Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/biographicaldict09cham s n a M ber NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. Since the publication of this edition of the Scottish Biographical Dic- tionary was commenced, a considerable number of eminent indivitluals have been added to the list of the illustrious dead. The names of Gordon, Ward- law, Wilson, Montgomery, Lockhart, &c., will occur to every one as among the more prominent requiring to be recorded in a collection like the present. Had such names been passed over unnoticed, the Work would have been deserv^edly esteemed imperfect. But the introduction of so many imjiortant Memoii's, not originally calculated upon, and the necessity for which could not be foreseen, has demanded a small extension to the assigned limits of the Work. This augmentation, however, extending only to a single Part, the Publishers believe will meet with the cordial approbation of the pur- chasers of the Scottish Biographical Dictionary, as the Work is thereby rendered much more pei'fect as a book of reference than it would have been had a too rigorous regard to the considerations of space caused the omission of the worthy names above noted. TO THE BINDER. *^* Please substitute cancel pages 95, 9G, 201, 202, Vol. I., given in this Part, for those printed in the body of the Work. T.D'incaiARA.R-SA iriHI^RJOAS (SlHlALillE^i [D)„[D).[L.L|D)= iLASGOWEKtNBirafiH&lCNDaH BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY EMINENT SCOTSMEN. IN FOUR VOLUMES. OaiGINALLY EDITED BY EGBERT CHAMBEES. NEW EDITION, EEVISED UNDER THE CARE OF THE PUBLISHERS. WITH A SUPPLEMENTAL VOLUME, CONTINUING THE BIOGRAPHIES TO THE PRESENT TIME. By the Eev. THOS. THOMSON, A UXnOK OF "tub HISTOKY Oy SCOTLAND FOB TUB USE OF BCHOOLS," ETC-j ETC WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS. DIVISION IX. HERIOT — WOOD. BLACKIE AND SON: GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND LONDON. U D C C C L V, THE F:vj yoT^K t- PUBLIC LIBRARY 1695 ASTOR, Ltl^OX AiVD TILDE N FOUNDATIONS n 1021 L GLASGOW: W. G. BLACKIE AND CO., PBISlEtS, MLLAflELD. ^iSascjTierii 'H. KoBinsan. [^\ll I-'Ji A\ In") /*■ I THORflAS CARdPBEILL HIiAClUE fc 9 ON". GLAS (KWr. 'EUGBJ.. OKEGIHM. EEOST BT SEESaSSION" OF ALEX. HHJi.ESa. EDMBTIRaH. RJ^CEIE & SON, GLASGOW, EDBtBTIRaH: JcLOHDOTr. x\ SirE I£V £.p6Lge DTIEE OF IlAHHEIRIIALE . HLAC2IE & Sas. GLASeOW, HDXHETJEGH: fcjjOHIXM. jp-^ jrkicnti =1- pearance there was nothing remarkable but a pair of large dark eyes, which, when animated, were -vvont to glow from their deep recesses like lighted charcoal. The young critic even already seemed to have discovered that no ordinary merit was thus passing before his view, so that he continued to gaze after the stranger, until a person standing at a shop door tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Ay, laddie, ye may weel look at that man ! That's Robert Burns! " After this Jeffrey might say, "■tantum Virgiiium vidi," for although he afterwards enjoyed the inter- course of Campbell, Scott, and Byron, he never saw Burns again. Having finished his preparatory education at the High School, Jeffrey, now in his fourteenth year, was sent to the university of Glasgow. His first year was devoted to the study of Greek under Professsor John Young, one of the most finished Grecians and elegant scholars of his day ; the second to Logic, under Professor Jardine, a teacher in whom the faculty of calling forth the latent capacities of his pupils, and turning them to good account, seemed to be a kind of instinct. He was thus singularly fortunate, in having two such preceptors as an educational institution seldom possesses at the same time ; and to the benefits which he derived from their instructions he bore a most honourable and enthusiastic testimony many years after, in his inaugural address to the college on being elected its Lord Rector. Of Jardine he said, " It is to him, and his most judicious instructions, that I owe my taste for letters, and any little literary distinction I may since have been enabled to attain.'' Such was his declaration when he had attained the very highest literary distinction; and there are some who can still remember how the tears rolled down the cheeks of the good old professor, when he found himself thus gratefully and unexpectedly requited. During his third season at college, Jeffrey attended the course of Moral Philosophy under Professor Arthur, the successor of Reid, a man whose promise of high distinction was closed by an early death. Thus fortunate ia FRANCIS JEFFREY. 34 [ his opportunities of superior instruction, the young student devoted himself Avith earnestness to his successive tusks, and ai>pears, even then, to have indi- cated not only his future bent, but the eminence he would attain in it. His note-books at the different classes were not merely memoranda, but regular digests of the lectures ; he was already a keen critic both of sentiment and com- position; and in the debuting society of the students, of whicli he was a mem- ber, he was soon distinguished as one of its most ready speakers. Tliese apti- tudes, howevei", were still more distinctly exhibited in his private studies from May 17^39, when he left the college of Glasgow, till September 1791, when he went to Oxford. This interval of a home life, which so many youths of seven- teen regard as a season of rest, or spend they know not how, was with Jeffrey anything but a period of repose or frivolity, as his piles of manuscript written between these dates sufficiently attested. Seated by the light of his " dear, retired, adored little window," as he called it, of the garret of his father's house in the Lawnmarket, he handled his already indefatigable pen upon suljects of poetry, history, criticism, theology, metaphysics; and the result of his diligence is attested by twelve letters iu the manner of the " Spectator," and thirt^'-one essays, the latter being written within the compass of six months, while his criticisms alone comprise fifty authors, chiefly French and English. Even then, too, the voice of prophecy was not wanting to predict his future renown. One night, while taking his " walk of meditation," he found James Boswell, the biographer of Johnson, utterly prostrated upon the pavement by intoxication. It was a fresh case of that Qiiare adiuvsit 2}ctviinc}ito, for which Boswell, on awakening from one of his bivouacs in the street, found in his right hand a brief and retainer. JefTrey, aided by some lads, carried the fallen worshipper of Paoli and Johnson to his home, and put him into bed. On the following morning Boswell, on learning who had been his benefactor, clapped young JefTtVey's head, and among other compliments said, " If you go on as you have begun, yon may live to be a Bozzy yourself yet." At the close of the last century a conviction or prejudice was prevalent in Scotland, that the education of an English university was necessary to complete that of a Scottish one. It was deemed essential, therefore, that Francis Jeffrey', after having ended his curriculum at Glasgow, should amplify and confirm it at Queen's College, Oxford ; and thither, accordingly, he repaired at the close of September, 1791. But there he found neither the happiness nor improvement he had expected. His hopes, perhaps, had been raised too high to be fulfilled ; and to this disappointment was superadded such a pining consumption of home- sickness as would have been enough for either Swiss or Highlander. It is no wonder, therefore, if, among his letters of this period, we find such a lugubrious sentence as the following : — *• I feel I shall never be a great man, unless it be as a poet." In the following month he writes : " Whence arises my affection for the moon ? I do not believe there is a being, of whatever denomination, upon whom she lifts the liglit of her countenance, who is so glad to see her as I am!" A poet, it is evident, he was in danger of becoming, instead of a censor and scourge of poets ; and this melancholy and moon-staring was but the commence- ment of a hopeful apprenticeship. With the same morbid feelings he contem- plated the society around him, and characterized them all as drunkards, pedants, or coxcombs. Few men depended more upon locality for happiness than Jeffrey', and Scotland was not only his native country, but his native element. To this, therefore, and not to any inherent defects in the education or students of Ox- 342 FRANCIS JEFFREY. ford, we may trace liis querulous murmurs ; so that the whole world was clianged when he looked at it from Arthurs Seat or the Pentlamls. On returning to Edinburgh, at the age of nineteen, Jeffrey appeared little changed by his sojourn in England. lie was the same vivacious, slira, short stripling as before, with the same wide range of thought and fluency of language that had so often charmed or nonplussed his companions. In one respect, however, a material change had occurred : he had abandoned his native Doric dialect for that sharp, affected, nltra English mode of pronunciation, that after- wards abode with him more or less through life, and which was in such bad taste, that Lord Holland declared, " though he had lost the broad Scotch at Ox- ford, he had only gained the narrow English." It was now full time to make choice of a profession in good earnest, and prepare for it, as hitherto his law studies at Oxford had been little more than nominal. He might, if he pleased, be a merchant under his paternal uncle, who was settled at Boston, in America ; but he felt no vocation for mercantile labour and adventure. Literature he would have chosen in preference to anything, and, of all literary occupations, that of poetry ; but authorship as a trade was too precarious, and the fame of a poet too unsubstantial. Then, there was the English bar, which gave full scope to the utmost ambition ; but Jeffrey knew withal that the great expense of preparation, followed by that of waiting for practice, was more than his resources could encounter. Nothing remained for him but the profession of a Scottish advocate, for which his lather's legal acquaintanceships could secure him as much practice as would suffice for a commencement. Here, then, his choice rested, and he became a student of the classes of Scotch Law in the university of Edinburgh. But besides these he had, in the Speculative Society, of which he became a member at the end of 1792, a still more effectual spur to progress, as well as better training both for law and criticism. This society had been established in the college of Edinburgh, in 17G4, for the purposes of reading literary and scientific essays, and holding forensic debates upon the subjects of these essays ; it had already produced, during the forty eight years of its exist- ence, some of the most distinguished characters of the day ; and when Jeffrey enrolled he found himself a fellow-debater of those who afterwards obtained the foremost name in their respective walks of life. Of these it is sufficient to name Sir Walter Scott, Lord Brougham, Lord Moncrieff, Francis Horner, and William Scarlett, at that time 3'oung men, but with whom it was impossible for the most talented to contend without being braced by such formidable exercise. It was no wonder, therefore, that by such weekly meetings Jeffrey soon perfected him- self in the practice of composition, and became a ready and eloquent debater. Three years was the usual period of attendance ; but after this term ne continued for four years a voluntary visitor, and took part in its proceedings with unabated interest. In 1834, when he had reached the full summit of his reputation as sovereign of the empire of criticism and champion of the Scottish bar, he presided at a dinner, to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the institution, and gloried in acknowledging the benefits he had derived from it. Jeffrey had now reached his twentieth year, and was busy in preparation for passing as a Scottish advocate, while he thus characterized himself: "I have lived on this earth very nearly one score of years, and am about to pass some professional trials in a few months, who have no fortune but my education, and who would not bind myself to adhere exclusively to the law for tlie rest of my life for the bribery of all the emoluments it has to bestow." He had so learned FRANCIS JEFFREY. 343 to love literature for its own sake that, be his occupation what it might, his favourite recreations would still be found in criticism and the belles kttres. 'i'his he afterwards more distinctly intimated in a letter to his brother, where he writes : " I shall study on to the end of my days. Not law, however, I be- lieve, though that is yet in a manner to begin ; but something or other 1 shall — 1 am determined." But what was that something 1 as critic or poet — reviewer or reviewed? It will scarcely be believed that while studying law he had also been equally diligent in verse-making, so that a poetical translation of the " Argonauticon" of Appollonius Rhodius, two dramatic productions, and a large bundle of descriptive and sentimental poems, were the fruits of this dangerous pursuit. Happily, however, a healthier spirit was rising within him ; and it was manifested by keeping his poetry not merely from the press, but the perusal of his friends. At length, the full cure of this intermittent disease was effected on the 16th of December, 1794, for on that day he was admitted to practise as an advocate at the Scottish bar — an occupation from which there is no retreat except to politics or agriculture, and a place at which, of all others, the Muses have least dared to intrude. The position which the northern barristers at that period occupied, could only be peculiar to such a country as Scotland. In England, indeed, the occu- pation could raise a talented practitioner to greater wealth and higher political rank ; but the English bar was only a part of the great whole, and had but a single voice in the complicated administration of the common weal ; and to what- ever height it might lead its best and ablest, there was still a summit above them which they could not reach, and under which they were overshadowed. But in Scotland the case was different. Tiie Union, that had annihilated every national distinction, had left our tribunal untouched. Here, then, was the place around which the whole nationality of the country could rally, and through which the ingenium perfervidum could tind utterance; and therefore, the Par- liament House, besides being a court of law, was palace, council, and senate of the now abrogated kingdom of Scotland. Such were the attractions which the Scottish bar possessed, and hitherto they had sufficed, not only for the highest talent, but the best aristocracy of the country. But here, also, the old feudalism of Scotland had made its last rallying effort, so that the divine right of kings, the unquestionalde right of lairds, and the superiority of everything that was ancient, were the favourite axioms of the Edinburgh Court of Session. All this, indeed, would soon have died out, had it not been for the French Revolu- tion, which ministered new fuel to an already decaying flame, and made it burst forth with greater vigour than ever. While every nation took the alarm, and began to draw the old bands of order more tightly around its institutions, this process was judged especially necessary for Scotland, which had neither king nor parliament of its own, and was therefore deemed the more likely to join the prevalent misrule. Modern Toryism was therefore ingrafted upon the ancient Scottish feudalism, and unqualitied submission became the order of the day. Even the distance from the seat of government only made our northern politics the more sensitive to every indication of independent thought or action : and thus, what was nothing more than Whiggery within the precincts of West- minster, was sheer rebellion and high treason in the Parliament Square of Edin- burgh. Such was the condition of that honoured and influential class into which Jeffrey was now admitted. It will at once be seen that the difficulties of his 544 FRANCIS JEFFREY. new position were of no trivial amount. Even at the outset liis undistinguished birth was against liim ; and those who belonged to the "lordly line of liigh Saint Clair," could scarcel}'' be expected to admit the son of a clerk-depute into full fraternity. He undoubtedly possessed a superiority of talent that might more than counterpoise such inferiority ; but here, instead of holding the field without a rival, he had many who were fully his match — competitors as well equipped for the encounter, and who attained as high professional rank and reputation as himself. Still, however, one renied}-- remained. The tide of Toryism was at the height, and by throwing himself implicitly uj^on it, he would be borne onward to fortune. And this, too, he might do not only with- out degradation, but with universal approval ; for loyalty was the order of the day, and every step was commended that went against the anarchy with which throne and altar were menaced. But Jeffrey was a Whig. From an early period he had revolved the questions of civil and political liberty, and instead of discarding them as the mere Brutus and Cassius dreams of college boyhood, he had clung to them with all the greater tenacity as years went onward ; and, now that he was about to enter into active life, he boldly avowed them as the conclusions of his matured judgment, and the principles of his future political conduct. And what chance had he, then, of success in a profession where his opinions of popular rights were not only condemned as mischievous, but despised as vulgar and mobbish? There were men, indeed, not only in Edinburgh, but even the Court of Session, who in political principles were like-minded with himself; but they were for the most part so independent either by family, or fortune, or position, that they could better afford to oppose the prevailing cur- rent than a young man to whom the pathway of life was just opened, with nothing but his own energies to bear him forward. Taking all these circum- stances into account, there is none, be his principles in politics what they may, who can refuse to Jeffrey the award of unswerving integrit}^ and high heroic consistency. And, trul^-, he reaped the reward he merited, not only in his own advancement, but the final ascendency of those obnoxious political doctrines which he so bravely advocated and consistently maintained through good and through evil report. On commencing practice at the bar, Jeffrey laboured under a difficulty upon which, perhaps, he had not calculated. This w^as the unlucky half English iiiode of speaking which he had learned or assumed at Oxford, but which he had not the good taste to discard at Edinburgh ; and such was the strength of popular prejudice at this period, that there were few who would not have scrupled to intrust the management of a law case to an "Englified" pleader. AVith this mode of speech, which was thought to savour of affectation, he com- bined an oppressive sharpness of tone, volubility of words, and keenness of sarcasm, calculated to wound the self-love of those who could not parry and return the thrusts of such an agile fencer. His business, therefore, as an advo- cate went on very slowly, and his fees were proportionably scanty. Most of the cases, indeed, which passed through his hands, were obtained by the influ- ence of his father. The necessity of having some other dependence than the bar became so strong, that in 1798 he conceived the idea of commencing author- ship in London as his future profession ; and for this purpose he repaired thither, furnished with introductions to the editors of some of the principal reviews and newspapers, and buoyed up with the expectation that he would quadruple the scanty revenue that he could ever hope to enjoy from his pro- FRANCIS JEFFREY. 345 fcssion in Ediubur;?h. But London was not destined to be his sphere, and not- \vitlistanding his introductions, he got so little encouragement, that he was soon glad to return. He resumed his ver^- limited pracfice as an advocate, although with a thousand plans of emancipation, that ended as such dreams generally do, but still improving his knowledge, as well as increasing the circle of his literary acquaintances. At length, as if to place the cope-stone upon his desperate fortunes, he adventured upon marriage, and in 1801, became the husband of Catherine Wilson, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Wilson, professor of Church History at St. Andrews, a second cousin of his own. Jeffrey's income at this time averaged nothing more than £100 per annum, while his wife had no fortune, except the inestimable one of an amiable affectionate disposition and pleasing manners, that shed a gentle charm over her whole household economy. The happy pair established their domicile in a third story of Buc- cleugh Place, which they furnished upon the most cautious scale of economj'. But it was in the study of this dwelling, and around the plain table and few chairs of which the study could boast, that a plan was formed by which not only the literature of Scotland, but of Europe itself was to be revolutionized, and upon which Jeffrey himself was thenceforth to depend for the high literary reputation and prosperous career that accompanied him to the end. We allude to the establishment of the " Edinburgh Review." Hitherto, in the Critical department of literature in England, a review had been little more than a peg upon which to hang a book for advertisement ; and the individual merits of each work were more attended to than the great general questions of science, literature, or politics, which it more or less involved. In Scotland the depart- ment of criticism was at a still lower ebb ; for the country had no regular review, the only one which it possessed, called the "Edinburgh Review,"' having expired in 175G, after a short twelvemonth of existence. But the world was ripe for change, and the whole framework of intellectual and political society was already loosening, for the purpose of being resolved into new forms and combinations. It was evident, therefore, that either in London or in Edin- burgh some standard periodical should be established, to meet, and, if possible, to direct and control the coming change— and this, it was evident, could only be done by a more ample system of reviewing than had hitherto been attempted, Such was the impression that for some time had been floating through the minds of the more observant in Edinburgh ; but to embody that impression, and re duce it to action, was still the difficulty. This, however, was soon obviated. A meeting of Jeffrey's literary friends was assembled at his dwelling in Buccleugh Place, and there the idea of such a review was started, and the plan of its management deliberated. The proposal was due to the Rev. Sydney Smith, who is entitled "The original projector of the Edinburgh Review;" an eager discussion followed ; and as the night without was very tempestuous, the coterie made themselves merry with the thought of the still greater storm they were devising within. The plan, after several such meetings, was settled, and it was resolved to bring out the first number of the work in June, 1802, but, from several causes, the publication was delayed till the 10th of October. Its descent upon the literary world was followed by a burst of astonishment —it exhibited such a form and character of criticism as the British public had never yet thought of— and that such should have been produced in a remote nook like Edinburgh, greatly hei-htened the general wonderment.^ The con- tributions of Jeffrey ou this occasion were five in number, and his critique upon V. 2 X 346 FRANCIS JEFFREY. " ^lourier on the Influence of the French Revolution," was the first in the work. His importance in the future character and success of the "Review" was even thus early predicted by Horner, also one of the contributors, who made the following entry in his private journal: — "Jeffrey is the person who will derive most honour from this publication, as his articles in this number are generally known, and are incomparably the best. I have received the greater pleasure from this circumstance, because the genius of that little man has remained almost unknown to all but his most intimate acquaintances. His manner is not at first pleasing ; what is worse, it is of that cast which almost irresistibly impresses upon strangers the idea of levity and superficial talents. Yet there is not any man whose real character is so much the reverse. He has, indeed, a very sportive and playful fancy, but it is accompanied with an extensive and varied information, with a readiness of apprehension almost intuitive, with judicious and calm discernment, with a profound and penetrating understand- ing." It was no small praise that JefFre}"- should already have acquired so high a character in a talented community such as we might now look for in vain in Edinburgh. The chief of these, besides Horner himself and Sydney Smith, were Lord Brougham ; Brown the professor of Moral Philosophy ; Lord Webb Seymour; Mr. Hamilton, afterwards pjrofessor of Sanscrit at Haley bury College; Dr. John Thomson, who became professor of Pathology in the Uni- versity of Edinburgh; Mr. Reddie, afterwards town-clerk of Glasgow; Mr. Thomas Thomson, the eminent Scottish antiquary ; and Lord Murraj^, now judge of the Court of Session. All these were young men full of talent and ambition, to whom the " Edinburgh Review," at its commencement, was a vent for feelings and theories that had been accumulating for years. Above all, it enabled them to give full utterance to those political principles that were so obnoxious to the rulers of the day, and so doubly proscribed in Scotland. Each individual no longer stood alone, but was part of a collected and well-disciplined phalanx ; and instead of being obliged to express his opinions in bated breath, and amidst an overwhelming uproar of contradiction, he could now announce them in full and fearless confidence, through a journal which was sure of being heard and feared, at least, if not loved and respected. As the " Edinburgh Review" was a new experiment in literary adventure, its outset was accompanied with many difficulties, arising from want of experi- ence among its chief conductors; and therefore it was obliged, in the first two or three years of its existence, to grope its w-ay, step by step, as it best could. It was launched even -without a pilot, for Sydney Smith edited no more than the first number. The meetings of the contributors were held with all the dread and mystery of a state conspiracy, in a little room off^ Willison's printing- office in Craig's Close, to which each member was requested to steal singlj-, by whatever by-way would be least suspected; and there they examined and criticised each other's productions, and corrected the proof-sheets as they were thrown off. These contributions, also, for the first three numbers at least, were given gratuitously. No journal, it was soon felt, could long make head against such denciencies; and the first important advance in improvement was, to appoint Jeffrey sole and responsible editor. The dismal and ludicrous secret meetings in the back room of the printing-oftice quickly disappeared— for what author, however in love with the anonymous, could long continue to be ashamed of being a writer in the " Edinburgh Review? " The rapid sale of the work, and the large profits it realized, made the payment of articles a necessary TRANCIS JEFFREY. 347 consequence, and therefore the first remuneration was fixed at ten guineas a sheet, which rose to sixteen as the minimum price, while tlie editor was salaried at £300 per annum. By these changes, a coalition of talented writers were bound together, and pledged to the furtherance of the work. But the life and soul of that coalition was Jeffrey, and nothing could have been more appropriate than his appointment to the editorship. Unconsciously, he had ma le his whole life a training for the office, not only by the multifariousness of his studies, but his early practice of analyzing the authors he read, as well as his own miscel- laneous compositions, so that the practice as well as the talents of a critic were ready for instant action. On the appointment being offered to him, he had some dubitation on the subject, which he thus expresses at full to his excellent friend and adviser, Francis Horner : — " There are pros and cons in the case, no doubt. What the j^ros are I need not tell you. i'SOO a-year is a monstrous bribe to a man in my situation. The cons are — vexation and trouble, interfer- ence with professional employment and character, and risk of general degrada- tion. The first I have had some little experience of, and am not afraid for. The second, upon a fair consideration, I am persuaded I ought to risk. It will be long before I make £300 more than I now do by my profession, and by far the greater part of the employment I have will remain with me, I know, in spite of anything of this sort. The character and success of the work, and the liberality of the allowance, are not to be disregarded. But what influences me the most is, that I engaged in it at first gratuitously, along with a set of men whose character and situation in life must command the respect of the multi- tude, and that I hope to go on with it as a matter of emolument along with the same associates. All the men here will take their ten guineas I find, and, under the sanction of that example, I think I may take my editor's salary also, with- out being supposed to have suffered any degradation. It would be easy to say a great deal on this subject, but the sum of it, I believe, is here, and you will understand me as well as if I had been more eloquent, I would undoubtedly prefer making the same sum by my profession ; but I really want the monej^ and think that I may take it this way, without compromising either my honour or my future interest." Such was the train of reasoning by which Jeffrej' committed himself to the "Review." It was that important step in life which a man can take but once, and by which the whole tenor of his after-course is determined. In Jeffrey's case it was both wise and prosperous, notwithstanding the manifold feuds of authorship in which it necessarily involved him. It was not merely from the small fry of writers, who writhed under his critical inflictions, that these quarrels arose, but also from men of the highest mark, whom he tried by a standard proportioned to their merits, and therefore occasionally found wanting. In this way he offended such distinguished authors as Scott, Byron, Souther, Words- worth, and Coleridge ; but in most instances the resentment he kindled was transient, and followed by a cordial reconciliation. Even Byron, the most indignant and most formidable of the whole, recanted his vilifications of Jeffrey in a much higher strain of poetry than that which characterized his " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." But of all these quarrels, that with Thomas Moore threatened to be the most serious. In 180G the young poet of Erin published a volume, which will ever remain a blot upon his fair fame. It was entitled " Epistles, Odes, and other Poems ;" and notwithstanding its undoubted merits, which no one was more ready to acknowledge than Jeffrey, he opened 348 FRANCIS JEFFREY. his critique with such a burst of indignation as the offence of the poet merited. After acknowledgina; the high talents of Moore in a few sentences, tlie reviewer thus continues : " He is indebted, we fear, for the celebrity he actually enjoys to accomplishments of a different description ; and may boast, if the boast can please him, of being the most licentious of modern versifiers, and the most poetical of those who, in our times, have devoted their talents to the propaga- tion of immorality. We regard his book, indeed, as a public nuisance, and would willingly trample it down by one short movement of contempt and in- dignation, had we not reason to apprehend that it was abetted by patrons, who are entitled to a more respectful remonstrance, and by admirers, who may require a more extended exposition of their dangers." The article throughout was judged to be so personal, that the poet resolved to redress himself in another way than by writing a rejoinder, either in prose or verse. In short, he resolved to call the critic out, a purpose which he was enabled to effect in consequence of a visit that Jeffrey made to London a short time after the article was pub- lished. The hostile parties met in a field near London, and Jeffrey was attended on this occasion by his friend Horner. The police, however, had got intelligence of their purpose, and arrested the combatants when the duel was about to com- mence. On reaching the police-office the pistols were examined, when it was found that Jeffrey's contained no bullet, as it had probably dropped out when the weapon was snatched from him ; while that of the poet was furnished with the usual complement of lead, and ready for execution. A foolish affair in itself, the meeting was rendered more ridiculous still by the reports that were founded upon the harmless pistol, both weapons being represented as in the same condi- tion, and fit to produce nothing more than a little noise. The offending parties, being bound over to keep the peace, resolved to adjourn the combat to the neutral ground of Hamburg. But better thoughts occurred, and an explana- tion followed, in which Jeffrey declared that it was the morality of the book, and not of the man, which he had judged and condemned ; while Moore pro- fessed himself satisfied with the explanation. Nothing was more natural tlian that two such fiery spirits should pass from the extreme of dislike to that of friendship ; and such was the case with Mooi"e and Jeffre}-, whose affection for each other continued till the close of life. We have already seen the misgivings of Jeffrey as to the effect which his literary censorship would produce upon his progress at the bar. In this respect his fears were happily disappointed ; for, although his progress was not rapid, it was steadily growing from year to year, accelerated on the whole, rather than retarded, by his office of reviewer. The literary society of Edinburgh, also, was constantly increasing, and among these he was enabled to take an important stand, as the highest and most influential of British critics. Even the death of his amiable wife, which occurred in 1805, and which he felt more deeply than any calamity that ever befell him either before or after, only drove him more keenly into the duties of active life. And these were neither few nor trivial ; for, besides his practice, both in the civil and criminal courts, he took an im- portant share in the legal business of the General Assembly, in which he con- tinued a pleader for twenty years. Saving this mournful domestic bereavement, all things went prosperously onward, so that by the commencement of 1807 he thus writes to his brother : " I work at the * Review ' still, and might make if a source of considerable emolument if I set any value on money. But I am a3 rich as I want to be, and should be distressed with more, at least if I were to FRANCIS JEFFREY. 349 work more for it." Of the journal itself, also, Sir W. Scott, who disliked its political principles with a full measure of feudal and Tory dislike, thus testifies to its popularit}' : " Of this work 9000 copies are printed quarterly, and no genteel family can pretend to be without it ; because, independently of its poli- tics, it gives the only valuable literary' criticism which can be met with." Tliis unprecedented success not only alarmed the enemies of political innovation, but excited their literary ambition. Could not a coterie be assembled in London as learned and talented as that of Edinburgh, and an antagonist journal be started as formidable as this critical Goliah I At length the decision was precipitated by an article in the " Edinburgh Review " for October^ 1808, on "Don Pedro Cevallos on the French Usurpation of Spain." This talented paper, written by Jeffrey himself, which ventured to run counter to the political enthusiasm of the day upon the subject of Spanish patriotism, excited the Tory resentment to the highest pitch ; and the feeling was expressed in every form, from the magnifi- cent disdain of the Earl of Buchan — who kicked the offensive number through his lobby, and into the street, believing that thereby he had sealed for ever the fate of the "Edinburgh Review" — to the calm but stern disapproval of Sir Walter Scott, who thus wrote to its publisher : " The ' Edinburgh Review ' had become such as to render it impossible for me to continue a contributor to it ; now it is such as I can no longer continue to receive or read it." The plan of the " Quarterly," which had for some time been contemplated, was soon arranged, and its first number appeared in February, 1809. It is honourable to the " Edinburgh Review" to state, that its system of manage- ment was the one adopted by the new rival journal, at the recommendation of Sir Walter Scott. This plan was unfolded by Sir Walter in a letter to Gifford, the newly-appointed editor of the " Quarterly," previous to its commencement. His letter, from which we give the following extract, sufficiently shows how essential Jeffrey had been to the prosperity of the Edinburgh periodical, as well as the sagacious measures which he had adopted for the purpose. Indeed, they may be said to have formed the exemplar of all the numerous magazines of our day — " The extensive reputation and circulation of the ' Edinburgh Review ' is chiefly owing to two circumstances : first, that it is entirely uninfluenced by the booksellers, who have contrived to make most of the other reviews merely advertising sheets to puff off their own publications ; and, secondl}-, the very handsome recompense which the editor not only holds forth to his regular assistants, but actually forces upon those whose circumstances and rank make it a matter of total indifference to them. The editor, to my knowledge, makes a point of every contributor receiving this bonus, saying that Czar Peter, when working in the trenches, received pay as a common soldier. But there is still something behind, and that of the last consequence. One great resource to which the Edinburgh editor turns himself, and by which he gives popularity even to the duller articles of his ' Review,' is accepting contributions from persons of inferior powers of writing, provided they understand the books to which the criticisms relate ; and as such are often of stupifying mediocrity, he renders them palatable by throwing in a handful of spice — namely, an\' lively paragraph, or entertaining illustration that occurs to him in reading them over. By this sort of veneering, he converts, without loss of time, or hinderance of business, articles which, in their original state, might hang in the market, into such goods as are not likely to disgrace those among which they are placed." In this way Jeffrey plumed many a heavy article, and sent it soaring heaven- 350 FRANCIS JEFFREY. war J, wliich, without such aid, would have been doomed to dahble in the mud. It is evident, however, that this, the most important, was also the most difficult of all editorial labours ; and without a very skilful hand, would have converted the process of fine veneering into clumsy patchwork. It must have been amus- ing in not a few cases, to see a grave contributor to the " Edinburgh Review" reading his article for the first time in print, and wondering at his own wit and vivacity ! Notwithstanding tiie merited success of the " Quarterly," Jeffrey felt neither envy nor alarm ; there was now room enough in the literary world for both journals, and the excellence of tlie one Avas a healthy stimulus to the other. His affairs were also so prosperous, that after successive removals to more fashionable mansions in Edinburgh, he was enabled, in 1812, to occupy a countr}^ house at Hatton, near Edinburgh, once a seat of the earls of Lauderdale. This antique residence was soon enlivened by an additional tenant. In 1810, Jeff'rey had met with Miss Charlotte Wilkes, grand-neice of the celebrated John Wilkes, who was on a visit to Edinburgh with her uncle and aunt, and this acquaintance ripened into an attachment, that was followed by marriage in 1813. As the lady, however, resided in New York, it was necessary that Jefltrey should repair to America for his bride ; and thither accordingly he went, notwithstand- ing liis invincible abhorrence of the sea, and impatience of the restraints of navigation. His journal of the voyage, as might be expected, is a wrathful enumeration of cloudy skies, gales, sea-sickness, lumbered decks, soured com- panions, and squalling children ; ending with, " If I get back safe to my own place from this expedition, I shall never willingly go out of sight of land again in my life." It was Avell that such a consolation awaited his landing, in one who, for thirty-four years, was the comfort of his life and enlivener of his home. At his return to Edinburgh, in the beginning of 1814, he threw himself into the work of the "Review" with fresh ardour, for the disasti'ous campaign of Napoleon in Russia, and the series of important events that rapidly followed, by which the whole history of the world was changed, gave fall scope to his political prelections. In 1815, he removed his country residence from Hatton to Craigcrook, about three miles to the north-west of Edinburgh, and thei'e his summers were spent till the close of his life. The mansion at first consisted of nothing but an old tower; but this and the adjacent grounds he enlarged, improved, and beautified, as he would have done with some article for the " Review "' that was too dull to be published in its original state, but too good to be neglected. By successive additions, the building was expanded into a stately baronial residence, while the thirty or forty acres that surrounded it gave full exercise to that taste for the pleasing and the beautiful which hitherto he had expressed only in theory. There, also, he gathered round him such dis- tinguished characters as Atticus himself might have envied. " What can efface these days," exclaims his affectionate biographer, " or indeed any Craigcrook day, from the recollection of those who had the happiness of enjoying them !" A. change in the Scottish tribunal at the beginning of 1816, brought Jeffrey into greater legal practice than ever. This was the introduction of juries for the trial of facts in civil causes ; and for such a department he soon showed himself well fitted, by his versatile intellectual powers, the variety of his know- ledge, and ready command of every kind of oratory. Here, too, the fact of his connection with the " Review," instead of retarding his progress, only brought him clients in multitudes, for he was now recognized as the champion of popular FRANCIS JEFFREY. 351 rights, as well as a most able and accomi)lished pleader. Yet, with this great addition to his professional duty, neither his diligence nor productiveness as a writer was abated, so that, independently of his wonted labours in the " Review," he wrote the article "Beauty" in the " Encyclopsedia Britannica" — a treatise that, notwithstanding the fluctuating nature of every theory upon that sub- ject, will always continue to be admired for the metaphysical depth of its senti- ments, and the classic finished elegance of its style. This tide of success, how- ever, was on one occasion inteiTupted. Strange to tell, Jeffrey stuck a speech I In 1818, John Kemble Avas about to take leave of the Scottish stage ; and as his admirers proposed to give hira a public dinner in Edinburgh, Jeffrey was com- missioned to present him a snuff box at the banquet. He rose for the purpose with full contidence in that extemporaneous power which had never failed him ; but when the dramatist raised his kingly form at the same instant, and con- fronted him with magnificent obeisance, the most fluent of speakers was sud- denly struck dumb — he sat down, with his speech half-finished and his gift unpresented! It was now time that honorary distinctions as well as substantial profits should descend upon the successful critic and barrister, so that he should become something more than plain Francis Jeffrey. These were now at hand ; and the first that adorned him, appropriately enough came from a seat of learning, tlis own college of Glasgow had not lost sight of its early alumnus; and after having elected the highest and most talented to the office of Lord Rector of the Univer- sity, the claims of the prince of critics to fill it ought not to be overlooked. So felt the young students, by whose suffrages the rector is chosen, and in 1820, notwithstanding the hostility of the professors, whose dislike of Jeffrey's Whig- gism could not be overcome, he was invested with the honoured distinction. After this, proposals were made from influential quarters to obtain for him a seat in parliament ; but these he declined : it was from the court of law and not the senate that his next honours were to be obtained. Accordingl}', in l;i29, he was unanimously elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, the highest honour which his own profession can bestow, and all the more honourable that the election was by the votes of his brethren. It was no trivial indication of political change, that the editor of the "Edinburgh Review" should have been appointed to such an office, in the very heart of Edinburgh, and by a body of men who had in former times been the keenest and most influential champions of Toryism. It was necessary, however, that his editorship should cease, and he gladlj' resigned it into younger hands. On his election to the deanship, he thus announced the fact of his resignation, and its reason : " It immediately occurred to me that it was not quite fitting that the official head of a great law corporation should continue to be the conductor of what might be fairly enough represented as in many respects a party journal, and I consequently withdrew at once, and altogether, from the management." It was not an easy sacrifice to relinquish an office so congenial to his tastes and habits, which he had lield for twenty-seven years, and which he had raised by the force of his talents to such high distinction in the literary and political world. The list of his con- tributions during this period is truly astounding, not only for quantity, but variety. They amounted in all to 201 articles, a selection from which was published in eight volumes, under his revision, in 1843. After having been Dean of Faculty for a very short period, Jeffrey, in 1830, was appointed Lord Advocate. This office, although resembling that of the Attorney-General in 352 FRANCIS JEFFREY. England, has few recommendations beyond those of mere distmction, to a suc- cessful practitioner at the Scottish bar; for, besides affording a salary of only £300 per annum, it has legal and political duties attached to it, sufficient for the utmost energies of the most talented individual. For three years and a half he continued in this laborious office, during which period he was almost exclusively occupied with the important measures of parliamentary and burgh reform, and spent much of his time in attendance upon the House of Commons, which he did as member for the Forfarshire burghs, and finally for the burgh of Malton. His situation in the House of Commons was anything but a sine- cure, as the passing of the Reform Bill for Scotland, of which he was the offi- cial manager, cost him many speeches and sleepless nights, as well as a vast amount of daily anxiety. After this great work was successfully accomplished, his chief ambition was to represent his native city in the first reformed parlia- ment. Nothing, indeed, could be more legitimate than such ambition after the toils he had undergone in the cause of reform, not merely as Lord Advocate of Scotland, but also as the ablest of political writers in behalf of the measure, when its very idea was reckoned tantamount to high treason. His wish was gratified. He was put in nomination as candidate for the representation of Edinburgh, and returned by a majority of votes on the 19th of December, 1832, after which he resumed his parliamentary duties, and the incessant worry with which the adjustment of the details of the Reform Bill was connected. While thus employed, a vacancy occurred on the bench of the Court of Session, in 1833, and Jeffrey was appointed to this, the highest office which a Scottish lawyer can attain. But what he valued more highly was, that it freed him from the harassing labours of parliament, and those of Lord Advocate, and restored him to the society of his friends, and full enjoyment of his home. It was the natural feeling of one who had already passed threescore years of life, and passed them in toil and intellectual exertion such as had well purchased the boon of repose. Having ceased from his avocations as lawyer and reviewer, and passed into that peaceful but dignified office to which his merits had so honourably won their way, the rest of the narrative of Jeffrey's life may be briefly told. On the 7th of June, 1834, he took his seat on the bench, with the title of Lord Jeffrey, instead of assuming a territorial one from the landed property which he possessed. Was this humility, eschewing a pompous designation as savouring too much of aristocracy and feudalism ?— or pride, that felt as if his own family name had nov/ been raised to such distinction as to make a lordly change unnecessary ? Both feelings may have been so curiously blended in the choice, that it would be better to leave them unquestioned. At all events, the familiar name of Jeffrey was more grateful to the literary ear than Lord Craigcrook, or any other such title could have been. His official duties required his attendance in the court every morning at nine o'clock, and thus, with him, the virtue of early rising was enforced by necessity. During the winter, when the court was sit- ting, his place of residence was Edinburgh ; he then usually repaired in spriug to London or its neighbourhood ; and in autumn he lived at his residence of Craigcrook, which seemed every year to become more and more endeared to his affections. Having now so much leisure upon his hands, and that, too, it may be added, for the first time in his life, he was often urged by his friends to write some important original work, in which his whole intellectual power would be condensed, and his fame embodied for the esteem of posterity when FRANCIS JEFFREY. 353 the "Edinburgh Review" itself would be supplanted by younger and more popular candidates. But to this his answer was, " I have no sense of duty that way, and feel that the only sure, or even probable result of the attempt, would be houva and days of anxiety, and unwholesome toil, and a closing scene of mortification." It was the apology of one who had already written so much that he had become weary of the task — or who had written so well, that he was afraid of risking all he had already won upon such a final and decisive cast. At all events, he rested satisfied with the fame he had already acquired, and in this way it may be that he acted wisely. On the 27th of June, 1838, his daughter, and only child, was married to William Empson Esq., professor of Law in the East India College, Haileybury ; and this union, besides imparting an additional charm to his yearly visits to England, produced to him those solaces for his old age, which, perhaps, a new successful literary undertaking would have failed to impart. These were the little grandchildren, who were soon entwined like rich tendrils around his affectionate heart, and in whose society he renewed all the freshness and buoyancy of his early youth. In his capacity of judge, Lord Jeffrey was connected with those decisions of the Court of Session that preceded the disruption of the Church of Scotland ; and his award was in favour of that party by whom the Free Church was after- wards constituted. He took an intense interest in the whole controversy from the commencement, and even at an early period foresaw that a disruption was inevitable, while he lamented such a fatal necessity. But still his heart was with the dissentients, for he saw that they could not act otherwise, consistently with their convictions as to the spiritual independency of the church. Thus he felt while their case was discussed in the Court of Session, and afterwards removed by appeal to the House of Lords, and he regarded the final award of the supreme tribunal as short sighted, unjust, and tyrannical. At length, the crisis approached, for the meeting of the General Assembly of 1843 was at hand. His interest about the result in the great coming conflict of the church was thus expressed : '• I am anxious to hear what her champions and martyrs are now doing, and what is understood to be their plan of operation at the Assembly. It will be a strange scene any way, and I suppose there will be a separation into two assemblies." He knew too well the elements of the Scottish char- acter, and was too conversant with the history of our national church, to believe, as most of the politicians of the day believed, that the opposition of the evan- gelical party would break dowm at the last moment under the argument of manse, glebe, and stipend. But would the secession be on such a scale as to constitute a great national movement? Or when the crisis came, might there not be such a fearful winnowing as would reduce the protesting party to a mere handful? At length the day and the hour of trial arrived. Jeffrey was read- ing in his study, when tidings were brought to him that the whole body had departed as one man— that four hundred and fifty ministers had fearlessly redeemed their pledge to sacrifice their earthly interests at the command of duty, and had left the Assembly to constitute another elsewhere ! He threw the book from him, and exclaimed, in a tone of triumph, " I am proud of my country ! no other than Scotland," he added, " would have acted thus." The remainder of Lord Jeffrey's life was passed in the enjoyment of a happy old age, his duties of judge, to which he attended to the last, being alternated with social intercourse, domestic enjoyment, and reading — that incessant process of acquiring new ideas, without which it seemed as if he could not have sur- V. 2y 354 SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH, K.B. vived for a single hour. Thus his course went on till the close of ISiO; but though still exhibiting much of his former activity, as well as enjoying every source of happiness, he knew that tliis must soon terminate. "I have made," he thus writes to his son-in-law and daughter, "a last lustration of all my walks and haunts, and taken a long farewell of garden, and terrace, and flowers, seas and shores, spiry towers, and autumnal fields. I always bethink me that I may never see them again." He had, indeed, seen the last of his autumns; for on the 22nd of January following, after a brisk afternoon walk round the Calton Hill, he was attacked by bronchitis, a complaint to which he had for several years been more or less subject ; but so little did he apprehend the consequences, that he thought that, at the worst, they would only compel him to resign his place on the bench. But death was advancing with a swift though silent step, and after four days of illness, in which he suffered little, and anticipated a speedy recovery, he breathed his last. This was on the 2Gth of January, 1850. He, too, felt his ruling passion strong in death ; for in his dreams during the three nights previous to his dissolution, the spirit of the Edinburgh reviewer pre- dominated, so that he was examining proof-sheets, reading newspapers, and passing judgment upon arguments or events as they rose before his mind's eye in the most fantastical variety. During the last year of his life, his walks had carried him to the Dean Cemetery, where, amidst its solemn vistas, enlivened with the song of the blackbird, he had selected the spot which he wished to be his final resting-place ; and there, accordingly, his remains were deposited on the 31st of January. Mrs. Jeffrey outlived her husband only a few montlis. She died at Hailey- bury, on the 18th of May, and her remains were iaterred beside his, in tho Dean Cemetery. K. KEITH, Sir Robert Murray, K.B. — In this distinguished personage we h.ave presented before us the rare character of a high-minded, honourable, upright diplomatist. But, what is perhaps equally rare, he was a Scottish diplomatist. That our country, which has produced so many distinguished men, should have left such a profitable walk almost unoccupied, and that a people so accustomed to veil their feelings, so habituated to self-command, and so shrewd and pene- ti'ating, should yet be able to produce so few names illustrious for diplomatic talent, is one of those inexplicable anomalies that stand out so strongly in the national character, to the great perplexity of ethnical psj-chologists. It classes with the fact that the Scot, who at any moment is ready to die for his country, is equally prompt to quit it, and in no great hurry to return to it. That branch of the Keiths to which the subject of this memoir belonged, was descended from the Keiths of Craig, in Kincardineshire. He was the eldest sou of General Sir Robert Keith, who for some time was ambassador at the courts of Vienna and St. Petersburg ; his mother was a daughter of Sir William Cunningham, of Caprington ; his sister, Mrs. Anne Murray Keith, the intimate and esteemed friend of Sir Walter Scott, was beautifully delineated by the great novelist, under the name of Mrs. Bethune Baliol, in the " Chronicles of the Canongate." Robert was born on the 20th of September, 1730. His father being SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH, K.B. 355 much abroad, employed in his public duties, and his mother having died when he had only reached the early age of eleven, the youth was thus left in a great measure to his own management ; but even already the maternal care had cul- tivated that high moral sense and delicacy of feeling which his character after- wards exhibited ; while his father's letters prepared him for those diplomatic employments by which he was to secure for himself an honoured name in the political world. The education of Robert Murray Keith was for some time conducted at the High School of Edinburgh, and this he turned to good account in after j-ears, by using Latin, which he could do fluently, both by speech and writing, in various parts of Europe, when his communications could not be so fitly expressed in ordinary language. At the age of sixteen he was removed to an academy in London ; and as the military profession was at this time his choice, he studied riding the great horse, fencing, French, fortification, music, and drawing. All this was enough for an accomplished soldier, but to these he added a thorough knowledge of modern languages, at that time too much neglected in education ; so that besides French he had a complete command of Dutch, German, and Italian — a circle which he afterwards widened so greatly, that among his studies he was able to specify his "ten tongues" as part of his daily employment. On completing his education, Robert Murray Keith received a commission in a Highland regiment employed in the Dutch service, and known by the name of the Scotch-Dutch, where he continued till the age of twent3'-two, and had attained the rank of captain when the regiment was disbanded. He then entered the service of one of the German states, but found it the roughest of all military schools, on account of the hardships and privations that attended it. Among the other necessaries of life, the article of fuel was dealt out with such a sparing hand, that he was obliged, in the depth of winter, to keep constant ■watch over it — a necessity that brought upon him the habit of sleep-walking. With all this, the chance of military glory as a recompense was somewhat uncertain, for he was attached as adjutant-general and secretary to Lord George Sackville, who commanded the English contingent of the allied army under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. Sackville found it necessary to resign ; but Keith, through the influence of his father, was soon appointed to serve in a new Highland corps, raised for the war in Germany, with the rank of major- commandanL He was now one of the leaders of a body of men from whom much was expected, and who by no means disappointed the expectation. Al- though these Celts were raw undisciplined lads, fresh from their native hills, they were marched into the fire only the third day after their arrival ; and under Keith they attacked a village sword in hand, and drove out of it a regi- ment of veteran dragoons with great slaughter. In consequence of their gal- lant behaviour more Highlanders were sent to Germany, and well did tliey justify the wise policy of Chatham in employing them, as well as the decla- ration of the Prince of Brunswick, that " they did wonders." Such was the case throughout the campaign of 17G0, and at the battle of Fellinghausen, in July, 17G1. On this occasion the claymore was more than a match for the bayonets of the choicest troops of France, whom the Highlanders defeated with great loss ; while their kindness to the wounded and prisoners after the battle, if possible, surpassed their valour in the field. In fact, the celebrated but diminutive Marshal Broglie, who commanded against them, and contrasted their prowess with their light, short, spare figures, declared, when the fight was over, 356 SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH, K.B. that " he once wished he were a man six feet high, but now he was reconciled to his size, since he had seen the wonders performed by the little mountaineers." Soon after, Keith's military career terminated, for the Highland corps was disbanded in 1703. After a year spent in Paris, where his manners and accom- plishments made him a universal favourite, he returned to London, and was promoted to the rank of colonel. Four years were spent in the metropolis, when, in ITGi), Colonel Murray Keith, whose high civil capacities and apti- tude for business had been discerned by Mr. Pitt, was appointed British envoy to the court of Saxony. To Dresden he accordingly repaired, whei-e he appears to have had little occupation besides that of keeping open the friendly relation- ship between that country and Great Britain, and playing a conciliatory part with all the ga}' assemblies in which Dresden abounded. His letters at this period give an amusing sketch of the nature of his duties, and the manner in which they were performed : — ''I'll give you a little sketch of my way of living. — Morning, eight o'clock: Dish of coffee, half a basin of tea, hillets- doux, embroiderers, toymen, and tailors. Ten : Business of Europe, with a little music now and then, pour egayer les affaires. Twelve: Devoirs at one or other of the courts (for we have three or four), from thence to fine ladies, toilettes, and tender things. Tivo: dine in public — three courses and a dessert; venture upon half a glass o^ pure wine, to exhilarate the spirits without hurting the complexion. Four : Rendezvous, sly visits, declarations, ecclarissemais, &c., &c. Six: Politics, philosophy, and whist. Seven: 0]^era,, appartement, or private party ; a world of business, jealousies, fears, poutings, &c. After settling all these jarring interests, play a single rubber of whist, en attendant le soiiper. Ten : Pick the wing of a partridge, propos galans, scandal, and petitcs chanson. Crown the feast with a bumper of Burgundy from the fairest hand, and at tioelve steal away mysteriously /^ome to 5cfZ." "And is this the way a kingdom may be ruled ? " exclaims the disappointed reader. But why not, if peace instead of war is to be the order of the day ? From this drolling sketch it will be evident that Colonel Keith always kept his head cool for action, whatever might occur, and that, too, in a country whei'e dissipation and deep drinking, even in courtly halls, made the latter half of the day little better than a nullity. If Keith secretly felt that he occupied an unworthy position, from having so little to do, he was soon cured of this uneasiness ])y being transferi-ed to the court of Denmark. At Copenhagen the whole scene was changed. There, foreign influence was jealously watched, and the diplomatists of Europe held at a wary distance. The gay parties, in which public measures could be openly and frankly discussed, were discountenanced ; and so completely was the society of the court broken into circles, that even at the theatre they were obliged to confine themselves to their separate places. " Those who sit two boxes from me," he writes, "might as well be in Norway, for any manner of communica- tion I can have with them. It is really ridiculous to see how the world is parcelled out here into no less than nine classes, six of whom I must never encounter without horror." All this, however, he endured and surmounted with his usual tact, and performed the duties of his mission to the satisfac- tion of his own court, but without exciting the suspicion of the Danish govern- ment. It was much, indeed, that a heart so open and a disposition so buoj'ant should have maintained this tranquillity in such a freezing atmosphere ; and, therefore, while he waited for orders, and fulfilled them punctually when sent, SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH, K.B. 357 he thus expressed his private feeUngs : — "In the meantime I heartily' consign that oki harridan, Etiquette, with all her trumpery, to the lowest underling of all possible devils." A fatal necessity soon occurred for Keith to give all these jealous court restrictions to the winds, and hurl defiance at the very throne of Denmark. To understand this the most important event of his life, we must premise that the Danish sovereign, Christian VII., had for his queen, Matilda, sister of George III. But Christian, unfortunately, was a strange compound of idiot and madman, such as Europe had scarcely seen, even in the worst days of the Roman empire. In the course of his travels he had picked up a certain phy- sician, Struensee, whom he ennobled and appointed to the first j)lace in the government ; and so implicitly did he put trust in his favourite, that every measure, whether of court or kingdom, was wholly regulated by the parvenu Count Struensee. It is easy to imagine with what feelings both nobles and people regarded his elevation ; but as if their united dislike had been insufficient for the ruin of the luckless stranger. Christian himself aggravated their hatred of the man of his choice, by the incredible fooleries in which it was his pleasure to indulge. Among these, one of his royal pastimes was to go down on all fours, and play the part of a horse ! — and not content to top his part by gamboling and neighing, he must needs also complete the resemblance by receiving a due portion of the kicks and cuffs too often bestowed upon the nobler animal which he aspired to imitate. Count Brandt, the friend of Struensee, who was com- pelled to play the part of the surly groom on this occasion, by being threatened with the punishment of a traitor if he disobeyed, was afterwards beheaded for his compliance. Such was the husband of Matilda! But this was not the utmost of her calamity ; for an ambitious and unprincipled queen mother was also dominant in the court of Copenhagen ; one who had studiously perverted poor Christian both in mind and body from infancy, that she might pave the way for the succession of her son, Prince Frederick, and was now bent upon the ruin of ]\Iatilda, as one by whom her aims were likely to be defeated. It was by this Ate that the court was set against the young and beautiful queen, and her husband, who really loved her, withdrawn from her society- ; and wlien Matilda, thus forsaken, was obliged in self-defence to form a coalition with the powerful minister, it was foully insinuated that their meetings were for the pur- pose of adulterous intercourse. She was thus traduced, that she might be the more easily and effectually destroyed. Even the high talents which Struensee undoubtedly possessed, and his superior accomplishments and manners, were quoted to confirm the accusation. To seize the queen and minister was now the aim of their enemies ; but although several schemes were laid for the pur- pose, they were always defeated by accident. At length a masked ball was given one night at the palace ; and amidst the rest and security that usually follow a revel, the conspirators entered the king's bed-chamber, and by frighten- ing him with the report of a conspiracy against his life, obtained from him an order for the instant arrest of the queen. Count Struensee, and their followers. Struensee and Brandt were seized in their beds, and hurried off to the citadel of (:;openhagen; Matilda, in her night-dress, was apprehended in her own bed- chamber, and after an agonizing struggle to gain access to the king, which was prevented by the guards with their crossed muskets, was incarcerated in the fortress of Cronenburg. On the following morning the streets of Copenhagen rang with huzzas of mob-loyalty, and in the evening they were lighted with 358 SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH, K.B. an illumination, Tlie people were taught that the queen was not only an adulteress, but had attempted to poison her husband ; and while the churches were filled with thanksgiving for the preservation of such a valuable sovereign, it was easy for tlie senate, without waiting the ceremony of trial, to declare her guilty of both charges. It was now the season for Colonel Keith to despise etiquette, and dare the utmost. Hitherto he had seen and lamented the situation of his sovereign's sister; but the jealousy with which the proceedings of the court were guarded had prevented his interference, and the astounding explosion had taken him, as it did every one else but the queen-mother and her agents, at unawares. Alone, amidst an excited and infuriated capital, he forced his way into the council where the fate of the queen was at issue, and denounced war against Denmark if a single hair of her head was touched. The British fleet was to be immediately summoned to Copenhagen, and the bombardment of the capital commenced. It was an act worthy of the proudest daj's of Rome, when her ambassador drew a line upon the sand, and commanded the king of Egypt not to cross it until he had decided whether he would have peace or war. After having delivered this stern declai'ation before the council, upon whom it fell like a thunderbolt, Keith despatched a messenger to his own court with an account of the proceedings, and a request for further orders, and till these should arrive, he locked up himself and his household, and remained for four weeks in a state of quarantine, or rather of siege and defiance. At the end of that time the expected packet arrived, and on eagerly opening it, the insignia of the Order of the Bath fell at his feet. It had been inclosed by the king's own hands, to mark his sense of Sir Robert's heroic conduct, and was accompanied with a command to invest himself forthwith, and appear at the Danish court. It was thus seen that the ambassador's menace was no idle threat, but would be made good, if need were, by a British armament. Brandt and his patron, Struensee, were, indeed, tried as traitors, and executed with revolting cruelty, having first their right hands cut off, and afterwards their heads. But against IMatilda they dared not proceed to the extremities they intended. After being confined two months in a fortress, she was sent to the castle of Zell, in Hanover, where she died before her day, the broken-hearted victim of infamous accusations. After this tragic event. Sir Robert was weary of Copenhagen. During nearly a twelvemonth that he had resided there he had never experienced anything like kindness, and this reserve would soon, in all likelihood, have been changed into downright rudeness. For was Danish pride likely to forget how he had braved it at its height? Fortunately he was not subjected to the experiment; for in November, 1772, he was appointed to hold at Vienna the situation of British ambassador, the same office which his father had held nearly twenty years before, at the court of Maria Theresa. Vienna appears to have been more to Sir Robert's taste than Copenhagen, but it was only because it was the least of two evils, for, in other respects, the Austrian capital appears to have been a huge compound of frivolity and dullness. The following is his sketch of it : "The ephemeral fly, which is born in the morning to die at night, might hold up the conversation of one half of our most brilliant aides. The play, the dance, your horse, my coach, a pretty embroidery, or a well-fancied lining, these are the favourite topics; upon every one of which I am a numskull of the first water. I never play at cards; ergo, I am not only a stupid fellow, but an useless one." Cards, indeed, he held in utter detestation, and could not be SIR EOBEllT MURRAY KEITH, K.B 359 persuaded to toucli them, either in jest or earnest ; and yet the Viennese were such a gambling, card-playing people, that a diplomatist could have little chance among them, unless he countenanced them in their folly. Sir Robert, in this case, hit upon the following compromise, on the ingenuity of which he valued himself not a little: "A lady who is generally remarkably lucky at cards, but who had lately a bad run of about a week, complained t'other day loudly of her misfortunes, and said she must soon relinquish cards, her favourite amuse- ment. I immediately thought I might strike an advantageous bargain with this dear creature, and satisfy all mankind. I therefore agreed to attack Dame Fortune with my money and her fingers ; and now she plan's her three parties every day in my name, and at my risk ; and I am now one of the prettiest card- players in Vienna — h]/ proxy T' All this was dull enough at the best ; but one of his official duties was to endure it with a contented countenance, and appear happy with everything around him. His chief consolation consisted in episto- lary correspondence with his friends at home, and Avhile he freely imparted to them those lively communications in which his duties of political secrecy were not compromised, he was urgent for a full I'equital. Amidst these inter- changes, also, the thought of his own country, of which he had seen so little, was always uppermost, and he was anxious for its improvement ; so that amidst his diplomatic cares he would attend to the welfare of Scottish plan- tations as zealously as if he had been a retired country gentleman. Upon this head, among many other topics, he thus writes to his only sister, the Margaret Bethune Baliol of Sir Walter Scott : " And now pray, my dear Anne, let me appoint you my substitute with G (his bailiff in Tweeddale), to din into his ears ' Trees, trees, trees,' every time you meet him. I have not a twig of his planting at the hall, and I own I expected a forest. This is no joking matter ; I would rather be master of a handsome plantation and hedge- rows, than a mine of gold ; so you know you can and will pursue it. You shall be the ranger of the new forest in Tweeddale, and your husband, when you get one, shall be Lord Warden of the j\Iarches." Want of trees at this time did indeed constitute the nakedness and the shame of Scotland ; and though exertions had for some time been going on to repair the deficiency, all that had as yet been done was little better than Adam's fig-leaf. It is pleasing to con- trast with this the gay costume of foliage with which our country is clothed in the present day. After having ably discharged his duties of envoy at Vienna, Sir Robert was a second time appointed to the office. The sky of Europe was already lowering with the coming French Revolution, so that the utmost political foresight and circumspection was necessary ; and here he showed himself a statesman fitted for the crisis. In his duties he was grievously hampered by the remissness of the home government, that left his despatches unanswered; and in 1788 we find him writing to the Marquis of CaermarLhen, then Secretary of State, upon the subject, with an honesty somewhat rare in diplomatic correspondence, and with a strict, stern disinterestedness, which few of our envoys would ven- ture to use towards their official superiors. Fifty-three letters he had already written to the Secretary's office, without receiving an answer to any of them. After an indignant remonstrance at such neglect, he adds: "A complete change of cystem, in regard to German politics, has become not only expedient, but indispensably necessary. But that it should have taken place in the king's councils without any secretary of state's having ever given me the most distant 360 GEORGE MEIKLE KEMP. intimation of such a decision, is what 1 cannot comprehend. I am bold to say (and I should not deserve the honour of serving tlie king as his minister at the first court of Germany if I refrained from saying it loudl?