SIR ROBERT SIBBARb. 
63 
sophers who, in his time, cultivated the knowledge 
of nature. The effect which such a man produced 
was incalculable : the sole object which he seems 
to have had in view, was to promote the progress 
of science, and thereby to benefit mankind. 
Towards the end of the seventeenth century, his 
celebrated friend and associate, Sir Andrew Bal- 
four, died, who, together with his brother, Sir 
James, the- Lord Lyon, were great encouragers of 
learning, and collectors of whatever had a ten- 
dency to illustrate the history and antiquities of 
Scotland. The library of both brothers was sold 
by auction in the year 1700. Whether the Bal- 
four MSS. now in the library of the Faculty of 
Advocates, were purchased at that sale, or pre- 
sented to that honourable body, I know not, but 
they constitute the most valuable part of that 
extensive collection. The Balfours and Sibbald 
had a great taste for antiquarian research, and, 
indeed, may be considered as the first who excited 
the attention of the public in this country to those 
studies. Natural History, as we have already 
seen, was no less diligently cultivated by them ; 
and they seem to have been more generous than 
collectors sometimes are. Sir R. Sibbald pre- 
sented to the University of Edinburgh, in the 
year 1697, a great variety of natural and artificial 
curiosities, both domestic and exotic, and pub- 
lished, at the expense of the university, a treatise 
