Then give triumphing ghosts, can stoupe to thinges belowe, It's thy translation from this seat, to the cœlestiall sphears. of some of the Bishops. Ross, Brechin, and Galloway, were in the castle of Glasgow, as I remember, that day, and sundrie dayes thereafter in the palace of Hamilton; bot it hes been their resolution, taken in common with the Commissioner, not to compear, knowing the Commissioner's determination to desert and leave us, as shortlie he did."-Ibid. pp. 135, 136. It may not be amiss to add the statement given by a moderate Episcopalian of the same transaction." The next electione that was called in questione was that which was sent from the Presbytrye of Aberdeene. Ther wer two commissions produced from that Presbytrye. One was of Covenanters, made by a few ministers, but many ruling elders, at which neither the moderator nor clerke had been present, nor had they mett upon the right presbytrye daye. The other electione was made only by ministers, and at which the moderator and clerke wer both present, and it was made upon the right presbyteriall dyett, which was appoynted by common consent of the presbytrye. The commissioners chossne in it wer Doctor Robert Barron and Doctor James Sibbald (two of them who proposed the queries to the three ministers); yet ther electione was rejected, albeit it was attested by Mr James Hervye, minister at New Machor, clerke to the presbytrye, who was lyckwayes chossne, and was the only man of the three who kept the Assembly, to no purpose, for he was glade to returne home againe in the beginning of the Assembly, voice being deneyd to him. And, albeit no presbyteriall acte can macke faith without the moderator and clerke's hande, or one of the two, yet the commissione of the two Covenanter ministers, Mr David Lindsey, minister at Belhelvy, Dr William Guild, minister at Aberdeene, wanting both, was accepted of as valide upon the bare relatione of one of the Covenanter ministers who was worongfully chossne, and the attestatione of the other, whom the moderator openly, in the Assembly, called upp and desyred for to testifie whither the relatione of his fellow wer true. This was thought a straunge methode of ane probatione of a publicke recorde, for to tacke the pairtye who pleaded against it for to be witnesse in his oune cause. Yet they saye that they wished that Dr Barron, or any of the divynes of Aberdeen, might have beene present that, in publick dispute, they might have been put to it concerning Episcopacye, and ther mouthes closed. Ane needlesse wish (if truth), for ther duplyes, then and ever since, stand unanswered. Nor did Dr Barron and Dr Sibbald, though bothe chossne by the presbytrye, see any reason to goe ther, wher they wer sure not to meete with aeqwall hearing. The reasones of ther absence, that the Latine writter of the History of the Troubles [Spang, to whom Baillie sent information] renders to us (viz. that they wer disswaded from comming by thoise who had advysed the Commissioner to prorogate the synode,) are not worth tacking notice off, nor dares he call them other then conjectwrall."--Gordon's Hist. of Scots Affairs, vol. i. p. 153, 154. The parson of Belhelvie continued one of the most active and energetic of the Covenanting party in Aberdeenshire, and his name will be found in connection with most of the leading Ecclesiastical Affairs in that district of Scotland, for a considerable period.-E.] C. What? doe yee grudge my state, who have made gayne by death? V. No: but lament our losse of thee, with sorrow-sounding breath. How can wee cease from teares, when wee remember now, sight; When any thing was out of frame, thou joynted all things right; The errant, wilfull, weake thou carefullie observ'd, Whom thou reclaym'd, constrain'd, releiv'd, thou all in peace preserv'd, Our losse, alace, is gayne, to the Ignatian brood, Whose machinations thou forsaw, whose practice thou withstood. Since thou removedst hence, they dare accoast our flocks; The wholesome seede that wee haue sowne, there nocive darnel chocks. Now at thy emptie chayre wee stand amaz'd to see, C. Wmquhill Comilitons, why should yee thinke it strange, A Church that wants parallaxes, is in the heavens, yee know. faces : Who will your paines at last remunerate in love, And place you with the rest of saincts upon these thrones above, Then let hope of this allay your crosses heere: Lift up your heades, yee drooping saincts, for your releasse drawes neare. I know Viators thinke, their Lord makes long delay: his