a king is the father of his people for good, not for evil, -that this was the original intention in the choice of Scottish kings,-that the crown is not necessarily hereditary, and that its transmission by natural descent but for its certainty is not defensible,-that a violation of the laws by the monarch may be punished even to death according to the enormity of it,-that when St. Paul talks of obedience to authorities he spoke to a low condition of persons and to a minority in the various countries in which they were,—that it is not necessary that a king should be tried by his peers. He concludes by saying, "that if in other countries the people chose to exalt their kings above the laws, it seems to have been the evident intention of Scotland to make her kings inferior to them." In matters of religion he rails against episcopal authority of all kinds. Now nothing can be more opposed than all this to the opinions of James, who most strongly upheld the divine right of kings, and episcopal authority. Buchanan, when he was accused of making James a pedant, declared it to be "because he was fit for nothing else.' He was a stern and unyielding master, and no sparer of the rod, even though applied to the back of royalty; and this may in some measure account for the want of influence which he had over the king's mind. James advises his son, in his Baoiλikov Appov, not to attend to the abominable scandals of such men as Buchanan and Knox, "who are persons of seditious spirit, and all who hold their opinions.'

It might have been well, however, for the unfortunate Charles if he had been rather more swayed by the opinions of the tutor, and less by the lessons of the pupil. In the early part of Buchanan's tutorship he attached himself strongly to the interests of the Regent, Murray; and as the patron fell off from the interests of Mary, so did the historian, till at last he became the bitterest of her enemies. He alone has ventured to assert in print his belief of her criminal connexion with David Rizzio, in his 'Detectio Mariæ Reginæ,' published in 1571; and he was her great accuser at the court of Elizabeth,

when appointed one of the commissioners to inquire into Mary's conduct, she being a prisoner in England. Buchanan too lies under the serious charge of having forged the controverted letters, supposed to have passed between Mary and her third husband Bothwell, while she was yet the wife of Earl Darnley, from which documents it was made to appear that she was art and part in the murder of her royal consort. Whether he really forged these letters or not, is a question perhaps too deeply buried in the dust of antiquity to admit of proof. He offered to swear to their genuineness, however, which was an ill return, if that were all his fault, to the kindness he had received from her. His friendship for Murray continued firm all his life; this man was one of the few persons he seems to have been really attached to. Through the Earl's interest, Buchanan, in 1570, had the place of Director of the Chancery for his services conferred upon him, and soon afterwards those of Lord Privy Seal and Lord of Session. The office of keeper of the Scottish seals was a highly honourable and lucrative office, and entitled its holder to a seat in parliament. He retained it till at least 1578, when he nominally resigned it in favour of his nephew, Thomas Buchanan, of Ïbbert. In the same year, 1578, he was joined in several parliamentary commissions, legal and ecclesiastical; and particularly in a commission issued to visit and reform the universities and colleges of the kingdom. The scheme of reformation suggested, and afterwards approved of by parliament, was drawn up by him. The same year also he brought forth his celebrated treatise De Jure Regni apud Scotos.' Nothing is told us of his abilities as a practical politician, but it may be supposed that he was fitted for the office he held, for Murray was very careful in the choice of his public servants.

Buchanan's last work, on which he spent the remaining fourteen years of his life, is yet to be spoken of,his History of Scotland.' In this, which like the rest of his productions was written in Latin, he has been said to unite the elegance of Livy with the brevity of Sallust. With this praise, however, and with that which is due

to his lively and interesting way of relating a story, our commendations of this work must begin and end. As a history, it is valueless. The early part is a tissue of fable, without dates or authorities, as indeed he had none to give; the latter is the work of an acrimonious and able partisan, not of a calm inquirer and observer of the times in which he lived. The work is divided into four books. The first three contain a long dissertation on the derivation of the name of Britain,—a geographical description of Scotland, with some poetical accounts of its -a treatise on the ancient ancient manners and customs,inhabitants of Britain, chiefly taken from the traditionary accounts of the bards, and the fables of the monks engrafted on them, on the vestiges of ancient religions, and on the resemblances of the various languages of different parts of the island. The real history of Scotland does not begin till the fourth book; it consists of an account of a regular succession of one hundred and eight kings, from Fergus I. to James VI., a space extending from the beginning of the sixth century to the end of the sixteenth. The apocryphal nature of the greater part of these monarchs is now so fully admitted, Edward I., that it is unnecessary to dilate upon them. as is well known, destroyed all the genuine records of Scottish history which he could find. Buchanan, instead of rejecting the absurd traditionary tales of bards and monks, has merely laboured to dress up a creditable history for the honour of Scotland, and to "clothe with all the beauties and graces of fiction, those legends which formerly had only its wildness and extravagance."

This work, and his 'De Jure Regni apud Scotos,' he published at the same time, very shortly before his death; and, while he was on his death-bed, the Scottish Parliament condemned them both as false and seditious books. We may lay part of this condemnation to James's account. It is not probable that he would allow so much abuse of his mother as they contained, directly or indirectly to pass without some public stigma. There remain to be noticed only two small pieces of this author in the Scottish language, one a grievous complaint to the

Scottish peers, arising from the assassination of the Earl of Murray; the other, a severe satire against Secretary Maitland, for the readiness with which he changed from party to party: this has the title of Chameleon.'

Buchanan died at the good old age of seventy-four, in his dotage as his enemies said, but in full vigour of mind, as his last great work, his History, has proved. Much has been said in his dispraise by enemies of every class, his chief detractors being the partisans of Mary Stuart and the Romish priesthood. The first of these accuse him of ingratitude to Major, Mary, Morton, Maitland, and to others of his benefactors; of forging the letters above mentioned, and of perjury in offering to swear to them. The latter accuses him of licentiousness, of drunkenness, and falschood; and one of them has descended so far as to quarrel with his personal ugliness. Of these charges many are, to say the least, unproved; many appear to be altogether untrue. But his fame rests rather on his persevering industry, his excellent scholarship, and his fine genius, than upon his moral qualities. Buchanan wrote his own Life in Latin two years before his death. To this work, to Mackenzie's Lives and Characters of the most Eminent Writers of the Scots Nation,' to David Irving's Memoirs of his Life,' to the Biographia Britannica,' and the numerous authorities on insulated points there quoted, we may refer those who wish to pursue this subject.

There are two collective editions of the works of Buchanan. One is by Ruddiman, published at Edinburgh in 1715, in two vols. folio. The other is by Peter Burman, Lug.-Bat., 1725, in two vols. 4to. In this the editor has, besides his own critical annotations, incorporated the notes, dissertations, &c. of his predecessor.

VOL. IV.

D

IN judging of the characters of eminent men it is an excellent practical rule to put aside the opinions that others have expressed of them, and endeavour to form independent ones of our own, by obtaining a plain answer to Thus only a plain question-What have they done? can we guard ourselves from the danger of being misled by the mists that men's predilections or dislikes may have raised, and through which, according as the point of sight we choose makes us look upwards or downwards, are the figures we gaze upon apt to appear unduly magnified or diminished. But this rule cannot be always acted upon alone. Peculiar circumstances, such as the sudden and unlooked for termination of an important career, may render it only an act of justice to consider whither that career tended. The light that still casts such a trail of glory behind, extended equally far before -until eclipsed by the impenetrable shadow.

It is thus then we must study the life and character