the present memoir forms a rare and mournful excep- | Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia, where his tion. proper mission was to commence; and here his fitness for it was well attested by the immense collection of seeds and dried specimens which he transmitted to the Horicultural Society at home. Among his discoveries were several species of a pine of enormous size, one of these, belonging to the class which he called the Pinus Lambertiana, in honour of Mr. Lambert, vicepresident of the Linnean Society, measuring 215 feet in height, and 57 feet 9 inches in circumference. The cones of this forest Titan, of which he sent home specimens, were 16 inches long and II in circumference. But they had something else than mere bulk to recommend them; for their kernel, which is pounded into cakes by the Indians, and used as an important article of food; while the resin of the tree, on being subjected to the action of fire, acquires a sweet taste, and is used by the natives as sugar. After having spent two years in the country adjoining the Columbia, and exploring it in every direction, Douglas, in the spring of 1827, left Fort Vancouver, and crossed the Rocky Mountains to Hudson's Bay, where he met Sir John Franklin, Dr. Richardson, and Captain Back, on their way homeward from their second overland Arctic expedition, with whom he returned to England. His successful labours in botanical science, and the important additions he had made to it, insured him a hearty welcome among the most distinguished of the scientific scholars in London; so that, without solicitation, and free of all expense, he was elected a fellow of the Geological, Zoological, and Linnæan Societies. He was also requested to publish his travels, and a liberal offer to this effect was made to him by Mr. Murray, the publisher; but though he commenced the undertaking, he did not live to complete it, so that his authorship was con fined to several papers which he contributed to the Transactions of the three societies of which he was elected a fellow; and extracts from his letters to Dr. Hooker, which were published in Brewster's Edin burgh Journal for January, 1828. David Douglas was born at Scone, in Perthshire, in the year 1798, and was the son of a working mason. After having received a common education at the parish school of Kinnoul, he was, at an early period, placed as an apprentice in the garden of the Earl of Mansfield, at Scone Palace. In this occupation his favourite pursuit had full scope and development, so that he soon became remarkable in the neighbourhood for his love of reading during the winter, and his researches in quest of wild plants during the months of summer. Thus he continued till his twentieth year, when a still more favourable opportunity of improvement presented itself at Valley-pleasant to the taste, and nutritious, is roasted or field, the seat of Sir Robert Preston, in whose garden, famous for its store of rich exotics, he became a workman; and the head gardener of the establishment, Mr. Stewart, having observed the ardour of his young assistant in the study of botany as a science, procured him access to Sir Robert Preston's rich botanical library. From Valleyfield, David Douglas removed to Glasgow, where he was employed as gardener in the botanic garden of the university; and here the valuable knowledge he had acquired was so highly estimated by Dr. (afterwards Sir) William Hooker, the professor of botany at Glasgow, that he made him the companion of his professional explorations while collecting materials for his Flora Scotica. In this way Douglas had ample opportunity of improving his knowledge of plants in the Western Highlands, over which these scientific tours extended, as well as securing the approbation of one who could well appreciate his acquirements. The result was, that Professor Hooker recommended his talented assistant as a botanical collector to the Horticultural Society of London, by whom he was sent in 1823 to the United States, for the purpose of enriching our home collection in botany with choice transatlantic specimens; and this he successfully accomplished, by bringing home before the close of the year many fine plants, as well as a valuable collection of fruit-trees, by which the store of the society in the latter important production was materially augmented. The zeal and ability which Douglas had shown on this occasion soon procured employment in a wider field of enterprise. This was to explore the botanical resources of the country adjoining the Columbia River, and southwards towards California, and ascertain its multifarious productions. He left England for this purpose in July, 1824, and as soon as the vessel touched the shore he commenced his operations. This was at Rio-de-Janeiro, where a large collection of rare orchidaceous plants and bulbs rewarded his labours. Among these bulbs was a new species of Gesneria, hitherto unknown to the botanists of England, and which Mr. Sabine, the secretary of the Horticultural Society, named the G. Douglasii, in honour of its discoverer. So rich was the soil and so plentiful the productions of this part of South America, that Douglas, who