WITH

An Abstract and Catalogue of their WORKS;
Their various EDITIONS;

AND

The Judgment of the LEARN'D Concerning
Them.

BY

GEORGE MACKENZIE, M. D.
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh.

VOL.

II.

Qui autem docti fuerint fulgebunt quafi fplendor firmamenti. Dan. Cap. XII. V. 3.
Nefcio qua natale folum dulcedine cunctos

Ducit, & immemores non finit effe fui. Ovid.

Majorum gloria pofteris quafi lumen eft; neque bona corum, neque mala in occultó
patitur. Saluft. de Bell. Jugurth.

EDINBURGH,

Printed by James Watson in Craig's-Clofs, on the North-fide of the
Crofs. M. DCC. XI.

1

JOHN

Earl of M A R,

Lord Garioch, Erskin and Alloway, &c.

Heritable Governour of the Castle of Stirling,

AND

Knight of the most Ancient and moft Noble Order of the Thistle.

MY LORD,

T

HE Lives of Learned and Eminent Men naturally claim the Patronage of Perfons of your Birth and Quality: For it has been the conftant Obfervation of all Ages, That never any had the Character of a truly Great Man beftowed upon him, but he who was a Patron to the Mufes. Upon which Account, My Lord, I could not have published a Work of this Nature, un der a more fuitable Patronage than that of your Lordship; your Family having produced fo many Illuftrious Perfons both in Literature and War, that it were hard to determine, Whether they have deserved most of their Country for their Performances in the One, or Atchievements in the Other. And altho' the brave and shining Actions of Heroes amuse the World more than the Performances of the Learned; yet we are told by the Roman Orator (a), That there is a certain Sort of Domeftic Valour which is equal to the moft Glorious Actions of the greatest Heroes; and that the Exploits of the Learned, in their Retirements, are more to be valued than all the Victories of the greatest Conquerors, because they are more useful to Mankind. But, My Lord, altho' the great and main Design of this Work be, to fhow what amazing Heighths of Knowledge, in all the Sciences, our Predeceffors have arrived to, yet there is likewise an Account of their Noble and Heroic Exploits, no less surprisingly Great than that of their Learning ; in fo much, that what the above-cited Orator fays of Italy (5), when

A

under

(4) Sunt domefticæ fortitudines non inferiores militaribus, in quibus plus etiam quam in iis operæ ftad que ponendum. Cic. Offc: lib. 1. (6) Perfecerit ille ut fi montes refediffent, amnes ex aruiffent, non naturæ præfidio, fed victoria fua rebufque g ftis Italiam munitam haberemus, Cic. cont. Pifon.