oftener to the cultivation of his native language. As the hopes of the prolestant party were entirely centred in King James, Buchanan was, in 1570, selected by the lords of the privy council, and others of the nobility, assembled on occasion of the slaughter of the regent Murray, to take the superintendence of that important matter, the education of the royal youth. On this occasion he " compeared personally in presence of the said lords of the council, nobility, and others of the estates, and at their desire, and of his own free will and proper motive, demitted and gave over his charge and place of master of the said college, (St Leonards,) in the favours of his well-beloved Master Patrick Adamson, and no otherwise."[1]
Buchanan commenced his new duties with ardour; and the very respectable scholarship which his pupil exhibited in after life, shows that so far he executed his task with great success. James had been committed, during his infancy, to the charge of the Earl of Mar, a nobleman of the most unblemished integrity, and he was now in the fourth year of his age. His governor was Sir Alexander Erskine, brother to the Earl of Mar, "a gallant well-natured gentleman, loved and honoured by all men." The preceptors associated with Buchanan were Mr Peter Young, and the abbots of Cambuskenneth and Dryburgh, both of them related to the family of Mar. Young was a man of a mild disposition, respectable both for his talents and learning ; and he discharged his office with a prudent attention to his future interests. Recollecting that his pupil was soon to be the sole dispenser of public favour, he was careful to secure his good graces, and of course was afterwards employed in several political transactions of consider-able importance, obtained the honour of knighthood, and an annual pension of considerable amount. The two abbots, also, were wise and modest, according to Sir James Melville, but the Lady Mar was wise and sharp, and held the king in great awe, and so did Mr George Buchanan. "But Mr George," Melville adds, "was a Stoic philosopher, who looked not far beforehand; a man of notable endowments for his learning and knowledge of Latin poesy; much honoured in other countries; pleasant in conversation, rehearsing at all occasions moralities short and instructive, whereof he hud abundance, inventing when he wanted." The austere spirit of Buchanan was not to be swayed by considerations of self-interest. Called in his old age to the discharge of this task, he seems to have performed it with an entire disregard of personal consequences. The result was, as we have said, that he certainly succeeded in beating a respectable degree of scholarship into his royal pupil, but left James's mind untinged with any respect or affection for his instructor. On the contrary, the king long remembered him with a feeling of horror, and used to say of one of his English courtiers, in the latter part of his life, that he never could help trembling at his approach, he reminded him so strongly of his pedagogue. Concerning Buchanan's treatment of his royal pupil there are preserved more anecdotes than in reference to any other period of his life ; which, if we are to believe them, show that he neither spared castigation nor reproach. The Master of Erskine, who was the prince's playmate, had a tame sparrow, possession of which was coveted by James, and ineffectually entreated from the owner. James had recourse to violence in order to obtain what he desired, and the one boy pulled and the other held till the poor sparrow was killed in the struggle. The loss of his little favourite caused the
- ↑ This is supposed to have been Mr Patrick Adamson, afterwards archbishop of St Andrews, but it does not appear from the records of the university that he ever entered upon his new functions. If we may credit Dr Mackenzie, Adamson was at this time, or at least shortly after it, in France, whence he did not return till after the Bartholomew massacre. This nomination, therefore, was probably made in his absence, and before he could order his affairs abroad and be ready to enter upon his office, other arrangements might have become necessary.
