JOHN, archdeacon of Moray, occupies a conspicuous place in the literary annals of Scotland, but his personal history is still involved in some degree of obscurity. It is evident that several writers have confounded him with Sir John Bellenden of Auchinoul. Their names are indeed the same, but this is the only circumstance to support their identity; and the judge appears to have survived the archdeacon for so long a period as twenty-seven years. Dr Bellenden was probably educated in the university of St Andrews; a student of the same name, and described as belonging to the Lothian nation, was matriculated in 1508; and this date agrees with the known chronology of his life. As Bale refers his birth to the eastern part of the kingdom, he may have been born in the county of Haddington or Berwick. His education is represented as uncommonly liberal; and as he took the degree of D.D. in the university of Paris, his course of academical study must have been very complete. Dr Campbell has remarked that his phraseology occasionally savours of a French education; it must however be recollected, that the poets of this age were too generally disposed to adopt terms of a French as well as Latin origin; and that the practice cannot be considered as peculiar to those who had been educated in France. Sir David Lindsay, in a poem supposed to have been written in the year 1530, mentions him in the following terms:
Bet now of late is starte up hastelie, Ane cunning clark quilkil wrytht craftellie, Ane plant of poetis callit Ballendye, Quhose ornat warcis my wit can nocht defyne: Get he into the courte auctoritie, He will preceit Quintyn and Kenedie.
The literary merit of Bellenden does not seem to have been disregarded by the court; but he experienced the precarious fortune which so frequently attends courtiers. For this information we are partly indebted to his poem entitled the Proeme of the Cosmographe:
And fyrst occurrit to my remembering, How that I wes in servise with the kyng, Put to his grace in zeris tenderest, Clerk of his comptis, thought I wes inding, With hart and hand, and euery other thing That mycht hym pleis in ony maner best, Quhill he inuy me from his servise kest, Be thaym that had the court in governynge, As bird but plumes kerryt of the nest.
In the epistle subjoined to his translation of Boyce's history, he likewise states that he had been in the service of the king from his majesty's early infancy. It has been conjectured that he was employed in superintending the young monarch's education; but he makes no allusion to such an appointment, of which it would have been very natural to remind the king, if they had ever stood in the relation of tutor and pupil; and he very clearly informs us that his place in the royal household was that of clerk of accounts. James's preceptor was Gavin Dunbar, afterwards promoted to the archbishopric of Glasgow. Being dismissed from the king's service, as he states in the verses last quoted, Bellenden is supposed to have entered into that of Archibald earl of Angus, because a person of the same name was the earl's secretary in the year 1528. In the course of that year, Angus and some of his relations were accused of treason: John Ballentyne, who is described as his secretary, presented himself at the bar of the parliament on the 4th of September, and delivered a written protest in the name of the earl of Angus, his brother George Douglas, and his uncle Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, stating the reasons why they ought not to be compelled to answer to the charge of treason which had been preferred against them; and in the afternoon of the same day, the secretary again made his appearance, probably because they found such a protest altogether unavailing, and explained the conditions on which the earl was willing to surrender to his trial. But in a transaction of this nature we should expect to find him employing a lawyer rather than a clergyman; and accordingly we are informed by Hume that the individual who thus appeared for the Douglases was "Sir John Ballandine, who was then one of their dependers, and afterward justice clerk."
Whatever may have been Bellenden's employment at this period, it is certain that he was soon afterwards an attendant at court; and that at the request of the king he undertook a translation of the Roman history of Livy, and the Scottish history of Boyce. In this formidable task he appears to have been engaged in 1530 and the three ensuing years. The treasurer's accounts contain various entries respecting the remuneration of his labours: the sum total which he is there stated to have received amounts to L114; namely, L78 for the translation of Boyce, and L36 for that of Livy. But this was not the only reward which he obtained. The archdeaconry of Moray had become vacant during the vacancy of the see; and two clergymen, Duncan and Harvey, having solicited the pope in favour of James Douglas, were convicted of treason, and their property escheated to the crown. The annual emoluments arising from the pensions and benefices of John Duncan, who was parson of Glasgow, and from all the property belonging to Alexander Harvey for the two successive years 1536 and 1537, were bestowed upon Bellenden. For the first grant he paid a composition of 350 marks, and for the second, of L300. It must have been upon the present occasion that he was promoted to the archdeaconry, which had lapsed to the crown in consequence of the vacancy in the bishopric; it was perhaps about the same period that he was appointed a canon of Ross; and this appears to have been the full extent of his preferment in the church, while many worthless and illiterate men were enjoying its highest dignities and emoluments.
