B U C 
BUCHAN', a difrrift of Scotland, in the north-eaft part, 
@f the county of Aberdeen. 
BUCHAN' (Bullers of), great hollows in a rock pro¬ 
jecting into the fea, on the eaft coaft of Scotland, open at 
the top, and perforated by three ways of entrance, thirty 
fathoms deep, about fifty fathoms in diameter; fifhing- 
boats enter here without any danger. It is thirty miles 
north-north-eafi of Aberdeen. 
BUCHAN' NESS, the moll eafternly point of land of 
Scotland, in the county of Aberdeen. Lat. 57. 30. N. 
Ion. ir 28. W. Greenwich. 
BUCHA'NAN (George), the be ft Latin poet of his 
time, was born at Killairn in Du in bar ton Afire, in Febru¬ 
ary, 1506, of a family rather ancient than opulent. I-Iis 
father died of the (tone, in the flower of his age ; his grand¬ 
father furvived a fhort time; but his affairs 1 offered bank¬ 
ruptcy before his deceafe. Buchanan’s mother was left 
in circumftances of extreme diftrefs ; a widow with eight 
children, five of whom were fons. James Heriot, their 
natural uncle, encouraged by the fair promi'fe of George’s 
childhood at l'chocl, fent him to Paris to complete his edu¬ 
cation. The younger (Indents in that univerlity being 
then chiefly exercifed in.poetical compofttion, Buchanan 
tells us, that he ('pent much of his time in writing verfes; 
partly from duty, and partly from the impulfe of nature. 
Compelled by the death of his uncle, and his own want 
both of health and money, he returned home to his coun¬ 
try in 1520, after a refiden'ce of about two years at Paris. 
Almoft a year now elapfed in tiling means to reftore his 
health. As foon as he had recovered, he made a cam¬ 
paign with the French auxiliaries in the rank of a com¬ 
mon foldier, -under the duke of Albany, viceroy of Scot¬ 
land ; his country being at that time engaged in a war with 
England. The hardlhips of a military life proving highly 
prejudicial to his health, he quitted it, and, according to 
Moreri, took the habit of St. Francis ; but this ftep feems 
attributed to him without foundation; as neither Buchanan 
liimfelf, nor any other of his biographers, mentions it. In 
the fpring of 1524 he was fent to the univerfity of St. An¬ 
drew’s, to ftudy logic under the celebrated John Major, 
whom he reprefents as a fophift. The next year, however, 
whether from intereft or literary attachment, he followed 
his tutor to Paris, where lie became partial to the doctrines 
ot Luther. He now ftruggled with his adverfe fortune 
for about the fpace of two years; but was at length re¬ 
ceived into the college of St. Barbe at Paris ; where he 
prefided over the clafs of grammar till the year 1529. We 
find him next under the protefftion of the earl of Caffilis. 
This nobleman, pleafed with his converfation and admir¬ 
ing his talents, retained him five years, partly in France 
and partly in his native country. During this connection 
he tranflated Linacre’s Rudiments of Englifh Grammar 
into Latin, and dedicated his performance to his patron. 
After the death of the earl of Caffilis, Buchanan in 1534, 
vvhilft meditating another journey to France in order to 
profecute his ftudies, was detained by James I. as precep¬ 
tor to his natural fon, who afterwards became a prior of St. 
Andrew’s, then earl of Murray, and, on the dethronement 
of Mary queen of Scots, regent of the kingdom. Bu¬ 
chanan’s ftrong and lading partiality to this pupil cxplains, 
in a great meafure, thoie virulent and ungrateful invec¬ 
tives againft the unfortunate queen, which many writers 
of Scottifh hiftory have fo loudly,complained of. 
Difgufted at the irregularities of the Francifcans, he 
had in fome moment of leifure, probably about this time, 
compofed his Somnium,.a little elegy, in which he repre¬ 
fents St. Francis'as foliciting him to enter into the frater¬ 
nity. The poet rejects the propofa) with a farcaftic dif- 
dain, which greatly irritated the order againft him, and 
they are faid to have accufed him of atheifm. At the 
inftigatlon of the king, who fnfpefled the Francifcans of 
a confpiracy againft his life, Buchanan was unwillingly 
induced to attack them with his pen once more; he did 
it, however, with an arpbiguity which took off much of 
the fatiric edge of his poem. But the king was not fatif- 
Vol. III. No. 143. 
