ALEXANDER BALFOUR

year removed to the thriving town of Arbroath, and became clerk to a sail-cloth manufacturer, on the death of whom he entered into partnership in business with the widow of the deceased; and upon her death, in 1800, he took another partner into the firm. A government contract into which they had entered for supplying the navy with canvas made their business a prosperous one, and Balfour, now in circumstances of comfort, was able to cultivate his literary tastes, and correspond with the learned and talented of the Scottish capital. Having married also in 1794, the year after his arrival in Arbroath, he, in 1814, when he found himself father of a rising family, removed to a country residence at Trottick, near Dundee. Here he also undertook the management of the branch of a London house which for many years had been connected with his own firm, and into which he embarked his whole fortune. But it was an unfortunate mercantile speculation, as in 1815 the mercantile reaction which had occurred on the sudden restoration of peace ruined the London establishment, and Balfour found himself reduced by the unforeseen stroke to utter bankruptcy.

Being thus reduced to his original poverty, with the bitterness of disappointment and failure added to it, the subject of this memoir was fain to accept the situation of manager at a manufacturing establishment in Balgonie, Fifeshire. Resigning this appointment, he afterwards, in 1818, removed to Edinburgh, where he became a clerk in the establishment of Mr. Blackwood, the eminent publisher. Here however a worse calamity than that of mere bankruptcy in fortune awaited him, for in 1819 symptoms of paralysis in his constitution began to appear, which in October became so confirmed that he was obliged to be moved in a wheeled chair. It was well that the vigour of his mind and his literary aptitudes were still untouched, as these were henceforth to form his only occupation as well as means of subsistence.

Being now an author by compulsion as well as choice, Balfour bravely girded himself for the task; and his first production under these circumstances, and upon which he had been some time previously employed, was the novel entitled Campbell, or the Probationer, which was published in 1819. It was a subject seldom attempted, as it comprised the literary exertions, the privations, the sorrows, and disappointments of a licentiate of the church scrambling for the bare means of life while in search of a living-the manifold changes of occupation he must undergo, and the unmerited rebuffs he must endure in such a pilgrimage, now happily so rare, but which were so abundant about forty years ago, out of which Balfour contrived to manufacture a marvellous tale of mirth, pathos, and varied incident. It was suited to the day and has now passed into oblivion; but at its appearance it became highly popular, and being published anonymously, the interest of it was heightened, and the public was anxious to know the name and circumstances of the author. After this his pen was not allowed to lie idle, and from his wheeled chair his productions issued with a rapidity that would have been wonderful, had not authorship been not merely his only occupation but his solace. In the same year that his novel of Campbell appeared, he edited the poetical works of his deceased friend Richard Gall, to which he also supplied a biographical preface. In 1822 he produced a three-volumed novel entitled The Farmer's Three Daughters, and this in 1823 was followed by The Foundling of Glenthorn, or the Smuggler's Cave, also in three volumes. It was unfortunate, however, that the last two novels proceeded from the Minerva press, a circumstance sufficient to condemn them to

neglect let their merits be what they might. It was not to prose alone that Balfour confined himself, and in 1820 he published Contemplation, and other Poems, in one volume 8vo, which added considerably to his literary reputation. To the Scots Magazine he had long been a contributor, and on the establishment of Constable's Edinburgh Magazine his services were secured for it by Thomas Pringle, its editor. His contributions to this periodical during the nine years of its existence were so numerous, that of themselves they would have filled three octavo volumes; and the articles embraced a variety of themes, but chiefly the manners of Scottish rura life-the theme in which his commencing novel o. Campbell had excelled, and in which he showed himself completely at home. To Constable's Magazine he also contributed many articles in verse, the chief of which were "Characters omitted in Crabbe's Parish Register." In these the delineations were so truthful and striking, and the versification so musical and terse, that they were perused with pleasure and surprise, and thought to be scarcely inferior to those of Crabbe himself. In consequence of this favourable reception, Balfour was induced to publish these sketches in one volume in 1825. In 1827, in consequence of an application from Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., Mr. Canning conferred on Balfour a treasury donation of £100, in consideration of his genius and misfortunes. Alexander Balfour, in addition to his other literary labours, was until his death a copious contributor to the Edinburgh Literary Gazette. The last novel which he published was Highland Mary, in four volumes, a work of considerable beauty and pathos, and soon after he died on the 12th of September, 1829. After his death, a volume of his remains was collected and published under the title of Weeds and Wild-flowers, by Mr. D. M. Moir, M.D., who also prefixed an excellent memoir of the author.

