BA.LFOUR BALIOL. 



389 



by the seeds he received from his foreign correspond- 

 ents ; and in this garden he raised many plants which 

 were then first introduced into Scotland. One of his 

 fellow labourers in this department was Patrick Mur- 

 ray of Livingston, whom he had initiated into the 

 study of natural history. This young gentleman, who 

 enjoyed an ample fortune, formed at his seat in the 

 country a botanic garden, containing one thousand 

 species of plants, which at that period was a very 

 large collection. He traversed the whole of France 

 in quest of the plants of that country ; and on his way 

 to Italy, he prematurely died of a fever. Soon after 

 his death, Dr Balfour transferred his collection from 

 Livingston to Edinburgh ; and with it, joined to his 

 own, he had the merit of laying the foundation of the 

 first public botanic garden in Scotland. Upon his 

 settlement in Edinburgh he had found the medical art 

 taught in a very loose and irregular manner. In 

 order to place it on a more respectable footing-, he 

 planned with Sir Robert Sibbald, the royal college 

 of physicians ; and of that society his brethren elected 

 him first president. When the college undertook 

 the publication of a Pharmacopoeia, the whole ar- 

 rangement of the materia medica was committed to 

 his particular care. For such a task he was emi- 

 nently qualified by his skill in natural history. This 

 performance made its appearance in 1 685 ; and, in 

 the opinion of Dr Cullen, it is superior to any Phar- 

 macopoeia of that era. Not long before his decease, 

 his desire to promote the science of medicine in his 

 native country, joined to the universal humanity of 

 his disposition, led him to project the foundation of 

 mi hospital in Edinburgh. The institution was at 

 first narrow and confined, but it survived to be ex- 

 panded into full shape, as the royal infirmary, under 

 the care of George Drummond. Sir Andrew died in 

 1694, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, bequeath- 

 ing to the university a museum, which at that time 

 would have been an ornament to any metropolis. 

 In 1700, his son published a series of his familiar 

 letters. His brother SIR JAMES BALFOCR, was an 

 eminent antiquary, herald, and annalist, and left a 

 numerous collection of MSS. regarding the history 

 of Scotland, which are now preserved in the Advo- 

 cates' Library, Edinburgh. From this collection his 

 " Annals and short Passages of State" were pub- 

 lished in 1824, in four volumes 8vo, by Mr James 

 Haig. Sir James died in 1657. 



BAI.FOUR, (Sir) James, an eminent lawyer and pub- 

 lic character of the sixteenth century, was a son of 

 Balfour of Monquhanny, in Fife, a very ancient fa- 

 mily. In youth, being designed for the church, he 

 made considerable proficiency, not only in ordinary 

 literature, but in the study of divinity and law ; 

 which were all alike necessary in those times for an 

 ecclesiastic, on account of the mixed character which 

 the age admitted to be assumed by such individuals. 

 While still a young man, he joined with the conspi- 

 rators who, after murdering Cardinal Beaton, held 

 out the castle of St Andrews against the governor 

 Arran. He shared the fate of his companions in be- 

 ing sent to the French galleys, from which he esca- 

 ped in 1 550, along with the rest, by the tacit permis- 

 sion of the French government. He seems to have 

 afterwards joined in the proceedings of the reformers, 

 but only with courtier-like temperance, and without 

 going into the enthusiasm in favour of Calvinism. 

 He was preferred to the ecclesiastical appointment 

 of official of Lothian, and afterwards became rector 

 of Flisk, a parish in his native county. In 1563, 

 he was appointed by Queen Mary to be a Lord of 

 Session, the court then being composed partly of 

 churchmen and partly of laics. In 1564, when the 

 Commissary court was instituted in place of the ec- 

 clesiastical tribunal which liad been dissolved at the 



Reformation, Balfour became one of the four com- 

 missaries. In July, 1565, the Queen extended the 

 further favour of admitting him into her privy council. 



In the beginning of the year 1567, Sir James Bal- 

 four was appointed governor of Edinburgh castle. 

 In this important situation, he naturally became an 

 object of great solicitude to the confederate lords, 

 who, in the ensuing May, commenced a successful 

 rebellion against Queen Mary. After the queen 

 was dethroned, he was admitted by Murray a lord 

 of his privy council, and made president of the 

 Court of Session. Sir James continued faithful to 

 the party which opposed Queen Mary, till the death 

 of Murray, January, 1569-70, when he was in some 

 measure compelled to revert to the Queen's side, on 

 account of a charge preferred against him by the 

 succeeding regent, Lennox, who taxed him with a 

 share in the murder of Darnley. For this accusation 

 no proof was ever adduced. Balfour outlived Len- 

 nox, and was serviceable in bringing about the paci- 

 fication between the king's and queen's party, under 

 Morton in 1573. He would appear to have been 

 encouraged by Morton in the task of revising the 

 laws of the country, which he at length completed in 

 a style allowed at that time to be most masterly. 

 Morton afterwards thought proper to revive the 

 charge brought by Lennox against Sir James, who 

 was consequently obliged to retire to France, where 

 he lived for some years. He returned in 1580, and 

 revenged the persecution of Morton, by producing 

 against him, on his trial, a deed to which he had ac- 

 ceded, in common with others of the Scottish nobility> 

 alleging Bothwell's innocence of the king's murder, 

 and recommending him to the queen as a husband. 

 Sir James died before the 14th of January, 1583-4. 



The Practicks of Scots Law, compiled by Sir James 

 Balfour of Pittendreich, president of the Court of 

 Session, continued to be used and consulted in manu- 

 script, both by students and practitioners, till nearly 

 a century after his decease, when it was for the first 

 time supplanted by the Institutes of Lord Stair. Even 

 after that event, it was held as a curious repertory of 

 the old practices of Scottish law, besides fulfilling 

 certain uses not answered by the work of Lord Stair. 

 It was therefore printed in 1754, by the Ruddimans, 

 along with an accurate biographical preface by Wal- 

 ter Goodal. The work has been of considerable ser- 

 vice to Dr Jamieson in his Dictionary of the Scottish 

 language. 



BALIOL, or BALLIOL, (John de) founder of Italic I 

 college, Oxford, was the son of Hugh de Baliol, a 

 rich and leading baron in the reign of Henry HI., to 

 whose cause lie strongly attached himself in his strug- 

 gles with the barons. In 1263 he laid the foundation 

 of Baliol college, which was completed by his widow. 

 This chieftain received a great accession of wealth 

 and influence by his marriage with Devorgille, one 

 of the co-heiresses of Allan of Galloway, a great 

 baron of Scotland, by Margaret, the eldest sister of 

 John Scott, earl of Chester, one of the descendants 

 of David earl of Huntingdon. It was on the strength 

 of this genealogy that his son John Baliol, under the 

 influence of Edward I., became temporary king of 

 Scotland. 



BALIOL, or BALLIOL, John ; king of Scotland. On 

 the death of Margaret the maiden of Norway, and 

 grandchild of Alexander III., Baliol, being at the head 

 of the English interest in Scotland, claimed the 

 vacant throne by virtue of his descent from David, 

 earl of Huntingdon, brother to William the Lion, 

 king of Scotland. Robert Bruce opposed Baliol ; 

 but, having submitted to the arbitration of Edward 

 I., the decision was in favour of Baliol, who did hom- 

 age to him for the kingdom, Nov. 12, 1292. Baliol. 

 however, did not long enjoy the crown, for, having 



