The history of Scotland written in Latin by George Buchanan ; faithfully rendered into English.

The LIFE of George Buchanan, Written by Himself, Two Years before His Death.

GEORGE BUCHANAN was Born in Lennox-Shire, (commonly called the Sheriff∣dom of Dumbarton) in Scotland, Scituate near the River, or Water of Blane, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Five Hundred and Six, about the First Day of February▪ in a Country Town within that Shire; of a Family rather Ancient than Rich. His Father died of the Stone, in the Flower of his Age; whilst his Grandfather was yet alive, who being a Spend-Thrift, their Family which was but low before, was now reduced to almost the extremity of Want. Yet such was the frugal care of his Mother, Agnes Heriot, that she brought up Five Sons and Three Daughters, to Mens and Womens Estate. Of the Five Sons, George was One. His Uncle, Iames Heriot, perceiving his promising Inge∣nuity in their own Country Schools, took him from thence, and sent him to Paris. There he applied himself to his Studies, and especially to Poetry, either having a Natu∣ral Genius that way; or else, out of Necessity, (because 'twas the only Method of Study, propounded to him, in his Youth.) Before he had been there Two Years, his Uncle Died, and he himself fell dangerously Sick, and being in want beside, he was forced to return into his own Country. After his return to Scotland, he spent almost an year in taking care of his Health; then he went into the French Army of Auxilliaries, newly arrived in Scotland, on purpose to obtain some Skill in the Art Military. But that Expedition proving Fruitless, the Ar∣my retreated in a very sharp and snowy Winter, so that

he again relapsed into a Disease, which confined him all that Winter to his Bed. Early in the Spring he was sent to St. Andrews, to hear the Lectures of Iohn Major, who, though very old, Read Logick, or rather Sophistry, in that University. The Summer after, he accompanied him into France, and there he fell into the Troubles of the Lutheran Sect, which then began to encrease: He struggled with the Difficulties of Providence, almost Two Years, and at last was admitted into the Barbaran Col∣ledge, where he was Grammar Professor, almost Three Years. During that time, Gilbert Kennedy, Earl of Cassils, one of the young Scotish Nobles, being in that Coun∣try, was much taken with his Ingenuity and Acquain∣tance, so that he entertained him for Five Years, and brought him back with him into Scotland.

Afterwards having a Mind to return to Paris to his old Studies, he was detained by the King, and made Tutor to Iames his Natural Son. In the mean time, an Elegy made by him, at leasure times, came into the Hands of the Franciscans, wherein he Writes, That he was solicited in a Dream by St. Francis, to joyn himself to his Order. In that Poem, there were one or two Passages that reflected on them very sorely, which those Ghostly Fathers, notwithstanding their Profession of Meek∣ness and Humility, took more heinously, than Men (ha∣ving obtained such a Vogue for Piety among the vulgar) ought to have done, upon so small an occasion of Of∣fence. But finding no just Ground for their immoderate Wrath and Fury, they had recourse to the common Crime of those Days, which they objected to those they wish'd ill to, viz. The Cause of Religion. Thus, whilst they in∣dulged their Malice and Disgust, they made him, who was not well affected to them before, a greater Enemy to their Liceniousness, and rendred him more inclineable to the Lutheran Cause. In the mean time, the King, with Magdalen his Wife, came from France, not without the resentment of the Priesthood, who were afraid, that the Royal Lady, having been bred up under her Aunt, the Queen of Navar, should attempt some Innovation in Re∣ligion:

But this fear soon vanished upon her Death, which followed shortly after.

