ANDREW MASSIE. Andrew Massie, Bajan, Mar. Coll., 1610; burgess, Oct. 25, 1623, was a regent as early as 1619. By his signature as Professor of Logic he is seen to be in charge of the Semi Class, or second year. TO THE MEMORY OF GEORGE, MOST ILLUSTRIOUS EARL MARISCHAL. ARGUMENT. If tears for ever could avail to repair our loss, brought about, great Hero, by your death, the world would cease to shed them for your funeral; but, since you surpass all tears, shall I be silent of mine? High as your rank was, and though you bore the arms of the king, your high-souled mind surpassed that rank, in which a better Pandora than the one of legend had housed, compassed by all the train of the virtues. Your wondrous mind, like Phoebus' bright lamp on high, sent its rays all over the world. Large was your bounty, and rare your eloquence, by which your fame has been carried to realms above. You have risen in greatness beyond the great spirit of many, and Fabius the Cunctator and Scipio in action have fallen before you. To the vanquished you were alone a Julius Cæsar. The bright star in our northern clime, the Cynosure of all, everywhere your country's father. Ever consistent in word and deed, your ancestors' glory, the pinnacle of posterity to come. Who ever shall have said about you all that is surpassingly excellent, shall be compelled to confess that the full circle of his praise is incomplete, for to tell your worth in peace or in war is the work and task of God that knows all. II. Traveller, stay awhile, and read what is on this marble tomb. Shed tears as you read, not to you alone but to all has a heavy cause for tears been given. His house, ennobled by war and the blood of Camus, flourished more than 800 years, his race from the ancient stem of Scottish kings, he himself an earl in the peerage, Keith, one of the greatest of Scotia's children, his race's delight and honour. His halls were resplendent, resting on the glorious triumphs of his ancestors, supported, Croesus, by wealth like your own. But the Hero was not content with this, finding greater pleasure in honour won by himself. He at once reached the highest seat of honour and lent a reflected nobility to all his ancestors alike. Piety, bounty, stainless loyalty, and a comely presence adorned him. Born for the world not for himself, he amply provided for his foundation. From it the courts draw lawyers, the Church faithful pastors, the bench its senators. From it France, Germany, Spain, Italy seek their teachers. But now the Muses weep sadly by his grave, with their locks dishevelled, scattering violets and the last tribute of frankincense with their lamentations. High sprung Earl, no age shall destroy your renown, though the envious earth may shroud you. Your rest is won in Heaven, you join the heavenly councils, and enjoy the Highest Good. We, however, meanwhile shall swell high your praise; the reason of so great a man knows not death. 5 ΙΟ 15 20 MEMORIAE GEORGII, MARISCHALLI COMITIS ILLUSTRISSIMI. [Lachrymae Academiae Marischallanae, 1623. Raban.] I. Si damna aeternae lachrymae reparare valerent, Mens miranda velut lampas Phoebaea relucens Larga manus sacrique oris facundia rara, Făbius ante morâ, susceptis Scipio rebus: Et vultu et gestis constans tibi semper, avorum Eximium de te qui dixerit omne, fateri Cogetur sphaeram laudis abesse tamen. Qualis enim et quantus fueras belloque togaque 17. Helice, Cynosura. The Constellations of the Bears (Ovid, F. iii. 107). 24. Cuntiscii. Apparently coinage. II. Siste viator iter paulisper, quaeque sepulchro Funde legens lachrymas, lachrymarum non tibi solum Sed cunctis, eheu, non data causa levis. Bello et caede Cami cui plus quam floruit annis Cui genus a prisco Scotorum stemmate regum, Scotia, deliciae gentis honosque suae. Ornabant pietas, animus quoque largus, ab omni Hinc fora causidicos, habet hinc ecclesia fidos Nec non qui liquidas Tibridis haurit aquas. PP Nos tamen interea laudes super astra feremus, Est mortis tanti nescia fama viri. Posuit Andreas Masseus Abredonensis Academia Marischallana. 