Logan. As lyrists the more notable are Dr James Hedderwick, Marion Paul Aird, William M`Dowall, and George Stronach. In narrative and didactic verse the more conspicuous are the Marquis of Lorne, the Earl of Southesk, the Earl of Rosslyn, James G. Small, Henry B. Baildon, James H. Stoddart, Alexander G. Murdoch, and Professor John Veitch. As writers of dramatic verse, Professor John Nichol and Thomas P. Johnston are generally approved. And sacred melody is represented in the poems and graceful compositions of Dr Horatius Bonar, William T. M'Auslane, Thomas Dunlop, Dr John Anderson, and Andrew Young.

Among our recent writers of fiction, the best known are Leitch Ritchie and Major George Whyte Melville—the latter a graceful poet; while of the living, the more popular care James Grant, George Cupples, Dr George MacDonald, Mrs Margaret Oliphant, William Black, and Henrietta Keddie, otherwise known as "Sarah Tytler." As vigorous illustrators of contemporary manners and social life, Annie S. Swan, Robina F. Hardy, and John Tod (John Strathesk) merit a high approval.

If in the Scottish Church a lack of offices of learned leisure long restrained theological progress, the drawback has ceased to be apparent. Eminent in Christian hermeneutics are Principal Daniel Dewar, Dr Andrew Thomson, Professor John Brown, Dr Alexander Simpson Patterson, Professor Stevenson Macgill, Dr Ralph Wardlaw, Dr Robert Smith Candlish, and Dr William Lindsay Alexander. As a homiletical treasury may be grouped the religious writings of Dr James Hamilton, Dr John Cumming, Dr John Eadie, Dr Andrew Symington, Dr David King, Dr John Ross Macduf, and Dr Horatius Bonar. Professor William Cunningham and Professor Thomas Jackson Crawford exercise a vigorous logic. Dr Archibald Bennie, Dr William Arnot, and Dr Thomas Guthrie are descriptive and ornate. The forthgivings of strong conviction are to be remarked in the writings of Robert and James Haldane, Edward Irving, and Thomas Erskine. in the works of Dr Thomas Keith Scriptural prophecy finds a safe interpreter. In the discourses of Principal John Caird, Archbishop Tait, Dr John Park, Dr Robert Gordon, and Professor John Tier, pulpit oratory is effectively sustained.

Whence, it is next to be inquired, has the literary faculty among a formerly rude people been nurtured and maintained? Under the monks of Dunfermline, schools were, so early as 1173, established at Perth and Stirling, while in the same century others were planted at Aberdeen and Ayr. During the reign of David I. there were schools in Roxburghshire, promoted by the monks of Kelso. Of the Grammar School of St Andrews a rector is named in 1233, While in 1262 Master Thomas of Bennum is, in the chartulary of Aberbrothock, described as rector of the schools at Aberdeen. In certain burghs, Grammar Schools were under the control of the corporation, but they were more commonly attached to the religious houses, and therefore under the government of the Church. At Aberdeen there was a mixed arrangement, for in 1418 the master of the burgh school, mentioned as "magister scholarum burgh de Aberdene," is described as having been nominated by the Provost and community, and inducted by the Chancellor of the diocese, who certified as to his qualities. From "the common crude of the towne" he received his salary. As not infrequently occurs when there is co-ordinate jurisdiction, there arose a controversy as to the regulation of a burgh school between the civic and diocesan authority. For on the 19th June 1508 Mr Martin Rede, Chancellor of Glasgow, proceeded in his own name to induct John Redo into the office of master of the grammar schools of that city, reserving to himself the right of removing the schoolmaster at his pleasure. On the occasion attended Sir John Stewart of Minto, Provost of the city, and other burgesses, who claimed the privilege of appointing masters to the several schools in the the burgh. Ultimately the parties agreed to consult the letters of foundation, under which, about half a century before, the schools had been established.

At these schools instruction was communicated solely in Latin, children of tender years being addressed and expected to reply in that language. When in 1494 a priest of the diocese of Glasgow incautiously ventured to instruct some children in the vernacular, he was emphatically censured. But the Church might not restrain the progress of secular learning, for in 1496 an education act was passed by the Estates. By this act it was provided that, under a penalty of £20, "all barons and freeholders that are of substance put their eldest sonnes and aires to the schules frai thai be aucht or nyne yeires of age, and till remaine at the grammar schules quhill they be competentlie foundit, and have perfyte Latyne—and thairafter to remaine three years at the schules of art and jure, swa that they have understanding of the laws." In 1519 a Grammar School was established at Edinburgh, which was attached to the Abbey of Holyrood. And at the same period the Grammar School of Perth, taught by Andrew Simpson, a notable instructor and eminent grammarian, had an attendance of three hundred scholars, including the sons both of the nobility and burgesses. The study of Greek was first introduced into Scotland in 1534, when Sir John Erskine of Dun brought to the Grammar School of Montrose as a teacher of that language Peter de Marsiliers, a learned Frenchman.

To the promoters of the Reformation the proper upbringing of the young was a chief concern. In the First Book of Discipline, drawn up in May 1560, [On the 29th April 1560 the Privy Council appointed as commissioners to prepare a book on "the Policy and Discipline of the Kirk," these following, viz.:—Mr John Winrann, sub prior of St Andrews, Mr John Spottiswood, Mr John Willock, Mr John Douglas, rector of St Andrews, Mr John Rowe, and John Knox. As a result was produced the famous "Book of Discipline," which in August 1560 was submitted to Parliament, and generally approved. The proposal which it embraced of a Grammar School being planted in every notable town was agreed to.] it is prescribed that "there should be a schoolmaster, able at least to teach the grammar and Latine tongue, in every parish where there is a town of any reputation, and in landward parishes, that the reader or minister take care of the youth of the parish, to instruct them in the rudiments, particularly in the catechism of Geneva." This regulation, confirmed by statute in 1567, was afterwards sanctioned by the Privy Council. From Windsor, on the 25th August 1626, Charles I. despatched to the archbishops and bishops a royal letter, commanding them "for the better civilising and removing of the Irish language and barbaritie out of the Heigh landes," as well as generally for the instruction of children in the knowledge of the treue religion," to aid in carrying out the provision for establishing "English schooles" in the several parishes. Charles also required that each parish minister should "catechise his parochiners in the groundes of religion."