could here have increased his scientific treasures to an indefinite extent, was obliged to leave it with regret. In doubling Cape Horn, he shot several curious birds, only to be found in these latitudes, and carefully prepared them for being brought home. The vessel touched at the island of Juan Fernandez, that romantic residence of Alexander Selkirk; and Douglas, who was delighted with its wooded scenery and soil, sowed here a plentiful collection of garden seeds, in the hope that some future Robinson Crusoe would be comforted by the produce, should such a person again become its tenant. On the 7th of April, 1825, he arrived at After remaining in London for two years, Mr. Douglas resumed his duties, and set off upon that last scientific tour which was destined to a melancholy termination. He returned to the Columbia River in 1829, and after some time spent in exploration among his former fields of research, which he prosecuted with his wonted ardour and success, he went to the Sandwich Islands. The inhabitants of these islands being in the practice of trapping wild bulls in pits dug for the purpose, Mr. Douglas, one evening, after a few months' residence, fell into one of these excavations, in which an animal had been previously snared; and the fierce creature, already maddened by its captivity, fell upon him, so that next morning he was found dead, and his body dreadfully mangled. This tragical event occurred on the 12th of July, 1834. Thus prematurely, in the thirty-sixth year of his age, was the life of this enterprising traveller and skilful botanist cut short. The value of his discoveries, even in so brief a career, it would be difficult fully to ap preciate. He introduced into our country almost all the new hardy plants that enrich our gardens. To these may be added many ornamental shrubs, as well as valuable timber-trees that adorn our sylvan plantations, and give promise of extensive future advantage to Britain. Of the plants alone, which are too numerous to specify in this work, he introduced 53 of the woody and 145 of the herbaceous genus, while his dried collection of Californian plants alone consists of about 800 different kinds. He was thus no mere curiosity-hunter, but a benefactor to society at large; and it may be, that while new productions are implanted in our soil, and naturalized in our climate, the name of the humble but sagacious and enterprising individual who thus benefited our country for ages to come, will pass into utter forgetfulness. But if he has been unable to command immortality, he has done more he has deserved it. DOUGLAS, GAVIN, one of the most eminent of our early poets, was the third and youngest son of Archibald, fifth Earl of Angus, by Elizabeth Boyd, only daughter of Robert, Lord Boyd, high chamberlain of Scotland. The Earls of Angus were a younger branch of the family of Douglas, and helped in the reign of James II. to depress the enormous power of the main stock; whence it was said, with a reference to the complexions of the two different races, that the red Douglas had put down the black. Archibald, the fifth earl, father to the poet, is noted in our history for his bold conduct respecting the favourites of James III. at Lauder, which gained him the nickname of Bell-the-cat. His general force of character amidst the mighty transactions in which he was engaged, caused him to be likewise designated "the great earl." According to the family historian, he was everyway accomplished both in body and mind; of stature tall, and strong made; his countenance full of majesty, and such as bred reverence in the beholders; wise, and eloquent of speech; upright and regular in his actions; sober, and moderate in his desires; valiant and courageous; a man of action and undertaking; liberal also; loving and kind to his friends; which made him to be beloved, reverenced, and respected by all men. of Paris. Gavin Douglas, the son of such a father, was born about the year 1474, and was brought up for the church. Where his education was commenced is unknown; but, according to Mr. Warton, there is certain evidence that it was finished in the university He is supposed, in youth, to have travelled for some time over the Continent, in order to make himself acquainted with the manners of other countries. In 1496, when only twenty-two years of age, he was appointed rector of Hawick-a benefice probably in the gift of his family, which has long held large property and high influence in that part of the country. We are informed by the family historian that in youth he felt the pangs of love, but was soon freed from the tyranny of that unreasonable passion. Probably his better principles proved sufficient to keep in check what his natural feelings, aided by the poetical temperament, would have dictated. However, he appears to have signalized his triumph by writing a translation of Ovid's Remedy of Love. He alludes in a strange manner to this work, in his translation of Virgil; giving the following free reading of the well-known passage in the Eneid, where his author speaks of the Bucolics and Georgies as having been his former composi tions: "So thus followand the floure of poetry, The battellis