His translation of Hector Boyce's history of Scotland is said to have been printed in the year 1536. Neither the title-page nor the colophon exhibits the year of the im-
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1 "Interes Musarum memorie feliciter litabat Joannes Balantyn, archidiaconus Moraviensis, accuratissima sedulitate in literis a pueris usque educatus." (Gray, Oratio de illustribus Scotiae Scriptoribus, p. xxx.) 2 "Lindsay's Works," vol. i. p. 287. 3 "Biographia Britannica," vol. i. p. 572, 2d edit. 4 Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 322-4. 5 Hume's History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus, p. 258. Edinb. 1644, fol. 6 It is not to be supposed that the king was able to read Latin authors with much facility. Lindsay, vol. i. p. 259, mentions that he was taken from school at the age of twelve; and the metrical paraphrase of Boyce's history has more particularly described the state of his knowledge:
The kingis grace I knaw is nocht perfyte In Latyn toung.
We cannot however suppose that the king was entirely ignorant of the Latin language. It may perhaps be considered as a proof of his knowledge, that he urged Buchanan to write against the Franciscan friars, and to render his satire more poignant. "Igitur acrim in eos jussus scribere, eam silvam, qua nunc sub titulo Franciscani est edita, inchonatum regi tradidit." (Buchanan's Vita, p. 3.) Sir David Lindsay, in a poem composed about this period, exhorts James to study the chronicles of Scotland; and it might possibly be his intention to refer his grace to Bellenden's translation. (Works, vol. i. p. 302.)
The comikillis to knaw I the exhort, Quilkil may be mirreour to thy majestie; Thare sal thou find baith gude and evill report, Of everilk prince efter his qualitie: Thocht they be deid, thair dedlis sal nocht dee. Traist well how salt be stylit in that storie As thou deservis, put in memorie.
Maitland's Biographical Introduction, p. xl. 7 Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. ii. p. 596. Bellenden, pression; so that the date here assigned, if it is not merely conjectural, must have been ascertained from some other document. The book was printed by Thomas Davidson, who styles himself printer to the king. On the 26th of July 1533, a sum of money was paid to Bellenden "for ane Cronikle gevin to the kingis grace," but this must have been in manuscript. The printed book describes the translator as archdeacon of Moray and canon of Ross; the bishopric did not become vacant till the year 1534, and, as we have already seen, the archdeaconry was vacated at a later period. Under the date of April 1538, when he obtained a grant of the two clergy-men's emoluments for the preceding year, he was not described as a dignitary. It has likewise been stated that the work was reprinted in 1541, but such copies as we have had an opportunity of inspecting seem all to belong to the same edition. It was Bellenden's intention to execute a complete version of Livy, but he did not advance beyond the first five books, nor was his translation printed till the year 1522. From a manuscript in the Advocates Library, it was then published by Mr Maitland, to whose antiquarian zeal we are likewise indebted for a new edition of his other translation, as well as for some curious and interesting notices of Boyce and Bellenden.
The archdeacon is reported to have continued the history of Scotland for one hundred years subsequent to the period at which the printed narrative closes; and a passage in his Proheme of the History seems to imply that he had at least formed such a project.
