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JAMES MELVILLE (1556-1614)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 103 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMES See also:MELVILLE (1556-1614)  , Scottish reformer, See also:nephew of See also:Andrew See also:Melville (q.v.), was See also:born on the 26th of See also:July 1556 . He was educated at See also:Montrose and St Leonard's See also:College, St See also:Andrews . In 1574 he proceeded to the university of See also:Glasgow, of which his See also:uncle was See also:principal, and within a See also:year became one of the regents . When his uncle was appointed, in 158o, principal of the New (later, St See also:Mary's) College, St Andrews, he was transferred to the See also:chair of See also:Oriental See also:languages there . For three and a See also:half years he lectured in the university, chiefly on See also:Hebrew, but he had to flee to See also:Berwick in May 1584 (a few months after his uncle's See also:exile) to See also:escape the attacks of his ecclesiastical enemy, See also:Bishop See also:Adam-son . After a See also:short stay there and at See also:Newcastle-on-See also:Tyne, and again at Berwick, he proceeded to See also:London, where he joined some of the leaders of the Scottish Presbyterian party . The taking of See also:Stirling See also:Castle in 1585 having changed the See also:political and ecclesiastical positions in the See also:north, he returned to See also:Scotland in See also:November of that year, and was restored to his See also:office at St Andrews . From 1586 to his See also:death he took an active See also:part in See also:Church controversy . In 1589 he was See also:moderator of the See also:General See also:Assembly and on several occasions represented his party in conferences with the See also:court . Despite his antagonism to See also:James's episcopal schemes, he appears to have won the See also:king's respect . He answered, with his uncle, a royal See also:summons to London in 16o6 for the discussion of Church policy . The uncompromising attitude of the kinsmen, though it was made the excuse for sending the See also:elder to the See also:Tower, brought no further See also:punishment to James than easy detention within ten See also:miles of Newcastle-on-Tyne .

During his See also:

residence there it was made clear to him by the king's agents that he would receive high See also:reward if he sup-ported the royal plans . Ins 1613 negotiations were begun for his return to Scotland, but his See also:health was broken, and he died at Berwick in See also:January 1614 . Melville has See also:left ample materials for the See also:history of his See also:time from the Presbyterian standpoint, in (a) See also:correspondence with his uncle Andrew Melville (MS. in the library of the university of See also:Edinburgh), and (b) a See also:diary (MS. in the See also:Advocates' Library, Edinburgh) . The latter is written in a vigorous, fresh See also:style, and 1s especially See also:direct in its descriptions of contemporaries . His See also:sketch of See also:John See also:Knox at St Andrews is one of his best passages . As a writer of See also:verse he compares unfavourably with his uncle . All his pieces, with the exception of a libellus supplex " to King James, are written in Scots . He translated a portion of the Zodiacus vitae of Palingenius, and adapted some passages from See also:Scaliger under the See also:title of Description of the Spainyarts naturall . His Spiritual Propine of a Pastour to his See also:People (1598), The See also:Black Bastill, a lamentation for the See also:kirk (1611), Thrie ,may See also:kelp Counsell, give Twa be away, The Beliefe of the Singing Soul, See also:David's Tragique Fall, and a number of Sonnets show no originality and indifferent technical ability . The Diary was printed by the See also:Bannatyne See also:Club in 1829, and by the See also:Wodrow Society in 1842 . Large portions of it are incorporated in David See also:Calderwood's (1575–1650) History of the Kirk of Scotland (first printed in 1678) . For the See also:life and times, see See also:Thomas M'Crie's Life of Andrew Melville .

End of Article: JAMES MELVILLE (1556-1614)
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