and the man translate have I, Quhilk yore ago in myne undauntit youth In those days, it does not seem to have been considered the duty of a translator to put himself exactly into the place of the author; he was permitted to substitute modern allusions for the original; and, as this specimen testifies, to alter any personality respecting the author, so as to apply to himself. The translation of the Remedy of Love, which must have been written before the year 1501, has not been pre served. In the year just mentioned, he wrote his Palace of Honour-an apologue for the conduct of a king, and which he therefore addressed very appropriately to his young sovereign, King James IV. The poet, in a vision, finds himself in a wilderness, where he sees troops of persons travelling towards the Palace of Honour. He joins himself to the train of the muses, and in their company proceeds to the happy place. At this point of the allegory his description of one of their resting-places is exceed. ingly beautiful : "Our horses pasturit on ane pleasand plane, For birdis sang, and sounding of the beis." In his last adventure he seems to allude to the law of celibacy, under which, as a priest, he necessarily lay. The habitation of the honourable ladies (which he describes in gorgeous terms) is surrounded by a deep ditch, over which is a narrow bridge, formed of a single tree; and this is supposed to represent the ceremony of marriage. Upon his attempting to pass over the bridge, he falls into the water, and awakes from his dream. Sage, in his life of Douglas, prefixed to the edition of the Eneid, thus speaks of the poem under our notice: "The author's excellent design is, under the similitude of a vision, to represent the vanity and inconstancy of all worldly pomp and glory; and to show that a constant and inflexible course of virtue and goodness is the only way to true honour and felicity, which he allegorically describes as a magnificent palace, situated on the top of a very high mountain, of a most difficult access. He illustrates the whole with a variety of examples, not only of those noble and heroic souls whose eminent virtues procured them admission into that blessed place, but also of those wretched creatures whose vicious lives have fatally excluded them from it for ever, notwithstanding of all their worldly state and grandeur." This critic is of opinion that the poet took his plan from the palace of happiness described in the Tablet of Cebes. In all probability these poems were written at his residence in the town of Hawick, where he was surrounded with scenery in the highest degree calculated to nurse a poetical fancy. In 1509 he was nominated to be provost of the collegiate church of St. Giles, at Edinburgh, and it is likely that he then changed his residence to the capital. Some years before, he had contemplated a translation of the Æneid into Scottish verse, as appears from his Palace of Honour, where Venus presents him with a copy of that poem in the original, and, in virtue of her relation to the hero, requests the poet to give a version of it in his vernacular tongue. Douglas commenced his labours in January, 1511-12, and although he prefaced each book with an original poem, and included the poem written by Mapheus Vigus as a thirteenth book, the whole was completed in eighteen months, two of which, he tells us, were spent exclusively in other business. The work was completed on the 22d of July, 1513. The neid of Gavin Douglas is a work creditable in the highest degree to Scottish literature, not only from a specific merit of the translation, but because it was the first translation of a Roman classic executed in the English language. 1 A learned Italian of the fifteenth century. 2 The near affinity of the languages of England and Scotland at this time, renders any circumlocutory mode of expressing this idea unnecessary. To adopt the criticism of Dr. Irving-"Without pronouncing it the best version of this poem that ever was or ever will be executed, we may at least venture to affirm, that it is the production of a bold and energetic writer, whose knowledge of the language of his original, and prompt command of a copious and variegated phraseology, qualified him for the performance of so arduous a task. And whether we consider the state of British literature at that era, or the rapidity with which he completed the work, he will be found entitled to a high degree of admiration. In either of the sister languages few translations of classical authors had hitherto been attempted; and the rules of the art were consequently little understood. It has been remarked, that even in English, no metrical version of a classic had yet appeared; except of Boethius, who scarcely merits that appellation. On the destruction of Troy, Caxton had published a kind of prose romance, which he professes to have translated from the French: and the English reader was taught to consider this motely composition as a version of the Eneid. Douglas bestows severe castigation on Caxton for his presumptuous deviation from the classical story, and affirms that his work no more resembles Virgil, than the devil is like St. Austin. He has, however, fallen