5. Cami. The family legend of Camus. Buchanan, vi. 50. Longmuir 7. The connection of the Keiths with the royal line seems mythical or general. (Dunnottar Castle, p. 9) refers to John, eldest son of Sir William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, married to a sister of King Robert III. See William Wedderburn's Apotheosis, 74. 19. Lucan's great line on Cato (Pharsal. ii. 383):— "Nec sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo." 23. The boast, in consideration of the continental repute of men like Gilbert Jack, Walter Donaldson, Arthur Johnston, and doubtless others chronicled in Dempster's Historia Ecclesiastica, is not incredible. John Seton, in the dedication of the 1634 theses to William, eldest son of the Earl Marischal (afterwards seventh earl), grandiloquently appeals to Europe: "Olim Graeciae oculus Athenae, Scotiae hodie nostra benignitate Aberdonia: nusquam enim ingeniorum felicior proventus, doctrinae uberior seges, eruditissimos Mareschallanae Academiae filios, vivos, mortuorumque manes, illustria Europae lumina testamur.” WILLIAM MESTON. The authoritative account of the life of Meston, the Jacobite Hudibrastic poet, is almost entirely derived from the narrative prefixed to the edition of his works (6th edition, Edinb. 1767), published by Walter Ruddiman, junior. The political and religious connection of the publisher with the poet may be relied on for the accuracy of the sketch there given. Meston was born "about the year 1688," son of the blacksmith at Midmar, in Aberdeenshire. The year cannot be taken literally, for he was a bajan at Marischal College in 1694 (Fasti Mar. Coll. ii. 270), in which year he is found on the Register of the Grammar School, as paying 14 p., along with a William Leask for same sum, "on their going to the Colledge". He was Rolland Bursar, M.A. in 1698, and was elected on Feb. 12, 1701, a master in the Grammar School of Aberdeen. There "the family of Marshal, being informed of his qualifications, took him under their wing, and made choice of him as preceptor or Governor to the present Earl, and his brother the late Marshal Keith". This may have been at the Grammar School, where the ninth and last Earl Marischal and his brother were educated, being schoolfellows of Alexander Cruden of the "Concordance" ("Life of Cruden," by Alex. Chalmers, Biographia Britannica, iv. 619, 2nd ed. London, 1789), or after Meston's demission of office at the school on May 27, 1713, when he acted as private tutor to the elder brother (M.A. 1712), and to the younger during 1714-15. On Nov. 30, 1715, he was elected to a Regency in Marischal College, by the interest of the Countess Marischal. He delivered a public oration and a specimen in the Greek tongue, but apparently he never taught (Fasti Mar. Coll. ii. 40), owing to the political troubles of the time. "Most unluckily for him, he thought proper to follow the fortunes of his noble patrons, who made him Governor of Dunotter-castle." By the Royal Commission appointed to visit Marischal College (Report, Dec. 21, 1716) the three Jacobite Regents, George Peacock, Alexander Moir, William Smith, were deposed and with them fell Meston, who, it was proved, had assisted the rebels with a drawn sword in his hand to proclaim the Pretender at the Cross of Aberdeen, impugning the claim of the reigning house, and joining with his three colleagues in delivering an address to the Pretender, as King James, at Fetteresso. He lurked in the hills after the battle of Sheriffmuir, till the publication of the Act of Indemnity. "While the late Countess of Marshal was alive, he resided mostly in her family, where he indulged his vein of pleasantry, to the entertainment of the company, who paid their respect to her Ladyship: but upon her death he was left in a destitute situation. How he disposed of himself immediately after, we have not with certainty learnt; but some years afterwards he commenced an academy at Elgin." There he taught the sons of the Jacobite gentry of the district. "But economy was none of his talent. His friend, his bottle, and his book, were his sole enjoyments." From Elgin he removed to Turriff, thence to Montrose and Perth, being “received into the family of Mr. Oliphant of Gask, in quality of preceptor to his children. Here he continued |