36 



BUCHANAN. 



Buchanan, appointed to accompany them as assistants. He be- 

 ' came a powerful co-adjutor, by composing a work, 

 in which he endeavoured to detect and expose the 

 wicked actions of the Scotish Queen. This work 

 was submitted to the commissioners during their con- 

 ference at Westminster, (1568), and was afterwards 

 circulated most industriously through the kingdom 

 by Elizabeth and her ministers. This part of Bucha- 

 nan's conduct has been severely condemned by Chal- 

 mers, Stuart, and other writers of the same stpmp, 

 who have broadly accused him of the foulest and 

 most aggravated ingratitude to Queen Mary. The 

 benefits conferred upon him by that princess have 

 been much exaggerated, in order to render his al- 

 leged misconduct the more glaring and unpardonable. 

 One thing is certain, that he was not patronized or 

 promoted beyond his real merit and his professional 

 services. But even allowing the greater part of what 

 has been asserted on that point to be true, the charge 

 of ingratitude is not necessarily substantiated. Bu- 

 chanan, doubtless, was placed in circumstances which 

 must have been painful to an ingenuous mind, and 

 which it is to be presumed were painful to his. 

 There was a contest between private feeling and 

 public duty ; and had Buchanan been a man of nar- 

 row views, or sentimental imbecility, he would have 

 preferred the claims of the former to the obliga- 

 tions of the latter : but as he thought vigorously, 

 and felt nobly, he merged what he owed to an indi- 

 vidual in what he owed to his native country ; and 

 that he might do a service to the cause of humanity, 

 and religion, and freedom, (for all these were be- 

 lieved to have been violated by the queen), he was 

 contented to lie under the suspicions and to suffer 

 the obloquy to which his patriotism might expose 

 him. It should not be forgotten, that he did not 

 abandon his queen till she had openly renounced 

 these principles and virtues, by the exercise of which 

 alone, she could justly expect his allegiance and sup- 

 port. When Murray, to whom he was strongly at- 

 tached, was assassinated (1570) by Hamilton of 

 Bothwelhaugh, Buchanan, feeling the keenest indig- 

 nation against the family of the assassin, and suspect- 

 ing that their bloody purposes were not yet fully 

 executed, wrote an admonitory letter on the subject, 

 " Direct to the tretv Lordis, Mantenaris of the Kingis 

 Graces Authorities During the same year, he wrote 

 a satirical tract in the Scotish dialect, entitled, ' The 

 Chamceleon" in which he exposed, with great suc- 

 cess, the unsteadiness of Secretary Maitland's poli- 

 tical principles and conduct. This production, how- 

 ever, was suppressed at the time, by the vigilance of 

 the secretary, and indeed was not printed till the be- 

 ginning of last century. Very soon after the death 

 of Murray, Buchanan was nominated to be one of 

 the preceptors for conducting the education of the 

 young king, who was then only four years of age. 

 This very delicate and important office, he executed 

 with his characteristic talent and integrity, commu- 

 nicating to his royal pupil the classical knowledge 

 which he was so well able to impart ; instilling into 

 his mind tho-se sentiments which became his station 

 and his destiny ; and fearlessly subjecting him to 

 that discipline which the prospect of a crown gene- 

 rally renders more necessary than agreeable. James, 



who in some respects profited considerably by Bu- Buchanan, 

 chanan's tuition, long remembered the commanding v 

 aspect and authoritative manner of his preceptor ; 

 but that monarch did not realise the anticipations 

 which Buchanan had fondly cherished of his reign, 

 and permitted the liberal and enlightened sentiments 

 which had been inculcated upon him with the ut- 

 most solicitude, to be superseded by an inordinate 

 love of prerogative, or impaired by a silly resent- 

 ment against his preceptor for his treatment of his 

 unworthy mother. At the same time that Bucha- 

 nan became preceptor to the king, he was made a 

 director of the chancery ; and, in 1570, he was in- 

 invested with the office of keener of the privy seal, 

 in room of Lord Maitland, which office he appears 

 to have held so late as the 1580. While Buchanan 

 acted the part of a politician and a statesman, he 

 continued to act also as a scholar ; for we find him 

 occupied, by special appointment, in composing 

 suitable grammars for the use of schools, which then 

 laboured under great defects in that important par- 

 ticular. He afterwards employed his pen in draw- 

 ing up a memorial respecting the reformation of the 

 University of St Andrews, in pursuance of a com- 

 mission granted by the parliament in 1578, for re- 

 forming all universities and colleges within the realm. 

 About this time, it is evident, that Buchanan stood 

 uncommonly high in the estimation, not only of his 

 own country, but of the world at large. He cor- 

 responded with the most eminent literary characters 

 of the age. He was applied to by the King of Na- 

 varre, and other zealous Protestants on the conti- 

 nent, to promote the reformation, by using his influ- 

 ence with the monarch and people of Scotland. And 

 some distinguished critics abroad solicited him for 

 contributions to their editions and illustrations of the 

 ancient classics a department of literature to which 

 he had not paid much attention, but in which his 

 natural sagacity, and his extensive learning, certainly 

 qualified him to excel. 



His correspondence, it is evident, was very exten- 

 sive, but unfortunately a very inconsiderable propor- 

 tion of it has been preserved. A small volume is all 

 that remains, to which there is no prospect of any 

 augmentation. Notwithstanding the many avoca- 

 tions which consumed so much of his time, and the 

 infirm and precarious state of his health, Buchanan 

 had found leisure to compose a treatise of political 

 philosophy, under the title " De Jure Regni apud 

 Scotos Dialogus" It was published in 1579, and 

 dedicated to the young king, his pupil. The sub- 

 ject, as announced in the title, is local and limited ; 

 but, as discussed in the body of the work, embraces 

 the general maxims and principles of government, 

 which the author lays down with much precision, 

 and expatiates upon with much eloquence. This 

 book excited a great deal of attention, and procured 

 for Buchanan high applause from the friends of li- 

 berty, and most bitter hostility from the abettors of 

 popery and despotism. When Buchanan reached the 

 74-th year of his age, he drew up a short account of 

 his life. It is characterized by elegance, simplicity, 

 modesty, and candour. 



The last work which he completed was his His- 

 tory of Scotland. It issued from the press in the 



