Series 1 > Miscellany of the Scottish History Society (Second volume)

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DE ANTIQUITATE
doubtful whether the author were Thomson or Tyrie; and
finally, in 1627, in his Historia Ecclesiastica, he assigns the
book under different titles to both writers, describing
Thomson as ‘ a pious and catholic man of the school of Tyrie.1
Dempster’s testimony therefore is valueless. Assuming that
Tyrie had something to do with it, we may suppose that
Thomson, perhaps a young Jesuit, wrote it at his suggestion.
But the theory that Tyrie was writing under a pseudonym is
quite improbable, for Tyrie was at that time so well known
that an appeal to Catholic Europe would have been more
likely to succeed if backed by his name.
The object of the pamphlet is clear at first sight. It is an
appeal to Catholics throughout Europe, and more especially to
Scottish Catholics, to support the Scots College recently
moved from Pont-a-Mousson to Douai. In the first part of
the work the writer gives a short history of the Christian
religion apud Scotos, and obviously endeavours to work upon
the patriotic feelings of the Scots by sacrificing those of the
English. After having pointed out that they were the first
to receive the Christian religion; that they were not, like the
English, 4 Romano subditi Imperio1; and that they were not
infected by the venom of the Arian heresy, Thomson proceeds
to show that abroad as well as at home the Scots were
renowned for their piety which took such a practical form
that many handsome monasteries were erected by them
throughout Europe. This hint is followed by a sort of perora¬
tion. Thomson draws a sharp contrast between the Scots of
his own day and those of old, curiously specifying as a char¬
acteristic of the devotion of the ancient Scots their practice
of frequent genuflexion (genicidatio). He then laments the
backsliding, and concludes by appealing for men and money.
The last passage is interesting as it shows how little we can
trust the views on the trend of the political or religious move¬
ments of the time presented by an interested partisan.
Thomson, who probably lived abroad, may have been deceived