/) that such conceal- ment is disgraceful to me in the position in which the king has placed me, and likewise prejudicial to his service.'' The conclusion to this remonstrance was inevitable : — unless the injury was ''immediatelj* repaired by confidential infor- mation and instructions," he must tender his resignation of an office for which he was thus declared unfit. The integrity and decision of the justly off"ended statesman were too well known to be trifled with, and his appeal was followed with due acknowledgment. The political career of Sir Robert Murray Keith was closed with the pacifica- tion of Austria, Russia, and Turkey, previous to the excesses of the French Revolution — a pacification which his labours tended greatly to accomplish. He died at Hammersmith, near London, in ] 795, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. KEMP, George Meikle. — This architect, whose great work, the Scott Monu- ment, one of the noblest ornaments of Edinburgh, has secured the admiration of Europe, and the approbation of the highest judges of architectural excellence in every country', was the son of a lowly shepherd, who pursued his occupation on the southern slope of the Pentland Hills. Such a scenery, where nothing but natui'e predominated, in the form of bare brown mountains and dashing water- falls, was the least of all adapted to create a perception of the beautiful in art ; so that, had not Kemp been born an architect, he would probably have been to the end of his da^^s a shepherd or a mechanic. But at the age of ten years, having been sent on a message to Roslin, only six miles distant, he then, and for the first time, beheld the creative power of man, in the remains of the ancient castle of Roslin, and above all, in its exquisite gem, the chapel. The delight he experienced at this new revelation, and the earnestness with which he gazed at each portion of the work, not only confirmed his choice of life, but abode with him as vivid remembrances to the end of his days. The present, however, had to be cared for in the meantime ; and young Kemp, as soon as he was fit for w'ork, became apprentice to a joiner near Eddlestone ; and when his term of ser- vice had expired he went to Galashiels, where he was employed nearly a twelve- month in the workshop of a millwright. This last-mentioned locality brought him into the neighbourhood of those districts where some of the richest speci- mens of ancient cathedral architecture which our island contains are all but grouped together ; and thus he had many an opportunity of inspecting the remains of the abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso, and Jedburgh. After having fully studied these inspiring lessons, until Kemp, the humble millwright, had become heart and soul an architect, he went to England, where he w^orked a short ti:ne as a joiner, but omitting no opportunity of pursuing his natural vocation by studying the remains of Gothic architecture. A specimen of his zeal in this way was his walking fifty miles to York, to inspect its cathedral, and afterwards returning on foot. From Lancashire he removed to Glasgow, where he lived some time as a journeyman at his craft, and as a student within the massive shadows of the cathedral. Mr. Kemp came to Edinburgh in 1816 or 1817, and remained in the employment of the same party, as a joiner, until May, 1824, when he went to London. During this period he displayed the same bent of mind, as he was in the constant habit of making excursions into the country, even to remote districts, to examine some ol)ject of interest. A Roman camp, a fragment of Norman or early Gothic architecture, a battle-field. GEORGE MEIKLE KEMP. 36] or the birthplace of some poet or warrior^ all alike interested him. In pursuit of some such object he would often leave his work for days together. He was fortunately an excellent pedestrian, and could walk forty miles a-day with ease ; for in those days the facilities of railway travelling did not exist. Kemp was an ardent admirer of our older poets. Chaucer, Sir David Lindsay, and Drummond, were his favourites; Burns he could almost repeat by heart; and he wrote occasional verses himself. Nor did he entirely neglect his musical powers. He was fond of the violin, and could bring out his favourite Scotch airs on that instrument with taste and feeling. Kemp, therefore, while follow- ing his humble calling, was recognized by his immediate friends as a man of genius; and, during the whole period of his residence in Edinburgh, he was on terms of closest intimacy with the family of his employer, with whom, on all festive occasions, he was a welcome guest. Having learned, in this manner, all that Britain could teach him in the science of Gothic architecture, Mr. Kemp resolved to carry his researches into a more ample field. His design was to travel over Europe, inspecting its ancient remains of architecture, wherever they were to be found, and supporting himself, during his stay in the neighbourhood of each, by working at his ordinary trade. It was tiie spirit of the ancient builders, who roamed in companies from land to land, and whose footsteps a thousand years have not erased — men Avho were content to merge their individual names into the band of which they were a part, and into the art which they so devotedly and disinterestedly loved ; and who cared not, if their works only survived to future ages, whether posterity should retain or throw aside the memory of those by whom such permanent sanctuaries for peace and contemplation were created in the midst of universal strife and havoc. It must have been such men as Kemp who were the leaders and master-spirits of such bands. In 1824 he commenced his tour, which extended from Boulogne to Abbeville, to Beauvais, and Paris, halting at each place for some Aveeks, and studying their architectural remains during every hour of leisure in his handi- craft employment. In such a city as Paris liis pecuniary difficulties might have been increased but for the demand of English workmen in France for mill machinery; and as Kemp was skilful in this department, he obtained full and profitable employment, so that he could confront the expenses of living in the capital, and study at leisure the details of Notre-Dame, and other less noted structures. After two years' travel of this kind in England and France, Kemp, on returning to Edinburgh, commenced business as a joiner, but was unsuccessful — and could he well be otherwise, when his heart was neither in the wood-yard nor at the planing-board ? His hand, indeed, was more con- versant at this time with the pencil than with axe or saw; and he was busy in the study of drawing and perspective, in wiiich he soon became a proficient without the aid of a master. Having been uiibuccessful in business as a master- joiner, Kemp returned to his former station as journeyman, to which he added the employment of an architectural draughtsman ; and such was now the supe- rior beauty and correctness of his drawings, that they soon found purchasers. One of the commissions of this kind he received was from Mr. Burn, the eminent architect, by whom ho was employed to copy some of the working- drawings for the palace proposed to be built at Dalkeith, as the future mansion for the princely house of Buccleuch. Instead, however, of proceeding with the drawings, he set about modelling a section of the building in wood, and with such success, and so greatly to the satisfaction of the architect, Mr. Burn, that v ' 2z 362 GEORGE MEIKLE KEMP. it resulted iu a commission to do the \vliole edifice in the same style. On re- ceiving this commission, he commenced the model with characteristic enthu- siasm, and his own modest apartments soon hecoming too small for the work, the architect's amj)le drawing-room was, for the time being, converted into a workshop, and in it this remarkable specimen of zeal, ingenuity, and neat- handedness, was brought to a satisfactor}"- conclusion, after occupying Kemp and an assistant for two whole years. After the miniature palace was finished, it was transferred to the vestibule of the ducal residence at Dalkeith, of which it forms an attractive ornament. Amongst the engagements into which the occupation of draughtsman brought him, was that of furnishing drawings for a work illustrative of the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland, similar to Brittons '•' Cathedral Antiquities," projected by Mr. James Johnston, engraver, Edinburgh. For this his intimate know- ledge of architectural detail eminently qualified him ; and he accordingly, during the years 1832, 1833, executed a number of drawings of singular cor- rectness and beauty, besides a large series of jireparative sketches, embracing Elgin, Pluscardine, Kinloss, Melrose, lloslin, and other of our ecclesiastical remains. During the progress of these drawings, Mr. Kemp and the pub- lishers of the present woi'k became acquainted. After Mr. Johnston's pre- mature death, the drawings made for him came into their possession, and Mr. Kemp subsequently completed, at their expense, the measurements and draw- ings of the Glasgow Cathedral, during the years 1834-35. While he was making these drawings, the project of repairing and completing this beautiful specimen of early pointed architecture was put forth by Mr. M'Lellan, in Glas- gow. This led Kemp to prepare a design for the restoration and completion of the building. Fully to exhibit the character of this design, and to demon- strate his ability to construct it if employed to do so, he, in the years 1837, 1838, and 1839, at much sacrifice and labour, prepared a model of the entire cathedra], in which so perfectly did the new portions harmonize with the old, that it would have puzzled any architect, not conversant with the building as it really stood, to tell what part was old, and what were Mr. Kemp's additions. Unhappily^ the design would have cost more money to execute than there was at that time any expectation of obtaining, from government or otherwise ; and it remains only an evidence of Mr. Kemp's persevering patience, skill in handi- craft, and architectural genius. Thus matured in taste, talent, and skill, by an apprenticeship that was unique in the history of modern architecture, it was now full time that the knowledge of Mr. Kemp's abilities should be extended beyond the circle of his admiring friends, into the world at large. Nothing less, indeed, than a great national work was adequate to such a genius ; but what chance was there that an aproned, hard-handed mechanic would be intrusted with such a commission, especially when so many learned Vitruvios were iu the field? Happily enough, however, the chance did come. The more than national, the universal desire to erect a monument to Sir Walter Scott in the fair metropolis of that country for which he had done so much, and the proposals that were issued for plans of the work, excited an unwonted stir of artistic emulation ; it was an opportunity by which the fortunate candidate might link himself to the undying fame of the great poet and novelist. Fifty-four plans sent to the head-quarters of the committee of subscribers in Edinburgh were the fruits of this competition, of ^Yhich plans there were twenty-two Gothic structures, eleven statues combined GEORGE JIEIKLE KEMP. 363 with architectural accompaniments, fourteen Grecian temples, five pillars, one obelisk, and one fountain. Amidst such a profusion the committee made no decisive choice ; hut, in terms of their agreement, they selected the best three for the prize of £50 apiece, and laid themselves open for fresh competition. Of the three designs thus distinguished above the rest, two were by eminent English architects, and the third by some individual who as yet had no name of his own, or was shy of bringing it into notice, for he signed himself John Morvo. Who was this John Morvo ? It was no other than Kemp himself, who had thus come timidly forward, and secured a safe retreat in case of failure. In five daj's he had drawn the plan, during which period he had suspended his woi'k on the model of the Glasgow Cathedral, with which he was at this period occupied; and as soon as it was done he resumed his labour, apparently thinking no farther of a trial in vv-hich the chances were so hopelessly against liim. In this mood he trudged home from Linlithgow on the evening of the day of decision, and on crossing his threshold was met by his wife, with news of the three lucky candidates, which she had learned from an acquaintance, and whose names she repeated. What a happy moment it must have been for both wlien the real John IMorvo was revealed ! As the lists were now opened for a second trial, Kemp, animated by his late success, was ready to resume it with double ardour. His first plan had been a tall Gothic tower or spire, whose original conception and details he had adapted from Melrose Abbey, a structure the lines of which had been for years impressed upon his jnemory, and of which, also, three drav/ings that he had executed in 1830 first brought him into notice as an architect in the highest sense of the term. Adopting his earlier design as the groundwork, he now produced such an improvement upon it as secured for it the choice of the whole committee, with the exception of only two dissenting voices — one on the plea that Kemp was unknown, and the other that his plan was a plagiarism. The declaration, however, of the committee, that the " design was an imposing structure of 135 feet in height, of beautiful proportions, in strict conformity with the purity in taste and stj'le of Melrose Abbey, from which it is in its details derived,"' and the attestation of Mr. Burn, who expressed to the com- mittee " his great admiration of the elegance of Mr. Kemp's design, its purity as a Gothic composition, and more particularly the constructive skill exhibited throughout in the combination of the graceful features of that style of architec- ture, in such a manner as to satisfy any professional man of the correctness of its principle, and the perfect solidity which it would possess when built " — these testimonies sufficed, in the first instance, to show that Mr. Kemp's plan was a congenial inspiration, not a plagiarism, and that, if he was still unknown to the world, he ought to be so no longer. But who would now think of adduc- ing such frivolous objections, with the testimony of tlie whole world against him? The Scott Monument has been visited from every land; engravings of it are diffused over the wide earth ; and as long as it stands in its majestic and imposing beauty, the pilgrims of future centuries, who gaze upon it in silent admiration, will connect the name of its builder with the thought of him whom it commemorates. Mr. Kemp had thus passed, by a single stride, fi'om the condition of a humble mechanic to the highest rank in architectural talent and distinction; and having won such an elevation while life was still in its prime, a long perspective of professional achievements, and the rank and profit by which they would be 364 KENNETH G. KEMP. nccompanicd, '.vas naturally anticipated for him by his friends, and perhaps by liimself also. The building, too, which he had planned, was rapidly rising from base to summit, while at each step the public eye detected some new beauty, and waited impatiently for the completion. But here the life of the artist was brought to a sudden and most disastrous termination. He had been absent from home, employed in matters connected with the structure ; and on the evening of the Gth of March, 1844, was returning to his dwelling at Morning - side, through Fountaiubridge, when, in consequence of the darkness of the night, he had diverged from the direct road, and fallen into the canal-basin at the opening. His body was found in the water several days afterwards, and the whole city, that had now learned to appreciate his excellence, bewailed the mournful event as a public calamity. It was intended to deposit his remains in the vault under the Scott Monument, as their fitting resting-place; but at the last hour this purpose was altered, and the interment took place in St. Cuthbert's church-yard ; while every street through which the funeral passed ■was crowded with spectators. Such was the end of this promising architect, when his first great work, now nearly completed, surpassed the latest and best of those of his cotemporaries, and gave promise that architecture would no longer be classed among the artcs 2>srdit(e in Scotland. Mr. Kemp was married iu September, 1832, to Miss Elizabeth Bonnar, sister to the eminent artist, Mr. AVilliam Bonnar. He left four children, two boys and two girls, three of whom survive him. His eldest son, a student of architecture, died in Decem- ber, 1853, at the age of twenty. He was a youth of rare promise and amiable manners, inheriting all his father's genius and enthusiasm for art. KEMP, Kenneth G. — Of this talented scientific experimenter and lecturer, our notice must necessarily be brief, in consequence of his premature departure while his high fame was yet in progress. He was born in 1807 ; and as soon as he was able to make choice of a particular path in intellectual life, he selected that of chemistry, into which he threw himself with all the ardour of a devotee, or even of a martyr — this last expression being fully needed to express the daring investigations into which he directed his studies, and the equally dan- gerous experiments by which he arrived at new and important results in chemical science. Not the least of these were his experiments on the theory of combus- tion, and the liquefaction of the gases, with which he delighted the British Association at their meetings in Edinburgh in 1836. It was not surprising, also, that in such pursuits his inquisitive energetic mind should have made not only discoveries on several chemical compounds, but have recommended the science itself, as yet too generally neglected in Scotland, to the attention of his country- men— more especially when he had obtained the situation of lecturer on practi- cal chemistry in the university of Edinburgh. Besides his researches into the compounds of substances, and the evolvemeut of gases, Mr. Kemp studied deeply the mysteries of electricity and magnetism, and was so fortunate as to be the discoverer of the use of zinc plates in galvanic batteries, by which that invisible power of galvanism can be controlled at pleasure, and directed to the most useful purposes. " Let us never forget to whom we owe this discovery, which, of itself, enables galvanic batteries to be used in the arts. Ages to come will, perhaps, have to thank the inventor, whom we are too apt to foi'get — j-et still the obligation from the public to Mr. Kemp is the same." This testimony, from an eminent writer, who could well appreciate the subject, will, we trust, have its weight in identifying the discovery with its originator. Another, WILLIAM KNOX. 365 wliich Mr. Kemp was the first to make — at least the first in Scotland — was the solidifying of carbonic acid gas. Thus, even at an early period of life, Mr. Kemp had attained to high scientific distinction, and made the abstruse researches of chemistry a subject of popular interest in Scotland, while his example had stimulated those kindred intellects by wliom further progress in the science was certain to be secured. Although this was much, still more was anticipated, when his career was cut short by a disease of the heart, under which he had laboured for years, and which, perhaps, the peculiar nature of his studies among strange substances and deleterious atmospheres had tended silently to aggravate. He died in Edinburgh, on the 30th of December, 18i3, at the early age of thirty-six. KNOX, William. — " It may not be impertinent to notice that Knox, a young poet of considerable talent, died here a week or two since. His father was a respectable yeoman, and he himself, succeeding to good farms under the Duke of Buccleuch, became too soon his own master, and plunged into dissipa- tion and ruin. His talent then showed itself in a fine strain of pensive poetry, called, 1 think, ' The Lonely Heaith,' far superior to that of Michael Bruce, whose consumption, by the way, has been the life of his verses, .... For my part, I am a bad promoter of subscriptions ; but I wished to do what I could for this lad, whose. talent I really admired; and I am not addicted to admire heaven-born poets, or poetry that is reckoned very good, considering. I had him (Knox) at Abbotsford, about ten years ago, but found him unfit for that sort of society. I tried to help him, but there were temptations he could never resist. He scrambled on writing for the booksellers and magazines, and living like the Otways, and Savages, and Chattertons of former days, though I do not know that he was in extreme want. His connection with me terminated in begging a subscription, or a guinea, now and then. His last works were spiritual hymns, and which he wrote very well. In his own line of society he was said to exhibit infinite humour; but all his works are grave and pen- sive—a style, perhaps, like Master Stephen's melancholy, affected for the nonce." In this extract from Sir Walter Scott's Diary, an outline of the life, moral character, and literary productions of an erring and unfortunate son of genius is briefly sketched; but with the great novelist's wonted perspicuity, sharp intui- tive sagacity, and immeasurable good-nature, that never could see a fault where there was a tolerable per contra to recommend. William Knox was born upon the estate of Firth, in the parish of Lilliesleaf, Roxburgh, on the 17th August, 1789, and was the son of an extensive and pastoral farmer in the shires of Roxburgh and Selkirk. As his parents were in comfortable circumstances, he received a liberal education, first at the parish school of Lilliesleaf, and afterwards at the grammar-school of Musselburgh. After having become a tolerable classical scholar, and acquired a taste for reading, especially in poetry and romance, he was sent, at little more than the age of sixteen, to a lawyer's office, not, liowever, for the purpose of studying the law as a future profession, but acquiring the general knowledge and practical habits of business. This was necessary, as he was the eldest son of a family of six children, and would naturally succeed to his father's extensive farming; but as a school of morals and virtuous habits, a lawyer's office, at the beginning of the present century, could scarcely be reckoned the happiest of selections. After a few months' training at law, in which he made little progress, he was called home 366 WILLIAM KNOX. to assist his father; and in 1812 he commenced farming on his own account, by taking a lease of the farm of Wrae, in the neighbourhood of Langholm. But steady though he appears to have been at this period, so that he soon acquired the reputation of a diligent and skilful farmer, he was so unsuccessful that he lost all interest in agriculture, threw up the lease of Wrae in 1817, and commenced that precarious literary life which he continued to the close. Indeed, while he was ploughing and sowing, his thoughts were otherwise occupied ; for even at the schoolboy age, he had been infected, as half of the human race generally are at that ai-dent season, with the love of poetry; but instead of permitting himself, like others, to be disenchanted by the solid realities and prosaic cares of life, he cherished the passion until he become irrecoverably a poet. Un- happy is such a choice when it can lead no higher than half-way up Parnassus! His boyish efforts v>-ere exhibited chiefly in songs and satires written in the Scottish dialect ; and although, when his mind was more matured, he had the good sense to destroy them, it was only for the purpose of producing better in their season. In this way his first publication, " The Lonely Hearth and other Poems," was nearly ready for the press before he had quitted his farm. It would be too much to follow each step of Knox's progress after he had com- mitted himself to the uncertainties and mutations of authorship. His life was henceforth occupied not only in writing works which issued from the press, but others which were not so fortunate. It was not merely to poetry that he confined himself, in which case his stock, as a source of daily subsistence, would soon have failed ; he also vv'rote largely in prose, and was happy when he could find a publisher. Such a course, sufficiently pecarious in itself, was rendered tenfold worse by those intemperate practices that had already commenced, and which such a kind of life tends not to cure, but to aggravate. Still, amidst all his aberrations, his acknowledged talents as a genuine poet, combined with his amiable temperament and conversational powers, procured him many friends among the most distinguished literary characters of the day. We have already seen the estimate that Sir Walter Scott had formed of him : to this it may be added, that Sir Walter repeatedly supplied the necessities of the unfortunate poet, by sending him ten pounds at a time. Professor Wilson also thought highly of the poetical genius of Knox, and v.-as ever ready to befriend him. Nor must Southey, a still more fastidious critic than either Scott or Wilson, be omitted. Writing to William Knox, who had sent him a copy of one of his poetical works, he thus expresses himself: "Your little volume has been safely delivered to me by your friend, Mr. G. Macdonald, and I thank you for it. It has given me great pleasure. To paraphrase sacred poetry is the most difficult of all tasks, and it appears to me that you have been more successful in the attempt than any of your predecessors. You may probably have heard that the Bishop of Calcutta (before he was appointed to that see) was engaged in forming a collec- tion of hj^mns and sacred pieces, with the hope of having them introduced into our English churches. Some of yours are so well adapted to that object that I will send out a copy of your book to him." The principal works of Knox besides the "' Lonely Plearth,"' which we have already mentioned, were a Christmas tale, entitled " Mariomne, or the Widow- er's Daughter," "A Visit to Dublin," "Songs of Israel," and the " Harp of Zion." Much of his authorship, however, was scattered over the periodicals of the day, and especially the "Literary Gazette." As a prose writer, his works are of little account, and have utterly disappeared; but the same cannot be said WILLIAM KNOX. 367 of his poetry, which possesses a richness and originality that places it on a higher intellectual scale, and insures it a more lasting popularity. It is pleasing also to record, that it is not only undefaced by a single line which a dying author would wish to blot, but elevated throughout into the highest tone of pure devo- tional feeling and religious instruction. In these cases, Sir Walter Scott seems to think that poor Knox was assuming a part — that he was speaking "accord- ing to the trick," and nothing more. We would fain charital)ly believe, how- ever, that the pensiveness of the erring bard was something else than affecta- tion, and his religious feeling than hypocrisy. JJad he not cause to write sadly when he yielded to his better feelings, and sat down to give vent to them in the language which he had learned in happier and purer days? Or was he singular under that " video meliora proboque, Deteriora scriuor " which meets so many an unfortunate genius midway, like a sign-post between time and eternity, where he can do nothing more than direct others upon their heavenward journey. In the following stanzas, by which his "Songs of Zion " are prefaced, we can both recognize and understand his sincerity, notwithstand- ing all those unhappy inconsistencies with which it was contradicted : — Harp of Zion ! pure and holy I Pride of Judah's eastern land ! May a child of guilt and folly Strike thee with a feeble hand ? May I to my bosom take thee. Trembling from the prophet's touch. And, with throbbing heart awake thee To the songs I love so much ? I have loved thy thrilling numbers Since the dawn of childhood's day, "When a mother sooth'd my slumbers With the cadence of thy lay — Since a little blooming sister Clung with transport round my knee. And my glowing spirit blessed her With a blessing caught from thee. Mother — sister — both are sleeping Where no heaving hearts respire. While the eve of age is creeping Round the widowed spouse and sire. He and his, amid their sorrow, Find enjoyment in thy strain — Harp of Zion ! let nie borrow Comfort from thy chords again. It is only necessary to add, that this life of literary adventure to which William Knox committed himself, and in which he unwisely squandered his resources of health and strength, was a brief one, for he died at Edinburgh, on the 12th of November, 1825, in his thirty-sixth year. The cause of his death was a stroke of paralysis, which he survived only three or four days. 3C8 REV. DAVID LANDSBOROUGII, D.D. L. LANDSBOROUGH, David, D.D., a successful cultivator of natural history. He was born in Dairy, Galloway, in 1782, and received the rudi- ments of his education in his native parish. He next studied at the Dumfries Academy, preparatory to entering the university of Edinburgh, where he went through the usual curriculum of a theological education for the Established Church. Whilst attending college he was for some time tutor in the family of Lord Glenlee, who afterwards took a friendly interest in him, and exercised his influence on liis behalf. On receiving license, he became assistant in the Old Church of Ayr; but was soon presented to the parish of Stevenston, by the patron, then Mr. Hamilton of Grange. He was according!}^ ordained in 1811, and continued pastor of the parish till 18i3, the period of the disruption of the Church of Scotland, when he became the Free Church minister of a congre- gation at Saltcoats. He laboured as formerly, with equal fidelity and accept- ance, till September, 1854, when he was suddenl}^ cut off by cholera. What Gilbert White was to his parish of Selborne, Dr. Landsborough was to Steven- ston, and the sea-coast of Ardrossan and Saltcoats. In the intervals of professional duty, he studied their natural history in all its departments, showing an equal aptitude for all. The plants, flowering and cryptogamic, the shells, land and marine, fossil botan}^ and algology, successively passed under his review. But it was more especially to the algse of the Ayrshire and Arran coasts that he devoted his attention during the latter years of his life ; and the pages of Dr, Harvey's " Phycologia Britannica" bear ample testimony to the industry and success with which he prosecuted his researches upon these productive shores. Dr. Harvey acknowledged his contributions by naming an algae after him ; Dr. Johnston in like manner gave his name to a zoophyte ; and a shell is similarly distinguished. An allusion to the latter in one of his books, illustrates the meekness and piety which blended harmoniously with his scientific enthu- siasm : — " When, on another occasion, a friend had given the specific name ot Landshurgii to a shell, I said jestingly to the friend who told me of it, 'Is it possible to sail far down the stream of time in a scallop?' 'Yes,' was the reply, ' the name that is written on nature will be had in remembrance when sceptres are broken, and thrones overturned, and dynasties have passed awa}'.' The humble name in question," he adds, "is so faintly inscribed, that the rough wave of time will soon totally efface it ; but there is a higher and more per- manent honour, that we should all supremely court — that our names be written in the Book of Life ; then, when the sun, and the moon, and the stars are darkened, we shall shine with the brightness of the firmament for ever and ever." Dr. Landsborough's first published work was a poem on "Arran;" but he was more successful in proclaiming the praise of his favourite island in his subsequent volume of " Excursions," in which he describes its natural history in a very pleasing manner. He was also the author of a " Popular History of British Sea-weeds," and a " Popular History of British Zoophytes," both suc- cessful works. A little volume of religious biography, entitled, "Ayrshire Sketches," was his only publication more immediately connected with his pro- fession. He maintained an extensive correspondence with naturalists in all parts of the kingdom, by whom he was esteemed for his varied attainments. "WILLIAM LAING. 369 His theological acquirements and pastoral fidelity won for him the warm attachment of his flock, and the respect and veneration of the adherents of all religious denominations. His disposition was gentle and amiable in a remark- able degree, and those who enjoyed his friendship loved iiim with filial affection. LAING, William. — This well-known collector of rich and rare literary pro- ductions, whose shop was a Herculaneum of the treasures of past ages, was born at Edinburgh, on the 20th of July, 17G4. After having received his education at the grammar high school of the Canongate, he made choice of the trade of a printer for his future occupation, and served to it a six years' apprenticeship. This selection was an unlucky one, owing to the weakness of his eyes ; and there- fore, instead of following it out, he became a bookseller, for which his appren- ticeship had completely qualified him. In his case, too, it was not the showy and ephemeral, but money-making books of modern literature that constituted his stock in trade, but the choicest British and foreign editions of the old classi- cal authors of every language — works which only the learned could appreciate, in spite of the dust and dingy vellum with which they were covered. His shop for this species of unostentatious, slow-going, and precarious traffic, was first opened in the Canongate, in 1785; afterwards he removed lower down the street to Chessel's Buildings, where he remained till 1803, at which date he removed to the South Bridge, where he permanently' established Jiis emporium. During these changes, his reputation as a collector of valuable old books con- tinued to increase, until it was established among the learned over the whole island, so that his shop became n well-known repertory for those scarce volumes which his thriving brethren in the trade did not possess, and probably had never even heard of All this, too, was the fruit of ardent disinterested zeal, and untiring diligence in his profession. From the year 178G he had continued to issue an almost annual succession of catalogues. He knew all the scarce works of antiquity, as to the best editions in which they had been pub- lished, the places at which they were to be found in Britain or upon the con- tinent, and the prices at which they were to be purchased. And he was ready to communicate this valuable information to the literary inquirers who fre- quented his shop for intelligence that could not well be obtained elsewhere. The labour of travel was added to that of painstaking home research and inquiry, and that, too, at a time when Edinburgh booksellers and traffickers in general limited their journeys to the coast of Fife, or even the ranges of the Pentlands. Thus, in 1793, when the French revolution was at the wildest, he visited Paris, for the purpose of making himself acquainted with such know- ledge of his vocation as his own country could not supply, and ascertaining what were the best editions of those authors that are most in request. It was no ordinary zeal that made him pursue such a task amidst the roar of the Parisian pikemen and the clank of the guillotine — more especially, when every stranger there was at least "suspected of being suspected." Another similar pilgrimage he made in 1799. Learning that Christian VII., King of Denmark, had been advised to dispose of the numerous duplicates contained in the royal library at Copenhagen, and being instigated by the advice of the celebrated Niebuhr, at that time a student in the university of Edinburgh, Mr. Laing repaired to the Danish capital, and there made such arrangements upon the sale of the duplicates with the privy councillor Dr. IMoldenhawer, as was satis- factory to both parties. When the peace of Amiens had introduced a breathing V- 3 a 370 SIR THOMAS DICK LAUDER, Baet. interval in the wars of the revolution, Mr. Laing repeatedly visited France and Holland, still for the purpose of extending his professional knowledge, which he readily imparted to the scholars of his own country. The immense amount of information he had thus acquired, was enhanced by his kind generous tem- per, and modest unassuming manners. During the war that followed the delusive peace of Amiens, by which the whole continent was closed against British visitors, Mr. Laing was worthily em- ployed in raising the literary character of his native country in the department of printing. And for this, indeed, he saw that there was too much need. The distinguished brothers, the Foulis of Glasgow, had passed away, and left no successors in their room. In Edinburgh, so soon to assume the name of '•Modern Athens," the case was still worse; for, except Ruddiraan's " Livy," and Cunningham's "Virgil," no classical work had issued from her press worth mentioning. In 1 80-i he commenced the attempt, by publishing the works of Thucj'dides, in six volumes, small 8vo, under the following title, " Thucydides Grsece et Latine. Accedunt Indices, ex Editione Wassii et Dukeri." In print- ing this work, Mr. Laing was fortunate in having for the superintendent of the press the Rev. Peter Elmsle^^ who attained such a high European distinction in Grecian literature. In 1806, the works of Thucydides were followed by those of Herodotus, in seven volumes, small 8vo, under the title of "Herodotus Graece et Latine. Accedunt Annotationes seclectae, necnon Index Latinus, ex Editionibus Wesselingii et Reizii." For editing this work Mr. Laing had secured the valuable services of Professor Porson; but as the latter went no farther than the second book, the rest was carried on and completed under the superintendence of Professor Dunbar. The next classical author whose writ- ings Mr. Laing published, in 1811, was Xenophon, in ten volumes, also of small 8vo, under the the title of " Xenophontis qute extant opera, Greece et Latine, ex Editionibus Schneideri et Zeunii. Accedit Index Latinus.' This important publication was admirably edited by ]\Ir. Adam Dickinson, whose Greek scholarship was only equalled by his retiring modesty, that prevented his worth from being more widely known. Mr. Laing would have followed these with similar editions of the woi'ks of Plato and Demosthenes, but was prevented, chiefly by the difficulty of obtaining competent Greek scholars to superintend such important publications. Still, however, he had done much: the editions which he had published were standard specimens of their class, and have given an impulse to classical reprinting in Scotland which, we trust, will neitiier be fruitless, nor yet soon abandoned. During the latter part of his life, when Mr. Laing was in easy and comfort- able circumstances, he was able to devote himself to the more general interests of merchandise, and to this purpose was one of the original founders of the Commercial Bank of Scotland, and also' a director. After having nearly com- pleted his sixty-eighth year, and attended business till within three days of his death, he died at his house, Ramsay Lodge, Laurieston, Edinburgh, on the 10th of April, 1832, leaving a widow and famil}'. His name honourably survives in one of his sons, w^hose valuable labours are well known in Scottish history and antiquarianism. LAUDER, Sir Thojias Dick, Bart. — When Sir Walter Scott commenced that series of novels with which he so greatly delighted the reading world, we can well remember what a host of imitators sprung up, and how much Scottish novel writing became the rage, and even the frenzy of the day. But SIR THOMAS DICK LAUDER, Baut. 371 tlie second-hand productions of tliis new school disappeared as rapidly as they rose ; for unless the imitator has a large portion of the genius of his original, his copy can be little better than a wretched caricature. A few writers, however, there were who survived this general annihilation, for in them the imitative principle was supported by strong native talent. Among these we may quote, as the foremost, Miss Ferrier and John Gait ; and, perhaps, immediately after them, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, the last eminent writer of tliat school of novelists by whom our national dialect was arrested from the oblivion into which it was hastening. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder was the eldest son of Sir Andrew Lauder, Bart., of Fountainhall, Haddingtonshire, and was born in 1784. The family was origi- nally of Norman extraction, its founder, De Lavedre, having come from England with Malcolm Canmore, when the latter drove Macbeth from the Scottish throne ; and from him descended a race who took part in all the subsequent wars of Scottish independence, and fought gallantly under the banners of Wallace, Bruce, and the Douglasses. It was natural that these family recollec- tions should influence the early studies of Sir Thomas, and inspire him with that love of chivalry and antiquarian research which he afterwards turned to such good account. At an early period he entered the army, and was an officer in the 79th Regiment (Cameron Highlanders). Here he continued only a short period ; and, on quitting the army, he took up his residence in Morayshire, where he married Miss Gumming, only child and heiress of George Gumming, Esq. of Relugas, a beautiful property on the banks of Findhorn. From this time till the close of life, he was fully occupied with the civil appointments he held, and with the pursuits of science and literature, in which he sustained a high reputation to the end. The first efforts of Sir Thomas in authorship, so far as can be ascertained, were in the departments of natural science ; and his diligence in these studies is well attested by his numerous contributions to the scientific journals of the day, and especially to the " Annals of Philosophy," edited by the late Thomas Thomson, professor of chemistry in the university of Glasgow. To this maga- zine we find him, in 1G15, and the three following j'ears, contributing papers on the following subjects, from which the nature of his researches can best be understood : — "Account of a Toad found in the trunk of a Beech ;" "Account of the Worm with which the Stickleback is infested; ' "Account of the Alu- minous Chalybeate Spring which has latelj' appeared on the property of Sir Andrew Lauder Dick, Bart., at Fountainhall, in East Lothian." (To this he subsequently added a register of its diurnal alternations contrasted with the barometer, during nineteen months, a daily list of which had been made by his father, who was also a lover of natural science.) " An Account of the Earth- quake in Scotland;" " Account of Different Currents of Wind observed at the same time." But the most important of his philosophical investigations, upon which he had spent much study, and made more than one exploratory journey to the wilds of Lochaber, was contained in his paper " On the Parallel Roads of Glenroy," which he read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1818, These singular roads, it was generally'- supposed, had been constructed either by the ancient Celtic kings of Scotland when their royal abode was the Castle of Inverlochy, or by the P'ingalian "car-borne'' chiefs who had flourished at a still earlier period. Sir Thoma^ however, attempted to show, by a careful induction, that these stupendous pathways, instead of being constructed by kings, heroes. or piunitive i^iants, had been formed by the action of the waters of a lake that had stood at different heiglits, corresponding with those of the shelves, until it liad finally hurst through its latest barrier in consequence of some great natural convulsion— probably the same that formed the great glen of Scotland through which the Caledonian Canal lias been carried. This simple theory, altliough it sorely discomfited the lovers of the wonderful, and worshippers of "supersti- tions eld," was greatly admired bj' the sober and scientific, not only for its originality, but tlie powerful array of facts and arguments that were adduced to support it, illustrated as it farther was by eight drawings, with which Sir Thomas accompanied his dissertation. This essay, with engravings of his sketches, was published in the "Transactions"' of the Society. He had thus not only the merit of throwing new light upon the theory of natural geological formations in opposition to the artificial, but of directing particular attention to these phenomena of Lochaber, which have been investigated by subsequent geologists, among whom may be mentioned Mr. Milne, and Sir G. S. M'Kenzie. Another subject, of scarcely less importance, that occupied the researches of Sir Thomas, was the natural transport, by means of ice, of a large boulder on the shore of the i\Ioray Frith. His account of this huge isolated stone, and his conjectures as to the mode in which it had found its ultimate landing-place, was published in the third volume of the '' Wernerian Transactions," while his theory formed the basis on which several scientific writers afterwards endea- voured to account for still more important revolutions by means of ice, which had been effected over a large portion of the earth's surface. The nature of these studies, extending over so many fields, and the reputation which they had already vv'on for him, would have constituted a stock in life upon which most of our comfortable country gentleman would have contentedly reposed to the end. But the mind of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder possessed an amount of intellectual vigour that could not be so easily satisfied ; he had only thus commenced, not concluded his career ; and after having begun with science, lie turned, by way of relief, to the lighter departments of literature, through which he was to be better known to the world at large, than by his more laborious investigations among migratory rocks and water-chiselled highways. On the commencement of "Blackwood's Magazine," at the beginning of 1817, he became one of its earliest contributors; and his first tale which appeared in it, under the title of "Simon Ray, gardener at Dumphail," vv-as written with such vigour and truthfulness, that, for a time at least, it was supposed to liave proceeded from no other pen than that of Sir Walter Scott himself. Some im- pression of this kind, indeed, seems at first to have been made by the anonymous contribution upon the conductors of the magazine also, for they appended to the tale the flattering announcement of, " Written, we have no doubt,, by the author of Waverley." The great era of magazines had now fully commenced, as well as that of steam, in which the impatient mind, no longer booked for the slow conveyance of folios and quartos, was to be carried onward with railway speed ; and to the most important of these periodicals Sir Thomas became a fre- quent and welcome contributor: Besides these light but attractive sketches, he also became a writer in tlie grave methodical pages of the " Edinburgh Eney- clopffidia," for which he drew up the statistical account of the province of Moray. It was in the midst of these, and such other literary occupations, that he succeeded to the baronetcy of Fountainhall, by the death of his father in 1820, and was the seventh who had enjoyed that title. SIR THOMAS DICK LA.UDER, Bart. 373 After having preluded for some time in the department of fiction, and as an anon^-nious contributor to the periodicals, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, having now fully essayed his strength, adventured upon the decisive three-volumed experi- ment, by publishing his historical romances of " Lochindhu" and the " Wolf of Badenoch.' The scenery of both of these works was laid in Mora3'shire, a county with which he was so well acquainted, while the time of action was that which succeeded tiie days of Bruce, the period when chivalrous warfare was at the hottest in Scotland, while it had Froissart for the chronicler of some of its best passages of arms. It was a riglit perilous attempt to follow the san- dalled steps of the warrior-monk ; and Sir Thomas, stalwart though he was, and a knight to boot, was scarcely able to keep pace with his miglity leader. But who, indeed, would read modern chivalrous romances in the hope of finding newer and more stirring deeds of warlike emprise, after what Froissart has written ? — or search for keener ridicule of the fooleries of chivalry than can be found in the pages of Cervantes ^ The attempts of Sir Thomas, therefore, in these productions, partook somewhat of the inferiority of Smollet, when the latter endeavoured, in his "Sir Launcelot Greaves," to produce an English simi- litude of Don Quixote de la Mancha. It happened unfortunately also for " Lochindhu " and the " Wolf of Badenoch," that their author, not content with entering a field so preoccupied, must needs accommodate himself to the language of the period, by interlacing his phraseology with antique and conse- quently uncouth words; and tlius his style, which after all would have been a patois unintelligible to tlie 14th century, of which it purports to be the type, becomes utter barbarism to readers of the 19th, for whose gratification it was written. This is generality the fate of such literary compromises ; and Sir Walter Scott was guilty of the same blunder, when, in his romance of " Ivanhoe,' he jumbled together the characters and events of the early period of Richard Coeur de Lion with the refinements of that of Richard III., and crowned the whole with the English phraseology of the days of Queen Elizabeth. But, in spite of these incongruities, "" Ivanhoe " is a magnificent epic, and "Lochindhu" and the "Wolf' are heart-stirring, captivating romances. In scenic description and delineation of events. Sir Thomas has approached the nearest to Scott of all the ambitious imitators of the " great unknown" of the period. But it is in individuality of character that he chiefly fi^ils, and his knights, like the brave Gyas, and the brave Cloanthes, are little more than facsimiles of each other. They have all the same complement of thews and bones, and are equally prompt to use them ; and they only differ by virtue of the scenery with which they are surrounded, and the historical actions of which they form a part. But of all the works which Sir Thomas Dick Lauder has produced, that entitled "The Moray Floods in 1829," is perhaps the one by which he will continue to be best appreciated. He had himself not only been an e^-e-witness of these tremendous inundations, but an active philanthropist in the relief of those who had been ruined by the havoc ; and the account which he wrote of the event will long be prized by the lovers of vigorous writing, and vivid, poetical, and truthful description, Another descriptive work which he produced, commemorative of a great national event, was the "Queen's Visit to Scotland in 1842." But reverting during this long interval to that kind of study which gave full scope to his imagination, as well as brought the varied resources of his experience and observation into complete act and use, he published his " High- 374 SIR THOMAS DICK LAUDER, JUijt. land Rambles, with long Tales to shorten the way ;" a work which, indepen- dently of its attractive narratives, is an interesting memorial of the Celtic cha- racter, manners, and superstitions, and the intimate knowledge which he had acquired of them. Besides these original productions, he edited " Gilpin's Forest Scenery," and " Sir Uvedale Price on the Picturesque." To the latest period of his life, also, he continued to be a contributor to our periodicals, in which his articles, chiefly consisting of Highland and Lowland Tales and Sketches, were always gladly welcomed by the reading public. These, we doubt not, if collected and published in a separate work, would soon become the most popular of his literary productions. From the foregoing account, it might be supposed that the life of Sir Thomas had been chiefly spent in the study; and that when he emerged into society, it was rather for the purpose of enjoying relief, than taking an active part in its occupations. But, on the contrary, he was an industrious, public-spirited man, fully conscious of the duties of his position, and indefatigable in promoting the best interests of his country. In this way he bestirred himself in the great political questions of the daj% and was one of the most active promoters in Scotland of the Reform Bill. In 1839, he was appointed secretary to the Board of Scottish Manufactures, which was soon afterwards united by the Lords of the Treasury to the Board of White Herring Fishery- ; and as secre- tary of both, his labours were sufficiently diversified, as well as widely distin- guished from each other. It was a Janus-like office, that required a double and opposite inspection — or rather, a planting of ''one foot on sea, and one on shore," like the very personification of an inconstant man, which Shakspeare's ditty so touchingly describes. But faithfully and ably were these opposite functions discharged. In his department of manufactures, Sir Thomas quickly perceived that, in consequence of the extension of our commercial and manu- facturing operations, the original purpose for which the Scottish Board had been created was in a considerable degree superseded. He therefoi-e endeavoured to restore it to full efficiency, by adapting it to the progress of modern improve- ment; and for this purpose he proposed that its surplus funds should be em- ployed in the extension of schools for teaching pattern drawing. On the proposal being sanctioned, he carried it into execution so zealously, that artistic taste was diffused anew throughout our manufactories of fanciful design, and a love of the fine arts promoted among those classes that had hitherto been contented with humble imitations of foreign excellence. His task as secretary of the White Herring Fishery Board was fulfilled with equal diligence ; and as one of its duties was an annual voyage round the British coast, and an examina- tion of its places of export, he turned the experience he thus acquired to good account, by aiding in the supply of materials for a narrative of the voyage in 1842, which was written by Mr. Wilson, the naturalist, who accompanied him. He also wrote several booksof directions for the taking and curing of herring, cod, ling, tusk, and other fish, which were translated into Gaelic for the instruction of the Highlanders. While so much was accomplished in the course of his professional duties, he was not neglectful of those public movements wdiich con cerned the general weal, and from which he might have excused himself under the plea of a press of occupation elsewhere. Among these public-spirited exertions, we can only allude in passing to the interest he took in the pro- ceedings of the original Scott Monument Committee, of which he was one of the most active agents — and his efforts for the construction of the Queen's Drive ROBERT LISTON. 37.5 round Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags, already become the fairest ornament of the fairest of European cities. Such was the life of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder to the close— a twofold life of diligent study and active exertion, in each of which he was a benefactor to societ}', and a distinguished ornament of his country ; while several of his writings, translated into the French and German languages, acquired for him a European reputation. His private worth and amenity of character, had en- deared him also to the learned and talented, so that scholars, authors, and artists, sought his society, and were benefited by his counsel and conversation. Even strangers were arrested as he passed along the streets of Edinburgh, by the sight of his noble, stately form, long white locks, and remarkably handsome expressive countenance, and felt convinced at once that this man must be some one as much distinguished above his fellows by intellectual as by personal superiority. This round of activity was only interrupted by his last illness, which was occasioned by a tumour on the spine, that for fifteen months in- capacitated him for attendance at the Board of Trustees for Manufactures, &c., and finally obliged him to lay aside a work descriptive of the rivers of Scotland, of which part had already appeared in a serial form in " Tait's Magazine." lie died at his residence called the Grange, near Edinburgh, on the 29tli May, 18J.8, at the age of sixty-four. Independently of the offices we have mentioned. Sir Thomas held that of Deputy-Lieutenant of the county of Haddington ; he was also a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was survived by two sons and six daughters, and succeeded in the baronetcy by liis eldest son. Captain Dick, who, a short time previously, had retired from the army after fourteen years of military service, as an officer in the East India Company. LISTON, Robert, F.R.S. — This great medical teacher and practitioner was born on the 28th of October, 1794, and was son of the Rev. Henry Liston, minister of Ecclesmachen, Linlithgowshire. After having finished his course of classical and professional education, he, at the termination of the latter, prac- tised as ordinary house-surgeon in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. It speaks much for his professional attainments at this period — for he was only at the age of twenty-one — that he perceived the defects that prevailed in the manage- ment of that institution ; and not a little for his courage as well as disinterested- ness, that he set himself in earnest to reform them. Like most of those daring young geniuses, however, who look too exclusively to the good end in view, and are satisfied with the rectitude of their own motives, he pursued his plan of reform with such aidour as to waken the wrath of the directors, who were little disposed to be taught that they were in the wrong by such a juvenile instructor. Liston, however, persevered, while his growing reputation coming to his aid, at length gave his representations such weight, that, when his connection with the Infirmary terminated, a full acknowledgment of the important services he had rendered was entered upon its records. In 1817, Mr. Liston became a graduate of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and London, and com- menced practice in the former city, where his reputation as a surgical operator grew j-earl}', until he attained that pre-eminence which left him without a rival. For this department, indeed, he was admirably fitted by nature; for indepen- dentlj^ of his acquired skill, he possessed a decision of will, firmness of nerve, strength of muscle, and quickness of eye, w'hich qualified him for successful operations, where many of his gentler or less prompt and active brethren would have failed, liut with all this, he was neither a rash experimenter nor merci- less practitioner : on the contrary, he not only performed boldly and skilfully what was necessary, but stopped short where danger was to be apprehended. His manner, also, combined such gentleness with firmness, as secured the confidence and esteem of his patients. In addition to his practice, he delivered lectures, first on anatomy, and afterwards on surgery, between the years 1822 and 1834, which were highly valued and numerously attended. Having thus won for himself a high reputation both as practitioner and in- structor, it was natural that Mr. Listen should anticipate those professional honours which are so often bestowed upon candidates of greatly inferior pre- tensions. Ilis hopes were directed to a professorship of surgery in the univer- sity of Edinburgh, which no one in Scotland was better (if as well) qualified to fill ; but as the wished-for vacancy did not occur, or was won by a more favoured competitor, he formed a professorship for himself, with the world for his auditory, by publishing, in 1883, his "Principles of Surgery," a work which he afterwards repeatedly revised, and which went through several editions. Subsequently, many of his lectures on various subjects, and especially on litho- tomy, were published in the "Lancet." Of the merits of these writings, which were recognized at once by the v.hole medical profession, and which have spread his fame though every medical school in Europe and America, it would now be superfluous to speak ; their scientific correctness and thorough practical character, as well as the improvements which they have introduced into prac- tical surgerjr, are sufficient evidences of their worth. Disappointed in his hopes of Edinburgh, and having fully tested his own powers, Dr. Liston was now desirous of a wider field, which was opened to him in 1834, by his being appointed surgeon to the North London Hospital. He left the Scottish capital in the November of that year; and so fully was his value now appreciated in Edinburgh, that before his departure a public dinner was given to him, at which the Lord Provost presided, while the addresses delivered on the occa- sion by the most eminent of the medical and surgical professions, who attended, made eloquent acknowledgment of his high talents and eminent services, as well as regret at their transference to another sphere of action. In London the fame of Dr. Liston became so distinguished, that his private practice annually increased, and the most difficult and critical operations were reserved for his experienced hand. After having filled for some time the office of surgeon to the North London Hospital, he was appointed professor of clinical surgery in University College; and in 184G, in addition to that situa- tion, which he raised to honour and distinction, he was appointed one of the examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons. In this way, notwithstanding a certain bluntness of manner which he had preserved from the beginning, his private worth, as well as professional knowledge, procured him not only the liighest distinction in his own country, but a world-wide reputation, which as yet has suff"ered no abatement. Here, however, his career was unexpectedly closed when it was at the brightest. After enjoying almost uninterrupted good health till within a year of his death, he was attacked by a malady, the causes of which his medical advisers could not ascertain, but which was found, on apoH mortem examination, to have been occasioned by aneurism in the aorta. He died in Cliff'ord Street, London, on the 7th of December, 1847, at the age of fifty-three. LOCKHART, John Gib?o\. — This distinguished miscellaneous writer, who occupied so high a station in the tribunal of literary criticism, was born at JOHN GIBSON LOCKHAKT. 