historical lectures and essays(查尔斯金斯利历史讲座)






Melville says; found fault with the style。 Buchanan replied that he could 

do no more for thinking of another thing; which was to die。                         They then 

went   to Arbuthnot’s   printing…   house;   and   inspected   the   history;   as   far   as 

that terrible passage concerning Rizzio’s burial; where Mary is represented 

as   〃laying   the   miscreant   almost   in   the   arms   of   Maud   de Valois;   the   late 

queen。〃   Alarmed;   and   not   without   reason;   at   such   plain   speaking;   they 

stopped the press; and went back to Buchanan’s house。                      Buchanan was in 

bed。     〃He was going;〃 he said; 〃the way of welfare。〃                  They asked him to 

soften   the   passage;   the   king   might   prohibit   the   whole   work。   〃Tell   me; 

man;〃 said Buchanan; 〃if I have told the truth。〃                 They could not; or would 

not; deny it。      〃Then I will abide his feud; and all his kin’s; pray; pray to 

God   for   me;   and   let   Him   direct   all。〃   〃So;〃   says   Melville;   〃before   the 



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printing   of   his   chronicle   was   ended;   this   most   learned;   wise;   and   godly 

man ended his mortal life。〃 

     Camden has a hearsay storywritten; it must be remembered; in James 

I。’s   timethat   Buchanan;   on   his   death…bed;   repented   of   his   harsh   words 

against   Queen   Mary;   and   an   old   Lady   Rosyth   is   said   to   have   said   that 

when she was young a certain David Buchanan recollected hearing some 

such words from George Buchanan’s own mouth。                        Those who will; may 

read what Ruddiman and Love have said; and oversaid; on both sides of 

the question:        whatever conclusion they e to; it will probably not be 

that   to   which   George   Chalmers   es   in   his   life   of   Ruddiman:           that 

〃Buchanan;        like  other    liars;  who;    by   the  repetition    of   falsehoods     are 

induced      to   consider     the   fiction    as  truth;   had    so   often    dwelt    with 

placency  on   the   forgeries   of   his   Detections;   and   the   figments   of   his 

History;  that he   at length   regarded his   fictions   and his   forgeries   as   most 

authentic facts。〃 

     At all events his fictions and his forgeries had not paid him in that coin 

which   base   men   generally  consider the  only  coin   worth   having;   namely; 

the good   things of this life。         He  left nothing behind   himif  at   least   Dr。 

Irving has rightly construed the 〃Testament Dative〃 which he gives in his 

appendixsave        arrears    to  the   sum    of  100    pounds     of  his   Crossraguel 

pension。      We may believe as we choose the story in Mackenzie’s 〃Scotch 

Writers〃 that when he felt himself dying; he asked his servant Young about 

the   state   of   his   funds;   and   finding   he   had   not   enough   to   bury   himself 

withal; ordered what he had to be given to the poor; and said that if they 

did not choose to bury him they might let him lie where he was; or cast 

him in a ditch; the matter was very little to him。              He was buried; it seems; 

at the expense of the city of Edinburgh; in the Greyfriars’ Churchyardone 

says in a plain turf graveamong the marble monuments which covered 

the bones of worse or meaner men; and whether or not the 〃Throughstone〃 

which; 〃sunk under the ground in the Greyfriars;〃 was raised and cleaned 

by the Council of Edinburgh in 1701; was really George Buchanan’s; the 

reigning   powers   troubled   themselves   little   for   several   generations   where 



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he lay。 

     For   Buchanan’s   politics   were   too   advanced   for   his   age。       Not   only 

