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Mackenzie coming. He was employed in addressing the convention, 'pathetically lamenting the hard conditions of the estates at once commanded by the guns of a fortress and menaced by a fanatical rabble' (, History of England), when worn was brought that Graham of Claverhouse was marching out of Edinburgh by the Stirling road; and Mackenzie and other prominent Jacobite members were detained in custody until it was seen that Claverhouse had left the city. He spoke against the resolution depriving James II of the crown, holding that his acts were protected by the declaration of parliament that he was an absolute monarch. With four others he also remained to vote against the resolution (, Memoirs, p. 35). Shortly afterwards he went to England, and in May wrote a letter to , first earl Melville [q. v.], from Knaresborough, in which he stated that 'hearing surmises of what was designed against us I left the place, but openly;' and affirmed that all he sought was 'a pass for my health, and a delay till matters settle' (Leven and Melville Papers, p. 32). Some attempt was made to secure punishment for absenting himself (ib. pp. 63, 58), but by definitely withdrawing from Scotland and from public life he partly disarmed his enemies, and no proceedings were taken against him. By a grace passed in June 1690 he was admitted a student of Oxford University. He died at Westminster 8 May 1691, and was buried in Old Greyfriars churchyard, Edinburgh. A portrait of Mackenzie, by Kneller, is in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. It has been engraved by Bengo, Vanderbanck, and Richardson. There are two copies, one by Bengo, in the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.

Mackenzie's career as public prosecutor can only be defended on the supposition that in law, as well as in love and war, 'all things are fair,' His eager interest in constitutional history, and his overbearing temper, are partly accountable for his misuse of legal forms to obtain convictions; and his hatred of religious fanaticism seems also to have itself verged on fanaticism. The one redeeming feature of his character was his devotion to literature and learning. He was practically the founder of the library of the Faculty of Advocates. In 1680 he drew attention to the heavy arrears of entry money due by advocates; and he proposed to recover and spend the money in the purchase of books on law. The proposal, however, remained in abeyance until 1682, when he was chosen dean of the Faculty of Advocates. At his suggestion the judges passed an act of sederunt by which any advocate failing to pay the arrears of his entry-money might be expelled from the profession. A house was then taken on lease, and the treasurer of the faculty was directed to buy 'all the Scottish Practicks as also the Scottish historians,' One of Mackenzie's last acts before he left Edinburgh; was on 15 March 1689 to deliver an inaugural Latin oration at the opening of the library. The poet Dryden, who had several conversations with Mackenzie, refers to him, in his 'Discourse on the Origin and Progress of Satire,'as the 'noble wit of Scotland, Sir George Mackenzie' (Works, ed. Scott, xiii. 111). He was celebrated for his social gifts at the parties at Holyrood House; and in the catalogue of the ghastly revellers in Redgauntlet Castle he is described as the 'Bloody Advocate Mackenzie, who for his worldly wit and wisdom had been to the rest as a god, Burnet, admitting that he was 'a man of much life and wit,' affirms that he was neither 'equal nor correct in' Nisbet's place as lord advocate (Own Time, ed. 1838, p. 275). 'He has,' he adds, 'published many books, some of law, and all full of faults; for he was a slight and superficial man.' Burnet's criticism leans towards severity, but undoubtedly Mackenzie's gifts were more specious than solid. His reflections are commonplace, and his style, though ornate and rhetorical, is cold and tame. His intellectual outlook was narrow, and in dealing with historical facts he was the slave of prejudice.

Mackenzie's works are: 1. 'Aretina, or the Serious Romance,' London, 1661; an Egyptian story, laborious and stilted in style and destitute of personal interest. 2. 'Religio Stoici; the Virtuoso or Stoick with a friendly Address to the Fanatics of all Sects and Sorts ' [anon.], Edinburgh, 1663. 3. 'A Moral Essay; preferring Solitude to Public Employment,' Edinburgh, 1665; London, 1685; answered by (1620-1706) [q. v.] in 'Public Employment and an Active Life preferred to Solitude and all its Appanages,' 1667. 4. 'Moral Gallantry; a Discourse proving that the Point of Honour obliges a Man to be Virtuous,' Edinburgh, 1667, London, 1821. 5. 'A Moral Paradox proving that it is much easier to be Virtuous than Vicious, and a Consolation against Calumnies,' Edinburgh, 1667, 1669; London, 1685. 6. 'Pleadings on some Remarkable Cases before the Supreme Courts of Scotland since the Year 1661. To which the Decisions are subjoined,' Edinburgh, 1672. 7. 'A Discourse upon the Laws and Customs of Scotland in Matters Criminal,' Edinburgh, 1674, 1678, 1699. 8. 'Observations upon the XXVIII Act, 23rd Parliament of King James VI against Bankrupts,' &c, Edin-