During the long illness of Alexander Balfour, and the necessity of constant labour for the wants of the day, he bore up not only with resignation and patience, but constant cheerfulness. Although so long a prisoner to his chair, a continual smile was upon his lips; and notwithstanding_an_impediment in his speech, the effect of his malady, his conversation was always cheerful, and enriched with thought and humour. He was also rigidly temperate in his habits, affectionate in his relationships of father and husband, and religious in his feelings and principles. Upon few indeed have misfortunes and sufferings sat more amiably than upon Alexander Balfour.

BALFOUR, SIR ANDREW, Bart., M.D., who first introduced the dissection of the human body into Scotland, and that at a very superstitious period; who projected the first hospital in the country for the relief of disease and poverty at the public expense; who was the founder of the botanic garden at Edinburgh, and almost the father of the science in Scotland; who planned the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh; and bequeathed to the public a museum, which at that time would have been an ornament to any university or any metropolis-was the fifth and youngest son of Sir Michael Balfour of Denmylne in Fife, and was born at that place on the 18th of January, 1630. He prosecuted his studies in the university of St. Andrews, where he took his degree of A.M. At this period his education was superintended by his brother Sir James Balfour, the famous antiquary, and lyon king-at-arms to Charles I., who was about thirty years older than himself. At college he first discovered his attachment to botany, which in him is said to have led to the study of

physic, instead of being, as it generally is, a handmaid to that art. Quitting the university about the year 1650, he removed to London, where his medical studies were chiefly directed by the celebrated Harvey, by Sir Theodore Mayerne the distinguished physician of King James I., and various other eminent practitioners. He afterwards travelled to Blois in France, and remained there for some time, to see the botanic garden of the Duke of Orleans, which was then the best in Europe, and was kept by his countryman Dr. Morison. Here he contracted a warm friendship for that great botanist, which continued unimpaired while they lived. From Blois he went to Paris, where, for a long time, he prosecuted his medical studies with great ardour. He completed his education at the university of Caen, from which he received the degrees of bachelor and doctor of physic, on the 20th of September, 1661.

Returning to London soon afterwards, Dr. Balfour was introduced to Charles II., who named him as the most proper person to attend the young Earl of Rochester on his continental travels. After an absence of four years, he returned with his pupil in 1667. During their tour he endeavoured, and at that time not without some appearance of success, to recall that abandoned young nobleman to the paths of virtue, and to inspire him with the love of learning. Rochester himself often acknowledged, and to Bishop Burnet in particular, only three days before his death, how much he was bound to love and honour Dr. Balfour, to whom, next to his parents, he thought he owed more than to all the world.

On returning to his native country, Balfour settled at St. Andrews as a physician. "He brought with him," says Dr Walker, in his Essays on Natural History, "the best library, especially in medicine and natural history, that had till then appeared in Scotland; and not only these, but a perfect knowledge of the languages in which they were written; likewise many unpublished manuscripts of learned men, a series of antique medals, modern medallions, and pictures and busts, to form the painter and the architect; the remarkable arms, vestments, and ornaments of foreign countries; numerous mathematical, philosophical, and surgical instruments, which he not only possessed, but used; with operations in surgery till then unknown in this country; a complete cabinet with all the simples of the materia medica, and new compositions in pharmacy; and large collections of the fossils, plants, and animals, not only of the foreign countries he traversed, but of the most distant parts of the world."

