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Many Scotsmen distinguished themselves as teachers in the foreign Universities. Among these, James Fullerton, and James Hamilton, who obtained professorships in Trinity College, Dublin, deserve to be particularly mentioned. In this situation, Archbishop Usher was among their first pupils. Fullerton was afterwards knighted, was admitted of the Bed-chamber, and usually resided at Court after the accession of James. Hamilton was created Viscount Claneboy, and afterwards Earl of Clanbrissel. Fullerton was one of Melville's scholars, and was distinguished by his friendship. Hamilton is also supposed to have been his pupil; but the fact has not been distinctly ascertained.

It is a mistake to suppose that the parochial schools of Scotland owed their origin to Parliamentary enactments. The persuasions of the ministers, and the authority of the church courts, were, in a multitude of instances, sufficient to determine heritors or parishioners to endow schools. As every minister examined his people, he was careful to have a schoolmaster for the instruction of youth. Statutes were subsequently of great advantage, but would have for ever remained a dead letter, had it not been for the exertions of the church. Classical schools were also increased in number, and many of them were ably conducted. "Before the year 1616, a fifth class was taught in the High School of Edinburgh, and during their attendance on it, the boys were initiated into Greek grammar."

In logic, the writings of Ramus supplanted those of Aristotle, or at least prevented them from being regarded as infallible oracles, as hitherto had been the case. Bacon's merit as a philosopher also began to be ap. preciated. No collections of sermons had appeared in Scotland till those of Rollock and Bruce were published. As a composition Archbishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland is a work highly creditable to the talents of its author. Sir John Skene's edition of the acts of Parliament from

the reign of James I. shews the improvement which had taken place in the department of jurisprudence. Sir Thomas Craig's book, De Feudis, was the first regular treatise on law composed in Scotland. Wellwood, Professor of Law at St Andrews, also published several valuable legal treatises, particularly his Ecclesiastical Forms of Process. Wellwood's name is also associated with the improvement of physics and the arts. The chronology of Pont confirms the testimony borne to his skill in mathematics and astronomy. Napier, the inventor of logarithmic calculation, is a name sufficient to give celebrity to the age in which he lived, and to the country which has the honour to own him as a son. Medical knowledge at this time, and down to a much later period, was acquired chiefly at foreign schools; but Dr Peter Lowe, and Dr Duncan Liddel, were then authors on that subject.

He

Among the miscellaneous writers of this age, Hume of Godscroft, one of Melville's intimate friends, deserves to be particularly mentioned. possessed an extensive knowledge of ancient and modern languages, theology, politics, and history; wrote his Apologia Basilica in refutation of the Princeps of Machiavel; and his History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus in illustration of public events, and of the manners of the times. Poetry was then, as it is still, assiduously cultivated. Montgomery, Hume, Lady Culross, Cockburne, Drummond of Hawthornden, Sir Robert Ayton, the Earl of Stirling, and Sir David Murray, are among the poets of the period, and the names and works of some of them are still, we presume, familiar to many of our readers. Latin poetry was then especially cultivated by our countrymen, as the collection entitled Delitia Poetarum Scotorum bears ample testimony; so that, "if this was not the classic age of Scotland, it was at least the age of classical literature in it." In this department Melville himself holds a conspicuous place; and besides Ayton and Hume, names already mentioned, Sir Thomas Craig, Hercules Rollock, John and Arthur Jouston, deserve also to be mentioned. Buchanan may be regarded as belonging to an earlier age; yet he died after Melville had taken up his resi

dence at St Andrews. The greater part of Melville's writings consist of Latin poems, many of which are short and occasional, others are of greater length, and of more permanent interest. Though he was the avowed and formidable enemy of the form of church government established in England, yet Isaac Walton, though displeased with the freedoms which he took with his favourite church, does justice to his talents.

"He was," says he, "master of a great wit, full of knots and clenches; a wit sharp and satirical; exceeded, I think, by none of that nation, but their Buchanan."

And a modern English divine (Dr Zouch) speaks of him thus :

"The learning and abilities of Mr Melville were equalled only by the purity of his manners, and the sanctity of his life. His temper was warm and violent; his carriage and zeal perfectly suited to the times in which he lived. Archbishop Spotswood is uniformly unfriendly to his memory. He seems to have been treated by his adversaries with great asperity."

