Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/123

Rh We shall only notice one other of these compositions on account of some passages contained in it, which have been adduced as evidence of the political foresight and sagacity of the writer. It is entitled "An address to the noblemen, barons, gentlemen, &c., who have leagued themselves for the defence of religion and the liberties of Scotland," and is dated 2d May, 1639, ten years previous to the trial and execution of the king, to which, and to events following, it has prophetic reference: "During these miseries," says he, "of which the troublers of the state shall make their profit, there will arise (perhaps) one, who will name himself of the liberty of the kingdom: he shall surcharge the people with greater miseries than ever before they did suffer: he shall be protector of the church, himself being without soul or conscience, without letters or great knowledge, under the shadow of piety and zeal shall commit a thousand impieties; and in end shall essay to make himself king ; and under pretext of reformation, bring in all confusion." "Then shall the poor people suffer for all their follies : then shall they see, to their own charges, what it is to pull the sceplre from their sovereign, the sword from the lawful magistrate, whom God hath set over them, and that it is a fearful matter for subjects to degraduate their king. This progress is no new divining, being approved by the histories of all times." The general truth of this vaticination is amazing.

It was a saying of Drummond, "That it was good to admire great hills, but to live in the plains;" and, as in the earlier part of life he had resisted the temptations of courtly or professional celebrity, which birth and talent put alike in his way, so afterwards, he as carefully eschewed the more easily attained, though more perilous distinctions of political faction. His heart lay more towards private than public virtues; and his political writings, it is probable, were intended by their author as much for the instruction and satisfaction of a few intimate friends, as to serve (which they never did) the more important ends for which they were ostensibly written. He was a cavalier, and his principles, early prejudices, and inclinations, led him to espouse the royal cause; but his patriotism and good sense informed him correctly how far his support should be extended. His prudential forbearance was indeed sometimes put to the test; but though reputed a malignant, and more than once summoned before the circular tables at Edinburgh for satirical verses, discourses, and conversations, it does not appear that he ever seriously, compromised his safety or property.

The sarcasms and lampoons of the cavalier came to be the most effective weapons they could employ against their adversaries, as they were those for the use of which it was most difficult to call them to account. Drummond, though free from the licentiousness which marked his party in their lives and conversations, could not fail of being infected somewhat with their prevailing humours. One piece of his wit in this way has been preserved. Being obliged to furnish men to the parliamentary army, it so happened, that, his estate lying in three different shires, he had not occasion to send one entire man from any of the parts of it. Upon his quota, therefore, of fractions as they might be called, he composed the following lines addressed to his majesty:

The year 1649, in its commencement, witnessed the tragical end of Charles I., that first great and ominous eclipse of the Stuart dynasty. On the 4th De-