the registers of the univeraity of his name which was a common one. Probably he took the M.A. degree on 16 March 1451-2, after which indifferent health compelled him to live for some time quietly at home with his parents. Resuming his studies, he applied himself to the reading of civil and canon law, and practised in the church courts. He was ordained priest and became rector of St. Michael's Church, Trongate, in 1465, and was in the same year a regent of the university. After four years' ministry Eiphinstone was persuaded by his uncle, Laurence Elphinstone, who furnished him with the necessary funds, to complete his study of law at the university of Paris. There his attainments were speedily recognised, and he was shortly appointed to the post of 'first resder' in canon law. While in Paris he formed the acquaintance of John de Gaucir, with whom he continued on terms of affectionate intimacy till Gaucir's death. After obtaining the degree of doctor of decrees at Paris, Elphinstone proceeded to Orleans, where he lectured at the university on his special subject. On the advice of Bisbop Muirhead of Glasgow he returned home (in 1474 at latest) and was almost immediately chosen rector of the university and, not long afterwards, official of Glasgow. in his judicial capacity he won high esteem, though his sentences did not err on the side of leniency, and in 1478 he was promoted to be official of Lothian and archdeacon of Lismore. He now took his seat in the national parliament and frequently served on judicial committees. In 1479 he was sent on a political mission to Louis XI, whicfi he accomplished so much to the satisfaction of James III that on his return he was made archdeacon of Argyll. In March 1481 he was 'electus confirmatus Rossensis,' but his consecration appears to have been delayed, for he did not sit in parliament as bishop of Ross till the close of the following year, in which he had gone as ambassador from James III to Edward IV, to dissuade the latter from lending assistance to the Duke of Albany. In 1483 he was a privy councillor, and was nominated to the see of Aberdeen, though he was not consecrated till some time between 17 Dec. 1487 and April 1488, probably owing to the difficulty occasioned by his illegtimate birth. He was sent a second time as ambassador to England in 1484, to treat for a truce and to arrange a marriage between James III and Edward IVs niece, Anne; and again after the accession of Henry VII, when he was instrumental in concluding a three years' truce. In the intervals of his journeys Elphinstone was busily employed in Edinburgh, where he was now a lord auditor of complaints, and constantly attended in parliament. He also gave attention to the requirements of his see of Aberdeen, reforming the cathedral services, which bad fallen into disuse, and restoring the fabric by covering the whole roof with lead and by the addition of the great steeple at the east end. For this steeple he furnished at his own expense fourteen 'tuneable' bells, which were hung on some adjacent oak trees in such a manner that they could be rung from inside the building. In the struggle between James III and his nobles Elphinstone remained loyal to the king, and in February 1488 he was appointed lord high chancellor, an office which he held only till James's death in the following June, when he retired to Aberdeen. The value of his services, however, was fully appreciated by the young king, and he was summoned to Edinburgh to sit in parliament and resume his duties as lord auditor. His diplomatic talents were especially in request. In 1491 he was one of an embassy which was sent to France to contract a marriage for the king; in October of the following year he was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with the English commiesioners at Coldstream for redress of injuries and the extension of the existing truce; and, later, probably in 1493, he was sent on a mission to the Emperor Maximilian to arrange a marriage between the letter's daughter and James IV. On this occasion he arrived only to find the lady already married, but on his way home he concluded a treaty between Scotland and Holland. In 1492 he had been made keeper of the privy seal, a post which he still held in 1509, and probably continued to hold till his death. For the remainder of his life Elphinstone, when not occupied by affairs of state, devoted his chief energies to the foundation and constitution of King's College at Aberdeen. The necessary papal bull was obtained in 1594, and the royal charter erecting old Aberdeen into a city and university was granted in 1498. Under Elphinstone's direction, the king set apart certain tithes and other revenues for the maintenance of the college the building of which was commenced in 1500 and completed in 1506. In the meantime Elphinstone had obtained the assistance and co-operation of Boece and Hay, the former of whom he appointed first rector of his university. The constitution was modelled on that of the universities of Paris and Bologna, from which it differed, however, in one important principle. Dr. Thomas Reid (Account of the University of Glasgow) has pointed out that, 'either from experience of what Elphinstone had observed in Glasgow,
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