By an Act passed in 1621, colleges and schools were exempted from taxation, while in 1633 Parliament notified a decree of the Privy Council, made in 1626, which provided that "every plough or husband-land, according to the worth," should be taxed for the support of parochial schools.

By the Convention of 1646, it was enacted that schools be established in parishes where they did not already exist, and that schoolmasters' salaries be paid, two-thirds by the landlords and one-third by tenants. At the Restoration these Acts were rescinded.

Subsequent to the Revolution occurred an important change. In 1693 education was entrusted to the guidance of the Church, and in 1696 schools were planted in every parish. From the period when, in the twelfth century, Burgh and Grammar Schools were originally devised, teachers, both lay and clerical, were imperfectly recompensed. And at the Reformation no absolute improvement ensued. George Buchanan, whose accomplishments as a classicist would have adorned a Roman age, and who abandoned the principalship of St Leonard's College to become tutor to James VI., the infant sovereign, was unable out of his retiring allowance to make provision for the expenses of his fuucral. His remains were accordingly interred by the Town Council of Edinburgh. [In his testament-dative Buchanan is described as "a richt venerable man," and "preceptour to the kingis majestic." But as an offset, his estate is reported as consisting only of "an hundreth poundis, due at the next Whitsunday terme of his pension derived from the lands of Crossraguell."]

Masters of Grammar Schools were, in the seventeenth century, most imperfectly sustained. In 1649, about four years after the endowment by Sir John Scot of the Professorship of Humanity in St Leonard's College, Patrick Robertson schoolmaster of St Andrews, complained to the Commission of the General Assembly that upon him had been inflicted a grievous wrong, inasmuch as the lately appointed Regent taught, "not only all the parts of grammar, but also the rudiments and elements." With the sanction of the founder of the chair, the complaint was admitted, and the Regent ordained to abandon giving instruction in the elements, under the forfeiture of one hundred marks, of which one-half should be paid to the complainer. By the kirksession of Kinneff, in December 1677, it was ruled "that no person or persons presume to keip a scool for the instruction of children except the publick scool, which is allowed by authority." By the Act of 1696 the salaries of parochial teachers were made payable by the heritors—the minimum being fixed at one hundred marks, or £5, 11s. 1 1/3d., and the maximum at two hundred marks, or £11, 2s. 2d. A small dwelling was also provided, together with the exclusive right of imparting instruction within the parish, subject to the order of the Church. When, in 1721, a school was opened at Crathie, owing to the distance from the parish school at Braerar, the teacher was allowed by the kirksession, as salary, seven bolls of meal, to be paid in "haddishes and half-haddishes"—that is, in quantities such as the fourth and eighth of a peck. School fees in the eighteenth century, together with a small allowance at Candlemas, or the proceeds of the annual cock-fight, averaged yearly for each pupil about 6s. sterling. There was usually a small addition granted by the kirksession as a recompense for instructing poor scholars, also for discharging the duty of session-clerk. On the 5th January 1795, George Story, schoolmaster of Yetholm, received an augmentation to his salary as session-clerk, which raised the amount to 15s. a year. Such, in 1849, was the salary of the session-clerk of Dunino, in Fife.

With the view of raising the status of parochial schoolmasters, a movement which commenced in 1784 was vigorously supported by Sir John Sinclair; it resulted in the statute of 1803, by which 300 and 400 marks were provided as minimum and maximum salaries. The maximum salary was subsequently increased to £34, 6s. 8d. By the Education Act of the 6th August 1872 it is provided that a School Board be elected in every parish, and that as property vested in such Board, the parochial school should henceforth be called the "Public School," —and be subject to the supervision of inspectors appointed by the General Board of Education. To local Boards were granted the privilege of imposing school rates; also the power of removing teachers and granting them retiring allowances, and of fixing salaries and school fees. Parents were charged with the duty of providing education for their children, between the ages of five and thirteen, in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and, in the event of their inability, the obligation was imposed upon the Boards. The present maximum salary of public schoolmasters is £75.

For behoof of parochial schoolmasters in the counties of Moray, Banff, and Aberdeen there became available in 1833 the sum of £113,147, 4s. 7d., afterwards increased to £122,000, the bequest of James Dick, of Finsbury Square, London, a native of Forres. Of this fund the annual proceeds, averaging £4000, are, under the administration of the Keeper and other Commissioners of the Signet, distributed among the recipients in portions varying according to educational acquirement and personal service.

In the preamble of the School Act of 1567 it is provided that "youth be instructed in gude manners;" and among the injunctions unctions issued by the Privy Council in 1616 it is specified that every child be educated in "religion and secular learning;" also "in civility." When the kirksession of Dundonald determined, in 1640, to erect a parish school, they resolved that the schoolmaster be enjoined to teach his scholars "how to carry themselves fashionably towards all;" also "the form of courtesy to be used towards himself in the school, their parents at home, and gentlemen, eldermen, and others of honest fashion abroad." It was also ruled that the teacher "sould put in their mouths styles of compillaition suited to ilk anis place to whom they speak, and how to compose their countenance, hands, and feet when they speak to them, or they to them. And that they be taught to abandon all uncivil gestures, as shaking of head and arms." On the 14th August 1643, the kirksession of Newbattle, at the instance of the minister, Mr Robert Leighton, afterwards the celebrated archbishop, condemned the conduct of parents in keeping their children from school, inasmuch "that it is not only ane maine cause of their grosse rudeness and incivility, but of their ungodliness and ignorance of the principalls of religion." They ordained " that all parents send their children to school that they may at the least learn to read." 1
On the 3rd February 1713, Mr Andrew Tire, the learned and energetic minister of Muthill, proceeded to guide his heritors and kirksession in the election of a parish schoolmaster, in succession to one who had been deprived for drunkenness. The minute of election proceeds thus: ---

"This day the Heritois and Session mett in order to the election of a schoolmaster: And after prayer by the minister for direction of God in the mater, they took into consideration several inconveniencies they had lyen under in time bygone with respect to the school and schoolmasters, to the prejudice of learning and piety, and to the hindrance of the education of youth and thriving of the school of the parish: And some provisions with respect to succeeding schoolmasters being produced by the minister for remeed hereof, the same were read and considered and unanimously aproven by the meeting: And for making these provisions effectual in all time coming, they did further unanimously agree, that before intrants get the call of the parish to be schoolmasters therein, they shall be bound to consent to these provisions by a writt under their hands, bearing registration and containing the engadgment to fulfill them under the penalty of an hundred pounds Scots totes quoties, as they shall be found to fail in performing or making good all or any of these provisions, which penalty is to be lifted up by any person whom the Heritors and Session shall by a plurality of votes recommend for that effect; and in case of not payment, that he may use all legal diligence for the same, and for that end he shall have the use of the foresail obligatory paper, to be given up by the intrant schoolmaster, which is hereby ordered to be laid up in the box, and to be keeped there for the use of the parish, or to be registrat for conservation, if any heritor or elder shall judge the same to be necessary."