377 Glasgow, and, as is generally supposed, in the year 1793. His father, the Rev. Dr. John Lockhart, who, for nearly fifty years, was minister of the College or Blackfriar s Church, Glasgow, will not soon be forgot by the denizens of that good city, not only on account of his piety and worth, but also his remarkable wit and extreme absence of mind — two qualities which are seldom lound united in the same character. The stories with which Glasgow is still rife, of the worthy doctor's occasional obliviousness, and the amusing mistakes and blunders it occasioned, are even richer than those of Dominie Samson; for, when he awoke from his dream, he could either laugh with tlie laughers, or turn the laugh against them if necessary. But his remarkable powers of sarcasm, as well as his creative talents in embellishing an amusing story, were so strictly under the control of religious principle and amiable feeling, that he would often stop short when sensitiveness was likely to be wounded, or the strictness of truth violated. It would have been well if the same power, which was so conspicuous in his talented son, had been always kept under the same coercion. Of this amiable divine John Gibson Lockhart was the second son, and the eldest by a second marriage, his mother having been a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Gibson, one of the ministers of Edinburgh. At an early age he prosecuted his studies at the university of Glasgow, and with such success, that he received one of its richest tokens of approval in a Snell exhibition to Baliol College, Oxford. Here he could prosecute, with increased facilities, those classical studies to which he was most addicted; and in a short time he took a high station as an accon)plished linguist, even among the students of Oxford. Bis studies at Baliol College, which were directed to the profession of the law, were followed by a continental tour; and, on returning to Scotland, he was called to the Scottish bar in 1816. It was soon evident, however, that he was not likely to win fame or fortune by the pi'ofession of an advocate. He lacked, indeed, that power without which all legal attainments are useless to a barrister — he could not make a speech. Accordingly, when he rose to speak on a case, his first sentence was only a plunge into the mud; while all that followed was but a struggle to get out of it. Had the matter depended upon writing, we can judge how it would have gone otherwise; had it even depended on pic- torial pleading, he would have been the most persuasive of silent orators, for, during the course of the trial, his pen was usually employed, not in taking notes, but sketching caricatures of the proceedings, the drollery of which would have overcome both judge and jury. As it was, he became a briefless barrister, and paced the boards of Parliament House, discussing with his equally luckless brethren the passing questions of politics and literary criticism. He made a happy allusion to this strange professional infirmity at a dinner, which was given by his friends in Edinburgh, on his departure to assume the charge of the '•Quarterly Review." He attempted to address them, and broke down as usual, but covered his retreat with, " Gentlemen, you know that if 1 could speak we would not have been here." In Mr. Lockhart "s case it was the less to be regretted that he was not likely to win his way to the honours of a silk gown, as he had already found a more agreeable and equally distinguishing sphere of action. He devoted himself to literature, and literature adopted him for her own. He had already made attempts in periodical writing, and the favour with which his contributions were regarded encouraged his choice and confirmed him in authorship. A more settled course of exertion was opened up for him in 1817, the year after V, 3 b 578 JOHN GIBSOxV lOCKHART. lie had passed as advocate, by the establishment of " Blackwood's Magazine." Of this distinguished periodical he became, with John Wilson, the principal con- tributor; and now it was that the whole torrent of thought, which the bar may have kept in check, burst forth in full profusion. Eloquence, and wit, and learning distinguished his numerous articles, and imparted a prevailing character to the work which it long after retained; but unfortunately with these attrac- tive qualities there was often mingled a causticity of sarcasm and fierceness of censure that engendered hatred and strife, and at last led to bloodshed. But into this painful topic we have no wish to enter; and the unhappy termination of his quarrel with the author of " Paris Visited " and '• Paris Revisited " may as well be allowed to sleep in oblivion. It is more pleasing to turn to his "Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk," a wonderful series of eloquent, vigorous, and truthful sketches, embodying the distinguished men in almost every department, by whom Scotland was at that period distinguished above every other nation. Not a few, at the appearance of this, his first separate work, were loud in their outcry against the author, not only as a partial delineator, but an invader of the privacies of life and character; but now that years have elapsed, and that the living men whom he so minutely depicted have passed away from the world, the condemnation has been reversed, and the resentment been superseded by gratitude. How could we otherwise have possessed such a valuable picture- gallery of the great of the past generation ? All this Sir Walter Scott fully appreciated when he thus wrote to the author of " Peter's Letters " in 1819: — ■ " What an acquisition it would have been to ouv general information to have had such a work written, I do not say fifty, but even five-and-twenty years ago; and how much of grave and gay might then have been preserved, as it were, in amber, which have now mouldered away ! When I think that, at an age not much younger than yours, I knew Black, Ferguson, Robertson, Erskine, Adam Smith, John Ilorne, &c., &c., and at last saw Burns, I can appreciate better than any one the value of a work which, like this, would have handed them down to posterity in their living colours." It was in May, 1818, that Lockhart first formed that acquaintanceship with Sir Walter Scott, which so materially influenced the course of his after-life. The introduction to the " Great Unknown " took place in Edinburgh, at the house of Mr. Home Drummond, of Blair-Drummond, where a small but select party was assembled ; and Scott, who understood that Mr. Lockhart had but lately returned from a tour in Germany, held with him an amusing conversation on Goethe, and German literature. This introduction soon ripened into an intimacy, in which Miss Scott became a principal personage, as a marriage treaty, with the concurrence of all parties, was settled so early as the February of 1820. On the 29th of April, the marriage took place at Edinburgh, and Sir Walter, who was the worshipper as well as recorder of good old Scottish fashions, caused the wedding to be held in the evening, and "gave a jolly supper afterwards to all the friends and connections of the young couple." Mr. Lockhart and his bride took up their abode at the little cottage of Chiefswood, about two miles from Abbotsford, which became their usual summer residence — and thither Sir W^alter, when inundated by sight-seers and hero-worshippers, was occasionally glad to escape, that he might breathe in a tranquil atmo- sphere, and write a chapter or two of the novel that might be on hand, to de- spatch to the craving press in Edinburgh. These were happy visits, that spoke of no coming cloud; "the clatter of Sibyl Greys hoofs, the yelping of Mustard and JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART, 379 Spice, and his own joyous shout of reveiUce under our windows, were the signal that he had burst his toils, and meant for tliat day to 'take his ease in his inn.' On descending, he was to be found seated with all liis dogs and ours about him, under a spreading ash that overshadowed half the bank between the cottage and the brook, pointing the edge of his woodman's axe for himself, and listening to Tom Purdie's lecture touching the plantation that most needed thinning." By the year 1837 how completely all this had terminated! In the last volume of the " Life of Sir Walter Scott, ' Lockhart thus closes the description : " Death has laid a heavy hand upon that circle — as happy a circle, I believe, as ever met. Bright eyes now closed in dust, gay voices for ever silenced, seem to haunt me as I write. . . . She whom I may now sadly record as, next to Sir Walter himself, the chief ornament and delight at all those simple meetings — she to whose love I owed my own place in them — Scott's eldest daughter, the one of all his children who in countenance, mind, and manners, most resembled himself, and who indeed was as like in all things as a gentle innocent woman can ever be to a great man, deeply tried and skilled in the struggles and perplexities of active life — she, too, is no more." In December, 1831, John Hugh Lockhart, the Master Hugh Littlejohn of the "Tales of a Grandfather," died, and in 1853, Lockhart's only surviving son, Walter Scott Lockhart Scott, leaving no remains of the family except a daughter, Charlotte, married in August, 1847, to James Robert Hope-Stuart, who succeeded to the estate of Abbotsford. In this way the representatives of both Sir Walter Scott and John Lockhart have terminated in one little girl, Monica, the only surviving child of Hope-Scott of Abbotsford. Leaving this domestic narrative, so full of happiness, disappointment, and sorrow, we gladly turn to the literary life of John Gibson Lockhart. Alter the publication of " Peter's Letters," his pen was in constant operation ; and not- withstanding the large circle of acquaintance to which his marriage introduced him, and the engagements it entailed upon him, he not onl}-- continued his regular supplies to "Blackwood's Magazine, " but produced several separate works, with a fertility that seemed to have caught its inspiration from the example ot his father-in-law. The first of these was "Valerius," one of the most classical tales descriptive of ancient Rome, and the manners of its people, which the Eng- lish language has as yet embodied. After this came "Adam Blair,'' a tale which, in spite of its impossible termination, so opposed to all Scottish canon law, abounds with the deepest touches of genuine feeling, as well as descriptive power. The next was "Reginald Dalton," a three-volumed novel, in which he largely brought forward his reminiscences of student- life at Oxford, and the town-and- gown affrays with which it was enlivened. The last of this series of novels was "Matthew Wald," which fully sustained the high character of its predecessors. It will always happen in the literary world, that when a critical censor and sharp reviewer puts forth a separate work of his own, it will fare like the tub thrown overboard to the tender mercies of the whale: the enemies he has raised, and the wrath he has provoked, have now found their legitimate object, and the stinging censures he has bestowed upon the works of others, are sure to recoil with tenfold severity upon his own. And thus it fared with Lockhart's productions; the incognito of their author was easily penetrated, and a thunder- shower of angry criticism followed. But this hostile feeling having lasted its time, is now dying a natural death, and the rising generation, who cannot enter into the feuds of their fathers, regard these writings with a more just apprecia- 380 JOHN GIBSON LOCKIIART. tiou of their excellence. After a short interval, Lockliart came forth in a new character, by his translations from the "Spanish Ballads;" and such was the classical taste, melody of versification, and rich command of language which these translations evinced, that the regret was general that he had not been more exclusively a poet, instead of a student and author in miscellaneous literature. His next productions were in the department of biography, in which he gave an earnest of his fitness to be the literary executor and historian of liis illustrious father-in-law — these were the "Life of Robert Burns," which appeared in " Constable's Miscellany," and the " Life of Napo- leon Bonaparte," which was published in "Murray's Family Library."' The varied attainments of Mr. Lockhart, and the distinction he had won in so many different departments of authorsiiip, obtained for him, at the close of 1825, a situation of no ordinary responsibility. This was the editorship of the "Quarterly Review," the great champion of Toryism, when the political principles of Toryism were no longer in the ascendant, and which was now reduced to a hard battle, as much for life itself as for victory and conquest. It was no ordinary merit that could have won such a ticklish elevation at the age of thirty-two. Lockhart gladly accepted the perilous honour, linked, however, as it was with the alternatives of fame and emolument; and for twenty-eight years he discharged its duties through the good and evil report with which they were accompanied. In his case, as might be expected, the latter prevailed, and the angry complaints of scarified authors were loudly swelled by the outcries of a political party now grown into full strength and activity. With the jus- tice or the unreasonableness of these complaints we have nothing to do ; but it speaks highly for the able management of Lockhart, that in spite of such oppo- sition, the "Review" continued to maintain the high literary and intellectual character of its earlier years. His own contributions to the " Quarterly " will, we trust, be yet collected into a separate work, as has been the case with the journalism of Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, and Macaulay ; and that they will be found fully worthy of such a distinguished brotherhood. During the latter years of his life, his health was greatly imjjaired ; but for this^ his intellectual exertions, as well as family calamities and bereavements, will sufficiently account. In the summer of 1853, he resigned his editorship of the "Quarterly Review," and spent the following winter in Italy; but the maladies under which he laboured, although assuaged for a time, came back with double vio- lence after his return home, and he died at Abbotsford, now the seat of his son- in-law, on the 25th of November, 1854. Although not directly enumerated in the list of his authorship, the ablest, the widest known, and probably the most enduring of all Lockhart's produc- tions, will here naturally occur to the mind of the reader. Who, indeed, throughout the whole range of educated society, has failed to peruse his "Life of Scott," or will forget the impressions it produced ? But even here, too, the angr}' objections with which " Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk " was encoun- tered, were revived with tenfold bitterness, and the charges of violated confi- dence, unnecessary exposure, or vainglorious adulation, were raised according to the mood of each dissatisfied complainer. But could a more perfect and complete picture of the whole mind of Sir Walter Scott, in all its greatness and defects, have been better or even otherwise produced? Posterity, that will recognize no such defects in this great master-piece of biography, will wonder at the ingratitude of their predecessors, whom it so enlightened, and who yet JOHN CLAUDIUS LOUDON. 381 could "cram, and blaspheme the feeder."' Faults, indeed, it possesses; how could these have been wholly avoided? but by no means to such extent as the charges seek to establish. Only a few days have closed over the departure of John Gibson Lockhart, and calumny is still busy with his reputation; but time, the impartial judge, will vindicate his character, and a very few years will suffice to teach us his full value. LOUDON, John Claudius. — This eminent improver of our gardening and agriculture, was born at Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, on the 8th of April, 1783. His father was a respectable farmer, who resided at Kerse Hall, near Gogar, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh : his mother was only sister of the mother of Dr. Claudius Buchanan, so well known by his philanthropic labours in behalf of the Hindoos, and his work entitled "Christian Researches in Asia.' Even when a child, John Claudius Loudon evinced that taste in gardening for which he was afterwards so distinguished; and his chief pleasure at that time was to lay out, and make walks and beds in a little garden which his father had given him. He was early sent to Edinburgh for the benefit of his education, where he resided with his uncle; and besides studying botany and chemistry, he learned Latin, and afterwards French and Italian, contriving to pay the fees of his teachers by the sale of his translations from the two last-mentioned languages. Being- placed at the age of fourteen under the charge of a nurseryman and landscape gardener, he continued his studies in botany and chemistry, to which he added that of agriculture, at the university of Edinburgh; while to obtain as much time as possible from the duties of the day, he was wont to sit up two nights during each week, a practice that grew into a habit, and which he continued for years during his subsequent studies. In 1803, when he had now reached his twentieth year, and obtained a consi- derable reputation in landscape gardening, Loudon went up to London, carrying with him numerous letters of introduction to some of the first landed proprietors in England. On entering the great metropolis, the tasteless manner in which the public squares were laid out caught his observant eye: their gloomy trees and shrubs were planted as if the places had been designed for church-yards rather than haunts of recreation. As the solitary voice of a stranger would have been unheard upon such a prevalent evil, he had recourse to the press, and publislied an article, entitled " Observations on Laying out the Public Squares of London," in the Literary Journal, in which he recommended the Oriental plane, almond, sycamore, and other lighter trees, instead of the lugubrious plantings that had hitherto been in vogue. The advice gradually preva:iled, and the effect is to be seen in the cheerful, graceful aspect of our public squares in London, as well as over the kingdom. He now became an author as well as practical workman, and his pen went onward with little intermission for forty years, until his life terminated. His first publication, which appeared in 180J-, was entitled, " Observations on the Formation and Management of Useful and Ornamental Plantations." In the following year he published "A Short Treatise on some Improvements lately made in Hothouses;" and in 180G, "A Treatise on Forming, Improving, and Managing Country Residences; and on the Choice of Situations, appropriate to every Class of Purchasers." As Loudon was an excellent artist, this work was enriched with thirty-two copperplate engravings of landscape scenery, drawn by himself. A disaster which soon after befell him, and under which the activit}'^ of others would have been paralyzed, only opened up for Loudon a wider range of action. 382 JOHN CLAUDIUS LOUDON. In consequence of travelling upon a rainy night on the outside of a coach, and neglecting afterwards to change his clothes, so severe an attack of rheumatic fever ensued that he was obliged to take lodgings at Pinner, near Harrow. Here, during the days of convalescence, he had an opportunity of observing the cumbrous, wasteful, and unskilful modes of farming pursued in England, and so much at variance with those which were beginning to be put in practice in his own country. With Loudon, to see an evil was to labour for its removal, and persist until it was removed. For the sake of giving practical illustra- tions of his proposed amendments, he induced his father to join with him in renting Wood Hall, near London, where their operations were so suc- cessful, that in 1807 he was enabled to call public attention to the proof, in a pamphlet entitled •' An Immediate and EflFectual Mode of Raising the Rental of the Landed Property of England, &c., by a Scotch Farmer, now firming in Middlesex." This excellent work introduced him to the notice of General Stratton, b}- whom he was induced to farm Tew Park, a property belonging to the General in Oxfordshire. On moving to this new localit}', Mr. Loudon did not content himself with reaping the fruits of his superior farming ; anxious that others should share in the benefit, he established an academy or college of agriculture on the estate of Tew Park, where young men were in- structed in the theory of farmin?, and the best modes of cultivating the soil ; and anxious to diffuse this knowledge as widely as possible, he published, in 3809, a pamphlet, entitled, "The Utility of Agricultural Knowledge to the Sons of the Landed Proprietors of Great Britain, &c., by a Scotch Farmer and Land-Agent." In this way, while Loudon was generously doing his uttermost to be the Triptoleraus of England, and teaching the best modes of increasing and eliciting the riches of its soil, his own success was a practical comment upon the efBcacy of his theories: for, in 1812. he found himself the comfortable possessor of £15,000. This was enough for one who had a higher aim in life than mere money-making, and to fit himself more effectually for that aim, he resolved to improve his mind by travel. Accordingly, he resigned his profitable farm, and in March, 1813, commenced his travels on the continent, visiting the principal cities of Germany and Russia. Short though this tour was, for he returned to England in the following year, it was associated with a variety of interesting adventures, of which he published a full account, illustrated by sketches from his own pencil. On returning to London, he found that the greater part of his property had disappeared, from the faithlessness of the investments to which it had been intrusted, and thus he had to begin the world anew. He returned to his original occupation, that of landscape gardening, on which he resolved to produce an extensive work ; and for the improvement of his knowledge on this subject, he made, in 1819, a tour of France and Italy. Three years after the work appeared, under the title of "The Encyclopaedia of Gardening;" and such was the high reputation it acquired, that its author was reckoned the first horticulturist of his day. Of this work a second edition appeared in 1824, con- taining great alterations and improvements. Encouraged b}- the success that attended it, Loudon commenced another equally copious, and upon the same plan, which appeared in 182.5, entitled " The Encyclopaedia of Agriculture." In 1826 he commenced the "Gardener's Magazine," the first periodical that had ever been devoted to horticultural subjects. In 1828 he commenced the " Magazine of Natural History," which was also the first periodical of the kind. JOHN CLAUDIUS LOUDON, 383 In 1829 he published the " Encyclopaedia of Plants," which was less his own work than any of its predecessors, as he claimed nothing of it beyond the plan and general design. During the two years that followed, he was chiefly em- ployed in producing new editions of his Encyclopaedias of Agriculture and Gardening, and of these, the first was almost wholly re-written, and the latter entirely so. But these occupations, although so laborious, were not his sole nor even his chief task at the time, for he was also closely engaged with the " Encyclopjedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture," — so closely, indeed, that himself and Mrs. Loudon used to sit up the greater part of every night emploj-ed upon it, never having more than four hours' sleep, and drinking strong coffee to keep themselves awake. It would have been hard, indeed, had such labour been in vain ; and therefore it is gratifying to add, that this was not only one of the most useful, but also most successful of all his works, and is still a standard authority upon the subject. His next, and also his greatest •work, which would of itself have been sufficient for any ordinary lifetime, was his " Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum," in which he gave an account, with pictorial illustrations, of all the trees, wild or cultivated, that grow in Great Britain. This production, which was published in 1838, at his own risk, was so unsuccessful, that after paying artists and other persons engaged in it, he found himself in debt to the amount of £10,000 to the printer, sta- tioner, and wood-engraver, while the sale of such a splendid publication was so slow, that there was no prospect that it would ever pay its own expenses. Up to this period Loudon had been one of the most prolific of authors, while all that he had written, he had written well. Nothing, indeed, could exceed his indomitable resolution, unless it might be the philanthropic spirit by which it was animated. Independently of the subjects which we have enumerated, he wrote several minor productions, supplemented his own works from time to time, and was a contributor to Brande's "Dictionary of Science." Even, also, while the pressure of these numerous avocations was at the greatest, he was discharging the office of editor to four separate periodicals, all of them established by himself, and which he superintended at one and the same time. All this suggests the idea of a frame of iron, and a constitution impervious to human weaknesses and wants, as well as the most unflinching energy of pur- pose. But our wonder is heightened when we find that, during the greater part of these labours, poor Loudon was an invalid and a cripple. The rheu- matic fever with which he was attacked in 1806, ended in an anchylosed knee, and a contracted left arm. Thus he continued till 1820, when, while employed in compiling the "Encyclopaedia of Gardening," he had another severe attack of rheumatism, that compelled him to have recourse in the following year to Mohammed's Baths, at Brighton. Here he submitted to the rough process of shampooing ; but this remedy, so available in many cases like his own, was too much for his feeble bones : his arm broke so close to the shoulder, that it could not be set in the usual manner ; and in a subsequent trial, it was again broken, and this time so eff'ectually, that in 1826 amputation was found necessarj-. But a general breaking up of the system had also been going on, by which the thumb and two fingers of the left hand had been rendered useless, so that he could only use the third and little finger. Yet though thus so maimed and mutilated, as apparently to be unfit for anything but the sick-chamber or a death-bed, the whole energy of life seemed to rally round his heart, and be as ready for fresh encounters as ever, so that his work went on unchecked and unabated ; and when he could no longer write or draw, he had recourse to the services of the dranglitsman and amanuensis. We have already mentioned the ill success of Loudon's "Arhoretum Britan- nicum." This was the heaviest blow of all, and tended to accelerate the disease that terminated in his death; but still, come what might, he resolved that to the last he would be up and doing. Accordingly, as soon as the above-men- tioned work was finished in 1838, he began the "Suburban Gardener," which was published the same year, and also his " Ilortus Lignosus Londonensis; " and in the year following he published his edition of "Repton's Landscape Gardening." In 1840 he undertook the editorship of the "Gardener's Gazette," and in 1842 he published his " Encyclo[i£Edia of Trees and Shrubs." During the same year he finished his "Suburban Horticulturalist ;" and, in 1843, appeared his last work, on " Cemeteries." Disease in the lungs had been mean- while going on for three months, from which he endured much suffering, until his life and labours were terminated together on tlie 14th of December, 1843, in the sixty-first year of his age. Few men have written so much under such de- pressing circumstances as John Claudius Loudon, or whose writings were so well adapted to the purpose for which they were produced ; and while their practical character and utility have been universally acknowledged, they are pervaded throughout with an earnest desire to improve the character and elevate the standing of those classes whose occupations are connected with gardening and agriculture. Add to this that "he was a warm friend, and most kind and affectionate in all his relations of son, husband, father, and brother, and never hesitated to sacrifice pecuniary considerations to what he considered his duty." We have already made a passing allusion in this memoir to Mrs. Loudon, by whose aid he was materially benefited when aid was most needed. To her he was married in 1831, and in her he found a fellow-student and literary co- operator, as well as a domestic companion and comforter. Her works, which also were numerous, were chiefly connected with her husband's favouiite de- partments of gardening and botany ; and these she endeavoured to simplify and recommend to the attention of her own sex, a labour of love in which she was highly successful. She and one daughter survived Mr. Loudon, of whom she has written an affectionate and truthful biography. LOVE, Rev. John, D.D. — This profound theologian and eloquent preacher, whose reputation, though confined within a limited circle, has survived that ot many distinguished characters in the church whose high popularity seemed to insure a more lasting remembrance, was born in Paisley, on June 4th, 1757. Even during his early education in the grammar-school of his native town, he was distinguished not only for his remarkable aptitude in learning, but the pre- cocious gravity and thoughtfulness of his disposition — circumstances which pro- bably influenced his parents in directing his training towards the clerical pro- fession. When only ten years of age, John Love became a student of the university of Glasgow ; and during the long career of study which he prosecuted at that ancient seat of learning, he distinguished himself by his classical attain- ments, and his proficiency in the several departments of mathematics. These studies he continued to tlie end of his life; and there are several yet living who can remember his happy facility in the quotation of Greek and Roman authors upon any subject of conversational intercourse. With the contents of Scrip- ture, however, which formed his chief study, he was more conversant still; and even before he was twelve years old, he had read the Bible, according to his REV. JOHN LOVE, D.D. 385 own statement, six times over. A favouiite practice, wliich he continued to the end of his life, was to write short daily meditations, in a regular series, upon connected passages of Scripture. These, as well as his sermons, were written in short-hand, and therefore unintelligible, until the key to his alphabet was found ; and from this discover^'^ several of his posthumous discourses w-ere pub- lished, which otherwise would never have seen the light. Having finished the appointed course of study at college, and undergone the usual trials of presbytery, ]\Ir. Love was licensed as a preacher in 1778, being then only in his twenty-first year. Soon afterwards he was employed as assistant by the Rev. ]Mr. Maxwell, minister of Rutherglen, near Glasgow ; and in 1782 he was transferred to Greenock, where he officiated in the same capacity to the Rev. David Turner, minister of the West or Old parish ; and here he continued till the death of Mr. Turner, in 1786. It will thus be seen, that while Mr. Love had no church patron, or at least an efficient one, he had not that kind of popular talent which secures the greatest number of votes among town-councillors or seat-holders His, indeed, was that superior excel- lence which can only be appreciated by the judicious few, and after a con- siderable term of acquaintanceship. After leaving Greenock, Mr. Love, toward the close of 178G, was called to the ministerial charge of the Scottish Presbyterian congregation in Artillery Street, Bishopsgate, London, and here he continued to labour for nearly twelve years. It was, indeed, no inviting field for one of his peculiar talents. His massive and profound theolog}', his sententious style of preaching, in which every sentence was an aphorism, and the very impressive, but slow and almost monotoned voice in which his discourses were delivered, were not suited to the church-going citizens of London, who required a livelier manner, and more buoyant style of oratory. From these causes, added to the ignorance of the English about Presbyterian- ism in general, and the tendency of the Scotch in London to forsake the church of their fathers, Mr. Love's place of meeting was but slenderly attended, while his name, as a preacher, was little known beyond its walls. One important work, however, was committed to the hands of Mr. Love, from which, perhaps, more real usefulness redounded, tlian could have been derived from mere pulpit popularity. He was one of those honoured men who rolled away the reproach from Protestantism, as not being a mission- ary, and, therefore, not a genuine church of Christ — a serious charge, that had often been brought against it by the Papists — by his exertions and effective aid in founding the London Missionary Society. This occurred during the latter part of his residence in London. Often he afterwards reverted with delight to the fact of his having written the first circular by whicli the originators of this important society were called together, for the purpose of forming themselves into a directory, and organizing their plan of action; and when the society was embodied, he was very properly appointed one of its secretaries. One impor- tant duty whicli he had to discharge in this capacity was, to select the fittest agents for missionary enterprise over the newly-opened field of tlie Soutlr Sea Islands. Not resting satisfied with this onerous and somewhat critical dut}-, he endeavoured to qualify the missionaries for their trying office, by planning such a series of discourses upon the principal doctrines of revelation as he judged would be best fitted to persuade a primitive, simple-minded people, and wliich would serve as models, or at least as suggestions, for the use of the Chris- tian teachers who were to be sent among them. With this view, he wrote and V. 3 c 386 REV. JOHN LOVE, D.D. published a volume, under the title of " Addresses to the Inhabitants of Ota- heite."' It was a series of short discourses upon the chief and simplest points of Christian theology, and such as were thought best suited, by their earnest, im- passioned style, to be addressed to the poetical children of nature, seated beneatli the spreading shadow of their palm-tree, or around the genial glow of their coun- cil-fire. And eloquent indeed were these strange model discourses, and such as the Christian world — especially the young, who devoured them with delight and wonder — have seldom seen within the range of theological authorship. But little as j-et were the South Sea Islanders known, for whose behalf these sermons were written, and it was soon enough discovered that they were more prone to eat a missionary than to digest his doctrines. Bat that such ravening a7ithroj)o- pliac/i should be changed into men, such besotted idolaters into Christians, and the principles of humanity, civilization, and order be established among them, and that, too, in the course of a single generation, was certainly the greatest, as well as the most encouraging achievement which modern missionary enter- prise has yet accomplished. Mr. Love was permitted to witness the dawn of this bright morning of promise, after so deep a midnight of despondency; and he saw his poor Otaheiteans christianized, although the process had differed from his plans and anticipations. In 1798 Mr. Love's official connection with London and the Missionary Society terminated, and two years afterwards he was called to the ministerial charge of a chapel of ease newly formed in Anderston, one of the suburbs of Glasgow. He must have felt it a happy change from the echoes of the lonely walls in Artillery Street, to a populous city, in which his training for the ministry had commenced, and where he could find a congenial people, by whom his worth would be fully appreciated. In Glasgow, accordingly, he soon gathered a con- gregation, by whom he was enthusiastically beloved, and who rejoiced under his pastoral charge to the close of his valuable life. Here, also, he selected for his friend and chief companion the Rev. Dr. Balfour, a congenial spirit in learning, talent, piety, and apostolic zeal. Besides his labours in the pulpit, to which he brought all his powers of study and close application, as well as the resources of a singularly vigorous and richly endowed intellect, Mr. Love held the office of secretary of the Glasgow Missionary Society, and presided in its chief enterprise, the establishment of the mission to Caffraria. Notwithstanding his habitual reserve, and dislike of popularity, his reputation as a scholar and theologian was so fully acknowledged, that in November, 1815, he was invited to be one of the candidates for the professorship of divinity, at that time vacant in King's College, Aberdeen. Mr. Love complied; but notwithstanding his fitness for the chair, which was tested by long trial and examination, the question was one not so much of ability and learning, as of party feeling; and the Moderates being still in the ascendant, were enabled to return a candidate of their own election. Soon afterwards Mr. Love was honoured with the degree of doctor in divinity. After this the quiet unostentatious course of the good man went on in its wonted tenor, until the cares and toils of the Caffre mission, already giving tokens of those dangers by which it was afterwards all but over- thrown, tasked the sensitive spirit of Dr. Love for the last four years of his life, until December 17, 1825, when death terminated his anxieties, in the bixty-ninth year of his age. From his retiring spirit, that shrunk from popular distinction, and from the general state of his health, that agreed best with retirement and tranquillity, tlie authorship of Dr. Love has been limited, compared with his well-known talents, and the wishes of his many admirers. During his own lifetime, indeed, he published nothing, as far as is known, except his "Addresses to the People of Otaheite," and a few sermons. After his death, however, a careful research among his papers enabled his friends to give the Ibllowing posthumous works to the world — deprived, however, of that careful correctness which his own revising pen would undoubtedly have bestowed on them: — 1. A reprint of sermons preached by him on various public occasions; in- eluding also liis Otaheitean addresses. This volume was republished soon after Dr. Love's death. 2. Two volumes of sermons and lectures, from his unrevised manuscripts. These were published in 1829. 3. In 1838 was published a volume containing about three hundred of his letters. 4. In 185.3, a volume containing thirty-four sermons, which he preached in the West Church, Greenock, during the years 1784-5. M. MACADAM, John Loudon. — Since the days of the Appian and Fiaminian highwaj-s, it has been unusual to convert a great public road into a memorial of its founder, by investing it with his name. Cities have been linked to- gether, impassable highways penetrated, and kingdoms themselves converted into thoroughfares, while few have thought of inquiring by whom these facilities were planned, or constructed, or even kept in repair. Was it that, after these matchless road-makers, the Romans, had passed away, they left no successors worth commemorating? This, and the fact that even our best highways were the work not of individuals but communities, not of years but centuries, will explain the universal ignorance. Thus Europe went on for two thousand years, until a startling change occurred. Roads were now macadamized, because a new way of constructing them had been adopted; and that new way had been discovered by John Loudon Macadam. This distinguished father of modern highways was born in the town of Ayr. The precise date of his birth we are unable to assign, but it appears to have been in the year 1756. He was the second son of James Macadam, Esq., of Waterhead, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. This family, originally descended from the Macgregors, while the clan was still powerful and un- proscribed, held the rank of Scottish barons at Waterhead previous to the accession of James VI. to the English throne; and the name passed into that of ]\Iacadam, in compliment to the first baron, whose name was Adam Macgregor. The last of these barons was James Macadam, father of the subject of this me- moir, whose ill luck or profuse expenditure occasioned the family estate to pass by purchase into the possession of a younger branch of the original family. The maternal descent of John Loudon Macadam was still more distinguished, as his mother. Miss Cochrane of Waterside, on the banks of the Ayr, was related to the illustrious house of Dundonald. His earliest education was received at the school of May bole, at that time taught by Mr. Doick; and even already it appears that the planning and construction of roads had attracted his attention. 388 JOHN LOUDON MACADAM. This he evinced b^v showing to his wondering school companions the model of a section of the Girvan road, extending from IMaybole to Kirkoswald, which he had executed during his half-holidays. In consequence of the impoverished circumstances of his father, and being a younger son, John found that he must begin betimes to sliift for himself. He therefore left Scotland for New York, where he had an uncle. Dr. William Mac- adam, by whom he was kindly received, and adopted as a son. He had only reached the age of fifteen when he was thus thrown upon the world; but he appears to have had his full share of that spirit that carries his countrymen suc- cessfully onward. He passed his apprenticeship in a mercantile establishment, and soon after this was finished, he commenced business on his own account, as an agent for the sale of prizes, in which he continued till the close of the revolu- tionary war, and realized a considerable fortune, besides that which he obtained by his marriage with Miss Nichol, a young lady of great beauty. But the success of the Americans in tlieir war of independence was fatal to the party to which he belonged, being that of the ro3'alists; and he experienced, with his brethren in political opinion, the vae victis of an unsuccessful cause, in the loss of a considerable part of his property. Still, however, on his return to Scotland he had enough to purchase the estate of Sauchrie in Ayrshire. Here he resided for thirteen years, and held the offices of magistrate and deputy-lieutenant of the county. From Sauchrie he removed to Falmouth in 1708, in consequence of being appointed agent for victualling the navy in the western ports of Great Britain. He afterwards changed his place of residence to Bristol, where he resided many years; and subsequently to Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. During these changes of scene and occupation, Mr. Macadam never appears to have lost sight of his early predilections in road-making. It formed the princi- pal subject of his study while acting as one of the trustees upon certain roads in Ayrshire, and afterwards, when he had removed to England. It was certainly a bold experiment he proposed in a mode of constructing roads, by which the practice that had prevailed for thousands of years was to be abandoned in favour of a new theory. But it was the proposal of an eminently practical^ sagacious, and scientific mind, that had revolved the subject in all its bearings during the period of an ordinary lifetime, and whose days were still to be con- tinued, to carry it into execution. A full opportunity for the commencement of his plan occurred in 1815, when he was appointed surveyor-general of the Bristol roads; and after the first trials wei-e made, the result was so satisfactory, that the new mode of road-making came into general adoption over the whole kingdom. After the excellence of his method had been sufticiently tested for highways, the fitness of its adoption for streets came next in question; and upon this subject Mr. Macadam was examined by a committee of the House of Com- mons in 1823. He then so clearly demonstrated the propriety and advantage of converting the ruble granite causeway of the principal streets of cities into a smooth pavement, like the country roads he had already' constructed, that the change was adopted in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and our principal towns. An immense quantity of public labour was thus brought under the superin- tendence of Mr. Macadam, by which he might have accumulated profits to an indefinite amount, while his character as a public benefactor would have re- mained untouched. But superior to every selfish consideration, he confined his services to superintendence, and nothing more — for he thought that an engineer should never act as a contractor, because where the offices are combined. the public was too often the loser, that one man might be em-iched. It would liave been well, also, if this conscientious generosity had been reciprocated by our government towards such an upright, faithful, and useful servant. But this, we are sorry to add, was not the case. After having advanced many thousands of pounds fi'om his own resources to expedite the works in which he was engaged for the public benefit, he received in compensation from govern- ment only £10,000, in two instalments — a most inadequate return for his services, independently of his outlays. He thus might be said to have been rewarded with less than nothing. The honour of knighthood, indeed, was offered to him; but this, on account of his growing infirmities, he declined in favour of his son, the late Sir James Macadam, who prosecuted his father's profession, with the superintendence of the roads around London. During the latter part of his life, Mr. Macadam resided chiefly in the British metropolis, where he was greatly esteemed by the literary and scientific society with which he was surrounded, on account of his conversational powers and varied accomplishments. He finally returned to Scotland, and died at Moffiit, on the 26th of November, 1886, in the eighty-first year of his age. He was twice married. By his first wife he had three sons and three daughters, of whom two sons and two daughters survived. His second wife was Miss De Lancey, a lady of American extraction, and sister-in-law of Cooper, the novelist, by whom he had no children. M'CHEYNE, Rev. Robert Murray — This young divine, whose brief life and labours produced such a wide and lasting impression, was born in Edin- burgh, on the 21st of May, 1813. At the age of eight he entered the High School of his native city, where he continued a pupil for six years, during the course of which he was distinguislied among his class-fellows not only by his proficiency in the usual studies of the class, but his amiable, enthusiastic dis- position and engaging manners. From the High School he passed to the uni- versity of Edinburgh, and there, besides gaining prizes in the several classes, he distinguished himself by his proficiency in the study of modern languages, and his taste in drawing, music, and poetry. On finishing the usual course of a university education, it is probable that his direction in life would still have remained to be decided, but for one of those solemnizing events which some- times, at such a crisis, has confirmed the current and directed the course of those who have become eminent in the church. This was the death of his eldest brothei', David, eight or nine years older than himself. In the same year (1831) he entered the divinity hall, which at this time enjoyed Dr. Chalmers for its professor in theolog}% and Dr. Welsh for the chair of church history. Under such teachers, it would have been difficult for a pupil of even ordinary capacity to remain inert and unaccomplished; in the case of Robert M'Cheyne, there was an ardour that not only carried him onward in the studies over which they presided, but into that life of Christian activity and practical usefulness which they were so desirous to combine with the intellectual acquirements of young students in training for the ministry. Many of our living clergy- men can still remember how, both in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Dr. Chalmers converted the divinity halls into evangelistic seminaries of Sabbath-school teachers and religious instructors of the poor ; and with what hearty good- will they themselves, while students, enlisted in the good work, and plunged boldly into those recesses of ignorance and crime which, but for his exhortations, they would have never thought of entering ; and how they thereby acquired that 390 llEV. HOBERT MURRAY M'CHEYNE. knowledge and aptitude for their future duties, \vliich the mere lectures of the class-room could never have imparted. After having finished the usual course appointed for students in divinity, and exhibited an amount of talent and acquirements that might have opened for him an entrance into the fairest fields of literary ambition, Mr. M'Clieyne was licensed as a preacher by the Presbytery of Annan, on the 1st of July, 1835. The sphere of action to which he turned at the outset was both humble and laborious, being an assistantship of the joint parishes of Larbert and Dunipace, having a population of 6000 souls, most of whom were colliers, and workmen of the Carron Iron-works — a population sufficiently repulsive in station and manners, as well as in general moral character. His situation and his feelings are well described in his poem on " Mungo Park finding a Tuft of Green Grass in the African Desert " — a poem, by the way, which John Wilson, our prince of critics, has stamped with his honoured approval : — " No mighty rock upreared its head To bless the wanderer with its shade, In all the weary plain ; No palm-trees with refreshing green To glad the dazzled eye were seen, But one wide sandy main. " Dauntless and daring was the mind, That left all home-born joys behind These deserts to explore — To trace the mighty Niger's course. And find it bubbling from its source In wilds untrod before. " And ah ! shall we less daring show. Who nobler ends and motives know Than ever heroes dream — Who seek to lead the savage mind The precious fountain-head to find. Whence flows salvation's stream ?" Thus he felt, and in this spirit he laboured during the ten months of his assistantship, not confining himself to the duties of the pulpit, careful and anxious though his preparations in that department were, but visiting in every house, and endeavouring to make himself acquainted with the character, spi- ritual condition, and wants of every individual. A happy proof of his diligence and discriminating character in this the most important part of clerical duty, is contained in a letter which he afterwards wrote to his successor, recommend- ing to his attention the persons in whom he felt most solicitude. "Take more heed to the saints," he writes, " than ever I did. Speak a word in season to S. M. S. H, will drink in simple truth, but tell him to be humble-minded. Cause L. H. to learn in silence ; speak not of religion to her, but speak to her case always. Teach A. M. to look simply at Jesus. J. A. warn and teach. Get worldliness from the B.'s if you can. Mrs. G. awake, or keep awake. Speak faithfully to the B.'s. Tell me of M. C., if she is really a believer, and grows? A. K., has the light visited herl M. T. I have had some doubts of. M. G. lies sore upon my conscience ; I did no good to that woman ; she always managed to speak of things about the truth. Speak boldly. What matter in eternity the slight awkwai'dnesses of time?" In these notanda vih&i a beauti- HEV. ROBERT MURRAY M'CHEYNE. 391 ful practical illustration we have of that chapter in the work of Herbert on clerical duties, which he has entitled, "'The Parson Visiting! ' While Mr. M'Cheyne was thus occupied in the united parishes of Dunipace and Larbert, he was only in training for the full work of the ministry, which he was now about to enter. This event occurred in November, 1836, when, after having been invited by the managers and congregation of the new church, St. Peter's, Dundee, to become a candidate for that charge, he preached on trial two several Sundays before them, and was accepted as their minister. The duties into which he now entered were of the most arduous description. His parish of St. Peter's, detached from that of St. John's, as a quoad sacra parish, contained a population of 4000 souls; and the church itself, built in connection with the Church Extension Scheme, contained a congregation of 1100 hearers. His health, lately subject to severe trials, was in very indifferent condition, while the reli- gious apathy of the townsfolks of Dundee, was such as to strike him at first with anxiety. Here he commenced the same ministerial labours to which he had been accustomed as a preacher, but with a sense of still deeper responsi- bility—not only preaching faithfully on the Sabbath, after careful preparation and prayer, but visiting from house to house during the week-days, and often extending these evangelistic visits of examination and instruction, not only over the families of his own parish, but those of Dundee at large. Such superabun- dant labour was perhaps an error — but an error upon the safe side. In addition to these tasks, he superintended the labours of his elders over the several districts into which his parish was divided, held weekly evening classes for the young of his congregation, and trained the more advanced of their number for becom- ing Christian communicants. He also held prayer-meetings on the Thursday evenings. These manifestations of earnest, tender, indefatigable solicitude for the spiritual interests of the community among which he was placed, could not but be felt and appreciated, and the multitudes that repaired to his ministrations on the Sabbath, soon became permanent members of his flock, arrested as they were by the unction of his preaching, so correspondent to his whole character and actions ; by the distinct arrangement of his ideas, and the clear as well as eloquent language in which they were expressed— even by the tones of his expressive voice, and unstudied yet graceful and appropriate action of his limbs, that had excelled in dancing and gymnastics before he became a student in theology. In the pulpit itself, such natural and personal advantages are no trivialities — and but for them, perhaps, even Whitefield himself, that prince of pulpit orators, would have lived and died an undistinguished Methodist preachei*. As the fame of his popularity and usefulness extended over the country at large, other parishes wished to have Mr. M'Cheyne for their minister; but tempting though such offers were, on account of higher emolument and lighter labour, he respectfully declined them. His motives for this were well explained in his remarks on an application of this kind from the parish of Skirling. Writing to his father, he says: — "I am set down among nearly 4000 people; 1100 people have taken seats in my church. I bring my message, such as it is, within the reach of that great company every Sabbath-day. I dare not leave this people. I dare not leave 3000 or 4000 for 300 people. Had this been offered me before, I would have seen it a direct intimation from God, and would heartily have embraced it. How I should have delighted to feed so precious a little flock — to watch over every family — to know every heart — to 'allure to brighter worlds, and lead the way !' But God has not so ordered it. He has set me down 392 REV. ROBERT MURRAY M'CHEYNE. among the noisy mechanics and political weavers of this godless town. He will make the money sufficient. He that paid his taxes from a fish's mouth, will supply all my need." From Scotland to Palestine, from Dundee to Jerusalem, is a strange tran- sition— hut this Mr. M'Cheyne was now called to undergo. The incessant action of mind and body during his ministerial course, upon a constitution naturally delicate, had, towards the close of 1838, completely impaired his strength, and occasioned such a violent palpitation of the heart, that he was imperatively ordered by his medical advisers to discontinue his public labours, and seek a cure in change of place and occupation. He reluctantly complied, and passed over to Edinburgh, where he had not been long domiciled, when a proposal was made to him to join a deputation about to be sent by the Church of Scotland into the East, for the purpose of making personal in- quiries into the condition of the Jews. Nothing could have been more oppor- tune than such an offer. It gratified the longing for missionary enterprise that had stirred up his heart from an early period, but hitherto without scope; it promised to restore that health of which he was now in quest, with- out dreary useless inaction as its price ; and it would lead him through those hallowed scenes and localities, the memory of which is so dear to every Chris- tian heart, and which it recognizes to the very end as its native birthplace and home. As one of the four ministers who composed the mission, he com- menced that interesting joui-ney of which a full account has been given to the public in the " Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews, from the Church of Scotland, in 1839." After a six months' tour, in which every day brought a change of scene and incident, he returned home in November, 1839, renewed in health, and impatient to resume his wonted duties. It was time that he should return, for one of these mysterious religious epochs, called a " revival," had occurred within his own parish, as well as the town of Dundee at large- It was similar to the event which, under the same title, had occurred nearly a century earlier at Cambuslang. On departing upon his mission to the East, the assistant whom Mr. M'Cheyne left in his place had preached in Kilsyth, and there such a revival of religious feeling had occurred as seemed to recall the days of Pentecost. From Kilsyth the impulse reached Dundee, where its original agent was now stationed, and afterwards went with an electric syia- pathy through other parishes of Scotland. This religious popular movement, so peculiar to Scotland, and yet so alien to the national character — as if tliat were the fittest place where such a doubtful impulse could be best tried and tested — was in full operation among his people when Mr. M'Cheyne returned, and in its working he recognized the finger of God. On this account he threw himself without hesitation into it, and was now more employed than ever in speaking comfort to the afSicted, and giving instruction to the doubtful and inquiring. The immediate fruits of this revival, also, were such as to fill him with the most triumphant hope, notwithstanding the frequent instances that occurred among the seemingly converted, not only of wavering inconsistency, but even of positive downfall. As is well known, this great national religious stirring among the people preceded the Disruption, for which it served in some measure to pre- pare the way; and in these events, by which the Church of Scotland was finally rent in twain, Mr. M'Cheyne could not do otherwise than feel a deep vital interest. That principle of spiritual independence for which his brethren were contending, he had cherished and advocated from the beginning, and now REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, D.D. 393 that it was in peril, he prepared himself to sacrifice all for its sake. He there- fore attended the solemn clerical meeting held in Edinburgh on the 11th of August, 1841, and subscribed the engagement by which the Commission of the General Assembly bound itself to vindicate tlie liberties of the church, by pro- ceeding against the recusant ministers of the Presbytery of Strathbogie, not- withstanding the state protection, within which they had intrenched themselves. In the following year he was one of a clerical deputation that visited the north of England, for the purpose of preaching in chapels or in the open air, and instructing all who repaired to them in the great common principles of reli- gion, without reference to sect or party. On returning to his charge at Dundee, INIr. M'Cheyne resumed his duties, and pursued them with a diligence which neither frequent attacks of sickness, nor a gradually decaying constitution, seemed in any way to abate. But his days were numbered, and his anticipations of a short life were about to be realized. In the midst of his preparations for the disruption that soon took place, in the event of which he had expressed his resolution to go forth as a missionary to our convict colonies, he was attacked by fever, the violence of which soon left no doubt of what would be its termination. Delirium followed, and in a few days he breathed his last. So intensely was he beloved, not onl}' by the members of his flock, but the inliabitauts of Dundee in general, that his death, coming especially with such suddenness, was lamented as a public cala- mity. The event occurred on the 2.5th of March, 1843, in the thirtieth year of his age, and seventh of his short but most useful and honoured ministry. It is diiiicult, in so brief a notice, and in a life marked by so few striking incidents and changes, to convey a distinct idea of the worth of Mr. M'Cheyne, or the important character and results of his public labours. As a minister, he might be called the Whitefield of Scotland ; and in that one word we endeavour to comprise, as well as to convey an impression of his apostolic life, character, and labours. Manj- indf ed are the thousands still living, not only in his native land, but in England and Ireland, who will recognize the justice of such a title. M'CRIE, Thomas, D.D. — This most able and eloquent writer, whose gene- rous selection of the chief subject of his authorship, as well as the felicitous manner in which he discharged the task, will connect his memory with the illus- trious name of John Knox, was born in the town of Dunse. He was the eldest of a family of four sons and three daughters, and was born in November, 1772. His father was a manufacturer and merchant of the above-mentioned town, and lived to witness the literary celebrity of his son, as his death did not occur till 1823. The subject of this memoir was peculiarly fortunate in his parent- age, especially in having a mother whose deep-toned, devoted, feminine piety seems, at a very early period, to have directed the feelings and moulded the religious character of her eldest son. As his parents belonged to that class of the Secession called Antiburghers, Thomas M'Crie was born and nursed in that communion, at a time, too, when it still retained much of the primitive earnest- ness and simplicity of the old days of the covenant. " What is the best book in the world?" was the first question usually put to his young compeers; to which the answer was prompt, " The Bible." " What is the next best book?" was the question that followed ; and to this the answer was equally prompt, " The Confession of Faith." Could the covenanting banner lack a future champion from children so educated? On being sent to the parish school, young M'Crie soon became not only an apt scholar, but distinguished for those V. 3d 394: REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, U.D. habits of laborious application by which he was trained to his future work of historical and antiijuarian research. This progress, however, was somewhat alarming to his cautious father, who saw no reason for impoverishing a whole family to make his first-born a finished scholar ; and had his paternal purposes been carried out, perhaps the future biographer of Knox and ^lelville would have become nothing better than a thriving Berwickshire store-keeper, or, it may be, a prosperous mercantile adventurer in London. But kind relatives inter- posed, and the boy was allowed to follow his original bent. This he did so effectually, that before he had reached the age of fifteen, he was himself able to become a teacher in two country schools successively, and thus to proceed in his studies without occasioning the apprehended incumbrance. It was soon settled that aptitudes so decided, and acquirements wliich had already brought him into notice, should be devoted to the work of the ministry ; and accordingly, at the age of sixteen, Thomas M'Crie left home to be enrolled as a student in the university of Edinburgh. His pious, affectionate mother, accompanied him part of the way ; and when the painful moment of farewell had arrived, she took him aside into a field upon Coldingham Moor, and there, kneeling down with him behind a rock, she solemnly commended him and his future career to that God who gave him, and to whose service she now willingly resigned him. In a year after she died ; but the memory of that prayer abode with him, while its answer was attested in his future life and labours. His favourite studies at the university, as might be surmised, were those allied with ethics, philology, and history— all that is closely connected with the develop- ment of human character, and the most effectual modes of delineating its mani- fold and minute phases. It is no wonder, therefore, if, among the professors who at this time were the ornaments of the college, Dugald Stewart was his favourite instructor. In this v.