f  Joseph  Castalio  shall  supply  us  with  an  illustration.    "  Incrcdibili  mp


200

not  indeed  be  safe  to  dispute :  but  those  who
deny  that  they  have  contributed  to  the  advance-
ment of  solid  learning,  ought  to  be  superseded
as  incompetent  judges.  To  treat  with  derision
the  memory  of  scholars  who  have  subjected
themselves  to  stupendous  labours  for  the  com-
mon cause,  must  either  be  regarded  as  a  proof  of
total  ignorance,  or  of  some  more  odious  quality.
In  the  library  of  the  university  of  Edinburgh
is  a  manuscript  ascribed  to  Buchanan,  consisting
of  annotations  on  the  eclogues,  georgics,  and  first
Seven  books  of  the  JEneid  of  Virgil.  These
notes  were  inspected  by  Mr.  Ruddiman,  a  com-
petent judge  of  their  merit ;  who  was  of  opinion
that  they  had  either  been  falsely  imputed  to  Bu-

nuper  itohptatc  perfudit  Vergilionim  nomen  in  marmore  pervetusto  in-
uealptum,"  &c.  To  settle  the  mighty  contention  between  c  and  /,  he
las  written  a  tract  entitled  "  De  Recta  Scribendi  Vergili  Nominis  Ra-
tione  Commentarius:"  and  his  exultation  seems  not  so  much  to  arise
from  his  ascertaining  the  orthography  of  the  name,  as  from  his  ascertain-
ing it  to  be  Vergilius  instead  of  Virgilius.  (Van*  Letthnts  el  OfuscuU.
Homx,  1594,  4to.)

With  respect  to  conjectural  criticism,  it  would  have  been  fortunate  if
tome  scholars  of  eminence  had  formed  the  same  estimate  as  J.  M.
Gesner  "  Conjecturas  ingeniosas,"  says  Ernesti,  "  laudabat  magis  quam
probabat :  et  nihil  magis  quam  dulces  illecebras  in  judicando  eavenaum
monebat.  Nee  tamen  ingenio,  literis  et  doctrina  diu  subacto,  nihil  tri-
buebat :  quo  et  ipse  non  pauca  feliciter  correjut."  (  Opuseula  Oratorio,  p.
