When Mr Brown entered college, we have seen no account. We would suppose him to be approaching to twenty years of age, when he left the grammar school; young men did not think of entering an university then so soon as they do now, nor was it ever the custom for those so far distant from any college as Kirkcudbright is to the nearest in Scotland, to enter college very early. Children were not sent to school so soon then as now, and consequently young men were not so soon fit for college. Perhaps, also, the mode of communicating, and of course of acquiring knowledge, was more tardy, than at this time. It may be conceded, that many in the propinquity of a college, went to it much about the same age as some do now, but the practice of cramming with knowledge early, was not so general. We can say nothing positive about this period of Mr Brown's life. Every incident about a great man's history has been deemed important, and every thing about a truly good man is equally worthy to be known. Who would not have desired to have the most minute detail about the banished minister of Wamphray? He was not banished for doing evil, but for doing good. At least two of the beatitudes pronounced by the Divine Redeemer, in his first sermon on the mount, close by Capernaum and the sea of Galilee, were pronounced on such as him :-"Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." His most adventurous apostle puts a question, which ought to have been unanswered, and unanswerable. "And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" And then directs the scattered strangers how they were to conduct themselves: "But, and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye; and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. Having a good conscience; that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing.” A man who walked so much from his youth, according to the letter and spirit of the word, deserves to be minutely described. His stature, his form, his colour, were all deserving to be marked. His turn of mind, his temper, in infancy, youth, manhood, and age. His relaxations, and plans of

study, would all have been interesting. The time he entered school, and college, and the application and progress he made, and who were some of his school and college companions, and how they were engaged in after life, and how long they lived, would all have been objects of interest to the inquiring mind. But these, and many more things connected with the personal and private history of Mr Brown, are now, most likely, lost for ever. We do not even know the college at which he studied, nor the different professors who poured the condensed stores of learning into his youthful mind. The colleges of Scotland were founded at very considerable distances of time from one another. The University of St Andrews was founded in 1410, by Henry Wardlaw, bishop of the diocese, and confirmed by a Papal bull, in 1411. The College of St Salvador was erected by Bishop Kennedy, in 1456, that of St Leonard, in 1512, and that of St Mary, in 1537. The Colleges of St Salvador and St Leonard were united by parliamentary statute in 1747. The University of Glasgow was founded by a Papal bull in 1451. The foundation of the University and King's College, Aberdeen, may be ascribed to William Elphinstone, bishop of Aberdeen. A Papal bull was issued for its erection on the 10th Feb. 1495. The buildings were founded 2d April 1500, and the course of instruction was commenced, and the code of statutes for its government was promulgated in 1505. The University of Edinburgh was founded by King James VI. in 1592, and the course of instruction was almost immediately commenced. As St Andrews was first founded, so, from bearing the name of the tutelar saint of the kingdom, or the superiority of its professors, it obtained, and long held, the greatest celebrity. Aberdeen was too far north for the students from the south of Scotland. Till Melville's time, Glasgow seems to have made little progress. St Andrews, therefore, was the college at which he most likely studied. There is much in a name, and St Andrews obtained it, both for suffering and learning. There the fury of the beast raged sorest and longest, and there the Reformation obtained the first abode. Patrick Hamilton suffered there, 28th February, 1527; Henry Forrest, 1533; the singular George Wishart, 1st March, 1546; and old Walter Mill, 27th April, 1558. There the great

Knox was degraded from the idolatrous priesthood, and there Cardinal Beaton employed assassins to cut him off, had not the Omniscient and Omnipotent cast the impenerable shield of his protection over him, till his work

was finished. After the wicked Cardinal was put to death, on the 29th May, 1546, Knox was persecuted with as great eagerness by Archbishop Hamilton. To save himself from his machinations, he enteredthe castle at Easter 1547, of which the conspirators* against Beaton had kept possession, and from this temporary sanctuary he issued forth, and preached in the parish church, from Dan. vii. 24, 25. and as occasion was offered, disputed with the supporters of the beast. The castle capitulated to the French commander, who had been sent to invest it, on the last day of July 1547, and Knox, contrary to the terms of surrender, endured a tedious and severe imprisonment of nineteen months. From these, and other causes, St Andrews had become conspicuous; and from the celebrity of the professors, more students seem to have repaired to it, than, perhaps, any of the other universities of Scotland. Wherever he studied, or by whomsoever he was taught, it is certain that he shed a lustre on the professors who taught him, and the college where he was matriculated. His future life, chequered as it was, showed that he ranked among the first, both as a scholar and as a divine. Many of the persecuted, and banished, and murdered worthies of Scotland did well, but he was excelled by few. This was the opinion of one who saw him close his brief but bright career, and it will be the opinion of all who read his works, which for ages yet to come, will praise him in the gates.

