BUG 



medical profcfDoii would be degraded, and the profcffors of 

 iIk- art would lofc a portion o( tticir rcfpcaability, and of 

 tlicir prtilit* : bill experience has (luwn that none of thcfe 

 erentj have followed ; neither have wc much rcafon for 

 believing that the public are better judges of the merit of 

 their medical adNilcrs fiucc the appearance of this popular 

 work, which is one of the advantages wc were taught to 

 exiK-tt from it. If it has been profitable to any conli- 

 derable deijree, it may feem rather to have operated as a 

 proplivlaCtic, teaching the method of preventing difeafes by 

 regimen, than the art of difcriminating tlicm, or the mode of 

 curing them when prefcnt. However that may be, fince 

 the year 1771, when the "Domellic Medicine" was firft pub- 

 lilhed, it has palled through nineteen editions, each of them, 

 we are told, of -,03O, or more copies. It has alfo been 

 tranflated into allthe modern languages, and procured for 

 the author a gold medal, and a commendatoiy letter, more 

 valuable than tlie medal, from the cmprefs of Ruflia. On 

 the death of the late Dr. Gregory, Dr. Bnchan offered 

 himfilf as a candidate for the late profellordiip, but did not 

 fuccecd. Mr. Fergufon, teacher of natural philofophy, 

 dying foon after, he left the doctor his apparatus, with 

 which, in conjunction with his fon, he gave leftures at 

 r.diiiburgh twice each fenfon, for three years. In the mea« 

 wliile his fame being txtendcd by the fale of his book, he 

 was induced to come to London about the year 1778. He 

 had now opportunity of fuperintending the reprinting of 

 his "Domcitic Medicine," to wliiclifroni time to time hemade 

 fucli alterations and additions r.= incnaling txperieixe had 

 cmibicd him to collect, which cntill-d Iiim to further remu- 

 nei-atlon from the bookfellers. In l-Sf; he publiflied " Cau- 

 tions concerning Cold Bathing, and drinking Mineral Wa- 

 ters," 8vo. 'I'liis was followed in 1796 by " Obfervations 

 concerning the Prevention and Cure of the Venereal Difcafe." 

 The next year he pnblilhed " Obfervations concerning the 

 Diet of the Common People." This has been incorpo- 

 i-ated with his Domellic Medicine. His lall work publifhed 

 in iSoo, is on " the offices and duties of a mother." 

 He died on the 2 ^th of February, i8oj, of a dropfy 

 in the chcft, at tlie Imnfe of liis fon, in Percy ftreet, and 

 was buried in the cloillcrs, on the weft iide of Weftminllcr 

 abbey. 



Bi'Cins, in CfO^rapliy, a diftrift or territory on the call 

 coall of Scotland, Iviug partly in the county of Aberdeen, 

 and partly in that of Bamff. The latter part extends north- 

 wards from t!ic Ugie to the fca, and weilward as far as 

 Deveron, comprehending a trail of twenty miles in length 

 by nine in breadth. The furface is moftly barren, though 

 fomc parts of it are well cultivated. The coaft is bold and 

 rocky, and in forae places prefents almoll perpendicular 



Precipices. This diilricl formerly belonged to the earl of 

 Michan ; but upon the attainder of that familv in I'^zo, 

 Robert Bruce divided the lands among his friends ; and 

 though the title has been renewed in the prefent family of 

 the rirlkines, the prefent earl of Bnchau poffefTes but little 

 property in the dillrlcl. See fir John Sinclair's Statillical 

 Account of Scotland. 