-ay his course went on from year to year, his studies being frequently alternated with the laborious work of the schoolmaster, but his mind exhibiting on every occasion a happy combination of student-like diligence, with healthful elastic vigour. In September, 1795, he was licensed to be a preacher by the Associate Presbyter}- of Kelso; and in this capacity his first public attempts were so acceptable, that in little more than a month after being licensed, he received a call from the Associate congregation in the Potter Row, Edinburgh, to become their second minister. Thus early was he settled in the precise sphere, where not only his talents as a minister could be turned to best account, but the proper facilities afforded for that important literaiy career in which he was destined to become so eminent. A short time after he had entered the work of the ministry, he married Miss Janet Dickson, daughter of a respectable farmer in Swinton, to whom he had long been attached, and found in her a suitable domestic friend and comforter, until death dissolved their union. At the outset of his ministry, Mr. M'Crie's sermons were distinguished by a careful attention to those requirements of eloquence and rules of oratory, in which he was so well fitted to excel. Indeed, the more aged of his brethren seem to have been of opinion that he carried these to such an undue length, as to be in danger of recommending himself more highly than the great subject of which he was but the herald and messenger. He soon appears to have been of the same opinion himself, more especially after a missionary tour through the Orkney Islands, hitherto in a state of grievous spiritual destitution, but now eager to hear the word of life, in whatever form it was proclaimed ; and there EEV. THOMAS M'CRIE, D.D. 395 he saw, in the demeanour of his primitive audiences, the vast importance of the great doctrines of salvation, as compared with those mere human appliances by which it is adorned and recommended. This wholesome conviction brought him back, not however with a recoil into the opposite extreme, but into that liapp}' medium where the true grandeur of the subject is allowed its full pre- dominance, and Avhere its expression is only valued by how much the speaker himself is absorbed and lost sight of in his all-important theme. This, indeed, is the secret of true pulpit eloquence; and to this eloquence Mr. M'Crie attained after his return from the Orkneys. The consequence was, that his acceptability as a preacher increased, his auditory became greatly more numerous, and a deeper spirit of earnestness was manifested in the general bearing and character of his congregation. Such were the fruits of that act of self-denial, which talented aspir- ing young clergymen find so difficult to perform. The same spirit of disinterested devotedness to his work was also evinced by Mr. IM'Crie in trials which some may reckon equally hard to be withstood. Though his flock was numerous, it was chiefly from the humbler classes, so that his income was a small one ; and in 1798, the price of provisions rose so high that families of limited means were reduced to unwonted privations. In this state of things, the congregation of Potter Row adopted the generous resolution of increasing the salary of their minister; but no sooner did he hear of it, than he wrote to them a letter, earnestly dissuading them from the measure. " The allowance which you promised me," he said, "when I first came among you as your minister, and which has been always punctually paid, though not so liberal as what may be given to others of the same station in this place, has hitherto been sufficient. From any general knowledge I have of the state of your funds, it is as much as you can be sup- posed to give, especially considering the burdens under which you labour. The expense of living has indeed been increasing for some time past, but the incomes of trades-people have not increased in proportion; and as the most of you are of that description, I don't consider myself entitled to make any increasing demand upon you." This kind negation was gratefully received, and inserted in the minute-book of the congregation. Here, however, the dis- interestedness of their pastor did not terminate. That period of famine, so imiversal throughout Britain, and still well remembered in Scotland under the title of "The Dearth," had reached its height in 1800, so that the middle were now transformed into the lower classes, while the lower were little better than paupers. At this crisis the minister stepped forward with a generous proposal; it was that, in consequence of the prevalent poverty, the amount of his stipend should be reduced. The people, however, who were able to appreciate his motives, refused to consent, and thus ended a contest that was equally honourable to both. After this the life of Mr. M'Crie was fated for some time to be imbittered by ecclesiastical controvers3^ It is well known to our readers, that the great subject of religious debate in Scotland has been, since the Reformation, not so much about Christian doctrine as about Christian politj^. What is the duty of the state in aiding, upholding, and fortifying the spiritual government of the church? And what is the nature and amount of that deference which the church should render to the state in return, compatible with her spiritual independence — or rather, her allegiance to her great Head and Sovereign? The relationship between these powers was fully established in Scotland by the first and second Books of Discipline, and finally ratified by the Confession of 39G REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, D.D. Faith at Westminister. But toward the close of the hist century, the principles of the French revolution, so active in other countries, had also found their entrance into Scotland ; and there they menaced not only the civil but also the ecclesiastical authoritj'' of the state. This was especially the case in that body called the Secession, to a part of which Mr, M'Crie belonged. The Seceders had caught that Gallican spirit so hostile to kings and rulers, and they now found out that all connection between church and state should cease. Each was to shift for itself as it best could, without the aid or co-operation of the other ; while kings and magistrates, instead of being bound by their office to be nursing fathers of the church, were engaged to nothing more, and could claim nothing higher, than what they might effect as mere members and private individuals. In this way the Voluntary principle was recognized as the only earthly stay of the church's dependence, and the party who adopted it thence- forth became, not seceders from the Establishment, but Dissenters, It was thus that they closed and bolted the door against any future reunion with the parent church, let the latter become as reformed and as pure as it might. In this painful controversy j\Ir. i\I'Crie was deeply involved; and, superior to that restless spirit of modern innovation by which it was animated, he took the unpopular side of the question, and held fast b}" those original standards of the Secession which the majority were so eager to abandon. The result was that numbers and votes prevailed, so that he, and three conscientious brethren of the church who held the same principles with himself, were formally deposed in 1806, The dissentients, under the new name of the Constitutional Associate Presbytery, were thus dispossessed of their churches, but not of their congregations, who still adhei-ed to them; and in the new places of worship to which they repaired, they continued to exercise their ministry as before. In this way they formed a separate and distinct, though small and unnoticed body, until 1827, when they united themselves with another portion of protesters from the same synod, under the common title of Original Seceders. During the progress of these events, which extended over a course of years, and with which Jlr, M'Crie was so vitally connected, their whole bearing had a most momentous influence upon his future literary labours. They threw his mind back upon the original principles of the Scottish Reformation, and made them the chief sulijects of his inquiry ; they* brought him into close contact with those illustrious characters by whom the Reformation was commenced ; and they animated and strengthened that love of religious consistency, and hostility to ecclesiastical tyranny and oppression, that accorded so materially with his original character. In the following sentence from one of his letters in 1802, we can well recognize the man who set at nought the demolition of such things as cathedrals and monasteries, when they hindered the erection of a true church, and who was well fitted to become the biographer of him whose stern principle was, " Pull down the nests and the rooks will flee," "There is some- thing, ' he thus writes, "in the modern study of the fine arts, belles-lettres, and mere antiquities, that gives the mind a littleness which totally unfits it for being suitably affected with things truly great in characters eminent for love of religion, liberty, and true learning. To demolish a Gothic arch, break a pane of painted glass, or deface a picture, are with them acts of ferocious sacrilege, not to be atoned for, the perpetrators of which must be ipso facto excommuni- cated from all civil society, and reckoned henceforth among savages ; while to preserve these magnificent trifles, for which they entertain a veneration little REV. THOMAS M'CIIIE, D.D. 397 less idolatrous than their Popish or Pagan predecessors, they would consign whole nations to ignorance or perdition." Sentiments thus inspired, and researches so conducted, were not allowed to lie idle ; and accordingly, from 1802 to 1806, he was a contributor to the "Christian Magazine," the pages of which he enriched with several valuable historical and biographical sketches. The titles of these sufficiently indicated the nature of his present studies, while their excellence gave promise of what might yet be accomplished. The chief of them were an "Account of the concluding part of the Life and the Death of that illustrious man, John Knox, the most faithful Restorer of the Church of Scotland," being a translation from the work of Principal Smeton ; a "Memoir of Mr. John Murra}',' minister of Leith and Dunfermline, in the beginning of the 17th century ; a " Sketch of the Progress of the Reformation in Spain, with an account of the Spanish Protestant Martyrs ;" " The Suppression of the Reformation in Spain;" the "Life of Dr. Andrew Rivet," the French Pro- testant minister ; the " Life of Patrick Hamilton ;" the " Life of Francis Lambert, of Avignon ;" and the " Life of Alexander Henderson." The journal in which they appeared was of but limited circulation, and its literary merits were little appreciated, so that these admirable articles were scarcely known beyond the small circle of subscribers to the " Christian Magazine," most of whom were Seceders. But it was better, perhaps, that it should be so. These were only prelusive efforts, and preparations for great achievements, that are generally best conducted in silence, and which the gaze of the public will only interrupt or impede. In this way the mind of the author had been imbued with the subject of the Reformation at large ; and he had been thus led to study its developments, not only in Scotland, but in Spain, France, and Ital}'. But in which of these important departments was his first great attempt in historical authorship to be made? Happily, his mind was not out at sea upon this conclusive question, for by the close of 1803 his choice had been decided. It was that of a leal- hearted Scotsman and zealous Covenanter, and on the proposal that had been made to him of writing a separate work instead of unconnected articles, he thus replies : " As j^ou have suggested this, I shall use the freedom of mention- ing to j-ou a floating idea which has sometimes passed through my mind, without ever assuming the formality of a resolution or design ; namel}^ a selec- tion of lives of Scottish reformers, in some such order as to embrace the most important periods of the history of the Church of Scotland ; in which a num- ber of facts which are reckoned too minute and trivial for general history might be brought to bear upon, and occasionally illustrate it. The order, for instance, might be (I write merely from the recollection of the moment), Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, John Knox, John Craig, Andrew Melvine, Patrick Simpson, Robert Bruce, &c." It is easy to see how this variety, comprising the chief personages of the first and second great movements of the Scottish Reformation, would finall3'- resolve themselves into Knox and Melville, to whom the others were merely subsidiary. With Knox, therefore, he commenced ; and the task was not an easy one. Obscure authors had to be discovered, and long-forgotten books resuscitated; contending facts had to be weighed, and contradictory statements reconciled ; while a mass of manuscripts, such as might have daunted the most zealous antiquary at a period when Scottish antiquarianism was still in infancy, had to be pored over and deciphered, in quest of facts that were already fading away with the ink in which they were 398 HEV. THOMAS M'CRIE, D.D. embodied, but whose final extinction his patriotic zeal sufficed to prevent. And all this was to be accomplished, not by the snug Fellow of a college, repos- ing in learned leisure in the deep shadow of Gothic halls which the sound of the world could not reach, with half-a-mile of library before and behind him; or a church dignitary , whose whole time could be devoted to the defence of that church in which he was a high-titled and richly-guerdoned stipendiary ; but by one who had the weekly and daily toil of a Scottish Secession minister to inter- rupt him, as well as its very scanty emoluments to impede his efforts and limit his literary resources. And all this for what ? — not to write the life of one whose memory was universally cherished, and whose record all would be eager to read. The whole literary world was now united against John Knox, whose very name was the signal for ridicule or execration. The man whose heart was so hard and pitiless, that the tears of Mary fell on it as upon cold iron — who demolished stately architectures and fair churches from sheer hatred of whatever was grand or beautiful — who shared in, or at least who countenanced the foulest assassinations of the period — and who had finally imposed upon the land a sour, shrivelled, and soul-stunting creed, under the name of a reforma- tion, which, thanks to Moderatism! the country was now getting rid of — this was he whom M'Crie, under every disadvantage, and at every hazard, was resolved to chronicle and to vindicate. Of all the thousands and myriads whom his "Life of Knox" has delighted, how few are able to take into account the difficulties under which the author laboured, and the high heroic devotedness in which the task was pursued to the close ! The materials for this important work, as may readily be surmised, had been long in accumulating: as for the Life itself, it appears to have been fairly com- menced in 1807, and it was published in 1811. On its appearance, the public for a while was silent: many were doubtless astonished that such a subject should have been chosen at all, while not a few must have wondered that it could be handled so well. A complete change was to be wrought upon public feeling, and the obloquy of two centuries to be recanted; but by what literary organ was such a palinode to be commenced ? At length " the song began from Jove," — for the first key-note was sounded, and the chorus led by no less a journal than the "Edinburgh Review," now the great oracle of the world of criticism, while the article itself was written by no less a personage than Jeffrey, the hierophant and Pontifex Maximus of critics. After commencing his critique with an allusion to those distinguislied benefactors whose merits the world has been tardy in acknowledging, the reviewer thus continues: "Among the many who have suffered by this partiality of fortune, we scarcely know any one to whom harder measure has been dealt, than the eminent person who is the subject of the work before us. In the reformed island of Great Britain no honours now wait on the memory of the greatest of the British reformers; and even among us zealous Presbyterians of the north, the name of Knox, to whom our Presbyterian Church is indebted, not merely for its establishment, but its existence, is oftener remembered for reproach than for veneration; and his apostolical zeal and sanctity, his heroic courage, his learning, talents, and accomplishments, are all coldly forgotten; while a thousand tongues are still ready to pour out their censure or derision of his fierceness, his ambition, and his bigotry. Some part of this injustice we must probably be content to ascribe to the fatality to which we have already made reference; but some part, at least, seems to admit of a better explanation.' After having stated these EEV. THOMAS M'CRIE. D.D. 399 palliating circumstances, in which a portion of the general prejudice originateci, the critic adds : " From these, or from other causes, however, it seems to be undeniable that the prevailing opinion about John Knox, even in this country, has come to be, that he was a tiex-ce and gloomy bigot, equally a foe to polite learning and innocent enjoyment; and that, not satisfied with exposing the abuses of the Romish superstitions, he laboured to substitute for the rational religion and regulated worship of enlightened men, the ardent and unrectified spirit of vulgar enthusiasm, dashed with dreams of spiritual and political in- dependence, and all the impracticabilities of the earthly kingdom of the saints» How unfair, and how marvellously incorrect these representations are, may be learned from the perusal of the book before us — a work which has afforded us more amusement and more instruction than any thing we ever read upon the subject; and which, independent of its theological merits, we do not hesitate to pronounce by far the best piece of histoi-y which has appeared since the com- mencement of our critical career. It is extremely accurate, learned, and con- cise, and, at the same time, very full of spirit and animation, exhibiting, as it appears to us, a rare union of the patient research and sober judgment which characterize the more laborious class of historians, with the boldness of thinking and force of imagination which is sometimes substituted in their place. It affords us very great pleasure to bear this public testimony to the merits of a writer who has been hitherto unknown, we believe, to the literary world either of this or the neighbouring country ; of whom, or of whose existence at least, though residing in the same city with ourselves, it never was our fortune to have heard till his volume was put into our hands; and who, in his first emer- gence from the humble obscurity in which he has pursued the studies and performed the duties of his profession, has presented the world with a work which may put so many of his contemporaries to the blush, for the big promises they have broken, and the vast opportunities they have neglected." This was much, coming as it did from the " Edinburgh Review," a work that hitherto had been by no means distinguished for its advocacy of Christian principles, or love of evangelical piety ; and nothing, therefore, was better fitted to arrest the attention of the world in behalf of the volume that had lately appeared. The subject thus discussed in the great northern journal for July 1812, was taken up by its powerful southern rival, and in the "Quarterly Review" of July, 1813, appeared a critique, in which the reviewers, in their admiration of John Knox, seem to have allowed their well-known devotedness to Episcopacy and Toryism for the time to go to sleep. After expressing their admiration that the Scottish reformer should have found a better biographer than had yet fallen to the lot of even Calvin and Luther, they thus characterize the literary merits of the work: — "Compact and vigorous, often coarse, but never affected, without tumour and without verbosity, we can scarcely forbear to wonder by what effort of taste or discrimination the style of Dr. JM'Crie has been preserved so nearly unpolluted by the disgusting and circumlocutory non- sense of his contemporaries. Here is no puling about the 'interesting sufferer,' 'the patient saint,' 'the angelic preacher.' Knox is plain Knox, in acting and in suffering always an hero; and his story is told as an hero would wish that it should be told — with simplicity, precision, and force." Still, however, the reviewers could not well get over the demolished monasteries, or the tears of Queen Mar^^, and in their wrath they administered the following rebuke to the biographer, which, however, he accepted as no small compliment : — " But 400 REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, U.D. of the literal subversion of many noble buildings, wliich, perliaps unavoid- ably, took place in the course of this great revolution. Dr. M'Crie permits himself to speak with a savage and sarcastic triumph, which evinces how zealous and practical an helper he would himself have proved in the work of destruction, had he been boi"n in the IGth century. Less, we are persuaded, would then have been heard of Row or Willock, as auxiliaries of Knox, than of M'Crie." "Like Knox himself, he has neither a tear nor a sigh for Mary; and we doubt not that, like him, he would have voted to bring the royal adulteress and murderer, for such they both esteem her, to the block."' "Is not that great praise?" says M'Crie, with good humour, while quoting to a friend this portion of the criticism. The other journals followed the lead of their two Titans ; and encouraged by the reception of the work, and the high importance it quickly attained, the author commenced a second edition, in which he judi- ciousl}^ availed himself not only of the advice, but in many cases of the harsh censures of his numerous reviewers. The result was that in 1813, he published a second edition of the " Life of John Knox," so greatly amplified and improved, as to be almost a new work ; and this, in course of time, was translated and published in French, Dutch, and German. Previous to the appearance of the second edition, the author had been honoured with the degree of doctor in divinity by the university of Edinburgh, the first instance in which it had ever conferred the title upon a Dissenting minister. 0 si sic omne?! This distinction, however, Dr. M'Crie had neither sought nor expected ; it was frankly given upon the application of JMr, Blackwood, his publishei-, and the chief difficulty lay in persuading the author to allow the initials to be appended to his name in the second edition of the work. His opinion was, that such distinctions were incompatible with the strictness of Presbyterian parity. A compromise, however, was effected. He could not prevent the world from term- ing him Doctor, or become deaf when he was thus hailed ; but when he went to the church courts he there sought equality with his brethren, and nothing more, and would allow himself to be designated as nothing higher than the Rev. Mr. M'Crie. It would, indeed, have been passing strange if our northern seats of learning had failed to confer their highest honours upon him who had achieved a literary feat so difficult, and achieved it so well. For by one great effort he had rolled back the tide of obloquy under which the most honoured of our national names had been buried so long, and restored it to its proper eminence and lustre. He had enabled Scotsmen to avoid the shame which they and their fathers had felt when that name was mentioned in their hearing, and inspired them with an honest pride in the character of their reformer. He had even carried this success into England, and made John Knox as popular there as he was at first, when he was the friend and assistant of Cranmer, the chaplain of Edward VI., and the solicited but recusant object of an English mitre. But wider and wider still the circle of intelligence upon the character of the Scottish reformer had been expanded, until the pious and reflective of Europe at large were enabled to perceive, and obliged to confess, that the ruthless demolisher of goodly architecture, which every other country had spared, was neither an illiterate Goth nor a ferocious Vandal, but one of those illustrious few of whom history is so justly proud. All this was much, but it was not yet the utmost which Dr. M'Crie had effected. Knox had, as it were, been recalled to life, and sent once more upon his momentous mission. His presence was seen and his voice heard in every district in Scotland. A heedless generation, by whom he was IIEV. THOMAS M'CRIE, D.D. 401 despised or neglected, had been compelled yet again to hear the instructions which he had formerly uttered, and to bethink themselves how wofully these instructions had been forgot. In short, their attention had been irresistibly called to the subject of the Scottish Reformation, and the principles upon which their church had been founded, and to the inquiry as to whether these prin- ciples were still in operation, or hastening to become a mere dead letter. And this inquiry was neither unnecessary nor in vain. A death-blow was struck at that Erastianism which had lately become so predominant in the Church of Scot- land ; and such was the spirit of research among the mouldering records of its long-neglected library, and the ardour with which they were published and diffused, that the former ignorance and indifference could be tolerated no longer. These effects went on from year to year, and their result we know. Scotland is now awake, and the creed which was almost filched from her relax- ing hand, is held with as tight a grasp as ever. The next literary undertaking in which we find Dr. M'Crie employed, was a conflict with an antagonist every way worthy of his prowess. The "Great Unknown" was now in the ascendant, and as he wrote to amuse, he was sure of the sympathies of at least three-fourths of the community. Such he must have felt when he gave to the world the tale of " Old Mortality," in which the Covenanters were held up to derision, while their sufferings were described as justly meiited. All this was enough for the novel-reading public, that was too ignorant to know, and too idle to inquire, and accordingly the statements of Sir Walter Scott, embodied as they were in so attractive a form, were received as veritable history. Nothing was now more common in England, and it may be added in Scotland also, than to hear the martyr-spirit of the days of the covenant laughed at, and its choicest adherents represented as madmen, fanatics, and cut-throats. It was needful that the " Author of Waverley " should be met by a fitting antagonist, and this he soon found in the author of the life of John Knox. No two such other men could have been culled from the crowded ranks of British literature — the one so completely the type of ancient feudalism and Episcopacy ingrafted on modern Toryism, and the other of the sturdy indepen- dence of the good old Whiggaraores, and the Presbyterian devotedness of Drumclog and the Grassmarket. Dr. M'Crie had also the greater right to step forward on this occasion, as the prince of novelists had intruded into a field too sacred for a mere holiday tale. An elaborate review of " Old Mortality" was therefore written, and published in the first three numbers of the " Christian Instructor" for the year 1817. It could scarcely have been expected from one so competent to the task as Dr. M'Crie, that it would have been otherwise than a complete historical refutation of the misstatements of the novel, and a successful vindication of the villified Covenanters. But it was also something more than this in the eyes of Scott and his admirers; for it attacked him with a strength of wit and power of sarcasm that threatened to turn the laugh against himself, and foil him at his own chosen weapon. So at least he felt, and his complaints upon tlie subject, as w-ell as his attempted defence in the " Quarterly Review," bespoke a mind ill at ease about the issue of such a con- troversy. The result was that the novelist was generally condemned, and that his tale, notwithstanding the popularity which at first attended it, sank in popular estimation, and became one of the least valued of all his admired pro- ductions. The success with which the Life of Knox was attended, would have been V. 3 E 402 REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, D.D. sufficient to make most authors repeat the attempt; but, besides this, the task of Dr. jM'Crie liad ah'cad}' been chosen, of wliich his first great effort had only been the commencement. The distinguished lights of the Scottish Reformation had long stood arrayed before his view as successively demanding their due com- memoration; and after having completed the first and best in the series, the choice of the next was not a matter of difficulty. *' If the love of pure religion, rational liberty, and polite letters," he writes, " forms the basis of national virtue and happiness, I know no individual, after her reformer, from whom Scotland has received greater benefits, and to whom she owes a deeper debt of gratitude and respect, than Andrew Melville." Upon this, therefore, he had been employed for years, and towards the close of 1819 the " Life of Andrew Melville" was published. Such was the toil which this work occa- sioned him, that he was wont to say it had cost him "a hundi-ed times more labour than the life of Knox." This will be apparent when we consider not only the immense quantity of facts w-hich such a narrative involved, but the difficulty of finding them, as they were no longer the broad, distinct, and widely- published statements which so largely enter into the history of our first reformers. And yet, though the life of Melville is to the full as well written as that of Knox, and exhibits still greater learning and research, it never attained the same popularity. The cause of this is to be found in the subject itself. After the national hero has crossed the scene, all who follow in his path, be their deeds and merits what they may, must possess an inferior interest. Besides this, Melville was not a reformer from Popery, the common enemy of the Protestant Church, but from Episcopacy; and therefore, while the interest of the event was mainly confined to pi'esbyterian Scotland, it excited dislike in England, v^-hile it awoke scarcely any sympathy in the continental reformed churches. But will the work continue to be thus rated beneath its value? — we scarcely think so. The great question of centuries, the question of the rights of the church in reference to its connection with the state, promises to become moro generally felt and more keenly agitated than ever ; and in this important controversy, the opinions and example of Andrew Melville are likely to assume their due weight. And where, in this case, will posterity be likely to find a record better written than that of Dr. M'Crie ? It may be, that before the present century has closed, his " Life of Andrew Melville" will be more widely perused and deeply considered than the author himself could have anti- cipated. Calamities and afflictions of various kinds were now at hand to try the temper and purify the patience of the hitherto successful author. The perils by which the principle of church establishment was beset, and the prospect of further division among Christian communities, clouded his spirit witli anxious forebod- ings— for his was not a temper to rest satisfied that all should be well in his own day. Domestic sorrow was soon added to his public anxieties ; for his amiable partner in life, who for the last six years had been an invalid, wa3 removed from him by death in June, 1821 . Soon afterwards his own health began to fail, in consequence of his intense application to study ; and even his eyesight was so impaired with the poring of years over dim and difficult manuscripts, as to threaten total blindness. Cessation from labour and the recreation of travel were judged necessary for his recover}' ; and accordingly, in the summer of 1822, he made a short tour of two months to the continent, during which his studies were only changed, not suspended, and he returned home considerably invigorated in health and spirits. On his return, a new and soul-inspiring sub- ject quickly brought him into action ; it was the cause of Greece, that land so trampled under foot and crushed into the dust by centuries of oppression, but now rising from the dead ; the first to attempt the great historical problem, as to whether a whole nation may be capable of a resurrection and a new life, after ages of death and burial. But something more than mere historic curiosity was aroused by the event. Sympathy was also kindled throughout our whole island for the sufferings of the Greeks in their new war of independence, so that British swords and British money were freely tendered in their behalf. And not the least or the latest in this good cause was the city of Edinburgh, now rejoicing in the title of " Modern Athens," and prompt, by its brotherly sympathy, to make that title good. Public meetings were called for the purpose of raising money for the relief of the inhabitants of Scio, and for the promotion of education in Greece, and on both occasions Dr. M'Crie was enlisted as the advocate of suffering Hellas. He was now to appear before tlie public in a new phase. Hitherto he had carefully avoided addressing such meetings, while his pulpit oratory was the stern, unadorned, didactic theology of the old school. But eloquent as was the historian of Knox in the closet, and amidst historic details, was he also capable of eloquence in the crowded popular assembly, with a subject so delicate as Greece for his theme? The answer was given in addresses so imbued with the spirit of ancient heroism and IMarathonian liberty, so per- vaded by the classical tone of Athenian poetry, and so wide in their range, from playful, refined, subtle wit, to the most vehement and subduing appeals of out- raged indignant humanity, that the audiences were astonished and electrified. Under what strange bushel had Dr. M'Crie hid such eloquence so long? It was now evident that, had he so pleased, he might have been among the first of our orators. But hitherto he had been content to be known as a theologian and historian, while he magnanimously left it to others to shine upon the platform ; and having now performed his allotted task, he retired, amidst the deep wonder- ment of his hearers, to the modest seclusion of his study, and the silent labours that awaited him there. And these labours were not pursued remissly. Besides his studies for the pulpit, which he prosecuted with all the diligence of his early days, he con- tinued his researches into the history of the period of the Reformation ; and in 1825 he published his edited " Memoirs of Mr. William Veitch and George Bryson, written by themselves," narratives which he considered of high impor- tance, as illustrative of the covenanting days of Scotland, and to which be appended biographical sketches and illustrative notes. In 1827 appeared his " History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy," a work that had formed the subject of his earlier studies, but for many years had been laid aside. It was a most complex and laborious task, as he was obliged to trace the origin, progress, and decline of the Reformation through twenty-five of the Italian states, among which the great movement was divided. Such was the interest of this work, that it was translated into French, German, and Dutch, and inserted by the ecclesiastical tribunal of Rome in the Index Expurgatorius. In 1829 he published " The Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Spain in the Sixteenth Century," a sequel to " The History of the Reformation in Italy " during the same period. As a proof of his indefatigable diligence and zeal in the study of history, it may be mentioned here, that in order to make himself fully acquainted with the two last subjects, he had mastered, in 404 EEV. THOMAS M'CRIE, D.D. the decline of his days, the Spanish and Italian languages, that he might study the proper authorities from tlieir original sources. While Dr. M'Crie was thus occupied, the hill introduced in 1829 for the emancipation of Roman Catholics from political restrictions, and their admission into placesof authority and trust, was passed. It is perhaps unnecessary to add, that ojie who had studied and written as he had done, was entirely opposed to the measure. lie not only thought it unsafe to concede such privileges, in a Protestant country, to men doing homage to a foreign ecclesiastical power and a hostile creed, but he was also of opinion that by such concessions our country abandoned the solemn covenants to which it had pledged itself since the Reformation, and forfeited the privileges which it enjoyed as the head of European Protestantism. In the old covenanting spirit, he carried the subject to the pulpit, where it had but too much right to enter, and in his lectures on the book of Ezra, where it could be appropriately introduced, he uttered his prophetic warnings. " We have been told from a high quarter," he said, " to avoid such subjects, unless we wish to rekindle the flames of Smithfield, now long forgotten. Long for- gotten ! where forgotten ? In heaven? No. In Britain? God forbid ! They may be forgotten at St. Stephen's or Westminster Abbey, but they are not forgotten in Britain. And if ever such a day arrives, the hours of Britain's prosperity have been numbered." He drew up a petition against the measure, which was signed by 13,150 names, but this, like other petitions of the same kind, was ineffectual. The bill was passed, and silly, duped, disappointed Britain is now ready, like the Roman voter in favour of Coriolanus, to exclaim, "An' it were to do again — but no matter!" The career of Dr. M'Crie was now drawing to a termination. His literary labours, especially in the lives of Knox and Melville, combined with hfe ex- treme care that every idea which he gave forth to the public, and every sentence in which it was embodied, should be worthy of those important subjects in which he dealt — all this, connected with the daily and almost hourly avoca- tions of his ministerial office, and the numerous calls that were made upon him, in consequence of his interference with the great public movements of the day, had reduced him to the debility and bodily ailments of " threescore and ten, ' while as yet he was ten years short of the mark. But his was a mind that had never rested, and that knew not how to vest. In 1827 he had enjoyed the satis- faction, after much labour and anxiety, of seeing a union effected between the church party to which he belonged, and the body who had seceded from the Burgher and Antiburgher Synods in 1820, under the name of Protesters; and in 1830 his anxieties were excited, and his pen emplo^'ed, in endeavours to pro- mote a union between his own party, now greatly increased, and the Associate Synod of Original Burghers. Many may smile at these divisions as unnecessary and unmeaning, and many may wonder that such a mind as that of Dr. M'Crie should have been so intent in reconciling them. But I'eligious dissension is no triviality, and the bond of Christian unity is worth any sacrifice short of reli- gious principle ; and upon this subject, therefore, the conscientious spirit of Dr. M'Crie was as anxious as ever was statesman to combine jarring parties into one, for the accomplishment of some great national and common benefit. While thus employed, a heavy public bereavement visited him with all the weight of a personal affliction ; this was the death of the Rev. Dr. Andrevir Thomson, who, in the full strength and vigour of his days, suddenly fell down and expired upon the threshold of his home, which he was just about to enter. By this event, which occuired on the 9th of February, 1831, Dr. M'Crie was bereaved of a close affectionate intercourse which he had for years enjoyed with a most congenial heart and intellect, and saw himself fated to hold onward in his course, and continue the "good fight," uncheered by the voice that had so often revived his courage. After he had rallied from the unexpected blow, Dr. M'Crie was employed in what was called the " Marrow Controversy," which, notwithstanding the uncouth title it bore, had for its object the vindica- tion of the important doctrine of justification by faith from the perversions of Arminianism. This was followed by the Anti-patronage controversy in 1833, a subject which the Kirk of Scotland had never lost sight of since the time when patronage was first imposed upon it, and which was now fast ripening into such important results as neither friend nor enemy could anticipate. As might be expected. Dr. M'Crie was no mere onlooker. He belonged to a body whose conscientious hope was a return to the church of their fathers, when it was loosed from its bonds and purified from its errors; but who saw no prospect of the realization of that hope until the right of pastoral election was conceded to the people. Upon this question Dr. M'Crie published what proved to be the last work he was to produce as an author, in the form of an anonymous pamphlet, entitled " What ought the General Assembly to do at the Present Crisis?'' His answer to the question was express and brief: " Without delay, petition the legislature for the abolition of patronage." The outcry in Scot- land against patronage became so loud — so deafening — that statesmen saw they must be up and doing, and a committee of the House of Commons was ap- pointed to hold an inquest upon the alleged grievance. It was natural that the most distinguished of Scotland's ecclesiastical historians should be heard upon the subject, more especially as his testimony was likely to be unbiassed either by party feeling or self-interest ; and accordingly, besides the many eminent ministers of the Established Church who were summoned before the committee. Dr. M'Crie was called to give his statement upon the effects of ecclesiastical patronage. He repaired to London at this authoritative summons, although with reluctance, and underwent two long examinations before the committee, the one on the 2d, the other on the 7th of May, 1834. It was not thus, however, that the question was to be settled ; and he returned from London, wondering what would be the result, but comforting himself with the conviction that an overruling wisdom predominated over earthly counsels, and that all would be controlled for the best. Amidst these public cares, and a debility that was daily increasing, Dr. M'Crie now addressed himself in earnest to accomplish what, in all likelihood, would have proved the most laborious of his literary undertakings. It was nothing less than a Life of Calvin, to which his attention had been directed during his studies upon the progress of the Reformation on the continent, and for which he had collected a considerable amount of materials. This, however, was not enough, for he felt tjiat to accomplish such a work in a satisfactory manner, it w'ould be necessary to consult the ancient records of Geneva, a step which his ministerial duties prevented. His friends, aware of his wishes on the subject, had offered to send, at their own expense, a qualified person to Geneva to transcribe the required documents; but this kind offer, which was made in 1831, he declined. In 1833, however, his son John, a young man of high talent, who was studying for the church, had repaired with two pupils on a travelling excursion to Geneva, and to him the task was committed of making lOG REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, D.D. the necessary extracts upon the subject. The commission could not have been better bestowed. " John has been so laborious in his researches," said the affectionate father, " and sent me home so many materials, that I found myself sliut up to make an attempt, if it were for no other reason than to show that I was not altogetlier insensible to his exertions." He felt more and more the growing lassitude that was stealing upon him, and thus wrote, eight months afterwards, about the materials that were pouring in upon him from Geneva : "I have neither time nor leisure to avail myself of them; and instead of rejoicing, as I used to do, at the sight of such treasures, I rather feel inclined to weep. Yet if I can make nothing of them, some other may." Thus he went on till the middle of the following year, his attention to Calvin being in the mean- time divided by the great ecclesiastical events that were hastening onward to the disruption of the Church of Scotland. Of the Life of the great Reformer, howevei-, he had already written out, and prepared for the press three ample chapters, in which Calvin's career was traced through the studies of his youth, onward to his adoption of the reformed doctrines, his preface to the "Institution of the Christian Religion," and his residence in Geneva. But here the histo- rian's task was to terminate, and terminate most unexpectedly and abruptly. On the 4th of August, 1835, he was suddenly taken unwell; a stupor succeeded, from which it was impossible to rouse him; and on the following day he breathed his last, without a groan or struggle, but insensible to the presence of his grieving friends who were assembled round his death-bed. Thus died, in the sixty-third j'ear of his age, and fortieth of his ministry', the Rev. Dr. M'Crie, whose whole life had been a preparation for death, and whom death, therefore, could not take at unawares. His remains were buried in the churchyard of Greyfriars, and over the grave a simple monument was erected by his congregation, with an inscription commemorative of his worth and their regret. At his death he left a widow, for he was twice married, upon whom government, to show their sense of his worth, settled a liberal pension. His children, who were all by his first marriage, consisted of four sons, of whom John, the third, his faithful assistant among the archives of Geneva, died only two years after his father. Besides these, he had one daughter, married to Archibald jMeikle, Esq., Flemington. It is pleasing to add, that of the family of such a man, there is one who inherits not only his name and sacred office, but also his tastes and studies, and not a small portion of his talent. Besides those works to which we have already adverted, Dr. M'Crie was author of the following publications : " The Duty of Christian Societies towards each other, in relation to the Measures for Propagating the Gospel, which at present engage the attention of the Religious World; a Sermon, preached in the meeting-house, Potter Row, on occasion of a Collection for promoting a Mission to Kentucky." 1797. " Statement of the Difference between the Profession of the Reformed Church of Scotland as adopted by Seceders, and the Profession contained in the New Testimony and other Acts lately adopted by the General Associate Synod; particularly on the Power of Civil Magistrates respecting Religion, National Reformation, National Churches, and National Covenants." Edinburgh, 1807. "Letters on the late Catholic Bill, and the Discussions to which it has given rise. Addressed to British Protestants, and chiefly Presbyterians in Scotland. By a Scots Presbyterian." Edinburgh, 1807. "Free Thoughts on the late Religious Celebration of the Funeral of her LIEUT.-COLONEL JOHN MACDONALD. 407 Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales ; and on the Discussion to which it has given rise in Edinburgh. By Scoto Britannus." 1817. '• Two Discourses on the Unity of the Church, her Divisions, and their Removal." Edinburgh, 1821. "Sermons" (posthumous volume). Edinburgh, 1836. '" Lectures on the Book of Esther" (posthumous). Edinburgh, 1838. MACDONALD, Lieutenant Colonel John, F.R S., F.A.S. — This scientific soldier and voluminous writer possessed, by the mere accident of birth, a dis- tinction which his productions in authorship, excellent though they were, would have failed to acquire ; for he was the son of Flora Macdonald, that heroine whose name is so intimately connected with the romantic history of " the young Chevalier." All know the dangers she underwent, and the address she exhi- bited, in procuring his escape from his pursuers in 1746, and the enthusiasm which her romantic fidelity excited among the Jacobites of the day, after her exertions had been successful. She was the daughter of Mr. Macdonald, a tacks- man or gentleman farmer of Melton, in South Uist ; and in 1746, the period of her adventurous career, she was about twenty-four years old. After her return from London, whither she was summoned to answer for her political offence in eff"ecting the escape of such an enemy, she married ; but notwithstanding the rich gifts with which her generous conduct had been rewarded by the adherents of the Stuart cause in the great metropolis, she and her husband had become so poor at the time of Dr. Johnson's visit to her in 1773, that they had resolved to emigrate to America. This they afterwards did ; but either having not suc- ceeded to their wish, or finding the love of country too strong for voluntar_y exile, they returned to Skye, where Flora died, on the 4th of March, 1790, leaving behind her a son, John, the subject of the present memoir, and a daugh- ter, married to a Mr. Macleod, a distant relation to the chief of that name. " It is remarkable," writes Sir Walter Scott, " that this distinguished lady signed her name Flory, instead of the more classical orthography. Her marriage con- tract, which is in my possession, bears the name spelled Flory." At an early period John Macdonald went to India, and on his way thither had occasion to reside for a short time in London. This was at a period when the alarm of the Jacobite war of 1715 and 1745 had ceased to be remembered, and when the Celtic dress had not as yet become familiar to the English eye. At this transition period, the Highland costume of our young Scottish adven- turer appears to have excited as much astonishment, and also displeasure, as the kaross of the Caffre, or the sheep-skin of the Tartar would have done, had they been paraded upon the pavement of Cheapside. Writing of this event in the "Gentleman's Magazine," in 1828, he says, "I well recollect my arrival in London, about half a century ago, on my way to India, and the disapprobation expressed in the streets of my tartan dress ; but now I see with satisfaction the variegated Highland manufacture prevalent, as a favourite and tasteful costume, from the humble cottage to the superb castle. To Sir Walter Scott's elegant and fascinating writings we are to ascribe this wonderful revolution in public sentiment." As it was to the scientific departments of the military profession that Mac- donald devoted his labours, his career to the close was that of a studious observer and philosophic writer, rather than a stirring, adventurous soldier. He passed many years in the service of the East India Company, and attained the rank of Captain of Engineers on the Bengal establishment. While thus employed, the 408 LIEUT.-COIONEL JOHN MACDONALD. important subject of the diurnal variation of the magnetic needle occupied much of liis attention, and on this he made a series of observations in 1794: and tlie two followinj^ years, at Bencoolen, Sumatra, and St. Helena, whiclx he com- municated in 17'J8 to the Royal Societ_v, who published them in their Transac- tions, and elected him a Fellow in 1800. About the last-mentioned period he also returned to Britain, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Clan-Aljjine Regiment, and commandant of the Royal Edinburgh Artillery. After his arrival, the life of Colonel Macdonald was one of diligent useful authorsliip, so that his history from this period is best comprised in the titles of his works, and the dates of their publication. Of these we give the follow- ing list : — In 1803 he published " Rules and Regulations for the Field Exercise and Manoeuvres of the French Inflintry, issued August 1, 1791 ; translated from the French, with Explanatory Notes and Illustrative References to the British and Prussian systems of tactics," &c., &c., in two volumes 12rao. In 180-1, when he belonged to the 1st Battalion of Cinque Ports Volunteers, and when every kind of military instruction was most needed for our home-bred soldier}', while in training against the menaced invasion of the country from France, Colonel Macdonald published another work, in one volume, entitled, "The Experienced Officer; or. Instructions by the General of Division, Wimpffen, to his sons, and to all young men intended for the military profession, being a series of rules laid down by General Wimpffen, to enable officers of every rank to carry on war in all its branches and desci'iptions, fi-om the least important enterprises and expeditions, to the decisive battles which involve the fate of empires. With Notes and an Introduction." In 1807, while chief engineer at Fort Marlborough, he published "Instruc- tions for the Conduct of Infantry on actual Service." This was also translated from the French, and published in two volumes, with explanatory notes. In 1808 appeared his first work upon a subject which had employed his attention for years. This was "A Treatise on Telegraphic Communication, Naval, Military, and Political," 8vo, in which he proposed a different plan from that hitherto adopted. In 1811, Colonel Macdonald produced a work in startling contrast to his former subjects, but which was only one among the studies of a comprehensive philosophic mind, under the title of "A Treatise, explainatory of the Principles constituting the Practice and Theory of the Violoncello." This work was published in one volume folio. In 1812, reverting to his military avocations, he published a translation of "The Formations and Manoeuvres of Infantry, by the Chevalier Duteil," 12mo. This was the last of his productions in military science, and, as may be sur- mised from the date, the last that was needed — for the French science of war- fare was now well understood by our armies, as their hostile instructors were learning to their cost. This fact, however, shows the judiciousness of the plan which ]\Iacdonald had adopted as an expositor of warlike science, and indicates in some measure the probable benefit with which his own individual labours were followed. In 1816, Colonel Macdonald returned to the important subject of telegraph communication, by publishing his " Telegraphic Dictionary," a laborious work, containing 150,000 words, phrases, and sentences. The estimate formed of the value of tliis work was shown by the directors of the East India Company, who REV. STEVENSON MACGILL, D.D. 409 voted the sum of £400 to assist in defraying the expense of publication; it was also highly recommended by the Secretary of the Admiralty, and the Adjutant- General of the Army, In addition to these separate productions, Colonel Macdonald was a contri- butor to the " Gentleman's Magazine " for several years, until the close of his life; but the subjects of these essays are too numerous to specif3^ They were chiefly connected, however, with the philosophical studies which had occupied his attention from an early period, and were characterized by the philanthropy that had always animated his pen in seeking to promote the best interests of society. The same spirit was manifested in his personal exertions ; and during tlie last twelve or fifteen years of his life, which were spent in Exeter, the cliaritable institutions of that city always found him an active co-operator, as well as liberal contributor. He died there on the 16th of August, 1831, aged sevent3'-t\vo, and was buried in Exeter Cathedral. MACGILL, Stevenson, D.D., professor of theology in the university of Glasgow, was born at Port- Glasgow, on the 19th January, 17G5. Ilis father, Thomas Macgill, a native of Dunbar, had been apprenticed to a ship-builder of that town ; and one evening, when only seventeen years of age, he happened to step into a prayer-meeting, kept by a party of pious Methodist soldiers who had just returned from Gei-many. Such was the influence produced by this incident, that he joined the Methodist connection, and from that period, till his death in 1804, adhered steadily to that body, while his piety and worth were an example to every Christian community. The mother of the professor was Frances Welsh, daughter of Mr. Welsh, of Locharet, in East Lothian, a family- supposed to be connected with that of John Welsh, the son-in-law of our great reformer, John Knox. She too, in the words of her son, "was a true Christian, of fervent piety, and habitually animated by the Divine principle of faith in the Son of God." Stevenson Macgill received the earlier part of his education in the parish school of Port-Glasgow ; and at the age of ten, was sent to complete it at the university of Glasgow. Here, as his destination was for the ministry, he went through a nine years' course, where his proficiency in literature, science, and theology, obtained a considerable number of class honours, and secured the approbation of his professors. On the completion of his studies, Mr. Macgill was licensed as a preacher by the presb^'tery of Paisley in 1790, and soon after, received the offer of the chair of civil history in St, Andrews, a charge which was to be united with a small country parish. But even thus early, and in spite of so alluring a temptation, he was the uncompromising enemy of ecclesiastical plurality, and therefore the offer was refused. In the year after he was licensed to preach, he was presented to the parish of Eastwood ; and while he continued there, his ministry was distinguished not only by careful study and preparation for the duties of the pulpit, but also by his attention to the moral and religious instruction of the young of his parish, and the proper support of the helpless poor. The diffusion of infidel and revolutionary prin- ciples, which the recent events in France had occasioned, also called forth the anxiety of Mr. Macgill ; and in 1792, he published a small tract, entitled "The Spirit of the Times," particularly addressed to the people of Eastwood, in which he temperately' and judiciously warned them against the anarchical theories of the day. After having been for six years minister of Eastwood, he was trans- lated, in 1797, to the charge of the Tron Church of Glasgow, that had become vacant by the death of the Rev. Dr. M'Call. Here his pastoral labours were at V. 3 F 410 REV. STEVENSON MACGILL, D.D. least of threefold amount, in consequence of the rapid growth of the population, and the increase of poverty, ignoi-ance, and crime, witli which it was accom- panied. But to these he addressed himself in a right apostolic spirit, and with an efl'ectiveness of which Glasgow still reaps the fruits. Soon after his arrival in Glasgow, the well-known period called "'the dearth" occurred, and Mr. Macgill became an active advocate for the establishment of soup-kitchens, and other means for the relief of the poor. The comforts and cure of the sick, and the coercion and reformation of the criminal, were continual objects of his pastoral solicitude, and therefore he became a careful superintendent of the wants of prisons and the infirmary. In him, too, the Lunatic Asylum of Glasgow, which has been so efficient an institution for the relief of the worst of ail maladies, found not only its best friend, but also its chief originator, in conse- quence of the impulse which he gave towards the erection of that noble struc- ture. One defect also under which Glasgow laboured, until it had grown into an evil of the first magnitude, called forth his active exertions. This was the deficiency of church accommodation, which, although common to Scotland at large, from the increase of the population, was particularly felt in Glasgow, where the ratio of increase had been unprecedented, and was still continuing to go onward with u constantly growing magnitude, while the number of the city churches remained stationary. Nothing could more eff'ectually encourage dissent than such a state of things; and accordingly, the great mercantile city of the west, once so famous for its hearty attachment to the Kirk which the Reformation had established within its walls, was now becoming the great em- porium of Scottish sectarianism. Nor was this the worst; for even the numerous chapels that were erected by the different sects were still inadequate either for the growth of the population, or for the poverty of the masses, who were unable to contribute their prescribed share for the maintenance of the self-supporting principle. All this struck the observant eye of Dr. Macgill, who tried every method, both with the church-court and town council, to have the evil removed, by the erection of new churches, as well as the way prepared for their full effici- ency, by the extension and improvement of the civic parochial education. For the present, however, he laboured in vain ; for the city dignitaries of the day were more intent upon the great wars of the continent, and the movements in the peninsula, than those evils around thenx that required no far-seeing sagacity to detect ; and thus " the righteousness that exalteth a nation " was left to a future hearing. But his appeals were not ineffectual, although, for the present, they seemed to be scattered to the winds, or buried in the earth ; for after many years the harvest shot up, and before he closed his eyes he had the satisfaction of seeing the principle of church extension reduced to vigorous action, in that very city where his former appeals on the subject had been unheeded. While Dr. Macgill was thus actively employed upon the important subject of civic economy as developed in prisons, schools, and churches, he was far from being remiss in those studies with which the more sacred duties of tho ministerial office are connected. Seldom, indeed, in any man, was a life of contemplation more harmoniously blended with a life of action; and, therefore, amidst a career of practical hard-working usefulness, which he continued until he was stretched upon a death-bed, he was an inquiring and improving student, who felt that he had still something to learn. Such was the disposition with which he commenced his ministry in Glasgow. He knew the quantity of out- EEV. STEVENSON MACGILL, D.D. 411 tloor work that would beset him in the discharge of his duty, and he was aware of its tendency to mar the occupations of the study, and arrest or throw back the mind of the minister, and shut him up within the narrow circle of his early acquirements. But he knew, withal, that the duty of intellectual self-improve- ment was equally' urgent with that of active everyday usefulness. On this account, he proposed to his brethren of the presbytery the plan of a literary and tlicological association for mutual instruction, by the reading of essays, and oral discussions; and the proposal was so acceptable, that in 1800 a society for the purpose was formed, whose meetings were held once a-month. The important subjects which it kept in view, and its plan of action, were admirably fitted for the clergy of a large city, who, of all men, must keep abreast of the learning and intelligence of the age. While he was a member of this literary and theological association. Dr. Macgill read, in his turn, a series of essays which he had written on the pastoral office and it duties, and the best ways of discharging them with effect. These essays, which were afterwards published in the form of letters, entitled, " Considerations addressed to a Young Clergy- man," gave ample proof of his high appreciation of the ministerial office, and sound views of an appropriate clerical training. The work, also, as well as the consistent manner in which he had always acted upon its principles, pointed him out as the fittest person to occupy a most important office in the church. This was the chair of theology in the university of Glasgow, which became vacant in 1814, by the death of Dr. Robert Findlay, who had held it for more than thirty years. On his election to the professorship of divinity. Dr. Macgill addressed him- self in earnest to the discharge of its onerous duties. And that these were neither few nor trivial, may be surmised from the fact, that the general number of the students in the Divinity Hall was above two hundred, while their ex- clusive instruction in theology, instead of being divided among several pro- fessors, devolved entirely upon himself. The mode, also, of teaching that most complex, as well as most important of sciences, was still to seek; for as yet the training to the ministerial office was in a transition state, that hovered strangely between the scholastic pedantry and minuteness of former years, and the headlong career of innovation and improvement that characterized the com- mencement of the 19th century. And in what fashion, and how far, was it necessary to eschew the one and adopt the other? It is in these great periodic outbursts of the human mind tliat universities stand still in astonishment, while their learned professors gaze upon the ancient moth-eaten formulas, and know not what to do. To teach theology now was a very different task from the inculcation of Latin and Greek, which has continued the same since the days of Alfred. The first years, therefore, of Dr. Macgill's labours as a professor, consisted of a series of experimenting ; and it was fortunate that the duty had devolved upon one so patient to undergo the trial, and so observant of what was fittest and best. At length the whole plan of theological instruction was methodized into a system tliat worked harmoniously and effectively under the control of a single mind. It was felt to be truly so by the students who passed under its training; so that each fell into his own proper place, and the daily work of the Divinity Hall went on with the regularity of a well-adjusted machine. It was sometimes objected to the course of lecturing, that it attempted to comprise too much; that it descended to too many minutia? ; and that the fit proportion which each subject should bear to the whole, was thus lost 413 REV. STEVENSON MACGILL, D.D, siglit of. Dr. MacgiU himself was sensible of these defects, and many years before his death employed himself in lopping off whatever he considered to bo redundant in liis lectures, and condensing whatever was too diffuse. But let it be remembered, also, that when he commenced he was groping his way along an untried path. Even his learned predecessor, Dr. Findlay, had laid out for himself a theological course of such vast range as an ordinary life would have been utterly insufficient to overtake ; and thus, at the end of each four years' course, his pupils escaped with a few tlieological ideas that had been extended and ramified to the uttermost ; a little segment, instead of a full body of divinity. But in the other duties of liis professorship, where his own individuality was brought into full play, unfettered by forms and systems, Dr. MacgiU was unrivalled. In his oral examinations of the class, he seemed to have an intuitive sagacity in entering at once into the chai'acter of each pupil, and discovering the kind of management which he most needed. In this case, it was most gratif^'ing to witness with what gentleness, and yet with what tact, he repressed the over-bold and animated the diffident, stimu- lated the slothful and encouraged the career of the diligent and enterprising; wliile his bearing, which was in the highest degree that of a grave divine and accomplished scholar, adorned by the graces of a Christian gentleman, won the reverence, the confidence, and affection of his students. But it was not alone in the class-room that these qualities were exhibited in their fullest measure. His evenings were generally devoted to his students, of whom he was wont to have a number in rotation around the tea table, so that at the end of the session none had been omitted; and wliile, at these conversaziones, he could unbend from the necessary formality of public duty, and encourage a flow of cheerful intercourse, it always tended more or less to the great object whicli he had most at heart — the formation of a learned, pious, and efficient ministry. Nor was this all. Few, indeed, can tell or even guess his cares, his labours, and his sacrifices in behalf of these his adopted children, whom once having known, he never ceased to remember and to care for, and for whose welfare his li!)rary, his purse, and his personal labours were opened with an ever- flowing liberality. These were the very qualities most needed by a professor of theology, and best fitted to influence the pupils under his training. Dr. MacgiU, indeed, was neither a man of high genius nor commanding eloquence; at the best he was notliing more than what might be called a third-rate mind — a man who, under different circumstances, might have passed through life unknown and unnoticed. But with a mind so balanced, and animated with such high and holy principles, he was enabled to acquire an ascendency and accomplisli a work which first-rate intellects have often attempted in vain. After having continued for several j-ears exclusively devoted to the duties of the theological chair. Dr. MacgiU suddenly found himself summoned to the arena of a church-court, and that, too, upon a question where the conflict would be at entrance. Hitherto he had been the enemy of ecclesiastical plurality, modified though it was in the Church of Scotland by the union of some pro- fessorship with the ministerial charge of a parish, instead of the care of two or more parishes vested in one person. And while some confined their hostility to the objection that the chair and the pulpit generally lay so far apart that the holder must be a non-resident, the objections of MacgiU were founded upon higher principles. He knew that plurality was totally opposed to the laws and spirit of the Scottish Church; and he was too well aware of the important REV. STEVENSON MACGILL, D.D. 4K duties of a minister, to have his office conjoined with any other pursuit. And now the time and occasion had arrived when he must boldly step forward and speak out. Tn 1823, the Rev. Dr. Taylor, principal of tlie university of Glas- gow died, and the Rev^ Dr. Macfarlan, minister of Drymen, was appointed to succeed to the office. And few were better fitted to occupy that important charge, which he still so worthily adorns. But, hitherto, the principal of tlie college had also been minister of St. IMungo's, or the High parish of Glasgow, and it seemed a matter of course that Dr. Macfarlan should hold both livings conjointl}'-, to which he Avas appointed accordingl}^. It was the gentlest form in which plurality had ever appeared in Scotland, for both charges were in the same cit\', while the one, it was thought, could not infringe upon the duties of the other. But to Dr. Macgill it appeared far otherwise. By the statutes of the college, the principal was bound to superintend its secular affiiirs, and teach theology, which was a task sufficient for any one man ; and thus the holder would be compelled either to give half-duty to both offices, or reduce one of them to a sinecure. It was upon these arguments that Dr. Macgill opposed the double induction. It was a stern and severe trial that thus devolved upon one who had hitherto been such a lover of peace ; and it was harder still, that his opposition must be directed against one who was thence- forth, let the result be what it might, to become his daily colleague as well as official superior. Many in his situation would have contented themselves with a simple non liquet, wliispered with bated breath, and thought their vote a sufficient testimony of their principles. Superior, however, to such conside- rations, and anticipating the great controversy that would be at issue upon the subject. Dr. Itlacgill, several months before it took place, brought the question before the senate of the university, and finding that his learned brethren would not coincide with him, he had entered, in the college records, his protest against the induction. In the keen debates that afterwards followed upon the subject in the presbytery of Glasgow, tlie synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and at last the General Assembly, to which it was carried for final adjudication, Dr. IMacgill assumed the leadership ; and few, even of his most intimate friends, were pre- pared for that masterly eloquence which he exhibited at the first step of the controvers}". In taking his chief ground upon the argument of the respon- sibility of city ministers, and the immense amount of labour which they had to undergo, especially in such a city as Glasgow, he invoked his brethren of the presbytery in language that was long afterwards felt and remembered. The question, as is well known, was lost by the evangelical party; and the union of the offices of principal of the university of Glasgow, and minister of the church and parish of St. IMungo was confirmed, as well as the continuance of plurality sanctioned. But this was only a last effi)rt. The opposition which Dr. Macgill so boldly and bravely commenced, had aroused the popular feel- ing so universally upon the subject, as to command the respect of the govern- ment ; and the Royal Commission, which was afterwards appointed for visiting the universities of Scotland, confirmed the popular expression. Let us trust that the evil thus denounced and banished, will never again find an entrance into our national church. Besides his hostility to ecclesiastical plurality. Dr. Macgill was decidedly opposed to patronage, and earnest for its abrogation. He did not, however, go the whole length of his brethren in advocating the rights of popular suffrage. On the contrary, he was opposed to merely popular elections, and 414 REV. STEVENSON MACGILL, D.D, held that they had never been the law of the Church of Scotland. Still, he was of opinion that tlie existing' patronage was a great evil, tliat rer|uireJ a total amendment. He declared it to be a hard thing upon the people of Scot- land, that an individual, who might be deficient in principles, knowledge, and morals, should dictate to the worthy and respectable the man whom tliey should receive as their minister. And it was harder still, he thought, that this patron might be of any or of no religious belief, and in either case, opposed to the faith of those over whom he appointed a minister. But, worst of all, this right, originally intended for the good of the people in their highest interests, might be bought, like any marketable commodity, by a person wholly uncon- nected with the parish, and who had no interest in its welfare. The church, indeed, had power to judge and decide on the qualifications of the presentees, by previously trying them as licentiates, and finding them competent for the work of the ministry in general, in life, doctrine, and knowledge. But the preacher thus approved of might be unqualified for the particular charge to which he was designated ; so that, however orthodox, learned, and pious, his manners, his habits, and mode of preaching might be such as to make him unsuitable for the people over whom he was appointed. For all this a remedy was necessary ; and that which Dr. Macgill had long contemplated, he pro- pounded before the Committee of the House of Commons appointed to try the question of patronage in Scotland. For this purpose his first desideratum was, the abolition of the act of Queen Anne for the restoration of patronage in our church. This being obtained, he proposed to divide the representation of the jmrish between three bodies, consisting of the heritors, the elders, and the male communicants, each body to be represented by three delegates, to whom the nomination of the future pastor might be intrusted. Let this committee of nine, after having weighed the case, present to their constituents the person of their choice, whom they had approved by a majority of votes ; and should any disputes afterwards arise upon the concurrence of the people, let the case be settled by the decision of the church-courts. Such is an abstract of his plan, by which he hoped the despotism of patronage on the one hand, and the anarchy of popular election on tlie other, would be equally avoided. But subsequent events showed that this, as well as many other such plans, was but a " devout imagination." The agitation against patronage was followed by the Veto-law, and finally by the Disruption. No compromise or half measures — nothing short of a total abrogation of the evil complained of, was found sufficient to satisfy the remonstrants. After this the course of Dr. MacgiU's life went onward tranquilly but usefull}-; and of the events that occurred till the close, a brief notice may suffice. In 1824, in consequence of a discovery by Dr. M'Crie, the able biographer of John Knox, that our Scottish reformer was educated, not at St. Andrews, as had hitherto been supposed, but at the university of Glasgow, Dr. Macgill conceived that Glasgow was the proper place in which a monument should be erected to his memory. The idea was eagerly caught by several of the spirited citizens, and the result was that stern column on the height of the Fir Park, better known as the Glasgow Necropolis, surmounted by the statue of Knox himself, with the Bible in one hand, and tire other stretched out towards the rapidly-growing city, as if he were in the act of uttering the old civic motto, " Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the word." In 1828, Dr. iMacgill was unanimously elected to the office of moderator of the General Assembly — an office which it was thought CHARLES MACINTOSH. 