Hector, a distinguished historian, was born at Dundee about the year 1465; being descended of a family which for several generations had possessed the barony of Panbride or Balbride. The orthography of his surname is extremely fluctuating; it is to be found under the various modifications of Boece, Boeth, Boeis, Boys, Boyse, Boyes, Boyis, Boiss, and Boyce. The first of these, we strongly suspect, was never a name belonging to any living man in Scotland: it was formed by the French from the name of the latest Roman classic, and on that account appears to have been adopted by Bellenden in his translation of the history. The real Scottish name is a monosyllable; and we adhere to the orthography of Boyce, as being most common in our own time. He received the first rudiments of learning at Dundee, and completed his course of study in the university of Paris, where he took the degree of B.D. He was appointed a professor of philosophy in the College of Montaigne; and in this seminary he became intimately acquainted with Erasmus, who in two epistles has testified his esteem for Boyce's character. In his academical station he had already distinguished himself by his talents and attainments, when King's College was founded at Aberdeen by the munificence of William Elphinstone, bishop of the diocese. The papal bull for the erection of a university had been obtained in the year 1494, but the buildings were not sufficiently advanced, nor did the lectures commence, till about the year 1500. It was not without some degree of hesitation that he consented to quit the lettered society of Paris, and to become principal of this new college; but having at length accepted the conditions, he proceeded to Aberdeen, and experienced a kind reception from the canons of the cathedral, several of whom he has commemorated as men of learning. It was a part of his duty as principal to read lectures on divinity. The sub-principal was his friend William Hay, a native of the same county, who had been his fellow-student at Dundee and at Paris, and who at length succeeded him as head of the college. The principal's brother, Arthur Boyce, doctor of the canon, and licentiate of the civil law, was appointed professor of the canon law, and afterwards became a judge of the court of session. The common branches of science and literature were taught with zeal and success; and the prosperity of the institution was greatly promoted by the talents and by the reputation of Boyce.
The emoluments of his office were not such as appear
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1 *Erasm. Opera*, tom. i. tom. iii. col. 1784, edit. Clerici.—The first of these epistles introduces a catalogue of his own writings. Here his learned correspondent is named Hector Becotius, nor has Dr Jortin subscribed his more common appellation. (*Life of Erasmus*, vol. ii. p. 723.)
2 In Orenta's Description of King's College, Aberdeen, p. 154-7, he is erroneously called William Gray.
3 Boyce has mentioned his brother in very favourable terms. "Arthurius Boethius, mihi germanus, in pontificio jure doctor, in civico (ut dicunt) licentiatus, vir multae doctrinae, plus literarum indies consecuturus, quod studium e perniciet animo idoneae; ubi locum jura pie et acie profiteretur. Est in eo vis et gravitas eloquentiae; vulgari genere plurimum abhorrens." (*Abdulahus Episcoporum Vitae*, p. 63, edit. Edinb. 1825, 4to.) very dazzling to modern eyes. "Boethius, as president of the university," says Dr. Johnson, "enjoyed a revenue of forty Scottish marks, about two pounds four shillings and sixpence of sterling money. In the present age of trade and taxes, it is difficult even for the imagination so to raise the value of money, or so to diminish the demands of life, as to suppose four and forty shillings a year an honourable stipend; yet it was probably equal, not only to the needs, but to the rank of Boethius. The wealth of England was undoubtedly to that of Scotland more than five to one, and it is known that Henry the Eighth, among whose faults avarice was never reckoned, granted to Roger Ascham, as a reward of his learning, a pension of ten pounds a year." But it is necessary to recollect that this was not the only preferment which Boyce enjoyed; he was not only principal of King's College, but was likewise a canon of Aberdeen, and rector of Tyrie in the same county. Under the date of July 14, 1527, we find a "grant to Maister Hector" of an annual pension of fifty pounds, to be paid by the sheriff of Aberdeen out of the king's casualties. And on the 26th of July 1529 was issued a "precept for a letter to Mr Hector Boys, professor of theology, of a pension of L50 Scots yearly, until the king promote him to a benefice of 100 marks Scots of yearly value; the said pension to be paid him by the customers of Aberdeen." In 1533 and 1534, one half of his pension was however paid by the king's treasurer, and the other half by the comptroller; and as no payment subsequent to that of Whitsuntide 1534 has been traced in the treasurer's accounts, he is supposed to have obtained his benefice soon after that period.