Bring nobyll dedis of mony yeris gone Als fresche and recent to our memorie As thay war bot in-to our dayis done, That nobyll men may haue baith laud and glorie For their excellent brut of victorie. And vit becaus my tymbe hes bene so short, I thynk, quhen I haue oportunitie, To ring thair bell in-to ane othir sort.*
These two works exhibit the most ample specimen of ancient Scottish prose that has descended to our times, and are distinguished beyond most others by their fluency and neatness of style. Bellenden frequently surprises a modern reader by the happy vivacity of his expressions; nor can we peruse these translations without being convinced that his learning and talents had qualified him for original composition. In his version of the Scottish historian, he does not adhere very scrupulously to his author; he has assumed the liberty of adding, as well as of retrenching, and may therefore be considered as having exceeded the proper limits of a translation. He has at all events produced a very curious, and, to those who have a competent knowledge of the language, a very entertaining work. To his version of Boyce's history he has subjected an epistle, addressed to James the Fifth, and written in a strain of manly freedom: of the distinction between a king and a tyrant, and of the miseries to which wicked princes have generally been exposed, he speaks in bold and unequivocal terms, which may excite some degree of surprise, but which cannot fail of exciting a high degree of respect for his character. Bellenden was then a dignitary of the church, and might still hope for preferment; and in all ages ambitious churchmen have been sufficiently disposed to encourage sovereigns in their most flagrant attempts to encroach on the liberties of their subjects; but the conduct of the worthy archdeacon, and of some other benefited clergymen of the ancient Scotch church, must completely exempt them from this censure. John Mair, who was provost of St Salvator's College, and treasurer of the chapel royal, and Hector Boyce, who was principal of King's College, canon of Aberdeen, and rector of Tyrie, have each written the history of their native country, and have each evinced a laudable zeal in vindicating the unalienable rights of the people. If such sentiments were cherished by some of the catholic clergy, it is not surprising that they should animate the breast of Buchanan, who had never been accustomed to pace in the trammels of the church, and who had more completely imbibed the spirit of classical antiquity.
Whatever might be the liberality of his political sentiments, Bellenden seems to have been unprepared for any change in the national religion. Stern and unbending virtue is not on all occasions to be expected among mankind; truths which threaten the extinction of dignity and emoluments cannot so easily be embraced; nor must we forget the invincible force of prejudices, admitted in early youth.
* Heir beginsis the Hystory and Croniklis of Scotland. Fel.—It was "imprentit in Edinburgh be me Thomas Davidson, prenter to the kyngis nobyl grace." On the reverse of the title Davidson has inserted an address, consisting of five stanzas, and entitled "The Excusation of the Prentar." In the library of the university of Edinburgh, and in that of the duke of Hamilton, there are splendid copies of this work printed on vellum.
† Keith's Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops, p. 150.
‡ Herbert's Typographical Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 1474.
§ The History and Chronicles of Scotland: written in Latin by Hector Boece; and translated by John Bellenden, archdean of Moray, and canon of Ross. Edinb. 1621, 2 vols. 4to. The first five books of the Roman History: translated from the Latin of Titus Livius by John Bellenden, &c. Edinb. 1622, 4to. The two works are uniformly and elegantly printed.
|| Balei Scriptores Britanniae, cent. xiv. p. 223.
* This metaphor, which is not peculiarly elegant, seems to have been a favourite with the Scotch poets, and particularly with the bishop of Dunkeld.
Ane nothir wyse that bell sall now be rouny Than euer was to fore herd in our toung. (Douglas's Virgil, p. 36.)
For quhy the bell of rhetorick bene rouny Be Chawcer, Gower, and Lidgate laureat. (Lindsay's Works, vol. i. p. 284.)
In the Proheme of the History, Bellenden takes occasion to suggest that it is impossible for a king to possess at once the hearts and the goods of his barons.
Schaw mony reasonsis how na king micht halif His baronis hartsis and thair goir stanis.
* It however appears from the following stanza of the same Proheme, that he was not insensible to the profligate lives of the clergy.
Schaw how of kirkis the superliew rent Is ennime to gud religion, And makis prestis more sleuthfull than fervent. In pictuins werkis and devotion, And not allanerly perdition Of commoun well be bullis sumptuous, Bot to evill prelatis gret occasion To rage in lust and life maist viciss. and cherished through a lengthened life. The archdeacon of Moray is represented as a strenuous opponent of the reformation, which he did not live to see completed. He is said to have visited Rome, and there to have terminated his career in 1550. The particular object of his journey has not been recorded; nor are we better informed with respect to his age; but if he was entered at the university in 1508 and died in 1550, we may conjecture that he had scarcely exceeded his sixtieth year. In this academical record however we are only guided by the identity of names, without the aid of any additional evidence.