And having quoted Duport's poem against him, he continues

"Let it not, however, be inferred from these verses, that Andrew Melville always sought to dip his pen in gall; that he was principally delighted with the severity of satire and invective. He occasionally diverted his muse to the subject of just panegyric. In many of his epigrams he has celebrated the literary attainments of his contemporaries. He has endeared his name to posterity by his encomium on the profound learning of the two Scaligers, and the classic elegance of Buchanan his preceptor, and the parent of the muses. His Latin paraphrase of the song of Moses is truly excellent, exquisitely beautiful." Vol. II. pp. 468, 469.

We shall conclude with one quotation more.

"The facts which have been pointed out in the course of this brief review, will, it is hoped, assist the reader in forming an idea of the state of our national literature at this period. They may perhaps convince him, that Scotland was not so late in literary improvement as is commonly imagined that she had advanced at the time of which we write, nearly to the same stage in this honourable career with the other nations of Europe; and that, if she did not afterwards make the progress which was to be expected, or if she retrograded, this is to be imputed to other causes than to

want of spirit in her inhabitants, or to the genius of her ecclesiastical constitution.

"In asserting that Melville had the chief influence in bringing the literature of Scotland to that pitch of improvement which it reached at this time, I am supported by the testimony of contemporary writers of opposite parties, as well as by facts which have been stated in a former part of this work. His example and instructions continued and increased the literary impulse which his arrival from the Continent first gave to the minds of his countrymen. In languages, in theology, and in that species of poetical composition which was then most practised among the learned, his influence was direct and acknowledged. And though he did not himself cultivate several of the branches of study which are included in the preced

ing sketch, yet he stimulated others to cul

tivate them by the ardour with which he inspired their minds, and by the praises, which he was always ready to bestow on their exertions and performances." Vol. II. p. 335, 336.

REMARKS ON MATURIN'S SERMONS.

THE author of these Sermons has already acquired an extensive celebrity from the publication of various works of fiction, especially from his powerful, but ill-imagined, drama of

but

Bertram," and his very singular novel of " Women, or Pour et Contre." In addition to these, and several other pieces, both in poetry and prose, we observe that a new set of Tales are announced as just about to make their appearance from his prolific pen. This association of the theatre with the church, and of fictitious tales with pulpit discourses, is, we believe, something new in the history of literature. The tragedy of Douglas, it is true, was the production of a clergyman, we are not aware that he ever published sermons. Mr Logan, too, was the author of a drama, but his sermons were not printed till after his death. Swift was a deservedly popular writer of fiction and of political satire, but if we take his own word, his sermons became nothing but pamphlets. Sterne, as every one knows, is the author of a most amusing novel, and also of very impressive sermons, but he never aspired to the drama; in this respect, therefore, the author of

"Sermons, by the Reverend Charles Robert Maturin, Curate of St Peter's, Dublin, 1 Vol. 8vo. London, 1819.

"Women, or Pour et Contre," has taken a higher flight than that of "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy." Even as novelists, there is more of contrast between these writers than of similarity. The arch humour, and endless, though seldom wearisome, digressions of Sterne, as well as his simple and melting pathos, are entire ly peculiar to himself, and constitute the great charm of his unique compositions. Maturin, again, is distinguished by an onward course of narrative, and a stormy wildness of passion. The former, at his pleasure, moves us to laughter or to tears, by means of the perfectly ludicrous or the exquisitely tender scenes which his matchless tact enables him, in all the living lineaments of truth, and in all the circumstantial detail of natural combination, to represent: the latter fixes us in astonishment, or appals us with terror, by means of the strange or the terrible exhibitions created by his irregular but powerful imagination. Perhaps the satiric vein of these two authors has a closer affinity than any of their other endowments; and this relationship is the more apparent, from the circumstance of this dangerous talent's having been employed by both to expose the abuses of religion. If Sterne had the superstition and the intolerance of the Church of Rome to whet the edge of his satire, that of Maturin was sharpened to equal keenness by the pharisaical conduct of the religionists of Dublin, who professed to hold the "scarlet lady" in utter abomination. But, while we admire the facility and the effect with which, in the developement of several of the characters introduced into " Women, or Pour et Contre," he has exposed hypocrisy and dogmatism in all their revolting deformity, we trust that, for his honour as an author, and his comfort as a man, he has not been assisted in his descriptions by personal allusion or party malignity.

But we recur to his Sermons, which we regard as a novelty, not merely in relation to their author as a dramatic poet and a writer of fictitious tales, but also in respect of that class of compositions to which they belong, for they are very unlike any other sermons with which we are acquainted.