into one error, which he exposes in his predecessor; proper names are often so transfigured in his translation that they are not, without much difficulty, recognized. In many instances he has been guilty of modernizing the notions of his original. The sibyl, for example, is converted into a nun, and admonishes Æneas, the Trojan baron, to persist in counting his | beads. This plan of reducing every ancient notion to a clerical standard has been adopted by much later writers; many preposterous instances occur in the learned Dr. Blackwell's memoirs of the court of Augustus. "Of the general principles of translation, however, Douglas appears to have formed no inaccurate notion. For the most part, his version is neither rashly licen tious nor tamely literal. . . . Though the merit of such a performance cannot be ascertained by the inspection of a few detached passages, it may be proper to exhibit a brief specimen: merit lies. The poet has gained much greater praise | for the original poetry scattered through the book. To an ordinary reader, the plan of the work may be best described by a reference to the structure of Marmion, which is decidedly an imitation of it. To every book is prefixed what Douglas calls a prologue, containing some descriptions or observations of his own, and some of which afford delightful glimpses of his personal character and habits. Those most admired are the prologue to the seventh book, containing a description of winter; that to the twelfth book, containing a description of a summer morning; and that to the thirteenth (supplementary) book, which describes an evening in June. It would appear that the author, in these and other cases, sought to relax himself from the progressive labour of mere transla. tion, by employing his own poetical powers on what he saw at the time around him. Mr. Warton speaks of Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso as among the earliest descriptive poems produced in England. Whether he be correct or not, we may at least affirm, that Douglas, in his prologues to the books of Virgil, has given Scotland the credit of producing poems of that kind more than a century earlier. These compositions being of such importance in Scottish literature, it seems proper in this place to present a specimen sufficient to enable the reader to judge of their value. It is difficult, however, to pitch upon a passage where the merit of the poetry may be obvious enough to induce the reader to take a little trouble in comprehending the language. We have with some hesitation pitched upon the following passage from the prologue to the seventh book, which, as descriptive of nature in a certain aspect in this country, is certainly very faithful and even picturesque: "The firmament owrecast with cludis black: The ground fadit, and faughs wox all the fieldis Owr craggis and the frontis of rockys sere, The dere full dorne full in the dailis drew: Made seik warm stovis and bene fyris hote, Approaching near the breking of the day, -Blaiknyt schew the brayis, With hirstis harsk of waggand wyndil strayis, And as I culd, with ane fald diligence This nint buke followand of profound science, Quhen frostis dois owir flete baith firth and fald." The poet concludes his description of the month of May in the twelfth prologue with the following fine apostrophe: "Welcum the lord of licht, and lampe of day, It remains to be mentioned that the translation of Virgil, being written at a time when printing hardly existed in Scotland, continued in manuscript till long after the death of Bishop Douglas, and was first published at London in 1553, at the same time with the Palice of Honour. The work bore the following title: The xiii. Bukes of Eneados of the Famose Poet Virgill. Translatet out of Latyne Verses into Scottish Meter, by the Reverend Father in God, Mayster Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkel, and Unkil to the Erle of Angus. Euery Buke hauing hys Particular Prologue. A second edition was printed at Edinburgh in 1710, by the celebrated Thomas Ruddiman, with a life by Bishop Sage. Even this later impres sion is now rarely met with. The Earl of Angus was at this time possessed of great influence at court, in virtue of which he filled the office of chief magistrate of the city. Less than two months after Gavin Douglas had finished his translation, the noble provost and all his retainers accompanied King James on the fatal expedition which terminated in the battle of Flodden. Here the poet's two elder brothers, the Master of Angus and Sir William Douglas of Glenbervie, fell, with 200 gentlemen of their name. The earl himself had 1 Well solaced with victuals. 2 A kind of sliding panel in the fronts of old wooden houses. 