Dr. Balfour's merit was too conspicuous to suffer him to remain long at St. Andrews. In the year 1670 he removed to Edinburgh, where he imme diately came into great practice. Here, among other improvements, he prosecuted the manufacture of paper, and was the means of introducing that valuable art into the country-though for many years it remained in a state of complete or nearly complete dormancy; the people deriving stationery articles of all kinds from Holland. Adjoining to his house he had a small botanic garden, which he furnished by the seeds he received from his foreign correspondents; and in this garden he raised many plants which were then first introduced into Scotland. One of his fellow-labourers in this department was Patrick Murray of Livingston, whom he had initiated into the study of natural history. This young gentleman, who enjoyed an ample fortune, formed at his seat in the country a botanic garden, containing 1000 species of plants, which at that period was a very large collection. He traversed the whole of France in quest of the plants of that country; and on his

way to Italy he prematurely died of a fever. Soon after his death Dr. Balfour transferred Murray's collection from Livingston to Edinburgh; and with it, joined to his own, he had the merit of laying the foundation of the public botanic garden. The necessary expense of this new institution was at first defrayed by Dr. Balfour, Sir Robert Sibbald, and the Faculty of Advocates. But at length the city allotted a piece of ground near Trinity College church for a public garden, and out of the revenues of the university allowed a certain sum for its support. As the first keeper of this garden, Dr. Balfour selected Mr. James Sutherland; who, in 1684, published a work entitled Hortus Edinburgensis. (See SUTHERLAND.) The new institution soon became considerable: plants and seeds were sent from Morison at Oxford, Watts at London, Marchant at Paris, Herman at Leyden, and Spottiswood at Tangier. From the last were received many African plants, which flourished in this country.

Such efforts as these, by a native Scotsman, occurring at a time when the attention of the country seems to have been almost exclusively devoted to contending systems of church-government, are truly grateful to contemplate. It is only to be lamented, that the spirit which presided over them was premature in its appearance; it found no genial field to act upon, and it was soon forgotten in the prevailing distraction of the public mind. Sir Andrew Balfour was the morning-star of science in Scotland, but he might almost be said to have set before the approach of day.

He was created a baronet by Charles II., which seems to indicate that, like most men of literary and scientific character in that age, he maintained a sentiment of loyalty to the existing dynasty and government, which was fast decaying from the nation. His interest with the ministry, and with the municipality of Edinburgh, seems to have always been considerable, and was uniformly exerted for the public good and for the encouragement of merit.

Upon his settlement in Edinburgh, he had found the medical art taught in a very loose and irregular manner. In order to place it on a more respectable footing, he planned, with Sir Robert Sibbald, the Royal College of Physicians; and of that respectable society his brethren elected him the first president. When the college undertook the publication of a Pharmacopaia, the whole arrangement of the materia medica was committed to his particular care. such a task he was eminently qualified by his skill in natural history. This performance made its appearance in 1685; and, in the opinion of Dr. Cullen, it is superior to any pharmacopia of that era.

For

Not long before his decease, his desire to promote the science of medicine in his native country, joined to the universal humanity of his disposition, led him to project the foundation of an hospital in Edinburgh. The institution was at first narrow and confined, but it survived to be expanded into full shape, as the Royal Infirmary, under the care of George Drummond. Sir Andrew died in 1694, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, after a severe conflict with the gout and other painful disorders; which afforded him an opportunity of displaying, upon the approach of death, those virtues and that equanimity which had distinguished him during his life. His person, like his mind and manners, was elegant. He was possessed. of a handsome figure, with a pleasing and expressive countenance; of a graceful elocution; and, by his natural disposition, as well as his long intercourse with the higher ranks in society, of a most courteous and polite demeanour. A print of him was executed at Paris; but no copy is known to exist.

