23® NEW UNIVER&ITt OF EDINBURGH. Ocl. ^6^ 



the fuppojed expenfivenefs cf that hopelefs undertaking, 

 as his opponents were pleafed to call it; — yet this 

 building was fmifiied by public benefaftions on the ex- 

 petiftve plan he propofed, and is now praifed as one of 

 the mofl ufeful inftitutions, by the defcendants of thofe 

 who oppofcd it, and as having ro other defeft but be- 

 ing upon too fmall a fcale. Let us ever advert that this 

 country is in a ftate of great and rapid improvement. 

 Let us look forward to what it prob.:biy nvill be in a 

 few years. Let us have this in our eye in every pub- 

 lic inftitution that is to endure for ages, and we need 

 not defpair. 



Zoine Remarks C7i the Literary CharaEler of George 

 Buchanan. 



JL HIS poet was born at a village in the county of 

 Dumbarton, in the year 1506, and died at Edinburgh 

 in the year 1582. The chief incidents of his Hfe are 

 related with modefl and perfpicuous brevity in a me- 

 moir written by himfelf about two years before his 

 death, and commonly prefixed to his works. His in- 

 extinguifhable genius burft through the darkefl; clouds 

 of indigence and misfortune. In every country where 

 he fuccpsfively refided, his abilities infpired men of 

 letters wuli admiration. Buchanatmm omnibus antepono^ 

 "was the exprcffion of queen Elizabeth. Julius Sca- 

 ligcr pronounces him " the god of the learned." Jor 

 feph Sc?.liger, in fome verfes on his death, fpeaks in 

 in terms of fimilar enthuGafm. Beza and other con- 

 temporary wiiters reprefent him as a prodigy of poeti- 

 cal merit. He was of a carelefs, frank, independent 



* " I prefer Buchanan to all the world." Walpole'* catalogue of 

 royal and noble authors. Vol. i. p. 59, 