lUJCHAN.-^N, George, in B'l/igraphy, a famous poet 

 and hillorian, eminnitly dilli[iguiflied among modern writers 

 by the purity and elegance of his I.,atin llylc, was the de- 

 fcend nt of an ancient family reduced to indigence, and born 

 in the Ihire of Dumbarton, in Scotland, in 1506. The 

 talents which he manifefted in early life induced an uncle to 

 lend him to Paris for his education ; but after purfuing his 

 ihidies Willi fingular alfiduity for nearly two years, the death 

 of his uncle and his own ill liate of health obliged him to re- 

 turn home. Vrgcd, perhaps, more by his ncceffities than by 



HU f 



inclination, lie enliHed as a common foldier in the body of 

 French auxiliaries brought over to Scotland with John 

 duke of Albany ; but foon difgufted with their mode -of 

 life, he attended the leAures on logic delivered at St. An- 

 drew's bv John Major, and accompanied him to Paris. After 

 ftruggling about two years with indigence and misfortune, 

 he was appointed, in 1526, grammatical pvofeffor in the 

 college of St. Barbe ; and having remained in this fituation 

 three years, he obtained the patronage of Gilbert Kennedy, 

 earl of Caffils, and was introduced into his family as private 

 tutor and domeftic companion. In this fituation he con- 

 tinued five years ; and availing himfelf of the intervals of 

 leifure which he enjoyed, he trandated Linnacre's rudiments 

 of grammar into Latin, which was printed at Paris by 

 Robert Steplicns, in 1536. Two years after his return to 

 Scotland his noble patron died ; and he was appointed b) 

 king James \ . preceptor to his natural fon James, afterward, 

 the famous regent, earl of Murray. About this time he 

 incurred the rcfentment of the Francifcan friars by a fatiri- 

 cal poem, entitled " .Somnium ;" but the clamour of thelc 

 monks ferved only to increaic his prejudice againll them, 

 and to ftrengthen his inclinations towards Lutheranifm. As 

 foon as the king difcovered, in 15 38, that they were form- 

 ing a confpiracy againft himfelf, he commanded Buchanan 

 to write a poem againil them. His firll performance wns 

 lefs poignant than the king wiflied it to have been ; and he 

 was commanded a fecond time to write with greater feverity. 

 Accordingly he publifhed his " Francifcanus ;" written 

 more in the ftylt of Juvenal than of Horace, and aboundi:ig 

 fo much with inveflive and ridicule, that thefe monks be- 

 came his irrcconcileable enemies, and excited the genei-al ir.- 

 dignation of the clergy againll him. The king himfelf was 

 induced to withdraw his protedlion ; fo that Buchanan was 

 tried for herefy, and in 1559 committed to prifon. How- 

 ever, he foon found an opportunity of making his efcape, 

 and fled, firll to England, and afterwards to France. But 

 at Paris he dreaded the influence of his avowed enemy, 

 cardinal Beaton, who happened to be then in the city, and 

 he withdrew to Bourdeaux, whither he was invited by An- 

 drew Goveanus, a Itanied Portuguefe, who was principal of a 

 new college in that city. Here he taught for three years in 

 the public fchools ; and he alfo compofed two tragedies, 

 viz. " Baptiftes, five Calumnia," faid to have been tranllated 

 by Milton, and publiflied in 164I, and"Jephthes, fivcVotum," 

 and tranflated the " Medea," and " Alcellis" of Euripides. 

 During his refideuce at Bourdeaux the emperor Charles V. 

 palTcd through the city, and was prefented by Buchanan 

 with an elegant Latin poem, which gave him great fatisfac- 

 tion. Cardinal Beaton made feveral attempts to render his 

 fituation uneafy to him, but they were counteradled bv the 

 interpofition of his friends. However, in i 543, he left 

 Bourdeaux on account of the pellilence, and for fome time 

 took part in the education ot Michael de Montaigne, tlie 

 celebrated author of the " Eflays." In the following year 

 he went to Paris, and joined Turnebus and Muretus in con- 

 ducting the education of the tludents in the college of Bour- 

 bon. In 1547, he accompanied Goveanus to the newly 

 founded univerlity at Coimbra ; but the death of his friend, 

 after a happy union of one year, fubjedled him to the en- 

 mity of the bigotted natives, who accufcd him of herefy, 

 and confined him for a year and a half in the prifon of the 

 Inquifition, from whence he was afterwards removed to a 

 monallery. In this fituation he began his tranflation of 

 "David's Pfalms" into Latin verfc, a work which has con- 

 tributed in a high degree to his reputation as a poet. His 

 tranflation of the 104th pfalm has been particularly admired. 

 I" '5j') he ^^'as releafed, and the king, defiroua of retaining 



him 