Of the several "provisions" referred to, the fourth is in these terms:-

"That whereas the brewing or selling of ale at the school may have bad consequences to the prejudice of the school, therefore it is provided that no succeeding schoolmaster shall keep an exchange of any liquors to be spent in or about his house, seeing that the mortification of the school and schoolhouse is also expressly burdened with this provision or inhibition, and therefore they shall be bound not to brew any ale for sale, or to retail it there,"

The parish schoolroom was formerly clingy and noisome. Resting on the edge of the parish burial-ground, exhalations from its soil polluted the apartment, which was low-roofed and without proper ventilation. When the schoolroom stood apart, its earthen floor, insufficient windows, and imperfect roof, admitted injurious draughts and fomented malaria. Fuel was provided at the cost of the pupils, each carrying to school portions of peat or coal or timber. Writing in 1830, Dr William Chambers remarks that he could then point out persons eminent at the Bar who, in their juvenile days, strung up peats with their books, and scudded with them to school.

In the arrangements connected with the school of Dundonald, made in 1640 by the kirksession, it was stipulated that, with two hours of interval for breakfast and dinner, "the children should, from October till February, meet at sunrise and be dismissed at sunset," while during the remainder of the year the time of meeting should be seven morning, and of "shailing," or dispersing, at six evening. These rigid provisions, which existed elsewhere, and were continued throughout the eighteenth century, were accompanied with other conditions harsh and unreasonable. Learners were expected to master the Latin syntax from rules presented in the Latin tongue. And while thus school books were composed in a language unknown to beginners, few schoolmasters had yet attained the art of communicating knowledge otherwise than by force. To every pupil the teacher was consequently an object of actual terror; his passion was dreaded, and there was no confidence in his smiles. By wielding the rod mercilessly he maintained a detested pre-eminence. Claiming an abject submission to his authority, he repelled without reason, and enforced order without justice. Lord Cockburn, who entered the High School of Edinburgh in 1787, has recorded his sufferings at the hands of a scholastic tyrant. "Out of the whole four years of my attendance," he writes, "there were probably not ten days in which I was not flogged at least once." Alexander Smart the, poet, who died in 1866, has in a poem satirized one Norval, a teacher in Montrose, through whose brutality he had severely suffered. "The recollection of his monstrous cruelties—his cruel flagellations," he writes, "is still unaccountably depressing. One day of horrors I shall never cease to remember. Every Saturday he caused his pupils to repeat a prayer which he had composed for their use, and in hearing which he stood over each with a paper ruler, ready, in the event of omission of word or phrase, to strike down the unfortunate offender, who all the while drooped tremblingly before him. On one of these days of extorted prayer, I was found at fault with my grammar lesson, and the offence was deemed worthy of peculiar castigation. The school was dismissed at the usual time, but, along with a few other boys who were to become witnesses of my punishment and disgrace, I was detained in the classroom, and dragged to the presence of the tyrant. Despite of every effort, I resisted being bound to the bench and flogged after the fashion of the times. So the punishment was commuted into `palmies.' Horrible commutation! Sixty lashes with leather thongs on my right band, inflicted with all the severity of a tyrant's wrath, made me scream in the agony of desperation. My pitiless tormentor, unmoved by the sight of my hand sorely lacerated and swollen to twice its natural size, threatened to cut out my tongue if I continued to complain, and so saying laid hold on a pair of scissors and inflicted a deep wound in my lip. The horrors of the day fortunately emancipated me from the further control of the despot."

The parochial authorities of Dundonald, enlightened on other points, were harsh in discipline. By their regulations the teacher was authorised to appoint "a clandestine censor" to report upon his comrades; while offenders, on his information, were with "wand or pair of taws to be chastised, some on the lufe, others on the hips."

In his "Memorabilia Domestica," Mr Donald Sage, minister of Resolis, depicts the state of school discipline in Sutherlandshire at the beginning of the century, in these terms:—

"Mr Macdonald, schoolmaster of Dornoch, was reputed as a scholar, and was at the same time a stern disciplinarian. Besides being an unmerciful appplier of the rod, he instituted a system of disgrace. He who blundered at his lesson was ordered to the back seat, and there made to clap on his head on old raged hat, the sight and the smell of which were no little punishment. The first who took this place was known as 'General Morgan.' If others were sent to keep him company, these were accommodated with head-pieces equally foul and repulsive. And the first of these was called General Prattler, the next Sergeant More, the next a fiddler, and who besides his headgear was furnished with an old broken wool card and a stick, wherewith to exercise his gifts. After teaching was concluded, these unfortunate fellows were ordered to stand out in the passage to go through their exercise, as it was called. This consisted in a dance or threesome reel between the dignitaries of the squad to the melody of him of the wool card. After dancing with all their might for a short time front to front, they were ordered by the master, who acted as adjutant, 'to scrog and shift,' that is to shift sides, striking each other fiercely with their skull caps. The schoolmaster also used another mode of punishment, which was to sentence delinquents, if in summer, to weed his garden, or if in winter, to go to the woods in the neighbourhood to bather fuel for his dwelling."

By the parish authorities of Dundonald the monitorial system was prescribed long before it had been formulated by Bell or Lancaster. At Dundonald it was ruled "that those who are further advanced reading Scottish, whether print or writ, each of them shall have the charge of a young scholar who shall sit beside him, whom he shall mak perfyte of his lesson against the tyme come he shall be called to say." The ordinary cost of education at a middle class school about the middle of the eighteenth century is set forth in the following letter addressed by the Lord President Forbes to his sister, the widow of David Ross of Kindeace:-

"Edinburgh, 29th October 1741.

