been annexed to it, under the condition that the principal should preach on Sunday in the church of that parish. Under these circumstances, it could not be expected that Mr Boyd could have much leisure to premeditate his lectures. Wodrow informs us, that he did not read them, "but uttered all in a continued discourse, without any hesitation, and with as much ease and freedom of speech, as the most eloquent divine is wont to deliver his sermons in his mother tongue." It will be remembered, that the prelections were then delivered in Latin, and Principal Baillie, who studied under Mr Boyd, mentions that, at a distance of thirty years, the tears, the solemn vows, and the ardour of the desires produced by the Principal's Latin prayers, were still fresh in his memory.[1]
From the assimilation which was then rapidly taking place to the episcopalian form of church government, Mr Boyd felt his situation peculiarly unpleasant He could not acquiesce in the decisions of the Perth assembly, and it could not be expected that he would be allowed to retain his office under any other condition than that of compliance. He therefore preferred voluntarily resigning his office, and retiring to his country residence. Soon after this period, he was appointed Principal of the university of Edinburgh, and one of the ministers of that city; hut there he was not long allowed to remain. His majesty insisted upon his compliance with the Perth articles, and an intimation to that effect having been made to him, he refused, and, to use the quaint expression of the historian, "swa took his leave of them." He was now ordered to confine himself within the bounds of Carrick. His last appointment was to Paisley, but a quarrel soon occurred with the widow of the Earl of Abercorn, who had lately turned papist, and this was a source of new distress to him. Naturally of a weakly constitution, and worn down by a series of misfortunes, he now laboured under a complication of diseases, which led to his death at Edinburgh, whither he had gone to consult the physicians, on the 5th of January, lG27,in the 49th year of his age.
Of his works, few of which are printed, the largest and best known is his "Prælectiones in Epistolam ad Ephesios." From the circumstances which occurred in the latter part of his life, he was prevented getting it printed as he intended. After his death, a copy of the MS. was sent to Dr Rivet, who agreed with Chouet of Geneva for the printing, but when returning to that place with the MS. in his possession, the ship was taken by the Dunkirkers, and the work was seized by some Jesuits, who would part with it "nee prece nee pretio." Fortunately the original still remained, and it was, after' many delays, printed "Impensis Societatis Stationariorum," in 1652, folio. To the work is prefixed a memoir of the author, by Dr Rivet; but as their acquaintance did not commence till 1598 or 1599, there are several errors in his account of the earlier part of Boyd's life, all of which Wodrow has with great industry and accuracy corrected. The only other prose work of Mr Boyd, ever published, is his "Monita de filii sui primogeniti Institutione, ex Authoris MSS. autographis per R(obertum) S(ibbald), M. D. edita," Svo, 1701. The style of this work, according to Wodrow, is pure, the system perspicuous; and prudence, observation, and piety, appear throughout. Besides these, the "Hecatembe ad Christum," the ode to Dr Sibbald, and the laudatory poem on king James, Are in print. The two first are printed in the "Deliciæ Poetarum Scolorum." The Hecatembe has been reprinted at Edinburgh in 1701, and subsequently in the "Poetarum Scotorum Musæ Sacra." The verses to king James have been printed in Adamson's "Muses' Welcome; and it is remarkable, that it seems to have been altogether overlooked by Wodrow. All these poems justify the opinion, that had
- ↑ Bodii Prælectiones in Epist. ad Epbes. Præfat. ad Lectorem.