Bellenden has been extolled as a master of every branch of divine and human learning, and his attainments have even extorted applause from the zealous bishop of Ossory, John Bale, who has so frequently treated the papists with unremitting severity. In his poetical remains, which are not numerous, he frequently displays an excursive fancy, with considerable taste and skill as a versifier; and it is therefore to be regretted that so few of his compositions have been preserved. The most poetical of his works is the Proheme of the Cosmographe: the principal incidents are borrowed from the ancient fiction of the choice of Hercules; but he has imparted to his copy the characteristic air of an original. Nor is his Proheme of the History destitute of poetical merit. These two poems, as well as the metrical prologue to his translation of Livy, bear internal evidence of having been composed for the instruction of the young king. Two copies of his unpublished prolusion on the conception of Christ are to be found in Bannatyne's MS.
Besides the works already enumerated, Bellenden is said to have composed a tract on the Pythagorean letter, De Litera Pythagorae; nor is there any necessity to adopt Dr Mackenzie's emendation, and substitute Vita for Litera: the letter of Pythagoras was upsilon, which he had selected as his favourite in consequence of certain emblematical properties indicated by its form. Vossius has mentioned Bellenden as the author of a work on cosmography; but this is evidently his translation of Boyce's preliminary description of Scotland. It was stated by Dr Campbell that many of his writings were then in the possession of persons of distinction in Scotland; and he particularly mentions that several of his poems were in the possession of Laurence Dundas, apparently the professor of humanity at Edinburgh. It is not however improbable that all these were merely the works with which we are still acquainted, and that the poems to which he alludes were modern transcripts.
(x.)
Bellenden, William, is a Scottish name familiarly known to those who have explored the recesses of modern literature, but with respect to the history of the individual himself very few particulars have hitherto been discovered. Whether he belonged to any family of distinction, William, we are not informed; nor is the gentility of his birth attested by Dempster, who supplies the only biographical notices with which we are acquainted. According to this contemporary authority, he was a professor in the university, and an advocate in the parliament of Paris. We must apparently conclude that he relinquished the functions of a professor, and betook himself to the practice of the bar. The same writer has stated that both Queen Mary and King James employed him in some diplomatic services, and that the latter nominated him master of requests. That he bore such a title, is sufficiently ascertained from his own publications, in all of which he is described as "Magister supplicum Libellorum Augusti Regis Magnae Britanniae;" but there are obvious reasons for suspecting that his office, if not unconnected with emolument, was altogether unconnected with official duty; for he appears to have spent the greater part of his life in France. Magister Libellorum was an officer in the court of the Roman emperors, and it was his duty to receive and examine petitions addressed to the prince. A similar office was established in several modern kingdoms; and Maître des Requêtes being an honourable title in France, Bellenden might solicit and obtain such a title from a sovereign who could not so easily bestow an ample salary. The terms employed by Dempster in describing his appointment, seem rather to indicate honour than emolument. It is supposed that he must have belonged to the Scottish establishment, for, in England, a person who bore this title was a judge of a particular court: of the court of requests, which professed to distribute justice gratuitously, the lord privy seal was chief judge, and was assisted by two judges called masters of requests, the one for the common, and the other for the civil law. In a list of the officers of state in Scotland, "William Bellenden, magist. supplic. libellor," is said to have succeeded Mark Ker as master of requests in 1608, and to have been succeeded in 1624 by Sir James Galloway, afterwards Lord Dunkeld. But the date of his appointment seems to have been borrowed from that of his earliest publication; and Bellenden continued to describe himself as master of requests in the year 1625.
If he practised at the bar in Paris, his early education must in all probability have been French; and if he was a regent or professor in one of the colleges, he may be supposed to have adhered to the popish religion. Since the massacre of St Bartholomew, which had proved fatal to Ramus and other men of learning, there probably had been no protestant professor in any college of Paris. His nephew, William Bellenden, was a catholic and a priest.
Bellenden's earliest publication bears the subsequent
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1 "Jacobus Balandenus, Moraviensis ecclesiæ archidiaconus, in celebri Sorbonæ schola magistri laureæ donatus, summo studio populariam suorum animos heresi laborantes, cum scribendo tum disputando, conatus est liberare." (Concens de duplici Statu Religiosis opus Scotæ, p. 107.) Both Conn and Dempster have inaccurately given him the name of James.
2 "Rome tandem obisse dicitur." (Bale, cent. xiv. p. 223.) "Obit Rome, anno, ut patet, 1559." (Dempster, p. 107.) The former writer speaks with some degree of hesitation respecting the place, and the latter respecting the date.
