humbler rural class. His education was very limited, and he was apprenticed at an early age to a weaver. His first attempts at composition were made when he was twelve years of age. At a somewhat maturer age he contributed verses to a newspaper named the British Chronicle," to Dr Anderson's "Bee," and to several provincial miscellanies. At twenty-six he became clerk to a manufacturing house in Arbroath, and married in the following year. From the Arbroath establishment, in which he had for several years been a partner, he removed, in 1814, to Trottick near Dundee, where he formed a connection with a branch of an extensive London house. In the ensuing year, so memorable for calamity in the commercial world, the house in which he had embarked his fortune was suddenly involved in bankruptcy. Till some better employment should occur to him, Balfour resorted to the pen, which had never been altogether laid aside in his busiest and most prosperous days, and, in 1819, he produced a novel entitled, "Campbell, or the Scottish Probationer," which was received by the public in a favourable manner. While the work was in progress, he accepted of a dependent situation at Balgonie in Fife, the emoluments of which were barely sufficient to maintain a family consisting of a wife, two sons, and three daughters. He was at length induced to remove to Edinburgh, where, in 1818, he obtained employment as a clerk from Mr Blackwood the publisher. His health suffered from constant confinement to the desk, and in June, 1819, he was obliged to relinquish his employment by a threatened attack of paralysis. For ten years after the month of October, he was unable to set his foot upon the ground, and spent his days in a wheel-chair. He was, nevertheless, enabled to devote himself, with unimpaired energy, to literary labour. He edited, in 1819, the poetical works of his deceased friend, Richard Gall, adding a biographical preface; and contributed various articles of merit, consisting of tales, sketches, and poems, descriptive of Scottish rural life, to Constable's Edinburgh Magazine, of which he continued one of the chief literary supporters till its close, in 1826. In this magazine appeared the poetical series, entitled, "Characters omitted in Crabbe's Parish Register," which was afterwards published in a separate volume. In 1820, he published a volume, under the title of "Contemplation, and other Poems." In 1823 he began to contribute novels to the so-called Minerva Press, his first work being, "The Foundling of Glenthorn, or the Smuggler's Cave," a tale in three volumes. Amidst the pangs of his disorder, Mr. Balfour continued to enjoy such good general health, that he is said to have not been absent from his family breakfast-table more than twelve times during the long period of ten years. He slept regularly, and generally was able to spend twelve or fourteen hours each day in study and composition. Ilis eyesight was as good, and his intellectual powers continued as vigorous as at any period of his life; but his feelings were morbidly sensitive, and he had little command over their expression. In the year 1827, through the intervention, it is believed, of Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., who presented a number of Mr Balfour's works to the premier, Mr Canning, a treasury donation of one hundred pounds was obtained for this unfortunate son of genius.

The latest considerable work of Mr Balfour was a novel, entitled, "Highland Mary," in four volumes. It is written with great simplicity and taste, and, as a story, is replete with a mournful pathos. He continued to the last to contribute to the periodical works of the day.

He enjoyed his usual health, till the 1st of September, 1829, when an illness commenced that hurried him to the grave. For some days previous to his death, he was deprived of speech, and communicated with his friends by means of an alphabet which he had occasionally used before. He died, September 12th, 1829, in the sixty-third year of his age. A memoir of Balfour was written by the late Mr Moir, of Musselburgh ("Delta"), and prefixed to a posthumous volume of his remains, published under the title of Weeds and Wildflowers.

