MELVILLE

MELVILLE, ANDREW, a Scottish divine of distinguished talents and learning, was born at Baldov in Forfarshire on the 1st of August 1545. His father, Richard Melville, was brother to Melville of Dysart, and was thus connected with a family which boasted its descent from the blood royal, although the genealogical lines do not seem to be very distinctly traced. His mother was Giles, the daughter of Thomas Abercromby, a burgess of Montrose. In the immediate vicinity of this town the father possessed the small demesne of Baldov, and might have been able to rear his family with sufficient credit and comfort, but having been called to arms in the ordinary course of feudal service, he was slain at the disastrous battle of Pinkey, fought on the 10th of September 1547. Andrew, the youngest of nine sons, had only completed the second year of his age; and his mother having died in the course of that year, the care of the orphan boy devolved upon his eldest brother Richard, who afterwards became minister of the adjacent parish of Marytown. The place of both parents was fully supplied by this brother and his wife, who reared him with the most affectionate care. When he reached a mature age, he frequently recounted in terms of the warmest gratitude the many instances of maternal tenderness and fondness which he had experienced from his excellent sister-in-law. As he was a sickly child, and discovered great aptitude for learning, his guardian adopted the fortunate resolution of securing to him all the attainable advantages of a liberal education. He was accordingly removed to Montrose school, of which Thomas Anderson, afterwards the protestant minister of that parish, was at that time master. Here he was instructed in the rudiments of the Latin language; and as bodily exercise was duly intermingled with his more sedentary avocations, his constitution acquired a much firmer tone, and he afterwards enjoyed a large share of good health.

In the year 1559 he was sent to the university of St. Andrews, where he became a student in St. Mary's College, and greatly distinguished himself by his early proficiency in classical learning. At that period the course of literature and philosophy chiefly consisted of lectures on Aristotle's logic, rhetoric, ethics, and physics; but this course must have been rendered very defective by the circumstance of the professor's being altogether unacquainted with the original text, and being thus reduced to the necessity of commenting upon Latin translations or compendiums. Melville was dissatisfied with this imperfect method of procedure, and applied himself so assiduously to the study of Greek, that he was speedily enabled to read in that language all the texts of Aristotle to which the college lectures referred. To what preceptor he was indebted for private instructions, or whether he solely relied on his own exertions, we are not sufficiently informed. It is however certain that he acquired no small reputation by his proficiency in a department of elegant learning which was then so little cultivated; and it may here be recorded to the credit of his masters, that they warmly encouraged him to tread in a path in

Melville, which they themselves could not lead, and in which they were scarcely prepared to follow. The provost of St. Mary's, John Douglas, who was likewise rector of the university, treated him with paternal kindness, and seems to have entertained some anticipation of his eminence in letters. In this college there were separate classes for grammar and rhetoric; and there were also lectures by the law professor, which the students might attend before taking their higher degree. Of all the public and private opportunities of improvement Melville seems to have availed himself to the utmost extent; and he left this university with the reputation of "the best philosopher, poet, and Grecian of any young master in the land."¹ It would therefore appear that he had already displayed those talents for Latin poetry which were afterwards so conspicuous. The unrivalled celebrity of Buchanan must have had a strong tendency to excite the emulation of his young and ingenuous countrymen. Melville speaks of this illustrious man as having been his preceptor; but whether the expression is to be understood according to its literal signification, we cannot so easily ascertain. In 1561 Buchanan returned to his native country, and in 1567 he became principal of St. Leonard's College; but the young scholar had then quitted the university, and could therefore receive no instructions from him at St. Andrews.

In the autumn of 1564, when he had completed the nineteenth year of his age, he proceeded to Paris with the view of prosecuting his studies in a place which afforded much greater opportunities of intellectual improvement. That university had then attained to the height of its celebrity, and the reported number of students who frequented it seems almost to exceed belief: Joseph Scaliger mentions, that, during his own residence, it contained the astonishing number of thirty thousand. Melville enjoyed the eminent advantage of hearing the prelections of Turnebus, professor of Greek in the Royal College. He had thus an excellent opportunity of being initiated in the critical study of classical authors; and under the guidance of Mercier and Quinquartoreus, conjunct professors of Hebrew and Chaldee, he applied himself with equal assiduity to the acquisition of those languages. Nor did he neglect the lectures of Ramus, royal professor of Roman eloquence; who had greatly distinguished himself by his strenuous opposition to the philosophy of Aristotle, and who seems to have given a considerable impulse to the minds of his contemporaries. He likewise studied under several other professors, whose names are mentioned by his nephew; nor did he confine his views to one or two departments of science or literature; mathematics, law, and physic, all succeeded each other in due order. Till a much later period, the civil law was not regularly and publicly taught in the university of Paris, but a dispensation for teaching it was occasionally obtained; and it was at that time taught by Balduinus, or Baudouin, a very eminent civilian, who numbered this ardent youth among his pupils. During the second year of his residence, he had attained to such proficiency in the Greek language, that he was able to speak it with great fluency and copiousness. Having thus made a large accession to his stock of learning, he quitted Paris in the year 1566, and repaired to the university of Poitiers, where he prosecuted the study of law. Here he was appointed a regent in the College of St. Marcon; and though he was only twenty-one years of age, he appears to have acquitted himself with the highest credit. But the renewal of the civil wars, by which France was so long devastated, speedily rendered his situation uncertain and perilous. In the year 1568 the city was besieged by a protestant army under Coligny, and was defended by a popish garrison under the duke of Guise. The business of the university was necessarily suspended, and

Melville was then engaged by a counsellor of the parliament, in the capacity of tutor to his only son. He was a boy of an amiable disposition, and of promising talents, but the fond hopes of his parents and of his preceptor were very suddenly blasted: he was mortally wounded by a cannon ball, and Melville found him weltering in his blood. He had received lessons of piety as well as literature, and with his dying breath he testified his affection for his instructor; who to the latest period of his life retained a very lively and tender recollection of his young friend, so prematurely lost. The casualties of war were not the only dangers to which he was exposed: a corporal who was stationed in the house with a few soldiers, having observed his habits of devotion, concluded that he must be a Huguenot, and expressed an opinion that he might be disposed to betray the city to the enemy; but he had sufficient address and presence of mind to dissipate all his suspicions, nor was he again subjected to any similar annoyance. The siege having at length been raised, he quitted Poitiers, after a residence of three years, and directed his course towards Geneva. Leaving behind him his books and other effects, and fixing a small Hebrew Bible in his girdle, he began his journey in company with a Frenchman. They travelled on foot, and our countryman proceeded with great alacrity; for, as his nephew informs us, "he was small and light of body, but full of spirit, vigorous and courageous." On reaching the place of his destination, he immediately waited upon Beza; and his first appearance made so favourable an impression, that he was at once considered as a person well qualified to fill the humanity chair, which at that time happened to be vacant. Within a few days after his arrival, he so ably performed the probationary exercises in Homer and Virgil, that he was without hesitation admitted to the professorship. A quarter's salary, paid by advance, came very seasonably to his aid; for when the two travellers reached the gates of the city, they could scarcely muster a crown between them; and his own necessities being thus relieved, he was enabled to support his less fortunate companion till he found some more permanent provision.

