latter period he was also nominated a Senator of the College of Justice ". But these statements may be suspected of inaccuracy. Dr John Bellenden is never styled a knight by any of our early writers. Sir John Bellenden of Auchinoul was appointed a Lord of Session in 1554b; whereas, if we may credit Dempster, Dr Bellenden died in 1550°. But should Dempster's authority be rejected, we may at least admit that as this knight is known to have continued a member of the court for the space of many succeeding years, the probability of their identity is proportionably diminished, The arguments which Mr Sibbald has advanced in corroboration of Dr Mackenzie's account, are very far from being satisfactory. "It appears from the Catalogue published by Lord Hailes," observes this writer, "that in 1587 a Dean of Moray, Lord of Session, r (resigned) and was succeeded by Mr William Melvill, Commendatair of Tungland. Also, from the Notes and Appendix to Scotstarvet's History, that Sir John Bellenden of Auchinoul, Archdean of Moray, was (not Clerk Register, but) Justice Clerk from 1547 to 1578. They seem all, there Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. ii. p. 595. b Hailes, Catalogue of the Lords of Session, p. 3. Dempster. Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent. Scot. p. 107. fore, to be one and the same person "." But, on the contrary, it is evident that this information cannot be combined in such a manner as to apply to the same individual. Dr Bellenden was not Dean but Archdeacon of Murray. The Bellenden who occurs in the catalogue of the Lords of Session is neither styled Dean nor Archdeacon of Murray, but Lord Auchinoul. Instead of resigning in 1587, he only continued a member of the court till 1577, the period of his decease. The testimony of Walter Goodall, the editor of Sir John Scot's Staggering State of the Scots Statesmen, is of little importance; as his principal information is evidently derived from no better source than the biography of Dr Mackenzie, and as his statements are manifestly inconsistent with each other. Bellenden's education appears to have been uncommonly liberal. As he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity in the Sorbonne, it may be supposed that he had pursued a regular course of study in the University of Paris. Dr Campbell a d Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, vol. ii. p. 72. e See Scot's Staggering State of the Scots Statesmen, p. 129. 183. Edinb. 1754, 12mo. f "Interea Musarum memoriæ fœliciter litabat Joannes Balantyn, Archidiaconus Moraviensis, accuratissimâ sedulitate in literis à puero usque educatus." VOL. II. GRAY. Orat. de Illustribus Scotia Scriptoribus, p. xxx. has remarked that his phraseology occasionally savours of a French education. As a poet he appears to have obtained early distinction Sir David Lindsay has mentioned him in the following terms: Bot now of lait is start vp haistely Ane cunning clark quhilk writis craftely, He will précell Quintin and Kennedie. His qualifications seem indeed to have attracted the regard of the court; but he experienced the common fate of those who are capable of exciting the envy of courtiers. For this information we are indebted to his Proheme of the Cosmographé. And fyrst occurrit to my remembring That mycht hym pleis in ony maner best, We afterwards find him on a confidential footing with James the Fifth. His History of Scot land, a free translation of the first seventeen books of Hector Boyce, was undertaken at the request of that monarch; whose ignorance of the Latin language had probably prevented him from acquiring a competent knowledge of the 8 This we learn from the following notice; " Heir efter followis the History and Croniklis of Scotland compilit and newly correckit be the reuerend and noble clerke Maister Hector Boece, Channon of Aberdene; translatit laitly be Maister Johne Bellenden, Archdene of Murray, Channon of Ros, at the command of the richt hie, richt excellent, and noble prince, James the V. of that name, King of Scottis; and imprentit in Edinburgh be Thomas Dauidson dwellyng fornens the Frere Wynd." Thomas Davidson has prefixed an address, consisting of five stanzas, and entitled The Excusation of the Prentar. It concludes thus ; And I the prentar that dois considir weil Thir sindry myndis of men in thair leuing, That I mycht leif, and of my just wynnyng And in this wark that I haue heir assailzeit Bellenden's work was printed in folio, and in black letter. In the public library of the University of Edinburgh is a copy splendidly printed on vellum. It bears this inscription: "Thomas Willson, mercator, me Bibliothecæ Edinburgenæ dono dedit anno Domini 1669.” transactions of his remote predecessors. Into this publication Bellenden has introduced two poems of considerable length, entitled The Proheme of the Cosmographé, and The Proheme of the History; and has closed the whole by a prose Epistil direckit be ye Translatoure to the Kingis Grace. From the initial words which they produce, it would appear that this is the only epistle of his composition with which either Bale or Tanner was acquainted and yet among his other works they have thought proper to enumerate epistles addrest to King James ". If we may credit Dr Mackenzie, this work was printed in the year 1536; but his source of information it would be difficult to discover; for the title-page and colophons exhibit no date. Mr Herbert, without any apparent foundation, mentions the publication of another edition in the year 1541'. Bellenden is reported, I know not with what accuracy, to have continued the history of Scotland for one hundred years succeeding the period at which this narrative closes. A passage in his Probeme of the History seems to imply that he had at least formed such a project: h Balei Scriptores Britanniæ, cent. xiv. p. 223. Tanner. Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, p. 66. i Herbert's Typographical Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 1474. j Balei Scriptores Britanniæ, cent. xiv. p. 223. |