His library and museum were the anxious result of fourteen years of travelling, and between twenty and thirty more of correspondence. For their accommodation he had built an addition to his house when he had nearly arrived at his fortieth year; but after the building was completed, he found himself so infirm as to be unable to place them in that order which he intended. After his death his library, consisting of about 3000 volumes, besides manuscripts, was sold, we suppose by public auction. There is a printed catalogue still extant. His museum was deposited in the hall which was, till 1829, occupied as the university library. There it remained many years, useless and neglected; some parts of it falling to inevitable decay, and other parts being abstracted. "Yet, even after 1750," says Dr. Walker, "it still continued a considerable collection, which I have good reason to remember, as it was the sight of it, about that time, that first inspired me with an attachment to natural history. Soon after that period," to pursue a narrative so deeply disgraceful to the age and the institution referred to, "it was dislodged from the hall where it had been long kept; was thrown aside, and exposed as lumber; was further and further dilapidated, and at length almost completely demolished. In the year 1782, out of its ruins and rubbish I extracted many pieces still valuable and useful, and placed them here in the best order I could. These, I hope, may remain long, and be considered as so many precious relics of one of the best and greatest men this country has produced."

From the account that has been given of Sir Andrew Balfour, every person conversant in natural history or medicine must regret that he never appeared as an author. To his friend Mr. Murray of Livingston he addressed a series of familiar letters, for the direction of his researches while abroad. These letters, forming the only literary relics of Balfour, were subsequently published by his son, in the year 1700.

BALFOUR, SIR JAMES, an eminent lawyer and public character of the sixteenth century, was a son of Balfour of Monquhanny, in Fife, a very ancient family. In youth, being designed for the church, he made considerable proficiency, not only in ordinary literature, but in the study of divinity and law; which were all alike necessary in those times for an ecclesiastic, on account of the mixed character which the age admitted to be assumed by such individuals. Balfour, while still a young man, was so unfortunate as to join with the conspirators who, after assassinating Cardinal Beaton, held out the castle of St. Andrews against the governor Arran. He seems, however, not to have been a very cordial partizan of the conspirators. John Knox, in his own vigorous and plain-spoken manner, styled him the Blasphemous Balfour, on account of his having refused to communicate along with his reforming associates. Balfour shared the fate of his companions in being sent to the French galleys,' and was confined in the

1 The following anecdote of Balfour in connection with Knox is related by Dr. M'Crie :-" The galleys returned to Scotland in summer 1548, as near as I can collect, and continued for a

considerable time on the east coast, to watch for English vessels. Knox's health was now greatly impaired by the severity of his confinement, and he was seized with a fever, during which his life was despaired of by all in the ship. But even in this state his fortitude of mind remained unsubdued, and he comforted his fellow-prisoners with hopes of release. To their anxious desponding inquiries, natural to men in their situation, 'If he thought they would ever obtain their liberty,' his uniform answer was, 'God will deliver us to his glory, even in this life.' While they lay on the coast between Dundee and St. Andrews, Mr. (afterwards Sir) James Balfour, who was confined in the same ship, desired him to look at the VOL. 1.

same vessel along with Knox, from which he escaped in 1550, along with the rest, by the tacit permission of the French government.

Balfour seems to have afterwards joined in the proceedings of the reformers, but only with courtierlike temperance, and without exhibiting much zeal in the Protestant cause. He was preferred to the ecclesiastical appointment of official of Lothian, and afterwards became rector of Flisk, a parish in his native county. In 1563 he was appointed by Queen Mary to be a lord of session, the court then being composed partly of churchmen and partly of laics. In 1564, when the commissary court was instituted in place of the ecclesiastical tribunal, which had been dissolved at the Reformation, Balfour became one of the four commissaries, with a salary of 400 merks, while the others had only 300. In July, 1565, the queen extended the further favour of admitting him into her privy-council.

Balfour was one of those servants of the state who, being advanced rather on account of merit than birth, used at all times to give great offence to the Scottish nobility. It seems to have never been supposed by this haughty class, that there was the least necessity for talented or faithful service in the officials employed by majesty; birth and following were the only qualifications allowed by them to be of any value. Accordingly, it is not surprising to find that the same conspiracy which overthrew the "kinless" adventurer Rizzio, contemplated the destruction of Balfour. He was so fortunate, however, as to escape, and even derived some advantage from the event, being promoted to the office of clerk-register, in room of Mr. James Macgill, who was concerned in the conspiracy. He was also about this time made a knight, and appointed to be one of the commissioners for revising, correcting, and publishing the ancient laws and statutes of the kingdom.