These discourses, indeed, bear throughout "the image and superscription" of a man of genius; but of

a man of imagination and feeling rather than of profound thought and intellectual perspicacity. The author is evidently, though we had no other evidence but the volume on our table, a man of originality and of extensive and various literary acquirements, while, at the same time, it is equally evident that the tendency of his mind is not to deep investigation or close discussion; for, in the topics which he takes up in his sermons, he does not reason, but expatiate often, indeed, with much beauty and elevation of language, with much rich and graceful imagery, and with many appropriate Scriptural quotations and allusions; but he very rarely announces an order of arrangement, or illustrates a proposition by a logical induction. Hence, we think, that, though these Sermons, if well delivered, must have had great effect from the pulpit, the impression, at the same time, could scarcely be any thing else than transient, as the hearers of them were not furnished with well-defined land-marks to assist their recollection or to guide their reflections. The mode of preaching without any formal statement of the topics to be explained, illustrated, or enforced, is, we are aware, not without its advocates, who pretend that the omission is conducive to the clegance of the composition; but we are decidedly of opinion that a lucidus ordo is a great excellence in any species of composition whatsoever, and that, as arrangement is managed by Blair, Alison, and many other eloquent authors of sermons whom we could name, it is a positive beauty in point of taste, as well as of immense advantage to the memory of the hearers. We readily admit that we have an utter aversion to that refinement of diyision, the object of which is to multiply distinctions-which gives a sermon the hard and ghastly appearance of a skeleton, and which, in many instances, in former times at least, reduced preaching to mere verbal quibbling; but neither do we approve of that mode of preaching which reduces a sermon to an immethodical and rhapsodical harangue-and it is in this respect chiefly that we have any fault to find with the Sermons of Maturin. We have nothing to object on the score of orthodoxy, and the discourses abound with beautiful and pious passages-though we must,

1820.3

at the same time, take the liberty to state, that, in the perusal of them, we have met with figures, phrases, and allusions, too strong and even gross for the pulpit, at least on this side of the Channel. We might adduce instances, but we rather refer the reader to page 30 and to page 55, as containing glaring examples of what we condemn. There is, we think, also too frequent a recurrence of the term “the Bible,” than is consistent with good taste in a sermon. Scriptures, the word of God, or any of the other designations contained in the sacred volume itself, ought, in our opinion, by all means to be preferred in all addresses from the pulpit. Having made these remarks, we shall now introduce the reader to the volume by which they have been suggested. It contains twenty-two discourses, about the half of which were delivered on particular occasions. The first is of this description, having been preached on the lamented death of the The Princess Charlotte of Wales. text is taken from the 24th chapter and the 16th verse of Ezekiel,-"Son of man, behold I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke." After this alarming intimation, the prophet spoke to the people in the morning, and his wife died in the evening; and by this domestic affliction he was taught to announce to his countrymen, that their sins were about to be visited with punishment, unless they repented and turned unto God. The prophets lived in a state of sacred abstraction from the world and its passions; but of all the prophets, says the preacher, "if individual and domestic feeling were to judge, Ezekiel seems to have been one of the greatest personal sufferers;" and then he describes that species of affliction in the following piece of genuine pathos:

"Public exigencies, great disasters, rouse and brace the mind of man; he wakes all the energies of his nature to meet them at his utmost need, and perhaps his pride assists him to bear or to hide the awful impressions of their visitation-but domestic suffering breaks the heart-then even man weeps-and no one can chide his tears and no one can dry them."

pp. 6, 7. "The desire of thine eyes" may be an Eastern idiom, but still it marks with peculiar emphasis the tender af

fection which the prophet cherished for his wife, and hence the severity of the trial, which called him to leave her sudden death unmourned, and to go in the exercise of his function to call the people to repentance. After an impressive appeal, or rather reference, to the disregard which man, in his prosperity, pays to the calls of God's words, or the procedure of his Providence, he introduces the death of the Princess in this affecting manner:

"We have, within these last few awful days, been taught what death is in all its terrors, in all its anguish, in all its bitterness of present evil, in all its overwhelming and incalculable consequences of future danger and calamity. The destroying angel bore a two-edged weapon, as subtle as it was potent-fine enough to divide the most exquisite ligaments-strong enough to sunder the mightiest ties-one edge cut off domestic happiness-the other smote to the dust the hopes of a mighty nation."

p. 12.

"If imagination were tasked to devise an event that united the widest extremes of domestic misery and national calamity, that combined all the sufferings or mortality with the more tremendous impressions of eternity, imagination itself would faint under the burthen of conceiving a portion of that evil which bows us down before God in anguish-in terror-and I trust in repentance, as at this day.