3 "Laboriosæ curæ et incredibili studio artes omnès humanæ atque etiam divinas percipit." (Dempster Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent. Scotæ, p. 107.)
4 Xenophonis Memorabilia, lib. ii. § 21.
5 Bibliotheca Britannica, vol. i. p. 573.
6 "Gallium Bellendanus, sive Ballantinus, honestissimo bonarum artium studio Parisii inclinavit professor in academia, patronus causarum in suprema Galliarum senatu; tum demum oratoris munere honestatus principibus suis, Reginae Mariae, filioque Jacobi, fidelem operam navavit, a quo posteriori magistris libellorum supplicium elogio honifico est donatus. Eius sunt: Principis Ciceronis, lib. l. Orator Ciceronis, lib. l. Senator Ciceronis, lib. l. In omnia Ciceronis Opera Observationes, lib. l. Vivit adhuc Lucetia, et plura militur." (Dempster Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum, p. 119. Bononia, 1627, 4to.)
7 "Bibliotheca de Vertorum qua ad Jus Civile pertinent Significationes, tom. ii. p. 769. edit. Heinricii.
8 See Sir Thomas Smith's Commonwealth of England, p. 245. edit. Lond. 1633, 12mo.—"Therein, for the most part," says Sir Thomas Ridley, "are handled poore miserable persons causes, as widows and orphanes, and other distressed people, whose cases wholly relie on pietie and conscience." (View of the Civile and Ecclesiastical Law, p. 276, 2d edit. Oxford, 1634, 4to.) The court of requests was instituted about the ninth of Henry VII., and was dissolved by statute, 16 Car. I. c. 10.
9 Scot's Saggering State of the Scots Statement, p. 189. Edinb. 1754, 12mo. Bellenden's title: "Ciceronis Princeps, Rationes et Consilia bene gestae rendi firmandique Imperii: ex his repetita que ex Ciceronianis defluxere fontibus in libros xvi. de Statu Rerum Romanarum, qui nondum lucem accepereunt." Paris. 1608, 8vo. This was followed by: "Ciceronis Consul, Senator, Senatusque Romanus: illustratus publici observatione juris, gravissimi usus disciplina, administrandi temperata ratione; notatis inclinationibus temporum in Rep. et actis rerum in Senatu: quae a Ciceroniana nondum profecta fluxerex memoria annorum dccc. congesta in libros xvi. de Statu Rerum Romanarum: unde jam manavit Ciceronis Princeps, dignus habitus summorum lectione principium. Editio prima. Ad inclytum serenissimumque Principem Henricum Principem Scotiae et Walliae." Paris. 1612, 8vo. This mode of noting a first edition is somewhat pleasant; nor must we overlook the important intelligence that his former publication had been thought worthy of the attention of mighty princes. Both these works partake of the nature of a cento. In the first of them, the author has collected from the writings of Cicero the various precepts and remarks which relate to the origin and principles of regal government, and with no small labour has combined the whole in a regular and systematic form. Adopting a similar plan in the other work, he has compiled a treatise on the dignity and authority of the consuls, and on the constitution of the Roman senate. Although this may seem an effort of mere diligence, it required both learning and ability to present such materials in such a shape.