415 he should have occupied at a still earlier period, but for the predominance of that party in the church to which his views in doctrine and discipline were opposed. In 1835 he was made one of the deans of the Chapel- Royal, a merely honorary appointment, having neither emolument nor duties at that time attached to it. Three years after (1838) he was busily occupied with the plan of erecting a house of refuge for juvenile delinciuents in Glasgow — one of his many success- ful public efforts for the instruction of the young, and reformation of the vicious. During 1838 and 1839 he was also employed in preparing two volumes for the press. In 1839, though now borne down by age, and the pressure of domestic misfortunes, he resolved to encounter the labours of the winter as he had been wont ; and in October, he opened the Divinity Hall, and went through the half-year's course without having been absent a single day. But it was life's last effort. In the end of July, while returning from Bowling Bay, where he had been visiting a friend, he was caught in a heavy shower of rain : a cold and sore throat ensued, that soon turned into fever, accompanied with delirium, in which he was generally either in the attitude of prayer, or employed in address- ing an imaginary audience. It was indeed the ruling passion strong in death — • the predominance of that piety and activity which had formed his main cha- racteristics through life. He died on the morning of the 18th of August, 1840, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. Dr. Macgill was not a voluminous writer ; this, his devotedness to his daily public duties prevented, as well as the fastidious views which he entertained of authorship, that made him unwilling to commit to the press anything which he had not deeply studied and carefully elaborated. Whatever, therefore, he has written, he has written well. Besides his "Letters to a Young Clergyman," he published " Discourses and Essays on Subjects of Public Interest," " Collec- tion of Translations, Paraphrases, and Hymns" — several of which were his own composition — " Lectui'es on Rhetoric and Criticism, and on Subjects introduc- tory to the Critical Study of the Scriptures," and a volume of Sermons, dedicated "to his former pupils, now his brethren, as a remembrancer of past times." But even when his writings are forgot, his labours in the Scottish Church, rent asunder though it has been since his death, and the benefits of these labours upon all parties, will continue to remain a unanimous and hallowed I'emembrance. MACINTOSH, Charles, F.R.S., an inventor of several chemical manufac- tui'es, was born at Glasgow, December 29, 1766. He was the son of Mr. George Macintosh, who introduced the manufacture of cudbear and Turkey-red dyeing into Glasgow. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. Charles Moore, of Stilling, the brother of Dr. John Moore, author of " Zeluco," and her nephew was Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, K.B., who fell in the disastrous retreat at Corunna. Charles received the elements of his education in his native city, and afterwards was sent to a school at Catterick Bridge, in Yorkshire. On his leaving the latter, he was placed in the counting-house of Mr. Glassford, of Dugaldston, to acquire habits of business. He studied chemistry under the celebrated Dr. Black, then settled in Edinburgh, and turned his knowledge to practical account at an early period, having embarked in the manufacture of sal-ammoniac before he had attained the age of twenty. He subsequently introduced from Holland into this country, the manufacture of acetate of lead and acetate of alumina, employed in calico-printing. In 1797 he was associated with Mr. Charles Tennant, then a bleacher at Darnley, near Glasgow, in work- ing the patent for the production of chloride of lime in the dry state and in 41G REV. HUGH M'KAIL. solution, since employed so extensively as a bleaching agent. In the same year he became a partner in a firm at llurlet for the manufacture of alum from alum schist; and, in 1C05, similar works, on a larger scale, were established by the same company at Campsie. On the death of his father, in 1807, Mr, Macintosh took possession, with his fomily, of the house at Dunchattan, near Glasgow, where he continued till the end of his life to prosecute his chemical researches. In 1822 he obtained a patent for his celebrated invention of the waterproof cloth distinguished b}' his name. With a view to the obtaining of ammonia to be employed in the manufacture of cudbear, Jlr, JMacintosh, in 1819, entered into a contract with the proprietors of the Glasgow gas-works, to receive the tar and other ammoniacal products of the distillation of coal in gas-making. After separating the ammonia, in converting the tar into pitch, the essential oil named naphtha is produced ; and it occurred to the inventive mind of Mr. Macintosh to turn this substance to account as a solvent of caoutchouc or India rubber. He succeeded in producing a waterproof varnish, the thickness and consistency of which he could vary, according to the quantity of naphtha employed in the process. Having obtained a patent for this process, he established a manu- factory of waterproof articles, which was first carried on in Glasgow, but was eventually transferred to a partnership in Manchester, under the name of Charles JMacintosh & Co. In 1828 jNIr. JMacintosh joined a copartnery in working the hot-blast patent of Mr. J, B. Neilson, He first established in Scotland the manufacture of Prussian blue and prussiate of potash; invented the mode of topical printing of calico, silks, &c., by the application of the caoutchouc and naphtha varnish; and invented and patented a process for converting iron into steel, by means of carburetted hydrogen gas. Mr, Macintosh closed a career of great usefulness to science and the arts on the 25th of July, 181.3, in his seventy-seventh year, M'KAIL, Hugh, — Of this young martyr for the cause of religious liberty little has been recorded, except his martyrdom itself. That, however, was an event so striking, that it stands out in strong relief among the similar events of the period, filled though it was with such atrocities of religious persecution as made Scotland for the time an Aceldama among the nations. Hugh M'Kail was born about the year 1640. His boyhood and youth were thus spent among the most stirring incidents of the Covenant, when the patriotic and religious spirit of our country made a life of ease or indifference almost an impossibility. His studies were prosecuted, with a view to the ministry, at the university of Edinburgh, and when he had entered his twenty-first year he was licensed as a preacher by the presbytery. At this time, also, he appears to have lived with Sir James Stuart of Kirkfield, as his chaplain. In those days preaching behoved to be a very different matter from what it generally is at present ; and when we wonder at the frequency with which public measures were introduced into the pulpit, as well as the severity with which they were often reprobated, we must remember that this was nothing more than what necessity required and duty justified. The age of journalism had not yet fully commenced; and those political movements by which the interests of religion were affected, had no place of discussion or reprobation but the church, so that to "preach to the times" was reckoned the duty of the minister, not only in Scotland, but in England. The pulpit was thus con- strained to occupy that place from which the public press has happily relieved it. Besides, a war at this time was going on in Scotland, that proposed nothing REV. HUGH M'KilL. 417 short of the utter annihilation of the national church ; and every faithful minister, therefore, felt himself standing upon a watch-tower, from which he was to look anxiously over the whole country, and sound the alarm whenever danger approached, let the quarter from which it issued be what it might. To this duty, so full of imminent peril, M'Kail, as a preacher, was soon summoned. The bishops, who had been imposed upon the country by royal authority, complained that their offices were not respected, nor their behests obeyed ; and Middleton's mad parliament had passed, under the inspiration of wine and strong drink, that sweeping decree by which 400 ministers were ejected from their charges for non-compliance. It was in September, 16G2, while this measure was impending, by which the best pulpits of Edinburgh as well as Scotland at large were soon to be deprived of their ministers, that Hugh M'Kail, who had frequently officiated in the city as a preacher with great acceptance, delivered his last public sermon in the High church, on the Sabbath before the edict was to take effect. His text was from Canticles I. 7; and in illustrating this passage as applicable to the persecutions which religion had generally endured, he declared that the "church and people of God had been persecuted both by an Ahab on the throne, a Haman in the state, and a Judas in the church." He made no particular or personal application of this general truth ; he merely stated it as a well-known historical fact ; but so close was the parallel to the present state of affairs, that Charles II. was found to be the Ahab, the persecuting royal favourite. Lord Middleton, to be the Haman, and the apostate Sharp, now Archbishop of St. Andrews, to be the Judas Iscariot whom the preacher meant. To suspect was to convict and condemn, and a party of horse was sent to his residence near Edinburgh to apprehend him. But having received a hasty notice a moment previous to their arrival, he escaped from his bed into another chamber, and managed to elude the pur- suers. He fled, in the first instance, to his father's house, where for a time he was safe from detection. But, as some victim was necessar^^ M'Kail's patron, Sir James Stuart, and Walter Stuart, his second son, were apprehended instead of the preacher, and accused of having listened to, or at least having been informed of, the aforesaid sermon, which "had maliciously inveighed against, and abused his sacred majesty, and the present government in church and state, to the great offence of God, and stumbling of the people ;" and that, notwith- standing their knowledge of it, they had still continued to harbour and enter- tain its author. Both were imprisoned, and did not obtain their liberty until they had cleared themselves of the charge. In the meantime, M'Kail went abroad, and, as Wodrow informs us, "accomplished himself in travelling for some years." After a residence of four years upon the continent, ]\Ir. IM'Kail returned to Scotland in 1666. It was not to a peaceful home that he returned, for the per- secution was hotter than ever; and in the desperate insurrection wliicli com- menced at Dumfries, and ended in the defeat at Pentland, he joined the devoted band, and shared in the toils and privations of their march until they came to Cramond, on their way to Rullion Green, where his strength, unfitted for such rough service, broke down, so that he was left behind. He then endeavoui-ed to shift for himself; but while on his way to Libberton, he was set upon by some peasants on the watch for stragglers, and apprehended, his enfeebled state, and the light rapier which he wore, being insufficient for the least resistance. V. 3 G 418 REV, HUGH M'KAIL. This was upon the 27th of November; and on the foUowhig day he was examined by a committee of the secret council. lie refused to criminate himself by answering tlieir questions or subscribing to their charges; but on the following day he complied so far as to confess that he had joined in the insurrection. This, however, was not enough: the rulers of Scotland were determined, for their own purposes, to prove that the rising of Pentland was a great national conspiracy, abetted by the Presbyterians of England and our enemies upon the continent ; and if proof could not be obtained from the con- fessions of the prisoners, it was resolved to wring it from them by torture. The selection of their victims from among the prisoners for this experiment was in keeping with the injustice of the infliction ; for these were Hugh M'Kail, who had not been at Pentland at all, and John Neilson, of Corsack, in Galloway, a gentleman who, though he had been plundered of his all, and driven to the fields for his adherence to the covenant, had yet saved the life of Sir James Turner when the latter was taken prisoner, and behaved throughout the insur- rection with gentleness and clemency. It was in vain they protested that they had already confessed all, and knew nothing of a conspiracy ; the boot, the instrument of torture, was laid upon the council table, and they were assured that on the morrow, if they still refused to confess, they should undergo its infliction. The very name of that engine can still raise a shudder in Scotland, though few are acquainted with its peculiar construction. It was a wooden frame composed of four pieces of narrow board hooped with iron, into which the leg was inserted ; wooden plugs of different sizes were then successively introduced between the boards and the limb, and driven home by the execu- tioner with the blows of a heavy mallet, while at each stroke the sufferer was exhorted to confess whatever might be demanded by the judges. In this way the anguish of the victim was increased or prolonged at pleasure, until it often happened that nature could endure no more, so that for present relief he was ready to confess whatever might bring him to the more merciful alternative of the axe or the halter. On the following day the council assembled, and, true to their promise, they proceeded to examine "the prisoners by torture. The experiment was first tried upon Mr. Neilson, and as the wedges proceeded to crush his leg at each descent of the mallet, his cries were so loud and piteous, that even savages would have melted with compassion to hear them. But not so the judges: bent upon learning the particulars of a plot that had no existence except in their own craven fears, their command at each interval was, "Give him the other touch!" As no confession was forthcoming after their worst had been inflicted, they next proceeded to deal with M'Kail, hoping, perhaps, to find greater com- pliance, from his youth and gentleness of disposition. It was in vain for him to allege that he was aware of no conspiracy— that he had confessed all that he knew already: although so much time had elapsed, they still remembered what he had said about an " Ahab on the throne." His leg was placed in the boot, and after the first blow, while every nerve was tingling with the shock, the usual questions were put to him; but he was silent: the strokes were repeated, until seven or eight had been given; but to the questions he solemnly declared, in the sight of God, that he could reveal nothing further, though every joint of his body should be subjected to the same torture as his poor leg. This was unsatisfactory to the judges, who ordered another and another "touch," which their victim endured without a murmur of impatience or REV. HUGH M'KAIL. 419 bitterness ; and after ten or eleven strokes in all, and given at considerable intervals, he swooned, and was carried back to prison. Thus, no crime had been either discovered or confessed, and even according to the barbarous law of torture, it might have been thought that M'Kail should have been set at liberty, as one against whom no offence could be proved. And had he not suffered enough already to satisfy the most vindic- tive? But such was not the reasoning of the day, and the judges resolved to fall back upon the fact that he had joined the insurgents, and accompanied them to Ayr, Ochiltree, Lanark, and other places. It mattered not to them that he had not been present at the battle of Pentland; it was enough that he would have been there if he could, and therefore must be punished as a convicted traitor for his traitorous intention?. The day after his examination, ten of these unfortunate insurgents were tried and sentenced to execution; and only five days afterwards, other seven Avere ordered to prepare for trial. It was resolved that among these already foredoomed victims, M'Kail should be impanelled ; but the torture he had undergone had thrown him into a fever, accompanied with such debility, that compearance was impossible, and this he represented, while he craved a few days of delay. Nothing could be more natural than his present condition after the treatment he had experi- enced, or more reasonable than his request; and yet his judges would not ba satisfied until they had sent two phj'sicians and two surgeons to examine the patient, and attest, "upon soul and conscience," that his case was as he had stated. Of what did these men think the bones and flesh of Covenanters to be composed, that they could endure so much, and j'et recover so quickly? It would hu well, we opine, if no judges were to inflict torture, until they had previously tried its effect upon themselves. In this way, William III. adven- tured upon a taste of the thumbscrew, and declared that under it a man might confess anything. On the 18th of December, while still a sufferer, SI'Kail was brought out to trial. Into this we do not enter more particularl}-, as it was a matter of daily occurrence in the justiciary proceedings of the period. The answers he gave, and the arguments by which he justified his conduct, were such as his judges cared nothing about; and while he talked of conscience and the Divine law as binding upon every community, they silenced him with the statute-book, and charged him with rebellion. The sentence, which was probably nothing else than he expected, was, that on Saturday, the 20th of December (only two days after), he should be taken to the market-cross of Edinburgh, there to be hanged on a gibbet till dead, and his goods and lands to be escheated for his Highness's use. This was summary work; and three others, who were tried along with him, were sentenced to the same doom. He was then led back to the Tolbooth, the people lamenting him as he passed by, to whom he addressed the words of consolation and comfort, as if they, and not himself, were to suffer. Among others, to some tender-hearted women, who bewailed such an untimely termina- tion of his labours, he said, "Weep not: though I am but youn?, and in the budding of my hopes and labours in the ministry, I am not to be mourned; for one drop of my blood, through the grace of God, may make more hearts contrite, than many j^ears' sermons might have done." As the time allowed him to dissolve the affectionate ties of nature was so brief, he requested that his father might be allowed to visit him in prison, which was granted. And of how manj' such tender yet heroic partings, were the cells of the Tolbooth 420 REV. HUGH M'KAIL. of Edinburgh to be witnesses at this period! Tiie meeting of father and son was accompanied with much affectionate endearment, as well as earnest Chris- tian prayers for support and resignation. "Hugh," said the senior, "I called thee a goodly olive-tree of fair fruit, and now a storm hath destroyed the tree and his fruit." The son deprecated this estimation as too high; but the other burst forth into the declaration that he had spoken only the truth, and that it was assuredly his own sins, and not those of his amiable boy, that had brought the latter to such a close. "It is I," he cried, "who have sinned; but thou, poor sheep, what hast thou done?" The other blamed himself that, for failure in the observance of the fifth commandment, his days were to be short in the land. He added also his fear, that God had a controversy with his father for over-valuing his children, and especially himself. During his short stay in prison, M'Kail was employed in private devotion, and in the duty of encouraging and confirming his fellow-sufferers. At times, also, such was his cheerfulness, that his language was full of humour. To a friend who visited him in prison, and condoled with him upon his mangled limb, he replied, "The fear of my neck makes me forget my leg." On the evening of the 19th of December, while eating his final supper with those who were to be executed with him on the following day, he said to them merrily, " Eat to the full, and cherish your bodies, that we may be a fat Christmas-pie to the prelates." After supper he read to them the 16th psalm, and then said, " If there were anything in the world sadly and unwillingly to be left, it were the reading of the Scriptures." He comforted himself, however, with the thought that he vpould soon be in that place where even Scripture is no longer necessary. After writing his will, which was an easy work, as it consisted of the bequest of the few books he possessed to his friends, he slept soundly, and on wakening his comrade at five o'clock in the morning, he said pleasantly, " Up, John, for you are too long in bed ; j'^ou and I look not like men going to be hanged this day, seeing we lie so long." Before going to execution, he bade farewell to his father, with the assurance that his sufferings would do more hurt to the prelates, and be more edifying to God's people, than if he were to con- tinue in the ministry twenty years. Such was his heroic hope, and the history of Scotland has told us how fully it was verified. As soon as M'Kail appeared on the scaffold, a sound of wailing arose from the numerous spectators. And indeed it was no wonder, for he had a high reputation for learning and talent, such as was rare among the persecuted of this period. He was also in much estimation for his fervent piety and stead- fast devotedness. And then, too, there were other circumstances that never fail to deepen the popular sympathy at such a tragic spectacle, for besides being still in the bloom of early youth, we are told that he was a " very comelj', graceful person." " There was scarce ever seen," it is added, " so much sorrow in onlookers; scarce was there a dry cheek in the whole street or windows at the cross of Edinburgh." With gentleness and dignity he prepared for his departure, and after delivering his testimony, which he had written out, and sung his last psalm, he exclaimed to his friends as he ascended the ladder, " I care no more to go up this ladder than if I were going home to my father's house. Friends and fellow-sufferers, be not afraid ; every step of this ladder is a degree nearer heaven." Having seated himself mid-way, M'Kail addressed the spectators with his parting farewell. He expressed his belief that all this cruelty which drove so SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE. 421 many to the scaffold, was not so much owing to the Scottish statesmen and rulers, as to the prelates, by whom the persecution was urged onward, and at whose hands the blood of the sufferers would be required. He then declared his cheerful readiness to die for the cause of God, the covenants, and the work of reformation, once the glory of Scotland. Here, on being interrupted by loud weeping, he told the people that it was their prayers not their tears which were needed now. After expressing his triumphant assurance of the bliss into which he was about to enter, and consoling them with the thought, he suddenly broke off into the following sublime, prophet-like declaration, which has so often stirred the heart of Scottish piety to its lowest depths: "And now, I leave off to speak any more to creatures, and begin my intercourse with God, which shall never be broken off. Farewell father and mother, friends and relations, farewell the world and all delic^hts, farewell meat and drink, farewell sun, moon, and stars ! Welcome God and Father; welcome sweet Jesus Christ, the media- tor of the new covenant; welcome blessed Spirit of grace, and God of all conso- lation; welcome glory, welcome eternal life, and welcome death !" Such was the departure of Hugh M'Kail, standing upon an ignominious ladder, and yet upon the threshold of heaven, and all but glorified before he had departed. And below was a crowd among whom nothing was heard but heavy groans and loud lamentation. It was a death such as only a martyr can die, and which the living might well have envied. MACKENZIE, Sir Alexander. — In the list of those adventurers who have explored the wild recesses of North America, and acted as the pioneers of Anglo- Saxon civilization, the name of Sir Alexander Mackenzie occupies a place infe- rior to none. Originally, however, an obscure mercantile adventurer, we are unable to ascertain the early training through which he not only became such an enterprising and observant traveller, but so excellent a writer in the account he has left of his journey. He is supposed to have been a native of Inverness, and to have emigrated to Canada while still a very young man. The first account we have of him is from himself, in his general history of the fur trade prefixed to the narrative of his travels, when he held a situation in the count- ing-house of Mr. Gregory, one of the partners of the North-West Fur Company. After he had been in this situation for five years, Mackenzie, in 1784, set off to seek his fortune at Detroit, having been intrusted for this purpose with a small venture of goods, on condition of proceeding to the back settlements or Indian country in the following spring. He accordingly set off on this half-mercantile half-exploratory journey with a party of associates ; but on arriving at the scene of enterprise, they soon found themselves regarded as intruders by those Euro- peans who had established themselves in the country and full pre-occupation of the trade, and who not only opposed their progress, but stirred up the natives against them ; and after the " severest struggle ever known in that part of the world," in which one of the partners of the company was murdered, another lamed, and a clerk shot through his powder-horn, by which the bullet was prevented from passing through his body, the jealous occupants at last admitted the new-comers to a share in their trade in 1787. The acquaintanceship which Mackenzie had acquired of the country and the native tribes, during a residence of several years at Fort Chipewyan, situated at the head of the Athabasca Lake, in the territory of the savages to the west of Hudson's Bay, and the intelligence, courage, and enterprising character which he had already displayed, pointed him out to his employers as a fit person to bo 422 SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE. sent out on an exploring expedition through the regions lying to the northwest of their station — at this time still a terra incognita to British exploration, and supposed to be bounded by the Arctic Ocean. Upon this Argonautic quest he accordingly set off, in a canoe of birch bark, from Fort Chipewyan, on the south side of the Lake of the Hills, on June 8, 1789. His crew consisted of a German, four Canadians, two of whom were attended by their wives, and an Indian chief; and in a smaller boat were the chiefs two wives, and two of his young men who were to serve as hunters and interpreters : a third canoe that followed was in charge of one of the company's clerks, and carried also their pro- visions, clothing, and ammunition, as well as mercantile presents for the Indians along whose territories they would have to pass. This voyage, which continued 102 days, was of a sufficiently eventful character; and the difficulties, dangers, and privations which the party encountered, as well as the courage, wisdom, and perseverance with which Mackenzie encountered and surmounted them, can scarcely be appreciated in the present day, when the districts which he visited have now become familiar, while the wild tenants by whom they were occupied have disappeared. Six days after he had embarked on the Slave River he reached the Slave Lake, that was almost wholly frozen over ; and after en- camping six days among the ice, that sometimes gave way under them, he once more embarked, and skirting along the edge of the lake, he reached, on the 29th of June, the entrance of the river which flows from its western extremity, afterwards called, in honour of his discovery, the Mackenzie River. On the 15th of July, the principal purpose of his search was crowned with success, for after having followed the north-west course of the river, he arrived at the great Northern Ocean, in lat. 69°. After having erected a post at the place of discovery, on which he engraved the latitude of the place, his own name, and the number of persons who accompanied him, he retraced his course, and arrived in safety at Chipewyan Fort, on the 12th of September. After little more than a year of repose at home, or rather a year of active trading, the bold traveller was alert upon a new journey, and one of greater importance than the former, being nothing less than an attempt to reach the Pacific — an adventure which no European in North America had as yet accom- plished, or, as far as is known, had even attempted. Again, therefore, he left Fort Chipewyan, on the 10th of October, 1792, and proceeded up the Peace River. " I had resolved," he says, "to go as far as our most distant settlement, which would occupy the remaining part of the season, it being the route by which I proposed to attempt my next discovery, across the mountains from the source of that river ; for whatever distance I could reach this fall would be a proportionate advancement of my voyage." He set off, accompanied by two canoes laden with the necessary articles of trade, and prosecuted the enterprise partly by water and partly by land. The dangers he underwent were, if possible, still greater than before, not merely from natural obstacles, but the hostility or the blunders of the wild tribes with whom he came in contact; and it is strange, as well as not a little interesting, to read in his narrative, not only of manners that are fast disappearing from the world, but of large Indian communities that have either dwindled into families, or utterly passed away. After nine months of persevering travel his aim was accomplished, for he had penetrated across the mountains, and through the North American continent, to the shores of the Pacific ; and having reached the point of his ambition, he mixed up some ver- milion in melted grease, and inscribed upon a rock on which he had passed the COLONEL DANIEL MACKINNON. 423 night, this short memorial: " Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three." It was a necessary precaution, as only the day after, when he was upon his return homeward, he very narrowly escaped assassination from the natives. He arrived at the fort on the 23d of August, 1793, and thus takes leave of his readers: " Here my voyages of discovery terminate. Their toils and their dangers, their solicitudes and sufferings, have not been exaggerated in my description. On the contrary, in many instances language has failed me in the attempt to describe them. I received, however, the reward of my labours, for they were crowned with success." After he had returned to Fort Chipewyan, Mackenzie appears to have devoted himself, for a time at least, to that profitable trade in furs which his enterprises had so greatly tended to enlarge and benefit. He also prepared for the press his narrative, which was published in London in 1801, with the following title: " Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Lawrence, through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in the years 1789 and 1793. With a Preliminary Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Fur Trade of that Country. Illustrated with Maps, 4to." The value of his exertions were so justly appreciated, that soon after the publication of this work he received the honour of knighthood. From this period we so completely lose sight of Sir Alexander, that we know neither his after history, nor the period of his death; but from a biographical volume of living authors, published in 181G, we ascertain that he was still alive at that date. MACKINNON, Colonel Daniel. — This brave soldier, who acquired high military reputation in the Peninsular war and at Waterloo, was born in 1791, and was second son of William Mackinnon, chieftain of the ancient clan of that name in the Western Highlands of Scotland. This chieftainship, however, had dwindled into a mere lairdship, in consequence of the abolition of the patri- archal government in the Highlands, and Daniel, whose energies a century earlier might have been wasted in some petty feud or spreagh, was reserved to be one of the honoured heroes in a great European warfare. At the early age of four- teen he entered the army as ensign in the Coldstream Guards, and quickly won the esteem of his brother officers by his activity, cheerfulness, and kind dispo- sition, which was further increased when he had an opportunity of showing his valour in the field. His first service, however, was nothing more than a little harmless marching and countermarching; for his regiment, which was ordered to Bremen in 1805, to co-operate with the Prussians and their allies, never came in sight of the enemj'. After its return, the Coldstream in 1807 was sent with the armament against Copenhagen, where the land-service was not in requisition. Two years more elapsed of mere parade and warlike demonstra- tion, which, however, was brought to an end when Mackinnon embarked with his regiment for the Peninsula in 1809, after he had attained the rank of lieu- tenant in the Guards. The militarj' life of an officer so young as Mackinnon, and holding his sub- ordinate rank, can be nothing else than a record of personal daring and hair- breadth escapes ; he obeys the commands and fulfils the wishes of his superiors, through every difficulty and at whatever risk, and thus establishes his claim to be a commander in turn. Such was the case with the subject of this brief notice. He was appointed aide-de-camp to General Stopford, who commanded the Guards, and had thus an opportunity of distinguishing himself through the 424r COLONEL DANIEL MACKINNON. whole course of that terrible and eventful war from 1809 to 1814. And these opportunities were neither shunned nor neglected, so that the bivouac and the mess-table were enlivened with tales of his personal prowess and darinj*. On one occasion, his supreme contempt of danger partook of the ludicrous. While our army was passing a defile, and debouching from it, there was one spot in which part of the troops were exposed to a very heavy fire. But in this post of peculiar peril. Captain Mackinnon was found performing the duties of the toilet, and lathering and shaving his chin, as coolly as if he had been fifty miles from the scene of action. No sight was better calculated to animate dispirited soldiers ; they rushed immediately to the onset, and drove the French before them. No wonder that the soldiers loved and were ready to follow an officer who, let the risk be what it might, was ready to encounter or abide his full share. But he was equally endeared to his brother officers, by his overflowing kindness and invincible good nature, so that, during the whole of these trying campaigns, in which patience was tempted to the uttermost, he never gave offence, or adopted a subject of quarrel. Some of these veterans still survive, by whom the amiable qualities of the gallant Celt are affectionately remem- bered. After having taken part in every battle from Talavera to Toulouse, the peace of 1814 released Mackinnon from active military duty. It is pleasing also to add, that his services had been appreciated, for he was at once raised from the rank of captain to that of lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream regiment. Rely- ing upon the promise of a lasting peace, he returned to England, but was sud- denly roused, like many of his brethren upon leave of absence, by the escape of Bonaparte from Elba, and the astounding events that followed in quick succes- sion. Napoleon was once more upon the throne of France, and a fresh war was inevitable. Knowing this, Colonel Mackinnon hurried to Ramsgate to join his regiment, now quartered in Brussels, but not finding the expected vessel ready to sail, he threw himself, with another officer, into an open boat, and reached Ostend in time to join in the engagements of the 16th and 17th of June, and finally, in the great battle of Waterloo. Of the many hundreds of episodes that constitute this great military assize of the nations, and out of which so many volumes of history and biography have been constructed, and amidst the m^Ue of wonderful charges and brave deeds that occurred every moment, and over every part of the field, we must limit our attention to a thousandth part of the great event, and attend exclu- sively to the movements of Mackinnon. Amidst the fire, he had three horses shot under him. In one of these volleys by which he was successively brought down, he was himself shot in the knee, his sword flew from his hand, and in falling, he alighted upon a prostrate French officer, who was wounded like him- self. Mackinnon immediately took possession of the Frenchman's sword, with an apology for using it, as he had lost his own, mounted a fresh horse, and continued to charge at the head of his regiment, until he was detached with 250 of his Coldstreams, and 1st regiment of Guards, for the defence of the farm of Hougoumont, This was the key of Wellington's position, and Mackinnon was ordered to defend it to the last extremity. And well do the records of Waterloo testify how faithfully this command was obeyed. For a considerable period, the whole interest of the conflict was converged round this fai-m and its outhouses, the possession of which was of the utmost importance to Napoleon, so that mass after mass of French grenadiers was hurled agaiust it in rapid sue- COLONEL DANIEL JIACKINNON. 425 cession, with golden promises to the first who entered; but as fast as they approached the walls, the close, steady fire from within tore their ranks into shreds, and strewed the ground with the dead and wounded; and as fest as the}' fell back, Mackinnon and his little band sallied from their defences, piled up the dead bodies in front of the doors as a rampart, and hurried back to their posts as soon as a fresh inundation of fire and steel came sweeping down upon them. Again and again was this manoeuvre successfully performed, but in the midst of imminent peril, by which the brave band of defenders was reduced to a handful. Still, the utmost efforts of Napoleon upon this point were defeated, find Hougoumont was saved. At last the farm-house was relieved, and Mac- kinnon with his party joined the British army, now assailants in their turn. But the wound which he had previously received in his knee from a musket- shot, and which he had disregarded during the whole of the action, now occa- sioned such pain, accompanied with loss of blood, that he fainted, and was carried off the field in a litter to Brussels, where he was treated with the utmost courtesy and kindness. The wound was healed, but the buoyant activity which had hitherto made exeixise a necessary of lii'e to him was broken. As for the sword, which he had appropriated to his own use at such a curious crisis, he not only fulfilled his promise, by using it gallantly in the defence of Hougou- mont, and through the whole action, but ever afterwards wore it on field-days and parade, as a fair trophy of Waterloo. Thus, at the early age of twenty-four, the military career of this intrepid soldier was closed by the return of universal peace — not, however, without a ten years' service, and having won by his merits a rank which few soldiers so young are privileged to occupy. He still continued to hold his commission in the army; and a majority in the Coldstream having become vacant, he was induced to purchase it, by which he obtained the rank of a full colonel in the service, and the ultimate command of the regiment. From the foregoing account, it could scarcely be expected that Colonel Mac- kinnon should also obtain distinction in authorship. Entering the army at the raw age of fourteen, when a stripling's education is still imperfect, and returning to domestic life at a period when few are willing to resume their half-conned lessons, and become schoolboys anew, we are apt to ask, how and where he could have acquired those capacities that would enable him to pro- duce a well-written book? But this, by no means the easiest or least glorious of his achievements, he has certainly accomplished. Soon after the accession of William IV., his majesty was desirous that a full history of the Coldstream Guards should be written, and he selected no other than the gallant colonel of the regiment to be its historian. Such a choice, and the able manner in which it was fulfilled, show that Mackinnon must have possessed higher qualities than those of a mere swordier however brave, and that he must have cultivated them with much careful application after his final return to England. For this, indeed, if nothing more than recreation had been his motive, there was an especial in- ducement, arising from his wound received at Waterloo, bj"- which he was pre- vented from more active enjoyments. Although such a task required no small amount of historical and antiquarian research, the origin of the Coldstreamsdating 60 far back as the year 1G50, he ably discharged it b}' his work in two volumes, entitled '• The Origin and Services of the Coldstream Guards," published in 1833, and dedicated by permission to his Majesty. In this work he has traced the actions of this distinguished brigade in England and Scotland during the wars v. 3 H 42G ROBERT MACNISII, LL.D. of the Commonwealth, Restoration, and Revolution ; its services in Ireland, in Holland, and upon the continent ; and finally in the Peninsula, and at Waterloo ; and while he has shown a thorough acquaintanceship with the history of these various wars, liis work is pervaded throughout not only with the high chival- rous magnanimity of a British soldier, but the exactness of a careful thinker, and the taste of a correct and eloquent writer. The rest of Colonel Mackinnon's life may be briefly summed up, as it was one of peace and domestic enjoyment. After he had settled in England, he married ]\liss Dent, tlie eldest daughter of Mr. Dent, M.P. for Pool, a youug lady of great attractions, but who brought him no family. With her he led a happy and retired life, surrounded by the society of those who loved him; and cheered, as we may well think, by those studies which he turned to such an hon- ourable account. It was thought that, from his strong robust frame and healthy constitution, he would have survived to a good old age ; but the sedentary life to which his wound confined him, proved too much for a system so dependent upon active and exciting exercise. After having scarcely ever felt a day's illness, he died at Hertford Street, May Fair, London, on the 22d of June, 183G, being only forty-six years old. MACNISH, Robert, LL.D. — The literary age in which we live, the age of periodical writing, is peculiarly unfavourable to individual distinction. A magazine or even a newspaper of the present day, instead of being the mere thing of shreds and patches which it usually was at the beginning of the nineteenth century, is now a repertory of the best writings, both in prose and verse ; and the ablest of our writers, instead of tr^'ing their mere infant strength and boyish preludings in the columns of a journal, wliere, in the event of failure, they can hide themselves in the incognito of a letter of the alphabet, often spend their whole intellectual existence as periodical writers, and under a fictitious signature. Hence it is, that in the columns of a common daily print, or a weekly or monthly magazine, we find such essays, tales, and poems, such profound, original thinking, and eloquent writing, as would compose whole libraries of good standard authorship. But who is the Thunderer of this newspaper, or the Christopher North of that magazine? — the A and B and Z whose contributions we so eagerly expect, and from which we derive such pleasure or instruction? We cannot tell: their individuality is only known to their own personal circle, while beyond they are mere letters of the alphabet, and as such, are but undistinguished particles iu the mighty world of thought. Thus would many of our best writers pass away, were it not that the biographer arrests them in their passage to oblivion, and gives them a local habitation and a name. And among these was a personage only known under the mystic title of the " Modern Pythagorean," but who was no other than Robert Macnish, the subject of the present notice. This ph3-sician, philosopher, poet, and miscellaneous writer, was born in Hendersons Court, Jamaica Street, Glasgow, on the 15th of February, 1802. As his father and grandfather were botli of the medical profession, it was resolved that Robert should be devoted to the same course; and, with this view, his education was conducted first at the private schools of Glasgow and Hamilton, and afterwards at the university of his native city. At the age of eighteen, having passed his examination before the College of Surgeons, he obtained the degree of Magister Chirurgioe from the college of Glasgow. Being thus qualified to commence the duties of his profession, he went as assistant of Dr. Henderson ROBERT MACNISH, LL.D. 427 of Clyth, to Caithness, where he endured for eighteen months the labour of pro- fessional visiting over a wide and wild circuit of country. Although he lost his health under such labour, so that at last he was glad to escape to the more genial region of his native city, he seems to have pursued in the Highlands, and with success, those poetical and literary studies from which his after-life derived its chief distinction. Here, also, influenced no doubt by the bleak and scowling scenery, he wandered in thought among the lands of the sun and their scenes of enchantment, by way of pleasing contrast, until he composed the greater part of a poetical tale, of which the locality was an Armida garden at the foot of the Himalaya mountains, and the actors, Pharem, a mighty Indian magician, and Ima, daughter of the Khan of Shiraz. Besides this lucubration, which he no doubt found beyond his powers to finish, the young dreamer had already tried his strength in authorship in the columns of the " Inverness Journal." The chief of these contributions was " The Tale of Eivor, a Scan- dinavian Legend," and the " Harp of Salem," a lament over fallen Jerusalem. On returning from Caithness to Glasgow, Macnish made a journey to Paris, where he resided a year, for the double purpose of recruiting his constitution and continuing his medical education. In the French capital, among other opportunities of improving his taste, he frequented the Louvre, while its vast collection of the treasures of art, the spoils of conquered nations, were as yet unreclaimed; and here he learned to appreciate the beauties of painting and sculpture, without expressing his emotions in that artistic phraseology which is too often made the cloak of ignorant pretension. But of all places in Paris, the cemetery of Pere la-Chaise, that city of the dead, became his favourite resort; and it was there that, in all likelihood, he in- creased that love of strange musing and mysticism which he had commenced in Caithness, and among the second-sighted Highlanders. On coming home he became assistant to his father, and completed his medical education at the university of Glasgow, where he took out his diploma of surgeon in 1825. His thesis which he delivered on this occasion, was an essay on the Anatomy of Drunkenness, which he afterwards expanded into his well-known work of the same title. Before this period, however, Macnish had written articles, both in prose and verse, for the " Literary Melange," and for the " Emmet," periodicals of the Glasgow press. In 1822, also, he sent two productions to Constable's " Edinburgh JIagazine," the one entitled " Macvurich the Murderer," and the other, " The Dream Confirmed." Both were incidents which he had learned in the Highlands, and expanded into regular stories. But in 1825, a more popular and lasting field was opened to him in " Blackwood's Magazine," of which he afterwards became one of the most distinguished contributors. His first contribution to this periodical, was his tale entitled " The Metemps}'- chosis;" and he was encouraged to persevere from its being published in the monthly number as the leading article. This was no small distinction; for it will be remembered by the admirers of this most famed of magazines, that at the period we mention, it was in no want of highly talented correspondents. During the same year were inserted his '* Man with the Nose." and the "Barber of Gottingen;" and on the following, the "Adventures of Colonel O'Shaughnessy," and "Who can it be?" articles whose classical style and rich, racy, original humour, arrested the attention of Ebony's readers, who at this time might well be called the reading ptihlic^ and raised the question of 428 ROBERT MACNISII, LL.D. loud and general interest, Who is this " Modern Pythagorean? " In 1827, while Macnish was employed in these fugitive but important literary avocations, he was introduced by IMr. Blackwood to Dr. Moir, ever after his fast friend, who loved him like a brother, and lived to commemorate his worth. It was not only in prose but in verse that ]\Iacnish excelled, and had ho devoted himself to the Delilah of poetry, we doubt not that he would have been still more highly distinguished in this department of intellectual excel- lence, than he was as a prose writer of essays and tales. But already the field of the Muses had been so over-trodden and be-mired, that the best of our bards had escaped from it into the more ample and diversified regions of prose — Scott, Coleridge, Southey, and Moore, who were a-weary of having their kibes trode upon and grazed by the eager ambitious toes of awkward followers and imitators. Macnish, however, had been wont to express his deeper feelings in verse; and an event in 1827 called from him more than one mournful lyric of domestic sorrow. This was the death of his youngest sister, Christian, a child only ten years old, who was drowned on the banks of the Clyde near Glasgow, while crossing a plank laid athwart a small arm of the river. The life of a man who devotes himself to the settled profession of a physi- cian, and the peaceful occupations of authorship, presents few materials for the biographer. As a physician, indeed, we have little to say of Macnish, except that his career iu this capacity was of even tenor, and was attended with a fair proportion of profit and success in his native city of Glasgow. In his literary capacity, every moment of spare time seems to have been fully occu- pied; and the articles which he contributed, both in prose and verse, not only to " Blackwood's Magazine," but also to Frazer's, and other less distinguished periodicals, obtained a prominent place in that species of light literature, and made the good folks of Glasgow justly proud of their fellow-citizen. These productions it is the less necessary to particularize, as they have been published in a compact volume under the editorship of his biographer. Delta. It may be merely mentioned in passing, that they are all more or less distinguished by a lively creative fancy, and chaste subdued classical style, reminding U3 more of the best writers of the Addison and Goldsmith periods, than the slash- ing, outre, and abrupt, though sparkling tales and essays that form the staple of our modern periodical writing. Among the happiest of these attempts of Macnish, we may particularly specify the "Metempsychosis," an "Execution at Paris," a "ISight near Monte Video," and "A Vision of Robert Bruce." Still, Macnish might soon have beep forgot by the magazine reading public, had he not established his literary reputation upon a more secure basis; and it is by his "Anatomy of Drunkenness" and "Philosophy of Sleep," two able and substantial treatises, and his "Book of Aphorisms," that he is now best known and estimated. The first of these works, which Macnish commenced before he had reached the age of twenty, and during his toilsome sojourn in Caithness, was the fruit of much reading and research, aided, perhaps, occasionally by the practical illustrations which he witnessed among the inhabitants of that whisky smug gling county. Afterwards, he matured it into a thesis, which he read before the Medical Faculty in 1825, when he took out his degree, and published it in 1827 in a thin octavo of fifty-six pages. The subject was comparatively an untrodden field, as hitherto the vice of drunkenness had been rather analyzed by the divine and moralist, than anatomized by the surgeon. Tiie novelt}' of ROBERT MACNISH, LL.D. 429 such a work, and the felicity of his style and mode of illustration, excited a deeper interest among the readers than generally falls to theses, the most neglected of all literary productions, so that Macnish was encouraged to prose- cute his inquiries. The result was, that the subject grew and improved upon his hands, while each edition was more popular than its predecessor, until, in 1834, a fifth edition of the "Anatomy of Drunkenness" was published by its author. Such success upon so unpromising a theme, was one of those triumphs which only true genius can accomplish. In this treatise he contemplates the vice in its physiological character, and writes like a learned physician on its origin, growth, and effects upon the constitution. He then expatiates upon its moral character, and illustrates with fearful power, but yet with the utmost patience and gentleness, the influence of this pernicious habit upon the intellec- tual and moral organization of its victim. And finally, knowing that all this is not enough, and that people will get drunk in spite of every dissuasive, he shows them in what way this crime may be committed in its least odious form, and with the smallest harm, upon the same benevolent principle that he would have applied the stomach-pump to those who had refused to be benefited, either by his vi-arnings or instructions. His next work, the "Philosophy of Sleep," although of a more metaphysical character, fully sustained the reputation which his "Anatomy" had acquired, and rapidly passed into a second edition. These works not only obtained a wide popularity both in Scotland and Eng- land, but in America, where they were republished; they were also translated into the French and German languages, an honour exclusively accorded to philosophical treatises that possess unquestionable merit. In 1833, Macnish published his "Book of Aphorisms." This little work, which is now almost forgotten, consisted of some fifty dozen fag-ends and quaint remarks, in the fashion of Rochefoucalt, or rather of Lord Bacon, but without pretending to soar to the eminence of these illustrious models. It was thought, however, a clever work in its day, among the circle to which it was limited. Another literary task which he executed, was an " Introduction to Phrenology," which he published in 1835. A second edition of this volume, which he had carefully prepared for publication, appeared two years after— but by this time Macnish had finished his appointed round of labour, and was beyond the reach of criticism; and this event, as well as a just appreciation of his chai-acter, was so well expressed in the " Phrenological Journal," in giving a review of the work itself, that we cannot refrain from quoting it, as a fitting close to this brief narrative : — "This work appears breathing with life, spirit, and observation, as if its author were himself ushering it into the world. There is no indication within it, or announcement about it, that would lead the reader to believe that the mind which had conceived it had fled, and that the hand which had written it was cold in death; yet such are the facts! The work was just completed, and the last sheets of the appendix prepared for the press, when, in the begin- ning of January, 1837, the gifted author was seized with influenza, which speedily degenerated into typhus fever, and on the fourteenth day after the attack, he died. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Mr. Macnish's mind was vivacity. Whether he gave way to ridicule and sarcasm, of which he was a master; or to fancy, with which he was brilliantly endowed; or to tenderness and affection, which he felt strongly, and could touchingly express; there was always a spring of life about him that vivified his pages, and animated and 430 JOHN MAITLAND (Duke or LiUDEEDALtl. delighted his readers. This quality abounds in every page of the present worij, and invests it with a new and extraordinary interest, when we regard it as the last words of a talented intellect now in the grave." A circumstance sufficiently trivial in the literary life of Macnish, so that we had almost forgotten it, was, that in 1835 he was made an LL.D. by Hamilton College, United States, America. That deluge of doctorships had already com- menced which threatens to level all literary distinction. His remains were interred in the burial-ground of St. Andrew's Episcopal Chapel, Glasgow, but with neither tablet nor inscription to mark the spot, as his fellow-townsmen were soon bestirring themselves in collecting subscriptions to erect a monument to his memory. MAITLAND, John, Duke of Lauderdale. — This nobleman, who occupies so unenviable a position during one of the most disastrous periods of his coun- try's history, was descended from the Maitlands of Lethlngton, a family undis- tinguished among the barons of Scotland, until it was brought into notice by that talented and versatile personage who officiated as secretary to Maiy of Guise, and also to her daughter, Mary Stuart, whom he successively benefited and betrayed, and who was an adherent and afterwards an opponent of the Scot- tish Reformation. As the Macchiavelli of Scotland, he will long continue to be admired for his remarkable political talents, as well as wondered at for those manifold changes of principle that only ended in disappointment and a miser- able death. The subject of our present notice was grandson of John Maitland, Lord of Thirlstane, the younger brother of the famous statesman; and eldest son of John, second lord of Thirlstane, and first earl of Lauderdale, by Isabel, daughter of Alexander Seton, Earl of Dunfermline, and Chancellor of Scotland. John Maitland, the future duke, was born at the ancient family seat of Lethington, on May 24, 1G16. In the learned languages, which at that period constituted almost the whole round of education, he made great proficiency; and as he was carefully trained in Presbyterian principles, he entered public life as a keen abettor of the Covenant, and adherent of its principal champions. On this account, as well as his talents, he was employed by them in confidential commissions, and especially in their negotiations with the Presbyterians of England during the Civil war; and in 1643 he was one of a deputation of the principal men of Scotland sent to reason with Charles I. on his despotic views both in church and state government, and endeavour to bring him to milder mea- sures, as a preparative for the restoration of monarchy. During the same year, also, he attended, as an elder of the Church of Scotland, the Assembly of Divines held at Westminister. On the following year, having succeeded to the earldom of Lauderdale and family estates by the death of his father, he was sent by the Scottish Parliament, a few weeks after, as one of their four commis- sioners for the ti'eaty of Uxbridge. Here his zeal was so hot and his language so intemperate, that it has been thought the negotiation was considerably retarded on that account. As events went onward, he crowned his anti-mo- narchical and anti-prelatic zeal by being a party to the act of delivering up Charles I. to the English army at Newcastle. Having gone thus far with the men whose cause he had adopted, and even exceeded them in some of his proceedings, the Earl of Lauderdale was now to undergo that change to which extreme zeal is so often subject. The recoil was manifested in 1647, when he was sent, with other Scottish commissioners, to persuade the king to sign the Covenant. This was at Hampton Court, JOHN MAITLAND (Duke of Lauderdale). 431 ■while his majesty enjoyed a temporary liberty; but after Charles was confined as a prisoner in Carisbrook Castle, Lauderdale and the commissioners so effectually wrought, that they prevailed with him to sign the Engagement, a secret proposal, which formed a separate treaty for Scotland. By the terms of this compact the king agreed, among other important concessions, that the Scots should be equally admitted into all foreign employments with the Eng- lish ; that a third part of all the offices about the king, queen, and prince, should be bestowed upon Scotchmen, and that the king and prince, or one of them, should frequently reside in Scotland. But the crowning concession of all was contained in his consent that the church throughout his dominions should be subjected to the provisions of what he had already termed their "damnable covenant." It requires no profound knowledge of that kind of kingcraft which Charles inherited from his father, to surmise with what facility he would have broken these engagements, had he been restored to place and power. His reposition they engaged on their part to do their utmost to effect, by raising an army for the invasion of England. The Earl of Lauderdale, thus pledged to become a staunch royalist, and with the restora- tion of royalty in full perspective, of which he might hope to reap the first- fruits, returned to Scotland, and set everything in train for the accomplishment of his promises. In conformity with the terms of the Engagement, he also went to Holland, for the purpose of persuading the Prince of Wales to put him- self at the head of the Scottish army destined for the invasion of England; but in this delicate negotiation he conducted himself with such dictatorial arrogance of temper, and in such a coarse blustering manner, that the prince saw little temptation to follow such a leader, especially into the dangers of a doubtful war, and therefore contented himself with his residence at the Hague. Here, too, Lauderdale was compelled to remain, just when he was on the point of embarking for Scotland, for at that critical moment tidings arrived of the utter defeat of the Scottish army bj' Cromwell at Preston, the condemnation of the Engagement by the Scottish Parliament, and the pains and penalties denounced against its authors and subscribers. He returned to the little court at the Hague, which he appears only to have disturbed by his divisive counsels and personal resentments. Such was especially his conduct in the plan of the last fatal campaign of the Marquis of Montrose, whom he seems to have hated with a perfect hatred. On Charles II. being invited to Scotland, to be invested with the ancient crown of his ancestors, Lauderdale accompanied him, but was so obnoxious to the more strict Presbyterians for his share in the Engagement, that he was forbid to enter the royal presence, and even compelled to fly into concealment until the popular anger had abated. On being recalled to the royal councils, he seems to liave ingratiated himself wonderfully with the young king, who perhaps found in him a less severe censor than Argyle, and the other leaders of the Covenant by whom he was surrounded. This favour, however, for the present was of little advantage to him, as it made him a necessary participator in the ill-fated expedition into England, where he was taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester. For nine long years after he was subjected to close confinement in the Tower of London, Portland Castle, and other places, until the arrival of Monk in London, in 1660, by whom he was set at liberty. On recovering his freedom, and seeing how the wind was setting in favour of royalty, Lauderdale repaired to the Hague, and was received by Charles II. 432 JOHN MATTLAND (Duke of Lauderdale). with greater favour than before. To this, indeed, his nine years of bondage must have not a little contributed. Perhaps the king also saw in Lauderdale the fittest person through whom he might govern Scotland with absolute authority, and revenge himself upon the Presbyterians, by whom he had been so strictly curbed and schooled. Shortly after the Restoration, therefore, he was appointed secretary of state for Scotland, and soon after, the influential offices were added of president of the council, first commissioner of the treasury, extraordinary lord of session, lord of the bedchamber, and gover- nor of Edinburgh Castle. In the meantime, however, he did not rule alone; for while his place was the court at London, from which his influence could only be indirect upon Scotland, the Earls of Mlddleton and Rothes, bitter enemies of Presbyterianism, and unscrupulous actors in the restoration of Episcopacy, had the chief direction of Scottish aff'airs, which they signalized by a frightful course of persecution. But on Middleton being disgraced in 1662, and Rothes in 1667, Lauderdale, who had procured their removal, was now enabled to rule the north without rival or impediment. This change in the government of Scotland had at first a propitious appear- ance. Lauderdale had all along been the advocate of a limited monarchy, as well as a staunch adherent of Presbyterianism; and it was hoped, by a people who had been trampled into the dust by the rule of Middleton, Rothes, and Arcli- bishop Sharp, that his sympathies would have been awakened in their behalf. Nor were these expectations in the first instance disappointed. He procured the demolition of those fortresses whicli Cromwell had erected to overawe the country. He prevented the establishment of a Scottish Privy Council that was to sit in London, by which the liberties of Scotland would have been imperilled. He also obtained the royal pardon for those of his countrymen who had been arrayed against Charles I, during the Civil war. But more than all, he steadily resisted the imposition of Episcopal rule upon the country, disbanded the standing army, by whom the people had been persecuted and plundered, and dismissed the principal agents under whom this misrule had been conducted. But events subsequently showed that he cared neither for religion nor liberty, neither for Presbj'terianism nor constitutional government, but was all for royal supremacy, and his own personal interests as connected with it; and that for these he was prepared to sacrifice everything, or worship anything, whether in church or state. He thus became the most merciless persecutor of the Covenanters, whom he sent " to glorify God at the Grass- market;" and the most despotic of tyrants, when, upon a remonstrance of the noblest and highest of the kingdom, he made bare his arms above the elbows at the council board, and '' swore by Jehovah that he would make them enter into these bonds." In the meantime, the king took care that so compliant an instrument for the entire subjugation of Scotland to the royal will, should have ample means and authority for the purpose, for in May, 1672, he created him Marquis of March and Duke of Lauderdale; a month afterwards. Knight of the Garter; and in June, 1674, he elevated him into the English peerage, by the titles of Viscount Petersham and Earl of Guilford, and appointed him a seat in the English Privy Council. It was these last honours, which raised Lauderdale to the culminating point, that occasioned his downfall. Having now a place in the English government, he endeavoured to bring into it the same domineering aiTogance which had dis- gusted the people of Scotland, and was a member of that junto of five ministers SIALCOLM III. (Malcolm Canjiore). 