Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/121

Rh authors, and the works of the esteemed modern writers of Spain, France, and Italy. He afterwards made a donation of many of these to the college of Edinburgh, and it formed, at the time, one of the most curious and valuable collections in that great library. The .catalogue, printed in the year 1627, is furnished with a Latin preface from the pen of our author, upon " the advantage and honour of libraries."

After an absence of eight years, Drummond returned to his native country, which he found already breaking out into those political and religious dissensions, which so unhappily marked, and so tragically completed the reign of Charles I. It does not appear that he took any hand whatever in these differences till a much more advanced period of his life. It would seem rather that other and quieter designs possessed his mind, as he is said about this time to have composed his history, during a stay which he made in the house of his brother-in-law, Sir John Scot of Scotstarvet. The history of the reigns of the five Jameses, as a piece of composition, is no mean acquisition to the literature of this country ; and for purity of style and elegance of expression, it was not surpassed by any Scottish author of the age. In an historical point of view, the spirit of the work varies materially from that of preceding authors, who had written on the same period, and especially from Buchanan, though in a different way. It is certainly as free from bias and prejudice as any of these can be said to be, and on some occasions better informed. The speeches invented for some of the leading characters, after the fashion of the great Roman historian, and his imitators, are altogether excellent, and, properly discarded as they are from modern history, add much grace and beauty to the work. In short, as an old editor has expressed himself; "If we consider but the language, how florid and ornate it is, consider the order, and the prudent conduct of the story, we will rank the author in the number of the best writers, and compare him even with Thuanus himself." This work was not published till some years after Drummond's decease.

We have no reason to believe that at this time he had relinquished the cultivation of poetry; but can arrive at no certainty regarding the order of his compositions. Our author seems throughout his life, if we except the collection, which he made of his early poems, to have entertained little concern or anxiety for the preservation of his literary labours. Many of his poems were only printed during his lifetime, upon loose sheets; and it was not till 1650, six years after his death, that Sir John Scot caused them to be collected and published in one volume. An edition of this collection was published at London in 1659, with the following highly encomiastic title:—"The most elegant and elaborate Poems of that great court wit, Mr William Drummond; whose labours both in verse and prose, being heretofore so precious to prince Henry and to king Charles, shall live and flourish in all ages, whiles there are men to read them, or art and judgement to approve them." Some there were of his pieces which remained in manuscript, till incorporated in the folio edition of his works in 1711. The most popular of those detached productions, printed in Drummond's lifetime, was a macaronic poem entitled "Polemo-Middinia, or the Battle of the Dunghill." This was meant as a satire upon some of the author's contemporaries ; and contains much humour in a style of composition which had not before been attempted in this country. It long retained its popularity in the city of Edinburgh, where it was almost yearly reprinted ; and it was published at Oxford in 1691, with Latin notes and a preface by bishop Gibson.

He had carefully studied the mathematics, and in the mechanical part of that science effected considerable improvements. These consisted principally in the restoring and perfecting some of the warlike machines of the ancients, and in