Geneva was at this momentous crisis a most conspicuous bulwark of the reformation. The territories of the state were very circumscribed, and its resources proportionally limited; but the virtue of the people, with the wisdom and energy of its rulers, secured to this little republic a more honourable fame than power or arms could have bestowed. It afforded an asylum to many of the persecuted protestants who rendered its walls venerable by their piety and learning. The academy of Geneva, which was a university without the name, could boast of various professors of the highest reputation. Calvin, the first professor of divinity, was distinguished by his genius and eloquence as well as by his learning. His chair was now occupied by Beza; who was likewise a man of eminent talents, and who with his profound knowledge of theology united many of the graces of polite literature. He had been a gay and lively poet in his early youth, nor did he discontinue his intercourse with the Muses at a very advanced age. Melville, who had only attained the age of twenty-five, and who was not less eager to learn than willing to teach, became a student under this able and venerable professor. Notwithstanding the disparity of their years, they formed a cordial friendship with each other. From Bertram, the professor of oriental languages, he acquired a knowledge of Syriac. The Greek professor was Franciscus Portus, a native of Candia, who was very familiarly acquainted with the ancient language of his native country; but, like all the modern Greeks, he pronounced it according to accent, and with a total disregard of quantity. In their friendly intercourse with each other, Melville ventured to dispute the propriety of this practice, and some-

Melville. times provoked him to exclaim, "You Scots, you barbarians, will, forsooth, teach us Greeks the pronunciation of our own language!" The professor of the civil law was Henry Scrimger, who was greatly distinguished by his classical learning, as well as by his knowledge of ancient jurisprudence. He was educated at St. Andrews, Paris, and Bourges, and after having been employed as tutor to the sons of Bochetel, the French secretary of state, he was engaged as private secretary to the bishop of Rennes, whom he accompanied on his embassy to different courts of Italy. At a subsequent period he resided at Augsburg, where he was retained by Ulrich Fugger, a member of a family conspicuous for its opulence, and for its munificent encouragement of learning. He was employed in collecting rare books and manuscripts for this gentleman's magnificent library. His attachment to the reformed doctrines had induced him to abandon a fair prospect of advancement in France; and Calvin having invited him to Geneva, he was admitted to the freedom of the city, and was appointed professor of philosophy in the academy. After retaining the office for two years, he exchanged it for the professorship of the civil law. This chair he filled till the time of his death, and he left behind him the character of a very learned and worthy man. His different employments had enabled him to acquire considerable wealth; and at the distance of a league from Geneva he built a neat villa, called Vilet, and collected a valuable library, which included many ancient manuscripts. He had earned the reputation of an excellent Grecian, and had devoted much labour to the illustration of Greek authors; but the only work of this denomination which he lived to publish was an edition of the Novellae Constitutiones of Justinian and other emperors, elegantly printed by his friend H. Stephanus in the year 1558. A sister of Scrimger had married Melville's eldest brother; and this family connexion must have had a tendency to strengthen the attachment of two individuals who were likewise mutually attracted by their common love of letters.

In the year 1572 the atrocious massacre of St. Bartholomew spread such dismay among the French protestants, that many of them were induced to abandon their native country. Geneva was crowded with these refugees; and at one time it contained no fewer than one hundred and twenty French ministers. "The academy," as Dr. McCrie has stated, "overflowed with students, and the magistrates were unable to provide salaries for the learned men whom they were desirous to employ, or to find situations for such as were willing to teach without receiving any remuneration." It was at this period that Joseph Scaliger, who bears the first name in the annals of modern erudition, was appointed a professor of philosophy. He had paid a visit to Geneva two years before, and Melville had then been honoured with his acquaintance. He entered upon his professorship in the month of October 1572, and resigned it after an interval of two years. The academy derived additional lustre from the presence of Hotman and Bonnefoy, two very learned civilians, who had likewise fled from the daggers of the assassins, and who experienced the same cordial reception and liberal treatment. To the former the magistrates allotted a salary of 800, and to the latter a salary of 700 florins a year: Hotman lectured twice a-week on the civil law, and Bonnefoy thrice a-week on the oriental jurisprudence, that is, the jurisprudence, secular and ecclesiastical, of the Greek empire; a branch of study to which he had devoted much attention, and which he illustrated in a work published in the year 1573. It is expressly stated that Melville attended the lectures of Hotman; and, as his excellent biographer suggests, "there can be little doubt

that he also availed himself of the opportunity of attending those of Bonnefoy, which were still more intimately connected with those studies to which he had now devoted his chief attention."

After having retained his professorship for five years, he was at length induced to revisit his native country. Some of his own relations had warmly solicited his return; and their arguments were strenuously seconded by Andrew Polwarth, with whom he had been acquainted at St. Andrews, and who had now arrived at Geneva as travelling tutor to Alexander Campbell, the youthful bishop of Brechin. The magistrates of the city and the professors of the academy were reluctant to be deprived of the services of a scholar who had already afforded sufficient indications of his talents and learning. Beza addressed to the general assembly a letter in which he stated, that, as the greatest token of affection which the church of Geneva could shew to the church of Scotland, they had suffered themselves to be deprived of Andrew Melville, in order that his native country might be enriched by his gifts. The bishop and his fellow-travellers having commenced their journey in the spring of 1574, traversed Franche Comté, and, proceeding by Lyon, sailed down the Loire to Orleans. On their arrival at Paris, Melville, at the suggestion of Lord Ogilvy, visited the College of the Jesuits, and was there engaged in a controversy with James Tyrie, one of the antagonists of Knox. Their disputation was renewed for several successive days, and might have been of longer duration, if the archbishop of Glasgow had not used some threatening expressions which induced the friends of Melville to hasten his departure. He quitted the French metropolis on the 30th of May, in company with the bishop and his tutor. Having embarked at Dieppe, they landed at Rye, and proceeded to London, where they remained for only a short time; and having then purchased horses, they pursued their journey by way of Berwick, and arrived at Edinburgh in the beginning of July 1574.

Melville had already distinguished himself by his Latin poetry, and his reputation as a man of talents had reached his native country.¹ The earl of Morton, regent of the kingdom, was desirous of retaining him in the capacity of a domestic chaplain; and very soon after his arrival, George Buchanan, Alexander Hay, clerk of the privy council, and Colonel James Halyburton, were the bearers of such a proposal, which however he did not think it expedient to accept. He had no wish to become a courtier; and he was persuaded that his labours would be most available to his countrymen, if he were placed in one of the universities. In the mean time, he paid a visit to his brother Richard at Baldov; where he devoted some portion of his time to the instruction of his nephew James Melville, who had recently taken his master's degree at St. Andrews, but who found that his uncle was a teacher very unlike those by whom he had previously been trained. His services however were speedily required in a different station. On the death of John Douglas, who had accumulated the offices of archbishop of St. Andrews, provost of St. Mary's College, and rector of the university, a proposition was made for placing him at the head of the college; but on being very strongly urged to accept of a similar appointment at Glasgow, he was finally induced to give it the preference. Having visited the scene of his future labours, he returned to Baldov, and again left it about the end of October. Accompanied by his brother John and by his nephew, he proceeded by way of Stirling, where he spent two days, and was gratified with an opportunity of seeing the young king, then in the ninth year of his age. Here "he conferred at

