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tive inference from it, of the value of the practice. The cafes, though defcribed with great pomp of words, when attentively examined, appears to be, what Mr. Hunt calls, "little cafes;" that is, where the difeafe was very light and trifling. They are alfo deficient in authenticity; neither the names of the patients, nor of any perfons who faw them with the Doctor, being given. In the cure, inftead of confining himfelf to the application of cold water to the affected parts, as might be expected, large dofes of the volatile tincture of guiacum and paregoric elixir, (two drams of each) were given to each of the patients every four, fix, or eight hours. How the Doctor will reconcile giving thefe exceedingly hot and ftimulating medicines, after faying that all heating and ftimulating diet and medicines fhould be avoided, we cannot tell. Mr. Hunt calls this practice, p. 5, " fupporting a conftant fire within, and when it makes its appearance on the furface, damping its progrefs by the application of cold water. There is certainly an inconfiftency in the practice requiring explanation. A longer time, Mr. Hunt obferves, feems to have been expended in the cures, than would have been required, had different modes of practice been adopted, or than if the cure had been left to the conftitution without the interference of art. Such are the arguments ufed by Mr. Hunt, in oppofition to the new theory and practice in the gout. We have the more readily dwelt upon them, having, by fome accident, omitted to notice the work of Dr. Kinglake, at the time it was published, in the year We have now carefully read that work, and readily join Mr. Hunt in the cenfure paffed upon it, in this ingenious performance.

1801.

ART. IX. The Hiftorie and Life of King James the Sext Written towards the latter Part of the Sixteenth Century.

8vo. 294 PP. 10s. Conftable and Co., Edinburgh.

Longman and Rees, and Mawman. London. 1804.

FROM the preface to this volume we learn that it is

publifhed for the double purpose of difcrediting the Memoirs of the affairs of Scotland, written by Crawfurd, Hiftoriographer to Queen Anne; and establishing the guilt of Mary Queen of Scots by the teftimony of a contemporary, fuppofed partial to her caufe. That the publication muft contribute much to the former of thefe purposes is indif

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putable;

putable; but we have seen in it nothing to alter our opinion refpecting the innocence of the unfortunate Queen.

Towards the end of the long preface to his memoirs, Crawfurd fays,

"I had all the fubftance of these sheets from an ancient MS. prefented me by my very good friend Sir James Baird of Saughtone-Hall, who purchafed it by meer accident from the neceffitous widow of an epifcopal clergyman. As for the author's fortunes, or particular character, I am wholly in the dark. However, thus much may be eafily gathered from his works, that he was a man of fenfe, and one that made not a very mean figure in the world, as appears by the juftnefs and folidity of his reflections, and his more exact and particular account of the various transactions and turns of state in his time, than is to be met with from any one author upon the fame subject.” P. xxxvii.

The hiftory before us is publifhed, we are told, from the identical manufcript from which Crawfurd fays that he had all the fubftance of his memoirs; but if the author of that manufcript was, in the reign of Queen Anne, fo utterly unknown, how came the Hiftoriographer to talk of his works? One fhort hiftory cannot be called works; and though Crawfurd feems to have been a literary coxcomb, not capable of writing in a pure flyle, we cannot help fufpecting, from his inadvertently employing this word, that he knew more of the author of the ancient manufcript, than he found it expedient to acknowledge. Be this as it may, after afcertaining the period at which the manufcript was probably written, he thus proceeds:

"I declare folemnly I have not (that I know of) wrested any of his words, to add to one man's credit or impair the honesty of another, and having no manner of dependance upon any party (for though the perfons are dead, the parties, for ought I know, may be alive ftill) I have neither heightened nor diminished any particular character or action, but kept as close as poffible to his meaning and fenfe. If I had delivered things in his own ftyle, it would have proved tedious and heavy to the nice reader, and by many in our neighbouring nation could hardly have been understood without a dictionary. The common and commendable practice of our neighbours, in making new tranflations of innumerable books written in old English, before their language was polished and improved, as it is fince the restoration of King Charles II. fhields me from any just cenfure for putting this important piece of hif tory in a more modern drefs, than that in which its author left it. I muit acquaint my reader too, that he had not fully digefted his matter into form and method, having marked down things (as it

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feems) juft when they happened, or when they came firft within the reach of his knowledge." P. xxxviii.

Such are Crawford's proteftations of impartiality; and fuch the reasons which he affigns for having corrected a language that, as obferved by Whitaker, was "equal to his own; and reformed a method that was better than his own." His reafons are ridiculous; while his condu& has been fuch as no reasoning could juftify. This, however, the public is not now to learn from the volume before us. So long ago as the year 1731, Keith informed his readers *, that he took all his quotations from a MS. copy, which was taken from the very MS. made ufe of by Mr. Crawfurd before he caused it to be printed;" adding, that "there are confiderable variations betwixt the manufcript and the print." This was obferved by Whitaker, who, with the candour of truth, having feverely cenfured Crawfurd for "adding to the whole, fubtracting from the whole, and making bold and daring alterations in it," proceeds to compare the quotations in Keith with the correfponding paffages in the printed memoirs; and from that comparison draws the following just

conclufion.

