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SCRIMGER, HENRY, a learned
person of the sixteenth century, was the son of Walter Scrimger of Glasswell,
who traced his descent from the Scrimgers or Scrimgeours of Dudhope,
constables of Dundee, and hereditary standard-bearers of Scotland. The
subject of this memoir was born at Dundee in 1506, and received the
rudiments of his education in the grammar school of that town, where he made
singular proficiency both in the Latin and Greek languages. He afterwards
went through a course of philosophy in the university of St Andrews with
great applause. From thence he proceeded to Paris to study civil law. He
next removed to Bourges, where he studied for some time under Baro and
Duaren, who were considered the two greatest lawyers of the age in which
they lived. Here he formed an acquaintance with the celebrated Amiot, who at
that time filled the Greek chair at Bourges, and through his recommendation
was appointed tutor to the children of secretary Boucherel. In this
situation, which he filled to the entire satisfaction of his employers,
Scrimger became acquainted with Bernard Boenetel, bishop of Rennes, who, on
being appointed ambassador from the court of France to some of the states of
Italy, made choice of him for his private secretary. With this dignitary he
travelled through the greater part of that interesting country, and was
introduced to a great many of its most eminent and learned men. While on a
visit to Padua, he had an opportunity of seeing the notorious apostate
Francis Spira, of whose extraordinary case he wrote a narrative, which was
published along with an account of the same case by Petrus Paulus Virgerus,
Mattheus Gribaldus, and Sigismundus Gelous, under the following title "The
history of Franciscus Spira, who fell into a dreadful state of despair
because, having once assumed a profession of evangelical truth, he had
afterwards recanted and condemned the same, most faithfully written by four
most excellent men, together with prefaces by these illustrious men Caelius
S.C. and John Calvin, and an apology by Petrus Paulus Virgerus, in all
which, many subjects worthy of examination in these times are most gravely
handled. To which is added the judgment of Martinus Borrhaus on the
improvement which may be made of Spira’s example and doctrine, 2 Pet. 2. It
had been better for them not to have known the way of life," &c. The book is
written in Latin, but has neither the name of printer, nor the place, or
date of printing. It was, however, probably printed at Basil in the year
1550 or 1551. Deeply affected with the case of Spira, Scrimger determined to
sacrifice all the prospects, great as they were, which his present situation
held out to him, and to retire into Switzerland, where he could profess the
reformed religion without danger. It appears that he shortly after this
entertained the idea of returning to Scotland; but, on his arrival in
Geneva, he was invited by the syndics and magistrates of the city to set up
a profession of philosophy for the instruction of youth, for which they made
a suitable provision. Here he continued to teach philosophy for some time. A
fire, however, happening in the city, his house was burnt to the ground with
all that was in it, and he was in consequence reduced to great straits,
though his two noble pupils, the Bucherels, no sooner heard of his
misfortune than they sent him a considerable supply of money. It was
at this time that Ulrich Fugger, a gentleman possessed of a princely
fortune, and distinguished alike for his learning and for his virtues,
invited him to come and live with him at Augsburg till his affairs could be
put in order. This generous invitation Scrimger accepted, and he lived with
his benefactor at Augsburg for a number of years, during which he employed
himself chiefly in collecting books and manuscripts, many of them
exceedingly curious and valuable. Under the patronage of this amiable person
he ap pears also to have composed several of his treatises, which he
returned to Geneva to have printed. On his arrival, the magistrates of that
City importuned him to resume his class for teaching philosophy. With this
request he complied, and continued again in Geneva for two years, 1563 and
1564. In the year 1565, he opened a school for teaching civil law, of which
he had the honour of being the first professor and founder in Geneva. This
class he continued to teach until his death. In the year 1572, Alexander
Young, his nephew, was sent to him to Geneva, with letters from the regent
Marr, and George Buchanan, with the latter of whom he had been long in terms
of intimacy; requesting him to return to his native country, and promising
him every encouragement.
