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 BOECE, HECTOR, whose name
was otherwise spelled Boyis, Boyes, Boiss, and Boice, an eminent, though
credulous, historian, was born about the year 1465-6, at Dundee, and hence
he assumed the surname of Deidonanus. His family were possessed of the
estate of Panbride, or Balbride, in the county of Angus, which had been
acquired by his grandfather, Hugh Boece, along with the heiress in
marriage, in consequence of his services to David II., at the battle of
Dupplin. The rudiments of his education he received in his native town,
which at that time, and for a long time after, was celebrated for its
schools: he afterwards studied at Aberdeen, and finally at Paris, where,
in 1497, he became a professor of philosophy in the college of Montacute.
Of a number of the years of his life about this period, there is evidently
nothing to be told. The garrulous and sometimes fabling Dr Mackenzie has
filled up this part of his life with an account of his fellow-students at
Paris, all of whose names, with one exception, have sunk into oblivion.
That exception is the venerated name of Erasmus, who, as a mark of
affection for Boece, dedicated to him a catalogue of his works, and
maintained with him in after life as regular a correspondence as the
imperfect communication of those times would permit. In the year 1500,
Bishop Elphinstone, who had just founded the College of Aberdeen, invited
Boece home to be the principal. The learned professor, reluctant to quit
the learned society he enjoyed at Paris, was only persuaded to accept this
invitation, as he informs us himself, "by means of gifts and
promises; "the principal inducement must of course have been the
salary, which amounted to forty merks a-year—equal to two pounds three
shillings and fourpence sterling—a sum, however, which Dr Johnson
remarks, was then probably equal, not only to the needs, but to the rank
of the President of King’s College.
On his arrival at Aberdeen
be found, among the Chanon Regulars, a great many learned men, and became
a member of their order. From this order, indeed, the professors seem to
have been selected. As colleague in his new office, Hector Boece
associated with himself Mr William Hay, a gentleman of the shire of Angus,
who had studied along with him under the same masters both at Dundee and
Paris. Alexander Hay, a Chanon of Aberdeen, was the first teacher of
scholastic theology in that university. David Guthry and James Ogilvy are
mentioned as professors of civil and canon law; but whether they were
contemporary teachers or succeeded each other in the same chair, is not
quite clear. Henry Spital was the first who taught philosophy at Aberdeen,
and for this purpose he wrote An Easy Introduction to the philosophy of
Aristotle. Another of the learned professors was Alexander Galloway,
rector of Kinkell, who was author of a treatise on the AEbudae or Western
Isles, with an account of the Clag or Claik Geese, and
the trees upon which they were found to grow; a work no longer to be
found, but the best parts of which are probably embodied in Boece’s
history of Scotland. Arthur Boece, brother to the principal, was also one
of his assistants. He was a tutor of the canon law, and a licentiate in
the civil; a man of great eloquence and singular erudition. Besides these,
Boece has commemorated several others, who were his assistants, and
reflected lustre upon the dawn of learning in the north. Some of them
were, according to the learned principal’s account, men of high
eminence, whose influence was great in the days in which they lived, and
whose example extended even to after ages. He particularly refers to John
Adam, who was the first to receive the degree of Doctor of theology in the
University; after which he was made principal of the Dominican order,
which, from the vicious lives, the poverty, and the ignorance of its
members, had sunk into great contempt, but which he raised into high
respectability, both for piety and learning. On the death of his patron
Bishop Elphinstone, in 1514, Boece, out of gratitude for his friendship,
and respect for his great learning and exemplary virtue, resolved to give
to the world an account of his life, in composing which he was so struck
with the exemplary conduct of others who had filled that see, that he
determined to write the history of the lives of the whole of the bishops
of Aberdeen. This laborious undertaking he completed in Latin, after the
custom of the age, and gave to the world in the year 1522. It was printed
at Paris by Badius Ascensius.
His next, and by far his
greatest work, was a history of Scotland, from the earliest accounts. To
this work he was probably stimulated by the example of John Mair or
Major, a tutor of the Sorbonne, and principal of the college of St
Salvadore at St Andrews, whose history of Scotland, in six books, was
published at Paris in the year 1521. The Scotichronicon bad been
originally written by John Fordun a canon of Aberdeen and continued by
Walter Bower or Bowmaker to the death of James I., nearly a century
previous to this, as had also the metrical Chronykil of Scotland by
Andrew Winton prior of Lochleven, but all of them written in a style
beneath the dignity of history, and disguised by the most contemptible
fables. Mair was more studious of truth, but his narrative is meagre and
his style loose and disjointed. Boece was a man of high talent, and one of
the best Latin scholars which his country has at any period produced; but
he was credulous in a high degree, and most unquestionably has given his
authority, such as it was, to many fables, if he did not himself
absolutely invent them; and he has rested the truth of his facts upon
authors that never existed except in his own imagination. Of the "Inglis
lyis," which Buchanan complains had cost him so much trouble to purge
out of the "story of Scotland," perhaps he had not preserved the
greatest number, but be certainly had more of the "Scottis vanitie"
than even that great man was willing to part with. In imitation of some
other historians he has introduced his history with the cosmography of the
country, in which he has been followed by Buchanan. Some passages we have
selected from this part of the work, illustrative of his taste for, and
his knowledge of, natural history. The extracts are taken from the
translation of John Bellenden archdeacon of Murray, which was made for the
benefit of King James V., who, from a defective education, was unable to
read the original. That they may afford the reader a genuine specimen of
our ancient Scottish prose, we have given these few extracts in their
original orthography. The first is the result of the inquiries of Hector
Boece into the claicks or claggeese that were supposed to grow upon trees.