His next publication is entitled "De Statu prisci Orbis in Religione, Re politica, et Litteris, liber unus. Ad serenissimum Principem Carolum Principem Scotiae et Walliae." Paris. 1615, 8vo. This is a work of more originality, and affords a very favourable specimen of the author's talents and erudition. It exhibits, in a very condensed form, a sketch of the history of philosophy and civil polity, tracing its progress among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. Of this work very few copies appear to have been separately published; for the author speedily combined all the three tracts in a volume which bears the following title: "De Statu libri tres. I. De Statu prisci Orbis in Religione, Re politica, et Litteris. II. Ciceronis Princeps, sive de Statu Principis et Imperii. III. Ciceronis Consul, Senator, Senatusque Romanus, sive de Statu Reip. et Urbis imperantis Orbi. Primus, nunc primum editus: casteri, cum tractatu de Processu et Scrip- toribus Rei Politicae, ab autore aucti et illustrati." Paris. 1615, 8vo. Notwithstanding this notice on the title-page, we suspect that the second and third treatises were not actually reprinted. Each treatise has a distinct series of pages, and it was therefore easy to combine the whole. In its separate form and in this volume, Ciceronis Consul exhibits the very same list of typographical errors. Dr Parr remarks, that in all the copies which he had seen, the date seems to have been changed from m.d.c.xv. to m.d.c.xvi. by the printer adding the letter i after the impression had been finished; but in a copy belonging to the Advocates Library, the additional letter is apparently printed, not with a type, but with a pen; and in a copy belonging to the writer of this notice, the original date remains unaltered. Another minute variation may likewise be mentioned; in the latter copy, the plate in the second treatise is not impressed on the reverse of a printed page of the dedication. In a paper written by Dr Bennet, the late bishop of Cloyne, we find the subsequent statement respecting the books De Statu. "The great work being now completed, Bellenden looked forward with a pretty well-grounded expectation for that applause which his labour and his ingenuity deserved. But his views were disappointed, by one of those events which no art of man could foresee or remedy. The vessel in which the whole impression was embarked was overtaken by a storm before she could reach the English coast, and foundered with all her cargo. A very few copies only, which the learned author either kept for his own use, or had sent as presents by private hands, seem to have been preserved from the destruction which awaited the others." We are not aware of any early authority for such a statement; and the learned prelate, misled by an imperfect recollection, seems to have misapplied Dr Warton's account of Bellenden's larger work, which is likewise an account that requires confirmation. There is a manifest fallacy in supposing that almost all the impression of such a book must have been destined for England. After a long interval, the fame of the author was greatly extended by Dr Parr's publication of "Guilielmi Bellendeni, Magistri supplicum Libellorum Augusti Regis Magnae Britanniae, &c. de Statu libri tres. Editio secunda longe emendation." Lond. 1787, 8vo. The preface, extending to seventy-six pages, is written in a style of elegant and powerful Latinity, but is too much replenished with modern politics, and, in the opinion of some readers, is not free from a considerable mixture of pedantry. It is however such a composition as no other Englishman of that period could perhaps have produced.
The last work which Bellenden himself published is of very small extent, consisting merely of two short poems: "Caroli Primi et Henricae Marie, Regis et Reginae Magnae Britanniae, &c. Epithalamium; et in ipsas angustissimas Nuptias, celeberrimamque Legationem eorum causa obitam, &c. panegyricum Carmen, et Elogia." Paris. 1625, 4to. This little work has likewise been republished by Dr Parr.
But the greatest labour of his life was a posthumous production, which made its appearance under the title of "Guilielmi Bellendeni Scotti, Magistri supplicum Libellorum Augusti Regis Magnae Britanniae, de tribus Luminiis Romanorum libri sex-decim." Paris. 1633, fol. With respect to the date of this publication, one bibliographer frequently contradicts another, and some minute particulars require explanation. In the Advocates Library, that great repository of Scottish literature, there are two copies of the book, which exhibit considerable variations. In both of them we find the same extract of the royal privilege, dated on the third of September 1631. The one bears, "Achevé d'imprimer pour la premiere fois, le vingtseptieme jour d'Aoust 1633." Of this copy the dedication, "Henrico Borbonio, Sacro-sancti Imp. Rom. Principi, illustriss. Metens. Presuli," is subscribed by the author's nephew, "Guilielmus Bellendenus, Presbyter Scotus." It consists of nearly four pages, but is not fol-
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1 This work of Bellenden did not escape the notice of the learned and indefatigable Fabricius, Bibliographiae Antiquariae, p. 490. edit. Hamb. et Lips. 1716, 4to. 2 Another learned philologer had recently set him the example: "Julii Caesaris Bulengeri Juliodunensis de Theatro Ludique Scenicis libri duo. Editio prima." Tricassibus, 1603, 8vo. 3 Dr Parr, in his famous preface to Bellenden, p. v., mentions this work with much commendation. "Stylus est Bellendeni per librum huncesse, dilucidus in primis, neque exquisitus nimis. Sententiae hic illice occurrunt reconditae, quibus adhibita, tanquam obrosa, est ratio. Operis porro totius its sunt aptae inter se colligatae partes, nihil ut sit asperum, vel hiuleum, vel dissolutum, nihil in alienum irruerit locum, nihil non positum sit usu." 4 See Dr Johnstone's Memoirs of Parr, p. 182. followed by a preface. The other copy has a similar title-page, but with the date of 1634; and the note subjoined to the privilege bears, "Achevé d'imprimer pour la première fois, le vingtseptième jour de Mars 1634." It contains a different and a shorter dedication, "Potentissimo et invictissimo Principi Carolo Magnae Britanniae Regi, &c." subscribed by the publisher, Toussaint du Bray. This dedication is followed by a brief preface, "Lectori benevolo." In other respects the two copies present a complete resemblance; and it appears sufficiently evident that one set of copies must have been intended for the French, and another for the British market.