Melville. length" with Buchanan, the king's preceptor, who was then engaged in writing his History of Scotland; and here he likewise met with Dr. Moncreiff, with whom he had been well acquainted at Geneva. Thomas Buchanan, the nephew of his illustrious friend, accompanied him to Glasgow; where he was immediately installed in the office of principal, and where he found the university in a very unprosperous condition. When he commenced his academical labours, about the beginning of November 1574, his only coadjutor was Peter Blackburne, who officiated as a regent, and managed the scanty revenues of the foundation. Of the prodigious exertions of the principal himself, the following enumeration will enable us to form a correct estimate. We are first of all informed, that he initiated his students in the principles of Greek grammar. "He then," says Dr. McCrie, "introduced them to the study of logic and rhetoric; using as his text-books, the Dialectics of his Parisian master, Ramus, and the Rhetoric of Talaeus. While they were engaged in these studies, he read with them the best classical authors, as Virgil and Horace among the Latins, and Homer, Hesiod, Theocritus, Pindar, and Isocrates, among the Greeks; pointing out, as he went along, their beauties, and illustrating by them the principles of logic and rhetoric. Proceeding to mathematics and geography, he taught the Elements of Euclid, with the arithmetic and geometry of Ramus, and the geography of Dionysius. And agreeably to his plan of uniting elegant literature with philosophy, he made the students use the Phænomena of Aratus, and the Cosmographia of Hunter. Moral philosophy formed the next branch of study; and on this he read Cicero's Offices, Pardoxes, and Tusculan Questions, the Ethics and Politics of Aristotle, and certain of Plato's Dialogues. In natural philosophy he made use of Fernelius, and commented on parts of the writings of Aristotle and Plato. To these he added a view of universal history, with chronology and the art of writing. Entering upon the duties of his own immediate profession, he taught the Hebrew language, first more cursorily by going over the elementary work of Martinus, and afterwards by a more accurate examination of its principles, accompanied with a praxis upon the Psalter and books of Solomon. He then initiated the students into Chaldee and Syriac; reading those parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel that are written in Chaldee, and the epistle to the Galatians in the Syriac version. He also went through all the common heads of divinity, according to the order of Calvin's Institutions, besides giving lectures on the different books of Scripture. This course of study was completed in six years.² During the second year, his nephew became one of the regents, and instructed his pupils in Greek, logic, and rhetoric; and in the ensuing year he taught them mathematics and ethics. He was the first professor who in any of the Scottish universities had publicly read the Greek authors in the original. Another regent was afterwards added to this scanty establishment. In 1577 Blaise Laurie was appointed teacher of the Greek language and of Roman eloquence; James Melville of mathematics, logic, and ethics; Blackburne, who likewise held the office of oekonomus, of physics, and astronomy; while the learned principal, whose previous labours had been so multifarious, restricted himself to divinity and oriental languages. A separate teacher of Hebrew was appointed about the period of his removal from Glasgow. During the year last specified, the parsonage of Govan, situate in the immediate vicinity, was annexed to the university, and it then became his duty as principal to officiate in the parish church. The learning, the talents and energy of Melville speedily raised this university from its ruinous condition, and secured for it the reputation of being the first seminary in the king-

dom. Before he completed his second academical year, his Melville. celebrity as a public teacher had begun to be very widely diffused: students were afterwards attracted from all parts of the country, and among these were not a few graduates from St. Andrews, who were laudably disposed to learn what their former masters could not teach. Various individuals who afterwards rose to eminence were here trained under his discipline. In this catalogue we find the name of John Spotswood, archbishop of St. Andrews, who certainly did not regard his old master with any peculiar veneration: we likewise find the name of Andrew Knox, bishop of the Isles, and afterwards of Raphoe, with those of Sir Adam Newton, Sir James Fullerton, Sir Gideon Murray, and Sir Edward Drummond, who were all more or less conspicuous at court. Newton, a man of talents and learning, was the tutor, and afterwards the secretary of Prince Henry. Melville sustained the discipline of the university with great vigour and address, and he was frequently placed in situations which required the aid of both; for some of the students, connected with powerful families, were guilty of most flagrant insubordination, and collected a mixed multitude to overawe the principal and the rector. Two of those delinquents were Mark Alexander Boyd, related to the noble family of that name, and Alexander Cunningham, related to the earl of Glencairn, who both proceeded to acts of outrageous violence, and being supported by many other disorderly youths, as well as by many adherents of their respective families, were at first disposed to set all academical authority at open defiance. Cunningham, who had assaulted J. Melville with a drawn sword, was finally reduced to the necessity of making a public and humiliating apology, with his feet as well as his head uncovered. John Maxwell, a son of Lord Herries, had likewise been implicated in some very disorderly proceedings; but when his father was informed of this conduct, he hastened to Glasgow, and compelled him, on his knees, and in an open area of the college, to beg the principal's pardon.

Melville's influence in advancing the literature of his native country was great and lasting, nor was it less considerable in improving the condition of the Scottish church. A very motley species of episcopacy had been engrafted upon the reformation; and although the opulence, as well as the idleness and profligacy of the popish prelacy, was no longer retained, he perceived no advantage in the name and office of a bishop, in contradistinction to the name and office of a presbyter. The bishops of the apostolical age were presbyters, and the presbyters were bishops: with a variety in the name, there was no variety of office. He was a member of the general assembly convened at Edinburgh in March, as well as of that convened at the same place in August 1575. The lawfulness of episcopacy was debated in this latter assembly; and he there maintained the negative side of the question, in a speech which, as Spotswood admits, "was applauded by many." For the more mature discussion of this subject, the assembly appointed a committee of six; namely, Melville, Craig, and Lawson, on the one side, and Hay, Row, and Lindsay, on the other. After an interval of two days, they presented a report, in which they did not hold it expedient to answer the general question as to the lawfulness of such an episcopacy as was then established; but they declared "that they judged the name of a bishop to be common to all ministers that had the charge of a particular flock; and that by the word of God his chief function consisted in the preaching of the word, the ministration of the sacraments, and exercise of ecclesiastical discipline, with consent of his elders." If an unfit person should be nominated to the office of a bishop, they were of opinion that he ought to be tried and deposed by the gene-

Melville. ral assembly. They however admitted that, in addition to the charge of their own flocks, it might be expedient to entrust some ministers with the power of superintending a certain district, and there exercising a limited and defined jurisdiction.¹ The report was finally and fully approved by the assembly held in April 1576; and those bishops who had not already undertaken some parochial cure, were enjoined to select particular parishes for the exercise of their pastoral functions. This was the first step towards the abolition of diocesan episcopacy, but more important measures were yet to follow. The regent was by no means satisfied with these proceedings; and during the assembly of October 1577, he sent for Melville with the view of remonstrating against some measures which were then in contemplation. Finding that all other suggestions were unavailing, Morton had recourse to threats, and exclaimed, "There will never be quiet in this country till half a dozen of you are hanged or banished." The resolution of Melville was as little to be shaken by threats as by promises; and he returned an undaunted and characteristic answer, which could not fail to convince the noble earl that he had not selected a proper subject for such an experiment. Of the assembly held in Magdalene chapel at Edinburgh in the month of April 1578, Melville was chosen moderator. The Second Book of Discipline now received the sanction of this ecclesiastical judicature; and although it was not ratified by the privy council or parliament, it was acknowledged by the church as exhibiting the standard of her polity. It was likewise resolved that bishops should no longer be described as lords, but should be addressed like other ministers. This purification of the church was completed by the assembly of Dundee, convened in July 1580; when they "found and declared the office of a bishop, as then used and commonly understood, to be destitute of warrant from the word of God, and a human invention tending to the great injury of the church." This important resolution passed without one dissenting voice.

