Dempster, Thomas, [note] LL.D. to whose fertile invention many of his countrymen are so much obliged, stood himself in no need of a borrowed plumage. Mr. Wasse, [note] (Bibliotheca Literaria, No. III. p. 11,) mentions the Musca of Dempster, as one of the few Latin poems written by natives of Scotland, deserving of republication. Among his other productions are four tragedies, Decemviratus Abrogatus, Maximilanus, Stilico, and Jacobus I. Scotiæ Rex. The first was performed in the University of Paris;

120

LIVES OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN.

and, as Dempster informs Thuanus [note] in the Dedication, it was honoured with the attendance of a very numerous and splendid auditory. “Its structure, however,” says Dr. Irving, [note] “is by no means classical.”