75
days in retirement. Accordingly, having at last con-
vinced King Edward of his sincerity, he and his son
were delivered, on the 2Oth of July, 1299, to the pope's
legate, the Bishop of Vicenza, by whom they were
transported to France. The unfortunate Baliol
lived there upon his ample estates till the year 1314,
when he died at his seat of Castle Galliard, aged
about fifty-five years. Though thus by no means
advanced in life, he is said to have been afflicted
with many of the infirmities of old age, among which
was an entire deprivation of sight.
BALLENTYNE (or BELLENDEN), JOHN,—
otherwise spelled Ballanden and Ballentyn—an emi-
nent poet of the reign of James V., and the translator
of Boece's Latin History, and of the first five books of
Livy, into the vernacular language of his time, was
a native of Lothian, and appears to have been born
towards the close of the 15th century. He studied
at the university of St. Andrews, where his name is
thus entered in the records: "1508, Fo. Balletyn
nat. Lau [donice]." It is probable that he remained
there for several years, which was necessary before
he could be laureated. His education was afterwards
completed at the university of Paris, where he took
the degree of Doctor of Divinity; and, as has been
remarked by his biographer [ Works of Bellenden,
i. xxxvii.], "the effects of his residence upon the
Continent may be traced both in his idiom and lan-
guage."
He returned to Scotland during the minority of
James V., and became attached to the establishment
of that monarch as "clerk of his comptis."
The biographer of Ballentyne, above quoted, sup-
poses that he must have been the " Maister Johnne
Ballentyne" who, in 1528, was "secretar and servi-
tour" to Archibald, Earl of Angus, and in that capa-
city appeared before parliament to state his master's
reasons for not answering the summons of treason
which had been issued against him. We can scarcely,
however, reconcile the circumstance of his being
then a "Douglas's man," with the favour he is found
to have enjoyed a few years after with James V.,
whose antipathy to that family was so great as pro-
bably to extend to all its connections. However
this may be, Ballentyne is thus celebrated, in 1530,
as a court poet, by Sir David Lyndsay, who had
been in youth his fellow-student at St. Andrews, and
was afterwards his fellow-servant in the household
of the king:—
" But now of late has start up heastily
A cunning clerk'that writeth craftily;
A plant of poets, called Ballanten,
Whose ornat writs my wit cannot defyne;
Get he into the court authority,
He will precel Quintin and Kenedy."
In 1530 and 1531 Ballentyne was employed, by
command of the king, in translating Boece's History,
which had been published at Paris in 1526. The
object of this translation was to introduce the king
and others who had "missed their Latin" to a
knowledge of the history of their country. In the
epistle to the king at the conclusion of this work,
Ballentyne passes a deserved compliment upon his
majesty, for having "dantit this region and brocht
the same to sicken rest, gud peace and tranquillity;
howbeit the same could nocht be done be your gret
baronis during your tender age;" and also says, with-
out much flattery, "Your nobill and worthy deidis
proceeds mair be naturall inclination and active
curage, than ony gudly persuasioun of assisteris."
He also attests his own sincerity by a lecture to the
king on the difference between tyrannical and just
government; which, as a curious specimen of the
prose composition of that time, and also a testimony
to the enlightened and upright character of Ballen.
tyne, we shall extract into these pages:—
"As Seneca says, in his tragedeis, all ar nocht
kingis that bene clothit with purpure and dredoure,
but only they that sekis na singulare proffet, in dam.
mage of the commonweill; and sa vigilant that the
life of their subdetis is mair deir and precious to
them than thair awin life. Ane tyrane sekis riches;
ane king sekis honour, conquest be virtew. Ane
tyrane governis his realmis be slauchter, dredoure,
and falset; ane king gidis his realme be prudence,
integrite, and favour. Ane tyrane suspeckis all them
that hes riches, gret dominioun, auctorite, or gret
rentis; ane king haldis sic men for his maist helply
friendis. Ane tyrane luffis nane bot vane fleschouris,
vicious and wicket lymmaris, be quhais counsall he
rages in slauchter and tyranny; ane king luffis men
of wisdom, gravite, and science; knawing weill that
his gret materis maybe weill dressit be thair prudence.
Treuth is that kingis and tyrannis hes mony handis,
mony ene, and mony mo memberis. Ane tyrane
sets him to be dred; ane king to be luffet. Ane
tyrane rejoises to mak his pepill pure; ane king to
mak thame riche. Ane tyrane draws his pepill to
sindry factiones, discord, andhatrent; ane king maks
peace, tranquillite, and concord; knawing nothing sa
dammagious as division amang his subdittis. Ane
tyrane confounds all divine and hummane lawis; ane
king observis thaime, and rejoises in equite and
justice. All thir properteis sal be patent, in reding
the livis of gud and evil kingis, in the history pre-
cedent."
To have spoken in this way to an absolute prince
shows Ballentyne to have been not altogether a
courtier.
He afterwards adds, in a finely impassioned strain:
—" Quhat thing maybe mair plesand than to se in
this present volume, as in ane cleir mirroure, all the
variance of tyme bygane; the sindry chancis of
fourtoun; the bludy fechting and terrible berganis sa
mony years continuit, in the defence of your realm
and liberte; quhilk is fallen to your hieness with gret
felicite, howbeit the samin has aftimes been ransomit
with maist nobill blude of your antecessoris. Quhat
is he that wil nocht rejoise to heir the knychtly
afaris of thay forcy campions, King Robert Bruce
and William Wallace? The first, be innative
desyre to recover his realme, wes brocht to sic
calamite, that mony dayis he durst nocht appeir in
sicht of pepill; but amang desertis, levand on rutes
and herbis, in esperance of better fortoun; bot at
last, be his singulare manheid, he come to sic pre-
eminent glore, that now he is reput the maist val-
yeant prince that was eftir or before his empire.
This other, of small beginning, be feris curage and
corporall strength, not only put Englishmen out of
Scotland, but als, be feir of his awful visage, put
Edward king of England to flicht; and held all the
borders fornence Scotland waist."
Ballentyne delivered a manuscript copy of his
work to the king, in the summer of 1533, and about
the same time he appears to have been engaged in a
translation of Livy. The following entries in the
treasurer's book give a curious view of the prices
of literary labour in the court of a king of those
days:—
"To Maister John Ballentyne, be the kingis pre-
cept, for his translating of the Chronykill, £30.
"1531, Oct. 4th. To Maister John Ballantyne,
be the kingis precept, for his translating of the
Chroniclis, £30.
"Item, Thairefter to the said Maister Johne, be
the kingis command, £6,