His earliest publication, the lives of the bishops of Aberdeen, appeared under the subsequent title: "Episcoporum Murthlacensium et Aberdonensium per Hectorum Boetium Vitae." Impressa sunt hac prelo Ascensionis, ad Idus Maias anno Salutis M.D.XXII. 4to. This little volume, which is of great rarity, was lately reprinted, for the members of the Banmattyn Club. "Hectoris Boetii Murthlacensium et Aberdonensium Episcoporum Vitae, iterum in lucem editis." Edinb. 1825, 4to. Of the bishops of this diocese the seat was originally at Murthlack, in the county of Banff, but it was afterwards transferred to Aberdeen. His notices of the early prelates are necessarily brief and unsatisfactory, and the most interesting portion of the book is that which relates to his liberal patron Bishop Elphinstone; of whose private history and public services he has given a circumstantial detail, which occupies nearly one third of the volume. Here we likewise find an account of the foundation and constitution of the college, together with some notices of its earliest members.
His more famous work, the history of Scotland, was published after an interval of five years: "Scotorum Historiae prima gentis origine, cum aliarum et rerum et gentium illustratione non vulgari: praemissa epistola nuncupatoria, tabellisque amplissimis, et non ponitenda Isagogae, Boyce. quae ab hujus tergo explicabatur diffusius... Quae omnium impressa quidem sunt Iodici Badii Ascensii typis et opera: impensis autem nobilis et praeclarii viri Hectoris Boetii Deidoniun, a quo sunt et condita et edita." Fol. The title and colophon have no date, but the commendatory epistle by Alexander Lyon, precentor of the cathedral of Elgin, bears the fifteenth of March 1527. This edition contains seventeen books. Another edition, containing the eighteenth book and a fragment of the nineteenth, was published by Ferrieri, who has added an appendix of thirty-five pages. Paris, 1574, fol. Though published at Paris, the latter edition appears from the colophon to have been printed at Lausanne.
The composition of Boyce's history displays much talent; and if the style does not always reach the standard of ancient purity, it displays a certain vein of elegance, which generally renders it attractive. The author's love of his native country, and his anxiety to emblazon the heroic deeds of his countrymen, are conspicuous in every part of the work; nor must we leave unnoticed those aspirations after political freedom, by which he was honourably distinguished at a period when the human mind was so generally chained to the earth by the most slavish maxims of submission. It may be recorded as commendation, instead of reproach, that his principles of polity have been represented as no better than those of Buchanan. Boyce's imagination was however stronger than his judgment; of the extent of the historian's credulity, his narrative exhibits many unequivocal proofs; and if this circumstance admits of a sufficient excuse from the common propensity of the age in which he lived, his work presents strong indications of another fault, for which it is not so easy to find an apology. According to Bishop Lloyd, he put Fordun's tales into the form of an history, and pieced them out with a very good invention, that part in which he chiefly excelled. He professes to have obtained from the monastery of Icolmkill, through the good offices of the earl of Argyll and his brother the treasurer, certain original historians of Scotland, and among the rest Veremundus and Campbell, of whose writings not a single vestige is now to be found. In his dedication to the king, he is pleased to state that Veremundus, a Spaniard by birth, was archdeacon of St Andrews, and that he wrote in Latin a history of Scotland from the origin of the nation to the reign of Malcolm the Third, to whom he inscribed his work. According to Bishop Stillingfleet, whose opinion has been adopted by many other writers, these historians never existed except in Boyce's fertile imagination. From the charge of downright fabrication he has very recently been vindicated by Mr Maitland; but notwithstanding the ingenuity of the defence, we find it extremely difficult to divest ourselves of a strong impression, that the historian's account of his original materials, if not destitute of truth, is at least destitute of verisimilitude. His propensity to