Catholic Scotsmen; like Blackwood; Winzet; and Ninian; but Protestants; 

like Sir Thomas Craig and Sir John Wemyss; could not stomach the 〃De 

Jure Regni。〃       They may have had some reason on their side。                 In the then 

anarchic state of Scotland; organisation and unity under a mon head 

may have been more important than the assertion of popular rights。                        Be 

that as it may; in 1584; only two years after his death; the Scots Parliament 

condemned        his   Dialogue     and   History    as   untrue;   and    manded        all 

possessors of copies to deliver them up; that they might be purged of 〃the 

offensive and extraordinary matters〃 which they contained。                   The 〃De Jure 

Regni〃 was again prohibited in Scotland; in 1664; even in manuscript; and 

in 1683; the whole of Buchanan’s political works had the honour of being 

burned   by   the   University   of   Oxford;   in   pany   with   those   of   Milton; 

Languet;      and    others;   as   〃pernicious     books;    and   damnable       doctrines; 

destructive   to   the sacred   persons   of   Princes;   their   state   and   government; 

and of all human society。〃          And thus the seed which Buchanan had sown; 

and   Milton   had   wateredfor   the   allegation   that   Milton   borrowed   from 

Buchanan is probably true; and equally honourable to bothlay trampled 

into   the   earth;   and   seemingly   lifeless;   till   it   tillered   out;   and   blossomed; 

and bore fruit to a good purpose; in the Revolution of 1688。 

     To Buchanan’s clear head and stout heart; Scotland owes; as England 

owes likewise; much of her modern liberty。               But Scotland’s debt to him; it 

seems to me; is even greater on the count of morality; public and private。 

What   the   morality   of   the   Scotch   upper   classes   was   like;   in   Buchanan’s 

early    days;   is  too   notorious;    and    there   remains    proof    enoughin     the 

writings;     for  instance;    of  Sir  David     Lindsaythat     the   morality    of  the 

populace; which looked up to the nobles as its example and its guide; was 

not    a  whit    better。   As     anarchy    increased;     immorality      was   likely   to 

increase likewise; and Scotland was in serious danger of falling into such a 

state as that into which Poland fell; to its ruin; within a hundred and fifty 

years   after;   in   which   the   savagery   of   feudalism;   without   its   order   or   its 



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chivalry;      would     be    varnished      over    by    a   thin   coating     of   French 

〃civilisation;〃   and;   as   in   the   case   of   Bothwell;   the   vices   of   the   court   of 

Paris   should   be   added   to   those   of   the   Northern   freebooter。   To   deliver 

Scotland from that ruin; it was needed that she should be united into one 

people; strong; not in mere political; but in moral ideas; strong by the clear 

sense     of   right   and   wrong;     by   the  belief    in  the   government       and   the 

judgments   of   a living   God。       And   the  tone   which   Buchanan;   like   Knox; 

adopted   concerning   the   great        crimes   of   their   day;   helped    notably   that 

national     salvation。     It   gathered     together;    organised;     strengthened;      the 

scattered and wavering elements of public morality。                   It assured the hearts 

of all men who loved the right and hated the wrong; and taught a whole 

nation to call acts by their just names; whoever might be the doers of them。 

It appealed to the mon conscience of men。                    It proclaimed a universal 

and God…given morality; a bar at which all; from the lowest to the highest; 

must alike be judged。 

     The   tone   was   stern:      but   there   was   need   of   sternness。    Moral   life 

and death were in the balance。              If the Scots people were to be told that 

the    crimes    which    roused     their  indignation     were    excusable;     or  beyond 

punishment; or to be hushed up and slipped over in any way; there was an 

end of morality among them。               Every man; from the greatest to the least; 

would go and do likewise; according to his powers of evil。                     That method 

was being tried in France; and in Spain likewise; during those very years。 

Notorious   crimes   were   hushed   up   under   pretence   of   loyalty;   excused   as 

political necessities; smiled away as natural and pardonable  weaknesses。 

The result was the utter demoralisation; both of France and Spain。                       Knox 

and Buchanan; the one from the standpoint of an old Hebrew prophet; the 

other rather from that of a Juvenal or a Tacitus; tried the other method; and 

called acts by their just names;