majesty should be pleased to inflict upon me, for so great an offence. Then she sat down low upon a cushion, and I upon my knees by her, but with her own hand she gave me a cushion to lay under my knee; which at first refused, but she compelled me to take it. She then called for my Lady Strafford out of the next chamber, for the queen was alone. She inquired whether my queen or she played best. In that I found myself obliged to give her the praise. She said my French was very good, and asked if I could speak Italian, which she spoke reasonably well. I told her majesty I had no time to learn the language, not having been above two months in Italy. Then she spake to me in Dutch, which was not good; and would know what kind of books I most delighted in-whether theology, history, or love matters. I said I liked well of all the sorts. Here I took occasion to press earnestly my dispatch: she said I was sooner weary of her company than she was of mine. I told her majesty, that though I had no reason of being weary, I knew my mistress her affairs called me home; yet I was stayed two days longer, that I might see her dance, as I was afterwards informed. Which being over, she inquired of me whether she or my queen danced best. I answered the queen danced not so high or disposedly as she did. Then again she wished that she might see the queen at some convenient place of meeting. I offered to convey her secretly to Scotland by post, clothed like a page, that under this disguise she might see the queen: as James V. had gone in disguise with his own ambassador to see the Duke of Vendome's sister, who should have been his wife. Telling her that her chamber might be kept in her absence, as though she were sick; that none need be privy thereto except Lady Strafford and one of the grooms of her chamber. She appeared to like that kind of language, only answered it with a sigh, saying: Alas! if I might do it thus!'

GEORGE BUCHANAN.

The Latin poems of BUCHANAN, and his exquisite version of the Psalms, are the chief sources of his fame. He was, however, mixed up with public affairs of importance, wrote political treatises, and joined in the measures of the church reformers. He was born in the parish of Killearn, county of Stirling, in 1506. His father died early; and his son was indebted for his education to a maternal uncle, who sent him in his fourteenth year to study in Paris. He afterwards taught grammar in the college of St Barbe, was tutor to the Earl of Cassilis, and on his return to Britain, was retained by King James V. as preceptor to one of his natural sons. At the instigation of the king, Buchanan wrote a satire on the Franciscan friars, which roused the implacable hatred of the clergy; and the king having, from avaricious motives, joined with the priests, and abandoned the Reformers, Buchanan fled to England. He shortly afterwards removed to France, and was successively professor of Latin at Bordeaux and Paris. Having been induced to accept of a professorship at Coimbra, where the king of Portugal had founded a university, Buchanan was assailed by the priests, and thrown into the prison of the Inquisition, whence he was removed to a monastery, and whilst confined there, composed part of his version of the Psalms. He was ultimately liberated, returned to his native country, and in 1562 is found officiating as classical tutor to Queen Mary, who was then in the twentieth year of her age. Strongly attached to the Protestant doctrines, Buchanan joined the party of the Earl of Murray, and was appointed Principal of St Leonard's College, St Andrews. In

the commission against Queen Mary, Buchanan was an active coadjutor, and composed in Latin a review of the queen's life and character, Detectio Maria Regina. All tenderness for the unfortunate queen, whom he had eulogised in verse, had now ceased; the old scholar was a stern critic; but he conceived that he owed to his country the harsh task he performed. In 1570, he was appointed tutor to James VI. then only four years of age, and was so severe a task-master, that James, when on the throne of England, trembled at the recollection of his pedagogue. The young monarch's proficiency in classical learning, however, reflected credit on his early instructors. In 1579, Buchanan published a compendium of political philosophy and vindication of popular rights, entitled De Jure Regni, which he dedicated to his royal pupil, at the same time warning him against the allurements of flattery and adulation. The work is a bold and masterly treatise. The latter years of Buchanan's life were spent in retirement, during which he composed his History of Scotland, a work equal to Livy in style, but of no historical value, as, unfortunately, its author did not attempt to investigate facts or institute research, but clothed in noble Latin the monstrous legends and fables of former annalists. Buchanan died September 28, 1582, so poor, that the cost of his funeral was defrayed by the city of Edinburgh. Two Scotch treatises are ascribed to Buchanan, Ane Admonitioun direct to the Trew Lordis maintenaris of Justice, and Obedience to the Kingis Grace, 1571, and Chamaleon, a satire on Maitland of Lethington, which was first printed in the Miscellanea Scotica, 1710, but a copy among the Cotton MSS. bears the date of 1570. As this manuscript is not in Buchanan's handwriting, though ascribed to him, it may not be his composition. Both pieces are in the most rugged, uncouth Scottish dialect and orthography, and it is difficult to believe, as Dugald Stewart has remarked, 'that they express the ideas and sentiments of the same writer whose Latin productions vie with the best models of antiquity.' We subjoin an extract:

2

The Chamaleon.