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1. Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, p. 29. Lond. 1775, 8vo. 2. Maitland's Biographical Introduction to Bellenden, p. xxiii. 3. Joannes Ferrearius, a native of Piedmont, resided for several years in Scotland under the patronage of Robert Reid, abbot of Kinloss, and afterwards bishop of Orkney. In the dedication of one of his works to this prelate, he mentions Hector and Arthur Boyce, together with several other scholars of Aberdeen. "Aberdoninis rector a Kynkell, homo studiosius et politicus, me semper complextus humanissimus. Idem fecit Hector ille Boethius, historiarum vestrarum scriptor nunquam satis laudatus; ut interim omittam Artiumum Boethii fratrem germanum, utriusque juris pertinacissimum, Gulielmum Haye, theologum syrcenum, ac Jacobum Vane, cum doctoribus medicis profissionis Roberto Gray. Addo hos Joannem Vaus, virum cum literis tum moribus ornatissimum, et de juventute Scotica bene cognito (Adamsoni Vitae gestae, cantus vulgatus Aristotelis Placitum, academica Johannis Ferreiri Pseudomontani Dissertatio. Paris. 1533, 4to.) With respect to his literary character, see Lord Halle's Examination of some of the Arguments for the high Antiquity of Regnum Majestatis, p. 29. Edinb. 1769, 4to. Among various other works, he wrote a history of the abbots of Kinloss, which is printed, though not without abbreviation, in Martene and Durand's Vitæ Pontificum et Monasticarum Collectio, tom. vi. 4. Lloyd's Historical Account of Church Government in Great Britain and Ireland, pref. 5. Stillingfleet's Antiquities of the British Churches, p. 255. the marvellous was at an early period exposed in the following tetrastich of Leland, which Dempster has erroneously ascribed to Humphrey Lluyd:
Hectoris historici tot quot mendacia scripsit, Si vis ut numerem, lector amice, tibi, Me jubens etiam fluctus numerare marinos, Et liquidis stellas commemorare poli.
Lluyd, who attacked him in different works, spoke of his fabrications without management or scruple; nor did he experience much better treatment from Stanhurst, an Irish writer of considerable reputation. Of his merits as an historian, a very unfavourable estimate has more recently been formed by Lord Hay and Mr Pinkerton. But, in the opinion of Mr Wallace, a learned lawyer, his "elegant style and correct composition, not to add beautiful genius and fine fancy, are conclusive proofs that his understanding could not be inaccurate." And, as Mr Maitland has remarked, "in forming a final estimate of the literary character of Boece, we must bear in mind, that when scholar-craft, in this country at least, was rare, he was a scholar, and contributed, by reviving ancient learning, to dispel the gloom of the middle ages; and that, while the history of his country existed only in the rude page of the chroniclers who preceded him, or in the fading records of oral tradition, he embodied it in narrative so interesting, and language so beautiful, as to be worthy of a more refined age."
Boece's history of Scotland was translated into the Scottish language by John Bellenden, archdeacon of Moray and canon of Ross, of whom we have already presented our readers with a copious notice. While the learned archdeacon was engaged in translating the work into prose, another individual was engaged in the more formidable task of translating it into verse. A copy of this metrical version, containing about 70,000 lines, is preserved in the library of the university of Cambridge; a leaf seems to be wanting at the beginning, and the manuscript has suffered some other mutilations. The name of the versifier does not appear, nor has it been ascertained from any other document; but we learn from the prologue, that his labours, like those of Bellenden, were intended for the benefit of the young monarch. From the concluding lines, it is ascertained that he began his task in April 1581, and concluded it in September 1583. His verses are not distinguished by any considerable degree of energy or elegance, and the writer is chiefly to be commended for his perseverance. The prologue, which is unfortunately mutilated, contains an account of his motives for engaging in this laborious undertaking: it is conducted in the form of a dialogue between the translator and a certain lady, who is probably some allegorical personage. The following is perhaps the most curious passage which it contains:
Bot yit, scho said, I dreid in my intent That to his grace it be evir eloquent; For quhy the termsis poetis ar perlyte Of eloquence in rycht pleasand indyte, In syrene tonges sententiouslie and schort, Quhilk for to heir is pleasand and comfort. Madame, I said, quha wes it drew that storie? Ane man, scho said, of sic hie land and glorie, In Albionc sen stories wes begun. Wes nevir name sic among our poetis fun. Madame, I said, quhat is that mannis name? Ane Hector Boyis, said scho, of nobill fame, Maister in art, doctor in theologie, In all science ane profound cleric is he. Madame, I said, now tell me ye gne, Quhat is the caus that ye commend it su. That sal I do, gooth scho, and yow wald heir. Our old storis befor this moryr year, Tha war distroyit all wyth fire. In Wallace weir, as it is cith to ken: Syne efterter art quhat that thar wrot the storie, Ald edarris did put into memorie, Tha maide tha bukis, thair tractatis, and thair tabillis, Part in loch ges, and part be fenziet fabilis, Part the fand in ald bladis of bukis, Part in lois quirais, liand wer in nuikis: The tuke sic cuir sic things to consider, Syne in ane volume pat thame allogider, Without erdour, fassoun, or effect; Mikill wantit, and all the lave suspect. Madame, said I, now gar me understand Into quhat place that be tha stories fand. That sal I do, than sald scho, with gud will. Intill ane place callit Ecolonkill, Ane abbae sumtyme of authoritie, In Iona yle, within the occident se. Quhilk oft syis had of kingis corps the quir: Lang of the ald ther wes their sepultur: And ther wes kepit their aetas and bukis, As in this libell yu sal se whenon you luikis: And in that yer, ther wes ther stories fand, Sum in quirais quirais, and uther sum well hand, As Reid, Turgot, and Werenund alaus, Campbell Campbell, and mony uther ma, All tell and fynd ane fassoun and effect, In ornat spech, and nothing to suspect. And for this caus I half socht to ye heir: Hartlie as now thairfo', I ye requier, Translat this libell in our mother toung, And preis ye nocht my purpos to impugn. The kingis grace I knaw is nocht perlyte In Latyn toung, and namelic in sic dyte; It wil be tedious, that dar I tak on hand, To reid the thing he can not understand: War it translaid in our vulgar toung, Out throw that realms the rumor [should be roung.]
In the year 1528, soon after the publication of his history, Boyce took the degree of D.D. at Aberdeen; and on this occasion the magistrates voted him a present of a tun of wine when the new wines should arrive, or, according
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1 One of the letters of Joseph Scaliger contains the subsequent passage relative to Boyce's story of the barnacles, or soland-gene: "Nam de conchis amatferis fabula prossus est. Nullae enim anates ex conchis producuntur, sed ex putredine vetustorum navigorum, quibus conchae adherent, anates quadam nascl certum est. Etiam arbores amatferas esse in ultima Scotia, ubi nullae prossus arborea sunt, haecenum mentita est scriptorum vernilias." (Scaligeri Epistolae, p. 729. Lugd. Bat. 1627, 8vo.) See likewise Nicolai Nannelli Anologiae Micrecomni ad Macrocomnum, col. 335. Lutetiae Paris, 1611, fol. It is just as easy to believe that birds grow upon trees as that they are produced from rotten wood; so that the philosophy of Scaliger seems to have conducted him but a little way beyond the region of absolute credulity.
2 Dempsteri Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum, p. 98. Bononiæ, 1627, 4to.
3 Lelandi de Rebus Britannicis Collectanea, vol. v. p. 126.
4 "Ut hominem imperissimum suis deplangam coepisse," says Lluyd. "Faciesque et prestigia quibus oculos perstringere conatur, spectantur, aliquas ejus vanitasem nuper et omnibus cordatis pro mendacibus cognitis, leviter attinamus." (Commentarii Britannici Descriptionis Fragmenta, f. 32. n. Col. Agrip. 1572, 8vo.) In another work, De Mona Druidum Insula, Epistolæ, he speaks in a similar strain of Dr. Henry Boethii innumeræ mendacia hinc facilius dignoscantur.
5 Stanhursti de Rebus in Hibernia gestis libri quattuor, p. 13. Antverpiae, 1594, 4to.
6 Wallace's Nature and Descent of Ancient Peoplers, p. 451. edit. Edinb. 1785, 8vo.
7 Biographical Introduction to Mr Maitland's edition of Bellenden's Translation, p. xxxv.
8 This line, which is scarcely intelligible, ought perhaps to have stood thus: All hail and fyne in fassoun and effect. to his option, the sum of twenty pounds to purchase a new bonnet. He appears to have survived till the year 1538; for on the 23rd of November in that year, the king presented John Garden to the rectory of Tyrie, vacant by the death of "Mr Hector Boiss." He died at Aberdeen, and, according to the most probable conjecture, he had then attained or at least approached the age of seventy.