stay. V. And art thou gone, deare ghost? C. Yes, I have stay'd too long; For I must goe, and beare my part of our triumphing song: Whereof I know one day yee shall sustaine your parts, And sing the praises of the Lambe, with jubilating heartes, Meane tyme present your selves, with heaven erected eyes, And recommend your faynting hearts, your weakned hands and knees, To him whom GOD hath made, Brabeutes of your hosts; Hee heares your cryes, Hee sees your teares, not one of them is lost. As wee have joyfull proofe, who are triumphers now: Under the hope whereof I bid you all goodnight, QUEM REVERENDISSIMO PATRI PATRICIO FORBESIO JOANNIS FORBESII FILII PIETAS MARMORE ET ÆRE PERENNIONEM EXCITAVIT. 1 [The celebrated DR ARTHUR JOHNSTON, born in 1587, Physician to Charles I., and a Latin poet of such ability that he has even been considered by some critics, entitled to dispute the palm of pre-eminence with his countryman Buchanan. He was the fifth son of George Johnston of that Ilk, and of Caskieben (now Keith Hall) in the county of Aberdeen, a family which contests the chieftainship of that ancient Scottish surname with the great Annandale stock. His mother was the Honourable Christian Forbes, daughter of the seventh Lord Forbes. [Genealogical Account of the Family of Johnston of that Ilk, formerly of Caskieben; by Alexander Johnston, Jun. W.S. pp. 1, 36. Edin. MCCCXXXII. 4to.; Douglas' Baronage, p. 36.] Dr Johnston was thus connected, though distantly, with the eminent Ecclesiastic to whose Tumulus he contributed this Epigram, and a beautiful Latin poem which will be found below. Johnston received the rudiments of his education at Kintore, a Royal Burgh not far from his father's castle, from thence he was removed to the then lately established University of Marischal College in Aberdeen. Having finished the usual course of studies observed in that seat of learning, he proceeded to the Continent, according to a frequent custom of the Scottish youth of the times, to which they were impelled not more by the national characteristics of enterprise and a liberal curiosity, than by the poverty and want of employment at home. He applied himself to the FORBESIOS hic cerne duos, sine compare patrem, Et natum, secli sidus utrumque sui. study of medicine, and took his degree of Doctor in that science, at Padua in the year 1610. We find him soon afterwards in France, and Sir Thomas Urquhart tells us [Jewel, Edin. 1774, p. 125,] “that before he was full three and twenty years of age, he was laureated poet at Paris, and that most deservedly." He visited Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and England, as we learn from the following lines, forming part of a poem addressed to his intimate friend David Wedderburn, Rector of the Grammar School of Aberdeen, and Professor of Humanity in King's College, himself a contributor to the "Funerals," and one of the numerous body of learned scholars who, in the earlier half of the seventeenth century, shone as a Constellation in that Northern city. "Quas ego non terras, quæ non vagus æquora pressi, Hæc licet ingenio sint minus apta meo? Bis mihi trajectæ vicinæ nubibus Alpes : [PARERGA, pp. 39-40. Aberdoniæ, 1632.] From these lines we also learn that he was twice married, and had thirteen children. The name of his first wife, who was a native of Mechlin, in Brabant, has not been ascertained, nor the period of her death. In some former biographies of the Poet, it is stated that he remained in France for many years, and did not return to Britain till about 1632. From the following memorials, for which the Editor is indebted to his friend the Author of the Genealogical Account above mentioned,--a lineal descendant of the Poet's eldest brother, John Johnston of that Ilk,--it will be seen that these statements are erroneous. These notices, also, furnish us with farther information regarding Johnston's domestic history altogether new. From different entries in the Baptismal Register of the Burgh of Aberdeen, it is evident that Dr Johnston had resided there so early as 1622, his name occurring as a witness at the baptisms of children of many of the citizens about that year. In August of the same year, he was admitted a burgess and guild-brother of the city. At the upper right hand corner of a portrait of Johnston, painted by Jameson (most likely when the latter was following his profession in his native place), and now in the Hall of Marischal College, the date" 1623, aetatis 36,” is distinctly traceable. |