BALFOUR, (Sir) ANDREW, Bart. M.D. who first introduced the dissection of the human body into Scotland, and that at a very superstitious period; who projected the first hospital in the country, for the relief of disease and poverty at the public expense; who was the founder of the botanic garden at Edinburgh, and almost the father of the science in Scotland; who planned the royal college of physicians at Edinburgh; and bequeathed to the public a museum, which at that time would have been an ornament to any university, or any metropolis, was the fifth and youngest son of Sir Michael Balfour of Denmilne in Fife, and was born at that place on the 18th of January, 1630. He prosecuted his studies in the university of St Andrews, where he took his degree of A. M. At this period his education was superintended by his brother Sir James Balfour, the famous antiquary, and lion king at arms to Charles I., who was about thirty years older than himself. At college he first discovered his attachment to botany, which in him is said to have led to the study of physic, instead of being, as it generally is, a handmaid to that art. Quitting the university about the year 1650, he removed to London, where his medical studies were chiefly directed by the celebrated Harvey, by Sir Theodore Mayerne, the distinguished physician of king James I., and various other eminent practitioners. He afterwards travelled to Blois in France, and remained there for some time, to see the botanic garden of the Duke of Orleans, which was then the best in Europe, and was kept by his countryman Dr Morison. Here he contracted a warm friendship for that great botanist, which continued unimpaired while they lived. From Blois he went to Paris, where, for a long time, he prosecuted his medical studies with great ardour. He completed his education at the university of Caen, from which he received the degrees of bachelor and doctor of physic, on the 20th of September, 1661.

Returning to London soon afterwards, Dr Balfour was introduced to Charles II., who named him as the most proper person to attend the young earl of Rochester on his continental travels. After an absence of four years, he returned with his pupil in 1667. During their tour he endeavoured, and at that time not without some appearance of success, to recall that abandoned young nobleman to the paths of virtue, and to inspire him with the love of learning. Rochester himself often acknowledged, and to Bishop Burnet, in particular, only three days before his death, how much he was bound to love and honour Dr Bal four, to whom, next to his parents, he thought he owed more than to all the world. On returning to his native country, Balfour settled at St Andrews as a physician. "He brought with him," says Dr Walker, in his Essays on Natural History, "the best library, especially in medicine and natural history, that had till then appeared in Scotland; and not only these, but a perfect knowledge of the languages in which they were written; likewise many unpublished manuscripts of learned men, a series of antique medals, modern medallions, and pictures and busts, to form the painter and the architect; the remarkable arms, vestments, and ornaments of foreign countries; numerous mathematical, philosophical, and surgical instruments, which he not only possessed, but used; with operations in surgery, till then unknown in this country; a complete cabinet with all the simples of the materia medica, and new compositions in pharmacy; and large collections of the fossils, plants, and animals, not only of the foreign countries he traversed, but of the most distant parts of the world."

Dr Balfour's merit was too conspicuous to suffer him to remain long at St Andrews. In the year 1670, he removed to Edinburgh, where he immediately came into great practice. Here, among other improvements, he prosecuted the manufacture of paper, and was the means of introducing that valuable art into the country-though for many years it remained in a state of complete, or nearly

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complete dormancy; the people deriving stationary articles of all kinds from Holland. Adjoining to his house, he had a small botanic garden, which he furnished by the seeds he received from his foreign correspondents; and in this garden he raised many plants which were then first introduced into Scotland. One of his fellow-labourers in this department was Patrick Murray of Livingston, whom he had initiated into the study of natural history. This young gentleman, who enjoyed an ample fortune, formed at his seat in the country a botanic garden, containing one thousand species of plants, which at that period was a very large collection. He traversed the whole of France in quest of the plants of that country; and on his way to Italy, he prematurely died of a fever. Soon after his death, Dr Balfour transferred his collection from Livingston to Edinburgh; and with it, joined to his own, he had the merit of laying the foundation of the public botanic garden. The necessary expense of this new institution was at first defrayed by Dr Balfour, Sir Robert Sibbald, and the Faculty of Advocates. But at length the city allotted a piece of ground near Trinity College Church for a public garden, and out of the revenues of the university, allowed a certain sum for its support. As the first keeper of this garden, Dr Balfour selected Mr James Sutherland; who, in 1684, published a work, entitled, Hortus Edinburgensis. [See SUTHERLAND.] The new institution soon became considerable plants and seeds were sent from Morison at Oxford, Watts at London, Marchant at Paris, Herman at Leyden, and Spottiswood at Tangier. From the last were received many African plants, which flourished in this country.