In the beginning of the year 1567 Sir James Balfour was appointed governor of Edinburgh Castle. In this important situation he naturally became an object of great solicitude to the confederate lords, who, in the ensuing May, commenced a successful rebellion against Queen Mary. It would appear that Sir James was not now more loyal than many other persons who had experienced the favour of Mary. He is said to have even been the means of throwing into the hands of the confederates that celebrated box of letters upon which they endea voured to ground the proof of her guilt. There can be no doubt that he was at this time in the way of receiving high favours from the Earl of Murray, who was the chief man opposed to the dethroned queen. He was, in September, 1567, admitted by Murray a lord of his privy-council, and made commendator of the priory of Pittenweem; and in December, a bargain was accomplished, by which he agreed to accept a pension of £500 and the presidency of the court of session, in lieu of the clerk-registry, which Murray wished to be restored to his friend Macgill. James continued faithful to the party which opposed Queen Mary till the death of Murray, January, 1569-70, when he was in some measure compelled to revert to the queen's side, on account of a charge preferred against him by the succeeding regent,

Sir

land and see if he knew it. Though at that time very sick, he replied, 'Yes, I know it well, for I see the steeple of that place where God first opened my mouth in public to his glory: and I am fully persuaded, how weak soever I now appear, that I shall not depart this life till that my tongue shall glorify his godly name in the same place.' This striking reply Sir James repeated in the presence of many witnesses, a number of years before Knox returned to Scotland, and when there was very little prospect of his words being verified."—Life of Knox, ist edit. p. 53.

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familiar terms with another poetical attendant on the elegant court of Charles I.-the Earl of Stirling. His chief patron, however, was George, Viscount Dupplin, who held the high and almost vice-regal office of chancellor of Scotland. By the recommendation of this nobleman, aided by his own excellent qualifications, he was created by Charles I. lord-lyon king-at-arms, a dignified legal office in Scotland, in which resides the management of all matters connected with armorial honours, as also all public ceremonials. Sir Jerome Lyndsay having previously resigned the office, Balfour was crowned and installed at Holyrood House, June 15, 1630, having in the preceding month been invested with the necessary honour of knighthood by the king. On this occasion Lord Dupplin officiated as royal commissioner.

Sir James Balfour now settled in Scotland, in the enjoyment of his office. On the 21st of October he was married to Anna Aiton, daughter of Sir John Aiton of that ilk, and in January, 1631, he obtained, in favour of himself and his spouse, a grant of the lands and barony of Kinnaird in Fife. In December, 1633, he was created a baronet by Charles I., probably in consequence of the able manner in which he marshalled the processions and managed the other ceremonials of the royal visit that year. At this period of peace and prosperity a number of learned and ingenious men were beginning to exert themselves in Scotland. It was a peaceful interval between the desolating civil wars of the minority of King James and the equally unhappy contest which was soon after incited by religious and political dissensions. Like soldiers enjoying themselves during a truce, the people were beginning to seek for and cultivate various sources of amusement in the more elegant arts. This was the era of Jamieson the painter of Drummond the poet-of the geographer Pont-and the historians Spottiswood, Calderwood, Johnston, and Hume. Sir James Balfour, inspired with the common spirit of these men, commenced the writing of history with as much zeal as could be expected in an age when, the printing of a written work being a comparatively rare occurrence, literature might be said to want the greater part of its temptations.

Sir James, as already mentioned, had been bred a strict Presbyterian. In this profession he continued to the last, notwithstanding that, in politics, he was an equally firm royalist. In a letter to a young nobleman (Correspondence, Advocates' Library) he is found advising a perusal of "Calvine, Beza, Parens, and Whittaker," as "orthodox writers."