"My dear Grisey,—Upon my arrival here I informed myself of the state of the school of Dalkeith, and by what I hear am satisfied that it is in very good order, and that the boys are well taken care of. The whole expense for a year, including the master's fees and cloaths, will not exceed £25. So that as soon as you find a proper occasion you may send Duncan up thither, and I shall take care to have him settled there. The distance from this is but four miles, and from Stony Hill little more than two, so that I may easily hear of him."

A century ago the children of the peasantry were rarely taught to write, nor could the humbler tenantry be induced to believe that the caligraphic art might prove useful to their daughters. But nearly every young person was instructed so as to be able to read the Scriptures, and commit to memory the Shorter Catechism.

From the period when were founded the universities of the Continent, opulent Scotsmen sent thither such of their sons as were intended for the Church. The Scots College at Paris, founded by the Bishop of Moray in 1325, made continental education more accessible. Within the kingdom higher education dates from May 1411, when, at the instance of Bishop Henry Wardlaw of St Andrews, the Papal sanction was obtained to the erection at that place of a Scottish university. Studying at Oxford, Wardlaw encountered a share of that dislike which Scotsmen then experienced at that seat of learning; he therefore determined to establish a university in his own country. In the bull complying with Wardlaw's request to establish a "studiuiu generale" at St Andrews, the anti-pope, Benedict XIII., remarks that he had on inquiry become satisfied that the place was suitable for the purpose, owing to its peaceful neighbourhood, the fertility of the soil, and the number and superiority of the dwellings. Those who joined Wrardlaw in starting the institution delivered lectures, while, under the auspices of James I., learned persons from abroad evinced in the concern an active interest. At St Andrews three colleges were afterwards reared. The College of St Salvator was established in 1435, and of St Leonard in 1512; and these were, in 1748, united by parliamentary sanction. St Mary's, or the "New College," appropriated to the special study of theology, was founded in 1537. These three several colleges unite in forming the existing university.

At the instance of Bishop William Turnbull, and under the favour of James II., Pope Nicholas V. founded the University of Glasgow, conferring upon it, by a bull dated 7th January 1451, the faculty of conferring degrees, along with all liberties, immunities, and honours enjoyed by the masters, doctors, and students of his own university of Bologna. Prior to the Reformation, and subsequently, the Institution fell into decay, but in 1577 the Regent Morton granted a new erection, which was confirmed by Parliament. The revival was actually due to the celebrated Andrew Melville, who in 1574 was by the General Assembly appointed to the office of Principal. During the Civil War the University of Glasgow was a place of literary refuge to the sons of non-conforming clergymen and others, for whom in the universities of the south there was no existing toleration. The structure of the College in High Street, which was built in 1656, accommodated both professors and students; it was latterly used as class-rooms. In 1864 it was sold to a railway company for £100,000, and this sum, largely increased by private contributions, was expended in constructing on Gilmore Hill the present handsome and commodious buildings.

Bishop Elphinstone of Aberdeen, having obtained through James IV. the Papal sanction for the erection of a university at his episcopal seat, proceeded in 1494 to rear a suitable structure. Named by the founder "King's College," it was completed by his successor, Bishop Gavin Dunbar. "Purged" in 1569 by order of the Regent Murray, the reforming arrangements were carried out by Sir John Erskine of Dun, under the sanction of the General Assembly. Alexander Arbuthnot was appointed to the Principalship, and by his agreeable manners and correct scholarship, proved eminently efficient. Introducing the study of Greek, he confined each teacher to a single department of study, an arrangement which, temporarily suspended, became on its revival a prominent feature of the Scottish system. In 1593 George Keith, Earl Marischal, founded, in the new town of Aberdeen, the structure of Marischal College, and under the chancellorship of the accomplished Bishop Patrick Forbes (consecrated in 1618), both this institution and King's College considerably flourished. A union of the institutions, ordered by Charles I. in 1641, was subsequently revoked, the colleges remaining apart till our own times. In 1860 they were by legislative Act permanently united as the "University of Aberdeen." Prior to 1643 the regents and masters of the Aberdeen Colleges voluntarily practised celibacy, but in that year the sub-principal, Alexander Middleton, entered into matrimony, an example through which the practice was changed.

The original members of the Universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, and King's College being beneficed clergymen, were, in order to their discharging the academic function, exempted from residence at their cures. And each collegiate institution was held competent to maintain on its staff a stated number of masters, relents, chaplains or vicars-pensionary, together with certain "pauperes clerici," or poor scholars, the last being candidates for the priesthood. Equally with the masters and regents, the scholars were accommodated and provided for within the walls. In drawing the statutes of St Leonard's College in 1512, Prior Hepburn of St Andrews stipulated that the poor scholars should have their "flesh days," or days of butcher meat; he on the other hand provided that each scholar should in turn make the house clean, wait at table, and perform other household duties. In a "visitation" of St Salvator's College, dated 15th September 1563, the visitors represented to the Principal, that as the poor students received on fish days "only one egg and one herring," the quantity of victuals should be augmented, care being taken that neither in quantity nor quality their portions were inferior to those of poor students in other colleges. Prior to the Reformation, and subsequent to that event, college students, candidates for the ministeriall office, subsisted for a part of the year by public begging. In October 1578, when a Parliamentary Act was passed for repressing vagrants and minstrels, there were included in the number "vagabond scholars of the Universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, who were not licensed to ask alms by the Rector and Dean of Facultie."

When prosecuting his studies for the clerical office, the father of the present writer was, during four sessions subsequent to November 1781, privileged as a foundation-bursar to reside within the walls of St Salvator's College. Entitled to free board and lodging; the foundationers were meanly housed. Two were lodged in one apartment, which, with a low ceiling, measured in length and breadth about nine or ten feet. The means of ventilation were imperfect; and the use of fuel was restricted, since, owing to inartistic construction, the chimneys did not readily discharge the smoke. Each foundationer breakfasted on half an oaten loaf, with half a chopin of mild ale. The evening diet was not more sumptuous. Dinner was served in the Common Hall, an underground apartment with a cob-webbed ceiling and damp earthen floor. On four days of the week dinner consisted of broth, coarse flesh, and oaten cakes. During the remaining days the fare was of fresh or dried fish or poached eggs. No female servants were employed, save a laundress, who was not eligible for office till after the age of fifty. Domestic affairs were regulated by the "provisor" or purveyor and by the "oeconomus" or steward, also by the cook and his assistant. Bursars ceased to be entertained within the walls of the Universities about the close of the eighteenth century.