Such efforts as these, by a native Scotsman, occurring at a time when the attention of the country seems to have been almost exclusively devoted to contending systems of church-government, are truly grateful in the contemplation. It is only to be lamented, that the spirit which presided over them, was premature in its appearance; it found no genial field to act upon, and it was soon forgotten in the prevailing distraction of the public mind. Sir Andrew Balfour was the morning-star of science in Scotland, but he might almost be said to have set before the approach of day.

He was created a baronet by Charles II., which seems to indicate that, like most men of literary and scientific character in that age, he maintained a sentiment of loyalty to the existing dynasty and government, which was fast decaying from the public mind at large. His interest with the ministry, and with the municipality of Edinburgh, seems to have always been considerable, and was uniformly exerted for the public good, and for the encouragement of merit.

Upon his settlement in Edinburgh, he had found the medical art taught in a very loose and irregular manner. In order to place it on a more respectable footing, he planned, with Sir Robert Sibbald, the royal college of physicians; and of that respectable society his brethren elected him the first president. When the college undertook the publication of a Pharmacopeia, the whole arrangement of the materia medica was committed to his particular care. For such a task he was eminently qualified by his skill in natural history. This performance made its appearance in 1685; and, in the opinion of Dr Cullen, it is superior to any Pharmacopeia of that era.

Not long before his decease, his desire to promote the science of medicine in his native country, joined to the universal humanity of his disposition, led him to project the foundation of an hospital in Edinburgh. The institution was at first narrow and confined, but it survived to be expanded into full shape, as the royal infirmary, under the care of George Drummond. Sir Andrew died in 1694, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, after a severe conflict with the gout and other painful disorders; which afforded him an opportunity of displaying upon the approach of death, those virtues and that equanimity, which had

distinguished him during his life. His person, like his mind and manners, was elegant. He was possessed of a handsome figure with a pleasing and expressive countenance; of a graceful elocution; and, by his natural disposition, as well as his long intercourse with the higher ranks in society, of a most courteous and polite demeanour. A print of him was executed at Paris; but no copy is known to exist.

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His library and museum were the anxious result of fourteen years of travelling, and between twenty and thirty more of correspondence. For their accommoda tion, he had built an addition to his house when he had nearly arrived at his fortieth year; but after the building was completed, he found himself so infirm as to be unable to place them in that order which he intended. After his death, his library, consisting of about three thousand volumes, besides manuscripts, was sold, we suppose, by public auction. There is a printed catalogue still extant. His museum was deposited in the hall which was, till 1829, occupied as the university library. There it remained many years, useless and neglected; some parts of it falling to inevitable decay, and other parts being abstracted. Yet, even after 1750," says Dr Walker, "it still continued a considerable collection, which I have good reason to remember, as it was the sight of it, about that time, that first inspired me with an attachment to natural history. Soon after that period," to pursue a narrative so deeply disgraceful to the age and the institution referred to, "it was dislodged from the hall where it had been long kept; was thrown aside, and exposed as lumber; was further and further dilapidated, and at length almost completely demolished. In the year 1782, out of its ruins and rubbish I extracted many pieces still valuable and useful, and placed them here in the best order I could. These, I hope, may remain long, and be considered as so many precious relics of one of the best and greatest men this country has produced."

From the account that has been given of Sir Andrew Balfour, every person conversant in natural history or medicine must regret that he never appeared as an author. To his friend, Mr Murray of Livingston, he addressed a series of familiar letters, for the direction of his researches while abroad. These letters, forming the only literary relics of Balfour, were subsequently published by his son, in the year 1700.

BALFOUR, (Sir) JAMES, an eminent lawyer and public character of the sixteenth century, was a son of Balfour of Monquhanny, in Fife, a very ancient family. In youth, being designed for the church, he made considerable proficiency, not only in ordinary literature, but in the study of divinity and law; which were all alike necessary in those times for an ecclesiastic, on account of the mixed character which the age admitted to be assumed by such individuals. Balfour, while still a young man, was so unfortunate as to join with the conspirators who, after assassinating Cardinal Beaton, held out the castle of St. Andrews against the governor Arran. He seems, however, not to have been a very cordial partizan of the conspirators. John Knox, in his own vigorous and plain-spoken manner, styled him the Blasphemous Ba'four, on account of his having refused to communicate along with his reforming associates. Balfour shared the fate of his companions in being

sent to the French galleys and was confined in the same vessel along with Knox, from which he escaped in 1550, along with the rest, by the tacit permission of the French government.