A while after, there arose some suspitions at Court a∣gainst some of the Nobility, who were thought to have conspired against the King, and, in that matter, the King was persuaded, the Franciscans were somewhat concern∣ed; so that he Commanded Buchanan, who at that time was at Court, (thô he were ignorant of the Disgusts, be∣twixt Him and that Order) to write a Satyr against them. He was loth to offend either of them, and there∣fore, thô he made a Poem, yet it was but short, and such as might admit of a doubtful Interpretation, where∣in he satisfied neither Party; not the King, who would have had a tart and biting Invective; nor the Fathers, nei∣ther, who lookt on it as a capital Offence, to have any thing said of them, but what was Honourable. So that receiving a Second Command to write more pungently against them, he began that Miscellany, which now bears the Title of the Franciscan, and gave it to the King. But shortly after, being made acquainted by his Friends at Court, that Cardinal Beton sought his Life, and had offered the King a Sum of Money, as a price for his Head, he escaped out of prison and fled for Eng∣land. But there also things were at such an uncertain∣ty, that the very same Day, and almost with one and the same Fire, the Men of Both Factions, (Prote∣stants and Papists) were burnt together, Henry the Eighth, in his old Age, being more intent on his own Se∣curity, than the Purity or Reformation of Reli∣gion. This uncertainty of Affairs in England, se∣conded by his ancient Acquaintance with the French, and the innate courtesie of that Nation, drew him again into France.

As soon as he came to Paris, he found Cardinal Beton his utter Enemy, Embassador there, so that to with∣draw himself from his Fury, at the Invitation of Andrew Goveanus he went to Bourdeaux. There he presided, and Taught Three Years in the Schools, which were erect∣ed at the Publick Cost; At that time he wrote Four Tra∣gedies, which were afterwards occasionally Published;

But that which he wrote first, called the Baptist, was Printed last; and then the Medea of Euripides. He wrote them in compliance with the Custom of the School, which was to have a Play wrote once a Year, that so by acting of them, he might, as much as he could calll back the French Youth from Allegories, with which they then were overmuch delighted, to the Imitation of the Ancients. This Affair succeeding, even almost beyond his Hope, he took more pains in compiling the other Two Tragedies, called Iephthe and Alcestis, because, he thought, they would fall under a se∣verer scrutiny of the Learned. And yet, during this time, he was not wholly free from Trouble, be∣ing harassed between the Menaces of the Cardinal on the One side, and of the Franciscans on the Other. For the Cardinal had wrote Letters to the Archbishop of Bourdeaux, to apprehend him; but, providentially, those Letters were delivered to some of Buchanan's Friends. However, the death of the King of Scots, and the Pestilence, which then reigned over all Aquitain, dispelled that Fear.

In the interim, an Express came to Goveanus from the King of Portugal, requiring him to come into that Kingdom, and to bring with him some Men, Learned, both in the Greek and Latin Tongues, that they might Read the Liberal Arts, and especially, the Prin∣ciples of the Aristotelian Philosophy in those Schools, which were then a Building, with a great deal of Cost and Expence. Buchanan, being addressed to, easily as∣sented to go for one. For, whereas he saw that all Europe, besides, was either actually in Foreign or Domestique Wars, or else suddenly likely so to be, that one Corner of the World, was, in his Opinion, likeliest to be free from Tumults and Combustions: And besides, his Companions in that Journy were such, that they seemed rather his Acquaintance and Fami∣liar Friends, than Strangers or Aliens to him. For many of them had been his Intimates for several Years, and are well known to the World by their Learned Works, as Nicolaus Gruchius, Gulielmus Garentaens, Ia∣cobus

Tevius, and Elias Vinetus. Upon which ac∣count, he did not only joyn himself to their Society, but also persuaded a Brother of his, called Patrick to be one of so Illustrious a Society. And the Truth is, the matter succeeded excellently well at the beginning, but the death of Andrew Goveanus, (which hapned, as it were, in the midst of our Race, and was mature enough for himself, but very prejudicial to us) put a stop to its happy Progress. For, after his Decease, all our Ene∣mies, endeavoured at first to insnare us by Treachery, and soon after, ran violently upon us, as it were with open Mouth; and their Agents and Instruments being great Enemies to the Accused, they laid hold of Three of them, and haled them to Prison; whence, after a long and nasty durance, they were brought forth to their Answers; and, after many bitter Taunts, were remanded to Pri∣son again: and yet no Accuser did appear in Court a∣gainst them. As for Buchanan, they insulted most bit∣terly over him, as being a Stranger, and knowing also, that he had very few Friends in that Country, who would either rejoyce in his Prosperity, sympathize with his Grief, or Revenge the Wrongs offered to him. The Crimes laid to his Charge, was the Poem he wrote against the Franciscans, which he himself before he went from France had deposited in the hands of the King of Portugal, neither did his Accusers perfectly know what it was: For he had given but one Copy of it to the King of Scots, by whose Command he wrote it. They further objected, His eating of Flesh in Lent, thô there be not a Man in all Spain, but uses the same Liberty: Besides, he had given shrewd Girds against Monks, which yet none but Monks could well except against.

