Dr Balcanquel's next appearance in the public concerns of his native country, was of a less happy character. In 1638, when Charles I. sent down the Marquis of Hamilton to Scotland, to treat with the Covenanters, the Dean of Rochester accompanied his grace in the capacity of chaplain. What was his external behaviour on this occasion, we do not know; but it was afterwards surmised by the Covenanters, that he had been deputed by Archbishop Laud, as a spy, at once upon the Marquis, who was suspected of moderation, and the people with whom he was dealing. It is asserted by Sir James Balfour, in his "Memorialls of State," that Dr Balcanquel also communicated intelligence of all that happened in Scotland, to Signor George Con, the Pope's legate, "as some of his intercepted letters can beare recorde." Early in the ensuing year, was published an apologetical narrative of the court-proceedings, under the title of "His Majesties Large Declaration, concerning the Late Tumults in Scotland," which, by universal and apparently uncontradicted report, was ascribed to the pen of Dr Balcanquel. While this work was received by the friends of the king as a triumphant vindication of his attempts upon the purity of the Scottish church, it only excited new indignation in the minds of the outraged people, who soon after appeared in arms at Dunse law, to defend their religious freedom with the sword. On the 14th of May, 1639, at the very time when the armies were about to meet on the borders, Dr Balcanquel, apparently in requital of his exertions, was installed Dean of Durham. He had now rendered himself a marked man to the Scottish presbyterians, and accordingly his name is frequently alluded to in their publications as an "incendiary." Under this character he as denounced by the Scottish estates, July 29, 1641, along with the Earl of Traquair, Sir John Hay, Clerk Register, Sir Robert Spottiswoode, and Maxwell, Bishop of Ross, all of whom were regarded as the principal causes of the war between the king and his people. In the Canterburian's Self-Conviction, a pamphlet written in 1641, by the Rev. Robert Baillie, against Archbishop Laud, he is spoken of in a style of such asperity, as might have convinced him that, in the event of a complete triumph of the presbyterian party, he would share in the proceedings which were now directed against that unhappy prelate. Accordingly, the very next year, when the king could no longer protect his partizans, Dr Balcanquel was forced from his mastership of the Savoy, plundered, sequestered, and obliged to fly from London. Repairing to Oxford, he attached himself to the precarious fortunes of his sovereign, and for several years afterwards, had to shift about from place to place, wherever he could find security for his life. At length, having taken refuge in Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, he died there in a very cold season, on Christmas day, 1645. He was buried next day in the parish church of Chirk, where some years after a splendid monument was erected to his memory by a neighbouring royalist, Sir Thomas Middleton of Chirk Castle.
BALFOUR, Alexander, an esteemed miscellaneous writer, was born March 1st, 1767, in the parish of Monikie, Forfarshire. His parents belonged to the
more pious or profitable; or to go about to alter any of these Statutes and Ordinances, after they shall be once delivered up unto you, completely subscribed and sealed, as you will answer the contrary, at the uttermost of your perils, in the day of the Lord Jesus: to whom, (being fully assured of your goodly care and zealous conscience in these particulars) with his Father, and the Holy Ghost, three Persons, but one undivided Essence of the Godhead, as for all other their blessings, so in particular for the great charity of this most pious and religious founder, be ascribed, as is most due, all praise, honour, and glory, from age to age, Amen."
It is alleged, by traditionary report, that the taste of Dr Balcanquel is conspicuous in the external architecture of Heriot's Hospital. He is said, in particular, to have directed that anomalous contrariety of ornaments which is observed in the windows of the building; a blemish, however, affecting only the details, and not the general effect of the building.
