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history to he burned by the common hangman. He was met by 
numberless replies, the most pungent of which was written by 
Barclay, the father of the author of the “ Argenis.” Even the 
Protestant party on the Continent began to speak of him as a man 
of no consequence, as they did not wish their religious opinions to 
be mixed up with questions on government. They said he had 
recanted on his deathbed, and this was kept up for a century, and 
I suppose lives still, as a controversy which cannot be settled. 
“ Nevertheless,” says Bayle, in his caustic vein, “Buchanan’s 
4 Dialogue ’ made a great noise ; and some of those who most 
strongly condemned him were found quoting maxims from it before 
five years were over.” 
It may be questioned whether the times were ripe for such views, 
and indeed there is no question at all that the first effect of the 
publication was to delay the advent of constitutional liberty. But 
the courage of the man who thus openly proclaimed them cannot 
be denied ; and in this respect, perhaps, he is entitled to stand on 
a higher level than some of the authors to whom I mean now to 
proceed. 
On the whole, as Bayle says, he cannot be denied the praise of 
an elegant genius and an admirable style. For myself, I think 
his intellectual power was immense, but that a vein of harshness 
and hardness ran through his powerful character, which was more 
strongly developed in his later years. He had imagination and 
taste, but little sentiment ; a strong sense of duty, but too little 
flexibility for a successful politician. I end these cursory remarks 
with quoting Thuanus’ (or De Thou’s) character of him, a tribute 
from such a quarter being quite sufficient to attest his contem- 
poraneous reputation and his real merit. 
Thuanus says, in book lxxvi. of his “History,” at page 415*: — 
“ Ante eum Georgius Buchanan, 4 Kal. Oct. exacta Aetate, et 76 
annum supergressus, decesserat, vir ingenii felicitate, et scribendi 
facultate, quod ejus scripta ad omnem eternitatem victura vel 
fatente invidia, testantur, nostra aetate incomparabilis.” After giving 
a short sketch of his life, and claiming him, as I have said, for 
a countryman, he thus concludes : — “ in senili otio patriam 
historiam aggressus est ; quam tanta puritate, prudentia et acumine 
* Edition, Francofurti, m.dc.xxv. 