Thair is a certane kynd of Beist callit Chamæleon, engenderit in sic Countreis as the Sone hes mair Strenth in than in this Yle of Brettane, the quhilk, albeit it be small of Corporance, noghttheless it is of ane strange Nature, the quhilk makis it to be na less celebrat and spoken of than sum Beastis of greittar Quantitie. The Proprieties is marvalous, for quat Thing evir it be applicat to, it semis to be of the samyn Cullour, and and for this caus anciene Writtaris commonlie comparis imitatis all Hewis, excepte onelie the Quhyte and Reid; it to ane Flatterare, quhilk imitatis all the haill Maneris of quhome he fenzeis him self to be Freind to, except Quhyte, quhilk is taken to be the Symboll and Tokin gevin commonlie in Devise of Colouris to signifie Sempilnes and Loyaltie, and Reid signifying Manliness and heroyicall Courage. This Applicatioun being so usit, Zit peradventure mony that hes nowther sene the said Beist, nor na perfyte Portraict of it, wald beleif sick? thing not to be trew. I will thairfore set furth schortlie drit in Scotland in the Cuntre of Lowthiane, not far the Descriptioun of sic an Monsture not lang ago engenfrom Hadingtoun, to that effect that the forme knawin, the moist pestiferus Nature of the said Monsture may be moir easelie evited:8 For this Monsture being under coverture of a Manis Figure, may easeliar endommage

certain others Scottish men, albeit they were not of sufficient number to give battle, yet they held them busy with daily skirmishing, that sundry of their men and horse were taken, and therefore none of them durst in any wise stir from the great army in all their passage from Edinburgh to Berwick.

KING JAMES I.

KING JAMES was ambitious of the fame of an author, but his works are now considered merely as curiosities. His most celebrated productions are the Basilicon Doron (1599), Dæmonology (1597), and A Counterblast against Tobacco (included in works, 1616, but written earlier). The first was written, for the instruction of his son Prince Henry, a short time before the union of the crowns, and seems not to have been originally intended for the press. In the Damonology, the British Solomon displays his wisdom and learning in maintaining the existence and criminality of witches, which he says abounded in Scotland:

Sorcery and Witchcraft.

The fearful abounding at this time in this country of these detestable slaves of the devil, the witches or enchanters, hath moved me, beloved reader, to despatch in post this following treatise of mine, not in anywise, as I protest, to serve for a show of my learning and ingine, but only, moved of conscience, to press thereby, so far as I can, to resolve the doubting hearts of many; both that such assaults of Sathan are most certainly practised, and that the instruments thereof merits most severely to be punished: against the damnable opinions of two principally in our age, whereof the one called Scot, an Englishman, is not ashamed in public print to deny that there can be such a thing as witchcraft; and so maintains the old error of the Sadducees in denying of spirits. The other called Wierus, a German physician, sets out a public apology for all these crafts-folks, whereby, procuring for their impunity, he plainly bewrays himself to have been one of that profession. And for to make this treatise the more pleasant and facile, I have put it in form of a dialogue, which I have divided into three books: the first speaking of magic in general, and necromancy in special; the second, of sorcery and witchcraft; and the third contains a discourse of all these kinds of spirits and spectres that appears and troubles together with a conclusion of the whole work. My intention in this labour is only to prove two things, as I have already said: the one, that such devilish arts have been and are; the other, what exact trial and severe punishment they merit: and therefore reason I, what kind of things are possible to be performed in these arts, and by what natural causes they may be. Not that I touch every particular thing of the devil's power, for that were infinite: but only, to speak scholasticly-since this cannot be spoken in our language-I reason upon genus, leaving species and differentia to be comprehended therein. As, for example, speaking of the power of magicians in the first book and sixth chapter, I say that they can suddenly cause be brought unto them all kinds of dainty dishes by their familiar spirit: since as a thief he delights to steal, and as a spirit he can subtilly and suddenly enough transport the same. Now, under this genus may be comprehended all particulars depending thereupon; such as the bringing wine out of a well-as we have heard oft to have been practised-and such others; which particulars are sufficiently proved by the reasons of the general.

