Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/191

Rh that country, and on the 3d of July, 1486, more than a year of the former truce being still to run, concluded a peace, or rather a cessation of arms, which was to continue till the 3d of July, 1489. Several disputed points were by this treaty referred to the Scottish parliament, which it was agreed should assemble in the month of January following. A meeting of the two kings, it was also stipulated, should take place in the following summer, when they would, face to face, talk over all that related to their personal interests, and those of their realms. Owing to the confusion that speedily ensued, this meeting never took place. Bishop Elphinston, in the debates betwixt the king and his nobles, adhered steadfastly to the king, and exerted himself to the utmost to reconcile them, though without effect Finding the nobles nowise disposed to listen to what he considered reason, the bishop made another journey to England, to solicit in behalf of his master the assistance of Henry. In this also he was unsuccessful; yet James was so well pleased with his conduct, that on his return, he constituted him lord high chancellor of Scotland, the principal state office in the country. This the bishop held till the death of the king, which happened a little more than three months after. On that event, the bishop retired to his diocese, and applied himself to the faithful discharge of his episcopal functions. He was particularly careful to reform such abuses as he found to exist among his clergy, and for their benefit composed a book of canons, taken from the canons of the primitive church. He was, however, called to attend the parliament held at Edinburgh, in the month of October, 1488, where he was present at the crowning of the young prince James, then in his sixteenth year. Scarcely any but the conspirators against the late king attended this parliament, and aware that the bishop might refuse to concur with them in the measures they meant to pursue, they contrived to send him on a mission to Germany, to the emperor Maximilian, to demand in marriage for the young king, his daughter Margaret Before he could reach Vienna, the lady in question had been promised to the heir apparent of the king of Spain. Though he failed in the object for which he had been specially sent out, his journey was not unprofitable to his country; for, taking Holland in his way home, he concluded a treaty of peace and amity with the States, who had, to the great loss of Scotland, long been its enemies. The benefits of this treaty were so generally felt, that it was acknowledged by all to have been a much more important service than the accomplishment of the marriage, though all the expected advantages had followed it On his return from this embassy in 1492, bishop Elphinston was made lord privy seal, in place of bishop Hepburn, removed. The same year, he was again appointed a commissioner, along with several others, for renewing the truce with England, which was done at Edinburgh, in the month of June, the truce being settled to last till the end of April, 1501.

Tranquillity being now restored, bishop Elphinston turned his attention to the state of learning and of morals among his countrymen. For the improvement of the latter, he compiled the lives of Scottish Saints, which he ordered to be read on solemn occasions among his clergy ; and for the improvement of the former, he applied to pope Alexander VI. to grant him a bull for erecting a university in Aberdeen. This request pope Alexander, from the reputation of the bishop, readily complied with, and sent him a bull to that effect in the year 1494. The college, however, was not founded till the year 1506, when it was dedicated to St Mary; but the king, at the request of the bishop, having taken upon himself and his successors the protection of it, and contributed to its endowment, St Mary was compelled to give place to his more efficient patronage, and it has ever since been called King's college. By the bull of erection this university was endowed with privileges as ample as any in Europe,