The following anecdote of Balfour in connexion with Knox is related by Dr M'Crie. "The galleys returned to Scotland in summer 1548, as near as I can collect, and continued for a considerable time on the east coast, to watch for English vessels. Knox's health was now greatly impaired by the severity of his confinement, and he was seized with a fever, during which his life was despaired of by all in the ship. But even in this state, his forti

Balfour seems to have afterwards joined in the proceedings of the Reformers, but only with courtier-like temperance, and without exhibiting much zeal in the Protestant cause. He was preferred to the ecclesiastical appointment of official of Lothian, and afterwards became rector of Flisk, a parish in his native county. In 1563, he was appointed by Queen Mary to be a Lord of Session, the court then being composed partly of churchmen, and partly of laics. In 1564, when the Commissary court was instituted in place of the ecclesiastical tribunal, which had been dissolved at the Reformation, Balfour became one of the four commissaries, with a salary of four hundred merks, while the others had only three hundred. In July, 1565, the Queen extended the further favour of admitting him into her privy council.

Balfour was one of those servants of the state, who, being advanced rather on account of merit than birth, used at all times to give great offence to the Scottish nobility. It seems to have never been supposed by this haughty class, that there was the least necessity for ingenious or faithful service in the officials employed by majesty; birth and following were the only qualifications allowed by them to be of any value. Accordingly, it is not surprising to find that the same conspiracy which overthrew the "kinless " adventurer Rizzio, contemplated the destruction of Balfour. He was so fortunate, however, as to escape, and even derived some advantage from the event, being promoted to the office of clerk-register, in room of Mr James Macgill, who was concerned in the conspiracy. He was also about this time made a knight, and appointed to be one of the commissioners for revising, correcting, and publishing the ancient laws and statutes of the kingdom.

In the beginning of the year 1567, Sir James Balfour was appointed governor of Edinburgh castle. In this important situation, he naturally became an object of great solicitude to the confederate lords, who, in the ensuing May, commenced a successful rebellion against Queen Mary. It would appear that Sir James was not now more loyal than many other persons who had experienced the favour of Mary. He is said to have even been the means of throwing into the hands of the confederates that celebrated box of letters, upon which they endeavoured to ground the proof of her guilt. There can be no doubt that he was at this time in the way of receiving high favours from the Earl of Murray, who was the chief man opposed to the dethroned queen. He was, in September, 1567, admitted by Murray a lord of his privy council, and made commendator of the priory of Pittenweem; and in December, a bargain was accomplished, by which he agreed to accept a pension of L.500 and the presidency of the Court of Session, in lieu of the clerk-registry, which Murray wished to be restored to his friend Macgill. Sir James continued faithful to the party which opposed Queen Mary, till the death of Murray, January, 1569-70, when he was in some measure compelled to revert to the Queen's side, on account of a charge prefer red against him by the succeeding Regent, Lennox, who taxed him with a share in the murder of Darnley. For this accusation no proof was ever adduced, but

tude of mind remained unsubdued, and he comforted his fellow-prisoners with hopes of release. To their anxious desponding inquiries, natural to men in their situation, If he thought they would ever obtain their liberty,' his uniform answer was, 'God will deliver us to his glory, even in this life.' While they lay on the coast between Dundee and St Andrews, Mr (afterwards Sir) James Balfour, who was confined in the same ship, desired him to look at the land and see if he knew it. Though at that time very sick, he replied, 'Yes; I know it well, for I see the steeple of that place where God first opened my mouth in public to his glory and I am fully persuaded, how weak soever I now appear, that I shall not depart this life till that my tongue shall glorify his godly name in the same place.' This striking reply Sir James repeated in the presence of many witnesses, a number of years before Knox returned to Scotland, and when there was very little prospect of his words being verified.” Life of Knox, 1st edit. p. 53.