author:John Dury

“ The life of an earnest and conscientious Presbyterian divine of the sixteenth century was likely to be a strenuous one, and the first John Dury did not escape the rigours of the law. A man of singular strength of character and devoutness, he was a sturdy fighting Scotchman withal, conspicuous in the conflicts between the Church and the king. Becoming a minister in Edinburgh in 1573, he was twice banished from the city, and once imprisoned in Edinburgh castle. ”

“ IF ancestry counts in determining a man's career, John Dury could not easily have escaped following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, and entering the ministry.
His grandfather was that John Dury (1537-1600) who, as a monk of Dunfermline suspected of heresy, was ordered to be shut up till death, the sentence being pronounced by his cousin, George Dury, abbot of Dunfermline, to whose hatred of the new doctrines many of the persecutions that took place in Scotland during this stormy period of history may be traced. ”

“ Dury had lodgings assigned him at St. James's, and, in spite of the "drudgery," must have found this peaceful interim in his wearying life not entirely unpleasing. At all events, he seems to have taken a thorough interest in his work, and made a careful study of what the right-minded librarian should be, and we can have no doubt that the king's library was "kept" carefully and well during his short administration.
He recommends what we should call a civil service examination to determine a librarian's fitness for his position; is hot against "graft" in the profession ”