After a residence of six years at Glasgow, Melville was removed to St. Andrews, where he was installed as principal of St. Mary's College, in the month of December 1580. The office which he had vacated was filled by Thomas Smeton, who was likewise a man of learning, and is still remembered as the author of an answer to the virulent libel of Archibald Hamilton. The university of St. Andrews had very recently been subjected to a salutary reform, and this college had been appropriated to the study of divinity. The office of primarius professor of divinity was then conjoined, as it still continues to be, with that of principal. John Robertson read lectures on the Greek Testament; and James Melville, who had accompanied his uncle from Glasgow, was appointed professor of oriental languages, and began by initiating the students in Hebrew. The parliamentary commissioners had provided for the establishment of two chairs, which however were not yet filled. A more laborious task was thus imposed upon the principal, who not only taught systematic theology, but likewise "taught learnedly and perfectly the knowledge and practice of the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and rabbinical languages." In this new situation he had to contend with new difficulties. Robert Hamilton had been displaced to make room for Melville; some of the other regents were likewise superseded; and the professors of law and mathematics were removed from St. Mary's to St. Salvator's College. Here were some apparent grounds of private offence, and he had besides incurred the violent resentment of Aristotle's numerous friends; but his superior talents and learning, with the firmness and consistency of his personal character, enabled him to overcome all the unreasonable opposition which he had thus to encounter.

Melville. Of the political events which marked this period of Scottish history he was not an unconcerned spectator. The young king had unfortunately placed himself under the sole direction of two papists, whom he created duke of Lennox and earl of Arran; and a design was entertained of associating his mother in the government, and eventually of restoring the popish religion in the kingdom. A very general alarm was excited among the protestants, who, by a solemn bond or covenant, engaged themselves to maintain with their estates and lives the liberties of their country, and the profession of the reformed religion. This instrument, prepared by John Craig, and dated in the year 1580, was subscribed by the king himself, as well as by individuals of all other ranks. The restoration of episcopacy was naturally favoured by those who favoured popery and arbitrary power. On the death of Archbishop Boyd, the disposal of the see of Glasgow was left to the duke of Lennox, who made a simoniacal bargain with Robert Montgomery, minister of Stirling. In the month of October 1581, his case was discussed in the general assembly; and the king having declared that it was competent to proceed against him for personal misconduct or erroneous doctrine, Melville rose and presented a libel, comprehending fifteen articles of accusation. The assembly directed the presbytery of Stirling to investigate these charges, and to report their decision to the synod of Lothian, which was formally authorized to pronounce his sentence. For acting according to these instructions, the members of the synod were summoned before the privy council; where, by the mouth of Robert Pont, one of their number, they declined the jurisdiction of that tribunal, as incompetent to take cognizance of a cause strictly ecclesiastical. An assembly was held at St. Andrews in April 1582, and Melville was again elected moderator. On their resuming the consideration of Montgomery's case, the master of requests presented a letter from the king, requiring them to desist from all further proceedings respecting the archbishopric of Glasgow, and a messenger-at-arms soon afterwards delivered a more peremptory denunciation. Instead of being deterred by the threatened pains and penalties of rebellion, they resolved to continue the investigation, and finally declared that the accused was liable to the sentence of deposition and excommunication; a sentence which it was not however necessary to pronounce, as he appeared before the assembly, and, having withdrawn his appeal, solemnly promised to refrain from all further attempts at obtaining possession of the archbishopric. But such was the levity of his disposition, that he speedily forgot his promise. He was censured by the presbytery of Glasgow, and excommunicated by that of Edinburgh. These bold and decided measures could not fail to incense the court: a proclamation, declaring the excommunication to be null and void, was issued by the privy council; such individuals as should refuse payment of rents due to his see were ordered to be committed to the castle of Inverness; the university of Glasgow, which had joined in the opposition to the new archbishop, was subjected to a temporary interdict; the ministers of Edinburgh, who had publicly animadverted on the recent proceedings of the king and his courtiers, were repeatedly cited before the privy council, where they were exposed to contumelious treatment; and John Dury, one of their number, was banished from the city, and prohibited from exercising his functions. An extraordinary meeting of the assembly was held in consequence of these violent proceedings, and Melville resumed his seat as moderator. On the occasion of their meeting he preached a sermon, in which he inveighed against those who had introduced the bloody knife "of absolute power into the country, and who sought to erect a new popedom in the person of the prince.

Melville. The pope, he said, was the first who united the ecclesiastical supremacy to the civil, which he had wrested from the emperor. Since the reformation, he had, with the view of suppressing the gospel, delegated his absolute power to the emperor, and the kings of Spain and France; and from France, where it had produced the horrors of St. Bartholomew, it was brought into this country." They now prepared a remonstrance, complaining of their grievances, and craving redress; and a deputation of the members, with the moderator at its head, was named for the purpose of presenting this remonstrance to his majesty, who was then residing at Perth. It was accordingly presented to the king in council; and on its being read, the earl of Arran asked with an angry countenance, "Who dare subscribe these articles?" "We dare," said the undaunted Melville, and immediately signed his name; nor did the other commissioners hesitate to follow his example. The minions of power were overawed by their intrepidity, and dismissed them without any formal censure.

Patrick Adamson had been appointed archbishop of St. Andrews in the year 1576; and, as he was a man of elegant learning, and a Latin poet, there was at least one bond of union between him and the principal of St. Mary's. For some time they lived on terms of good neighbourhood, and Melville frequently preached at his request. With the assistance of his nephew, he supplied the place of a parochial minister for a considerable period, during a long-protracted vacancy. This vacancy continued for upwards of three years; and although three different individuals, Pont, Smeton, and Arbuthnot, were successively chosen, not one of them was finally settled at St. Andrews. He did not fail to make public animadversions on the conduct of those who had laboured too successfully to prevent such a settlement; and he likewise augmented the number of his enemies, by his severity in rebuking the more flagrant and prevalent vices of the inhabitants. On one occasion, the provost of the city abruptly quitted the church in the middle of the sermon, not without muttering his high displeasure at the unsparing zeal of the preacher. The gates of St. Mary's College exhibited placards, threatening to bastinate the principal, to set fire to his lodgings, and to expel him from the city. But in the midst of these excitements he continued firm and undismayed; nor did he shrink from the decisive measure of summoning the provost before the presbytery, for contempt of divine ordinances. He was soon afterwards exposed to danger from another quarter. He was cited to appear before the privy council on the 17th of February 1584, to answer to the charge of having, on the occasion of a fast kept during the preceding month, uttered certain seditious and treasonable words in his sermon and prayers. Furnished with ample testimonials of his loyalty, he repaired to Edinburgh, and having appeared before the council, he entered into a full explanation and defence of the expressions which he had actually employed. They nevertheless resolved to proceed against him, when he stated six different grounds of objection. The most material of these was, that his case ought, in the first instance, to be remitted to the ecclesiastical court, as the ordinary and competent judiciary in all matters connected with his conduct as a minister. The proceedings having been adjourned to the following day, he then presented a written protest, declining the jurisdiction of the privy council, and embodying the same reasons which he had formerly urged. Deputations from the presbytery and from the university of St. Andrews were in attendance; the one for the purpose of entering a protest for saving the rights of the church, and the other for the purpose of repledging this head of a college to the court of the rector. They were not however