"Sum men belevis that
thir claiks grows on treis by the nobbis, bot thair opinion is vane. And
because the nature and procreation of thir claikis is strange, we have
maid na little laubore and diligence to serch the truth and veritie
thairof. We have sailit throw the seis quhare they ar brede, and find by
grit experience that the nature of the seis is maire relevant cause of
their procreation than ony other thyng; for all treis that are cussen in
the seis be process of tyme apperis first worme etin, and in the small
hollis and boris thairof growls small wormis. First they schaw thair heid
and feit, and last of all they schaw thair plumis and wingis. Finally,
quhen they are cumin to the just measure and quantitie of geis, they fie
in the aire as othir fowlis. Thairfore because the rude and ignorant
pepyll saw oftymes the fruitis that fell off the treis quhilk stude nair
the see, convertit within short tyme in geis, they belevit that thir geis
grew upon the treis hingand be thair nobbis, sic like as apillis and uthir
fruitis, bot thair opinion is nocht to be sustainit." This absurd
nonsense is by the vulgar in some places believed to this day. The
Barnacle has somewhat the appearance of a fowl in miniature inclosed in a
shell, and this they suppose to be the young of the claik-goose. The
following will not appear less wonderful to the greater part of readers
than the procreation of the claiks. "The wolffis ar richt noysum to
the tame bestial in all pairts of Scotland, except ane pairt thairof,
named Glenmore; in quhilk the tame bestial gets lytill damage of wyld
bestial, especially of toddis. For ilk hous nurises ane young todd certane
days, and mengis the fleshe thairof after it be slane, with sic meit as
they gif to thair fowlis or uthir small beistis, and sae mony as eits of
this meit ar preservit twa months after fra ony damage be the toddis, for
toddis will gust na fleshe that gusts of thair ain kynd; and be thair bot
ane beist or fowl that has nocht gustit of this meit the todd will chais
it out amang ane thousand."
Could the following art be
re-discovered it would be a great saving in the article barley, and would
besides render the malt duty of non-effect. "In all the desertis and
muires of this realme growis an herbe namit hadder, bot (without) ony seid,
richt nutritive baith to beistis and fowlis, speciallie to beis. This
herbe in the month of Julie has ane floure of purpure hew, als sweet as
honey. They Pychts maid of this herbe sum tyme ane richt delicious and
halsume drynk, nochtheless the manier of the making of it is perist be the
extermination of the said Pychtis, for they schwa nevir the craft of the
making of this drink bot to thair awn blude."
The following particular
description of gum found among the isles, probably ambergrese, is
singularly characteristic of the author. "Amang the cragges of the
islis growls ane maneir of goum, bewit like gold, and sa attractive of
nature that it drawis strae, flax, or hemmis of claithis, to it, in the
samin maneir as does ane adamant stane. This goum is generat of see froth
quhilk is cussin up be the continual repercussion of the wavis againis the
see wallis, and throw ithand motion of the see it growis als teuch as glew,
ay mair and mair, quhill at last it falls down of the crag in the see. Twa
yeir afore the cumin of this beuk to light, arriwit ane grit lump of this
goum in Buchquhane, ala meikle as ane hors, and was brocht hame by the
herdis, quhilkis war kepand thair beistis to thair housis and cussen in
the fire, and because they fand ane smell and odour thairwith, they schaw
to thair maister, that it was ganand for the sens (insense) that is maid
in the kirks. Thair maister was ane rude man, as they war, and tuke bot
ane lytill pairt thairof. The maist pairt was destroyit afore it cum to
ony wyse maneiris, and sa the proverb was verifyit, ‘The soil curis na
balme.’"
Of the miraculous the two
following are tolerable specimens. "In Orkney is ane grit fische,
mair than onie hors, of marvelous and incredible sleip. This fische, whan
she begins to sleip, fesuis hir teith fast on ane crag abave the water.