Of this elaborate work, which consists of no fewer than 824 pages, printed on a small type, the subject is very faintly indicated by the title. It is the author's object to combine, in an historical form, all the statements and reflections of Cicero which relate to the civil and religious affairs of Rome; and his plan is executed in such a manner as to display the essence of the Roman history, from the foundation of the city to the extinction of the republic! In the text he adheres to his former method of expressing himself in no other words than those of Cicero; but he has interspersed occasional observations, drawn from various sources of information. The latter part of the work, relating to the times of his great prototype, is very ample and satisfactory; and here it is evident that the materials must be chiefly derived from the epistles. The reader cannot fail to perceive that this is precisely such a digest as would be necessary for an historian of the life and times of Cicero; it is such a digest as Dr Middleton professes to have formed by his own unaided industry. "My first business therefore," as he is pleased to state, "after I had undertaken this task, was, to read over Cicero's works, with no other view than to extract from them all the passages that seemed to have any relation to my design; where the tediousness of collecting an infinite number of testimonies scattered through many different volumes; of sorting them into their classes, and ranging them in proper order; the necessity of overlooking many in the first search, and the trouble of retrieving them in a second or third; and the final emission of several through forgetfulness or inadvertency; have helped to abate that wonder which had often occurred to me, why no man had ever attempted the same work before me, or at least in this enlarged and comprehensive form, in which it is now offered to the public." If previously acquainted with the work of Bellenden, he must have been fully aware that this labour of collecting and digesting was altogether superfluous; nor is it probable that such a book was unknown to Dr Middleton, a man of extensive learning, and the keeper of a great public library, that of the university of Cambridge. He has therefore been repeatedly accused of plagiarism; and it must be confessed that the accusation does not appear to be destitute of foundation. "It may be worth observing," says Dr Warton, "that he is much indebted, without acknowledging it, to a curious book little known, entitled G. Bellendeni Scoti de tribus Luminibus Romanorum, &c. It comprehends a history of Rome, from the foundation of the city to the time of Augustus, drawn up in the very words of Cicero, without any alteration of any expression. In this book Middleton found every part of Cicero's own history, in his own words, and his works arranged in chronological order, without further trouble. The impression of this work being shipped for England, was lost in the vessel, which was cast away, and only a few copies remained that had been left in France." The same opinion respecting the biographer's plagiarism is adopted, and strongly expressed by Dr Parr.
M. Morabin, the French biographer of Cicero, who soon followed Dr Middleton, has, in the dedication of his work, acknowledged his acquaintance with Bellenden, but has not mentioned him in the most appropriate terms. "Si Bellenden, dans son traité De tribus Luminibus Romanorum, a évité cet écueil, en rassemblant tout ce qu'il y a d'historique dans Cicéron, et en n'employant que les expressions de cet orateur, il a donné dans un autre; et sa compilation, de quelque utilité qu'elle puisse être à un auteur qui embrasserait une histoire générale, ne saurait guère servir dans la composition d'une histoire particulière, qu'à fournir la matière d'un gros livre qui ne serait lu." But certainly an ample collection of materials was in either case desirable; and for a person who undertook to write the history of Cicero in two volumes quarto, it might have been thought necessary to inspect all the materials which Cicero had himself furnished.
Bellenden has bestowed upon his book a title which to many readers must require explanation. It appears to have been his original intention to compose, on a similar plan, three different works illustrative of the civil and literary history of Rome. The first of his three luminaries is Cicero, who has supplied him with the materials of civil history. According to Lenglet du Fresnoy, the other two whom he had in his contemplation were Seneca and the elder Pliny, and we may conclude that, by means of the same laborious arrangement and digest of their respective writings, he intended to exhibit a comprehensive view of the moral and physical science of the Romans.