Buchanan had before
repeatedly written to him, pressing his return to his native country, in a
manner that sufficiently evinced the high esteem he entertained for him. The
venerable old scholar, however, could not be prevailed on to leave the
peaceful retreat of Geneva, for the stormy scenes which were now exhibiting
in his native country; pleading, as an apology, his years and growing
infirmities. The letters of Buchanan, however, were the means of awakening
the ardour of Andrew Melville, (who was at that time in Geneva, and in the
habit of visiting Scrimger, whose sister was married to Melville’s elder
brother,) and turning his attention to the state of learning in Scotland, of
which, previously to this period, he does not seem to have taken any notice.
Though his life had not
passed without some vicissitudes, the latter days of Scrimger appear to have
been sufficiently easy as to circumstances. Besides the house which he
possessed in the city, he had also a neat villa, which he called the Violet,
about a league from the town. At this latter place he spent the most of his
time, in his latter years, in the company of his wife and an only daughter.
The period of his death seems to be somewhat uncertain. Thuanus says he died
at Geneva in the year 1571; but an edition of his novels in the Advocates’
library, with an inscription to his friend, Edward Herrison, dated 1572, is
sufficient evidence that this is a mistake. George Buchanan, however, in a
letter to Christopher Plaintain, dated at Stirling in the month of November,
1573, speaks of him as certainly dead; so that his death must have happened
either in the end of 1572, or the beginning of 1573.
The only work which Scrimger
appears to have published, besides the account of Spira, which we have
already noticed, was an edition of the Novellae Constitutiones of
Justinian, in Greek; a work which was highly prized by the first lawyers of
the time. He also enriched the editions of several of the classics,
published by Henry Stephens, with various readings and remarks. From his
preface to the Greek text of the Novellae, it is evident that Scriniger
intended to publish a Latin translation of that work, accompanied with
annotations; but, from some unknown cause, that design was never
accomplished. Mackenzie informs us, that, though he came with the highest
recommendations from Ulrich Fugger to Stephens, who was, like Scrimger, one
of Fugger’s pensioners, yet, from an apprehension on the part of Stephens,
that Scrimger intended to commence printer himself, there arose such a
difference between them, that the republic of letters was deprived of
Scrimger’s notes upon Athenaeus, Strabo, Diogenes Laertius, the Basilics,
Phornuthus, and Paloephatus; all of which he designed that Stephens should
have printed for him. The most of these, according to Stephens, after
Scrimger’s death, fell into the hands of Isaac Casaubon, who published many
of them as his own. Casaubon, it would appear, obtained the use of his notes
on Strabo, and applied for those on Polybius, when he published his editions
of these writers. In his letters to Peter Young, who was Scrimger’s nephew,
and through whom he appears to have obtained the use of these papers, he
speaks in high terms of their great merit; but he has not been candid enough
in his printed works, to own the extent of his obligations. Buchanan, in a
letter to Christopher Plaintain, informs him, that Scrimger had left notes
and observations upon Demosthenes, Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History, and
many other Greek authors; as likewise upon the philosophical works of
Cicero: all which, he informs his correspondent, were in the hands of
Scrimger’s nephew, the learned Mr Peter Young; and being well worth the
printing, should be sent him, if he would undertake the publication.
Plaintain seems to have declined the offer; so that the Novellae and the
Account of Spira, are all that remain of the learned labours of Scrimger, of
whom it has been said, that no man of his age had a more acute knowledge,
not only of the Latin and Greek, but also of the Oriental languages. His
library, which was one of the most valuable in Europe, he left by testament
to his nephew, Peter Young, who was Buchanan’s assistant in the education of
James VI., and it was brought over to Scotland by the testator’s brother,
Alexander Scrimger, in the year 1573. Besides many valuable books, this
library contained MSS. of great value; but Young was not a very enthusiastic
scholar; and as he was more intent upon advancing his personal interests in
the world, and aggrandizing his family, than forwarding the progress of
knowledge, they probably came to but small account.
The testimonies of Scrimger’s
worth and merits, by his contemporaries, are numerous. Thuanus, Casaubon,
and Stephens, with many others, mention his name with the highest encomiums.
Dempster says he was a man indefatigable in his reading, of a most exquisite
judgment, and without the smallest particle of vain-glory. And the great
Cujanus was accustomed to say, that he never parted from the company of
Henry Scrimger, without having learned something that he never knew before.
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