Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/250

 poet next to Buchanan. He had more poetic genius than Buchanan, with greater ease and spontaneity. But most of his pieces were fugitive, having a motive quite apart from that of literary fame, and he attempted no great work. His ‘Carmen Mosis’ takes the highest place among Latin paraphrases of scriptural themes. Of his printed poetical pieces the following list is corrected from McCrie: 1. ‘Carmen Mosis,’ &c., Basel, 1573, 8vo; reprinted with others of his pieces in ‘Delitiæ Poetarum Scotorum,’ &c., Amst., 1637, 12mo, vol. ii. 2. ‘Jvlii Cæsaris Scaligeri Poemata,’ &c., Geneva, 1575, 8vo (commendatory epigrams by Melvill). 3. ‘Stephaniskion. Ad Scotiæ Regem, habitum in Coronatione Reginæ,’ &c., Edinb., 1590, 4to; reprinted in ‘Papers relating to the Marriage of King James VI,’ &c. (Bannatyne Club), Edinb., 1828, 4to. 4. ‘Carmina Sacra duo,’ &c., Geneva, 1590, 12mo (contains his ‘Poetica Paraphrasis Cantici Canticorum’). 5. ‘Principis Scoti-Britannorvm Natalia,’ &c., Edinb., 1594, 4to; also the Hague, 1594, 4to. 6. ‘Inscriptiones Historicæ Regvm Scotorvm … Ioh. Ionstono … Authore … Præfixus est Gathelvs, sive de Gentis Origine Fragmentum, Andreæ Melvini,’ &c., Amst., 1602, 4to. 7. ‘In Obitvm Johannis Wallasii,’ &c., Leyden, 1603, 4to (several poems by Melvill). 8. ‘Pro supplici Evangelicorum Ministrorum in Anglia … Apologia, sive Anti-Tami-Cami-Categoria,’ &c. [? 1604]; reprinted in Calderwood's ‘Parasynagma Perthense,’ &c. [Edinb.], 1620, 4to; and in his ‘Altare Damascenum,’ 1623, 4to. A reply was written by the poet George Herbert [q. v.] 9. ‘Sidera Veteris Ævi,’ &c., Saumur, 1611, 4to (by John Johnston; contains two poems by Melvill). 10. ‘Comment. in Apost. Acta M. Joannis Malcolmi,’ &c., Middelburg, 1615 (verses by Melvill prefixed). 11. ‘Duellum Poeticum contendentibus G. Eglisemmio,’ &c., Lond. 1618, 8vo (prints and attacks Melvill's ‘Cavillum in Aram Regiam,’ the epigram on the Chapel Royal). 12. Sir James Sempill's ‘Sacriledge Sacredly Handled,’ &c., Lond., 1619, 4to, has three epigrams by Melvill. 13. ‘Viri clarissimi A. Melvini Musæ,’ &c. [Edinb.], 1620, 4to (the appended Life of Adamson, &c., are not by Melvill). 14. ‘Ad Serenissimvm Jacobvm Primvm … Libellus Supplex,’ &c., Lond. 1645, 8vo, by James Melvill, has his uncle's epitaph for him in Latin verse. 15. ‘Atlas Major,’ &c., Amst., J. Blaeu, 1662, fol. vol. vi. (contains ‘Andreæ Melvini Scotiæ Topographia’). 16. Koelman's ‘De Diebus Festis,’ &c., Utrecht, 1693, has five poems ‘ex Musis Andreæ Melvini.’ Besides these, a Latin paraphrase of certain psalms was printed by Melvill in 1609, while in the Tower, but no copy is known. In Harl. MSS. 6947 (9) is a ‘Paraphrasis Epistolæ ad Hebræos Andreæ Melvini.’ Other Latin verses are in the Sempill papers (among the archives of the church of Scotland), and in a collection in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. McCrie mentions as generally ascribed to Melvill, ‘Nescimus qvid vesper servs vehat. Satyra Menippæa,’ &c., 1619, 4to, 1620, 4to; this, according to Lowndes, is by Gaspar Scioppius.

Among his prose publications McCrie mentions: 1. ‘Theses Theologicæ de Libero Arbitrio,’ &c., Edinb. 1597, 4to. 2. ‘Scholastica Diatriba de Rebvs Divinis,’ &c., Edinb. 1599, 4to; these two are mere topics for academic disputations. 3. ‘Lusus Poetici,’ &c., Edinb. 1605, 4to, by David Hume (1560?–1630?) [q. v.], has four letters by Melvill. 4. ‘De Adiaphoris. Scoti tou tychontos Aphorismi,’ &c., 1622, 12mo (against conformity to the ceremonies). 5. ‘Commentarius in Divinam Pauli Epistolam ad Romanos,’ &c., Edinb., 1850, 8vo (edited for the Wodrow Society by W. Lindsay Alexander, D.D., from a transcript by Daniel Demetrius, finished at St. Andrews on 26 July 1601). His ‘Answer to the Declaration of certain Intentions set out in the King's Name … 7th of Feb. 1585,’ was circulated in manuscript, and possibly printed. His ‘Answer to Downham's Sermon,’ 1608, was widely circulated in manuscript. In the library of Trinity College, Dublin, is a manuscript ‘A. Melvinus in cap. 4 Danielis.’ To these must be added the manuscript collection of his Latin letters (1608–13) to James Melvill, in the Edinburgh University Library, and the manuscript collection of his letters (1612–16) to Robert Durie of Leyden, in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. An answer to Tilenus, ‘Scoti tou tychontos Paraclesis contra Dan. Tileni Silesii Parænesin,’ &c., 1622, is often ascribed to Melvill, but is by Sempill. McCrie spells the name Melville, and this form occurs in some contemporary documents relating to members of the family. No instance is produced of the use of this spelling by the reformer himself. He writes himself Melvine (1610), Meluill (1616), and Melvin (1617); in Latin invariably Melvinus. His nephew writes of him indifferently as ‘Andro Meluill’ and ‘Andro Meluin.’ [McCrie's Life, 1819 (the edition used in 1856, edited by his son), is a work of close and wide research, and may be safely followed for the facts. Of McCrie's manuscript sources, since printed, the chief are James Melvill's Diary (Bannatyne Club), 1829, and with addition of his Hist. of the Declining Age (Wodrow Soc.), 1842; William Scot's Apologetical Narration