433 called the "Cabal," from the initials of their names, by which the whole empire for a time \va3 governed. But he soon became odious to his colleagues, who were weary of his arrogance; to the people, who regarded him as an upstart and an alien ; and to the Duke of York, who thought he had not gone far enough in severity, and suspected him of being a trimming Presbyterian and secret enemy to the divine right of kings. Thus mistrusted and forsaken by all parties, he was deprived of all his offices and pensions in the beginning of 1G82, and thrown aside as a worn-out political tool, that could be serviceable no longer. These bitter reverses, combined with old age and gross unwieldiness of body, hastened his death, which occurred at Tunbridge, in the summer of the same year. It was recorded by Burnet, and eagerly noticed by the Covenanters of Scotland, whom he had so cruelly betrayed and persecuted, that when he died, "his heart seemed quite spent; there was not left above the bigness of a walnut of firm substance; the rest was spungy ; liker the lungs than the heart." Such is but a brief sketch of the political life of one with whose proceedings so large a portion of Scottish biography is more or less connected. The charac- ter of the Duke of Lauderdale is thus severely but truthfully limned by Bishop Burnet, v>ho knew him well, but was no admirer of his proceedings : — " He was very learned, not only in Latin, in which he was a master, but in Greek and Hebrew, He had read a great deal of divinity, and almost all the his- torians, ancient and modern, so that he had great materials. He was a man, as the Duke of Buckingham once called him to me, of a blundering under- standing. He was haughty beyond expression ; abject to those he saw he must stoop to, but imperious to all others. He had a violence of passion that carried him often to fits like madness, in which he had no temper. If he took a thing wrong, it was a vain thing to study to convince him ; that would rather provoke him to swear he would never be of another mind He at first de- spised wealth ; but he delivered himself up afterwards to luxury and sensuality, and by that means he ran into a vast expense, and stuck at nothing that was necessary to support it He was in his principles much against Popery and arbitrary government ; and yet, b^-- a fatal train of passions ai^d interests, he made way for the former, and had almost established the latter, and Avhereas some, by a smooth deportment, made the first beginnings of tyranny less discernible and unacceptable, he, by the fury of his behaviour, heightened the severity of his ministry, which was liker the cruelty of an in- quisition, than the legality of justice. With all this he was a Presbyterian, and continued his aversion to King Charles I. and his party to his death." So unfavourable a disposition and character was matched by his personal ap- pearance. " He was very big," says the same authority ; " his hair red, hang- ing oddly about him. His tongue was too big for his mouth, which made him liedew all that he talked to ; and his whole manner was rough and boisterous, and very unfit for a court." Although twice married, the Duke of Lauderdale left no male issue; and his sole heir was Anne, his daughter, married to John Hay, second Marquis of Tweeddale, while he was succeeded in the title of his earldom by his brother whose son Ricliard was the author of a poetical translation of Virgil. MALCOLM III., or Canmore, King of Scotland. — Few sovereigns in the obscure and barbarous periods of nations have been more fortunate in their chances of posthumous renown tlian ]Malcolni Canmore. He has had Buchanan for his historian, and Shakspeare for his eulogist. What the former learned of him from Fordun, and detailed with all the grace and majesty of the Roman language, the latter embodied in poetry, and such poetry as will endure till the end of time. Every age will feel as if INIalcolm Can more had lived but yester- day, and was worthy of every inquiry. lie was the son of Duncan, who succeeded to the tlirone of Scotland by the assassination of his grandfather, IMalcolm II. This " gracious Duncan " of the great poet appears to have been a soft, easy king, and little fitted for the stormy people over whom he was called to rule. Still less does he appear to have been adapted to those difficult trials by which he was quickly beset, in the first in- stance, from the insurrection of Macdonald, one of the powerful thanes of Scotland, who called in the Islesmen to his aid ; and afterwards, from the in- vasion of the Danes, who tried the barren shores of Scotland, alter they had wasted to the uttermost the rich coasts of France and England. In both cases, however, he was delivered by the military prowesa of his cousin, Macbeth, who not only quelled the revolt of the islanders, but drove the Danes to their ship- ping with great slaughter. To understand aright the importance of these mili- tary services of Macbeth, we should remember that the great question at issue in Scotland now was, what race should finally predominate in the country. So large a portion of what had been England during the heptarchy, had been won and incorporated into Scotland, that the Anglo-Saxon race bade fair to out- number and surpass the Celtic ; and the rebellion of IMacdonald was nothing more, perhaps, than one of that long series of trials between the two peoples, in which the Celt finally succumbed. As for the Danish invasion, it might have ended either iu a permanent settlement in Scotland, like that which had been effected by the Danes in Normandy, or a complete conquest, like that which they had achieved in England, while, in either case, Scotland would have been a sufferer. After these dangerous conflicts had terminated, Duncan made his eldest son, Malcolm, Prince of Cumberland, by which he designated him heir to the Scottish throne. This appointment, however, was anything but pleasing to Macbeth. Here the reader will remember the predictions of the weird sisters, which form a very important fact in the strange history of the period. But Macbeth had enough to incite him in his ambitious career independently of witch or prophetess. By the Tanist law of succession, common to the Celts of Scot- land as well as Ireland, Macbeth, who was the cousin german of Duncan, should have succeeded to the government on the death of the latter, should his son be still a minor; but Duncan, by this movement in favour of young Malcolm, set aside the Tanist law, which had been the general rule of Scotland, and precluded Macbeth from all hope of being king. To be requited for his public services by exclusion from his inheritance, was too much for such an ambitious spirit, while the only chance of remedy was the possible death of Duncan, before jMalcolm was old enough to be his father's successor. We know how such a prospect has paved the way to a throne in every nation, whether barbarous or civilized. Duncan was assassinated. This foul deed of Macbeth, however, was not committed under trust, and in his own -castle, as Shakspeare, for the purposes of poetry, has represented; but at Bothgowan (or the Smith's Dwelling), near Elgin, by an ambuscade appointed for the deed. This event is said to have occurred a.d. 1039. JMacbeth immediately placed upon his own head the crown which he had so violently snatched, while the two sons of Duncan fled, i\Ialcolm, the elder, to Siward, Earl of Northumber- MALCOUI III. (Malcoim Canmore). 435 land, his mother's brother, and Donald, the younger, to his father's kindred in the Hebrides. The commencement of the reign of Macbeth, like that of many usurpers, was one of conciliation. Fie won over the powerful by donations of crown lands, and the common people by a vigorous administration of justice, through which tiieir safety was secured and their industry encouraged. He also made several excellent laws; and if those attributed to him by Boece are to be relied on, they give a curious picture of the times, and the condition of Scotland. They begin with the rights of churchmen, in this manner: "He that is in orders shall not answer before a secular judge, but shall be remitted to his judge ordinary." Then comes the royal authority: "No man shall possess lands, rents, offices, or buildings, by any other authority than by the king's license." Following the heels of lord or laird, that vice of Scotsmen during the feudal ages, found no favour in the eyes of Macbeth, for he thus enacted : " He tliat follows a man to the kirk or market shall be punished to the death, unless he lives by his industry ^Yhom he follows." But the most terrible of all is the following sharp statute: "Fools, minstrels, bards, and all other such idle people, unless they be specially licensed by the king, shall be compelled to seek some craft to win their living: if they refuse, they shall be yoked like horses in the plough and harrows." All this was well ; but either fearing the nobles whose power he so vigorously curbed, or being naturally of a cruel dis- position, Macbeth began to oppress them with such severity that revolts in favour of INIalcolm, whom they regarded as the true heir, ensued, which, however, were easily suppressed. At last, after a reign of ten years, during which he daily became more unpopular, his cruel conduct to ^lacduff, Thane of Fife, procured his downfall. The latter fled to Northumberland, where young I\Ial- colm was sheltered, and besought him to march against the tyrant, whose doom he represented as certain; but IMalcolm, who had been previously tried in a similar manner by the emissaries of Macbeth, and who had learned to suspect such invitations, is said by our historians to have made those objections to Mac- duff's appeal which Shakspeare has little nioi'e than versified in his immortal tragedy. Truth and patriotism finally prevailed over the doubts of Malcolm; and aided by an English force from Siward, the prince and thane entered Scotland, where they were joined by the vassals of Macduff, and a whole army of malcontents. Even yet, however, Macbeth was not without his supporters, so that the contest was protracted for a considerable period, Macbeth retiring for that purpose into the fastnesses of the north, and especially his strong castle of Dunsinane. At length, deserted by most of his followers, he intrenched himself in a fort built in an obscure valley at Luufannan, in Aberdeenshire. Here Boece records, with his wonted gravity, all the marvels that accompanied the dying struggle of the tyrant as facts of unquestionable veracity. Leaving these, however, to histrionic representation, it is enough to state that Macbeth fell by the hand, it is generally supposed, of Macduff, who had personal injuries to revenge, and who, like a true Celt, was prompt enough to remember them. Instead of claiming from the grateful Malcolm what rewards he pleased in lands, titles, and pre-eminence, the thane of Fife contented himself with stipu- lating that himself and his successors, the lords of Fife, should have the right of placing the Scottish 'Kings upon the throne at their coronation; that they should lead the van of the Scottish armies when the royal banner was displayed; and that if he or any of his kindred committed "slaughter of suddenly," the 436 MALCOLM IlL (M^LCour Uanmoue). deed should be remitted for a pecuniary atonement. Malcolm's next duty, immediately after his accession, was to replace those families that had been deprived of land or office tlirough the injustice of Macbeth. It is also added, that he caused his nobles to assume surnames from the lands they possessed, and introduced new titles of honour among them, such as those of Earl, Baron, and Knight, by which they are henceforth distinguished in the histories of Scotland. By these changes Malcolm Canmore became king of Scotland witliout a rival, for although Macbeth left a step-son, called Lulach (or the Fool), his opposition did not occasion much apprehension. A greater subject of anxiety was the consolidation of that strange disjointed kingdom over wliich he was called to rule, and here Canmore was met by difficulties such as few sovereigns have encountered, A single glance at the condition of the country will suffi- ciently explain the severe probation with which his great a])ilities were tried. Scotland had originally consisted of the two states of Pictland and Albin, comprised within the limits of the Forth and the Clyde, Avhile all beyond these rivers formed part of England. The troubles, however, of the latter country, at first frcmi the wars of the heptarchy, and afterwards the Danish invasions, enabled the Scots to push the limits of their barren inheritance into the fertile districts of the south, and annex to their dominion the kingdom of Strathclyde, which comprised Clydesdale, Peebles-shire, Selkirkshire, and the upper parts of Roxburghshire. The conquest of this important territory was accomplished by Kenneth III., about one hundred years before the accession of Malcolm Canmore, In addition to this, the district of Cumbria had been ceded b^' Edmund I., the English king, in 9J6, to Malcolm I, of Scotland, Thus Malcolm Canmore succeeded to the kingdom when it was composed of the three states of Albin, Pictland, and Strathclyde. But besides these there was a fourth territory, called Lodonia or Lothian, which at one period appears to have formed part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, but had been partially conquered by the Picts in 085; and as it lay between the two coun- tries, it had formed, from the above-mentioned period, a bone of contention between the English and the Scots until a.d. 1020, or about thirty-seven years before Malcolm Canmore 's accession, when it was finally ceded by Endulf, Earl of Northumberland, to Malcolm II., the great-grandfather of Canmore, Thus the sovereignty of Scotland at this time, barren though it was, con- sisted of four separate kingdoms, all the fruits of successive conquests, and as yet not fully incorporated, or even properly united ; and each was at any time ready either to resume an independent national existence of its own, or com- mence a war of conquest or extirpation against the others. And for such an explosion there was abundance of fierce materials in the population by which the country was occupied. For there were first the Caledonians or Picts, the earliest occupants of the land, who had successfully resisted the Roman in- vaders ; after these were the Scoti or Irish, from Ulster, who had entered Scot- land about the middle of the third century ; and lastly, the Saxons, of different race, language, and character from the others, who, though originally conquered by the Scots and Picts, already bade fair to become the conquerors of both in turn. But besides these there was a large infusion of a Danish population, not only from the annexation of Strathclyde, but the invasions of the Danes by sen, so that many of the northern islands, and a portion of the Scottish coast, were peopled by the immediate descendants of these enterprising rovers. MALCOLM III. (Malcolm Canmore). 437 Turiiinw to another part of the kingdom, we find a still different people, called the "wild Scots of Galloway," who had emigrated from the opposite coast of Ireland, and occupied Galloway and part of Ayrshire, along with the wildest of the Pictish population among whom they had thus won a footing. Here, tlien, we have a strange medley of Caledonians, Cymbrians, Celts, Anglo- Saxons, and Danes, men of different race and language, and of rival interests, all thrust into one sterile country, to contend not merely for empty glory, but absolute subsistence. And by whom was the scanty loaf to be finally won ? — but the loaf had first to be created from a flinty soil, that had hitherto produced nothing but thistles ; and of all these races, the Anglo-Saxon, by its skill, in- dustry, and perseverance, showed itself the best adapted for the purpose. On the accession of Malcolm Canmore, it M-as evidently necessary that he should identify himself with some one of these rival parties; and had he followed a short sighted or selfish policy, he would have placed himself at the head of the Celtic interest, not only as it was still predominant, but also as he was the lineal descendant and representative of Kenneth Macalpine, the founder of the Scoto-Irish dynast}% But he was the son of an Anglo Saxon mother; he had resided in England for fifteen years ; and he had been finally established in his rights chiefly by Anglo-Saxon auxiliaries, in spite of the Tanist law of succes- sion, which had favoured the usurpation of Macbeth. Besides, his long stay in England must have convinced him of the superiority of the Anglo-Saxons in civilization, industr}^ and the arts of life, as Vt-ell as aptitude for order and a settled government. He therefore adopted the chance of becoming a Saxon king, rather than the certainty of being a Celtic chief of chieftains ; and the result showed the wisdom of his choice. He was thenceforth the Alfred of his country ; and the Scots under his rule became a nation and a people, instead of a heap of tribes and chieftainries. During the first nine years of Canmore's reign, England was governed by Edward the Confessor, who was more intent on building churches than making conquests, and thus a friendly relationship was maintained between the two countries, which allowed the Scottish king to consolidate his dominions. On the death of the Confessor, and accession of Harold, the latter king was soon oc- cupied with a civil war, at the head of which was his own brother, Tostig, whom he had made Earl of Northumberland. At this period, indeed, there was some danger of Malcolm being drawn into a dangerous war with England; for while there, he had formed an acquaintanceship with Tostig, whom, according to an old English chronicler, he loved as a brother, so that when the Northumbrian eavl fled after his first unsuccessful attempt, he betook himself for shelter to the Scottish court, and endeavoured to stir up its king to an English invasion. But Malcolm had too much good sense, or too much right feeling, to be allured by such a tempting opportunity where two brothers were at deadly variance. Dis- appointed in Scotland, Tostig obtained an ally in Hardrada, king of Norway, with whom he invaded England; but in the battle of Stamford Bridge, their forces were completely defeated, and both king and earl were left among the slain. Events soon followed tliat made the continuance of peace between the two kingdoms impossible. The veering of the same wind that had brought Har- drada from Norway, wafted William the Conqueror from Normandy to Eng- land ; and Harold, weakened by the victory at Stamford Bridge, fell, with all the flower of his militar}^ array, at the terrible battle of Hastings. William 438 MALCOLM III. (Malcolm Canmokl). ■was now king of England, and Scotland became not only a place of refuge to Saxon fugitives, but a mark for Norman ambition and revenge. Among those Avho thus lied to the Scottish court, was Edgar Atheling, nearest of kin to Edward the Confessor, and chief claimant to the throne of England, with his mother Agatha, widow of Edmund Ironside, and his sisters Margaret and Christina. On reaching Dunfermline, the roj'al seat of the Scottish king, they found many of the English nobles, who had preceded them, while from Malcolm they experienced that full hospitality which he had himself enjoyed in Eng- land. Of the two sisters of Edgar, Margaret, who was young and beautiful, captivated the heart of her royal host, and a marriage quickly followed. Seldom has a marriage union been fraught with such advantages to a nation as that of the king of Scotland with this descendant of the noble line of Alfred, for Margaret was not only gentle, affectionate, and 2)ious, but learned and accom- plished beyond the people of her new country, and anxious to introduce among them the civilization of England. Her labours in tliis way form a beautiful epi- sode in the history of the period, and have been fully detailed by her biogra- pher, Turgot, who was also her chaplain and confessor. Her first care was the improvement of her husband, whose vigorous mind she enlightened, and whose fierce spirit she soothed by the wisdom and gentleness of her counsels. The effect of this upon IMalcolm was such, that though unable to read her missals and books of devotion, he was wont to kiss them in token of reverence, and he caused them to be richly bound, and ornamented with gold and jewels. On arriving in Scotland, INIargaret, as a Christian accoiding to the Romish Church, was grieved to find the Eastern form predominant, which she had been taught to regard as heresy, and not long after she became queen, she set herself in good earnest to discountenance and refute it — for hers was not a mind to com- prehend the uses of persecution in achieving the conversion of misbelievers. She invited the Culdee clergy to a debate, in which the chief subject was the proper season for the celebration of Lent — the great theological question of the day between the Eastern and Western churches; and as she was unacquainted with the language of these Culdees, Malcolm, who spoke the Celtic as well as the Saxon tongue, attended as her interpreter. This strange controversy lasted three days, and on this occasion, says Turgot, " she seemed another St. Helena, out of the Scriptures convincing the Jews." The temporal concerns of her husband's subjects were also taken into account, and she invited merchants from various countries, who now for the first time pursued their traffic in Scotland. Their wares chiefly consisted of ornaments and ricli clothing, such as had never been seen there before; and when the people, at her persuasion, put them on, he informs us they might almost be believed to have become new beings, they appeai'ed so gay and comely. Who does not see in this, the commencement of an industrial spirit — the first great step of a people from barbarism to civi- lization? Her influence was also shown in the royal household, the rude coarseness of which was exchanged for a numerous retinue, and orderly digni- fied ceremonial, so that when IMalcolm appeared in public, it was with a train that commanded respect. Not only his attendants, but his banquets were dis- tinguished by the same regal splendour, for Turgot informs us that IMargaret caused him to be served at table from vessels of gold and silver plate; but sud- denly checking himself, he adds, " at least they were gilt or silvered over." From this pleasing picture we must now turn to the stoi-my career of Malcolm Canmore. The arrival of Edgar Atheling was followed by a fresh MALCOLM IIL (Malcolm Caniiore), 439 immigration of Saxons, and soon after of Normans, whom William had either disgusted by his tyranny or defrauded of their wages, while Malcolm, who needed such subjects, received them with welcome, and gave them broad lands; and from these refugees the chief nobility of Scotland were afterwards descended. The latter country became of course very closely connected with the struggles of the English against the Norman ascendency, while IMalcolm by his marriage was bound to support the pi-etensions of his brother-in-law to the crown of England. But Edgar was no match for William, and, in an attempt that he made in Northumberland and Yorkshire with the aid of a Danish armament, he was so effectually defeated, that he was obliged a second time to flee to Scot- land. How Malcolm, who was considered as the head of this coalition, failed to invade England when his aid was most expected, does not clearly appear, but he thereby escaped the evils of an ill-concerted and most disastrous entei'- prise. Two years after (in 1070) he crossed the border with an army, but found the northern counties so wasted by the previous war, that after a hasty incursion into Northumberland and Yorkshire, he was obliged to retreat. But brief as this inroad was, and unaccompanied with battle, it was not without its share of the horrors of war, for Malcolm commanded his soldiers to spare only the young men and women, who accordingly were carried into Scotland, and there sold as slaves. So great was the number of these unhappy captives, that according to Simeon of Durham, there was not a village, and scarcely even a hovel in Scotland without them. And yet those English who escaped the visitation, in many cases seem to have envied their fate, for such was the general desolation which their own Norman sovereign had inflicted, that they repaired in crowds to Scotland, and sold themselves into slavery, to avoid certain death from famine or the sword. Had William the Conqueror not been otherwise occupied, a swift retaliation would have been certain; but from the dangerous revolts of the English, he found no leisure for the purpose till 1072, when he entered Scotland with such an army as the undisciplined forces of IMalcolm were unable to meet. The whole of the Norman cavalry, in which William's principal strength consisted, and every foot soldier that could be spared from garrison, were mustered for the purpose, while his advance on land was supported by a fleet that sailed along the coast. He marched as far as the Tay, the Scots giving way as he ap- proached; but in their retreat they laid waste the countr^^ in the hope of driving him back by famine. In this way, Malcolm Canmore anticipated the wise plan of defence that was afterwards so successfully adopted by Bruce and Wallace. He also refused to deliver up those English and Norman nobles who had fled to him for protection. At last, William, finding " nothing of that which to him the better was " — nothing in the shape of booty or even of subsistence, was obliged to abandon his purposes of a complete conquest of Scotland, and content himself with terms of agreement. These, which were ratified between him and IMalcolm at Abernethy, consisted in the latter giving hostages, and doing homage to William, as his liege lord. But for what was this homage rendered? Not for Scotland certainly, the greater part of which was still un- touched, and which William would soon be obliged to leave from sheer hunger. It appears that this homage was merely for the lands of Cumberland and pari; of the Lothians, which Scotland had formerly held of the English crown, but which feudal acknowledgment Canmore had withheld, as not judging the Norman to be the lawful king of England. Now, however, he prudently 440 MALCOLM in. (Malcolm Canmoui). yielded it, thus recognizing William as the English sovereign de facto at least, if not de jure; and with this concession the latter seems to have been satisfied, for he returned to England without any further attempt. And this homage, as is well known, implied neither inferiority nor degradation, for even tlie most j)owerful sovereigns were wont to give sucli acknowledgment, for the dukedoms or counties they might hold in other kingdoms. In this way, the kings of England themselves were vass:ils to the French crown for their possessions which they held in France. At the utmost, Malcolm did notliing more than abandon the claims of Edgar Atlieling, which experience must have now taught liim were scarcely worth defending. Edgar indeed was of the same opinion, for soon after he abandoned all his claims to the crown of England, and was contented to become the humble pensionary of tlie Norman conqueror, A peace that lasted a few j-ears between England and Scotland ensued, during which, although little is heard of Malcolm Canmore, it is evident from the progress of improvement in his kingdom, tliat he was Iiy no means idle. Scotland was more and more becoming Anglo-Saxon instead of Celtic or Danish, while the plentiful immigrations that continued to flow from England filled up the half-peopled districts, enriched the barren soil with the agriculture of the south, and diffused the spirit of a higher civilization. The superiority of these exiles was quickly manifested in the fact, that they laid the foundations of those great families by whom Scotland was afterwards ruled, and by whom the wars of Scottish independence were so gallantly maintained. Malcolm, too, their wise and generous protector, was able to appreciate their worth, for he appears to have been as chivalrous as any man of the da^', whether Norman or Saxon. Of this he on one occasion gave a signal proof. Having learned that one of his nobles had plotted to assassinate him, he concealed his knowledge of the design, and in the midst of a hunt led the traitor into the forest, beyond the reach of interruption. There dismounting, and drawing his sword, he warned the other that he vras aware of his purpose, and invited him to settle the con- test, man to man, in single combat, now that there was no one at hand to pre- vent or arrest him. Conquered by such unexpected magnanimity, the man fell at the feet of Malcolm, and implored forgiveness, which was readily granted. This generosity was not thrown away, for the noble was converted from an enemy and traitor into a faithful and affectionate servant. Peace continued between England and Scotland during the rest of the Con- queror's reign ; but in that of William Rufus, the national rancour was revived. An invasion of England was the consequence, while Rufus was absent in Nor- mandy ; but the English nobility, who governed during his absence, offered such a stout resistance, that the invaders retreated. On the return of Rufus, he endeavoured to retaliate by a counter-invasion both by land and sea ; but his ships were destroyed before they arrived off the Scottish coast, and the army on reaching a river called Scotte Uatra (supposed to be Scotswater), found IMalcolm ready for the encounter. Here a battle was prevented by tlie inter- position of mutual friends, and the discretion of the Scottish sovereign. "King Malcolm," thus the Saxon Chronicle states, "came to our king, and became his man, promising all such obedience as he formerly' rendered to his fiither; and that he confirmed with an oath. And the king, William, promised him in land and in all things, whatever he formerly had under his father." In this way the storm was dissipated, and matters placed on their former footing; but thus they did not long continue. On returning from Scotland, Rufus was MALCOLM IIL (Malcolm Canmore). 441 Bfruck with the admirable position of Carlisle, and its fitness to be a frontier Jiarrier against future invasions from Scotland ; upon which he took possession of the district without ceremony, drove out its feudal lord, and proceeded to lay the foundations of a strong castle, and plant an English colony in the town and neighbourhood. It was now Malcolm's turn to interpose. Independently of his kingdom being thus bridled, Carlisle and the whole of Cumberland had for a long period belonged to the elder son of the Scottish kings, and was one of the most valuable of their possessions on the English side of the Tweed. War was about to commence afresh, when Malcolm was invited to Gloucestei-, where the English king was holding his court, that the affair might be settled by nego- tiation ; but thither he refused to go, until he had obtained hostages for his safe return — a sure proof that he was an independent king of Scotland, and not a mere vassal of the English crown. His claims were recognized, and the hos- tages granted; but on arriving at Gloucester, he was required to acknowledge the superiority of England by submitting to the decision of its barons assembled in court. It was an arrogant and unjust demand, and as such he treated it. He declared that the Scottish kings had never been accustomed to make satisfaction to the kings of England for injuries complained of, except on the frontiers of the two kingdoms, and by the judgment of the barons of both collectively; and after this refusal he hurried home, and prepared for instant war. That war was not only brief, but most disastrous to Scotland, At the head of an army composed of different races not yet accustomed to act in concert, Malcolm crossed the border, and laid siege to Alnwick. While thus occupied, he was unexpectedly attacked by a strong English and Norman force, on No- vember 13, 1093. His troops, taken by surprise, appear to have made a very short i-esistance, and Malcolm himself, while attempting to rally them, was slain in the confusion of the conflict. With him also perished his eldest son, Edward, who fell fighting by his side. While an event so mournful to Scotland was occurring before the walls of Alnwick, another was about to take place within the castle of Edinburgh, There Queen Margaret, the beloved of the kingdom, lay dying. She had already received the viaticum, and was uttering her last prayer, before her eyes should be closed in death, when her son Edgar, who had escaped from the battle, entered the apartment, and stood before her. She hastily asked, " How fai'es it with the king and my Edward?" The youth could not speak. Eagerly perusing his face with her looks, "I know all," she exclaimed, '■ I know all; by this holy cross, and by your filial love, I adjure you to tell me the truth." He told her that husband and son had fallen. She raised her eyes to heaven, and said, "Praise and blessing be to thee, Almighty God, that thou hast enabled me to endure such bitter anguish in the hour of my departure, thereby purifying me, as I trust, from the corruption of my sins. And thou. Lord Jesus Christ, who, through the will of the Father, hast given life to the world by thy death, 0 deliver me I" Instantly after she was dead. To this a touching legend has been added. After being canonized by the church, her relics were to be re- moved from their grave to a more honourable tomb ; but it was found impos- sible to lift the body until that of her husband had been removed also. It is to be regretted that for the biography of such a man as Malcolm Can- more, the particulars are so few, so obscure, and, in several cases, so contradic- tory. His life, however, is chiefly to be read not in particular incidents, but in its great national results. If Bruce was the liberator, and Knox the reformer V. 3 k 442 SIR CHARLES MALCOLM. of Scotland, Canmore was its founder ; and should a future age expand the few pillars upon the Calton Hill into a National Monument, these three illustrioui) men would undoubtedly be selected as the impersonations of Scottish character, and the sources of Scottish history. MALCOL^M, Sir Charles. — The family to which this naval commander belonged, was remarkable for producing not less than four brothers, who all won their way to rank and distinction by the greatness of their public services. Sir diaries was the tenth and youngest son of George Malcolm, and was born at Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire, in 1782. Being destined for the naval profession, he entered it when only nine years old, and was so fortunate in a course of active service that followed, as to have his brother, Pulteney, for his comman- der, under whom he was master's mate of the Fox, 32. In this ship he served in 1798, when, in company with the Sybille, 38, they entered the harbour of Manilla under Spanish colours, made a dashing attack upon three ships of the line and three frigates, and captured seven boats with a large quantity of mili- tary stores, and took 200 prisoners. Rising still in the service, he was in course of time jironioted to the command of the Narcissus, 32, and in 1807 was slightly wounded in an attack upon a convoy of thirty sail in the Conquet Roads. In 1809 he aided in the capture of the Saintes Island in the West Indies. In June of the same year, having been appointed to the command of the Rliine, 38, he was emploj-ed in active co-operation with the patriots on the north coast of Spain, a service in which several of our most distinguished naval commanders were occupied at the same period. After this, he was employed in the West Indies, and upon the coast of Brazil , and on the 18th of Jul}-, 1815, he landed and stormed a fort at Corigion, near Abervack. Thus briefly are we obliged to sum up a course of service that lasted several years, with little intermission. It was a period, however, of great naval events, in which the public attention was regaled with such a succession of splendid victories by sea, that it had little inclination for the exploits of single ships, or the details of privateering. Still, an idea of the active and important nature of Captain l\Ialcolm"s services may be gained from the fact, that while in command of the Narcissus and the Rhine, he not onl}- captured great numbers of merchantmen, but took more than twenty privateers, carrying 1G8 guns and 1059 men. On the return of peace, Malcolm's services were not to be dispensed with ; and in 1822 he was appointed to the command of the William and Mary, royal yacht, lying at Dublin in attendance upon the Marquis of Wellesley, lord- lieutenant ; and on the following year, he had the honour to receive knighthood from the vice-regal hand. In 1826 he was appointed to the command of the Royal Charlotte yacht, also commissioned on the same service. But these, though sufficiently honourable employments, and indicative of a due sense of his past services, were of too quiescent a character for an active spirit still in the prime of life; and in 1827 his best aspirations were gratified by his being appointed superintendent ox the Bombay Marine. To this service he diligently devoted himself for ten years, and so highly improved it, that from an imperfect sea establishment, it grew into a regular Indian navy, adequate to the extensive wants and protection of our Eastern empire. Sir Charles was also the promoter of many important surveys within the extensive sphere of his command, and took an influential part in the establishment of steam-navigation in tlie Red Sea, Well-merited promotion continued to follow these exertions, for he was raised to the rank of rear-admiral in 1837, and to that of vice-admiral in 1847. SIR PULTENEY IMALCOOI. 443 In turning to his personal history, it is only necessary to add, that in 1800 Sir Charles married his cousin IMagdalene, daughter of Charles Pasley, Esq., by whom he had one daughter ; and on becoming a widower, he married in 1829 Elmira Riddell, youngest daughter of Major-General Shaw, by whom he had three sons, two of these being now in the royal navy. In his character, he fully abounded in that seaman-like courage, frankness, and courtesy, which Napoleon so much admired in his brother, Sir Pulteney Malcolm. The death of Sir Charles occurred at Brighton, on the 14th June, 1851, at the age of sixt^'-nine. MALCOLM, Sir Pulteney, Admiral of the Blue, G.C.B. and G.C.M.G.— This gallant admiral was one of that brotherhood of the Malcolms, whose talents raised them to such hij^h distinction. He was born on the 20th of February, 1768, at Douglan, near Langholm, Dumfriesshire, and was the third son of the family. Having chosen the naval profession as his path to fame and fortune, he embarked as midshipman on the 20th of October, 1778, on board the Sybille frigate, commanded by Captain Pasley, afterwards Admiral Sir James Pasley, Bart., his mother's brother. Thus launched at the early age of ten, j'oung Pulteney's first trial of his profession was a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope; and at his return he was transferred to the Jupiter of 50 guns. His first pro- motion, after nearly five j'ears' service, was to the rank of lieutenant in 1783. After having served successively in several ships, and upon various stations, he was employed as first lieutenant of the Penelope of 32 guns at Jamaica ; and as the war kindled by the French Revolution had commenced, it was not long until he was called into active employment. Among his services was the cap- ture of the French fiigate, the Inconstante, and a corvette, in which he assisted as first lieutenant, and afterwards carried the prizes to Port Royal. He also saw hot service as commander of the Penelope's boats, in cutting out vessels from the ports of St. Domingo, and was so successful that he was promoted to the rank of commander in 1794, in which capacity he had the charge of the seamen and marines who were landed at the mole of Cape Nicola, to garrison that place, which had been surrendered to the British by their allies, the French royalists. After his return from that station to England, Lieutenant Pulteney Malcolm was advanced to the rank of post-captain in October, 179-1, and on the following month was appointed to the command of the Fox frigate. In the early part of the next year he convoyed a fleet of merchantmen to Quebec, and afterwards another to the East Indies; and upon that station he captured La Modeste, a French frigate of 20 guns. In 1707 he was employed in the China seas, under the command of Captain Edward Cooke of the Sybille ; and during the same year he had for his passenger homeward. Colonel Wellesley, who was then returning from India. Neither storm nor enemy occurred by the way to put the Quid times? Coesarem veins to the test. In this manner Captain Malcolm was making way by useful services, in which his courage and professional skill were fully attested, and the singular fortune that seemed to have rested upon his family insured his well-merited advance- ment. In 1798 he was appointed to the command of the Suffolk, a third-rate of 74 guns, bearing the flag of Admiral Rainier, commander-in-chief in the Indian seas, and was afterwards transferred to the Victorious, in consequence of the flag being removed to the latter ship. On this station Captain Malcolm served till the end of the war; and on his passage homeward in 1803, he encoun- tered one of those casualties to which his profession must be always subject. 444: SIR rULTENEY MALCOLM. In the Bay of Biscay the Victorious encountered such a violent gale, that it was kept with the utmost difficulty from foundering ; all that could be done ■was to make for the Triest, not a layman ; and that for this he had received the absolution of the church, whose subject the priest was. But this was not enough for Randolph ; the priest, he said, was a Scottish subject and king's liege-man, irrespective of his clerical office ; and, therefore, as the murderer of a Scottish subject, the culprit was adjudged to suffer the full pen- alty of the law. Although a perpetual peace had been ratified between Scotland and England, the injuries each country had received were too recent, and the claims for com- pensation were too numerous and unreasonable, to give hope that it would be lasting. Scarcely, therefore, liad Randolph held the regency for three years, when certain English nobles, who were disappointed in the recovery of their Scottish estates, adopted the cause of Baliol as their pretext for breaking the treaty of Northampton, and made formidable preparations to invade Scotland by sea. In consequence of this intelligence, Randolph assembled an army, and marched to Colbrandspath, expecting the invasion would be made by land ; but as soon as he learned that the enemy had embarked at Ravenshire in Hol- derncss, he turned his course northwards, to be ready for the assailants at what- ever point they might land in the Forth. But on reaching Musselburgh, his last march was ended. For some time past he had been afflicted with that ex- cruciating disease, the stone, and he suddenly died on the 20th of July, 1332, in the midst of his political anxieties and warlike preparations. Never, indeed, lias Scotland— so often harassed with minority and interregnum — possessed, either before or afterwards, such a deputy-sovereign, with the single exception of his noble namesake of after centuries, that Earl of Moray who was called " the good regent." Randolph's death was the commencement of heavy woes for Scotland. From the suddenness of his departure, and its disastrous consequences, it was suspected that the invaders, who liad no hope of success as long as he lived, had caused him to be removed by poison ; but the incurable nature of the malady under which he died sufficiently accounts for his decease. REID, JoHX, M.D., Chandos Professor of Anatomy and Medicine in the University of St. Andrews. — This talented anatomist and physiologist, who was so unexpectedly removed from us when his value was just beginning to be JOHN EEID. 507 estimated hy the world, was bom at Bathgate, Linlithgowsliire, on the 9th of April, 1809. lie ^Yas the sixth child of Henry Reid, a thriving farmer and cattle-dealer. The commencement of his education was rather unpropitious ; for before he knew the grammar of his own language, he was sent to learn that of Latin, under one of those frowzy village pedagogues who were so plentiful in Scotland, as well as England, when normal schools were as yet unknown. Under, or rather, we should say, in spite of such a preceptor, Jolin Reid made a respectable proficiency in classical learning; and at the age of fourteen he was sent to the university of Edinburgh, where, for the first two or three years, he chiefly devoted himself to the study of Latin, Greek, and mathematics. But a love of literature for its own sake was not his characteristic : it was merely the means to an end, and not the end itself, and he valued it chiefly as the expo- nent of thought in those scientific pursuits to wliich his life was devoted. The same love of science induced him to direct his studies to the medical profession, instead of the church, which had been originally selected for his career. In the many departments of the healing art, those of anatomy and physiology ex- clusively attracted his attention, and upon these, while a student, he laid the secure foundation of his future distinction. After five years spent as a medical student, he obtained, in 18.30, the diploma of surgeon and physician. On receiving the last and most honourable of these appointments, there were not less than 106 candidates who obtained the diploma of M.D. on the same da}'. On this occasion, a velvet cap is placed for a moment upon each head successively — resembling the now almost forgotten process in Scotland of extinguishing a chandelier of candles. This useful and wonder-working cap, that converts raw lads into learned doctors by a single touch, v.-as supposed to have been originally' the head-gear of George Buchanan. At the university of St. Andrews the case is better still, as their graduating cap is supposed to have been made out of a part of the velvet dress of John Knox. On becoming a physician, Dr. Reid's first wish was to receive a medical appoint- ment in the navy for two or three years, in the hope of seeing the world, and establishing himself in his profession. But as no opportunity of this kind occurred, he accepted the office of clerk or assistant-physician in the clinical wards of the Edinburgh Infirmary. After discharging its duties for a twelve- month with great ability, he repaired to Pai-is in the autumn of 1831, for the purpose of improving himself in its medical schools. His enthusiastic applica- tion in the French capital was well requited by the lessons of Louis and Andral, two of the most distinguished physicians, and Dupuytren and Listrane, the most skilful surgeons in Paris, whose lectures he attended. His description of the daily routine while thus employed, although so brief, gives a full idea of his diligence : — " I go to one of the hospitals for three hours in the morning, before breakfast ; immediately after breakfast I go to the dissecting-rooms for three or four hours, then attend a lecture or two, return to dinner, and pass the evening at home." On his return to Scotland in 1832, uncertain where to commence his labours, he soon found that a choice had been made for him, by a stern neces- sity over which he had no control. The cholera had entered the country, and was making fearful havoc in Dumfries ; and as the regular physicians of the district were too few to withstand the sudden and overwhelming visitation, four medical men were sent to their aid from Edinburgh, of whom Dr. Reid was one. He had seen the worst of this terrible calamity in Paris, and learned its mode of treatment: he was also aware of the danger which it entailed upon the physi- 508 JOHN llEID. ciau as well as the patient. Undismayed, however, by his full knowledge of the peril, he set off with this " forlorn hope," and remained a whole month in the midst of infection, until the plague was stayed ; and this, too, in spite of an alarming attack of peritonitis, that threatened every moment while it lasted to involve him in the fate of the sufferers, by increasing his liability to infection. The duties which he had to undergo in Dumfries during his short sojourn there, were such as required the utmost of moral heroism. " It was terrible work," he thus wrote, "for the first few days. It was truly the City of the Plague. Such dreadful scenes I should never wish to be again obliged to witness; and what aggravated in no small degree the miseries and horrors inseparable from the agonies and dying groans of so many sufferers was, that the dread of contagion seemed to have torn asunder the social bonds of society, and the wretched vic- tim had too often occasion to upbraid, with his last breath, the selfish fear of friends, and even of his nearest relations " On the cessation of this most fearful of plagues, Dr. Reid, after a short in- terval, and while he was yearning for active employment, received two offers. The one was to settle in a medical vacancy near his native Bathgate, where he might have secured the quiet, easy, and respectable life of a countiy doctor, and talked politics with the parish minister, or general gossip with the laird's family. The other offer was to become a partner in the school of anatomy in Old Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh, where the growing crowd of students required an addition to the usual staff of instructors. Here, as demonstrator, his duty would be a revolting one. He would have to wait all day, like a ghoul, in the dissecting-room, amidst mangled human sulijects, and expound, from morning till night, the construction of these revolting masses, and trace in them the sources of those various maladies which flesh is heir to. JHe felt that he must thus dwell among the dead to benefit the living. He knew, also, that in this way alone he could prosecute those anatomical researches in reference to physiology, to which his whole heart was so intensely devoted. On this account, lie did not hesitate to accept the office, notwithstanding the horror of his family at the idea of one of their number being a mangier of the dead — a very henchman of the common executioner! From 1833 to 183G, he continued to be the de- monstrator of Old Surgeons' Hall, and his labours in this capacity have elicited the most enthusiastic encomiums from those distinguished successors who were originally his pupils. " He was the most painstaking demonstrator," one of them declares, "lever knew or heard of. No 'grinder' paid by the hour could have displaj'ed more patience, or taken more troul)le to make anatomy easy to the meanest capacity. Where he might have contented himself in the discharge of his duty, by a bare demonstration and description of the parts, he seemed to be animated by a sincere purpose of stereotyping his lesson on the memory and understanding of the dullest of his audience. His patience with those who wished to learn had no limit." " We used to crowd round him," another pupil writes, "and ask questions on any point that was not thoroughly understood ; but this was very seldom necessary ; for such was the order, clear- ness, and minuteness of his description, that the subject was indeed made easy to the dullest comprehension. That kind of instruction, also, which with him, as with every great anatomist of this countr}^, sought for illustration in those points bearing on surgical or medical practice, was never lost sight of; and I, for one, up to this hour, and I firmly believe on this account, have never for- gotten his admirable demonstrations." In this way he was wont, during nine JOHN REID. 509 months of each year, to give instructions daily in the dissecting-room from nine in the morning till four in the afternoon ; and as some time was necessary for rest after such fatiguing labours, he generally commenced his private studies late in the evening, and continued them till long after midnight, (ieclaring that he always found himself fittest for work when other people were going to their beds. He also attended, on the evenings of the six months of winter, the meet- ings of the scientilic societies in Edinburgh connected with his profession, where the discussions were of such an interesting character as to attract the intellec- tual of every class, either as members or auditors. At this time, also, he gave the fruits of some of his more diligent investigations in the form of essays read before these societies, which were published in ]83o. Two of these were on certain curious structures observed in connection with the veins; a third was on the organization of certain glands in the whale, and some peculiarities in the internal arrangement of tlie blood-vessels of man during the period of juve- nility. But amidst all this heroism of labour and research, we must confess that with Dr. Reid one important subject had been, and still continued to be omitted. On one occasion, a discussion among some of his medical friends who had met in his apartment was carried on, in which a religious question was involved, and Scripture was appealed to as conclusive evidence. But on search- ing his well-stored library for a Bible to quote chapter and verse, none could at first be found ; and it was only after careful rummaging, that at length this most momentous of all volumes was found thrust behind the other books, and covered with dust. He was at present labouring for distinction, and had no time to study it ; by and by, wdien the prize was won, he would again read his Bible, as he had done when he was a boy. It is well that this indifference, lately so common among intellectual men, is now regarded not onl}^ as profane, but even unliterary, and in bad taste. It was well, also, for Reid, that that " more convenient season," which so many have expected in vain, was vouch- safed to him at last. In consequence of the high reputation which Dr. Reid had acquired as the anatomical demonstrator of Old Surgeons' Ball during three years' attendance, he was unanimously called, by his brethren of Edinburgh, to occupy a more honourable and important office. It was that of lecturer on physiology in the Extra-Academical IMedical School, now left vacant by the death of Dr. Fletcher, author of the " Rudiments of Physiology." Into this new sphere he removed with considerable reluctance, for he was diffident of his powers as a lecturer, which were still untried. His perseverance, however, not only overcame his timidity, but enabled him to become as distinguished in the oratorical as he had formerly been in the conversational form of instruction. He now also had more leisure for self-improvement, as his course for the year commenced in November, and terminated Avith the close of April. In 1838 he was appointed pathologist to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, where his duties consisted in collecting the weekly statistics of the institution, and conducting the post- mortem examinations of the patients who had died in the hospital ; and in the iollowing year, he was also appointed superintendent of the infirmary. In this last capacity, we are told in the " Monthly Journal of Medical Science," " he carried into his inquiries concerning morbid anatomy and pathology, the same accuracy in observing facts, and the same cautious spirit in drawing inferences from them, that characterized his anatomical and physiological researches. He at once saw the necessity of making his position serviceable to the advancement 510 JOHN REID. of medical knowledge, and, struck with the inconsistencies which existed as to the absolute and relative size and weight of the principal organs of the body, he commenced another laborious investigation on this subject. lie introduced weighing-machines into the pathological theatre, by means of which the weight of the entire body was first ascertained, and then, respectivel}^ the weights of the different organs.' In 1839 Dr. Reid was candidate for the chair of medicine in King's College, Aberdeen, but was unsuccessful ; in the same year he was candidate for the chair of anatomy in Marischal College, and was again unsuc- cessful. These disappointments, however, he bore with such good humour, as consciousness of desert, and hope of better luck in store, acting upon a naturally cheerful, buoyant spirit, seldom fail to supply. Already he had broken ground, and most successfully^ into those discoveries upon the anatomy and physiology of the heart, and especially of the nervous system, upon which he may be said to have established for himself a European reputation; and in the latter depart- ment he had produced and read before the British Association an epitome of his " Experimental Investigation into the Functions of the eight pair of nerves, or the glossopharyngeal, pneumogastric, and spinal accessory." The light which was dawning upon him in the course of these investigations was soon to be worth more than the distinction that can be conferred by a seat upon the bench of a College Senatus Consultum. All this was soon after attested at a public scientific meeting, in which it was declared, among other just encomiums, that Dr. Reid, by his " original investigations into the pliysiology of the nervous system, had made the profession acquainted with valuable facts, which had at once enriched the science their discoverer cultivated, and procured for himself an extensive and enviable reputation." Such was the testimony of Professor Alison, one of the most competent of judges upon such a subject. Having now attained a high reputation in his own favourite walks of science, an appointment soon offered that consoled Dr. Reid for his late mischances. This was the professorship of anatomy in the university of St. Andrews, which was conferred upon him in March, 18il. He had now only reached his thirty-first year; and from what he had already accomplished, combined with his robust, vigorous, healthy constitution, it was hoped that a long life was yet in store for him, as well as an ample field of research and discovery. He com- menced in winter the course of lectures that properly belonged to his professor- ship ; but as this class, composed of medical students only, was too limited a sphere, he also delivered a course of lectures on comparative anatomy and gene- ral physiology, which all were free to attend gratuitously, whether from town or college. A delighted crowd usually assembled at these prelections, composed not only of professors, ministers, and students from several classes, but also of the citizens of St. Andrews, whose earnest animated attention Avould of itself have been a rich reward to any public instructor. Cut even amidst all this, Dr. Reid felt that there was something wanting. St. Andrews was not a medi- cal school of any mark, as most of the county students destined for the healing profession were wont to pass over to the university of Edinburgh. Besides, it was difficult to procure subjects, without which anatomical dissertations are all but useless — for even y&i tiiere still lingered among the living of Fifeshire that jealous care of their dead, which was placarded not a hundred years ago over one of their cemeteries, in these ominous words: " Whoever enters this church- yard will be shot." These drawbacks he felt so sensitively that he was impa- tient for wider action, until 1844, when St. Andrews was converted into a JOHN REID. 511 happy home for him, by his marriage with Miss Ann BIyth. Four years fol- lowed, in which his researches were chiefly directed to the natural history of the marine animals so plentiful on the Fifeshire coast, and the results of which he communicated in several papers to the "Annals and Magazine of Natural His- tory." In 1848 he made a collection, in one volume, of the essays which he had published in several scientific journals during the course of thirteen years. The work is entitled, " Physiological, Anatomical, and Pathological Researches," and consists of twenty-eight articles. Of the value of these, especially of the six that contain the results of his inquiries into the functions of living organs, it would be impossible to convey an adequate idea, without such a full analysis as would far exceed the plan and limits of our work. We content ourselves with quoting, from a host of congenial critics who reviewed the volume, the opinions of one who was well qualified to estimate its worth. "As a physio- logist," says Dr. J. H. Bennett, " he [Dr. Reid] may be considered to have been unsurpassed ; not, indeed, because it has fallen to his lot to make those great discoveries or wide generalizations which constitute epochs in the history of the science, but because he possessed such a rare degree of caution and conscien- tiousness in all his researches, that no kind of investigation, whether literaiy, anatomical, phj-siological, or pathological, that could illustrate any particular fact, did he ever allow to be neglected His volume contains more original matter and sound physiology than will be found in any work that has issued from the British press for many years." Dr. Reid was now a happy man, in the fullest sense of the term. With a happy home, and an extensive circle of friends, by whom he was honoured and beloved, his scientific aspirations were every day advancing towards that ter- mination upon which his heart had been fixed for years. " My worldly cir- cumstances," he wrote afterwards to a friend, " were assuming a more comfort- able aspect ; my constitution, until lately, was robust ; my age still in its prime (within some months of forty years); I had formed plans for carrying on investi- gations into the structure and vital actions of the lower organized bodies, which can be so readily procured from this coast, little thinking that disease was so soon to overtake me. I had my dreams of being able to add something of im- portance to the deeply attractive and instructive matters embraced in such investigations ; and I was looking forward to the time when I should be able to say that I have done something which will prevent me from being readily forgotten." But while he was thus in the full flush of health and strength, of happiness and hope, a fearful pause occurred. A small, insignificant-looking blister made its appearance upon his tongue, which, instead of departing, con- tinued to increase, until it became a confirmed ulcer; and on examining this suspicious plague-spot, it was found to be the sure commencement of a cancer. He was thus to be the victim of a disease the most loathsome and incurable, while the only prospect which it held out was nothing but months of anguish and torture, until his iron frame should be worn out, and his strength prostrated into utter helplessness, so that death might come to his relief. He changed his residence from place to place in search of alleviation from pain, and submitted to torturing operations, in the faint hope that the malady might be eradicated; but its fangs were too deeply inserted, and too firmly closed, to be thus loosed from their hold. It was a barbed arrow, which no surgery could extract; and nothing remained for him but to linger upon the outskirts of the fight of life, in which he had hitherto borne himself so bravely, and await the moment of 512 DAVID SCOTT. release. It was then that the all-important subject, which hithei'to he had too much neglected, summoned his attention with an authority that would not be gainsaid. For what had he spent the past? What provision had he made for the futui-e1 These were questions tliat occurred through the lona; days of help- lessness and nights of sleeplessness and pain, and he knew that if not answered here, they would assuredly be rejieated, and as certainly must be answered elsewhere. And thither he felt that he was moving from day to day, and step by step, under an urgency which no jiower of earth could retard. The result of this solemn self-examination was, that Dr. Reid became a Christian in the true sense of the term. His life, indeed, had been one of unimpeachable hon- our, and imiversal kindliness and benevolence ; and, as far as a profession of religion went, he had passed muster among the general file of Christian men. But now he felt that all his thoughts and studies had been devoted to the things that are seen and felt, while his futurity had been bounded by time and the world, which were fast vanishing away. He thus became a Christian, not, how- ever, from selfish and craven fear, but from the same stead}^ conviction and love of truth that had hitherto directed all his researches; and even to the last, while exhibiting the child-like simplicity nnd humility of his new character, he con- tinued his scientific studies, but purified and elevated by the fresh impulse that had been given them. And thus he died, rejoicing, even in death, that the glorious future into which he was about to enter would fully open up to him those sciences of which as yet he had scarcely learned the alphabet. What are our studies worth unless they are to be eternal? After more than a year and a half of intense suffering, Reid entered into his rest on the SOth of July, 1849. His widow and two daughters, one a posthumous child, survive to lament him. A simple tablet on the wall of the ancient church yard of St. Andrews, indicates the place of his interment. SCOTT, David. — Of this poet-painter, wliose whole life was a feverish struggle with great conceptions, and whose artistic productions showed that, had his life been but continued, he might have embodied these conceptions in paintings that would have created a new school of art — of him it may truly be said, that a generation must yet pass away, and a new world of living men enter into their room, before his talents are fully appi'eciated, and their place distinctly assigned. David Scott was the youngest of five children, all sons, and was born either on the 10th or 12th of October, 180G; but only a year after his birth he was the sole surviving child of his parents, the rest having died, with only a few da^'s of interval between each. Like other boys of his standing in Edinburgh, David was sent to study Latin and Greek at the High School; but, like the generality of artists, he made no great proficiency in these languages. Is it that nature has implanted such a different spirit of utterance within the artistic heart, as to make words unnecessary? As his father was an engraver, of respectable attainments in his profession, having had, among other pupils, John Burnet, the engraver of some of Wilkie's best drawings, and John Horsburgh, David had tiius, even in his earliest boyhood, such opportunities for pictorial study as formed an excellent training for the profession to wliiclx nature had designed him. He also learned the art from his father, and becamo DAVID SCOTT. 