In the First Book of Discipline, presented to Parliament in 1560, the Reformers set forth the desirableness of "doting" or endowing the Universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen with the revenues of bishoprics and of collegiate churches, and proposed that every Professor of Divinity should receive a salary of £200, and each Professor of Medicine or Law a salary of .£133, 6s. 8d., Scots. Fees they proposed should be dispensed with, except in the matters of matriculation and graduation. At matriculation an earl's son was to pay three marks, also three at graduation, while on these occasions were to be paid by the sons of barons twenty shillings, by "a substantious gentleman's son" one mark, by the son of a. burgess two shillings, and by all others five shillings. These liberal provisions were unhappily impeded through the avarice of the nobility.

In regulating the course of study at the Universities no obstacles were experienced. Hence the Reformers ruled that when a youth had studied grammar three or four years, and logic, rhetoric, and Greek four years more, he might enter the University. But, before admitting to their prelections, masters of colleges required to be satisfied regarding every candidate, that he possessed the needful docility or aptitude, and was skilled in dialectics, mathematics, and physics. At the University three years' study was deemed sufficient for attaining a degree in arts; while, from the time of laureation, five years further study was held essential in order to duly qualify for one of the liberal professions.

At Edinburgh, in 1447, James I. founded, on the south side of the Grassmarket, the Greyfriars Monastery, which at his instance was planted with learned persons from Cologne, who gave instruction in theology and ethics. Prior to its dissolution in 1559 Robert Reid, successively Abbot of Kinloss and Bishop of Orkney, also President of the Court of Session, conceived the idea of instituting in the capital an ecclesiastical corporation devoted to instruction in philosophy and the arts. For this purpose lie, at his death in 1558, was found to have bequeathed to the Magistrates and Council of the city the sum of 8000 marks. But when, in 1580, the civic authorities obtained delivery, the bequest had become diminished by one-half; the balance was also misapplied. by a charter, dated 14th April 1582, James VI. followed up Bishop Reid's intention by founding at Edinburgh a college to bear his own name, and endowed it with the lands, rents, buildings, churches, and chapels belonging to the monasteries of the Black and Grey Friars, and to other religious orders, although the donor was not unaware that these had been otherwise appropriated. With such funds as were actually forthcoming the Town Council employed, as Regent or Professor, Robert Rollock of St Salvator's College, who by his learning cast a lustre upon the foundation. In 1586 Rollock was advanced to the office of Principal, while professorships were conferred upon several persons who had become distinguished in a "disputation" or competition. To each new Chair was attached a salary of one hundred pounds.

With the new University it was arranged as part of the constitution, that "burgesses' bairns" should receive free lodgings, "on thair setting up thair beds, buirdis, and shelflis upon thair awin proper chairgis." Those who had no claim as sons of burgesses were placed in chambers "twa in ilk bed," on a payment of forty shillings each, it being understood that, "gif ane will haif ane bed to himself, he pay four pund for his chalmer mail."

The establishment of a University in the capital crave an important impetus to the higher education. The control of the institution was vested in the Town Council, and it is somewhat remarkable to find that, of the thirty-three members on whom the patronage was devolved, no fewer than thirteen were unable to write their names. But the institution proved speedily effective, so much so that the sons of traders at Edinburgh became associated with offices implying the highest culture. John Preston, son of a baker in the city, became Lord President of the Court of Session, and Adam Newton, also the son of a baker, after serving as a Professor at Edinburgh and on the continent, became tutor to the Prince Henry and a knight. The son of another Edinburgh trader, William Cowper, was appointed Bishop of Galloway, and was known as an eloquent preacher.

The patronage of the University was retained by the Town Council for nearly three centuries. They claimed an administrative authority over the Senate, and the privilege of dispensing with any member of the staff without assigning a reason. These were unsatisfactory relations, nevertheless the University secured from age to age, in its various faculties, teachers of the highest eminence. And while, a century ago, there was attached to the Principalship a salary of little more than one hundred pounds, the office was held by one so eminent as Dr William Robertson. In 1858 the College of Edinburgh was by legislative act placed on the same administrative basis as the other Scottish Universities. And since that period, upwards of £300,000 have been contributed for its general purposes.

On the 25th August 1626, Charles I. issued a royal warrant for erecting and endowing a college in "the chanonrie of Rosse" [Rosemarkie], the bishop of the diocese, Patrick Lindsay, being empowered to collect towards the endowment voluntary contributions. The project failed.

A uniform course of study at the four Universities was in 1647-8 arranged by a Parliamentary Commission. In the educational curriculum at St Andrews, students of the first year were to be instructed in Greek and the elements of Hebrew, and in the fourth and last were to learn "some compered of anatomy." At Edinburgh, anatomy was prescribed for the third session. It was also stipulated that students of the several Universities should subscribe the National Covenant, also the Solemn League and Covenant.

By the Universities Act of 1858, the four Universities are governed by three several bodies—a General Council, a University Court, and the Senate. As its dignified officers each University has a Chancellor, who is chosen by the Council, a Rector chosen by the matriculated students, and the Principal, who is usually chosen as Vice-Chancellor. The Chancellor presides in the Council, the Rector in the University Court, and the Principal in the Senate. By the Universities are returned two members of Parliament, of whom one represents St Andrews and Edinburgh, the other Glasgow and Aberdeen. In connection with each University there are considerable endowments, which care applied in scholarships, fellowships, and bursaries, also in rewards or premiums. Apart from the ordinary degrees common to the several institutions, the University of St Andrews grants to women the degree of LL.A., the standard of attainment being the same as is required for the degree of Master of Arts. Less than half a century ago, University degrees, those in medicine excepted, were bestowed more in token of favour than in recognition of merit. In his "Book of Scotland," Dr William Chambers remarks that he had known of students who procured the degree of M.A. from the University of the capital, merely on asking for the privilege. Degrees in Arts are now only to be obtained after satisfying the requirements of a rigid and searching examination.