permitted to execute their commission; and on the reading Melville. of Melville's declination, the king and his minion Arran were roused to unseemly rage. But they had to deal with a man whom the frowns of royalty could not intimidate, and he pleaded his own cause with the most unshaken firmness and resolution. In the course of his speech he appealed to the authority of the scriptures; and unclasping a Hebrew Bible that was suspended at his girdle, he threw it on the council-table, and challenged any of his judges to shew that he had exceeded his instructions. He was repeatedly ordered to withdraw, but was not permitted to hold any communication with his friends. Several witnesses were examined, but nothing tending to criminate him could be extracted from their evidence. He was however found guilty of behaving irreverently before the council, and of declining its jurisdiction, and was sentenced to be imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh, and to be further punished in his person and goods at the pleasure of the king. As he was not detained in custody, he had a brief interval for deliberating as to the most advisable course to be pursued; and his friends, as well as himself, were alarmed on ascertaining that his place of confinement was changed to Blackness castle, a dreary dungeon, kept by a dependant of the unscrupulous earl of Arran. Here his life would evidently have been exposed to danger; and finding it thus necessary to provide for his safety by flight, he secretly withdrew from Edinburgh, and next day proceeded to Berwick. This rigorous treatment of so learned and eminent a man excited no small degree of popular indignation. The ministers of Edinburgh had the courage to make mention of their exiled brother in their public prayers. With the view of removing the odium which had thus been incurred, the council issued a proclamation containing two averments that must have gained very little credence; namely, that he had been exposed to no danger of severe treatment, and that his exile was to be considered as voluntary. All these proceedings exhibit a glaring picture of the mode in which justice was then administered. We are not entirely disposed to think, with Dr. McCrie, that Melville urged a good and valid plea when he averred that, in the first instance, he was only amenable to the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical court. He was charged with having uttered seditious and treasonable words in the pulpit, and for such conduct he was certainly liable to ecclesiastical censure; but was the civil judiciary to suspend its right of investigating so grave a charge as this, and to pause till the ecclesiastical judiciary had duly deliberated whether any, and what censure was to be pronounced? Sins, however glaring, if the law does not rank them among crimes, may safely be left to the discipline of the church; but if the ecclesiastical tribunal had been found competent to interpose in cases of sedition and treason, what should have prevented it from interposing in cases of robbery and murder? It does not therefore appear to have been so unreasonable and unjust in Dr. Robertson to identify the plea advanced by Melville, with the claim which the popish clergy made to exemption from the civil jurisdiction.¹ True indeed it is that he only pleaded for the exclusive competency of the ecclesiastical court to judge in the first instance; but it is equally true that the architects of the canon law did not at once complete all the different stories of their motley edifice. His declining the jurisdiction of the civil court could however constitute no crime or misdemeanour, except in the contemplation of judges actuated with the spirit of inquisitors; and it was no small aggravation of their unjust proceedings, that they altered the terms of a sentence after it had been pronounced and recorded.

During the absence of Melville, the presbyterian form of

Melville. polity was again superseded, and the most arbitrary maxims of civil government were now avowed and maintained by the king and his submissive parliament. Some of the faithful ministers were committed to prison, and a considerable number sought a place of refuge in England, where they had no reason to expect the most favourable reception. The universities, being closely connected with the church, did not escape the visitations of arbitrary power. Having obtained permission to visit London, he proceeded on his journey, bearing with him instructions from the exiled nobles who were then residing at Berwick. During the ensuing month of July, he paid a visit to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; and "he was received at these ancient seats of literature in a manner becoming his profession and merits, and expressed himself much delighted with the magnificence of the colleges, the gravity of the professors, and the courteous manners of the students." After their arrival in London, the noble exiles could not succeed in their application for the use of a separate place of worship. Balcanquhall and Davidson, having preached on one or two occasions, were silenced by the bishop of the diocese; but the lieutenant of the tower invited the Scottish clergymen to preach in his chapel, which was exempted from the bishop's jurisdiction. There Melville read a Latin lecture on the book of Genesis; and we are informed that this lecture attracted a considerable auditory, and was much admired, particularly by the earl of Angus, who is said to have possessed a more cultivated mind than any other Scottish peer of that age. The government of James had become so generally unpopular, that the exiles were at length emboldened to revisit their native country; where their principal leaders were speedily joined by a military force so formidable as at once to dissolve the power and influence of the earl of Arran. After an absence of twenty months, Melville attended the banished lords on their return, and arrived in Scotland in the beginning of November 1585. He lost no time in using his best endeavours for the recovery of those liberties of which the church had recently been deprived. Some dissensions had arisen among his brethren in consequence of the defection of those who had suffered themselves to be entangled in the trammels of episcopacy; and as it was of no small importance to secure a general co-operation in the attempt to procure a repeal of the laws which had effected a change in the ecclesiastical polity, he undertook a mission to various parts of the kingdom, for the express purpose of securing this desirable union. A deputation of the ministers waited upon those noblemen who had promised to use all their influence for restoring the purity of the church; but having received evasive and unsatisfactory answers, they were constrained to make a direct application to the king, who gave them a very ungracious reception: he brought a railing accusation against them, "and made use of expressions which were not more disrespectful to them, than they were indecorous from the mouth of a king. The consequence was, that he was obliged to hear some things in reply, which were not the most grateful to his royal ears. Melville defended himself and his brethren with spirit, and hot speeches passed between him and his majesty at several interviews."

In the mean time, the affairs of the university were equally unprosperous. Thomas Buchanan, provost of Kirkhill and minister of Ceres, had begun to assist James Melville in his academical labours; but the nephew, as well as the uncle, having been compelled to quit his station, Robertson was the only professor who continued to reside in St. Mary's College. Its sole direction then devolved upon the archbishop, who himself undertook to read lectures on divinity; but as his principal topics in the chair, as well as in the pulpit, were the supremacy of the king and the pre-eminence of bishops, he found so little favour with his auditors, that he speedily relinquished his thankless task. He