511 one of his assistants. But the mere mechanical work of engraving was not enough for such an original spirit: he must draw as well as engrave, create as well as copy; and therefore he frequently drew those designs which he after- wards produced with his graver, as the frontispieces and vignettes of books. Although he abandoned the graving-tool fur the pencil, as soon as circum- stances permitted the exchange, he did not lose sight of the early art which had formed the chief stepping-stone of his progress; and, accordingly, he etched with his own hand the " Monograms of Man," and the Illustrations of Cole- ridge's " Ancient RIariner," and just previous to his death, had purposed to do the same for his designs expressive of the emotions produced by the contempla- tions of sidereal astronomy. Still, however, his love of painting so completely predominated, that among his early sketches there were two that especially indicated the ardour of his aspirations. The one was inscribed, "Character of David Scott, 1826," in which he was delineated as seated at the engraving table, with his hands clenched in despair. Another, of a similar bearing, dated 1828, represents hiui witli the engraving tools thrown away, and the palette pressed to his heart. But he did not confine himself to aspirations merely'; on the contrary, he accompanied them with that laborious diligent practice for which his life was distinguished to the close. Having associated himself with the young lovers of art, with whom Edinburgh even already had begun to abound, he formed with them the Life Academy in 1827, in which, as the name indicates, the living model was the subject of study and delineation. In the following year he attended Dr. Munro's class of anatomy, and made a short visit to London, for the purpose of taking sketches in the National Gallery and the British Institution. Of the same date, also, was his first exhibited picture, entitled " The Hopes of Early Genius dispelled by Death." As may be sup- posed, it was a stern, Dante-like allegory, chiefly valuable for the indication it gave of the bent of the young artist's mind, and the struggle, already com- menced, that was certain to lead to high excellence. His next, of a similar unearthly character, was the "Combat of Fingal with the Spirit of Lodi," on which a considerate friend remarked to him, " Shoot a lower aim ; you speak a dead language." Following these were his "Adam and Eve singing their Morn- ing Hymn," "The Death of Sappho," "Wallace defending Scotland," and " Mo- nograms of Man;" and subsequently, "Lot," "Nimrod," "Sarpedon carried by Sleep and Death,'kand "Cain." These, and several other intermediate sketches, were produced between the years 1828 and 1S32; and as most of them were sent to the exhibition, the talents of Mr. Scott, as an artist of high promise, were generally felt, although this feeling was mingled with much wonderment, and not a little misgiving as to the ultimate tendency of such fervid idealism. This ina- bility of the public to sympathize in his views, and consequent tendency to dis- parage them, Scott, as might be expected, very keenly felt; and he thus vrrites of the subject in his journal : "Various are the causes that render my going abroad necessary. I lose myself in thinking over the journey, and what it may do. Everything I have yet attempted has been unsuccessful; so many disappoint- ments make effort appear vain. What I must do is to cut off' all recurrence to former efforts, except in so far as they ma^'^ coincide with my later formed ideas of art, and to hold grimly on in the conscientious course, A great happiness it is that futurity is yet unseen and unmade; therein yet may be somewhat to answer my desires. Happy are those new hopes and wishes that still descend on us when all we value in ourselves is burned up and scattered ! " V. .3 T 514: DAVID SCOTT. David Scott had now resolved to become the pupil of art, as he had formerly been of nature ; and for this purpose, to repair to Italy, and study in its galleries the productions of those great masters whose excellence had endured the test of centuries, and come out more brilliant from the ordeal. He would there learn the mighty secret by which they had enthralled the world so completely and so long— that true utterance of painting which every age and nation can under- stand. He set oif upon his quest in August, 1832, and, after a short stay in London, visited Paris and Geneva, where the Louvre and the Alps alternately solicited his study. IMilan and Venice, Parma and Bologna, Florence and Sienna, followed in turn, until he finally settled at Rome, once the nursing-mother of heroes, but now of painters and sculptors, by whom her first great family have been embalmed, that the present world might know how they looked when they lived. It seems to have been only by degrees that the true grandeur of these objects fully dawned upon the mind of David Scott ; for there was within him not onl^' much that needed to be improved, but much to be unlearned and renounced. His impressions upon all the principal works of art are contained in his diary ; and these will, no doubt, be studied as a rich suggestive fund of thought by our future young artists who repair to the great Italian fountain- head. But indefatigable though he was in these explorations, the most strik- ing, though the least ostentatious part of his diary, is to be found in the scat- tered notices that everywhere occur of his own daily occupations, and from eight to sixteen hours seem with him to have been nothing more than an ordinary diurnal measure. The fruits of this diligence, independently of his critical writings upon works of art, are thus summed up by his biographer: — "During that short residence in Rome, he made a set of eleven sheets of ana- tomical drawings, forming one of the most perfect artistical surveys of super- ficial anatomy ever made, with 137 studies from life, in oil or chalk ; and in painting he did four small pictures of the 'Four Periods of the Day ;' a copy of the 'Delphic Sybil,' from the Sistine, with a number of studies from the 'Last Judgment;' several exercises in fresco; painted 'Sappho and Anacreon,' a picture with life-size figures ; and two or three smaller, but well-finished pic- tures ; and, last and greatest, the picture of ' Family Discord,' or, as it was afterwards called, ' The Household Gods Destroyed.' The size of this last was nearly thirteen feet, by ten and a half. This amount of work, if we consider the time lost, in a new scene and among new habits, and add t^e designs, sketcli- books, and other little matters which he accomplished, shows us a Hercules in perseverance and impulse." It is interesting to see Scott's own account of the effect produced upon him by this pilgrimage and labour ; and this we have in his diary, a short time after his return home, under the date of 16th August, 1834 : — " The anniversary of my leaving Scotland two years ago — the crowning of my desires — the journey of art — the sacrifice to enthusiasm — the search after greatness, in meeting the great men of the present, and the great labours of the past. Among my old pictures and people, I now feel how different I am from the man who left this but so short a time ago. I have looked too much for what was without individual prototype in nature. The veil withdraws and withdraws, and there is nothing left permanent. But I believe I can now meet difficulties practically'. Analyzmg one's own thoughts and actions — studying things in their relations — is often a painful task ; but he who has not done so is a child." Having returned to Scotland inspired with new perceptions, as well as braced DAVID SCOTT. 515 with fresh courage, David Scott commenced the business of life in earnest, and his whole course from this period was one of continual artistic action. He must give full proof of high talent as a painter, if he would reap the renown and win the emoluments of such a position; and, to indicate his claims, he must descend into the arena, and let the on-lookers judge what he was worth. In these competitions, we shall content ourselves with summing up his future history. To the Edinburgh exhibition of 1835 he sent four pictures: these were '• Sappho and Anacreon,"' '• The Vintager," a fresco, and "Sketch of the Head of Mary Magdalene." In that of the following year were exhibited his " Descent from the Cross," a painting which he had prepared as an altar-piece for the new Roman Catholic chapel, in Lothian Street; "Oberon and Puck,'" and "Macchiavelli and the Beggar." The first of these was made the subject of the annual engraving circulated by the Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts; the last was the commencement of a series of historic sketches, which Scott continued till near the close of his life. To the exhibition of 1837 he sent only two pictures, "The Abbot of Misrule," and "Judas betraying Christ." This paucity was chiefly occasioned b_y the time he devoted to the Illustrations of the " Ancient Mariner," in which he evinced a congenial spirit with that of the author of the wild and wondrous legend. Indeed, Coleridge himself thought it incapable of pictorial illustration, until these productions of David Scott agreeably convinced him of his mistake. " The whole series," he thus wrote to the painter, " is exceedingly impressive, and gives you a good claim to be our Retsch, if that is a compliment. It is curious to see how many conceptions may be formed of the imagery of a work of pure imagination. Youi's is not like mine of the 'Ancient Mariner,' and yet I appreciate, and am deeply' sensible of the merit of yours." As an artist, Scott, whose commencement with the exhibition of 1885 had been both unpromising and disheartening, was now successfully surmounting the public neglect, as well as its inability to appreciate him, and steadily win- ning his way to that eminence which would place him among the highest of his degree. Invigorated by this prospect, his four pictures which he sent to the exhibition in 1838, had a sunniness of fancy as well as completeness of touch, that indicated the hopeful feelings under which they were executed. The subjects were, "Orestes seized by the Furies after the Murder of his mother, Cl^'temnestra, to which he was prompted by his sister, Electra, in revenge of the Assassination of their father, Agamemnon;" "Rachel Weeping for her Children;" " Puck fleeing before the Dawn;" and "Ariel and Caliban." About the same time he also painted, as a companion to the "Orestes," "Achilles addressing the Manes of Patroclus over the Body of Hector." Another, which he painted during this year, and which was the most successful he had hitherto produced, so that it took the stubborn criticism of Edinburgh by storm, was the "Alchymical Adept Lecturing on the Elixir Vitae." This picture was purchased by the Association for the Promotion of the Fine A.rts for £200. Turning his attention also to the literary department of his profession, he pub- lished, in 1839, and the two following years, a series of essays in " Blackwood's Magazine," of which the subjects were, "The Genius of Raff^aele," "Titian, and Venetian Painting," "Leonardo da Vinci and Correggio," and the "Caracci, Caravaggio, and Monachism." 516 DAVID SCOTT. The year ISiO was signalized in Scott's life by the exhibition of his terrible painting, which he had executed at Rome, under the title of "Agony of Dis- cord, or the Household Gods Destroyed," and over which he exclaimed, when it was finished, " That is the work I must live by !" The figures of this strange mj'th are scarcely human, or if human, at least pre-adamite, when stature, and strength, and passionate expression may be supposed by a poet or artist to have far transcended the present type of humanity ; while over them towers a colossal Lacoon-like form, exhausted in the struggle, and about to sink with crushing downfall upon those members of the rebellious home with whom he has been contending to the last. In the midst of this wild strife, the mother has thrown her infant upon the floor ; the household altar is overturned, and the household god broken. It was the impersonation, in a single tremendous scene, of the continual strife and struggle of humanity in its path of progress from age to age ; and therefore fraught, in every part, with deep and hidden meaning, which nothing but careful examination could detect, and anxious study compre- hend. Of course, it was " caviare to the multitude," who gazed helplessly upon it, and shook their heads: it was such also to not a few of those penny-a line critics whom our provincial journals extemporize for the nonce, to fill up a column with a " Report of the Exhibition," and whose whole stock consists of a few terms of art, which they sow at random over their paragraphs. But was it not thus at first with " Paradise Lost" and the "Excursion ;" or, to come nearer to the comparison, with " Christabelle" and the " Ancient Mariner?" The hii;hest excellence is slowly appreciated, and thus it fared with Scott's "Discord;" but who would now venture to criticize it in the style that was used in ISiO? At the same exhibition were Scott's " Philoctetes left in the Isle of Lemnos by the Greeks, in their Passage towards Troy," a painting also finished during his stay in Rome ; " Cupid sharpening his Arrows," and " The Crucifixion." In 18-il Scott sent to the exhibition " Q,ueen Elizabeth in the Globe Theatre," "Queen Mary receiving the Warrant for her Execution," "The Death of Jcme Shore," "Ave Maria," and "A Parthian Archer." In "The Globe Theatre," wliich was a painting of large dimensions and plentiful detail, there were, besides the audience, draped and arranged in the fashion of the period, the virgin queen herself, listening to the " Merry Wives of Windsor," which had been written at her desire — its still more illustrious author — and Spenser, Fletcher, Sackville, Ben Johnson, and other towering spirits of the age, with whom Shakspeare was wont to wage such glorious conflicts of wit at their meetings in the Mermaid. In 1842 Scott exhibited " The Duke of Gloucester taken into the Water Gate of Calais," " Silenus praising Wine," and " The Challenge." At the com- mencement of this year also, being excited to the task by the proposal of paint- ing the new houses of parliament with designs in fresco, he published a pam- phlet, entitled " British, French, and German Painting." At the close of this year he likewise exhibited, on his own account, in the Calton Hill Rooms, his large picture of " Vasco de Gama, the Discoverer of the New Passage to India, encountering the Spirit of the Storm while attempting to double the Cape of Good Hope," but at that time known as Capo Tormentoso. Magnificent though the original conception is in the " Lusiad" of Camoens, it falls greatly short of its illustration by the painter — and how seldom can this be said of imitation, whether in poetr}* or painting! The terrible apparition of the "stormy Spirit of the Cape," wliose frown itself seems enough to annihilate a navy — the daring DAVID SCOTT. 517 Iiero-navigator, recovering from his astonishment, and preparing to confront the prohibition of this unknown power witli defiance, or even with actual battle, if such should be needed — and the strange figures upon the crowded deck, each of whicli tells its own tale, compose, of themselves, an epic such as mere narrative would find it difficult to equal. But who in Edinburgh cared about De Gama, or had read the "I.usiad," even in a translation ? The exhibition, therefore, so far as pecuniary- profit went, was a failure ; and it was not until historic know- ledge, combined with critical taste, had pointed out the striking merits of this production, that public attention atoned for its neglect. It was afterwards secured lor the Trinity House of Leith, where it now remains. To the exhibition of 1843 Scott sent his paintings of "Richard III. receiving the Children of Edward IV. from their Mother;" " The Four Great Masters, being Michael Angelo, RafFaele, Titian, and Coreggio," which were in separate pictures, but forming one series; and the "Belated Peasant," from Milton. These are reckoned to be among the best of his productions. At this period, also, in consequence of the competition for the painting of the new houses of parliament, Scott, whose emulation had been roused by the subject, sent two cartoons as a competitor, the subjects being " Drake witnessing the Destruction of the Ships of the Spanish Armada" and " Wallace defending Scotland." These I'.e painted exclusivel}' in his own style, and with a reference to his own prin- ciples of art ; but as they had a different ordeal to pass through, they were tried and rejected. ^Vhen the competition in fresco for the same purpose suc- ceeded, Scott, who was one of the few Scottish artists that understood this style of painting, sent two specimens, executed upon the principles which had occasioned the condemnation of liis first attempts, and these also shared in the fate of their predecessors. Returning to a species of competition in which he now had better chances of success, he sent to the exhibition of 1844, " Wallace the Defender of Scotland;" "Sir Roger Kirkpatrick Stabbing the Red Comyn, in the Cloisters of the Greyfriars, Dumfries;" the "Baron in Peace;" and " i\Iay," from the Merchant's Tale, in Chaucer's " Canterbury Pilgrims." The contributions of David Scott to the exhibition of 1845 were two pic- tures, the one having for its subject, "Christian listening to the Instructions of Pietj', Charity, and Discretion;" and of the other, "The Dead rising at the Crucifixion." In 1846 were exhibited his "Peter the Hermit preaching the Crusades," " Dante and Beatrice," " Fragment from the Fall of the Giants," " Rhea bewailing the Overthrow of her Titan Sons," and " The Ascension." In 1847 he had only tv.-o paintings in the exhibition ; these were "The Triumph of Love," and a small fresco which he had formerly exhibited in London. In 1848 he sent to it "-Time Surprising Love," "Children Following Fortune," "Queen Mary of Scotland at the place of Execution," " Hope passing over the Sky of Adversity," and " The Baptism of Christ." To the exhibition of 1849 he sent "Delusive Pleasures," "A Sketch of the Fire of London," and "The Domestic Arcadia." In this catalogue of his annual productions, great though it is, and implying an amount of diligence, perseverance, and intellectual enterprise, such as the artistic studio can seldom equal, we have not taken into account the numerous portraits and sketches with which every interval of leisure seems to have been fully occupied. Alone and unaided, and confronted by a whole world of hostile criticism, Scott had fought the battle step by step, and been obliged to struggle for every inch of ground that brought him nearer to the mark of his ambition. 518 DAVID SCOTT. Could such a struggle be either useless or unsuccessful 1 The result was thus summed up, soon after the grave had closed upon him, by one who could well ap- preciate liis wortii, as well as commemorate it for the instruction of posterity : — "In the course of the last fifteen or twenty years, Scott had steadily become one of the most note-worthy of native artists. Without fortune, without office, without professional success commensurate with his undisputed superiority, and living in a state of seclusion, if not alienation from society, he exhibited a wonderful series of pictures from year to year ; recognized by all but the most frivolous spectators to be the manifestations of a powerful and exalted soul. The superficial observer was frequently so much startled, as to find no suitable expression for his perplexity, except in the sneer of presumptuous folly ; the technical critic was often confounded by the careless pride with which his rules were set at defiance and superseded ; the deeper judge of painting, considered as one of the forms of art, might occasionally descry some reason to question the principles of the artist's procedure ; but the thoughtful were always sure of the striking and original utterance of some new insight into the nature of man, or into the resources of art. Everybody capable of forming and pronouncing such a judgment, was aware that only genius of the most personal and lofty order could have even endeavoured to give itself expression in the large majority of those singular pieces of work. Even those who may have been the most in- flexibly disposed, upon well-considered aisthetical grounds, to dispute the painter's whole idea of art, both in its scope and in its materials, were also free to confess that he could be nothing less than a gifted and self-reliant poet at heart. All men felt that they stood before the works of a mind grandly endowed with ' the faculty divine,' if they were likewise of opinion that he had not com- pletely achieved ' the accomplishment of verse.' Nor can there be any doubt but that the mass of discerning people did invariably assign him a far higher rank in the hierarchy of intellect than all his competitors in the race of fame, even while they honestly refused to his intensely idiosyncratic productions an equal meed of praise and more substantial encouragement." The following account of David Scott's artistic and social everyday life, as given by the same pen, is too important to be omitted : " In fact, the large and solemn studio in which he painted and preserved his picture-poems, liad gradu- ally become one of the most curious and significant features of Edinburgh and its school of art ; and its master-spirit, one of the most individual of Scottish characters belonging to the age in which we live. It was there that men of eminence in the church, in politics and law, in science, in literature, and in life, discovered what manner of man he was, and left him with surprise, seldom unmingled with pain, and always ennobled by admiration. It was there that intellectual strangers, of all the more elevated classes of mental character, found another 'wise man in a little city,' not without astonishment that they had scarcely heard of him before. It was there that many a tender-hearted lover of whatsoever is great and good, was at once melted and uplifted by the spectacle of so much cool self-possession, such unquenchable perseverance, such intrepid independence, and such height of contemplation, displayed in circum- stances which were evidently the reverse of propitious. It was there that the enamoured students of poetry, in its essence rather than in its manifold embodi- ment, stood with reverence by liis side, and, perhaps as proudly indifferent to particulars as he sometimes was himself, penetrated, by means of imaginative sympathy, to the soul of truth and beauty, tliat stirred under the surface of all MICHAEL SCOTT. 519 his happier efforts. It was there that congenial poets took his cold hand in theirs, and bade him God-speed, with tears threatening in their eyes. It was there, also, still more than at the household hearth, that his friends des- cried the heart of unflaming fire which glowed within the distant quietude of his manners. It was there, alas! it may almost literally be said, that he died." That mournful closing event occurred on the 5th of March, 1841). As yet only at the period when life is strongest, and hope, if not at the brightest, is yet the most firmly established — it was then that he passed away, worn out and weary, and longing to be at rest. He thus added one name more to that long list of the sons of promise who have been snatched from the world, when the world could least spare their presence, and when their loss was to be most regretted. But in the case of David Scott, how, indeed, could it be otherwise with such a restless, fervid, sensitive spirit, inclosed within such a delicate frame and sickly constitution? But he had held out bravely to the last; and even during his final illness, his love of art predominated in conceptions that needed full health to embody, and sketches that were left unfinished. At the most, he was only in his forty-third j^ear at the period of his decease. SCOTT, Michael. — From the nature of the authorship of the present day, as well as its exuberant abundance, the desire of literary fame has undergone a striking change. Formerly, to write a book was equivalent to achieving the conquest of a kingdom ; and no one ventured upon the feat except upon the principle of do or die, Aut Ccesar aiit nihil. The general diflFusion of intelligence and equalization of talent, have produced a change in this respect that constitutes the chief intellectual distinction of the present age. Able writers are now produced by the hundred, and that too, not for a century, but a single year; while their productions appear, not in ponderous tomes, but in reviews, magazines, and newspapers, the readers of which, however delighted they may be with tiie perusal, never trouble themselves with the anonymous source from which their gratification has proceeded. In this fashion, authors of first-rate excellence appear and pass away with no other designations than some unmeaning letter of the alphabet, and are only known, even at their brightest, as alpha or omega. From such a fate, so common to thousands amongst us, IMichael Scott escaped by a mere hair's-breadth. This talented writer was born at Glasgow, on the 80th October, 1789. He was educated first at the high school, and afterwards at the university of that great emporium of Scottish merchandise and manufacture. As he was destined for business, and obliged to betake himself to it at an early period, his stay at college was a brief one ; for, in October, 1 806, when he had only reached the age of seventeen, he sailed for Jamaica, and was there employed in the manage- ment of several estates till 1810, when he joined a mercantile house in King- ston, Jamaica. As he was much employed in the active business of this establishment, his avocations led him often to the adjacent islands and the Spanish main ; and it was in that rich tropical climate, and in his pere- grinations by land and water, that he acquired his knowledge of West India scenery and character, as well as of sea-life, which he afterwards so richly and powerfully delineated. Mr. Scott returned home in 1817, and was married in tlie following year, after which he went back to Jamaica; but after remaining there till 1822, he finally bade adieu to the West Indies, and became perma- nently a settler in his native Scotland. He does not appear to have been 520 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. particularly successful as ii merchant; but the buoyant imagination ami restless love of adventure which his writings betoken, were perhaps scarcely compatible with that plodding persevering spirit for which his countrymen are so generally distinguished, especially in mercantile enterprise abroad and in the colonies. It is difficult, indeed, if not impossible, at one and the same time to establish a goodly rich mansion on terra fir ma, and build bright castles in the air. It was not till 1829 that Michael Scott appears to have ventured into author- ship, by the publication of "Tom Cringle's Log." The first specimens, which he sent to " Blackwood's Magazine," were fragmentary productions, under the name of " Tom Cringle ; " but the sharp, experienced eye of "Old Ebony" was not long in detecting their merit, and he therefore advised the anonymous author to combine them into a continuous narrative, even though the thread that held them together should be as slender as he pleased. This advice Mr. Scott adopted ; and when the papers appeared as a " Log," detailing the eventful voyage of a strange life through calm and hurricane, through battle and tempest, as they successively occurred to his fancy, the "Quarterly Re- view " characterized them as the most brilliant series of magazine papers of the time, while Coleridge, in his " Table Talk," proclaimed them " most excel- lent," The magazine reading public was of the same opinion, and accordingly the question was circulated through every class, " Who is the author of ' Tom Cringle's Log? '" But no one could answer; no, not even Blackwood himself, so well had Scott preserved his incognito; and this eminent publisher descended to the grave without knowing assuredly by whom the most popular series in his far-famed magazine had been written. Afterwards the chapters were pub- lished as an entire work, in two volumes, and so highly was it prized, that it was generally read upon the Continent, while in Germany it has been repeatedly translated. After Michael Scott had thus led a life almost as mythic as that of his wondrous namesake, he died in Glasgow, on the 7th of November, 183.5, and it was only through this melancholy event that the full fact of his author- ship was ascertained by the sons of Mr. Blackwood. SINCLAIR, Sir John, Bart., of Ulbster.— Among the many benefactors of Scotland, whose labours were devoted to its agricultural improvement, we know of none who has surpassed, or even equalled, the subject of our present notice. Sir John was born at Thurso Castle, in the county of Caithness, on the 10th of May, 17-54:. He v.-as the eldest son of George Sinclair, of Ulbster, by his wife, lady Janet Sutherland, daughter of William, Lord Strathnaven. George, the father, having died suddenly at Edinburgh, in 1770, John Sinclair, then in his sixteenth year, succeeded to the family property, which, until he was of age, was superintended b}^ his mother. Having received his early education at the High School of Edinburgh, and under the direction of Logan, his tutor, afterwards author of " Runnymede," he studied successively at the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow^ and Oxford. At Glasgow he was so fortunate as to be a pupil of Adam Smith, at that time professor of moral philosophy in the uni- versity, with whose acquaintanceship he was also honoured at this early period — and it may be that the bias of the future father of Scottish agriculture re- ceived its first impulses from his conversations with the author of the "Wealth of Nations." The intellectual ambition of the young student's mind was also manifested at the age of fifteen, among the printed columns of our periodicals. SIR JOHN SINCLAIR, 521 After he had completed his studies at Oxford, he turned his attention to law, not, however, to follow it as a profession, but to be aided by the light it threw on our national institutions. In 1776 he became a member of the faculty of ad- vocates, and was afterwards called to the English bar. In the following year he married Sarah, only daughter and heiress of Alexander iMaitland, Esq., of Stoke-Newington, Middlesex, by whom he had two daughters, one of them being Miss Hannah Sinclair, authoress of the excellent letters " On the Prin- ciples of the Christian Faith;" the other, Janet, who was married to Sir James Colquhoun, of Luss, Bart. In 1780 Mr. Sinclair was elected member of parlia- ment for the county of Caithness, an honour which was repeated in the years 1790, 1802, and 1807. But as this county enjoyed the privilege of only an alternate representation, he was elected during the intervals for the boroughs of Lostwithiel in Cornwall, and Petersfield in Hampshire. Mr. Sinclair had not been long in parliament when he began to take an active part in the important questions of the day. It was not, however, by mere forensic eloquence, for his strength did not lie in oratory ; his reflective mind and profound calculations were better suited for the silence of the press than the arena of parliamentary debate. Accordingly, in 1782, he published a tract, entitled " Lucubrations during a Short Recess ; with some Thoughts on the Means of Improving the Representation of the People." This work, upon a theme at that time so dreaded, excited great attention, and called forth not a few replies, among which especially was one from Lord Camelford. In the same year he published another pamphlet, entitled " Thoughts on the Naval Strength of the British Empire, in answer to the late Lord Mulgrave, one of the Lords of the Admiralty." At this time our warfare by sea was carried on with such timid caution, and our naval victories were so few, that the national faith in our " wooden walls " was sorely depressed ; while Lord Mulgrave had pre- dicted that, in the event of a continental peace, the united navies of France and Spain would be more than a match for that of Britain. Mr. Sinclair endeavoured to prove the superiority of our fleets above those of the enemy, and to explain the causes of that superiorit}' ; while the subsequent victories of Nelson showed that the argument was a sound one. Another tract, which he published about the same period, bore the title of "Considerations on Militias and Standing Armies," and was the substance of those considerations upon the subject which he had brought before the ministers of the day. His suggestions were favour- ably received, and some of the more important adopted. His last published production, during this stage of his authorship, was "The Propriety of Retain- ing Gibraltar, Impartially Considered." This, like the foregoing tracts, was published without the author's name, and had the honour of being attributed to the first Lord Camelford. It was not, however, with political authorship alone that Mr. Sinclair was wholly occupied at this season ; for, in 1782, a public emergency occurred that called forth the utmost of his philanthropic care. This was a season of famine in Scotland, on account of the lateness of the summer, so that, at the close of September, the oats and barley were still green, while, at the commencement of next month, the winter began with such sudden intensity, that both field and garden produce was blighted as in an instant; one night often sufficed to annihilate the subsistence of whole districts. In some parishes the oats were reaped, or rather excavated from ice and snow in the middle of November, and in others, so late as the following February. The consequence was, that many V. 3u 522 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. were obliged to kill their cattle, and eat the flesh without bread ; many who liad no such resource, lived on soup made of nettles, and snails, whicli were salted for winter sustenance ; while the poor along the coasts, were reduced to the insufficient diet of whelks, limpets, and other such shell-fish. This cala- mity, which bore hardest upon the north of Scotland, extended over several counties, and included a population of 110,000 souls. It was here that Mr. Sinclair bestirred himself; and not content with appeals to private philan- thropy, he brouglit the subject before the House of Commons, by whom it was referred to a committee. No precedent as yet existed in the annals of the House for a parliamentary grant made upon such an occasion, but the emergency was unprecedented also. Accordingly, forms were waived, and a grant of money decreed in favour of the sufferers, by which their present wants were supplied, and the pestilential diseases attendant upon famine arrested. The obtaining of such relief for his suffering countrymen, constituted a happy era in the public life of Mr. Sinclair; and he was ofteu afterwards heard to declare, that no part of his parliamentary cai-eer had ever afforded him such intense satisfaction. Having distinguished himself as an author upon miscellaneous questions of public interest, Mr. Sinclair was now to obtain reputation as a writer on the difficult subject of finance. The close of our war with America had been fol- lowed in Britain, as is usual at the close of all our wars, with a fit of economical calculation. The nation sat down to count the cost, and found itself, of course, on the brink of bankruptcy ; and the murmur that rose was aU the louder, as neither glory nor success was an offset to the expenditure. It was now demon- strated for the one hundred and fiftietli time, that Britain was ruined beyond recovery, and not a few of these gloomy reasoners were sometliing better than mere political grumblers. While the public despondency was at the height, Mr. Sinclair's " Hints on the State of our Finances," appeared in 1783. The accurate calculations and masterly reasoning of this production, convinced the reflective and cheered the despondent at home ; while abroad, it disabused both friend and enemy of the conclusions they had formed upon the coming national insolvenc3\ But it did more than tliis; it established his character so com- pletely as a sound financier, that his advice was taken upon those measures b}- which the real evils of the present crisis were to be effectually averted. Such was especially the case, when the extension of the banking system in England was the subject of consideration. On this occasion he was consulted by Sir James Eisdale, the eminent London banker, to whom he recommended the system of the Scottish country banks, the nature and principles of which he fully and clearly explained. Sir James, on finding these so completely accor- dant with his own views, adopted them into his plan, and the result was, the establishment of twenty branch banks in the country in connection with his own house. The example was speedily multiplied, and banks were established in every part of England. But still, one important part of the Scottish system was omitted ; this was the security which country banks are obliged to give for the paper money they issue— a wholesome check, by which dishonest specu- lation is cut short, and the risk of bankruptcy avoided. This part, so essential to public confidence in banking, was strangely dispensed with in the English system, notwithstanding Sinclair's earnest remonstrances with Mr. Pitt upon the subject; and hence the difference in the stability and efficacy of these Eng- lish banks as contrasted with those of Scotland. An application which he soon after made on his own account to Mr. Pitt was better attended to ; tliis was for SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. 523 the rank of baronet, to which he had a hereditary claim, as heir and represen- tative of Sir George Sinclair, of Clyth. The application was made in 1784, and in 1786 it was gratified more largely than he had expected; for not only was the title of baronet conferred upon him, but a reservation made of it in favour of the heirs-male of the daughters of his first wife, in the event of his dying without a direct representative. The inquiries of Sir John Sinclair upon the subject of political economy, which he had hitherto turned to such useful account, were still continued, and in 1785 he published an essay "On the Public Revenue of the British Empire." This was but the first and second parts of a series, of which a third appeared in 1790. But during the same year in which the first portion of the work was published, he sustained a heavy domestic affliction by the death of his wife, to whom he had been married eight years. So intense was his sorrow at this bereavement, that he had serious thoughts of resigning his seat in the Flouse of Commons for Lostwithiel, and retiring into private life. Fortunately for his country he was persuaded to try the effects of travel, and, accordingly, he went over to Paris during the Christmas recess, where the society of this gay and intellectual capital not only tended to console his sorrow, but to animate him for fresh public exertion. It was no ordinary good fortune that led him to a city where a mind like his could associate in daily intercourse with such dis- tinguished characters as Necker, Madame de Stael, and Madame de Genlis, of Joseph Montgolfier, Argand, and Reveillon. While he thus associated with the master-spirits of the practical and useful, he never lost sight of the welfare of his own country. In this way, having studied the machines for coinage in- vented by ]M. Droz, and used by the French government, he suggested their adoption to Mr. Bolton, of Birmingham, by whom they were introduced into the British mint. Having learned from M. Clouet, the superintendent of the gunpowder manufactory of France, the mode of distilling that article in cylin- ders, by which a superior commodity was produced at less expense than the gun- powder in common use, he communicated the improvement to our own govern- ment, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing it adopted by the Board of Ordnance. From France Sir John continued his route through Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Austria, and Prussia, where he had personal interviews with the crowned heads of an age that has departed, but whose influence we still experience. Among these the most distinguished were the emperor Joseph, the most hasty of reformers; Catherine, the Semiramis of the north; Stanislaus, the unfortunate minion-king of Poland; and the chivalrous but evil- destined Gustavus III. of Sweden. But the men of those several dominions who most promoted the improvement of their respective countries were the chief objects of his solicitude; and with several of these he established a permanent correspondence, the chief subject of which was the improvement of European agriculture and commerce, and the extension of the comforts of life. In Ger- many his attention was especially directed to the manufactures of that country, and the causes of their success, by which he was enabled, at his return, to im- part very valuable suggestions to the heads of our manufacturing departments. This long tour, comprising nearly 8000 miles, and accomplished without the aid of steam, was terminated in 1787. The fruits of his observations during these travels were afterwards fully communicated to the public in 1830, when, during his old days, he published, in two volumes, the interesting correspon- dence that had originated iu his northern tour. 524 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. On his return to Britain, the first object of Sir John was the improvement of our national agriculture. It was not, liowever, by propoundinj!; theories and publishinsf books that this work in the first instnnce was to be accomplished. Instead of this, the barren waste must be reclaimed, the hard soil overturned with the ploughshare, and an expenditure of time, labour, and capital patiently endured, until the obstinacy of nature as well as the indolence of man was compelled into full activity, and the sterile surface covered with a profitable harvest. No one knew this better than Sir John Sinclair, and, accordingly, lie liad turned himself in good earnest, even at the early age of eighteen, to the self denying labour of a practical teacher, by showing what could be done upon his own property. And, verily, this was no easy or hopeful task ! His estate, consisting of 100,000 acres, comprised about a sixth of the county of Caith- ness. On these, besides a few large farms, there were about 800 or 900 small ones, cultivated according to the most unproductive modes of the Scottish husbandry of the day, and yielding a miserable rent, of which but a small part was money, while the rest was in grain, lainb, poultry, and other such produce. An English holder of Scottish acres thus surrounded on his 6.rst rent-day, would have fled across the Tweed, and made no halt until he had reached the shelter of Middlesex. This fashion of rent payment, which had prevailed for ages among a people the most tenacious of ancient usages, must be torn up root and branch before a step in advance could be won. Here, then. Sir John commenced with the improvement of agriculture in Caithness — and not only in Caithness, but Scotland at large, and finally in England also. Lai'ge farms were established, to which skill and capital were attracted by the prospect of a profitable return; and to set the example to their occupants, he took one of them, originally consisting of eight small farms, into his own hands. This, when brought into cultivation, he let at a moderate rent, after having allotted it into cottage farms, where the tenants were induced to build comfortable houses, and carry out the improvements that had been already commenced. In this way the example was begun that soon gathered a popu- lation together, while villages and hamlets gradually rose up in those cultivated localities, where subsistence and comfort were thus provided as the reward of industry. Every tenant was bound down to a regular rotation of crops, to a certain annual amount of marling and liming, and to a certain amount as well as mode of occupation in the improvement of his farm. Every facility was also afforded to industry, by furnishing the small farmers with marl and lime at the cheapest rate, and the best seeds, especially of turnip, clover, and rye- grass, while instructions upon farming were readily communicated, and a spirit of active competition excited by the distribution of small premiums. Thus the old established drawbacks in our agriculture were one by one removed. Each farmer was required to start with a capital, however small, instead of com- mencing on credit ; to confine his cultivation to the extent he could manage, and do it well ; to economize his labour so as to produce results with the least expenditure ; and to aim continually at raising the best grain, and keeping the best stock. The old system of thirlage, also, cr restriction to particular mills, as well as the other feudal services was abolished, and the buying and casting of peats for fuel, which diverted the attention of farmers from their work, was superseded by the general introduction of coal. Such are but a few of those important principles which Sir John introduced into his system of land-culti- vation ; and sucli an improvement of his Caithness property ensued, as was SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. 525 enough to awaken the attention of the whole country. One specimen of this was afforded in the estate of Langwell, which he purchased for £8000, and improved so greatly, that he afterwards sold it for £40,000. But far beyond the benefit of a doubled or trebled rental, was that of active industr}', and honourable enterprise, and intellectual and moral improvement, which were introduced among his numerous tenantry, who, though at first they went doggedly to work, were gradually animated with the conviction that work is the greatest of pleasure wlien something worth working for is to be gained. Produce being thus created, roads were needed for its conveyance as an article of traffic ; but to make these in Caithness was a task of peculiar difiiculty, as the soil chiefly consisted of peat or clay, while the materials for road-making were of too soft a quality. As no private fortune could have sustained the necessary outlay, and as the undertaking was a public benefit. Sir John in- voked the aid of government, which was readily granted, and to such an extent, that in one day six miles of road were laid down along the side of Bezi-nichiel hill. In this manner highways were constructed for the heaviest waggons, in places where hitherto every article, down to manure itself, had been conveyed upon the backs of horses. It was not enough, however, that agriculture alone should be encouraged. Even the most active and industrious, if they find no outlet for their surplus produce, will labour for nothing more than the mere necessaries of life, and thus speedily relapse into laziness. This Sir John knew well, and therefore the commercial as well as the agricultural prosperity of Caithness was the sub- ject of his solicitude. The seas that begirt two-thirds of the promontory which is formed by the county, had hitherto hemmed in the people, and made the adjacent land rocky and sterile ; but they abounded in fish for home or foreign consumption, and thus the water miglit be made as profitable as the land. Here, then, was another standing-place for his philanthropy. He obtained the re-establishment of the cod-fishery, which for many years had been almost abandoned. He supplied capital for the commencement of a herring-fishery upon the east coast of Caithness. He applied to government for aid in har- bour extension, thi'ough which the harbour of Wick was completed, and that of Thui'so commenced. In this way the commerce of Caithness, hitherto unnoticed, now rose into distinction, and sent the produce of its agriculture and fisheries to the shores of the Baltic and the West Indies. A nucleus was needed for all this enterprise — a strong heart to concentrate and send forth this new circulation of vitality — and therefore a town adequate to such a task was forthwith in demand. For this purpose Sir John Sinclair selected the old town of Thurso as the germ of a new. In point of population it was little better than a third-rate English village, while its wretched houses were so irregular, and so huddled together, as to be too often mere receptacles for filth, discomfort, and sickness. But the locality was not only excellent for tho fisheries, but for commerce, being within a few hours' sail of the German and Atlantic Oceans, with the communication of an excellent river. Sir John drew out the plan of the new town of Thurso. And there it stands, with it? churches and schools, its market-places and warehouses, its shops and houses, and throngs of living beings — a something better far as a monument of departed worth, than the silent mausoleum, however stately its construction, or how- ever flattering its epitaph. In the agricultural improvements which Sir John Sinclair commenced iu 52G SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. Caithness, the subject of sheep-farming occupied much of his thoughts. The greater part of his property was unfitted for tlie plougli ; but he had traversed too many mountainous countries not to know tliat mere surface can always be turned to some account. " Of all the means," he said, " of bringing a moun- tainous district to a profitable state, none is so peculiarly well calculated for that purpose as the rearing of a valuable breed of sheep. A small proportion alone," he added, " of such a description of country can be fit for grain ; and in regard to cattle, for every pound of beef that can be produced in a hilly district, three pounds of mutton can be obtained, and there is the wool into the bargain." This plan he therefore introduced into his cottage farms, to which only two acres of arable land could be allotted, and with such success, that the spin- ning-wheel soon set those arms in motion that had hitherto rested a-kimbo; while good store of warm clothing in every cottage, superseded the rags or the threadbare garments in which indolence had hitherto been fain to ensconce itself. But still, it was not enough for Sir John that the sheep naturalized among his people should possess the usual weight of fleece and nothing more, as long as one kind of wool was better than another. Could not the Cheviot sheep be made to live and thrive even in the hyperborean climate of Caithness? He propounded the idea and was laughed at for his pains. But of most men he was the least liable to be convinced or refuted by laughing, and therefore he commenced the experiment, and commenced it, as was necessary, on an ample scale. He sent a flock of 500 Cheviots to Caithness, under the care of experi- enced shepherds; and, although the winter that followed was a severe one, they throve even better than upon their native hills, so that his flock at length in- creased to 6000 sheep. After such success, Sir John turned his attention to the improvement of British wool in general. He saw that the wool of Britain had been gradually deteriorating, and that the importation of foreign sheep had yearly become more necessary, so that our national manufactures laboured under serious detriment. But why should the Shetland Islands the while produce fleeces of such soft and delicate texture? Surel}' this tempest-beaten Colchos of the north was not more highly favoured in soil or climate than the hills of Lothian or the downs of Lancashire. Was not the evil we endured to be traced to our injudicious modes of feeding sheep upon turnips and other coarse articles of food, which had lately obtained among us? He must study, and obtain in- formation at every point. So earnest was he, that he carried his inquiries into the General Assembly itself, to which he went as a lay member in 1791, and where he found a Shetland minister thoroughly convei-sant with the whole theory and practice of the growing of wool, by whom his conjectures were con- firmed, and his views enlightened. He had previously laid his proposals before the Highland Society ; but finding that they could not second his views from want of funds, he had resolved to institute a new society, that should have the improvement of British wool for its object. This was done accordingly at the beginning of the 3'ear ; and to announce the purposes of the institution, and enlist the interest of the public in its behalf, a great inaugural meeting, called the Sheep-Shearing Festival, was held at New Hall Inn, near Q,ueensferr\', on the 1st of July, 1791, at which seventy gentlemen and fifty ladies were present, attired in rich and gay costume, of which wool formed the principal ornament, while the grass plot of a neighbouring garden was covered with fleeces from diff"erent breeds and sheep of various countries; and to wind up the business of the day, this national gala was terminated with a due amount of eating, drink- SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. 527 ing, firing of guns, and dancing. It was a grand patriarchal festival of the primitive ages, with the usages and costume of the eighteenth century' ingrafted upon it ; and, as sucli, it was well calculated to pass off with eclat, and be long remembered with pleasure by all who had shared in it or witnessed it.* And most diligently liad the infant society already worked to deserve such a holiday ; for, besides sending out inquiries into every district of the island re- specting its woollen produce, and ascertaining the qualities of the different breeds of sheep, it had distributed throughout Scotland the choicest specimens of the Cheviot, and imported valuable additions from England, from France, and Italy, and even from Iceland, the East Indies, and Abyssinia. The important objects of such an institution, and its results, suggested another, for a different but still more important department. This was the well known Board of Agriculture. No one who has witnessed the relics of agricultural barbarism that still survive in Scotland, and more especially in England, can fail to be struck with the clamant necessity of its reform ; in the one country an excess, and in the other a deficiency of means, was used to produce the same effect, from the slim wooden Scottish plougli, drawn by a shelty, and held by a woman, to the huge earth-crusher of the fat fields of England, managed by a whole string of elephantine horses, superintended by two or more farm- servants. It was full time that a bold innovator should step forward ; and from liis past labours, no one had a better right to assume such a dangerous office, or was better qualified to carry it into effect, than Sir John Sinclair. After much thought, he published and circulated his plan, and on the 15th of ^Ma^', 1793, he brought it, in the form of a motion, before the British parliament. Tlie ad- vantages to be derived from an agricultural board, were the following : — It would form a reservoir of agricultural intelligence, to whicli every inquirer miglit have access. By its surveys, it would collect every fact or observation connected with the improvement of soil and live-stock. By its foreign correspondence, it would gather and diffuse over the country a knowledge of those foreign im- provements to which our untravelled yeomen and peasantry had no access. And, finally, it would be the means of obtaining a full statistical account of England, a work that had hitherto been attended with insuperable difficulties. These advantages he stated in bringing forward the measure before the House, and he suggested that the experiment should at least be tried for five years, with a grant from parliament of only £3000 per annum to defray its necessary expendi- ture, while the members of the board should give their services gratuitously. It was well that such a plan, which many stigmatized as Utopian, was backed b}' all the influence of Mr. Pitt, witliout which it would probably have been unsuccessful. Perhaps it was equally fortunate that George III. was on the throne, that most agricultural of sovereigns, than whom, the poet tells us, " A better farmer ne'er brush'd dew from lawn." The proposal for the establishment of the Agricultural Society was passed in the House by a majority of 75, and the board was appointed and chartered by his majesty, Sir John himself being nominated its first president. As tlie * The following characteristic incident is related by Miss Catherine Sinclair :— " In subsequent years, Sir John, always desirous of exemplifying what energy can achieve in accoleratino' labour, caused one of his own sheep to be publicly shorn at a cattle show, after which the wool was spun, dyed, woven, and made into a coat, which he wore the same evening at a rural fete, which he gave to the assembled f;irmers and their families." 528 Sm JOHN SINCLAIR. society was composed of the highest in rank, wealth, talent, and enterprise, it commenced its operations with spirit and snccess. In a twelvemonth tlie agri- cultural survey of the country was completed. The waste lands and common fields were reported and marked out, an immense circulation of papers on the subject of agriculture effected, and a general interest kindled upon the subject, manifested by a new demand for every published work comiected with farm and field operations. The results of this important movement constitute an essential chapter in the modern history of Britain. Such had been the zeal for manufactures and commerce, that the agricultural interests of the country, with- out whicli tlie former would soon lose half their value, had graduaUy been fall- ing into neglect. But now, the one as well as the other was made the subject of parliamentary legislation and national interest. And, even independently of the vast improvement effected upon every kind of husbandry, and increase of the means of subsistence, under the agency of this new institution, the survey of the country alone, which it had accomplished, would have been a national boon, well worth a greater amount of labour and expenditure. This estimate, upon the correctness of which the welfare and progress of a country so greatly depend, but which has alwaj's been attended with such difficulties as to make it in former times incorrect and unsatisfactory, even when persevered in to the close, was made by the societ}', under the directions of Sir John, so thoroughly, that at last the survey of tlie whole of Great Britain had been twice gone over, and was published in seventy octavo volumes. We must now turn to a similar department in the labours of Sir John Sinclair, with wliich his and our own country of Scotland is more exclusively connected. It wiU at once be seen that we advert to his " Statistical Account of Scotland." It was in May, 1700, the j^ear previous to the establishment of the society for the improvement of British wool, that he contemplated this great work. He was then a lay member of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland. Such an account as he desired — so often attempted in other kingdoms, but hitherto so imperfectly — he saw could only be accomplished by hundreds of learned and talented men united in one aim, and working under the direction of one pre- siding mind. And where in Scotland could he find these so readily and so fully as in the General Assembly? Each of these men, too, was located in a parti- cular district, with wliich he had better opportunities of being acquainted than any other resident ; and thus the precise state of every parish throughout the length and breadth of Scotland could be obtained from its own minister. After having carefully deliberated his plan. Sir John, as was his wont, began the work in earnest. He drew up, in the form of a circular, a long list of queries upon the geography, natural history, productions, and population of the parish. These wei-e followed by a copious addenda, in which every minute particular tliat a parish could possess was specified, and everything connected with its changes, history, and present condition. Tlie towns were queried with the same minuteness, while the questions were adapted to the civic character and condition of each. These he transmitted to the ministers, and awaited their i-eplies. The answers dropped in according to the readiness of the writers, and some of these were so regular and so full, that out of them he extracted and published a specimen volume, containing the account of four parishes, a copy of which he sent to the other clergymen, by way of directing and stimulating them in the work. This was in the beginning of 1791, and by the middle of the year liis materials had so much increased, that lie was enabled, although with SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. 529 great peiboiial study and exertion, to publish, by the middle of the year, the first volume of the " Statistical Account of Scotland." Even this, though but a commencement, -was a great acliievement. AVhen he first proposed his plan, men ^vere astonished that he should undertake, and that, too, with the hope of success, a vork ^vhic^l the wealth of kings, the decrees of senates, and even the authority of despots, had hitherto failed to effect; and prophecies of utter discomfiture, mingled with ridicule of the attempt, were loud and frequent from ever}' quarter. But the volume which now appeared, so superior to every former undertaking of the kind, quickly drowned their murmur in universal appro- bation ; and the appearance of the second, which soon followed, increased the public feeling, on account of the greater interest of the materials with which it was filled. But let no man say that in every case the beginning is more tlian the half: in those bold and generous undertakings that transcend the spirit of the age, the undertaker often finds that the beginning is less than nothing, from the failure and disappointment that follow. With this Sir John was soon threat- ened, in consequence of the shortcomings of his assistants. The most enthu- siastic had been first in the field, and had already tendered their contributions; but these were few compared with the hundreds that still hung back. Many of the clergymen having, in the first instance, predicted that such a work could never go on, were unwilling to falsify their vaticinations. Many were but new intrants into their parishes, while not a few were old men, ready to leave them, and willing to spend the remainder of their days in quiet. Besides, the task of collecting information was not always pleasant in districts where such queries were suspected as the prelude of a rise of rent from their landlords, or a fresh tax from government. Where an unpleasant work is extended over a whole class of men, and where the performance is wholly voluntary, we know with wliat adroitness each individual can find an excuse for withholding his expected quota. This Sir John experienced when, after waiting a twelvemonth in expectation, he found, by the middle of 1792, that he was still 413 parishes short of the mark. But "despair" was not a word in his vocabulary. About the period of commencement, a plan had been formed in Scotland to establish the Society for the " Benefit of the Sons of the Clergy," and Sir John had arranged that the profits of the Statistical Account should be devoted to that purpose, while his application through Lord Melville in behalf of the society, obtained for it a royal grant of £2000, by which it was enabled to commence its operations much sooner than had been anticipated. He also obtained a recommendation of his undertaking from the General Assembly at large, while its most eminent leaders. Principal Robertson, Sir Henry Moncieiff Well- wood, Dr. Blair, and Dr. Hardie, bestirred themselves personally with their brethren in its behalf. And yet it flagged — for it was now the residue that had to be spurred into action, after the bold and brave had done their duty. Finding at last that better might not be, he appointed five statistical mission- aries over as many of the more remiss districts, including the Western and Orkney Islands, and by these means twenty-five parishes were added to the list. And now all his material was in readiness ; the whole of Scotland la^"- piled up in his study in the form of a mountain of manuscript, upon which he commenced his beloved work of arranging, classifying, and editing. But, lo! twelve whole parishes had disappeared ! He had received them, as lie thought, but now they were nowhere to be found. The omission of twelve such links v. 3 s 530 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. reduced the whole chain to as many fragments. After he recovered from his consternation — and it was such as he had never experienced during the whole of tliis Hercules labour — he set to work anew, and gave himself no rest till the deficiency was repaired. The task was finished on the 1st of January, 1798, seven years and a half from the period of its commencement, and was com- prised in twenty thick volumes octavo, to which another Avas subsequently added. Had he done nothing more, the toil he endured and the difficulties he had surmounted in such an undertaking, would have insured him the testi- mony of a well-spent life, both from cotemporaries and posterity. It would be difficult to describe the wonder and delight with which the " Statistical Account of Scotland" was hailed at its completion. How one man — and he a private individual — should have achieved such a task, and achieved it so thoroughly, appeared a miracle. His simple but admirable plan of engaging the whole national clergy in the work, the happy adaptation they had shown for it, and his untiring energy as well as skill in procuring, arrang- ing, and adapting the materials, were each made the subject of congratulation and applause. It was not alone to Britain that these feelings were con- fined ; it was regarded as a Model Book of the Nation for every country in Europe, and as such it was lauded by their most distinguished statesmen and rulers. The 900 ministers, also, by whom, with but a few exceptions, the labours of Sir John Sinclair had been so ably seconded, were not neglected ; for besides the honour which this great national production reflected upon them as a body, not only in England but throughout Europe, and the royal grant by which the Society for the Sons of the Clergy had been so highly benefited, it went far, also, to procure for them that parliamentary assistance by which the many miserably small livings in the church Avere raised into charges of com- fort and respectability. Attention was also called by the " Statistical Account" to the scanty salaries of schoolmasters, which in many cases were improved, and to several oppressive feudal rights, which were speedily abolished. The year 1793 will always be remembered in the mercantile history of Great Britain as a season of panic. Failures were frequent, public confidence was at a pause, and national bankruptcy apprehended even by the least despondent. To avert this emergency by the restoration of mercantile credit. Sir John Sinclair suggested to Mr. Pitt the issue of exchequer bills — and in a happy moment the suggestion was adopted. By this remedy the panic was stilled, and our great mercantile institutions restored to full activity. In the trans- mission of this government relief for Scotland, it was of great importance to Glasgow that its share should reach the city before a certain day; and aware of this important fact, Sir John plied the exchequer agents so urgently, that, contrary to all expectation, the money was sent within the critical period. On tlie same evening he repaired to the House of Commons, and meeting witli Pitt, he intended to explain to him how it had been accomplished ; but the premier mistaking his drift, interrupted him with "No, no, you are too late for Glasgow; the money cannot go for two days." "It is gone already," was Sir John's laughing reply; "it went by the mail this afternoon." Glasgow can well comprehend the niercantile value of time in such a case, and the debt of gratitude it owes to the memory of Sir John Sinclair. But he was not contented with suggesting a relief merely for the crisis ; his wish was to pre- vent a reaction, by compelling bankers to find security for their notes, and thus to limit the issue within the power of payment. To this, however, the SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. 