Till an advanced period of the eighteenth century, university lectures, and even conversations within the walls of colleges, were expressed in Latin. Professor William Brown, who occupied the Chair of Church History at St Andrews for some years prior to 1791, lectured in that tongue, and oral examinations in medical science were, in the University of Edinburgh, conducted in Latin long subsequently. One result of the practice was a formality of composition which for a course of centuries extended even to the family correspondence. As an example of this severe epistolary mode we are privileged to adduce an unpublished letter addressed by John Forbes of Culloden to his aunt, informing her of the death of her brother and his own father, the Lord President Forbes. Dated at Edinburgh, 10th December, 1747, the letter proceeds thus:-

"My Dr. Aunt,—Mellancholly must be the accounts which this will bring you, no less than the death of your worthy brother and my father, which happened this morning at eight o'clock, after an indisposition of above five weeks. That fatherly care with which he always cherished this poor country, his love of justice, and his general benevolence to mankind are the occasion of that general grieff which prevails for the loss of a life so truely valuable. And how much more those most be aflicted who were more clossely connected to him by tyes of blood, I need not suggest to you, as you must be a fellow sufferer, and will therefore more easily figure the distress of, Your affect. nephew and humble servt,

"JOHN FORBES."

"To the Lady Kindeace, by Parkhill."

The "Lady Kindeace" was simply the widowed Mrs Ross, whose husband was proprietor of Kindeace, but it consisted with the formality of the times that by her nephew as well as by others she should be styled by a territorial appellative. At the same period Dr Joseph Mackenzie of Edinburgh, whose wife was a daughter of Rose of Kilravock, when he informed her father that Mrs Mackenzie had given birth to a son, wrote thus:—"Edinburgh, April 20, 1747. —Dear Sir,—Yesterday your daughter brought you another grandson.—Dr. Sir, your affectionate humble servant."

A ready command of books secures an academy in the chamber, a college at the Hearth. in the monastery of Iona, St Columba and his followers committed to writing the evidences of their faith and the records of their experience; but their MSS. perished in the conflagrations which wrecked the institution, first in the eighth, afterwards in the ninth and eleventh centuries. Of Scottish calligraphy the earliest existing specimen is a Latin copy of St John's Gospel, with portions of the other evangelists, which belonged to the Abbey of Deer; it is of the ninth century. Not improbably it was a copy of the "book of the gospels" that was treasured by Queen Margaret, who had it bound in gold and precious stones, and ornamented with painted figures of the evangelists: also with gilded capitals.

The earliest official writing extant is a charter, preserved in the treasury of Durham, which by Duncan II. was, in 1094-5, granted to the Monks of St Cuthbert. About the year 1152 St Serf's Inch, or the Culdeain monastery of Lochleven, was surrendered by the canons regular to the Priory of St Andrews, and in the register of the latter is presented a list of books or MSS. recovered from the elder institution. These, seventeen in number, are thus enumerated, viz., a Pastoral; a Gradual; a Missal; Origen; the Sentences of the Abbot of Clairvaux (St Bernard); a treatise on the Sacraments; a Lectionary; the Acts of the Apostles; the text of the Gospels; Prosper; the three books of Solomon; Glosses on the Canticles; a Vocabulary; a collection of Sentences; an exposition of Genesis; a treatise on exceptions from ecclesiastical rules; and a book entitled "Pars Bibliotheca."

The earliest Scottish book collector, whose name is on record, is Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith. In his testament, dated 30th September 1390 and 19th September 1392, Sir James bequeaths to James, his son and heir, a copy of the Public Statutes, also certain works in romance, and to his son John of Aberdour, his books in Grammar and on Logic.

A catalogue of the books which, in 1432, were preserved in Glasgow Cathedral includes many volumes of theology, also of the philosophy of the schools, with a few classics.

To the older colleges libraries were not attached. The classics were not taught, and such instructions as were given in the canon law or in logic and philosophy served only to perplex and complicate.Less an ecclesiastic than a man of scholarly tastes, William Scheves, Archbishop of St Andrews from 1478 to 1498, devoted a portion of his revenues to acquiring learned works from the continent, and collected a considerable library. In "Halyburton's Ledger" he appears as having, in 1493, paid 500 crowns of gold for a consignment of books. Besides Halyburton, he had other persons abroad who catered for him in the book market. Two books which belonged to him are preserved in the University Library of Edinburgh; his general collection was bestowed on St Salvator's College.

Scottish physicians and surgeons early cultivated learning. To a physician at Aberdeen was sent from Middleburgh, some time prior to the year 1506, "a kist of buikis," and in July of the preceding year "the surrebanis and barbouris" of Edinburgh consented, in their charter of incorporation, that each one placed upon their roll should "With wryte and read." When in 1544 the Palace of Holyrood was by the English invaders sacked and burned, books accumulated by James V. and his predecessors were destroyed. The loss was repaired by Queen Mary, who, with the aid of Buchanan, founded a royal library. It consisted of about 250 volumes, and these were catalogued under the three divisions of Greek and Latin and the Modern Languages. The Latin department included the more noted classics, also works in theology. In Italian were the works of Petrarch, Boccacio, and Ariosto, and in French the chronicles of Froissart. And when, in 1566, in prospect of her accouchement, she caused to be prepared testamentary inventories of her various effects, she with her own hand made provision that her works in Greek. and Latin should be conveyed to the University of St Andrews, as the commencement of a library, and that the remainder of her library should be bestowed upon Mary Beaton, her friend and attendant. The Earl of Bothwell, so unhappily associated with Queen Mary, cherished a taste for and was fastidious in bookbinding. In March 1578, when the Earl of Morton conveyed to James VI. the royal library then deposited in Edinburgh Castle, the collection was found to embrace only 150 volumes, the others having been plundered.