Als soon as the marineris fynis hir on sleip, they come with ane stark
cabill in ane boat, and efter they have borit ane hole threw hir tail,
they fesne hir to the samyn. Als soon as this fische is awalknit, she maks
her to loup with grit fure into the see, and fra she fynd hirseff fast she
wrythis hir out of hir awn skin and deis. Of the fatness that echo hes is
maid oulie in grit quantitie, and of hir skin is maid strang cabills."
"In Murrayland, in the
kirke of Pette, the bains of lytill John remains in grit admiration of the
pepill. He has been fourteen feit of hight, with square members effeiring
thairto. Sax yeirs afore the cumin of this werk to light, we saw his hansh
bain als meikle as the haill bain of ane man, for we shut our arm in the
mouth thairof, by quhilk appeirs how strang and square pepill grew in our
region afore they war effeminat with lust and intemperance of mouth."
Spare diet seems to have been, in the estimation of our author, the all in
all of human excellence, whether mentally or corporeally, and its disuse
has certainly never been more eloquently bewailed than in the following
paragraph:—"I belief nane hes now sic eloquence nor fouth (plenty)
of language that can sufficiently declare how far we in thir present dayis
ar different fra the virtew and temperance of our eldaris. For quhare our
eldaris had sobreatie, we have ebreitie and drunkness; quhare they had
plenty withsufficence, we have immoderate desiris with superfluities; as
he war maist nobly and honest that could devore and swelly maist; throw
quhilk we engorge and fillis ourself day and nycht as full of meitis and
drinkis, that we can nocht abstane quhill our wambe be sa swon, that it is
unable to ony virtuwous occupation, and nocht allanerly may sufect denners
and sowper suffice, bot also we must continue our shameful vorasitie with
dubell denners and sowpars, thro wuhild mony of us gangis to na uthir
bisines bot to fill and tume our wambe. Na fische in the see, nor fowle in
the aire, nor beist in the wood, may haif rest, bot ar socht here and
thair to satisfy the hungrey appetites of gluttonis. Nocht allanerly are
wynis socht in France, bot in Spayne, Italy, Greece, and sumtyme baith
Aphrick and Asya ar socht for new delicious meitis and wynis to the samyn
effect. The young pepill and bairnis follow their unhappie customes of
their faderis, and gives themselves to lust and insolence, havind all
vertewous craftis in contemption, and sa whan tyme of weir occuris, they
are sa effeminate and soft, that they pass on hors as heavie martis, and
are sae fat and grown that they may do na thing in compare of the
soverance manheid of their antecessors. Als sun as they ar returnit hame
because their guddis ar not sufficient to nuris them in voluptuous life
and pleasure of thair wambe, they are given to all maneir of avarice, and
outhir castis them to be strang and maisterful theves, or else sawers of
dissention amang the nobyllis."
Perhaps, after all, the
last paragraph of Boece’s Cosmography of Scotland might have been
sufficient to attest his character: "Thus it were needful to put an
end to our Cosmographie, were not an uncouth history tarryis a litill my
pen. Mr Jame Ogilby, with uther nobylmen, wes send as ambassatouris frae
the masit nobill prince king James the feird to the kyng of France, and be
tempest of see they war constrainit to land in Norway, quhare they saw
nocht far fra thaim mony wild men nakit and ruch, on the sam maner as they
war painted. At last they got advertising by landwart pepill that they war
doum beestis under the figure or men, quha in tyme of nicht usit to come
in grit companies to landwart villages, and quhan they fand na doggis they
brek up doris, and slays all the pepill that they fynd thair intill. They
are of sa huge strenth that they pull up treis by the rutis and fechts
thairwith amang thaimself. The ambassatrouis war astonist at their
monstouris, and made strick watches with grit fyres birnand all nicht, and
on the morrow they pullit up sails and depiartit. Forther the Norway men
schow that there wes also nocht far fra thaim an pepill that swomit all
the symer, like fische in the see, leifand on fishe, bot in the winter,
because the water is cauld, they leif upon wild beistis that descendis fra
the mountainis, and sa endis here the Cosmography of Scotland." Such
are specimens of what passed for veritable history in Scotland scarcely
three centuries ago, and such was the weakness of a man who was certainly
in his own day, even by foreigners, reckoned an ornament to his country.
The truth is, knowledge in those days was most deplorably limited by the
difficulty of traveling, and the paucity of books. A geographical writer
sat in his study, ignorant personally of every thing except what was
immediately around him, and liable to be imposed upon by the stories of
credulous or lying travellers, which he had no means of correcting or
disproving. The philosophical writer was equally liable to be imposed upon
by false and superstitious systems, which the age produced in great
abundance.
