(Vol. i., pp. 298. 372. 406.)
I would refer your correspondents H. B., H. I. (p. 372.), and
PHILOBODIUS and MR. JERDAN (p. 406.), to the following volumes: _The
Last Battle of the Soule in Death_, by Mr. Zacharie Boyd, Preacher of
God's Word in Glasgow, edited by Gabriel Neil, Glasgow, 1831; McUre's
_History of Glasgow, with Appendix_, Glasgow, 1830.
As the first of these vols. is now very scarce (a limited number being
printed by subscription), the following extracts may be interesting to
some of your readers, and at the same time correct some errors of our
correspondents:--
"Mr. Zacharie Boyd was descended from the family of the Boyds of
Pinkill (Carrick, Ayrshire). He was cousin to Mr. Robert Boyd, of
Trochrigg, who was appointed Principal of the University of
Glasgow in 1615. The date of his birth is not exactly known; some
time previous to 1590. He received his education at the school of
Kilmarnock. The first notice we have of him is in a letter to
Principal Boyd, from David Boyd, in 1605, wherein he says, '_There
is a friend of yours, Zacharie Boyd, who will pass his course at
the colledge within two years._' After having finished his course
at the University of Glasgow, he studied at the College of Saumur,
in France, under his relation, Robert Boyd: he returned to his
native county in 1621. In 1623 he was ordained Minister of the
Barony Parish of Glasgow, in which situation he continued till his
death in 1653-1654."
Mr. Zacharie Boyd was never Principal or a Professor in Glasgow College:
the only office he ever held in the college was that of Lord Rector (an
honorary office annually elected), which he held in the years 1634,
1635, 1645. He was a great benefactor to the college, to which he left
20,000_l_. Scots, for buildings and bursaries.
The crypt below Glasgow Cathedral, called St. Mungo's Crypt, was the
barony church in Zacharie's time, and where he preached; it is this same
place which Sir Walter Scott so well describes in _Rob Roy_ (vol. ii.
chap. 3., edition in 48 vols.), where Francis Osbaldistone heard sermon.
Z. Boyd was, both in prose and verse, a very voluminous writer; his
works, however, are chiefly in MS. in the library of Glasgow College.
In addition to editing _The Last Battle_, Mr. Neil has examined the
"Poetical Works" in MS.; and has given a summary of the whole in the
Appendix to the _Biographical Sketch_; and has printed for the first
time upwards of 3000 lines from the poetical MSS.
With regard to Mr. Boyd's poetry, the following account from Neil's
_Biographical Sketch_ may be accounted satisfactory, with reference to
the lines often quoted as from Zacharie Boyd's Bible:
"The work, however, which has given the greatest public notoriety
to his name as a poetical writer, is that generally called
'Zacharie Boyd's Bible,' said to be a metrical version of the
whole Scriptures--an arduous task indeed, if ever he contemplated
the undertaking. But such a book as this has existed only in name,
not in reality; _at least, it is nowhere to be found among his
works_. The only one approaching to it is a metrical version of
the 'Four Evangels,' which proceeds through the Gospels of the New
Testament by chapter and verse.... And, among other works, he
produced two volumes under the title of '_Zion's Flowers_,' _and
it is these_ which are usually shown as his Bible, and have
received that designation. These volumes consist of a collection
of Poems from select subjects in Scripture History, such as Jonah,
Jephtha, David and Goliath, &c., &c., rendered into the dramatic
form, in which various 'Speakers' are introduced, and where the
prominent parts of the Scripture narrative are brought forward and
amplified. We have a pretty close parallel to these in the
'Ancient Mysteries' of the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries, and
in the Sacred Dramas of more modern writers.
"It is from this work, _Zion's Flowers_, that the various
quotations which have occasioned so much mirth to the public are
said to have been made, _but not one of these which are in
circulation_ are to be found there: the only '_genuine extract_
from these MSS. is that printed by Pennant.'"--_Biog. Sketch_, p.
14. _et seq._
The "genuine extract" will be found in Pennant's _Tour in Scotland_,
vol. ii. p. 156.
PHILOBODIUS, "NOTES AND QUERIES," Vol. i., p. 406., will find the four
lines he quotes given differently there.