I0 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Univtrsitv.
He seemed greatly delighted with the result,
and felt much self-gratification at the part he had
himself borne. lhus, immediately after the removal
of the court to Paisley, on the 25th Gf July,
1617, he addressed the following letter to the magistrates
of Edinburgh :-
? JAMES R.
? Trustie and weill beloved, we greet you weill.
? Being sufficientlie perswadit of the guid beginning and
progresse which ye haiff madein repairing and building of
your college, and of your commendable resolution constantlie
to proceed and persist thairin, till the same sal1 be perfytlie
finished; for your better?encouragement in a wark so
universallie beneficial for our subjectis, and for such ornament
and reputation for our citie, we haiff thocht guid not
only to declair our special1 approbation thairof, but lykewayes,
as we gave the first being and beginning thairunto, so we
haiff thocht it worthie to be honoured with our name, of
our awin impositione ; and the raither because of the late
air, which to our great content, we ressaived of the gude
worth and sufficiencie of the maisters thairof, at thair being
with us at Stirling : In which regard, these are to desyre
you to order the said college to be callit in all times herafter
by the name of KING JAMES?S COLLEGE : which we intend
for an especial1 mark and baidge of our faivour towards the
same. *
?So we doubting not but ye will accordinglie accept
thairof, we bid you heartilie fairweill.?
Though James gave his name to the college,
which it still bears, it does not appear that he gave
anything more valuable, unless? we record the tithes
of the Archdeacanry of Lothian and of the parish
cf Wemyss, together with the patronage of the Kirk
of Currie. He promised what he called a ? Godbairne
gift,? but it never came.
The salary of the principal was originally very
small; and in order to make his post more comfortable
he was allowed to. reap the emoluments of the
professorship of divinity, with the rank of rector;
but in 1620 these offices were disjoined, and his
salary, from forty guineas, was augmented to sixty,
and Mr. Andrew Ranisay was appointed Professor
of Divinity and Rector, which he held till 1626,
when he resigned both.
They remained a year vacant, when the Council
resolved to elect a rector who was not a member
of the university, and chose Alexander Morrison,
Lord Prestongrange. a judge of the Court of Session,
who took the oath de j d d i adviinistratione, but
never exercised the duties of his position.
In the year 1626 Mr. William Struthers, a
minister of Edinburgh, in censuring a probationer,
used some expression derogatory to philosophy,
among others terming it ?the dishcZout to divinity,?
which was bitterly resented by Professor James
Reid, who in turn attacked Struthers? doctrine.
The latter, in revenge, got his brother to join him,
and endeavoured to get Reid deposed by the
Council ; and so vexed did the question ultimately
become; that the professor, weary of the contest,
resigned his chair.
It would seem to have been customary for the
Scottish Universitiesto receivein those daysstudents
who had been compelled to leave other seats of
leaining through misbehaviour, and by their bad
example some of them led the students of Edinburgh
to conimit many improprieties, till the Privy
Council, by an Act in 1611, forbade the reception
of fugitive students in any university.
In 1640 the magistrates chose Mr. Alexander
Henrison, a minister of the city, Rector of the
University, and ordained that a silver mace should
be borne before him on all occasions of solemnity.
They drew up a set of instructions, empowering
him to superintend all matters connected with the
institution. The custody of the Matriculation
Roll was also given to him ; the students were to
be matriculated in his presence, and he was
furnished with an inventory of the college revenues
and donations in its favour. ?For some years,?
says Arnot, ?we find the rector exercising his office;
but the troubles which distracted the nation, and
no regular records of this university having been
kept, render it impossible for us to ascertain when
that office was discontinued, or how the college
was governed for a considerable period.?
From the peculiar constitution of this college,
and its then utter dependence upon the magistrates,
they took liberties with it to which no similar
institution would have submitted. ? Thus, for
example,? says Bower, ?? they borrowed the college
mace in 165 I, and did not return it till 1655. The
magistrates could be under no necessity for having
recourse to this expedient for enabling them to
make a respectable appearance in public when
necessary, attended by the proper officers and
insignia of their office. And, on the other hand,
the public business of the college could not be
properly conducted, nor in the usual way, without
the mace. At all public graduations, &c., it was,
and still is, carried before the principal and professors.??
The magistrates of Edinburgh were in those days,
in every sense of the word, proprietors of the university,
of the buildings, museums, library, anatomical
preparations, and philosophical apparatus ; and
from time to time were wont to deposit in their
own Charter Room the writs belonging to the institution.
They do not seem to have done this from the
earliest period, as the first notice of this, found by
Bower, was in the Register for 1655, when the
writs and an inventory were ordered to be