next obtained authority for converting the college into a seminary of philosophy; and Robertson, who had recommended himself by the piety of his conduct, was promoted to the office of principal. Finding his former station thus occupied, Melville repaired to Glasgow, where he resided with his friend Andrew Hay, rector of the university. Here he might have been reinstated in the principal's chair, which had remained vacant since the death of Smeton in 1583; but he was anxious to restore the theological seminary at St. Andrews, and to that city he accordingly returned in the ensuing month of March. The college had been placed on its former foundation, and, after an interval of two years, he now resumed his labours. The synod of Fife met at St. Andrews in the course of the following month; and in a sudden, and indeed irregular manner, the archbishop was called to an account for having exercised an unlawful office, and endeavoured to overthrow the liberties of the church of Scotland. Sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him; and, in return, having prepared a similar sentence against Melville and some of his brethren, he directed his servants to read it in the church. This censure of Adamson was not confirmed by the general assembly, but he nevertheless found himself constrained to make some abatement of his pontifical pretensions. In order to smooth the archbishop's return to his diocese, the king had recourse to the expedient of subjecting Melville to a temporary relegation. He accordingly received a written mandate to confine his residence to the north side of the river Tay; nor was it without considerable difficulty that he at length succeeded in his attempt to procure its revocation. Adamson had in the mean time been appointed to read in St. Salvator's College a Latin lecture, which all the members of the university were required to attend; but he had the mortification to find his auditory much diminished when Melville's voice was again heard in the divinity school; and this mortification appears to have been not a little increased by the reduced numbers of the congregation when he officiated in his own church. The chapel of St. Mary's having attracted too many auditors, he procured a mandate from his majesty, prohibiting the professors of that college from preaching in the vernacular tongue. When Du Bartas, an envoy from the king of Navarre, accompanied James to St. Andrews, they came to hear a lecture from Melville, after having given him an hour's notice of their intention. He at first endeavoured to excuse himself by stating that he had already delivered his ordinary lecture, and that he was altogether unprepared for such illustrious auditors; but as his majesty would not admit of such an excuse, he pronounced an extemporaneous discourse, which is said to have given "satisfaction to all the hearers, except his majesty, who considered some parts of it as levelled against his favourite notions of church government." The king and the ambassador were on the following day entertained by the archbishop; who, in addition to the pontifical banquet, regaled them with an elaborate defence of prelacy and the ecclesiastical supremacy of princes. Melville, who was present, and took notes of the principal topics, had no sooner returned to his college than he ordered the bell to be rung, and conveyed to the king an intimation of his intention to deliver another lecture after an interval of two hours. Although he received two messages, partly compounded of threats and partly of blandishments, he was not to be deterred or diverted from his purpose: he declared that, even at the risk of his life, he would use his best endeavours to counteract the effects of pernicious doctrine; but so far as a sacred regard for the cause of truth would permit, he promised to be very tender of his majesty's honour. This lecture attracted a very numerous auditory, and, among the rest, the king, Du Bartas, and Adamson. With equal judgment and dexterity, he made no formal reference to the previous speech of the

Melville. archbishop, but quoted from popish books, which he then produced, all his leading positions and arguments relative to episcopacy; and all these popish doctrines he refuted with such force of reason and eloquence, that Adamson, who had previously obtained the royal permission to defend his own cause, is described as having been struck as dumb as the seat on which he had placed himself. The learned monarch was however induced to make a speech, which was interspersed with certain scholastic distinctions, and closed with an injunction to respect and obey the archbishop; an injunction which can scarcely be supposed to have fallen upon very willing ears. He afterwards deigned to partake of a collation in the college, and was regaled with "wet and dry confections, and all sorts of wine."

Of the general assembly held in June 1587, Melville was elected moderator; and he was likewise nominated one of their commissioners for attending to the proceedings in the ensuing session of parliament. On the 17th of May 1590, he was present at the coronation of the queen, and then recited a Latin poem which he had composed for the occasion, and which was immediately published.¹ His antagonist Adamson died on the 19th of February 1592, after having been deprived of his office, together with all its emoluments. The king, who was incapable of all generous feeling, left him to poverty and contempt; and such were the vicissitudes of his condition, that he was at length constrained to address a letter to Melville, which, with a profession of contrition for his previous conduct, contained the sad disclosure of his destitute situation. Melville hastened to pay him a visit, and not only procured contributions from his friends at St. Andrews, but even continued for several months to support him from his private resources. The death of this accomplished and unfortunate prelate was speedily followed by the formal restoration of presbytery. Some progress had been made during a former session, and in the month of June an act of parliament ratified the government of the church by general assemblies, provincial synods, presbyteries, and particular sessions. In the year 1593 St. Mary's College derived a considerable accession of strength from the appointment of John Johnston to a professorship of divinity. He supplied the place of Robertson; and in 1586 Patrick Melville had succeeded his cousin, the professor of oriental languages, who was now minister of Kilrenny. On the death of James Wilkie, principal of St. Leonard's College, Andrew Melville had in 1590 become rector of the university. This office, which for a series of years he continued to hold by re-election, he discharged with his usual energy. He was elected moderator of the general assembly convened in May 1594, and he bore a conspicuous part in many of the public transactions of that period. Together with his nephew James, and other two clergymen, he accompanied the king on his expedition against the popish lords, after the battle of Glenlivet; and his majesty, who had requested their attendance, found him a very faithful and able counsellor. With the view of maintaining the rights of the church, he from time to time had various audiences; and being more distinguished by intrepid sincerity than by smooth complacency, he could not often anticipate a gracious reception. In the year 1596, when the design was ascertained of recalling the popish lords from banishment, he went to Falkland with other commissioners of the general assembly, for the purpose of remonstrating against a measure which they considered as so pernicious. They were admitted to a private audience; but, from its commencement, the king testified the utmost impatience, and Melville was at length elevated to the pitch of taking his majesty by the sleeve, and calling him "God's silly vassal;" when he proceeded to address him in a strain which,

as Dr. McCrie has remarked, was "perhaps the most singular, in point of freedom, that ever saluted royal ears, or that ever proceeded from the mouth of a loyal subject, who would have spilt his blood in defence of the person and honour of his prince." While some applaud the courage of this undaunted presbyter, others may be equally disposed to condemn him as guilty of unwarrantable insolence to his sovereign. These opinions we shall not pause to discuss; but it may be proper to add, that his majesty's passion is said to have subsided while Melville thus continued to admonish him of his duty. For several years ensuing, the king made repeated attempts to regulate the church according to his own arbitrary notions; nor in any of those attempts did he meet with a more strenuous opponent than the worthy principal of St. Mary's. A royal visitation of the university took place in the year 1597, when the utmost anxiety was manifested to discover some tenable ground of accusation against an individual so obnoxious to the court. Although sufficiently aware of the situation in which he stood, he sharply rebuked the king in church for having commanded the preacher to discontinue his sermon. As the visitors were unable to find any pretext for censuring his conduct as a member of the university, they only ventured to deprive him of the office of rector: but they had recourse to another method of incapacitating him for opposing his majesty's schemes of innovation; under the pains and penalties of treason, they prohibited all professors and regents, not being pastors in the church, from sitting as members of any ecclesiastical court. Disregarding this prohibition, which proceeded from no competent authority, he did not hesitate to take his place in the provincial synod and the general assembly; but when he presented himself at Dundee as a member of assembly, James was moved with violent indignation, and commanded both him and his colleague Johnston to quit the town. In the month of November 1599, he however bore a very conspicuous part in the conference to which the king invited the principal clergy at Holyroodhouse. At every step he most strenuously contended against the restoration of episcopacy. Of the assembly held at Montrose in the year 1600, he was likewise chosen a member, but a royal mandate again prevented him from taking his seat; he however appears to have sat in the assembly convened at Burntisland in May 1601. In the course of the following year, he gave great offence in a discourse from the pulpit, by condemning the unfaithfulness and secular spirit which, as he averred, had become so common among his brethren. In order to restrain this freedom of speech, the king, by his sole authority, commanded him, under the pain of treason, to confine himself within the walls of his own college. By the intercession of the queen, his first sentence was so far relaxed as to permit him to move within a circuit of six miles from St. Andrews.