How Witches Travel.

persons;

Philomathes. But by what way say they, or think ye it possible, they can come to these unlawful conventions?

Epistemon. There is the thing which I esteem their senses to be deluded in, and, though they lie not in confessing of it, because they think it to be true, yet not to be so in substance or effect, for they say that by divers means they may convene either to the adoring of their master, or to the putting in practice any service of his committed unto their charge; one way is natural, which is natural riding, going, or sailing, at what hour their master comes and advertises them. And this way may be easily believed. Another way is somewhat more strange, and yet it is possible to be true: which is by being carried by the force of the spirit which is their conductor, either above the earth or above the sea, swiftly, to the place where they are to meet: which Í am persuaded to be likewise possible, in respect that as Habakkuk was carried by the angel in that form to the den where Daniel lay, so think I the devil will be ready is much more possible to him to do, being a spirit, than to imitate God as well in that as in other things: which to a mighty wind, being but a natural meteor, to transport from one place to another a solid body, as is commonly and daily seen in practice. But in this violent form they cannot be carried but a short bounds, agreeing with the space that they may retain their breath: for if it were longer, their breath could not remain unextinguished, their body being carried in such a violent and forcible manner, as, by example, if one fall off a small height, his but if one fall from a high and stay1 rock, his breath life is but in peril according to the hard or soft lighting; will be forcibly banished from the body before he can win to the earth, as is oft seen by experience. And in this transporting they say themselves that they are if the devil may form what kind of impressions he pleases invisible to any other, except amongst themselves. For in the air, as I have said before, speaking of magic, why may he not far easier thicken and obscure so the air that is next about them, by contracting it strait together, that the beams of any other man's eyes cannot pierce through the same to see them? But the third way of their coming to their conventions is that wherein I think them deluded: for some of them saith that, being transformed in the likeness of a little beast or fowl, they will come and pierce through whatsoever house or church, though all ordinary passages be closed, by whatsoever open the air may enter in at. And some saith that their bodies lying still, as in an ecstasy, their spirits will be ravished out of their bodies, and carried to such places; and for verifying thereof will give evident tokens, as well by witnesses that have seen their body lying senseless in the meantime, as by naming persons whomwith they met, and giving tokens what purpose was amongst them, whom otherwise they could not have known; for this form of journeying they affirm to use most when they are transported from one country to another.

In his Counterblast, James states that many of the nobles and gentry spent three and four hundred pounds a year on tobacco. The man, he says, who introduced it was 'generally hated,' meaning Raleigh. But Raleigh did not introduce tobacco, and never was in Virginia, though one of the frescoes in the Houses of Parliament represents 6 The him as landing there. great plant' was brought to this country in 1586, by Ralph Lane, a person employed in one of the exploring expeditions fitted out by Raleigh, and to this expedition we must also refer the introduction of the potato. James concludes his Counterblast with these emphatic words: Smoking is a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black fumes thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.'

1 Steep.

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD.

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD, successively archbishop of Glasgow and of St Andrews in the reign of James VI. was born in 1565. A strenuous and active promoter of James's scheme for the establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland, he stood high in the favour of that king, as well as of Charles I. by whom he was made lord-chancellor of Scotland in 1635. His death took place in London in November 1639, the popular commotions having obliged him to retire from Scotland. He wrote, at the command of James, a History of the Church of Scotland, from 203 to 1625 A.D. When the king, on expressing his wish for the composition of that work, was told that some passages in it might possibly bear too hard upon the memory of his mother, he desired Spottiswood to 'write and spare not;' and yet, says Bishop Nicolson, 'the historian ventured not so far with a commission as Buchanan did without one.' The history was published in London in 1655, and is considered to be, on the whole, an impartial narrative.