We are as much in the dark with regard to the time when Mr Brown was licensed to preach the Gospel, as any other important transaction of his early and valuable life. We do not know even the presbytery where he passed trials. The records of few presbyteries extend to this period, owing partly to the unsettled state of the Church, the various distractions of the times, and the unexpected and uncontrollable accidents by which they have been destroyed. It would have been highly gratifying, could we have marked every step of the progress of his eventful life. General details may satisfy the unconcerned reader and careless thinker, but every person who wishes to trace how this fair fabric of religious and civil liberty (which we now enjoy) arose, would wish to have the most minute information concerning the character and life of Mr Brown, who was one of those who, by lawful resistance and patient suffering, helped materially to lay the foundation.

• The murderers of Cardinal Beaton were, Norman Leslie, the Laird of Grange, David Moneypenny, Henry Balnays, John Leslie, James Leslie, parson of Aberdour, William Kirkaldy, younger of Grange.

The time when a young man receives liberty to preach the everlasting Gospel, the time when he is by the Church declared qualified to stand between the living and the dead, forms a most interesting epoch in his life. If he has ever thought seriously, his serious impressions are likely to be considerably deepened. He is then to be occasionally called upon to address sinners and saints, and it should make him endeavour to ascertain to which of these two classes of mankind he belongs. He is then ready to be set upon some watch-tower, by one, or by one hundred suffrages. Timothy was forbidden to lay hands suddenly on any man, and presbyteries ought to be fully persuaded of the piety, prudence, and other essential qualifications of every young man, before he is declared fully qualified to preach to perishing sinners, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Of the preparation of Mr Brown for this important work, there could be no doubt. The perspicacious Mr Rutherford thought he saw more of Christ in him than any of his brethren. He was, very probably, one of those who granted to him his licence, for as he belonged to the presbytery of Kirkcudbright, he was most likely to pass his private and public trials in that presbytery.

As we are not able to fix the time when Mr Brown became a probationer, neither can we ascertain when he was ordained. It appears almost certain, that it could not be before 1638, so that he may have been minister of Wamphray about twenty years. Wamphray is a parish which lies partly in the dale or valley of the Annan, which bounds it on the west, but chiefly slopes up the rising ground, which is yet, and perhaps ever will be, occupied chiefly as pasture. The number of inhabitants at present is only 580. They must then have been considerably fewer. The Border clans were then put completely down, and the barons, not needing their retainers, were less careful about keeping up their number. Annandale, it is evident, must have been greatly wasted by the horrible forays and feudal contests, to which it was exposed, being near the English border. The numerous ruinous towers, and, in many places, almost erased castles, and broken down vaults around Wamphray, show in what state the country must have been at the conclusion of the sixteenth century. The country could not rise, like the phoenix, out of its ashes all at once, and therefore the population must have been much reduced. Besides, after all the intestine wars in the time of Mary, (3) James, called by a French politician," the wisest fool in Christendom," by attempting to introduce the English institutions into Scotland, and especially by pressing

upon the nation, abhorred and abjured Episcopacy, kept the kingdom in a ferment all his reign; and his son, by following too closely in his footsteps, brought his head to the block. A country cannot prosper, population cannot increase, when a kingdom is torn by intestine divisions, which misruled Scotland was to the termination of the Stuart dynasty. Whatever the population of Wamphray was, and whenever Mr Brown was placed over them, he would attempt to gather them, as a shepherd gathereth his flock in the cloudy and dark day. He would spend, and be spent, among them. He would give them line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; he would be instant in season, and out of season. We never saw any of those who saw or heard him, but he yet lives, or lately did live, in tradition's tongue. Of all the great and good with whom Annandale has been blessed, there is no name more embalmed than that of Mr Brown. His sufferings in defence of the truth, and his name being recorded among the worthies of Scotland, may have helped the stream of tradition in conveying so far his name, for he will ever live in a grateful nation's remembrance.

Mr

Although we are of opinion that the facts mentioned below, and others connected with them, in that unsettled state of society, are sufficient to show that the country must have been depopulated, if it ever was more populous than at present, and it needs no proof to convince any person acquainted with the progress of population, that it could not spring up all at once, nor even increase rapidly in a pastoral parish like Wamphray; yet, whatever the population might be, there would be no deficiency of pastoral superintendence. Brown would ponder and practise the lessons given by Paul to Timothy. He would endeavour to be a follower of Paul, so far as he followed Christ. He would look especially to Jesus, the author and finisher of his faith. We do not mean to say that he was, but he would study to be perfect, even as his Father in heaven is perfect. It would be too much to say, that he neglected nothing, and did nothing amiss, in kind or in degree, in matter or in manner, but he would still recollect what Hagar said of Him who looked upon her affliction, and who said he would multiply her seed, and foretold, with the most absolute precision and certainty, the character of the person, and his progeny to this day, that was to spring from her. This Angel of the Covenant she emphatically called, Thou, God, seest me." He would still try to remember that the Great Head of the Church in Hagar's time, and to

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