Bring nobyll dedis of mony zeris gone As thay war bot in to our dayis done, That nobyll men may haue baith laud and glorie And zit becaus my tyme hes bene so schort, I thynk, quhen I haue oportunité, To ring thair bell in to ane othir sort, Before this period, as appears from his publication, he had been appointed Archdeacon of Murray, and one of the Canons of Ross. He likewise translated the first five books of Livy and a manuscript copy of his version is still preserved in the Advocates Library. From a passage in The Proloug it appears that this work was also undertaken at the suggestion of King James: And ze, my souerane, be lyne continewall Quick flowand vers of rethorik cullouris That be zoure helpe and fauoure gracius, And euery sens sa full of maiesté, He expresses an intention of executing a complete version of Livy's Roman history; but this formidable task, it is probable, was never performed. After this period Bellenden visited Rome; where he closed his life in the year 1550. The object of his voyage remains undiscovered. Dr Campbell supposes that he was impelled to abandon his native country by his aversion from the principles of the Reformation. "It may with great probability be conjectured," observes this ingenious biographer, "that the disputes into which he plunged himself on this subject, made him so uneasy, that he chose to quit his native country, to go and reside in a place where that disposition, instead of being a hindrance, would infallibly recommend him." It is certain that he was a strenuous opposer of the Reformers: but many other reasons might induce him to visit the seat of ecclesiastical honours. Beside the works which have already been mentioned, Bellenden is said to have composed a treatise on the Pythagoric letter. Dr Mackenzie proposes to correct Dempster by substituting De * Dempster's words are these: "Obiit Romæ anno, ut puto, 1550." It must be remarked that this is spoken with some degree of hesitation. Dempster and Cone have inadvertently named him James instead of John Bellenden, 1 1 « Jacobus Balandenus Moraviensis ecclesiæ Archidiaconus, in celebri Sorbonæ schola magistri laureâ donatus, summo studio popularium suorum animos heresi laborantes, cùm scribendo tum disputando conatus est liberare." CONEUS de Duplici Statu Religionis apud Scotos, p. 167. Vita, instead of De Litera, Pythagora"; but this emendation is unnecessary. Bale also mentions the treatise by the same title". Vossius, whose researches were of so prodigious an extent, that they could not always be conducted with extreme accuracy, has committed a mistake in supposing that Bellenden was the author of any original work on cosmography°. His Cosmographia is evidently his translation of Boyce's preliminary description of Scotland. Dr Campbell informs us that several of his poems were in the possession of Mr Laurence Dundas, probably the Professor of Humanity in the University of Edinburgh. Or the compositions of a writer who discovers so fine a vein of poetry, it cannot but be regretted that so inconsiderable a portion has been preserved. His poems are the effusions of an excursive fancy and a cultivated taste. He has been extolled as a master of every branch of divine and human learning: and it is at least apparent that his literature was such as his cotemporaries did not very frequently surpass. m Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. ii. p. 599. n Balei Scriptores Britanniæ, cent. xiv. p. 223. ⚫ Vossius de Scientiis Mathematicis, p. 252. P Biographia Britannica, vol. i. p. 573. Jacobus Ballantyn, S. T. D. Archidiaconus Moraviensis, laboriosâ curâ et incredibili studio artes omnes humanas atque etiam divinas percepit." DEMPSTER. Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent. Scotor. p. 107. His attainments have even extorted applause from the zealous Bishop of Ossory, who has so frequently treated the Papists with unrelenting severity'. "He was unquestionably," says Dr Campbell, "a man of great parts, and one of the finest poets his country had to boast. So many of his works remain as fully prove this; inasmuch as they are distinguished by that noble enthusiasm which is the very soul of poetry." The most poetical of his works is The Probeme of the Cosmographés. The principal incidents are borrowed from the ancient allegory of the choice of Hercules but he has imprest his transcript with the characteristic features of an original. The following quotation, from the speech of Virtue, will scarcely offend a reader whose taste is completely modernized: As caruell tycht fast tendyng throw the see, As birdis swift with mony besy plume Peirsis the air and wait nocht quhair thay fle; f Bishop Bale has himself been treated by the Papists with equal harshness. Bishop Gardiner classes him with colampadius, Zuing lius, and others of the deuils lymmes. See Gardiner's "Detection of the Deuyls Sophistrie wherwith he robbeth the vnlearned people of the true belefe in the moost blessed Sacrament of the aulter," f. lxxxiiii. b. Lond. 1546, 8vo. S Ramsay has published this poem, under the title of Vertue and Vyce, in the first volume of The Ever-Green. Edinb. 1724, 2 vols. 12mo. the probemes occur in Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, vol. ii. Both Siclik our lyfe, without actiuité, Gyffis na frut, howbeit ane schado blume. As watter purgis and makis bodyis fair; And purifyis with heitis vehement; Chacis the nycht with bemis resplendent; Siclik my werk perfitis euery wycht As chosin spous and creature most deir. The following descant on nobility is extracted from his Probeme of the History: For nobylnes sum tyme the louyng is, |