"The image of a young female about to be bound to existence by a new and delightful tie, about to become a mother, requires scarce an additional feature to interest every heart for its object ;-add to this that she is beautiful, beloved, intellectual, exalted, and virtuous;-add that it is not only the heart of a husband and father that trembles for her safety-that the hearts of millions are throbbing-that the hopes of a mighty nation depend on herand surely our knees would be instantly, eagerly, bent in supplication for the preservation of her inestimable life. Such prayers, doubtless, have been put up by many, without the parade of affected feeling or exaggerated loyalty they have been answered-but not as the supplicants had hoped-she is no more!

"She has been smitten in the abundant and accumulated enjoyment of those blessings, any of which, singly, is enough to enrich life, any of which would have conferred happiness on us: youth, health, eminence, felicity, domestic felicity-the best, the only that deserves the name, the sole flower that has been borne unwithered from Whatsoever things are pureparadise. whatsoever things are lovely-whatsoever

things are of good report-if there was any virtue, and if there was any praise,' they all waited on her they all have perished with her. No event of greater horror and anguish ever desolated the short and simple' annals of domestic life: no event, perhaps, of similar importance, has left its awful track on the page of history. But from history, at this moment, we turn with disgust; such events make general truths and remote examples loathsome to the mind of man: at such a moment as this we seek, like Joseph, a place where we may weep, and go to our chambers and weep there." pp. 14-17.

The text of the second discourse is from 1st Thess. iv. 13,-" Sorrow not as them that have no hope;" and is intended as a sequel of the one by which it was preceded-the improvement of the stupendous calamity which had plunged three mighty nations in mourning; and, with this view, the preacher directs the attention of his hearers to that life and immortality which has been brought to light by the Gospel. We give the following passages, as worthy of attention in this point of view.

"Select any individual in your imagination-surround him with every thing that men are accustomed to call fortunate, eminent, or enviable; health, fortune, friends, fame, cultivated intellect ;-add

richer colouring to the picture, add till imagination and desire are exhausted, and when you have finished the portrait, it is the portrait of a finished wretch; if it be that of a being who knows not God,-who is conscious of an immortal spirit within him, but knows neither its destination nor its dignity, who feels within him those cravings of unsatisfied desire, that render all his present enjoyments hollow, worthless, and unsatisfactory,-that poison them by an indefinite longing after immortality

of which his terror increases with his certainty. But shew me a being crushed to

the earth under all the accumulated evils of nature and fortune, one whom the rising sun wakens to light up to suffer, and on whom it sets without bringing him the hope of rest, one whom the world has never regarded but with the averted eye of scorn or of hatred; and that being is blessed, blessed above the lot of mankind,-if God is the stay of his heart, and the consoler of his sorrows, if religion has shed its wine

and oil into his wounds,-if, as he toils through the wilderness of sin and suffering, he beholds the promised land bright before him, and knows that his light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' Oh, brethren! what

must be the power and blessedness of the religion of Christ, that can make us—frail and feeble beings as we are, bound down with the chains of infirmity-forget them, or feel them not, when we are once brought under its gracious and superior influences! What must be its power, that when it is thus put into one scale can counterpoise all the evils of humanity in the other, and make them in comparison as the dust of the balance !" pp. 33-35.

"The ancients consoled themselves with the thoughts of meeting poets and philosophers in their Elysium; but the Christian's heaven has a brighter company,prophets and patriarchs, saints and martyrs, and she whose crown and palm were so lately given and those whom we loved, and those whom we lost, shall we not hope they are there? The spirits of just men made perfect' are there, all holy, happy, and harmonious; the Son of God is there, who loved us and gave himself for us; and God himself, whose name is love, whose presence is eternal blessedness! And shall not we seek to be there? Oh yes: 'let and it shall be opened."" pp. 39, 40. us seek, and we shall find; let us knock,

·

The next discourse was preached on the death of Lord Nelson. The text is from St John, ix. 33,-" If this man were not of God, he could do nothing." As these words were spoken with a direct reference to our Saviour, we feel it something like profanation to apply them to any other person or event whatever. An accommodated text, we grant, may occasionally be extremely beautiful and impressive, especially when there exists an obvious analogy or similarity of circumstances between the primary signification and the adapted sense. This liberty with the language of Scripture ought, however, to be employed but very sparingly, and all those passages relative to the Gospel or its Author ought to form an exception, otherwise there is no saying where the perversion will end, or what evil consequences may ensue.

In this discourse, the preacher, after a long, and apparently not a very applicable, exordium, asserts, in reference to the events both prior and subsequent to the French Revolution, that, everywhere throughout Europe, national guilt preceded national calamity; and, in proof of his position, he particularly mentions Italy, Germany, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, and other "victims of French horrors." Then he traces the source of such overflowings of ungodliness as he

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