Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/143

 being our honest mens ordinarey creatione, and debauches of all sortes the exercisses quherein they disscipline themselves. Notwithstanding if ye be yet yourselve, and by solemne vow have forsaken the world and the vanities thereof, assure yourselve that it is in this place quher felicitie doth attend you, and being once in this place, you will esteeme all thosse as banished persons quhom you have left in Edinburghe behind. Faire weill, and confidently love him quho sall ever bie, Your treu friend and servant. Falkland, January 8, 1639.

It thus appears that, in some disgust at the bold measures taken against the government, he had now retired to the royal hunting-palace of Falkland, where, and at his seat of Kinnaird, he devoted himself to those studies by which the present may be forgotten in the past. His annals, however, show that he still occasionally appeared in public affairs in his capacity of Lord Lion. It is also clear that his political sentiments must have been of no obtrusive character, as he continued in his office during the whole term of the civil war, and was only at last deprived of it by Cromwell. During his rural retirement at Falkland and Kinnaird, he collected many manuscripts relative to heraldry, and wrote many others in his own language, of which some are preserved in the Advocates' Library, while others were either lost at the capture of Perth (1651), to which town he had conveyed them for safety, or have since been dispersed. Persevering with particular diligence in illustrating the History of Scotland, he had recourse to the ancient charters and diplomas of the kingdom, the archives of monasteries, and registers of cathedral churches, and in his library was a great number of chronicles of monasteries, both originals and the abridgments; but it is to be deeply regretted that many of these valuable manuscripts fell a prey to the sacrilegious and illiterate, and were shamefully destroyed by the hands of children, or perished in the flames during the civil wars. A few only were opportunely rescued from destruction by those who were acquainted with their value. The style of these monastic chronicles was, indeed, rude and barbarous; but they were remarkable for the industry, judgment, and fidelity to truth, with which they were compiled. For some time after the erection of monasteries in this kingdom, these writers were almost the only, and certainly the most respectable observers in literature, as scarcely any other persons preserved in writing the memory of the important occurrences of the times. In these registers and chronicles were to be found, an accurate record of transactions with foreign powers, whether in forming alliances, contracting marriages of state, or regulating commerce; letters and bulls of the holy see; answers, edicts, and statutes of kings; church rescripts; provincial constitutions; acts of parliament; battles; deaths of eminent persons; epitaphs and inscriptions; and sometimes the natural appearances of the seasons; the prevalent diseases; miracles and prodigies; the heresies that sprung up; with an account of the authors, and their punishments. In short, they committed to writing every important occurrence in church and state, that any question arising in after ages might be settled by their authority, and the unanimous confirmation of their faithful and accurate chronicles. In collecting and preserving these manuscripts, Balfour therefore raised a monument to his memory which the latest posterity must revere. For he did so from a conviction that these old and approved authors were the only guides to the knowledge of facts, as well as to correct evidence, and reasoning on the remote history of Scotland; and he considered them, not only of signal use to himself, but a valuable treasure to the literature of the country. He therefore persevered throughout life in collecting such manuscripts, without regard to either trouble or expense. The catalogue which he left is still extant, although many, as