BUG 4 3 r 
tied till Buchanan had lalhed them without mercy in his 
prolix but animated fatire, intitled Francifcani3 which,, 
the more completely to gratify his royal matter's revenge, 
he was fome time after obliged to publifh. Buchanan 
learning at court that the friars meditated fchemes againft 
his perfonal fafety, and that cardinal Beaton was making 
a pecuniary bargain for his life with the king, efcaped 
from his bed-chamber window, and, tints managing to 
elude his guard, took refuge in England. This happened 
in 1539. But his flay here was of very Aiort continuance. 
Difcouraged by the ftate of public affairs in England, and 
finding, from Henry the Eighth’s inconfiftency of character 
and conduct, that Papifts and Lutherans were fometimes 
dragged together to the fame (Like, he fled, in the courfe 
of that year, to Paris. Unfortunately for him, cardinal 
Beaton, in the mean time, was engaged on an embaffy from 
Scotland to the court of France. Buchanan, therefore, 
haftened from the capital as privately as fse could to the 
city of Bourdeaux, where he had been before invited by 
Andreas Govea, a leurnfed Pot tnguefe, and with whom lie 
was immediately chofen to partake the province of claffi- 
cal inftriUtion in the public fchools. Here he taught for 
three years. It was during this period, partly in compli¬ 
ance with a cuftom of the inftitution, which required an¬ 
nually from the makers certain Latin compofitions, that 
he wrote bis four tragedies, The Baptifta, Medas. Jephthe, 
and Alceltis; publifhed, at different times, fome years af¬ 
terwards. His principal objett in thefe dramas, the firft 
and third of which are originally written by himfelf on 
the Grecian model, and the other two tranflated from Eu¬ 
ripides,' was to difcountenance an inordinate paffion, then 
prevalent, for allegories, and to introduce a better tafte. 
The chafte compofition, elegance, and general purity of 
ftile, difplayed in thefe pieces, gained him great reputation 
as a poet, which his Odes, his Tranflation of the Pfalms, 
his Satires, Elegies, Silva?, Hendecalyllables, Iambics, his 
three books of Epigrams, one of Mifcellanies, and five on 
the Sphere, contributed (fill to augment. Indeed, the 
fublime tone and genuine language of lyric poetry, the 
tendernefs and pathos of elegiac long, the praife of the 
.Dei.ty, the beft fubjedls of either, a beautiful variety and 
appropriate choice of numbers, ail fuccefsfully united in 
his Paraphrafe of the Pfalms, to give to thefe charming 
pieces the air and value of originals ; and this work alone 
had been fu.fficient to procure him immortality of fame 
among the bards of any age. In the other fpecies of poe¬ 
try above-mentioned, in which he has left behind him 
fuch ample fpecimens, let it Tuffice to fay, that lie has 
happily adopted the manner of the ancients, and that their 
fpfrit characleriftically animates them. 
It happened at Buchanan’s firft cftablifhment at Bour¬ 
deaux, that Charles V. palled through that city. Bucha¬ 
nan, .as one of the rectors of the fchool, was appointed to 
addrel's the emperor in a Latin poem, in which the great- 
nefs and fame of this prince were fo handfomely celebra¬ 
ted, that he not only rewarded the poet* but appeared, 
upon his account, to exprefs a more partial regard for the 
inhabitants, to whom he promifed his favour and protec¬ 
tion. But all his genius, learning, and merit, were infuf- 
ficient to avert or to allay the malice of offended power. 
Cardinal Beaton had been exerting.his influence with the 
archbifliopof Bourdeaux to have him apprehended. This 
reverge, however, was feafonably fruftrated by Buchanan’s 
friends, into whofe hands Beaton’s letters to the.archbifliop 
.had fallen. The death of the king of Scotland, more¬ 
over, in 1542, and circumftances in confequence of it, con¬ 
tributed to divert the cardinal’s attention. Difring the. 
next four years, Buchanan gives no- account of his own 
life, and thofe memoirs which have been offered by diffe¬ 
rent ‘authors to {apply the ehafm, are found, upon com¬ 
panion with each other, either inconliftent 01 improbable. 
The learned editor of.his works at Edinburgh, in 1715, 
in his notes on the life written by Buchanan himfelf, after 
having examined the various accounts, is able to conclude 
nothing from them, but that this illutlrious author {pent 
6 G the 