Moreover, they took it much amiss, that, in a cer∣tain Familiar Discourse with some young Portugal Gen∣tlemn, upon mention made of the Eucharist, he should affirm; That, in his Judgment Austin was more incli∣nable to the Party Condemned by the Roman Church, in that Controversie. There were also other Wit∣nesses produc'd against him, (as, some years after, it came to his Knowledge) viz. Iohn Tolpin, a Norman,

and Iohn Ferrerius of Sub-Alpine Liguria; their Testi∣mony was, That they had heard from divers Creditable Persons, That Buchanan was not Orthodox, as to the Roman Faith and Religion.

But to return to the matter, after the Inquisitors had wearied both themselves and him, for almost an year and a half; at last, that they might not seem to have causelesly vex'd a Man, of some Name and Note in the World, they shut him up in a Monastery for some Months; there to be more exactly Disciplined and In∣structed by the Monks, who (to give them their due) were Men, otherwise, not uncivil, or bad, though Ig∣norant of all Religion.

'Twas principally at this time, that he rendred most of David's Psalms, into several sorts of Latin Metre. At last, he was set at Liberty, and suing for a Pass, and Accommodations from the King, to return into France, he was desired by him, to stay where he was, and he had a small parcel of Money bestowed upon him for his daily Expence, till some better Provision might be made for his Subsistence. But he, being tired out with delay, as being put off, to no certain time, nor on any sure Grounds of hope, having got the opportunity of Passage, in a Ship then Riding in the Bay of Lisbon, was wafted over into England. He made no long abode in England, though fair of∣fers were made him there; for he saw that all things were in an Hurry and Combustion, under a very young King, the Nobles at Variance one with another, and the Minds of the Commons yet in a Ferment, upon the account of their Civil Combustions. Whereup∣on he returned into France, about the time that the Siege of Metz was raised. There he was, in a man∣ner, compell'd by his Friends, to Write a Poem con∣cerning that Siege; which he did, though somewhat un∣willingly; because he was loth to interfere with several of his Acquaintance, and especially with Mellinus San∣gelasius, who had composed a Learned and Elegant Poem, on that Subject. From thence he was call'd over into Italy, by Charles de Cossé of Brescia, who then

managed matters with prosperous Success, in the Gallic and Ligustic Countries about the Po: He abode with him and his Son Timoleon, sometimes in Italy, and sometimes in France, the space of Five Years, till the year of Christ One Thousand Five Hunderd and Sixty, the most part of which time he spent in the Study of the Holy Scriptures, that so he might be able to make a more exact Judgment of the Controversies in Religion, which in those days did Ex∣ercise the greatest part of Men. 'Tis true, those disputes were somewhat silenced in Scotland, when that Kingdom was freed from the Tyranny of the Guises of France; so he returned thither, and entered himself into the Church of Scotland.

Some of his Writings, in former times, being, as it were, Redeemed from a Shipwrack, were Collected and Published by him: The rest of them, which are yet in the Hands of his Friends, he commits to the disposal of Providence. At present, being in the Seventy Fourth Year of his Age, he is in Attendance on the Education of Iames the Sixth King of Scotland, to whom he was appointed Tutor, in the Year One Thousand Five Hundred Sixty Five, where, being bro∣ken with the Infirmities of old Age, he longs for the desi∣red Haven of his Rest.

He departed this Life at Edinburgh, on the 28th day of September, in the Year of our Salvation One Thousand Five Hundred Eighty Two.