Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/42

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GEORGE WISHART, or WISEHEART.

conceived it to be a not unbecoming mode of expressing contempt for the eulogies of the biographer. Upon Montrose, however, it produced no such effect as they had calculated on. His remark, long since become a part of history, is thus given by Wishart in the sequel to his memoir: "That though it had pleased his majesty to create him a knight of the garter, yet he did not reckon himself more honoured thereby than by the cord and the books which were now hung about his neck, and which he embraced with greater joy and pleasure than he did the golden chain and the garter itself when he first received them."

While his work was receiving this memorable honour, the author remained at the Hague, where a body of commissioners from Scotland were endeavouring to induce the young and exiled king (Charles II.,) to assume the government of that kingdom upon the terms of the covenant. To these personages, Wishart, as might be supposed, was by no means an agreeable object, particularly as he happened to enjoy the royal favour. Clarendon, who was there at the time, relates the following anecdote:—"A learned and worthy Scotch divine, Dr Wishart, being appointed to preach before the king, they [the commissioners] formally besought the king, 'that he would not suffer him to preach before him, nor to come into his presence, because he stood excommunicated by the kirk of Scotland for having refused to take the covenant,' though it was known that the true cause of the displeasure they had against that divine, was, that they knew he was author of that excellent relation of the lord Montrose's actions in Scotland, which made those of his majesty's council full of indignation at their insolence; and his majesty himself declared his being offended, by hearing the doctor preach with the more attention."

Dr Wishart subsequently wrote a continuation of the memoirs of Montrose, bringing down his history till his death: this, however, was never published in its original form. The original book was printed oftener than once, and in various places, on the continent. A coarse translation appeared in London in 1652, under the title of "Montrose Redivivus," &c., and was reprinted in 1720, with a translation of the second part, then for the first time given to the world. A superior translation of the whole, with a strong Jacobite preface, was published at Edinburgh by the Ruddimans in 1756, and once more, in the same place, by Archibald Constable and Company in 1819.

After the fall of Montrose, Dr Wishart became chaplain to Elizabeth, the electress-palatine, sister of Charles I.; he accompanied that princess to England in 1660, and being recognized as one who had both done and suffered much in the cause of royalty, was selected as one of the new bishops for the kingdom of Scotland, being appointed to the see of Edinburgh. He had now, therefore, the satisfaction of returning to the scene of his former sufferings, in the most enviable character of which his profession rendered him capable. He was consecrated bishop of Edinburgh, June, 1, 1662. It is recorded of Wishart, that, after the suppression of the ill concerted rising at Pentland, he interested himself to obtain mercy for the captive insurgents; and, remembering his own distresses in the prison which they now occupied, never sat down to a meal till he had sent off the first dish to these nnfortunate men. From these anecdotes it may be inferred that whatever were the faults of his character, he possessed a humane disposition. Bishop Wishart died in 1671, when his remains were interred in the abbey church of Holyrood, where a handsome monument, bearing an elaborate panegyrical inscription in Latin to his memory, may yet be seen.

Bishop Keith says of Wishart that he was "a person of great religion." Wodrow speaks of him as a man who could not refrain from profane swearing, even on the public street, and as a known drunkard. "He published somewhat