3 Desk, previously withdrawn from the expedition, on account of an unkind expression used by his imprudent sovereign. He died, however, within a twelvemonth thereafter, of grief, leaving his titles and immense territorial influence to the heir of his eldest deceased son, and who was consequently nephew to the provost of St. Giles. It is curious to find that, on the 30th of September, only three weeks after his country had experienced one of the greatest disasters recorded in her history, and by which himself had lost two brothers and many other friends, the poet was admitted a burgess of Edinburgh. This fact was dis. covered by Sibbald in the council register, with the phrase added, pro commune bono villa, gratis. But perhaps there is some mistake as to the date, the register of that period not being original, but apparently a somewhat confused transcript. The consequences of this fatal battle seemed at first to open up a path of high political influence to Gavin Douglas. His nephew, being as yet very young, fell in some measure under his tutelage, as the nearest surviving relation. The queen, who had been appointed regent for her infant son James V., in less than a year from her husband's death, was pleased to marry the young Earl of Angus, who accordingly seemed likely to become the actual governor of the kingdom. The step, however, was unpopular, and at a convention of the nobles it was resolved, rather than obey so young a member of their own body, to call in the Duke of Albany, cousin to the late king. This personage did not realize the expectations which had been formed respecting him; and thus it happened, that for some years the chief power alternated between him and Angus. Sometimes the latter individual enjoyed an influence deputed to him in the queen's name by the duke, who occasionally found it necessary to retire to France. At other times, both the queen and her husband were obliged to take refuge in England, where, on one of these occasions, was born their only child, Margaret Douglas, destined in future years to be the mother of Lord Darnley, the husband of Queen Mary. But the The fortunes and domestic happiness of our poet appear to have been deeply affected by those of his nephew. Soon after the battle of Flodden, the queen conferred upon him the abbacy of Aberbrothock, vacant by the death of Alexander Stewart, the late king's natural son. In a letter addressed by her grace to Pope Leo X. she extols Douglas as second to none in learning and virtue, and earnestly requests that he may be confirmed in the possession of this abbacy till his singular merits should be rewarded with some more ample endowment. Soon after she conferred on him the archbishopric of St. Andrews, which, if confirmed, would have placed him at the head of the Scottish church. queen and her husband were not powerful or popular enough to secure him in this splendid situation. He had been appointed by the chapter, and then both was first intruded on by one John Hepburn, who he and Hepburn were displaced by the pope, in favour of Forman, the Bishop of Moray, a busy and ambitious churchman, who had been legate à latere to Pope Julius II. Douglas was at the same time deprived of the abbacy of Aberbrothock. It appears that, although these disputes were carried on by strength of arms on all sides, the poet himself was always averse to hostile measures, and would rather have abandoned his own interest than bring reproach upon his profession. The queen, having hitherto failed to be of any service to him, nominated him, in 1515, to be Bishop of Dunkeld, and on this occasion, to make quite sure, confirmation of the Douglas retired to his own chamber to pray, and in the meantime his nephew met and overthrew the forces of the Earl of Arran. The bishop afterwards saved Beaton from being slain by the victors, who seized him at the altar of the Blackfriars' Church. Gavin Douglas probably entertained a feeling of gratitude to this dignitary, notwithstanding all his duplicity; for Beaton had ordained him at Glasgow, and borne all the expenses of the ceremony out of his own revenues. gift was, by the influence of her brother Henry | or to what it betrayed of the archbishop's intentions. VIII., procured from the pope. In those days, however, a right which would suffice one day might not answer the next; and so it proved with Gavin Douglas. The Duke of Albany, who arrived in May, 1515, though he had protected the right of Archbishop Forman on the strength of a papal bull, not only found it convenient to dispute that title in the case of Douglas, but actually imprisoned the poet for a year, as a punishment for having committed an act so detrimental to the honour of the Scottish church. In the meantime, one Andrew Stewart, brother to the Earl of Athole, and a partisan of Albany, got himself chosen bishop by the chapter, and was determined to hold out the cathedral against | all whatsoever. Gavin Douglas, when released, was actually obliged to lay a formal siege to his bishopric before he could obtain possession. Having gone to Dunkeld, and published his bull in the usual form at the altar, he found it necessary to hold the ensuing entertainment in the dean's house, on account of his palace being garrisoned by the servants of Andrew Stewart. The steeple of the cathedral was also occupied as a fortress by these men, who pretended to be in arms in the name of the governor. Next day, in attempting to go to church, he was hindered by the steeple garrison, who fired briskly at his party: he had therefore to perform service in the dean's house. To increase his difficulties, Stewart had arrived in