SIR ROBERT SIBBALb. 63 



sopliers who, in his time, cultivated the knowledge 

 of nature. The effect which such a man produced 

 was incalculable : the sole object which he seems 

 to have had in view, was to promote the progress 

 of science, and thereby to benefit mankind. 

 Towards the end of the seventeenth century, his 

 celebrated friend and associate, Sir Andrew Bal- 

 four, died, who, together with his brother, Sir 

 James, the- Lord Lyon, were great encouragers of 

 learning, and collectors of whatever had a ten- 

 dency to illustrate the history and antiquities of 

 Scotland. The library of both brothers was sold 

 by auction in the year 1700. Whether the Bal- 

 four MSS. now in the library of the Faculty of 

 Advocates, were purchased at that sale, or pre- 

 sented to that honourable body, I know not, but 

 they constitute the most valuable part of that 

 extensive collection. The Balfours and Sibbald 

 had a great taste for antiquarian research, and, 

 indeed, may be considered as the first who excited 

 the attention of the public in this country to those 

 studies. Natural History, as we have already 

 seen, was no less diligently cultivated by them ; 

 and they seem to have been more generous than 

 collectors sometimes are. Sir R. Sibbald pre- 

 sented to the University of Edinburgh, in the 

 year 1697, a great variety of natural and artificial 

 curiosities, both domestic and exotic, and pub- 

 lished, at the expense of the university, a treatise 



