Unsuccessful Rising in the North--Sir Thomas makes his Peace with the Church--Return of Charles II. to Scotland--Invasion of England--Battle of Worcester--Sir Thomas a Prisoner in the Tower--Makes Friends--Is liberated on Parole--Great Literary Activity--Revisits Scotland--Dies--Later History of the Urquharts of Cromartie--Characteristics of our Author--Glover's Portraits of him 69
EPIGRAMS: DIVINE AND MORAL--THE TRISSOTETRAS 111
ΕΚΣΚΥΒΑΛΑΥΡΟΝ, OR THE JEWEL,--LOGOPANDECTEISION OR THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE 148
1. PORTRAIT OF SIR THOMAS URQUHART _Frontispiece_
2. SIGNATURE OF SIR THOMAS URQUHART _Page_ vii
3. THE POET SURROUNDED BY THE MUSES _Facing page_ 109
5. SCULPTURED STONE AT KINBEAKIE HOUSE " 137
The Urquharts and their Predecessors in Cromartie--Sir Thomas Urquhart, senior--Birth of our Author--School and University Days--Pecuniary and other Troubles at Home--The Castle of Cromartie--Our Author's Studious Bent--Foreign Travel--The Englishman Abroad--The Scot Abroad.
The right of Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromartie to be included in the list of famous Scots will scarcely be granted by many of his fellow-countrymen without some inquiry into the grounds upon which it is based. He himself, undoubtedly, would not have been backward in asserting his claim to such honourable distinction, though he would have entered a protest against the presence of some of those in whose company he would find himself. In the ecclesiastical and political controversies of the first half of the seventeenth century, he was, as an Episcopalian and a Cavalier, connected with the losing side, and, consequently, it is not to be expected that posterity should be so impartial as to cherish his name along with those of the victors in the conflict. It is to his literary, and not to his martial achievements, that he owes his fame. His translation of Rabelais is probably the most brilliant feat of the kind ever accomplished, and casts all his own original writings into the shade. The fantastical character of his own compositions, indeed, both in regard to their subject-matter and the diction in which they are clothed, forbids their ever having a large circle of readers. An author whose phraseology is like a combination of that used by Ancient Pistol with that of Sir Thomas Browne may have enthusiastic admirers, but they are almost certain to be few in number. Yet his works contain much interesting matter, and to them we are indebted for many details of the life of their author.