Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/237

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WILLIAM BELLENDEN.
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the 'first volume of the Anatomy of the Human Body, drawn and engraved by himself, royal 4to. 1794, third edition. 3. Engravings of the Arteries, illustrating the second volume of the Anatomy of the Human Body, royal 4to. 1801, third edition, 8vo. 1810. 4. Discourses on the nature and cure of wounds, 8vo. 1795; third edition, 1812. 5. Answer for the Junior Members of the Royal College of Surgeons to the Memorial of Dr James Gregory, to the Managers of the Royal Infirmary, 8vo. 1800. 6. The Principles of Surgery, 3 vols. 4to. 1801-1808. 7. Letters on Professional Character, &c. His Observations on Italy is a posthumous work, which was edited by his respected friend, the late Bishop Sandford of Edinburgh.

Mr Bell married Miss Congleton, daughter of Dr Congleton of Edinburgh. His eldest brother was the late Robert Bell, Advocate, Professor of Conveyancing to the Society of Writers to the Signet; author of the "Scotch Law Dictionary," and of several other works on the law of Scotland; who died in 1816. John Bell's immediately younger brothers were, the late George Joseph Bell, Advocate, Professor of the Law of Scotland in the University of Edinburgh, and author of "Commentaries on the Law of Scotland," a work of high authority; and the late Sir Charles Bell, F.R.S. of London, the distinguished anatomist arid physiologist. It is rare to find so many members of the same family so favourably known to the public.

BELLENDEN, William, more commonly known by his Latin name of Gulielmus Bellendenus, is one of those learned and ingenious Scotsmen of a former age, who are esteemed in the general literary world as an honour to their country, but with whom that country itself is scarcely at all acquainted. As there were many great but unrecorded heroes before Agamemnon, so may it be said that there have flourished, out of Scotland, many illustrious Scotsmen, whose names have not been celebrated in that country. It is time, however, that this should cease to be the case, at least in reference to William Bellenden, whose intellect appears to have been one of most extraordinary character, and whose intellectual efforts, if in a shape to command more extensive appreciation, would certainly be considered a great addition to those productions which reflect honour upon his native country.

William Bellenden was unquestionably a member of that family whose name has been variously spelled Ballenden, Ballantyn, and latterly Ballantyne, and which has produced several men eminent in Scottish literature. He lived in the reign of James VI., to whom he was Magister Supplicum Libellorum, or reader of private petitions, an office probably conferred upon him in consideration of his eminent learning. King James, whose many regal faults were redeemed in no small measure by his sincere love of literature, and his extensive patronage of literary men, provided Bellenden with the means of leading a life of studious retirement at the French capital, where he is said to have afterwards become Professor of Humanity, and an advocate in the parliament of Paris. As he is said to have enjoyed his office of professor in 1602, it would of course appear that James had furnished the necessary allowances for the retirement of his learned protegee out of the slender revenues which he enjoyed in his native kingdom; a circumstance which enhances the praise due to him for his munificence in a very high degree.

Bellenden's first work, entitled, "Ciceronis Princeps," and published, apparently without his name, in 1608, is a treatise on the duties of a prince, formed out of passages of the works of Cicero referring to that subject. In this work, "he shows that, whoever desires to exercise authority over others, should first of all learn the government of himself; should remember and be obedient to every thing whih the laws command; should on all occasions be ready to hear the