"All ferves to hurt the reputation of thefe Memoirs. Amidft fo many evidences of corruption, we hardly know where to find the text in its original integrity. Our references to it at prefent, therefore, except where we have the original preferved by Keith, must be made with a dubioufnefs of confidence. And I notice the neceffity of this in order to be faithful to the truth; and in hopes of inducing fome gentleman of Edinburgh to procure either Crawfurd's MS. or Keith's copy of it, and to give it unfophisti

cated to the world."

To enable our readers to judge for themselves of the obliquity of Crawfurd's conduct, as well as of the value of this hiftory of James the Sixth, we fhall extract from it a few paffages, contrafting them with the correfponding paffages in the memoirs; and we fhall felect fuch as feem to be of fome importance, and have not been already brought before the public by Whitaker.

* Hift. of Scotland, p. 330, note f.
+ Vol. III. Appendix, No. 13.

HISTORY.

I.

HISTORY.

"The Queene being then at Jedburghe, and understanding the certain report of this accident, was fo heichlie greevit in heirt, that thee took na repofe in bodye till fhee fawe him, and therefore with all expeditioun addrest herself to a caftell in Liddifdaill, callit the Armetage, quhair the faid Earle then lay for curing of his woundis; and when thee had confiderit of her eftate to be in greet danger of lyff, immediately that fame night thee returnit to Jedburgh: quhair, quhat for weerinefs of that fuddeine and long travill, and grect distress of hir mynd for the hurt of the faid Earle, thee contractit a burning corruptit feever, that occupyit hir in fick a heiche degree, that hir fenfes for the twa pairt of the first day were diminisht. Bot their after fhee convalefcit a little, and finding hir bodye oppreft with ficthnefs tending to the deeth (as fhee thought,) hee caufit fend advertisement to all the kirks next adjacent to pray for bir: and in the meene tyme was refolute to render hir fpirite to God, &c." P. 2.

2. The

MEMOIRS.

1. "The Queen, who could not but value the Earl as of all men living the moft conftant and beft affected to her fervice, was heartily uneafy for this mif fortune, and apprehending his danger to be greater than indeed it was, pofted with all imaginable hafte to Hermitage (a caftle in Cliddifdale!) where he then lay to be cured of his wounds. She had not been there above half an hour, when the began to confider that the house. not being impregnable, and the robbers grown bold with this new victory, the run the hazard of falling into their hands; and all her attendants being of the fame opinion, the took horfe immediately, and rid that very night to Jedburgh, where the fell ill of a burning feaver, contracted by the fatigue of fo fudden a journey, or by the fharpnefs of the night air, after having been fo long confined to her chamber.

"During the first two days of her illness, she was extremely out of order, but upon the third day fhe recovered the ufe of her reafon. Yet finding herself very weak, and being apprehenfive of death, fhe called for all those who waited upon her, and with a ferene countenance, though feeble voice, told them fhe believed a few hours would remove her from this life to a better. That though he had ever been fond enough of life, yet now the found it nothing E 3 hard

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2. "The Queen had em.

2. "The caus quhairfore he (the King) was thus evil hand-ployed, as her Secretary, (efpelit, was that Queene Marie be- cially in French affairs) one ing fervit be ane David Rictio David Rizio, a Savoyard, a Italiene as Secretare, and this man ignobly born, of a piercing office of his being prejudicial to wit, dilligent and honeft;. but Secretare Maitland off Lithinge- who, to ballance his good qua. toun, he addreft himself (beinglities, was notoriously proud a mon of fubtile braine) to a and haughty, at once defpifing faction direct repugnant to the his most powerful enemies, and Queene in all refpectis. And undervaluing the affiftance of in the meene tyme the King he his moft conftant friends; as if informit to conceive in mynd, he had fcorned to owe his greatthat this Italiene Secretare had nefs to any thing but the fa. carnell copulatioun with the vour of his princefs and the Queene, to the end he might in- merit of his own conduct, duce fome of the nobilitie to There was at the fame time her trouble the eftate, as it followit Secretary-Maitland, of Le, thereafter: for King Henrie be-thingtone, a man of great parts, ing a young prince, na ways experimentit in pollitique affaires, was eafilie feducit, nat weying ather the caus or the end aright quhat fhould fall out of that actioun: For they made him beleeve that they fhould caus him be abfolutlie crownit King of Scotland," P. 6,

3. "Na.

well verfed in all the intreagues of the court, and the inclinations of the common people; fingularly cunning, bold, and eloquent, but prone to changes; and fo fond of being great, or of appearing confiderable in a party, or cabal, that no tyes of honour or friend. Ship could bind him to the intereft of his fovereign or his country. He had in vain endeavoured to render David fufpected to the Queen, who rarely became diffi dent of thofe fhe once trufted; and therefore joyn'd himself underhand with a difcontented factious party (of which Murray and Mortone were the heads) who either as fecret pensioners of England, or for by-ends of their own, had conftantly oppofed all her meafures.-They fend for the young King, (who indeed was naturally weak, irrefolute, and credulous,) and there, after a long, fmooth pre. amble of affection for his perfon, and fincerity for his intereft, inform

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