In 1475, John Laing, Bishop of Glasgow, presented to the Poedagogium of that city a large parchment volume containing the works of Aristotle, also another in paper, consisting of Commentaries or Questions on Aristotle. Subsequent to the Reformation, Andrew Hay, minister at Renfrew, and rector of the University, laid the foundation of a Protestant library by the gift of Castalio's Latin version of the Scriptures. Works chiefly in the Greek classics were added by George Buchanan. To the fund which, in 1639, was being raised for a library-room, Charles I. contributed £200 sterling. The entry in the subscription book is in the king's own hand, and a note is added—"This soume was payed by the Lord Protector, an. 1654."

The nucleus of a library, which became associated two years later with the University of Edinburgh, was in 1580 founded by Clement Little, one of the commissaries of Lothian. The University Library of St Andrews, established by James VI. in 1612, received considerable accessions from the three colleges of which the University is composed.

About the year 1680, Sir George Mackenzie of Roschaugh, the Icing's advocate, proposed to the Faculty of Advocates the founding of a library. At that time, there were heavy arrears of entry-money due by advocates. 'These arrears Mackenzie determined to recover, and devised a plan by which the money was to be spent in acquiring works on law. By the Town Council the scheme was regarded with disfavour; and thus nothing practical was accomplished till January 1682, when Mackenzie was chosen Dean of Faculty. Henceforth he was the life and soul of the library movement. A house for accommodating the books was leased for nineteen years, at a rent of £30. The judges passed an Act under which any advocate failing to pay arrears of entry-money might be extruded from his order; and the treasurer was directed to buy "all the Scottish Practicks, as also the Scottish historians." Mackenzie was specially thanked for his exertions; and one of the last acts of his public life was to deliver an address on the opening of the library.

At his death in 1684 the pious Dr Robert Leighton, latterly Archbishop of Glasgow, bequeathed his library for the use of the clergy of his former diocese of Dunblane. The books are preserved at Dunblane, but the utility of the bequest has not been commensurate with the testator's hopes.

By the Scottish Presbyterian Church no decided effort was made in establishing libraries till the beginning of the eighteenth century. The General Assembly of 1704 approved "a project set on foot by some piously inclined persons in this and the neighbouring nation of England for erecting libraries in the Highlands." They further ordered "a letter of thanks to be written to the Society in England for Propagating Knowledge, and to others who had given assistance." They also empowered "their Commission to apply to the Lords of the Privy Council or Treasury for assistance, in order to bring down the books from England." This movement was actively followed up. Seventy-seven libraries were planted in the Highlands, of which nineteen were Presbyterial and fifty-eight parochial. Further grants of books were received from England in 1706, which were distributed by the General Assembly. The General Assembly of 1709 recommended that a library should be planted at every Presbytery seat. The importance of educating the people by the circulation of books aroused the energies of some of the rural clergy. Among these was Mr Andrew Ure, minister at Muckhart, afterwards of Fossoway. From the kirksession minutes of the parish of Muckhart we obtain the following:-

"At the Manse of Muckhart, December 17, 1708.—The minister proposed an overture, viz., that for encouraging the ministers of this parish, and all other persons in the place piously inclined and desirous to follow learning, there might be a publick library erected in this parish, which he believed severals will be very willing to contribute unto. And that, for encouraging the said good design, the present and every succeeding minister here should, at admission or ordination, contribute the sum of twenty shillings sterling in money or books to the said library ad minimum. And that every heritor who is willing to contribute thereunto, shall at least give in five shillings sterling in money or books. And that the present and every succeeding schoolmaster at his entrie here shall contribute at least ten shillings thereto. And that every other person that inclines to contribute and have priveledge of the said library, shall at the least contribute two shillings and sixpence thereto. And, further, it was overtured that for promoting the same design in time coming, that when the school money falls vaccant, the first year's vaccant rents thereof may be employed for augmenting the library, and all rents belonging to the school that shall be vaccant in time coming (after the said year's vaccancie is imlployed for the use foresaid), shall accresce and redound to the school itself, and be  annexed for the augmentation of the money belonging thereunto."

'Thereafter, in the minute-book, follow twenty-one rules for "the preservation and propagation of the library."

The Parish Library of Muckliar established with such careful formality, was a matter of vigorous intention rather than of actual accomplishment. The founder was in 1717 translated to the parish of Fossoway, and with that event the enterprise collapsed.

For our own times an important question remains to be determined, whether a Scottish national library may be secured. An effort made by the present writer to provide a collection of Scottish books in the library of the British Museum has very partially availed. it had been otherwise, the circumstance would not affect the necessity for forming in the country a similar collection. Nor ought a Scottish national library to exist only for the reception of a native literature. An adequate supply of foreign works should be made available to students both in the north and south. In his autobiography the late Sir Archibald Alison remarks that as there were no public libraries in Scotland containing the works which lie required to consult in preparing his "History of Europe," and he had no leisure to go to London, he was under the necessity of purchasing all the books himself, at a cost of not less than £5000. Had the historian's finances been of a restricted kind, the "History of Europe" had, from lack of a Scottish national library; not been written.

The Advocates' Library is at present open to the general student. But this library, ample as are its stores, ranking in its number of volumes next to those of the Bodleian, is strictly a private institution, and it is within the power of the Faculty to withhold access to its shelves. Such a course would be fatal to the northern student. On the other hand, the Faculty of Advocates, it is understood, are not unwilling that their stores should, under proper provisions, be utilised as the nucleus of a national library. The actual offer of such a nucleus, embracing 270,000 printed books and 3000 MSS., together with a surrender to the national library of the privilege of obtaining a copy of every work published in the kingdom, would go far to render the movement a decided success. What is mainly lacking is a spacious and convenient structure in which the books might be deposited; such a building as would supersede the dingy corridors of the Parliament House, in which so many literary treasures are now most inadequately stored.

The first public library at Glasgow was established in 1791, and now the several libraries of that city possess an aggregate of nearly 300,000 volumes. The Mitchell Library, a private endowment, embraces, with other important treasures, a collection of the various editions of the -works of Robert Burns, and a nearly complete collection of works by the national poets.

The establishment of Free Libraries in the different towns has been retarded through unsatisfactory legislation, for the statutory assessment is made payable by tenants on all subjects alike, whether dwelling-houses or premises for business—a provision which, clearly unjust, has induced a general resistance to the adoption of the Act. When ratepayers are assessed on an equitable principle, such as that prescribed by the Education Act, Free Libraries will probably obtain a footing in every considerable town, and with great benefit to the inhabitants. Meanwhile, the erection of the structure of a Free Library at Dunfermline by a prosperous native of the place, may stimulate other persons of wealth to aid in establishing libraries in their respective localities.

