Account of the families of Birnie and Hamilton of Broomhill

4 ACCOUNT OF THE FAMILIE
always the happieness, by his authority, to dissipate the contending par-
ties without manslaughter, and, for the most part, without blood.
Here, at the desire of his bretheren of the ministry, and to obviat the
too frequent abuse of churches at that tyme, by the burial of the meaner
sort of people in them, he published a pamphlet, very wel done, consider-
ing the barrennesse of the subject, called, The Blame of Kirk-Burial,*
and dedicat it to James Marquis of Hamilton, &c, printed anno 1606, in
our librarie.f
In the year 1611, being invited by the magistrats and parish of Air,
he removed thither, and continued minister dureing the last seven years
of his life. Here he also wrote a Tractat of Chronologie, in our librarie,
wherein he manifests ane uncommon skill in the learned languages. This
piece he dedicat and presented to King James the 6, with whom he had
the honour to be well acquainted from his younger years, being, as wee
word it, in the same classe at schools.
The King recommending this piece to be revised by Dr Bancroft, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, and some other English bishops, they judged it at
that tyme unfitt to be printed, as mentaining ane opinion anent Christmas-
day repugnant to the usage of the Church of England ; not that he was
of a perswasion different from them in the matter of church government,
for the contrarie appears in the reguard the Scotish bishops had for him,
when sending up one of their number to court, anno 1609 5 with a me-
morial to the King, he is desyred, among other things, to move the King
for a grant of the tieths of Lanark to Mr William, and to procure his
Majesties letter for that effect. Calderwood, History, page 604.
But he was also a member of both the Courts of High Commission,
granted by the King to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and others
therein named, dureing his lyftime, as the same Calderwood, pages 617
and 652.
• Of this very curious work a limited reprint was published by the Editor of this volume, London,
Pickering, 1833. 4to.
t Calderwood mentions that William Birnie was chosen perpetual moderator of the presbytery
of Lanark in 1606. See Appendix, Number I. for a favourable specimen of the euphuistic style
of this worthy clergyman.