omnia pro certissimis spiritus sancti oraculis habet.” Calvinianæ Confusionis Demonstratio.――per Archibaldum Hammiltonium, p. 252 b. 253 a. Parisiis, 1581. Note E, Footnote 26. _Of David Ferguson, and the cultivation of the Scottish Language._――I have said in the text, that the reformers, while they exerted themselves to revive the knowledge of the learned languages, did not neglect the improvement of their native tongue; and that, among {299} others, David Ferguson, minister of Dunfermline, distinguished himself in this department. It appears, from a document already produced, (vol. I., Note GG,) that he belonged originally to Dundee. Though “not graduated in a college,” he was very far from being illiterate, and was much admired for the quickness of his wit and good taste, as well as for his piety――“elegantis ingenii et magnæ pietatis virum,” says Smeton, Responsio ad Hamilt. Dialog. p. 92. Row’s Coronis to his Historie, p. 314 of copy in Divinity Lib. Edin. The sermon which he preached at Leith before the regent and nobility, and afterwards published, (see above, p. 210,) is a proof of this; and had it not been a sermon, would most probably have been republished before this time, as a specimen of good Scottish composition. Extracts from it may be seen in Note B. John Davidson, then one of the regents at St Andrews, celebrated the success of the author in refining his vernacular language, in the following Latin lines, which are prefixed to the sermon:―― Græcia melifluo quantum det nestoris ori, Aut Demostheneo debeat eloquio; Ipsi facundo quantum (mihi crede) parenti Attribuat linguæ turba togata suæ; Nos tibi, Fergusi, tantum debere fatemur, Scotanam linguam qui reparare studes. Sermonem patriam ditas; inculta vetustas Horret qua longe barbariemque fugas; Adde etiam, neque abest facundis gratia dictis, Respondet verbis materia apta tuis. Quod satis ostendit nobis tua concio præsens, Qua nihil in lucem doctius ire potest.