To the enterprise of private associations for editing and printing works of an antiquarian and historical character Scotsmen are especially indebted. At a dinner of the Society of Antiquaries, held in the Mitre Tavern, Fleet Street, London, in 1786, David Stewart, sixth Earl of Buchan, suggested a "Novum Organum Literarium," or general literary alliance, for printing rare and precious MSS. on international history. Besides chartularies and other ancient registers his lordship hoped that the historical treasures of the Vatican would be made available, while he maintained that owners of family MSS. might grant to a public body a privilege of search which they would deny to individuals. The plan devised by Lord Buchan has practically been carried out. By authority of the Lords of the Treasury have been issued the Scottish Acts of Parliament, also the Retours of Special and General Services, and "Facsimiles of the National Manuscripts;" while in advanced progress are the proceedings of the Privy Council, the Exchequer Rolls, the Lord High Treasurer's Accounts, and the Register of the Great Seal, all in the General Register House; also a Calendar of documents relating to Scotland, preserved in the Public Record Office, London. Through the intervention of book clubs the more important MSS. contained in the Advocates' Library and in the keeping of private families have been printed under appropriate editorship. And what was commenced by the Bannatyne, Maitland, Abbotsford, and Spalding Clubs, has by the Grampian Club and the Burgh Record and Hunterian Book Societies been steadily followed up. The Scottish Early Text Society has commenced a promising career by printing suitable works under competent editors. What Lord Cockburn described as a "corporation spirit" will probably sustain to a natural completion the operations of book-printing societies. But the means of securing books for general consultation may only be provided under a Parliamentary Act, and maintained by an adequate endowment.

Any narrative of the rise and progress of Scottish learning would be incomplete which did not allude more than incidentally to the sufferings attendant upon the literary profession. The earlier composers in the vernacular were the bards, and these subsisted by begging. The leading achievements of Wallace are chronicled by the minstrel Henry, who by vocation was a mendicant. George Buchanan, the most learned of all Scotsmen, and tutor of the first sovereign of Great Britain, was provided with means so slenderly that his funeral expenses were of necessity defrayed by the citizens of Edinburgh. On his accession to the English throne, James VI., being invited to aid in his old age John Stow, the famous chronicler, proposed to grant him a license to beg!

No greater indifference to the wants of men of genius and learning prevailed in remote than in recent times. Michael Bruce, the gifted poet, died in his father's cottage, without money, and almost friendless. On the straw-covered floor of an Edinburgh workhouse Robert Fergusson breathed out his spirit. In the delirium of approaching death Robert Burns was haunted by the dread that a merciless draper would fulfil his threat and consign him to a debtor's prison. After following for some years the business of an author, Allan Cunningham was for a time necessitated to stoop to the irksome office of a London paviour. To the use of the awl, after he had abandoned it for forty years, was driven the poet and historian John Struthers, when bordering upon eighty. Struthers resided at Glasgow,—and in that city died, almost from actual want, William Glen, author of the plaintive song, "Wae's me for Prince Charlie;" Thomas Lyle, author of the song, "Kelvin Grove;" and that rarely gifted genius James Macfarlan. Thomas Campbell enjoyed a pension; it was subject to deductions, and the residue, when unaccompanied by the uncertain fruits of literary labour, was sufficient only to sustain a residence in unserved chambers. James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, and that other pastoral poet, Henry Scott Riddell, were both indebted to the liberality of the Duke of Buccleuch for the comforts of a home.

Owing to the greater utility of his labours, an accomplished prose writer has, more reason than the poet, to hope for adequate means of living in recompense of his art. But this reasonable expectation has not been justified. At the age of fifty Dr Tobias Smollett, novelist, historian, and miscellaneous writer, closed in indigence a life of penury. Robert Heron, historian, critic, and essayist, died at forty-three, of fever contracted in a debtors' prison. One of the early editors of the "Encyclopedia Britannica," James Tytler, was while he laboured on that work unable to procure adequate clothing, and, his editorial Iabours completed, was through poverty driven from his country. When Sir David Brewster, after twenty years of diligent labour, completed the "Edinburgh Encyclopedia," he contemplated taking orders in the English Church as a means of support. The learned editor of the "Bibliotheca Britannica," Dr Robert Watt, was, in serving the literary world, compelled to sacrifice his substance. The historian, John Pinkerton, subsisted on a substantial patrimony; when it was all but exhausted, he vainly sought for a moderate provision. Those expert and indefatigable writers, Dr William Thomson, William Playfair, and Robert Mudie were in constant penury; Mudie produced ninety volumes, yet was often in actual want. In editing "The Scottish Nation," William Anderson prematurely exhausted his strength, yet was denied a pension. What the State in his old age denied to James Paterson, the antiquarian writer, was somewhat compensated by private aid, yet neglect and poverty embittered his latter years.

Scottish scientists have not been more successful than their literary compeers. The inventor of stereotyping, William God, sacrificed his means in prosecuting his art. Andrew Meikle, the inventor of the threshing machine, was, in his advanced years, sustained by a. subscription ; Patrick Bell, Inventor of the reaping machine, expatriated himself in quest of a livelihood, though he was more fortunate latterly; and Henry Bell, the inventor of steam navigation, was by an exclusive devotion to his enterprise rendered almost homeless. When in his eightieth year a vigorous effort was put forth to procure a state pension for the astronomer, Dr Thomas Dick, it was found that, for fifty years, he had subsisted on the simple fare of bread and milk. The botanical observer, John Duncan, was for several years a recipient of parochial relief. About four years ago the sister's son of Robert Buries, an octogenarian, was discovered in a Glasgow poorhouse, and means for his rescue were obtained with difficulty.

For those who maintain social order, whether under the mace, or by the sword, there are provided adequate emoluments with proportionate allowances in the case of infirmity or old age. Let us hope that when in the advance of legislative wisdom it is found that the effective application of intellectual gifts necessarily tends to repress crime and advance order, the votaries of literature, art, and science will receive from the public purse, not the dole of a scanty charity, but the ample recompense of a fully appreciated service.

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