in which he affirmed, that the verses were taken from him without his knowledge, and that they were afterward mutilated. He afked pardon for any expreffions that might have escaped him during his examination, which could be thought difrefpectful to his Majefty, to the council, or to the state of England, and in general made as ample an acknowledgment as could be made without renouncing the principles which he held. The two prelates appeared to be fatisfied therewith, while the King remained inexorable. He continued two years more in the Tower, and employed himself in writing several tracts, chiefly on the controverfies of the times, and many Latin Poems, which have been fince printed in the "Delicia Poetarum Scotorum." Amft. 2 vol. 12mo, 1637. In fhort, after much perfecution, when it was well known that he could never obtain leave to return into Scotland, the Duke of Bouillon, who was at the head of the Proteftants in France, and who still poffeffed the principality of Sedan, obtained the King's permiffion for him to go to Sedan, and to fettle there, as Profeffor of Divinity. He left England at the end of the year 1611, or at the beginning of 1612. He taught divinity at Sedan, for nine years, with very fingular reputation; and acquired much respect and celebrity among the foreign divines. He died there in 1621.. It is not within my province to arraign the conduct of James for his great severity thus exercised against Andrew Melville. It muft, however, be obferved, that the ufage of the Kirk of Scotland to their King was fo cruel and tyrannical, that it was not very easy for him, when once emancipated from their power, to forget that usage. The learning and abilities of Mr. Melville were equalled only by the purity of his manners, and the fanctity of his life. His temper was warm and violent; his carriage and zeal perfectly fuited to the times in which he lived. The discipline of the Church of Scotland was in a great measure framed by him; and to him the Scots are very confiderably indebted for their prefent ecclefiaftical conftitution. Archbishop Spotswood is unfriendly to his memory. Bishop Burnet obferves, that though Spotfwood relates with truth the oppofition, and even the rude treatment which the King received from affemblies, and from particular perfons, he ge nerally fuppreffes the provocations which were given, and the circumstances which would have explained, and, perhaps, in some degree, have extenuated their conduct. "He was," fays Dr. Robertson (Hift. of Scotland, B. VI.), " a man diftinguished by his uncommon erudi❝tion, by the severity of his manners, and the intrepidity of his mind. But, bred up in the "retirement of a college, he was unacquainted with the arts of life, and being more attentive "to the ends which he purfued, than to the means which he employed for promoting them, "he often defeated laudable defigns by the impetuofity and imprudence with which he car"ried them on." He seems to have been treated by his adverfaries with much afperity.-— Others befides Mr. George Herbert exercised their talents against him. Anthony Wood names Mr. Thomas Atkinson, B. D. of St. John's College, Cambridge, as having written "Andrei Melvini Anti-Tami-Cami-Categoria," and "Melvinus delirans in Iambis." Indeed, our English writers feldom speak of him favourably. The following lines, allufive to his name, are faid to have been written by Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln: 3K2 Cor Cor tibi felle nigrum eft, et aceto lingua redundat; And the learned James Duport has not difdained to make the fame allufion: In Andream Melvinum, Scotum, de fuâ Anti-Tami- Utraque fic tibi, Scote, Anglorum Academia fordet? Quâ nec fub fole eft ecclefia clarior ulla, Caftior in terris Sponfa nec ulla Dei, : Lafcivum et prodit Sapphica mufa caput. Qui non MEL fed FEL, non VINUM das, fed ACETUM, Quam malè tam belli nominis omen habes! In many of his epigrams He has endeared his name Scaligers, and the claffic Let it not, however, be inferred from these verses, that Andrew Melville always fought to dip his pen in gall; that he was principally delighted with the severity of fatire and invective. He occafionally diverted his muse to the subject of just panegyric. he has celebrated the literary attainments of his contemporaries. to posterity by his encomium on the profound learning of the two elegance of Buchanan, his preceptor, and the parent of the Mufes". His Latin paraphrase of the Song of Mofes is truly excellent. It is infcribed to James VI. whom he styles a boy: Sancte h George Buchanan is celebrated by Julius Cæfar Scaliger, by Jofeph Scaliger, by Turnebus, by Beza, and other foreigners, as a prodigy of learning:-" Buchananum omnibus antepono-Haddonum nemini poftpono,” were the expreffions of Queen Elizabeth. His works are fraught with all the beauty and elegance of claffic antiquity. He finished the greatest part of his incomparable verfion of the Pfalms when in a state of confinement, at a monaftery in Portugal, under the care of certain monks, who were directed to instruct him in the principles of religion, and whom he characterifes as men of great humanity, and goodness; but totally ignorant of divinity—Omnis religionis ignari. Prefixed to his Poems is a fhort" History of his Life," written by himself. The following anecdote is extracted from the Diary of Mr. James Melville : "Sept. 1582.-During the vacance my uncle, Mr. Andrew, Principal of the New College, Mr. Thomas Bu"chanan, Provost of Kilkaldie, and I, hearing that Maifter George Buchanan was weakly, and his History in "the Sancte Puer, cape facra me primordia Mufæ, Non fecus ac grati prima elementa animi: Parva quidem tanto fateor munufcula regi; Parva, fed immenfi munere magna Dei. Of the exordium, and, indeed, of the whole poem, it may be pronounced, that they perfectly correfpond to the character which Ifaac Walton gives of his poetic genius: Vos æterni ignes, et confcia lumina mundi, Et cœlum et tellus (ego vos nunc alloquar), aures The following lines are exquifitely beautiful: -See Deut. xxxii. 10, 11. -ceu pupula, cornu Quam vitreo murus cingit chryftallinus; et quam, Ac veluti alituum princeps, fulvufque Tonantis Vela “the prefs, paffed over to Edenbrugh anes eirand to visit him, and to fee the wark. Whan we cam to his chalm"ber we found him fitting in his chaire, teaching his young man, that served him in his chalmber, to spell AB, “EB, IB, &c.—After falutation, Mr. Andrew fays, I fee, Sir, you are not idle. Better this (quoth hee) "than stealing fheipe, or fitting idle, whilk is als ill.'" “And ye five other wand'ring fires that move "In myftic dance, not without fong MILT. PAR. LOST, B. V. 177. This defcription of the eye feems to be taken from "Cicero de Natura Deorum." L. II. 57. "Munitæ funt palpebræ tanquam vallo pilorum." |