Destruction of Religious Edifices in 1559. Whilst these things passed, John Knox returned from Geneva into Scotland, and joining with the congregation, did preach to them at Perth. În his sermon, he took occasion to speak against the adoration of images, shewed that the same tended to God's dishonour, and that such idols and monuments of superstition as were erected in churches ought to be pulled down, as being offensive to good and godly people. The sermon ended, and the better sort gone to dinner, a priest, rather to try men's affections, than out of any devotion, prepared to say mass, opening a great case, wherein was the history of divers saints exquisitely carved. A young boy that stood by, saying that such boldness was unsufferable, the priest gave him a blow. The boy, in an anger, casting a stone at the priest, happened to break one of the pictures, whereupon stir was presently raised, some of the common sort falling upon the priest, others running to the altar and breaking the images, so as in a moment all was pulled down in the church that carried any mark of idolatry. The people, upon the noise thereof, assembled in great numbers, and, invading the cloisters, made spoil of all they found therein. The Franciscans had store of provision, both of victuals and household stuff; amongst the Dominicans the like wealth was not found, yet so much there was as might shew the profession they made of poverty to be feigned and counterfeit. The Carthusians, who passed both these in wealth, were used in like manner; yet was the prior permitted to take with him what he might carry of gold and silver plate. All the spoil was given to the poor, the rich sort forbearing to meddle with any part thereof. But that which was most admired was the speed they made in demolishing these edifices. For the Charterhouse-a building of exceeding cost and largeness—was not only ruined, but the stones and timber so quickly taken away, as, in less than two days' space, a vestige thereof was scarce remaining to be seen. They of Cupar in Fife, hearing what was done at Perth, went in like manner to their church, and defaced all the images, altars, and other instruments of idolatry; which the curate took so heavily, as the night following he put violent hands on himself.

...

The noblemen remained at that time in St Andrews; and because they foresaw this their answer would not be well accepted, and feared some sudden attempt-for the queen with her Frenchmen lay then at Falkland-they sent to the lords of Dun and Pittarrow, and others that favoured religion in the countries of Angus and Mearns, and requested them to meet at St Andrews the 4th day

of June. Meanwhile they themselves went to the town of Crail, whither all that had warning came, shewing great forwardness and resolutions; and were not a little encouraged by John Knox, who, in a sermon made unto them at the same time, put them in mind of that he foretold at Perth, how there was no sincerity in the Queen Regent's dealing, and that conditions would not be kept, as they had found. Therefore did he exhort them not to be any longer deluded with fair promises, seeing there was no peace to be hoped for at their hands, who took no regard of contracts and covenants solemnly sworn. And because there would be no quietness till one of the kingdom, he wished them to prepare themselves of the parties were masters, and strangers expulsed out either to die as men, or to live victorious.

By this exhortation the hearers were so moved, as they fell immediately to the pulling down of altars and images, and destroyed all the monuments which were abused to idolatry in the town. The like they did the next day in Anstruther, and from thence came directly to St Andrews. The bishop hearing what they had done in the coast-towns, and suspecting they would attempt the same reformation in the city, came to it well accompanied, of purpose to withstand them; but after he had tried the affections of the townsmen, and found them all inclining to the congregation, he went away early the next morning towards Falkland to the queen.

That day being Sunday, John Knox preached in the parish church, taking for his theme the history of the Gospel touching our Saviour's purging of the temple; and applying the corruption which was at that time in Jerusalem to the present estate in the church, and declaring what was the duty of those to whom God had given authority and power, he did so incite the auditors, as, the sermon being ended, they went all and made spoil of the churches, razing the monasteries of the Black and Grey Friars to the ground.

James VI. and a Refractory Preacher.

The king perceiving by all these letters that the death of his mother was determined, called back his ambassadors, and at home gave order to the ministers to remember her in their public prayers; which they denied to do, though the form prescribed was most Christian and lawful; which was, 'That it might please God to illuminate her with the light of his truth, and save her from the apparent danger wherein she was cast.' Upon their denial, charges were directed to command all bishops, ministers, and other office-bearers in the church to make mention of her distress in their public prayers, and commend her to God in the form appointed. But of all the number, only Mr David Lindsay at Leith, and the king's own ministers, gave obedience. At Edinburgh, where the disobedience was most public, the king, purposing to have their fault amended, did appoint the 3d of February for solemn prayers to be made in her behalf, commanding the bishop of St Andrews to prepare himself for that day; which when the ministers understood, they stirred up Mr John Cowper, a young man not entered as yet in the function, to take the pulpit before the time, and exclude the bishop. The king coming at the hour appointed, and seeing him in the place, called to him from his seat, and said: 'Mr John, that place was destinate for another; yet, since you are there, if you will obey the charge that is given, and remember my mother in your prayers, you shall go on.' He replying, 'he would do as the Spirit of God should direct him,' was commanded to leave the place. And making as though he would stay, the captain of the guard went to pull him out; whereupon he burst forth in these speeches: 'This day shall be a witness against the king in the great day of the Lord; and then denouncing a woe to the inhabitants of Edinburgh, he went down, and the bishop of St Andrews entering the pulpit, did perform the duty required. The noise was great for a while amongst the people; but after they

