A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Melville, Sir James

by John William Cousin

Melville, Sir James (1535-1617). -- Historian, s. of Sir John M., of Hallhill, was a page to Mary Queen of Scots at the French Court, and afterwards one of her Privy Council. He also acted as her envoy to Queen Elizabeth and the Elector Palatine. He was the author of an autobiography which is one of the original authorities for the period. The MS., which lay for long hidden in Edin. Castle, was discovered in 1660, and pub. 1683. A later ed. was brought out in 1827 by the Bannatyne Club. The work is page 267written in a lively style, but is not always to be implicitly relied upon in regard either to facts or the characters attributed to individuals.