SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 39 



engaged, was published ; and he gave away nearly 

 seventy copies in presents, two of which, in extra 

 binding, for which he tells us he paid one guinea 

 each, he sent to the King and the Duke of York- 

 Dr Johnson has spoken of Dryden's economy of 

 flattery as at once lavish and discreet, because he 

 dedicated his translations of the Pastorals, the 

 Georgics, and the ^Eneid of Virgil, to three diffe- 

 rent noblemen. Sir Robert Sibbald had, many 

 years before Dryden, in this book, adopted the 

 same plan, as he dedicates the whole work to the 

 king, and the two halves to the Duke of York 

 and the Earl of Perth respectively. Indeed, the 

 doctor's court education was at this time rapidly 

 thriving ; but thisiis too important an affair to be 

 given in any other words but his own. It is 

 necessary to premise, that the circumstances 

 occurred immediately after the accession of the 

 Duke of York to the throne of Great Britain by 

 the title of James the Second, who commenced 

 his reign by sending an agent to the Pope, to 

 solicit the admission of the kingdom into the 

 bosom of the Romish Church ; and that the Par- 

 liament of Scotland, under the management of the 

 Duke of Queensberry, as High Commissioner, 

 and the Earl of Perth, as Chancellor, made a 

 complete resignation of their liberties to the Court. 

 The duke, says Hume, " had resolved to make 

 an entire surrender of the liberties of his country, 



