posterity may have the means of judging which of the two men was guilty of slander. With this declaration, dated March 1621, the autobiography concludes. It is remarkable that in the same month Dempster's ‘Roman Antiquities’ was placed on the index of prohibited books, with the clause, ‘until it be corrected;’ and in December 1623 another work of his, ‘Scotia Illustrior,’ was also prohibited.
What we know of Dempster's subsequent history is principally derived from a supplement to the autobiography by a certain Matthæus Peregrinus. The last years of his life were passed in comparative peace and prosperity. The new pope, Urban VIII (elected 1623), was his firm friend and protector, and conferred on him the honour of knighthood, with a liberal pension. Although he was offered the professorship of civil law in the university of Pavia, with a greatly increased stipend, he preferred to remain at Bologna, where he continued to teach with great success and renown until his death. His life, however, was not wholly free from trouble. It appears that his wife had been reconciled to him after her first desertion, but proved a second time unfaithful, and fled with her lover from Italy, taking with her some of her husband's property. Dempster obtained from the Venetian senate a decree for the arrest of the fugitives, and himself pursued them as far as Vicenza, but learning that they had already crossed the Alps, he was obliged to desist. The fatigues of the journey, undertaken in the heat of the dog-days, had exhausted his strength, and on his way home he was stricken with his last illness. He was brought to Bologna, where he died on 6 Sept. 1625, and was buried in the church of St. Dominic.
The portrait which Dempster has, in part involuntarily, drawn of his own character is abundantly confirmed by the testimony of his contemporaries. Rossi describes him as ‘a man framed for war and contention, who hardly ever allowed a day to pass without fighting, either with his sword or with his fists.’ His devoted admirer, Matthæus Peregrinus, says that he was harsh and violent in his manners, utterly incapable of disguising his feelings, equally outspoken in his love and in his hatred; the kindest of friends, but the bitterest of enemies, never either forgiving or forgetting an injury. Of Dempster's personal appearance the same writer has given us a striking portrait. ‘He was tall, above the stature of common men; his hair nearly black, and his skin almost of the same colour; his head large, and his bodily aspect altogether kingly; his strength and courage equal to that of any soldier.’ It is said that he was accustomed to read fourteen hours every day, and that his memory was so retentive that it was impossible to quote to him a passage of any Greek or Latin author of which he was unable at once to give the context. He was also celebrated for his faculty of improvisation, being able to dictate Greek or Latin verses on any given subject, as fast as a rapid writer could take them down. Even his most admiring contemporaries, however, did not venture to ascribe to him the merit of a polished style. In a linguistic sense, indeed, his writings (all of them in Latin) are thoroughly barbarous, though they sometimes display a rugged energy which is not unpleasing.
It is unnecessary to transcribe here the long catalogue which Dempster gives of his own works. Many of them were never published, and of those which were printed only few are to be found in any English public library. The work by which he is now best known is the ‘Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum,’ which was first published at Bologna in 1627, two years after the author's death. An edition of it, by Mr. David Irving, was issued in 1829 by the Bannatyne Club. It consists of biographical notices of the writers and memorable historical personages of Scotland, from the earliest times to the author's own day. Although displaying great industry, the book is chiefly remarkable for its extraordinary dishonesty. Dempster's object was to exalt the renown of his native country, and with this view he claims a Scottish origin for every distinguished person mentioned in history who has ever been supposed to be a native of Britain, supporting himself often by quotations from imaginary authors, or garbled extracts from real ones. Many of the persons whose biographies he relates seem to be absolutely fictitious. A curious example of Dempster's misplaced ingenuity will be found in the article Bernard (Sapiens) in this dictionary. Among the famous men of other nations for whom he tries to prove a Scottish origin are the Englishmen Boniface and Alcuin, the Frisian St. Frederick, and the Irishman Joannes Scotus Erigena. In the last case, however, the error is a pardonable one. The most curious thing in the book is the inclusion of ‘Bundevica’ (better known as ‘Boadicea’) in the list of Scottish authors. Although she reigned in South Britain, she was, it seems, the daughter of a Scottish king, and six of her literary productions are enumerated, bearing such titles as ‘Conciones Militares,’ ‘Querela suorum Temporum,’ and so forth. Dempster's notices of his own con--
