Chapter XIV: History of Poetry From 1550 to 1600 (4)

97. The Scots, in consequence of receiving, very frequently, a continental education, cultivated Latin poetry with ardour. It was the favourite amusement of Andrew Melville, who is sometimes a mere scribbler, at others tolerably classical and spirited. His poem on the Creation, in Deliciæ Poetarum Scotorum, is very respectable. One by Hercules Rollock, on the marriage of Anne of Denmark, is better, and equal, a few names withdrawn, to any of the contemporaneous poetry of France. The Epistolæ Heroidum of Alexander Bodius are also good. But the most distinguished among the Latin poets of Europe in this age was George Buchanan, of whom Joseph Scaliger and several other critics have spoken in such unqualified terms, that they seem to place him even above the Italians at the beginning of the sixteenth century.[1239] If such were their meaning, I should crave the liberty of hesitating. The best poem of Buchanan, in my judgment, is that on the Sphere, than which few philosophical subjects could afford better opportunities for ornamental digression. He is not, I think, in hexameters inferior to Vida, and certainly far superior to Palearius. In this poem Buchanan descants on the absurdity of the Pythagorean system which supposes the motion of the earth. Many good passages occur in his elegies, though I cannot reckon him equal in this metre to several of the Italians. His celebrated translation of the Psalms I must also presume to think over-praised;[1240] it is difficult perhaps to find one, except the 137th, with which he has taken particular pains, that can be called truly elegant or classical Latin poetry. Buchanan is now and then incorrect in the quantity of syllables, as indeed is common with his contemporaries.

[1239] Buchananus unus est in tota Europa omnes post se relinquens
in Latina poesi. Scaligerana Prima.

Henry Stephens, says Maittaire, was the first who placed Buchanan
at the head of all the poets of his age, and all France, Italy, and
Germany, have since subscribed to the same opinion, and conferred
that title upon him. Vitæ Stephanorum, ii. 258. I must confess that
Sainte Marthe appears to me not inferior to Buchanan. The latter is
very unequal: if we frequently meet with a few lines of great
elegance, they are compensated by others of a different
description.

[1240] Baillet thinks it impossible that those who wish for what is
solid as well as what is agreeable in poetry, can prefer any other
Latin verse of Buchanan to his Psalms. Jugemens des Savans, n.
1328. But Baillet and several others exclude much poetry of
Buchanan on account of its reflecting on popery. Baillet and Blount
produce abundant testimonies to the excellence of Buchanan’s
verses. Le Clerc calls his translation of the Psalms incomparable,
Bibl. Choisie, viii. 127, and prefers it much to that by Beza,
which I am not prepared to question. He extols also all his other
poetry, except his tragedies and the poem of the Sphere, which I
have praised above the rest. So different are the humours of
critics! But as I have fairly quoted those who do not quite agree
with myself, and by both number and reputation ought to weigh more
with the reader, he has no right to complain that I mislead his
taste.

98. England was far from strong, since she is not to claim Buchanan, in the Latin poetry of this age. A poem in ten books, De Republica Instauranda, by Sir Thomas Chaloner, published in 1579, has not received so much attention as it deserves, though the author is more judicious than imaginative, and does not preserve a very good rhythm. It may be compared with the Zodiacus Vitæ of Palingenius, rather than any other Latin poem I recollect, to which, however, it is certainly inferior. Some lines relating to the English constitution, which, though the title leads us to expect more, forms only the subject of the last book, the rest relating chiefly to private life, will serve as a specimen of Chaloner’s powers,[1241] and also display the principles of our government as an experienced statesman understood them. The Anglorum Prœlia, by Ockland, which was directed by an order of the Privy Council to be read exclusively in schools, is an hexameter poem, versified from the chronicles, in a tame strain, not exceedingly bad, but still farther from good. I recollect no other Latin verse of the queen’s reign worthy of notice.

[1241]
Nempe tribus simul ordinibus jus esse sacratas
Condendi leges patrio pro more vetustas
Longo usu sic docta tulit, modus iste rogandi
Haud secus ac basis hanc nostram sic constituit rem,
Ut si inconsultis reliquis pars ulla superbo
Imperio quicquam statuat, seu tollat, ad omnes
Quod spectat, posthac quo nomine læsa vocetur
Publica res nobis, nihil amplius ipse laboro.

* * * * *

Plebs primum reges statuit; jus hoc quoque nostrûm est
Cunctorum, ut regi faveant popularia vota;
(Si quid id est, quod plebs respondet rite rogata)
Nam neque ab invitis potuit vis unica multis
Extorquere datos concordi munere fasces;
Quin populus reges in publica commoda quondam
Egregios certa sub conditione paravit,
Non reges populum; namque his antiquior ille est.

* * * * *

Nec cupiens nova jura ferat, seu condita tollat,
Non prius ordinibus regni de more vocatis,
Ut procerum populique rato stent ordine vota,
Omnibus et positum sciscat conjuncta voluntas.
De Rep. Inst. l. 10.