Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/130

 a monument to his memory on the top of a romantic hill, named, Tom-na-chaistel, (i. e. the hill of the castle,) in the neighbourhood of Ferntower.  , D.D. an eminent divine of the seventeenth century, was the son of the Rev. Walter Balcanquel, who was a minister of Edinburgh for forty-three years, and died in August, 1616. Dr Walter Balcanquel was born at Edinburgh. It has been supposed that he was himself a minister of Edinburgh; but probably the writer who makes this statement only mistakes him for his father, who bore the same name. He entered a bachelor of divinity at Pembroke Hall, Oxford, where, September 8th, 1611, he was admitted a fellow. He appears to have enjoyed the patronage and friendship of King James, and his first preferment was to be one of the royal chaplains. In 1617, he became Master of the Savoy in the Strand, London; which office, however, he soon after resigned in favour of Mark Antony de Dominis, archbishop of Spalatro, who came to England on account of religion, and became a candidate for the king's favour. In 1618, Dr Balcanquel was sent to the celebrated synod of Dort, as one of the representatives of the church of Scotland. He has given an account of a considerable part of the proceedings of this grand religious council, in a series of letters to Sir Dudley Carleton, which are to be found in "The Golden Remains of the ever memorable Mr John Hales of Eaton, 4to. 1673." In 1621, the Archbishop of Spalatro having resigned the mastership of the Savoy, Dr Balcanquel was re-appointed; and on the 12th of March, 1624, being then doctor of divinity, he was installed Dean of Rochester. George Heriot, at his death, February 12th, 1624, ordained Dr Balcanquel to be one of the three executors of his last will, and to take the principal charge of the establishment of his hospital at Edinburgh. Probably, the experience which he had already acquired in the management of the Savoy Hospital might be the chief cause of his being selected for this important duty. Heriot appointed Dr Balcanquel, by his will, "to repair, with all the convenience he can, after my decease, to the town of Edinburgh," in order to conclude with the magistrates about the business of the hospital; allowing him, for his pains, in addition to the sum of one hundred merks, which he enjoyed as an ordinary executor, one hundred pounds sterling, payable by two equal instalments—the first three months after the decease of the testator, and the second at the completion of the hospital.

Dr Balcanquel is entitled to no small commendation for the able manner in which he discharged this great and onerous trust. The Statutes, which, in terms of the testator's will, were drawn up by him, are dated 1627, and do great credit to his sagacity and practical good sense. 