SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 
39 
engaged, was published ; and he gave away nearly 
seventy copies in presents, two of which, in extra 
binding, for which he tells us he paid one guinea 
each, he sent to the King and the Duke of York- 
Dr Johnson has spoken of Dryden’s economy of 
flattery as at once lavish and discreet, because he 
dedicated bis translations of the Pastorals, the 
Georgies, and the /Eneid of Virgil, to three diffe- 
rent noblemen. Sir Robert Sibbald had, many 
years before Dryden, in this book, adopted the 
same plan, as he dedicates the whole work to the 
king, and the two halves to the Duke of York 
and the Earl of Perth respectively. Indeed, the 
doctor’s court education was at this time rapidly 
thriving ; but thisiis too important an affair to be 
given in any other words but his own. It is 
necessary to premise, that the circumstances 
occurred immediately after the accession of the 
Duke of York to the throne of Great Britain by 
the title of James the Second, who commenced 
his reign by sending an agent to the Pope, to 
solicit the admission of the kingdom into the 
bosom of the Romish Church ; and that the Par- 
liament of Scotland, under the management of the 
Duke of Queensberry, as High, Commissioner, 
and the Earl of Perth, as Chancellor, made a 
complete resignation of their liberties to the Court. 
The duke, says Hume, “ had resolved to make 
an entire surrender of the liberties of his country, 