person, and put himself at the head of the garrison. His friends, however, soon collected a force in the neighbouring country, with which they forced Stewart to submit. The governor was afterwards prevailed upon to sanction the right of Gavin Douglas, who gratified Stewart by two of the best benefices in the diocese. In 1517, when Albany went to France in order to renew the ancient league between Scotland and that country, he took Douglas and Panter as his secretaries, his object being in the former case to have a hostage for the good behaviour of the Earl of Angus during his absence. However, when the negotiation was finished, the Bishop of Dunkeld is said to have been sent to Scotland with the news. He certainly returned long before the governor himself. After a short stay at Edinburgh, he repaired to his diocese, where he employed himself for some time in the diligent discharge of his duties. He was a warm promoter of public undertakings, and, in par ticular, finished a stone bridge over the Tay (opposite to his own palace) which had been begun by his predecessor. He spent so much money in this manner, and in charity, that he became somewhat embarrassed with debt. During the absence of the Duke of Albany, his nephew Angus maintained a constant struggle with the rival family of Hamilton, then bearing the title of Earl of Arran, which formed a great part of the governor's strength in Scotland. In April, 1520, both parties met in Edinburgh, determined to try which was most powerful. The Bishop of Dunkeld, seeing that bloodshed was threatened, used his influence with Archbishop Beaton of Glasgow, who was a partisan of Arran; when that prelate, striking his hand on his breast, asseverated, on his conscience, that he knew nothing of the hostile intentions of his friends. He had in reality assumed armour under his gown, in order to take a personal concern in the fray, and his hand caused the breastplate to make a rattling noise. "Methinks," said Douglas, with admirable sarcasm, "your conscience clatters;" a phrase that might be interpreted either into an allusion to the noise itself, 1 This is alleged by Dr. Henry.-History of Great Britain. The Earl of Angus was now re-established in power, but it was only for a short time. Albany returned next year, and called him and all his retainers to an account for their management of affairs. The earl, with his nephew and others, was obliged to retire to England. The Bishop of Dunkeld experienced the most courteous attention at the court of Henry VIII., who, with all his faults, was certainly a patron of literature. We are informed by Holingshed that Douglas received a pension from the English monarch. In London he contracted a friendship with Polydore Virgil, a learned Italian, who was then engaged in composing a history of England. It is supposed that the bishop assisted him with a little memoir on the origin of the Scottish nation. Here, however, our poet was suddenly cut off by the plague, in 1521 or 1522, and was buried in the Savoy Church, where he had an epitaph inscribed on the adjacent tomb of Bishop Halsay. It is painful to think that, in consequence of the intestine divisions of his country, this illustrious and most virtuous person died a denounced traitor in a foreign land. The only other poem of any extent by Gavin Douglas, is one entitled King Hart, which was probably written in the latter part of his life, and contains what Dr. Irving styles "a most ingenious adumbration of the progress of human life." It was first printed in Pinkerton's collection of Ancient Scottish Poems, 1786. DOUGLAS, SIR JAMES, one of the most remarkable men of the heroic age to which he belonged, and the founder of one of the most illustrious houses in Scotland, was the eldest son of William Douglas, a baron or magnate of Scotland, who died in England about the year 1302. The ancestry of this family has been but imperfectly traced by most genealogists; but it now seems to be established that the original founder came into this country from Flanders, about the year 1147; and, in reward of certain services, not explained, which he performed to the abbot of Kelso, received from that prelate a grant of lands on the Water of Douglas, in Lanarkshire. In this assignation, a record of which is yet extant, he is styled Theobaldus Flammaticus, or Theobald the Fleming. William, the son and heir of Theobald, assumed the surname of Douglas, from his estate. Archibald de Douglas, his eldest son, succeeded in the family estate on Douglas Water. Bricius, a younger son of William, became Bishop of Moray in 1203; and his four brothers, Alexander, Henry, Hugh, and Freskin, settled in Moray under his patronage, and from these the Douglases in Moray claim their descent. Archibald died between the years 1238 and 1240, leaving behind him two sons. William, the elder, inherited the estate of his father; Andrew, the younger, became the ancestor of the Douglases of Dalkeith, afterwards created Earls of Morton. William acquired additional lands to the family inheritance; and, by this means, becoming a tenant in chief of the crown, was considered as ranking among the barons, or, as they were then called, |