James, on succeeding to the English throne, found his hands sufficiently strengthened to complete his long-meditated changes in the Scottish church. When the parliament met at Perth in August 1606, it was clearly understood that the episcopal office was to be restored to its former privileges, and that the statute which had annexed to the crown the temporalities of the sees, was to be abolished. Melville was despatched by the presbytery of St. Andrews, with instructions to co-operate with delegates from other presbyteries in maintaining the liberties of the church; but, as may easily be supposed, they travelled on a very fruitless errand. He made an ineffectual attempt to obtain a hearing; and they could only record their opinions in the form of a strong and decided protest, which could not be received or acknowledged by the house. But a desperate expedient was at length devised for removing this scourge of episco-

Melville. pacy from that sphere of action, in which his opposition had been found to be so formidable. He had received a letter from the king, commanding him to repair to London before the 15th of September, in order "that his majesty might treat with him and others, his brethren, of good learning, judgment, and experience, of such things as would tend to settle the peace of the church, and to justify to the world the measures which his majesty, after such extraordinary condescension, might find it necessary to adopt for repressing the obstinate and turbulent." A similar requisition was addressed to James Melville, and to other six clergymen, namely, Scott, Carmichael, Watson, Balfour, Colt, and Wallace. They reached the English metropolis before the limited time; and soon after their arrival, they received invitations from the archbishops of Canterbury and York, but did not deem it advisable to accept them. Having been previously presented to the king, they were commanded to attend him at Hampton Court on the 22d of September; and were then informed that the important questions which he wished to propose for their consideration, related to the pretended assembly of Aberdeen, and to the best means of restoring the tranquillity of the church. They were directed to return next day, and then to deliver their opinions. When they again presented themselves, they found his majesty surrounded by the nobility of both kingdoms, and attended by the Scottish archbishops, as well as by commissioners from the conforming section of the clergy. The king was seated between the prince of Wales and the metropolitan of all England. The question relative to the assembly of Aberdeen was manifestly captious, and was proposed for the sole purpose of entangling the bold and honest presbyters in a dangerous snare. The two archbishops and their adherents had no hesitation in condemning that assembly as unlawful, factious, and turbulent; but not one of the faithful eight could be induced to utter a single word tending to implicate their brethren in any measure of blame. Melville delivered his opinion at great length, and with a degree of fire and impetuosity which astonished the English nobility and clergy. As to the other questions, relative to the pacification of the church, all the eight replied with one voice, that the only expedient for accomplishing that purpose was a free assembly. "The ministers," as Dr. McCrie has stated, "were dismissed with unequivocal marks of approbation on the part of those who were present. The English nobility, who had not been accustomed to see the king addressed with such freedom, could not refrain from expressing their admiration at the boldness with which Melville and his associates delivered their sentiments before such an audience, at the harmony of views which appeared in all their speeches, and the readiness and pertinency of the replies which they made to every objection with which they were urged. The reports of the conference which were circulated through the city made a strong impression in their favour. It had the effect of dispelling the cloud of prejudice which had been raised against them and their brethren; and convinced the impartial that, instead of being the turbulent and unreasonable men they had been represented to be, they were only claiming their undoubted rights, and standing up for the ecclesiastical liberties of their country against the lawless encroachments of arbitrary power."

They were immediately followed to their lodgings at Kingston by Alexander Hay, one of the Scottish secretaries of state, who read to them a formal order not to return to their own country, or to approach the court without special permission. They were afterwards brought before the Scottish council, assembled at the earl of Dunbar's apartments; and various artful expedients were successively and ineffec-

tually tried for moving their resolution or corrupting their integrity. One part of the discipline to which they were subjected was that of listening to the foolishness of preaching. The third controversial sermon which they were condemned to hear in the chapel royal, was preached by Dr. Andrews, bishop of Chichester; who from the text relative to the silver trumpets blown by the priests at the Jewish convocations, undertook to prove that the right of convoking ecclesiastical councils properly belongs to Christian emperors and kings. Did the bishops and deans, to whom they were thus constrained to listen, seriously expect presbyterian auditors to be moved, except with derision, by such mystical drivel as this? On St. Michael's day, they attended the same chapel of Hampton Court, and were not a little scandalized at the popish appearance of what is superstitiously called the altar; which displayed two closed books, two empty chalice, and two candlesticks with unlighted tapers. The prince of Vaudemont, son to the duke of Lorraine, was present, with other foreigners of distinction; and after the close of the service, he naturally enough took occasion to observe, that he saw no reason why the church of England should not unite with the church of Rome. One of his attendants was so strongly impressed with the same opinion, that he exclaimed, "Nothing but the adoration of the host is here wanting to the mass." Melville returned to his lodgings, and immediately vented his indignation in the following epigram:

Cur stant clausi Anglis libri dno regia in ara,
Lumina coeca duo, pollubra sicca duo?
Nunc sensum cultumque Dei tenet Anglia clausum,
Lumine coeca suo, sorde sepulta sua?
Romano an ritu dum regalem instruit aram,
Purpuream pingit religiosa lupam?¹

As Melville and his brethren were beset with spies, a copy of this epigram was speedily conveyed to the king, who viewed the author as guilty of a heinous offence. On the third of November he was brought before the English council at Whitehall, where he boldly avowed himself as the writer of the obnoxious verses; nor did he hesitate to express in plain prose his feelings of grief and indignation at seeing the superstitions of popery retained in a church professing to be reformed. He however added that he had not given any person a copy of the epigram; and that if he had committed an offence, he was not amenable to the English council, especially when his sovereign was not present. The archbishop of Canterbury then began to expatiate on the aggravated nature of his offence, which he described as coming within the definition of treason. "My lords," he indignantly exclaimed, "Andrew Melville was never a traitor; but there was one Richard Bancroft (let him be sought for), who, during the life of the late queen, wrote a treatise against his majesty's title to the crown of England, and here is the book." Bancroft, who was totally unprepared for such an act of retaliation, sat in mute astonishment, while the Scottish presbyter proceeded to accuse him of profaning the sabbath, and of silencing and imprisoning faithful preachers of the gospel for scrupling to conform to the vain and superstitious ceremonies of an antichristian hierarchy. He gradually advanced so near this pontiff as to shake his lawn sleeves; and, calling them Romish rags, he thus continued to address him: "If you are the author of the book called 'England Scottizing for Geneva Discipline,' then I regard you as the capital enemy of all the reformed churches in Europe, and as such I will profess myself an enemy to you and your proceedings, to the effusion of the last drop of my blood; and it grieves me that such a man should have his majesty's ear, and sit so high in this honourable council."

