234 CHARACTER OF GEORGE BUCHANAN. Oft. 26, 



In his poem on aftronomy alfo he has difplayed his 

 deteftation of conquerors in juft and philofophical 

 verfes. Having exprefied his regret that the names of 

 the firfl dlfcoverers of that fcience had not been tranf- 

 mitted to polterity, he proceeds thus, — 



At nos vidluris potius committere chartis, 

 Barbaricum Xerxis faftum juvat,arraaque diri 

 Ca;faris, et facSa Emathii fcelerata tyranni : 

 At bene promeritos de vita hominumque falute 

 Negligimus Lethes tetra fub nofte jacentes. 



** But we choofe rather to record the barbarous 

 ** pride of Xerxes, the viftories of the direful Caefar, 

 *' or the execrable a£lions of the Macedonian tyrant, 

 " while we fuifFer the benefaftors of mankind to lie 

 " under the darkeft {hades of Lethe." 



Another prominent feature in the literary charafter 

 of Buchanan was an averfion to popery. His inftinc- 

 tive abhorrence of monks, and his invincible impulfe 

 to brand them with infamy, produced fome of the ! 

 principal misfortunes of his long and aftive life. The 

 quarrel began by his VKriting verfes, at the requeft of 

 James V. in ridicule of the Francifcans. After fome 

 ihort eflays, too flight to fatisfy the refentment of the 

 monarch, he undertook the memorable fatyr entitled, 

 Franciscanusj which is probably, fince the fixth 

 fatire of Juvenal, the moft beautiful and perfedt 

 performance of that nature the world has ever fecn. 

 The King bafely confented to his deftruftion. Bu- 

 chanan fled into England, and addrefl'ed Cromwell, at 

 that time minider to Henry VIII. in a fhort, but pa- 

 thetic poem, defcribing the complication of miferies by 

 which he was overwhelmed. He likewife infcribed to 

 Henry himfelf an elegant copy of verfes, which con- 

 clude with perhaps the fineft portrait of a great and 

 good monarch that ever was wricten. His applications 

 v/ere unfuccefsful, and the verfes remain a monument 

 to the diihonour of the King and his minifter. His 

 experience of treachery in one fovereign, and of un- 



