s one of the chief performers. "Before a fit age, _Alter ab
undecimo tum me vix ceperat annus_," says that great writer, "I
sustained the first parts in the Latin tragedies of Buchanan, which were
played in our College de Guienne, with dignity." The little scene is
pleasant to think of, not too long out of date to recall the scholastic
pastimes of to-day, though there is no Buchanan to produce plays for
Eton or Harrow, and probably no young Montaigne to play the hero. The
learned Scot, with his peasant breeding no doubt making him still more
conscious of the strain of gentle blood in his veins, a little rough,
irascible, and impatient in nature, notwithstanding the elegance of his
Latin speech, and the little noble, gentilhomme to his fingers' end,
half respectful, half contemptuous of the pedagogue, make a picturesque
contrast.

Buchanan, however, did not feel himself safe even in Bordeaux, where he
remained only three years. It is said that Cardinal Beatoun wrote to the
Archbishop recommending his arrest, and the Franciscan community in the
Gascon city, which had heard from their brethren of his offences against
the Order, kept an unfriendly eye upon him, ready to take advantage of
any hostile opportunity. He therefore returned to Paris, where in a
similar but apparently more obscure position he spent some years. In
1547 he was very glad to accompany Govra, who had brought him to
Bordeaux, and whom Montaigne describes as "beyond comparison the
greatest Principal in France," to his native country Portugal, whither
his King had summoned him in order that his talents might be of use to
his own nation as the head of the new University of Coimbra. It would
seem that Govra carried his whole staff along with him to Portugal.
"Most of them," Buchanan says, "were men bound to him (Buchanan) for
many years in the ties of closest friendship, men who were renowned for
their works all over the world," and in whose society the Scottish
scholar felt that he would be not among strangers but among kinsmen and
friends. A still stronger inducement was, that while all Europe was
ablaze with wars and religious controversies, that one little kingdom
was at peace. The band of scholars thus removed together to their new
sphere, like a hive of bees, and at first all went well with them; but
they had not been long in Portugal when Govra died, leaving them without
any powerful patronage or protection, a band of strangers, no doubt
appearing in