were quieted, and had heard the bishop-as he was a most powerful preacher out of that text to Timothy, discourse of the duty of Christians in praying for all men,' they grieved sore to see their teachers so far overtaken, and condemned their obstinacy in that point. In the afternoon, Cowper was called before the council, where Mr Walter Balcanquel and Mr William Watson, ministers, accompanying him, for some idle speeches that escaped them, were both discharged from preaching in Edinburgh during his majesty's pleasure, and Cowper sent prisoner to Blackness.

NEWSPAPERS.

Before concluding the present section, it may be proper to notice the rise of a very important PAPERS, which in England date from the reign of James I. An earlier date was at one time assigned

branch of modern literature. We allude to NEWS

to them. Three sheets used to be shewn in the

British Museum, purporting to be numbers of a newspaper, published in 1558, called the English Mercurie (Nos. 50, 51, and 54), containing particulars of the Spanish Armada. The public faith remained firm as to their genuineness up to 1839, but it was then overthrown. The late Mr Thomas Watts of the British Museum-a most admirable bibliographer and 'expert'-destroyed the illusion. 'Manuscript copies of three numbers,' as recorded in the Book of Days, ' are bound up in the same volume; and from a scrutiny of the paper, the ink, the handwriting, the type (which he recognised as belonging to the Caslon foundry), the literary style, the spelling, the blunders in fact and in date, and the corrections, Mr Watts came to a conclusion that the so-called English Mercurie was printed in the latter half of the last century' -about 1766. They are, in fact, but clumsy forgeries. The ancient Romans had their Acta Diurna (proceedings of the day), which were published by authority, and contained an account of the business in the public assemblies and lawcourts, with a list of births, marriages, and deaths. In the time of Julius Cæsar, the proceedings of the senate (Acta Senatus) were published, but the custom was prohibited by Augustus. Acta Diurna, containing more general intelligence of passing events, appear to have been common both during the republic and under the emperors; of one of these, the following specimen is given by Petronius: On the 26th of July, 30 boys and 40 girls were born at Trimalchi's estate, at Cuma.

At the same time, a slave was put to death for uttering disrespectful words against his lord.

228

The same day, a fire broke out in Pompey's gardens, which began in the night, in the steward's apartment. In modern times, nothing similar appears to have been known before the latter end of the fifteenth century, when small news-sheets, in the form of letters, were printed in Augsburg, Vienna, Ratisbon, and Nuremberg. The Venetian government, in the year 1563, during a war with the Turks, was in the habit of communicating to the public, by means of written sheets, the military and commercial information received. These sheets were read in a particular place to those desirous to learn the news, who paid for this privilege a coin called ferred to the newspaper itself in Italy and France, gazzetta-a name which, by degrees, was transand passed over into England. The Venetian government, after some time, allowed these Notizie Scritte to be printed, and they had a wide circu

lation.

in France, at the suggestion of the father of the About the same time, offices were established celebrated Montaigne, for making the wants of individuals known to each other. The advertisements received at these offices were sometimes pasted on walls in public places, in order to attract more attention, and were thence called affiches. This led in time to a systematic and and these sheets were termed affiches, in conseperiodical publication of advertisements in sheets; quence of their contents having been originally up as placards.

fixed

occasionally published in the shape of small quarto In the reign of James I. packets of news were Holland, was issued in 1619. Others were entitled pamphlets. The earliest, entitled News out of Newes from Italy, Hungary, &c. as they happened to refer to the transactions of those respective countries, and generally purported to be translations from the Low Dutch. In the year 1622, when the Thirty Years' War and the exploits of Gustavus Adolphus excited curiosity, these occasional pamphlets were converted into a regular weekly publication, the editor of which was Nathaniel Butter. He had associates in the work-namely, Nicholas William Sheppard, Bartholomew Donner, and Bourne, Thomas Archer, Nathaniel Newberry, Edward Allde. All these names appear in the imprints to the early numbers of the Weekly Newes, first published on the 23d of May 1622. Butter was most probably the author and writer of the paper, and his name is found connected with newspapers as late as the year 1640. The printed sheet was then, and long afterwards, a small and meagre chronicle.