1 Afterwards created Earl of Kinnoul, on the occasion of the coronation of King Charles at Edinburgh in 1633. Sir James Balfour relates the following curious anecdote of his rdship. The king, in 1626, had commanded, by a letter to his privy council, that the Archbishop of St. Andrews should have precedence of the chancellor. To this his lordship would never submit. "I remember," says Sir James, "that K. Charles sent me to the lord-chancellor on the day of his coronation, in the morning, to show him that it was his will and pleasure, bot onlie for that day, that he wold ceed and give way to the archbishop; but he returned by me to his majestie a wery bruske answer, which was, that he was ready in all humility to lay his office doune at his majestie's feet; hot since it was his royal will he should enjoy it with the knowen privileges of the same, never a priest in Scotland should sett a foot before him, so long as his blood was hote. Quhen I had related his answer to the kinge, he said, 'Weel, Lyone, letts goe to business: I will not medle farther with that olde cankered gootish man, at quhose hand ther is nothing to be gained bot soure words.'" What makes this anecdote the more expressively illustrative of the rancour with which the secular officers and nobility beheld the newly dignified clergy is, that the lord-chancellor had just on the preceding afternoon been raised to the rank of Earl of Kinnoul.

2 David Hume of Godscroft, author of the History of the House of Douglas.

When the introduction of the liturgy imposed by Charles I. roused Scotland from one end to the other in a fit of righteous indignation, Sir James Balfour, notwithstanding his connection with the government, joined cordially with his countrymen, and wrote an account of the tumult of the 23d of July, under the burlesque title of Stoneyfield Day.

But, though indignant, in common with all people of his own persuasion, at the religious innovations attempted by the government, Sir James appears to have very soon adopted different feelings. Like many moderate persons who had equally condemned the ill-advised conduct of the king, he afterwards began to fear that the opposition would produce greater mischiefs than the evil which was opposed.

It was probably in consequence of this feeling that he retired to the royal hunting-palace of Falkland, where, and at his seat of Kinnaird, he devoted himself to those studies by which the present may be forgotten in the past. His annals, however, show that he still occasionally appeared in public affairs in his capacity of lord-lyon. It is also clear that his political sentiments must have been of no obtrusive character, as he continued in his office during the whole term of the civil war, and was only at last deprived of it by Cromwell. During his rural retirement at Falkland and Kinnaird, he collected many manuscripts relative to heraldry, and wrote many others in his own language, of which some are preserved in the Advocates' Library, while others were either lost at the capture of Perth (1651), to which town he had conveyed them for safety, or have since been dispersed. Persevering with particular diligence in illustrating the History of Scot land, he had recourse to the ancient charters and diplomas of the kingdom, the archives of monasteries, and registers of cathedral churches, and in his library was a great number of chronicles of monasteries, both originals and the abridgments; but it is to be deeply regretted that many of these valuable manuscripts fell into the hands of children, or perished in the flames during the civil wars. A few only were opportunely rescued from destruction by those who were acquainted with their value. The style of these monastic chronicles was indeed rude and barbarous; but they were remarkable for the industry, judgment, and fidelity to truth, with which they were compiled. For some time after the erection of monasteries in this kingdom, these writers were almost the only, and certainly the most respectable, observers in literature, as scarcely any other persons preserved in writing the memory of the important occurrences of the times. In these registers and chronicles were to be found an accurate record of transactions with foreign powers, whether in forming alliances, contracting marriages of state, or regulating commerce; letters and bulls of the holy see; answers, edicts, and statutes of kings; church rescripts; provincial constitutions; acts of parliament; battles; deaths of eminent persons; epitaphs and inscriptions; and sometimes the natural appearances of the seasons; the prevalent diseases; miracles and prodigies; the heresies that sprung up, with an account of the authors and their punishments. In short, they committed to writing every important occurrence in church and state, that any question arising in after-ages might be settled by their authority, and the unanimous confirmation of their faithful and accurate chronicles. In collecting and preserving these manuscripts, Balfour therefore raised a monument to his memory which the latest posterity must revere. For he did so from a conviction that these old and approved authors were the only guides to the knowledge of facts, as well as