Melville. Dr Barlow, bishop of Lincoln, having at length ventured to interpose, was subjected to the same unceremonious treatment; nor did his sermon on the beauties of episcopacy, with which he had recently edified the presbyterian brethren, escape severe animadversion. Melville was finally admonished by the lord chancellor Ellesmere to add modesty and discretion to his learning and years; and was moreover informed that he had been found guilty of scandalum magnatum, and was to be committed to the custody of the dean of St. Paul's till the king should signify his pleasure as to his further punishment. In the custody of Dr. Overall he remained till the 9th of March 1607, when he received from the council an order to remove to the bishop of Winchester's residence in London: but as he was not attended by the messenger who delivered this order, he paid a visit of several weeks to his brethren. On the 26th of April he was again summoned before the council. The king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland had recourse to the expedient of stationing himself in a closet where he could hear without being seen; and he received the appropriate reward of hearing himself mentioned with the utmost freedom of speech by the most undaunted of his subjects. The poor archbishop, the earls of Salisbury and Northampton, with the lord treasurer, were all exposed to the reprehensions of a man who spared none of their vices, public or private. By a most inquisitorial and iniquitous sentence, worthy of Rome or Toledo, he was committed as a prisoner to the Tower. His nephew, who had written no epigram on the superstitions of the church, was commanded to fix his residence at Newcastle upon Tyne, and not to move beyond a distance of ten miles from that town.¹ Their brethren were permitted to return to Scotland, but were each of them restricted to particular limits. Such at that period was the spirit of the English government, and such were the unhallowed means of upholding a protestant church. The spirit of popery is not always confined to the popedom.

Melville's office was soon afterwards declared vacant, and Robert Howie, a man of respectable attainments in learning, succeeded him as principal of St. Mary's College. For the space of about ten months, the prisoner was subjected to the most rigorous treatment: no person was allowed to visit him, he was not permitted to retain a servant, and was even denied the use of pen and ink. But his manly spirit was still unsubdued, and he endeavoured to amuse his solitary hours by composing Latin verses, which with the tongue of his shoe-buckle he engraved on the walls of his prison-house. From these unnecessary restraints he was at length released by the intercession of some of his friends at court, and particularly of Sir James Semple, who was himself a man of learning, and an able supporter of the presbyterian polity. Before the close of the year 1607, the protestants of Rochelle endeavoured to obtain his services, as professor of divinity in their college, but James could not yet be induced to open the doors of his prison. After another interval of twelve months, he was moved by the suggestion of some person of rank to address the king in Latin-verse, but in this case verse was incapable of soothing the ear of the royal poet. By the advice of Archbishop Spotswood, whose sincerity he afterwards found strong reasons to distrust, he addressed to the privy council a letter in which, without compromising his own dignity of character, he endeavoured to persuade them that an imprisonment of two years was a sufficient punishment for any offence which he might have committed. But these unjust judges

likewise turned a deaf ear to his supplication, and he was doomed to remain a prisoner for an additional period of two years; at the expiration of which, he was released at the intercession of the duke of Bouillon, who invited him to fill a professor's chair in the protestant university of Sedan. Notwithstanding his tedious confinement, he had enjoyed a large measure of good health; but the vigour of his constitution was at length impaired, and having been seized with a fever, he obtained permission to leave the Tower for a few days, but under the condition of not removing beyond the distance of ten miles from London. His health returned, and it became necessary to prepare for a voyage, which, it may easily be conceived, he undertook with some degree of reluctance. He was now in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and had long filled an honourable and conspicuous station in his native land, to which he felt that strong attachment which his countrymen so generally feel. But the wrath of kings and bishops is sometimes not easily appeased; and this aged, learned, and conscientious divine was compelled to relinquish the hope of returning to the land of his nativity, and after having so far declined into the vale of years, to proceed in search of a new country.

* Ἀπὸ μὲν ἀπὸ ἀετῶν παράσιμον,
* Ἀπὸ δὲ χθὼν ἀνδρὶ γεννῶν πατρίδ.

On the 19th of April 1611, he embarked for France; and having spent a few days at Rouen and Paris, he arrived at Sedan in the course of the ensuing month. In this university he was associated with several of his countrymen: the office of principal was held by Walter Donaldson, LL.D., who was likewise professor of natural and moral philosophy; and another professor of philosophy was John Smith. Melville was installed as a professor of divinity, and to him was assigned the department of biblical literature, while his colleague Tilenus taught systematic theology. Another member of the theological faculty was Jacques Cappel, who taught the Hebrew language with no small reputation. Daniel Tilenus, a native of Silesia, was morose in his temperament, and did not prove a very desirable associate. After having written against the opinions of Arminius, he became an avowed convert to them; and being refuted by Melville in his academic lectures, he quitted the university of Sedan, and was afterwards conspicuous as a bitter opponent of the opinions of Calvin. Our learned countryman still retained a large portion of mental vivacity, nor were his bodily senses materially impaired: at the age of sixty-eight, he could read the smallest Hebrew characters without the aid of spectacles. He was however exposed to occasional visitations of colic, gout, and gravel; nor did he cease to cherish some lingering, though faint, hope of being permitted to deposit his bones in the land of his fathers. His mortal career was however terminated at Sedan in the year 1622, when he had attained the age of seventy-seven.

Melville was small in stature, and was alike conspicuous for his vivacity of body and mind. His elasticity of spirit, which he appears to have retained till the last years of his life, was accompanied with a warm and impetuous temperament, which however was free from all personal malignity. Whenever he engaged in any undertaking that he deemed important, he displayed a degree of ardour and zeal which could not fail to excite the surprize of persons more cool, as well as more obtuse than himself. His zeal was pure and disinterested, nor did he hesitate to endanger his liberty or life in maintaining those principles of civil and religious

Melville, freedom to which his heart and soul were so entirely devoted. From his early youth, he was distinguished by fervid and consistent piety. He was a man of the most unblemished integrity, nor did his enemies, who were sufficiently numerous, venture to charge him with sordid or selfish motives of conduct: their accusations chiefly relate to his want of personal reverence for the king, and to his want of veneration for bishops, with all their Romish remnants; and it must indeed be admitted that, although possessed of the most genuine loyalty, he treated his sovereign with very little ceremony, and that he regarded the English and the Romish prelacy as essentially partaking of the same spirit. As to his personal treatment of the king, it is without hesitation to be conceded that the reverence which may not be due to the individual is at least due to the office. The other question, as to the genuine character and inevitable tendency of a lordly prelacy, we shall here suffer to rest on its own merits. In private life he appears to have been very amiable and affectionate: if his indignation was easily roused, it was also easily appeased; and he was free from that arrogance by which men of intellectual superiority have sometimes rendered themselves more feared than respected. Melville was unquestionably possessed of very uncommon talents, and he had acquired an ample and varied store of erudition. His proficiency, not merely in classical, but even in oriental literature, was not denied by such of his contemporaries as were least disposed to bestow commendation which he did not undeniably merit. For the depth as well as the extent of his theological learning, he was generally admired by those who had the best opportunities of forming a correct judgment. We have already observed that he had devoted considerable attention to the study of law, and some of his enemies represented him as too much addicted to the study of politics, while his friends were equally persuaded that all his talents and all his energies were uniformly directed to the most beneficial purposes. Such was his indifference to literary reputation that although so capable of writing in prose or verse, he committed very few works to the press.¹ During his long and active life, and under all its vicissitudes, he continued to feel the attractions of the Roman Muse. Nature had bestowed upon him the fancy and feeling of a poet, and his verses frequently display uncommon felicity and elegance.