Boece’s history
was published at Paris in 1526, in a folio volume, under the title of
"Scotorum Historiae, a prima gentis origine, cum aliarum et rerum et
gentium illustratione non vulgari." This edition, which was printed
by Badius, contains seventeen books. A second was printed at Laussane, and
published at Paris in 1574, about forty years after the death of Boece. In
this, were added the eighteenth and part of a nineteenth book, written by
himself; and a continuation of the history to the end of the reign of
James III., by Ferrarius, a learned Piedmontese, who came to Scotland in
1528, in the train of Robert Reid, Abbot of Kinloss, and afterwards Bishop
of Orkney.
Soon after the publication
of his history, (1527,) James V. bestowed upon Boece a pension of £50
Scots yearly, which was to be paid by the sheriff of Aberdeen out of the
king’s casualties. Two years afterwards, a new precept was issued,
directing this pension to be paid by the customers of Aberdeen, until the
king should promote him to a benefice of 100 merks Scots of yearly value.
By a subsequent regulation, the pension was partly paid by the king’s
comptroller, and partly by the treasurer.
As the payment appears for
the last time in the treasurer’s books for 1534, it is probable that
about that time the king carried into effect his intention of exchanging
the pension for a benefice. The benefice so given was the Rectory of Fyvie
in Aberdeenshire, which he held at his death in 1536, as appears
from the record of the presentation of his successor. According to Gordon
of Straloch, the death of the reverend historian happened at Aberdeen; he
was then about seventy years of age.
In estimating the character
of Hector Boece, many circumstances must be taken into account. It is
certainly impossible to read his history without feeling contempt for his
understanding as well as for his veracity; yet when we consider the night
of ignorance, imbecility, and error, in which he lived, contempt gives
place to strong compassion, and we feel disposed to apologize for, rather
than to blame him. Lord Hailes has bitterly remarked that the Scots were
reformed from popery, but not from Boece, and Pinkerton inveighs against
him, as "the most egregious historical impostor that ever appeared in
any country!" It is enough, however, for the vindication of this
elegant writer, that he fulfilled all the duties that could be demanded
from a historian in his own time, and could not be expected, to use a more
just expression of Dalrymple, to be a philosopher before philosophy
revived. That he was incapable of designed imposture, appears
incontestibly proved by the testimonies of his contemporaries; Erasmus, in
particular, styling him a man who "knew not what it was to make a
lie."
The highest honours have
been bestowed upon the learning and genius of Boece. The same
distinguished friend says, that he was a man of an extraordinary and happy
genius, and possessed of great eloquence. Ferrarius, who continued his
history, styles him a man of singular learning and erudition, and one who
had transmitted to posterity, in a most decent style, the noble and heroic
achievements of our kings and predecessors, and he believes that there is
no man on the like subject could have done it more significantly, or to
better purpose. Paul Jovius, in his description of Britain, says, that
Boece wrote the history of the Scots kings down to James III. "with
equal eloquence and diligence." Of his description of
Scotland, the very subject upon which we have animadverted, he says
that he made it his business, being led on by curiosity and the love of
his country, to leave nothing unobserved that was praiseworthy, either in
our deserts or mountains, or in our lakes and seas. Joannes Gualterius
says, that he was exquisitely versed in all the parts of philosophy and
theology, and a most eminent historian. Bishop Lesly affirms that his
style has the purity of Caesar’s, and that for the nervousness of his
words and reasonings, he seems to have transferred to himself that of Livy.
Bishop Spotswood says, that he was a great philosopher, and much commended
by Erasmus for his eloquence, and though he has been by some English
writers traduced for a fabulous and partial historian, they who take the
trouble to peruse his history will perceive this to be spoken out of
passion and malice, not from any just cause. Even Buchanan, though he
charges him with having, in his description of Scotland, delivered some
things not true, and with having drawn others into mistakes, as well as
with being over credulous of those to whom he committed the inquiry after
many of his matters, and in consequence published their opinions in
preference to the truth, admits that he was not only notably learned in
the liberal sciences above the condition of those times, but also of an
exceeding courteous and humane inclination." Bartholomew Latomas, a
well known annotator on Cicero, Terence, and Horace, honoured his memory
in a very beautiful epitaph.
To the merely English
scholar, the following imitation will give some faint idea of this
epitaph.
That in this tomb the
never-fading light
Streams bright from blazing
torches unconsumed.
Art thou amazed, and would’st
thou read aright?
Hector Boethius, know, lies
bate inhumed.
He who his country’s hilis
and vales illumed
With all the lustre of the
Latian lore,
Chasing the shades of
darkness deep, fore-doomn’d,
Beyond the freezing pole and
Thule’s shore.
For this adorn’d, graceful
in Roman dress,
Deserved thanks the Scotian
Muses pay
To him who gave them
life-decreeing thus
Upon his tomb unfading light
shall play,
From torches burning bright,
that ne’er shall know decay.
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