53 1 minister would not, or perhaps we might say more correctly, could not accede, as he had the whole banking interest against the measure. Matters went on as before, and thus the calamity, which Sir John foresaw, and had striven to prevent, returned in 1797, when the country was compelled to impose restric- tions on cash paj'ments. Sir John once more interposed to establish the system of licensing country bankers, but was again defeated, through the selfishness of those whose interests were bound up in the old system of unlimited banking. In looking back upon the preceding events of Sir John Sinclair's life, it is impossible not to be struck with the energy that could plan, and activity that could execute such a variety of important undei'takings. He was the Napoleon of peace — if such an epithet may be permitted — incessantly daring, doing, and succeeding, and always advancing in his career, but leaving at every step a token of his progress in the amelioration of some general evil, or the extension of a public benefit. The welfare of his numerous tenantry in Caithness, the improvement of British wool, the improvement of agriculture, the drawing up of the " Statistical Account of Scotland," all these labours pressing upon him at one and the same time, and each sufficient to bear most men to the earth, he confronted, controlled, and carried onward to a prosperous issue. And with all these duties, his senatorial avocations were never remitted, so that his attendance upon the House of Commons was punctual, and his support of no little weight to the great leading statesmen of the day. He had to add to his many avocations that of a soldier also. In 1794, when the wars of the French revolution were shaking Europe with a universal earthquake, and when Britain was summoned to rally against the menaces of invasion, it was neces- sary that every one who could raise a recruit should bring him to the muster. Sir John's influence in this way as a Highland landlord was justly calculated, and accordingly it was proposed to him, by Mr. Pitt, to raise a regiment of fencibles among his tenantry, for the defence of Scotland. Sir John acceded at once, and agreed to raise, not a regiment, but a battalion, and that, too, not for service in Scotland onl}', but in England also. He accordingly raised, in the first instance, a regiment of 600 sti-ong, consisting of the tall and powerful pea- santry of Caithness, clothed in the full Highland costume, and headed by officers, nineteen of whom were above six feet high, and, therefore, called among their countrymen the Thier-ncm-more, or " Great Chiefs," with himself for their colonel. This was the first regiment of the kind that served in England, such services having hitherto been confined to Scotland alone. In the spring of the following year, he raised a still larger regiment, consisting of 1000 men, equally well appointed, who were destined for service in Ireland. Sir John's post was Aberdeen, in command of the encampment raised there in 1795, for the purpose of defending the town against the threatened invasion from Flolland. A camp life is idle work at the best; but Sir John contrived to find in it the materials of activity, by the care which he took of the health, comfort, and efficiency of his soldiers. After studying the modes of living in his own encampment, and making these the data of his arguments, he also drew up a tract suggesting im- provements in the mode of camp-living in general. The alarm of invasion passed away, but owing to the dearth by the failure of the crops in 1795,. the services of Sir John and his agricultural board, in their proper capacity, were called into full exercise in the following year. He recommended in parliament the cultivation of waste and unimproved lands, and procured the passing of a bill by which linseed or oil cake, and rape cakes, were allowed to be imported 532 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. in British vessels free of duty. This last appeared but a paltry permission at tlie time, the articles in question being little known in our husbandry ; but a far different opinion now prevails, from their extensive use in British agriculture. After tliis period we find Sir John fully occupied with the commercial, finan- cial, and agricultural interests of the country, and always upon the alert for their improvement. One of his proposals was such as no mere hunter after political popularity would have ventured. From the surveys of the Board of -Agriculture, he had found that nearly 7,000,000 of acres lay as yet uncultivated in England; and he brought before parliament a "General Bill of Inclosure," by which these lands, held in common, should be inclosed for cultivation. But against this measure there was such an opposition among all classes, from tho tourist to the tinker, that although the bill passed through the House of Com- mons, it was thrown out by the Lords. Still, the discussion had awakened general attention, and prepared the way for private enterprise. Another sub- ject that again occupied his attention was our national finance, upon which he had already written a work in two separate parts, to which a third was added in 1790. The whole, with man}' additions and improvements, was finally pub- lished in three octavo volumes, under the title of a " History of the Public Revenue of the British Empire, containing an account of the Public Income and Expenditure, from the remotest periods recorded in history, to Michaelmas 1802." In two 3-ears this work passed through three editions, and was regarded as an authority and text-book in both houses of parliament. The income tax, and the redemption of the land tax, two questions at this period under dis- cussion, also occupied Sir John's attention ; and in parliament he strongly ad- vocated the necessity of a paper instead of a metal currency. He was also op- posed to free trade, already a great popular question ; and he held — as many still do with all the advantages of practical experience — that "no country can be happy at home, or powerful abroad, unless it be independent of other countries for circulation and sustenance." After so much labour, it is not to be wondered at that, toward the close of the century, Sir John's health began to decay. Already he had only reached the prime of manhood, and was distinguished by temperate and active habits; but he felt as if the shadows of a premature old age were coming upon him while his sun had scarcely passed the hour of noon. Most people in such cases resign themselves as to a dire necessity, and forsake the bustle of public life for the charms of an easy chair and home enjoyment. But Sir John had no idea of such selfish resignation; and though he knew as well as any man that he "owed heaven a death," still, he also felt that " it was not due yet," and that he was bound to work on until his i\Iaster called him home. The suliject there- fore of health, in relation to longevity, occupied his researches ; and the result, in the first instance, was a pamphlet, which he published in 1803, entitled " Hints on Longevity." His strict attention to the rules which he recom- mended in this production, seems to have renewed his lease of life, so that he started upon a fresh occupancy of more than thirty years. At the close of this century, also, his reputation was so completely European, that the fellow- ships of societies and diplomas of universities had been sent to him from almost every country, while the general sense entertained of him abroad was thus aptly stated by Bottinger, in the Jena Universal Literary Gazette of June, 1801: " To whom is Scotland indebted for the attempt to purifj' her language'^ Who has exhibited the English finances in the clearest manner and on the surest basis'^ Who has erected for Eui'ope a model of statistical information, and carried it the length of twenty vohimes, in the face of all difficulties ? Who has created a centre for Great Britain's best and dearest interests, her agricul- tural produce? "Who lias provided the means of improvement for a chief staple of England, her wool? Who has toiled most earnestly for converting waste land into fertile fields, and inclosing dreary commons'? And who has essentially opposed the inveteracy of bad habits, and the indolence of traditionary customs, even among our farmers? To whom do we owe this, and more ? All this, we must own, we owe to Sir John Sinclair, and almost to him alone." The investigations of Sir John on the subject of health, with reference, in the first case, to himself, had been so beneficial to others, by the publication of his pamphlet on " Longevity," as sufficed to interest his benevolence; and he resolved to continue his inquiries into the subject. The result was his " Code of Health and Longevity" — a work in four volumes octavo, which was pub- lished at Edinburgh in 1007. It comprised an enormous amount of reading, subjected to his favourite processes of analysis and arrangement. His friends were alarmed at this new adventure, and thought that after obtaining such distinction in other departments, he should have left the physicians in posses- sion of their own field. The latter also were wroth at his entrance, and rose in a body to drive the intruder from their premises. It is a grievous offence in their eyes that one even of their own order should betray the sacred myste- ries of healing to the uninitiated; but that it should be done by a knight, statesman, financier, and agriculturist, who ought therefore to know little or nothing of the matter, was a monstrous trespass, for which no punishment could be too great. The faculty therefore took up their pens, and few medical prescriptions could be more bitter than the criticisms they emitted as an antidote to the " Code." But it was an excellent code notwithstanding, and the rules of health which he had gathered from every quarter were founded upon the principles of temperance and active exertion, and tested by common sense and long-confirmed experience. !Not only individuals but communities were considered, and not one, but every class, could find in it directions, not merely for the recovery, but the preservation of a sound healthy temperament. To sedentary persons of every kind, to students, and to h^-pochondriacs, this work was especially useful ; and such, by attending to his simple directions, could not only hold despondency and dyspepsia in defiance, but retain that mais Sana in corpore sano which is so often sacrificed as the price of their occu- pation. The "Code of Longevity" was followed by another of a different description: this was the "Code of Agriculture," which Sir John published in 1819. For this, in truth, there was much need. The Agricultural Society had done much, in multiplying, to an almost indefinite extent, the results of their inquiries and discoveries in the cultivation of the soil and improvement of live stock ; but these were scattered over such a vast extent of publication as to be inaccessible to those who most needed such instruction. Few farmers, few even of our country gentlemen " who live at home at ease," could be expected to pursue their researches in agricultural improvements through forty-seven octavo volumes, in which the English County Reports were comprised, and the thirty which contained those of Scotland, besides seven volumes more of communica- tions from correspondents. It was necessary that the pith of this huge mass should be so concentrated as to be both accessible and intelligible to general 534 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. readers. This was suggested by Sir Joseph Banks, who, in writing to Sir John Sinclair upon the subject, stated " that an account of the systems of husbandry adopted in the more improved districts of Scotland would be of the greatest advantage to the agricultural interests of the United Kingdom ; and tliat it was incumbent upon a native of Scotland, while presiding at the Board of Agricul- ture, and possessing all the means of information which that situation afforded, to undertake the task." All this was true — but what a task! This was fully explained by Sir John in his excuse for declining the attempt: but Sir Joseph Banks would not be thus satisfied ; and he returned to the charge, declaring " that agriculture has derived, is deriving, and will derive more benefit from Scottish industry and skill, than has been accumulated since the days when Adam first wielded the spade." Having allowed himself to be persuaded, Sir John Sinclair went to work, and not content with the voluminous materials already on hand, he visited every district noted for the cultivation both of heavy and light soils, and scattered queries in all directions among the farmers re- specting their best processes of cultivation. It was no wonder that this labour occupied as long a period as the siege of Troy ; so that, although it commenced in 1809, it was not finished until 1819. Three editions of the " Code of Agri- culture" have since appeared; it was also published in America, and translated into the French, German, and Danish languages. One of these translators, M. Mathieu Dombasle, of Loraine, the most distinguished agriculturist of his nation, thus correctly characterized the work in a letter to Sir Jolin : — " I have been for some time occupied in translating your excellent ' Code of Agricul- ture.' If anything can contribute to raise agriculture in France to the rank of a science, which we could not till now pretend to do, it will certainly be the publication of this work in France, being the most systematic, the most con- cise, and, in my opinion, the most perfect which has hitherto been written in any language." From the foregoing account, in which we have endeavoured to present the beneficent and most valuable exertions of Sir John Sinclair in an unbroken series, it must not be thought that his career was without interruption. Had he escaped, indeed, the obloquy and opposition that have ever requited the great benefactors of mankind, he would have formed a singular exception to that universal rule which has prevailed from the days of Tresmegistus to our own. His first annoyance was from Pitt himself, once his attached friend, but finally alienated from him upon certain great political questions of the day. It was strange that this should react upon him as president of the Agricultural Board, from which all political resentments ought to have been excluded. But his sentiments upon such questions as the Warren Hastings trial, the government of Ireland, and the Westminster scrutiny, were destined to unseat him from a chair which he had so nobly filled, and that, too, of a society that owed its very existence to himself. And where was another to be found that could occupy his room? But upon such a question political resentment seldom condescends to pause ; and after he had been for five j-ears chairman of the Board of Agri- culture, another was proposed, and chosen by a majority of one. This new election was made in favour of LordSommerville, who assumed the appointment with reluctance, while the public were indignant at the movement. Thus mat- ters continued for eight years, when Sir John was restored to his proper office — an unsalaried office, that not only involved much labour, but personal expense to boot. This Sir John felt in weary days of anxiety and toil, and such a SIR JOHN SINCLAIR. 535 diminution of his private fortune, that in 1813 he was obliged to resign it. Two years before this took place, he was appointed cashier of exci-e for Scot- land, in consequence of which he resigned liis seat in parliament. He had pre- viousl}', in 1810, been raised to the rank of a privy councillor. On his resigna- tion of the presidentship of the Board of Agriculture, an event justly deemed of the highest national importance, in consequence of his great public services during forty years, many a grateful survey of his past life was made, and the worth by which it had been distinguished was affectionately commemorated. Although the remainder of Sir John Sinclair's life was equally distinguished by active enterprising usefulness, our limits permit nothing more than a hasty summary of its chief events. In 1814 he made an excursion to the Nether- lands, being his fourth visit to the Continent, and on this occasion his object was to examine the comparative prices of grain in Great Britain and the continental countries, and ascertain the best means of putting a stop to inequality of price for the future. He then passed over to Holland, to investigate the management of the Dutch dairies, so superior in their produce to those of other countries. The escape of Napoleon from Elba interrupted his farther progress, and on returning to England, he published his " Hints on the Agricultural State of the Netherlands compared with that of Great Britain;" in which he explained at full the improvements of foreign agriculture, for the imitation of British farmers. After the battle of Waterloo Sir John revisited Holland and the Netherlands, and after^vards France, where he made a close agricultural inspection of its provinces; but the minute subdivision of landed property in that country gave him little hope of the improvement of French agriculture. On his return to England he saw, with much anxietj-, the sudden recoil which peace had produced in our trade, commerce, and agriculture, and carefully sought for a remedy. The result of his speculations was a pamphlet, which he published in October, 1815, entitled " Thoughts on the Agricultural and Finan- cial State of the Countr}', and on the means of rescuing the Landed Farming Interests from their present depressed state." These evils he traced to the return of peace prices of produce, while war taxes were continued ; and the remedy he proposed was, an increase in the currency, a bounty on exportation, and public loans for the benefit of landlord and tenant. In passing on to 1819, we find Sir John Sinclair as busy as ever, and employed in the way most congenial to his intellectual character. This was the task of code-making, which he was anxious to apply to matters still more important than those that had hitherto been subjected to his industry. He contemplated a great work, to be entitled " A Code or Digest of Religion," in which the mind of the reader was to be led, step b^' step, from the first simple principles of natural religion, to the last and most profound of revelation. This plan, of which he sketched the first portion, and printed for private dis- tribution among his friends, he was obliged to lay aside, in consequence of the more secular public questions that were daily growing, and pressing upon his notice. His theory, however, was afterwards realized in part by other agencies, in the " Bridgewater Treatises." Another printed paper which he circulated among his friends, was " On the Superior Advantages of the Codean System of Knowledge." It was his wish that every department of learning, science, and literature, hitherto spread over such a boundless field, and so much be3'ond the reach of common minds, should be collected, condensed, and simplified for the purposes of general instruction — and for this purpose, to associate the 53 G ROBERT STEVENSON. learned and talented of every country "for the collection and diffusion of useful knowledge." We know how al)]}'' this plan was afterwards taken up, and realized by a mind well fitte 1 for such a task. From these theories for the elevation of human character, Sir Jolin again turned to the improvement of sheep and oxen, of wiiich he had never lost sight since his great sheep shear- ing festival of 1792; and in 1021 he proposed the plan of sheep and cattle shows to the Highland Society'. Tliis time the proposal was favourably received, and forthwith put into practice, so that the first annual show of this society was held in Edinburgh at the close of 1822, while the prizes, appointed according to his suggestion, for the best specimens of sheep, cattle, breeding stocks, seeds,, and agricultural implements, excited a spirit of ardent industrious competition over the whole kingdom. So great a machinery having thus received such an impetus as secured the easy continuance of its motion. Sir John returned to the other manifold subjects of his solicitu^le, and with such diligence, that after the year 1821, thirty pamphlets and tracts issued from his pen, besides many others whose authorship has not been traced. These, as might be expected, were chiefly connected witli finance and agriculture. The proof- sheet of the last of these tracts, bearing the date of 1835, contains additions and corrections v.-ritten in his own hand, but so tremulous and indistinct as to be almost illegible. The brain that had never rested, the hand that never was folded in idleness, the heart that had never been Aveary of well-doing, were all alike to be stilled : and these were the tokens of the final effort; the last throb, after which all was to be the wondrous change of moveless silence and repose. The last illness of Sir John occurred on the loth of December, 1835, when he was in the eighty-second year of his age. Its approach was sudden, as only the day previous he had taken a long drive, and conversed clieerfully with his friends. It was the rapid collapse of a healthy old age, in which our patriarchs are frequently removed from the world without sickness or suffering, rather than a regularly formed disease; and in this way Sir John lingered for a few days, and expired on the 21st. Sir John Sinclair was twice married. By his first wife, as has been already' mentioned, he had two daughters. By his second marriage, in 1788, to Diana, daughter of Alexander Lord Macdonald, he had thirteen children, of whom seven were sons, and six daughters. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son. Sir George Sinclair, the present member for the shire of Caithness. STEVENSOiV, Robert. — This eminent engineer, whose great professional talents are so signally attested by that wondrous structure, the Bell Rock light- house, was born at Glasgow, on the 8th of Juno, 1772. He was the only son of Allan Stevenson, merchant in Glasgow, partner in an establishment con- nected with St. Christopher, West Indies, in which island he died, while on a visit to his brotlier, who managed the business there. By this event Robert was left an orphan while still in infancy; and to add to the difTiculties that beset his earl}' life, his uncle in St. Christopher died soon after his father, leaving the mercantile affairs of their establishment involved in sucli embarrass- ment as must always ensue on tlie want of superintendence. In this way, the mother of Robert Stevenson, whose name was Jane Lillie, was obliged, in the management of her household, to depend mainly upon her own unaided energies. She, however, discharged her task witli that ability which so often compensates for the want of paternal superintendence; and Robert, who was at first designed fur the ministry, received the earlier part of his education with a view to that HOBERT STEVENSON. 53/ sacred profession. Circumstances, however, soon altered this destination ; for when lie had finished his fifteenth year, his mother was married to Mr. Thomas Smith, a widower, originally a tinsmith in Edinburgh, but whose studies were devoted to engineering, and chiefly to the construction and improvement of lighthouses. In this department, he had the mei-it of substituting oil lamps with parabolic mirrors for the open coal fires that had hitherto lighted our naval beacons — an improvement so justly appreciated, that after the Lighthouse Board was established in 178G, Mr. Smith was appointed its engineer. It is easy to guess how quickly such a relationship must have changed the whole current of Mr. Stevenson's studies. No stranger who conversed with him, no phrenologist who looked at him, could have failed to perceive at once that he was born an engineer, and the new parental superintendence to which he was consigned, was well fitted to develope his latent talents in this depart- ment. Accordingly, he made such proficiency, that at the age of nineteen he was intrusted by Mr. Smith with the erection of a lighthouse, which the latter had planned for the island of Little Cuuibrae, and been commissioned to con- struct by the trustees of the Clyde Navigation. This task Mr. Stevenson executed with such ability, and showed such talent in his new vocation, that soon after he was adopted by Mr. Smith as his partner in the business. In 1799 he married the eldest daughter of Mr. Smith, whom he succeeded as engineer and superintendent of lighthouses, and continued to hold this office until he resigned it in 18-13. This change of occupation, and the success that crowned it, required a correspondent change of study; and accordingly Mr. Stevenson, throwing aside his Latin, which he had only half mastered, and turning away from Greek, which he had not yet entered, began to devote himself to the exact sciences. Opportunities, indeed, there were comparatively few, on account of the active life which he had commenced at an early period; but such as he possessed he improved to the uttermost. In this way, while superintending the erection of the lighthouse at Cumbrae, he availed himself of the cessation of the work during the winter months, by attending the Andersonian Institu- tion at Glasgow, where he studied the mathematical and mechanical sciences connected with his profession. Here, he had for his pi-eceptor, Dr. Anderson himself, the honoured founder of the institution, of whose valuable instructions Mr. Stevenson ever afterwards retained an affectionate remembrance. He pursued the same course of improvement in his education while employed by Mr. Smith in the erection of lighthouses on the Pentland Skerries in Orkney, so that as soon as the labours of each summer were ended, the winter months found him in close attendance at the classes of the university of Edinburgh. In this way he completed, during the course of several sessions, a curriculum that comprised mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history, to which he added logic, moral philosophy, and agriculture. It was the same perseverance at work which struggled for a foundation upon the living rock amidst the battling of waves and tempests, and having found it, persisted in adding stone to stone, until a stately tower was erected, and a guiding light kindled upon its summit. He thus became not only an accomplished scientific Bcholar, but also a student of considerable literary attainments, while he was employed the greater part of each year in contending with the stormy seas of the Orkneys, and dwelling upon their bleak islets and solitary shores. His first tour of inspection as superintendent of lighthouses, was made in 1797, for V. 3 V 538 ROBERT STEVENSON. whicli year he drew up the annual report for the Board of Commissioners ; and during his long tenure of office, that extended over half a century, twenty- three liglithouses in the district of the Commission, which he designed and executed, attested liis unwearied diligence, as well as professional skill. Many of these were constructed in situations that tasked the utmost of scientific knowledge and anxious study, while the successive steps of improvement which the}' exhibited, evinced the fresh ardour with which he had advanced to every undertaking, and the earnestness he had felt that each should prove the fittest and the best. But the great work of Mr. Stevenson's life, and the durable monument of his professional attainments and success, is to be found in the Bell Rock lighthouse, of which he published such a full and interesting account in 1824, in one vo- lume quarto. This rock, a sunken reef in the Firth of Forth, situated in west longitude from Greenwich 2° 22', and in north latitude 5G° 29', and composed of red sandstone, was found so dangerous to navigation, that attention had been called to it at an early period, and, according to tradition, a remedy was adopted to warn mariners from the dangerous spot, by a humane abbot of Aberbrothock. This was a bell, erected upon the rock, and so connected with a floating apparatus, that the action of the winds and seas caused the bell to toll over the uproar of the waves amidst the darkest weather. And thus, as the well-known ballad of Southey informs us — "When the rock was hid by the surge's swell, The mariners heard the warning bell ; And then they knew the perilous rock, And blest the abbot of Aberbrothock." The popular legend adds, that a pestilent pirate, the enemy of God and man, in a mere spirit of wanton mischief, silenced the ocean monitor, by taking down the bell, and throwing it into the sea. But poetical justice was not long in overtaking him ; for only a year after, while pursuing his vocation in the same dangerous sea, his ship in the dark drifted upon the now silent rock, and went down, with the captain and all hands on board ; while, " Even in his dying fear. One dreadful sound could the Rover hear, A sound as if with the Inch-cape bell, The devil below was ringing his knell." After not only bell and pirate, but abbot and abbey had passed away, the rock still retained its place, and its wonted dangers, to the great annoyance as well as heavy loss of our shipping. This was so much the case, especially in a great storm that occurred in December, 1799, that it was ascertained not less than seventy vessels had been stranded or lost upon the coast of Scotland alone, most of which, it was supposed, would have found safety by running into the Firth of Forth, had there Ijeen a lighthouse on the rock to direct them. This, however, was not all, for it was supposed that the York, a ship of 74 guns, of which no tidings could be heard, had been wrecked there, with the loss of the whole crew. While the cry now became general for the erection of a lighthouse on the Bell Rock, government, moved by the calamity that had befallen the York, of which timbers were still floating for many miles upon the coast, began to listen to the appeal. But the obstacles to be overcome were of sucli a nature HOBERT STEVENSON. 530 as had been hitherto untried in engineering ; for while the Eddystone lighthouse, which was proposed as the model, occupied a site that was barely covered by the tide at high water, the Bell Rock was barely uncovered at low water. These difBculties made the corporation of the Trinity House of Leith advertise for plans that might lead to the construction of a suitable edifice ; and not less than three temporary experimental beacons were successively erected upon the rock, which were all speedily carried away. Fortunately it happened that the only- man of the day who seemed capable of overcoming such a combination of obstacles from winds, and waves, and sunken rock, had long been brooding silently upon the enterprise, and devising the means of success. Even before the storm of 1799, ^Ir. Stevenson had prepared a pillar-formed model of a light- house, which he hoped might be available for the Bell Rock ; and in the sum- mer of 1800 he visited the rock in person, that he might judge of its applica- bility. He soon saw that his pillar-shaped model would not suit the situation ; l)ut he also saw that it was practicable to erect a solid stone edifice instead, upon the plan of the Eddystone lighthouse. To work, therefore, he went, in the construction of a new model, where massive blocks of stone were to be dove- tailed into each other, so as to resist every pressure, both laterally and perpendi- cularly, and so connected with iron cased in lead, as to be proof against disrup- tion ; while the building itself, high enough to surmount the waves at their wildest, was to occupy to the best advantage the narroAv foundation which the rock afforded, and present the smallest front to the force of the tempest. These plans and models being finished, were submitted to the Lighthouse Board, with estimates of the expense of such a building, Avhich amounted to £42,685, 8^. After much demur, arising from the expense of the undertaking, his proposal was duly sanctioned by act of parliament, and Mr. Stevenson was empowered to commence operations. Now it was, however, that a full sense of his new responsibility, hitherto viewed from a distance, assumed, when looked fully in the face, a very formidable aspect. " The erection,'' he thus wrote in a j\IS. which he kept for his own use, " on a rock about twelve miles from land, and so low in the water that the foundation course must be at least on a level with the lowest tide, was an enterprise so full of uncertainty^ and hazard, that it could not fail to press on my mind. I felt regret that I had not had the opportunity of a greater range of practice to fit me for such an undertaking. But I was fortified by an expression of my friend Mr. Clerk [of Eldin, the improver of naval tactics], in one of our conversations upon its difficulties. ' This work,' said he, 'is unique, and can be little forwarded by experience of ordinary' masonic operations. In this case, "Sraeaton"s Narrative" must be the text-book, and energy and perseverance the j^ratiquc' " The work was commenced by searching for such a vessel as would serve for a temporary lij^hthouse, as well as a habitation for the workmen. This was soon found in a Prussian fishing-vessel of 82 tons, one of the captures of the war, which being rounded off both at stem and stern, was best adapted by its form for the new service in which it was to be employed. After having been suitably fitted up and rigged, this Pharos, as it was now named, was furnished with a large copper lantern for each of its three masts, and moored near the Bell Rock. Another vessel, expressly built for the purpose, called the Smeaton, of 40 tons, was employed in bringing the stones for the building, that were hewn in the quarries of Rubesbiw near Aberdeen, and M3'lnefield near Dundee, and conveyed to Arbroath, the nearest harbour to the rock. The work itself was 540 ROBERT STEVENSON. commenced on the I8th of August, 1807 ; and such was the clink and bang of hammers, tlie hurrying of feet, and the din of human voices that now took possession of the solitude, that the affrighted seals, which had hitherto regarded the Bell Rock as their own exclusive property, went off in shoals in quest of new settlements. It is not our purpose to detail the daily, and almost hourly difficulties with which Mr. Stevenson had to contend in a task of seven years' duration, and the dangers to which he was exposed, while he had to battle with an almost impracticable foundation, and the continual war and shifting of elements that opposed every step of his progress. On one occasion, when the Smeaton was drifted out to sea, he was left with thirty-two workmen upon the rock, which, by the progress of the flood- tide, would soon be sub- merged at least twelve feet, while the two boats which they had at hand could have carried off little more than half of the company — after perhaps a life-and- death struggle with their less fortunate companions. At this critical moment he thus describes their situation, in the third person : " The writer had all along been considering various schemes, providing the men could be kept under com- mand, which might be put in practice for the general safety, in hopes that the Smeaton might be able to pick up the boats to leeward when they were obliged to leave the rock. He was, accordingly, about to address the artificers on the perilous nature of their circumstances, and to propose that all hands should unstrip their upper clothing when the higher parts of the rock were laid under water; that the seamen should remove every unnecessary weight and incum- brance from the boats; that a specified number of men should go into each boat, and that the remainder should hang by the gunwales, while the boats were to be rowed gently towards the Smeaton, as the course to the Pharos or floating light lay rather to windward of the rock. But when he attempted to speak, his mouth was so parched that his tongue refused utterance, and he now learned by experience that the saliva is as necessary as the tongue itself for speech. He then turned to one of the pools on the rock, and lapped a little water, which produced an immediate relief. But what was his happiness, when, on rising from this unpleasant beverage, some one called out ' A boat ! a boat !' and on looking around, at no great distance, a large boat was seen through the haze making towards the rock. This at once enlivened and rejoiced every heart. The timeous visitor proved to be James Spink, the Bell Rock pilot, who had come express from Arbroath with letters. Every one felt the most perfect happiness at leaving the Bell Rock this morning, though a very hard and even dangerous passage to the floating light still awaited us, as the wind by this time had increased to a pretty hard gale, accompanied with a con- siderable swell of sea. The boats left the rock about nine, but did not reach the vessel till twelve o'clock noon, after a most disagreeable and fatiguing pas- sac^e of three hours. Every one was as completely drenched in water as if he had been dragged astern of the boats." During the two first seasons occupied on the Bell Rock, Mr. Stevenson's abode was the Pharos or floating light, as uncomfortable as well as perilous a home as the worst hulks which justice could have devised for the taming of a sturdy malefactor. Sometimes they had to ride out a gale, and endure all the horrors that precede a shipwreck, without the consolation of feeling that a voyage was in progress, or a port at hand into which they might run at the worst. On one occasion, indeed, after a storm, they found themselves making a voyage in sad earnest, with the prospect of being dashed against the Bell Rock by way of termination— for the Pharos had ROBERT STEVENSON. 541 broke from its moorings, and was drifting, none knew whither. Even in fair weather, it rolled like a tub, or ratlier like a barrel, so that such rocking was provocative of anything but tranquil repose. After the beacon or barrack was erected, Mr. Stevenson took up his abode in it ; but here the matter was not greatly amended, as this habitation was nothing more than a sort of pigeon- house edifice, perched on logs, and exposed to the onset of every wave, while the tide in calm weather rose upon it to the height of sixteen feet. Let the following description of a few hours spent in it suffice:—" The gale continues with unabated violence to-day, and the sprays rise to a still greater height, having been carried over the masonry of the building, or about 90 feet above the level of the sea. At four o'clock this morning it was breaking into the cook's berth, when he rung the alarm-bell, and all hands turned out to attend to their personal safety. The floor of the smith's or mortar gallery was now completely burst up by the force of the sea, when the whole of the deals and the remaining articles upon the floor were swept away, such as the cast-iron mortar-tubs ; the iron hearth of the forge, the smith's bellows, and even his anvil, were thrown down upon the rock. The boarding of the cookhouse, or story above the smith's gallery, w^as also partly carried away, and the brick and plaster-work of the fireplace shaken and loosened. At low water it was found that the chain of the movable beam-crane at the western wharf had been broken, which set the beam at liberty, and greatly endangered the quay ropes by its motion. Before the tide rose to its full height to day, some of the artificers passed along the bridge into the- lighthouse, to observe the eff"ects of the sea upon it, and they reported that they had felt a slight tremu- lous motion in the building when great seas struck it in a certain direction about high water-mark. On this occasion the sprays were again observed to wet the balcony, and even to come over the parapet wall into the interior of the light room. In this state of the weather, Captain Wilson and the crew of the floating light were much alarmed for the safety of the artificers upon the rock, especially when they observed with a telescope that the floor of the smith's gallery had been carried away, and that the triangular cast-iron sheer crane was broken down. It was quite impossible, however, to do anything for their relief until the gale should take ofi^." Such is but a specimen of the obstacles encountered and the toils endured in erecting that wondrous edifice, the Bell Rock lighthouse. It was completed in December, 1810, and since that period it would be difficult to estimate the benefit it has conferred in that dangerous sea on the ships of every nation, which, but for its guidance, would have been dashed upon the rock, or wrecked on the neighbouring shore. There, from night to night, its lamp has continued to shine like a guiding star; while in snow and haze, its bell is heard as a warning voice through the thick atmosphere, when the light is obscured, or so dim, that its meaning is unintelligible to the bewildered navigator. Not fully four years after it was finished, when Sir Walter Scott made that well-known cruise among the northern seas, which he has entitled in his diary, "Voyage in the Lighthouse Yacht to Nova Zembla, and the Lord knows where," he thus describes the edifice, at that time still fresh in early youth, and regarded with all the pleasure of a startling novelty. '■'■ Juli/ oO, [1814 . — Waked at six bj' the steward; summoned to visit the Bell Rock, where the beacon is well worthy attention. Its dimensions are well known ; but no description can give the idea of this slight, solitary, round 542 ROBERT STEVENSON. tower, trembling amid the billows, and fifteen miles from Arbroath; the nearest shore. The fitting up within is not only handsome, but elegant. All work of wood (almost) is wainscot; all hammer- work brass; in short, exquisitely fitted up. You enter b\' a ladder of rope, with wooden steps, about thirty feet from the bottom, where the mason- work ceases to be solid, and admits of round apart- ments. The lowest is a storehouse for the people's provisions, water, &c. ; above that a storehouse for the lights, of oil, &c. ; then the kitchen of the people, three in number; then their sleeping chamber; then the saloon or parlour, a neat little room ; above all, the lighthouse ; all communicating by oaken ladders, with brass rails, most handsomely and conveniently executed. Breakfasted in the parlour." On being requested to inscribe his name in the album of the tower. Sir Walter, after breakfast, wrote tlie following lines, which Mr. Stevenson adopted for the motto of his work on the Bell Rock lighthouse : — " Pharos loquitur: — " Far in the bosom of the deep, O'er these wild shelves my watch I keep; A ruddy gem of changeful light. Bound on the dusky brow of night : The seaman bids my lustre hail, And scorns to strike his timorous sail." The whole diary of this voyage in the northern seas, which the great poet and novelist has fully detailed, abounds with incidental notices, in whiclx IMr. Stevenson's amiable disposition, as well as remarkable professional ability, diligence, and enterprise, are strikingly exemplified. It was one of those periodical voyages which Mr. Stevenson was wont to make in the erection of lighthouses, and the superintendence of northern lights; and besides three commissioners of the board, there were three pleasure tourists, of whom Sir Walter was one. The vessel in which they sailed was the lighthouse yacht, of six guns and ten men ; for besides the storms of the Atlantic, lately a brush with a French cruizer, and even now with a Yankee privateer, might be no im- probable contingency. The singular coasts that had to be surveyed, the strange places to be selected for the erection of lighthouses, and the difficulties that had to be overcome in such erections, will be best understood from the following quotation, which, therefore, notwithstanding its length, we give without cur- tailment : — ^'■August 27, 1814. — The wind, to which we resigned ourselves, proves ex- ceedingly tyrannical, and blows squally the whole night, which, with the swell of the Atlantic, now unbroken by any islands to windward, proves a means of great combustion in the cabin. The dishes and glasses in the steward's cup- boai'ds become locomotive — portmanteaus and writimj-desks are more active than necessary — it is scarce possible to keep one's self within bed, and impossible to stand upright, if you rise. Having crept upon deck about four in the morning, I find we are beating to windward off the Isle of Tyree, with the determination on the part of Mr. Stevenson that his constituents should visit a reef of I'ocks called Skeny Vhor, where he thought it would be essential to have a light- house. Loud remonstrances on the part of the commissioners, who one and all declare they will subscribe to his opinion, whatever it may be, rather than con- tinue this infernal buff'eting. Quiet perseverance on the part of Jlr. S., and gi-eat kicking, bouncing, and squabbling upon that of the yacht, who seems to ROBERT STEVENSON. 5i3 like the idea of Skerry Vhor as little as the commissioners. At length, by dint of exertion, came in sight of this long ridge of rocks (chiefly under water), on whicli the tide breaks in a most tremendous style. There appear a few low broad rocks at one end of the reef, which is about a mile in length. These are never entirely under water, though the surf dashes over them. To go through all the forms, Hamilton, Duff, and I resolved to land upon these bare rocks in company with j\Ir. Stevenson. Pull through a very heavy swell with great difficulty, and approach, a tremendous surf dashing over black pointed rocks. Our rowers, however, get the boat into a quiet creek between two rocks, where we contrive to land, well wetted. I saw nothing remarkable in my way, excepting several seals, which we might have shot, but, in tlie doubtful circumstances of the landing, we did not care to bring guns. We took possession of the rock in name of the commissioners, and generously bestowed our own great names on its crags and creeks. The rock was carefully measured by Mr. S. It will be a most desolate position for a lighthouse— the Bell Rock and Edd^-stone a joke to it, for the nearest land is the wild island of Tyree, at fourteen miles' distance. So much for the Skerry Vhor."" — It is only necessary to add to this amusing sketch, that tlie lighthouse contemplated by Mr. Stevenson was erected in 1842, by ]\Ir. Alan Stevenson, his son, and successor in office, who in this difficult undertaking not only followed his father's instructions, but emulated his perseverance and scientific ability. During the long course of Mr. Stevenson's professional labours, his calm calculating sagacitj', and adaptation of means at once simple and effectual to an end that seemed unattainable, or not to be attained without the most com- plex agencies, were conspicuous to the last ; and although not himself an inventor, he could largely improve on the inventions of others, and turn them to the best account. It was thus that the Eddystone lighthouse suggested to him the bolder and more difficult undertaking of that on the Bell Rock ; while his plan of the j/i and balance-cranes, and the changes which he adopted in the masonry of the building, especially in the laying of the floors, so that their stones should form part of the outward wall, were important improvements on the plans of Mr. Smeaton, whom he still was proud to call his master. The best mode of lighting these ocean lamps was also a subject of his inquiry ; and the result was, his invention of the intermittent and the flashing lights, the former suddenly disappearing at irregular intervals, and the latter emitting a powerful gleam every five seconds— a mode of illumination distinct from that of the ordinary lighthouses in the same range, and admirably suited for the dangerous navigation of narrow seas. For the last of these inventions he was honoured with a gold medal from the king of the Netherlands. While his scientific anxiety and skill were thus devoted to the improving and perfecting of those buildings upon which the safety of navigation so much depends, he did not overlook the welfare of those to whom the superintendence of tlieir bale-fires is committed ; and his humane regulations, by which the comforts of these self-devoted prisoners of the ocean pillars were promoted, as well as liis rules of discipline, by which their duties were simplified, introduced a marked change for the better into the dreary life of those upon whose watchfulness and fidelity so vast an amount of human happiness is at stake. Mr. Stevenson, indeed, may justly be said not only to have created the lighthouse system of Scotland, where it was so mucli needed, but to have brought it also to that state of per- fection in which it has become tlie model to other maritime nations. 544 JOHN STRUTHERS. Independently of his duties connected with northern lights, Mr. Stevenson, in his general capacity as a civil engineer, was frequently a co-operator with Rennie, Telford, and the otlier chief engineers of the day. He also, after the - peace of 1815, was the principal adviser in the construction of those new roads, bridges, harbours, canals, and railways, towards which the national energy and capital were now directed. Even the beautiful approach to the city of Edin- burgh from the east, by the Calton Hill, was planned by him, and executed under his direction. While his impress was thus stamped upon the public works of Scotland, he was often consulted upon those of England and Ireland ; and his ingenious plans of simplifying and adapting, which he had so success- fully employed upon one element, were followed by those which were equally fitted for the other. In this way, his suggestion of the new form of a suspen- sion bridge applicable to small spans, by which the necessity for tall piers is avoided, was pai'tially adopted in the bridge over the Thames at Hammersmith. While planning a timber bridge for the Meikle Ferry, he also devised an arch of such simple construction, composed of thin layers of plank bent into the circular form, and stiffened by king-post picceSy on which the level roadway rests, that this form of bridging has come into very general use in the construc- tion of railways. As an author Mr. Stevenson has not been particularly fertile. He sat down to draw a plan instead of excogitating a theory, and his published work was the erection itself, instead of a volume to show how it might be accomplished. Still, however, he has written sufficiently for one who did so much. Inde- pendently of his large work upon the Bell Rock lighthouse, he wrote several articles in the "Encyclopedia Britannica,"and Brewster's "Edinburgh Encyclo- paedia," and other scientific journals. In 1817 he published a series of letters in the "Scots Magazine," giving an account of his tour through the Netherlands, and a description of the engineering works connected with the drainage and em- bankment of Holland. His professional printed reports and contributions are also sufficient to occupy four goodly quarto volumes. Owing, however, to the obstacles under which his early education was impeded, he had not acquired that facility in composition which a commencement in youth is best fitted to impart, so that we question whether, in his great achievement of the Bell Rock, his book or his lighthouse occasioned him most trouble. In 1815 he became a fellow of the Ro^'al Society of Edinburgh ; he afterwards joined the Geological Society of London, and the Wernerian and Antiquarian Societies of Scotland. In private life i\Ir. Stevenson was endeared to all who knew him, by his lively intelligent conversation, kind disposition, and benevolent deeds, while his whole course was a beautiful illustration of the Christian character superin- duced upon the highest scientific excellence. And as he had lived, so he died, at the ripe age of seventy-nine, at peace with the world he was leaving, and rejoicing in the hope of a better to come. His decease occurred at his resi- dence in Baxter's Place, Edinburgh, on the 12tli of July, 1850. His most fitting monument is an admirable marble bust likeness, executed by Samuel Joseph, at the command of the Commissioners of the Board of Northern Lights, and placed by them in the library of the Bell Rock liglithouse. STRUTHERS, John. — " It is said that the solitary and meditative gene- ration of cobblers have produced a larger list of murders and other domestic crimes than any other mechanical trade except the butchers ; but the sons of JOHN STRUTHERS. 545 Crispin have, to balance their account, a not less disproportionate catalogue of poets ; and foremost among these stands the pious author of the ' Poor ]Man's Sabbath,' one of the very few that have had sense and fortitude to resist the innumerable temptations to which any measure of celebrity exposes persons of their class." This honourable attestation from the pen of the distinguished editor of the "Quarterly Review,"' in his Life of Sir Walter Scott, when speaking of John Struthers, entitles this lowly bard to not a little consideration. The author of the "Poor Man's Sabbath" was born at Forefaulds, a cottage built upon the estate of Long Calderwood, East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, on Jul}' 18, 1770, and was the son of William Struthers, who for more than forty years had been a shoemaker in that parish. The education of John, when a boy, was of the simplest kind : he was tauglit to read from the Shorter Catechism, the Proverbs of Solomon, and the Bible ; and to write, by copying the letters of the alphabet in a rude printing fashion upon the side of an old slate. His mother, however, who -was his preceptor, was aided in the task of tuition by I\Irs. Baillie, widow of Dr. James Baillie, formerly professor of theology in the university of Glasgow, then residing at Long Calderwood, and by her two daughters, the youngest of whom was the afterwards celebrated Joanna Baillie. These accomplished ladies had the sickly little boy frequently brought to their house, where they conversed with him, read to him, told him amusing stories, and gave him his first glimpses of the bright world of music, by airs upon the spinnet. That mind must have had no imagination whatever which such a training could not waken into poetry, or something resembling it. When the house was shut up, and the family had departed to London, it seemed to John, now only seven years old, as if a beatific vision had been closed for ever; and tlie consequence was a fever, that confined him to bed for six weeks. No one who afterwards knew the hard-visaged and iron-minded John Struthers, would have suspected him of ever having been the victim of such susceptibility, were we not aware that it is often such seemingly impassive characters Avho feel most keenly. On going afterwards to school, he made such progress in the common branches of education, that his parents were urged to have him trained for the ministry; but this temptation, so strong among the peasantry of Scot- land, they had the good sense to resist, and John was sent, for three years and a half, to the occupation of a cow-herd. During this period he unconsciously trained himself for his future work of an ecclesiastical historian, by devouring the contents of his grandfather's covenanting library, which was stored with the works of Knox, Calderwood, Wodrow, and other Scottish writers of the 17th and 18th centuries, while he cherished the polemical spirit, so essential to his future task, by keen debates with a neighbouring herd lad upon the religious controversies of the day. After->a rough kind of life, partly as cow-herd, and partly as farm-servant, John Struthers, at the age of fifteen, settled in Glasgow, for the purpose of learn- ing his father's occupation of shoemaker; and this being fully attained, he returned to the paternal home, and was busily employed in his new calling. During these changes he had also diligently pursued the task of self-education, in which he made himself acquainted with the best poetical and prose writers both of England and Scotland, while his intellectual superiority gave him a high standing among the rustic society by which he was surrounded. At the ao-e of twenty-two he married, after a courtship of more than four years. Having removed once more to Glasgow, which he now made his permanent V. 3 z 546 JOHN STRUTHERS abode, Strutheis adventured on his first attempt in authorship, and, like many tyro authors, he was soon so much ashamed of it, that he burnt the whole impression, and did his best to forget the trespass. What was the nature of the work, or whether it was in poetry or prose, he has not informed us. altiiough I'rom a cliance hint that escapes him in his biography, we rather think it was the former. Tlie next attempt of jMr. Struthers in authorship was one that was to bring him into notice, and establish his reputation as a poet of no common order. We allude to his "Poor Man's Sabbath;" and as the origin of this work is characteristic both of the writer and the period, we give it in his own words, where he speaks of himself in the third person : " Though the removal of our subject from a country to a town life, was upon the whole less grievous than he had anticipated, still it was followed by regrets, which forty-eight long years have not yet laid wholly asleep. Of these, the first and the most painful was his position on the Sabbath day. In the country his Saturday was equally tranquil, rather more so than any other day of the week. He was, on the Saturday night, always early to bed, and on the Sabbath morning up at his usual hour — had his moments of secret meditation and pra^-er — his family devotions — his breakfast and dressing over by nine o'clock, when his fellow- worshippers of the same congregation, who lived to the westward of him, gene- rally called at his house. Among them was his excellent father, and one or two old men of the highest respectability as private members of the church, witli whom he walked to their place of worship. Black's Well meeting-house, Hamil- ton, returning with them in the evening, enjoying the soothing influences of the seasons, whether breathing from the fragrant earth, or glowing from tlie concave of the sky ; taking sweet counsel together, and holding delightful fel- lowsliip with the God of all grace, and of all consolation, and with each other, in talking over tlie extent, the ordei-, the grandeur, and the excellent majesty of His kingdom." From this picture of a rural Scottish Sabbath at the begin- ning of the present century, he turns to those Sabbatical evils of our cities, which, at that period of recent introduction, have ever since been on the in- crease :— " In town, on the contrary, he found Saturday always to be a day of bustle and confusion. There was always work wanted, which could not be had without extra exertion. He was always earlier up in the morning, and later in going to bed on that day than on any other day of the week. With the extra labour of that day, added to the everyday toils of the week, he was often exhausted, and his hands so cut up, that it was not without difficulty that he managed to shave himself. On the morning of the Sabbath, of course, he was weary, drowsy, and listless, feeling in a very small degree that glowing delight with which he had been accustomed to hail the hallowed day. At the sound of the bell he walked into the meeting-house with the crowd, an unnoticed individual, unknown and unknowing ; his nobler desires clogged and slumber- ing; his activities unexcited; and his whole frame of mind everything but that which he had been accustomed to experience, and which it was, amidst all these evil influences, his heart's desire it should have been." These feelings wrought themselves into stanzas, and the stanzas, in course of time, grew into a regular poem. Still warned, however, b^' his late failure, Struthers was afraid to venture once more into the press, until the success of a war ode, entitled "Anticipation," which he published in 1803, when the dread of a French invasion was at its height, encouraged him to commit the " Poor Plan's JOHN STRUTHERS. 547 Sabbath," in the following year, to the tender mercies of the public. The approbation with which it was welcomed was great, and the sale of it was rapid. A few weeks after this, Graham's "Sabbath" was published, so that the "Poor JIans Sabbath," on account of its priority, had established a refutation of the charge of plagiarism, which was attempted to be brought against it. A first and second, and afterwards a third impression of the work was rapidly sold; and although the profits collectively amounted to no great sum, it brought Struth- ers something better than a few fleeting pounds ; " it made his name and charac- ter known," says Lockhart, in his Life of Scott, " and thus served him far more essentially ; for he wisel}' continued to cultivate his poetical talents, without neglecting the opportunity, thus afforded him through them, of pursuing his original calling under better advantages." It is not a little to the honour of Struthers, that his production was patronized by Sir Walter Scott, and also by Joanna Baillie, the friend and instructor of his early boyhood, from whom lie was so fortunate as to receive a visit at Glasgow in 1808. Such a visit he thus touchingly commemorates in his old days : — " He has not forgotten, and never can forget, how the sharp and clear tones of her sweet voice thrilled through his heart, when at the outer door she, inquiring for him, pronounced his name — far less could he forget the divine glow of benevo- lent pleasure that lighted up her thin and pale but finely expressive face, when, still holding him by the hand she had been cordially shaking, she looked around his small but clean apartment, gazed upon his fair wife and his then lovely children, and exclaimed, ' that he was surely the most happy of poets.'" Encouraged by the success that had crowned his last effort, Struthers per- severed amidst the many difficulties of his humble position to cultivate the muse, and the result was the " Peasant's Death," intended as a sequel to the " Poor Man's Sabbath," and which was as favourably received by the public as its predecessor. Then succeeded the "Winter Day," a poem in irregular measure, which he published in 1811. This was followed, in 1814, by a small volume, bearing the title of 'Poems, Moral and Religious." In 1818 he pub- lished his poem of " The Plough," written in the Spenserian stanza. About the same time he also edited, from the original ^IS., a collection of poems by IMr. William ]\Iuir, to which he appended a biographical preface. A still more important editorial work, which he was induced to undertake, was a collection of songs, published in three volumes, under the title of " The Harp of Caledonia." But after all this labour, the author was as poor as ever, and still dependent upon the work of his hands for his daily bread. The cause of this is to be found not only in his general indifference to lucre, but his sturdy independence, that would not stoop to the higgling of the literary market, and the high esti- mate he had formed of the dignity of literary exertion. Hear his own estimate of the matter: — "The mercenary spirit of literary men he considers to be the disgrace and bane of human nature — an intellectual harlotry, more disgraceful and more destructive to the Immortal spirit, than that prostitution of the body, which subjects all who submit to it to self-loathing and the contempt of all men — a vice which converts one of the noblest acquisitions of human nature, and that which should be one of the principal sources of distinction in the world — TUE KNOWLEDGE OF LETTERS — iuto a cursc the most wide-spreading and morally ruinous to which our frail nature can be subjected ; and he confesses candidly, that up to this day he has serious doubts whether general or miscel- 548 JOHN STRUTHERS. laneous literature, as the sole means of supporting existence, be, after all, a law- ful profession." It was not, however, merely to poetry that Struthers confined his intellectual exertions. Looking sharply at men and things, he knew much of the prose of life; while his course of reading, which he had never intermitted from boyhood, and which extended over an ample range of Scottish theology, history, and general literature, fitted him for writing upon the most important subjects ot the day. He felt it also the more necessary to be a prose writer and public instructor, in consequence of the innovations that were taking place in society, under which all old time-honoured institutions were decried as the mere igno- rance of childhood, compared with that great millennium of improvement, of which the French revolution was the commencement. On this account he had sturdily opposed the strikes of his fellow- workmen, and the levelling demo- cratic principles of the class of society to which he belonged, although he stood alone in the contest. While these were at the wildest, he published, in 1816, an " Essay on the State of the Labouring Poor, with some hints for its improve- ment." The plan he recommended was that of the ten-acre farm, which has so often been reiterated since that period ; and such were the merits of the pro- duction, which Avas published anon^'mously, that more than one writer of emi- nence had the credit of the authorship. Another pamphlet, which he after- wards published, with the title of " Tekel," was written during the heat of the Voluntary controversy, and intended to represent what he conceived to be the ruinous effects of the Voluntary principle upon religion in general. He was now to become more closely connected with authorship as a profession than ever, in consequence of being employed as a literary reader and corrector of the press, first at the printing-office of Khull, Blackie, and Co., Glasgow, and after- wards in that of Mr. Fullarton. During this period, which lasted thirteen years, besides the task of correcting proofs and making or mending paragraphs, he furnished notes for a new edition of Wodrow's " History of the Church of Scotland." He also wrote a history of Scotland from the Union (1707) to 1827, the year in which it was published, in two volumes, and was afterwards employed in preparing a third, continuing the narrative until after the Disruj^tion, so that it might be a complete history of the Scottish Church ; when, just as it was all but completed, death put a period to his labours. He was also, for sixteen or eighteen months, occupied with Scottish biography, and most of the lives which he wrote on this occasion, were ultimately transferred to Chambers' " Lives of Eminent Scotsmen." In 1833, an important change occurred in the tranquil career of Mr. Struthers, by his being appointed to the charge of that valuable collection, well known in Glasgow as the Stirling Library Here his salary as librarian was only fifty pounds a-year ; but his wants were few and simple, and the opportunities of the situation for study were sucli as would have outweighed with him more lucra- tive offers. In this office he remained nearly fifteen years, and returning in his old da\'s to his first love, he resumed his poem entitled " Dychmont," com- menced in early life, which he completed and published in 1836. These literary exertions were combined with biographical sketches, which appeared in the "Christian Instructor," several tracts on the ecclesiastical politics of the period, and essays on genei'al subjects, of which onl}' a few were printed. In 18.50, a collection of liis poetical works was published in two volumes, by Mr. Fullar- ton, to which the author added a highly interesting autobiography. WILLIAM TENNANT. 549 In this manner passed the useful life of John Struthers to its close, while every year added to the esteem of his fellow-citizens, who regarded him not only as an excellent poet, but an able historian and general writer— an estima- tion in which society at large has fully coincided. He died in Glasgow, on the 30th July, 1853, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. T. TENNANT, William, LL.D., Professor of Oriental Languages in St. Mary's College, St. Andrews.— This most accomplished linguist and excellent poet was born in Anstruther, a royal burgh on the south-eastern coast of Fife, once a town and seaport of great commercial importance in the history of Scotland, but which has now dwindled, in the course of mercantile changes, into a place of little note. He was, however, the fellow-townsman and cotemporary of Dr. Chalmers. He was born in the year 1784. His father, wlio was a small merchant in Anstruther, appears to have been a man in straitened circumstances, while in early infancy the future poet and professor, without any original mal- formation, lost the use of both his feet, and was obliged for life to move upon crutches. Thus desperate from the beginning was his chance of attaining to excellence and distinction. But within that puny frame was lodged a spirit that could wrestle down such obstacles, and grow stronger from the conflict. In those days it was the custom in Scotland, that whosoever was thought not fit to be anythin!? else, was judged good enough to be a teacher, and destined accordingly"; and thus it too often happened that our parochial seminaries were Bethesda pools, surrounded by the lame, the halt, and paralytic, waiting for the friendly hand of patronage to lift them into office when a vacancy occurred. It was notwonderful, therefore, that the poor lame boy was educated with the view of permanently occupying a schoolmaster's chair, instead of^^oitssing his for- tune by a life of travel and adventure. He was accordingly sent betimes to the schools of his native town, and after he had learned all that they could teach him, he was transferred in 1799 to the university of St. Andrews, with the view of finishing his education. One so fitted to be a linguist by nature, could not fail to make a rapid progress under the prelections of such instructors as Dr. Hunter and Dr. Hill. After having spent two years at the United College, St. Andrews, in the study of the classics, the state of pecuniary affairs at home did not permit him to enjoy the usual curriculum, and he was hastily recalled to Anstruther. In the meantime, however, by the study of two languages, he had acquired the key that could unlock them all, be his circumstances what they might; and of this facility he soon showed himself a ready occupant. Independently of the higher Latin and Greek writers, so seldom mastered at our universities, but with which he became as conversant as with the authors of his own tongue, he ven- tured upon the study of Hebrew, with no other teachers than a dictionary and grammar, and made such proficiency, that in half a year and three days he read through the whole of the Hebrew Bible. While thus employed in the study of languages at Anstruther, and laying the foundation of his future renown and succesl, the claims of business called him away to Glasgow in 1803-4, where he was employed as clerk to his brother, a corn-factor in that city ; and on the removal of the business to his native town a year after, he continued in the 550 WILLIAM TENNANT. same capacity in Anstruther. Wliile tlms exalted upon the high tripod of a counting-house, or haggling with borrel discontented farmers upon the price of oi(s and barley— an admirable specimen of the " pursuit of knowledge under difficulties " — he was making, by his unaided efforts, and in his moments of leisure, such acquirements as the halls of Oxford or Cambriiige would have been proud to have enshrined. Language after language yielded before his onset, whether dead or living, whether barbarous or refined, whether eastern, western, northern, or southern. One startling proof of this desperate indomi- table perseverance, as well as peculiar aptitude in acquiring a tongue, was, that in a very few weeks after studying the Gaelic, reckoned the most impracticable of all living languages, he was able to read the whole of the Highland New Testament with ease and fluency. While William Tennant was thus laudably occupied, a more than ordinary portion of the cares of life interposed to annoy him. The business of a corn- factor, in which his brother was engaged in Anstruther, was unsuccessful, and became involved in such pecuniary responsibilities, that the principal found it advisable to make a hasty retreat, leaving poor William, his substitute, to answer in his stead. This the latter did, not only by enduring incarceration, as if he had been the real debtor, but a large amount of obloquy to boot, from those who went in search of the assets of the business, but could not find them. After the innocent scape-goat had sustained his unmerited share of reproach and imprisonment, he was set free, upon which he retired to his father's humble dwelling. He was soon to emerge into the world in a new character. To his remarkable powers of application and abstraction, by which he was enabled to acquire so many languages, he added the higher qualities of taste and imagina- tion, so that the study of poetry and the occupation of verse-making had been alternated with his graver pursuits. He now set himself in earnest to attempt authorship as a poet, and the result was " Anster Fair," not only the first, but the best of all the productions he has given to the world. Its chances of fame were at first extremely precarious, for it appeared in 1811 in a humble unpre- tending form, and from the obscure press of an Anstruther publisher. It was thus accessible to few except the peasants and shopkeepers of Fife, who had no fitting relish for such poetical caviare; so that, after languishing a year un- noticed it might have passed into oblivion, but for one of those simple accidents that sometimes arrest a work of merit in full transit, and restore it to its proper place. Lord Woodhouselee, the accomplished scholar and critic, having seen the little volume, perused it— and to read it, was to admire and appreciate. Anxious to know who the author was— for the poem was published anony- mously—and to make his merits known to the world, he applied to Mr. Cock- burn, the Anstruther publisher, for information, in the following letter:— "Sir,— I have lately read, with a very high degree of pleasure, a small poetical performance, which, I observe, bears your name as publisher on the title-page. The author of 'Anster Fair' cannot long remain concealed. It contains, in my opinion, unequivocal marks of strong original genius, a vein of humour of an uncommon cast, united with a talent for natural description of the most vivid and characteristic species, and, above all, a true feeling of the sublime— forming altogether one of the most pleasing and singular combina- tions of the different powers of poetry that I have ever met with. Unless the author has very strong reasons for concealing his name, I must own that I should be much gratified by being informed of it. "Alex. Fraser Tytlkr." WILLIAM TENNANT. 551 After this, " Anster Fair " began to be read in circles where it could be best appreciated, and a criticism in the " Edinburgh Review," from the discriminat- ing pen of Jeffrey, in 1814, established the character of the poem as one of tlie most talented and remarkable productions of its kind that had yet appeared. Its merits are thus summed up by the lynx-eyed, accomplislied critic : " The great charm of this singular composition consists, no doubt, in the profusion of images and groups which it thrusts upon the fancy, and the crowd, and hurry, and animation with which they are all jostled and driven along; but this, though a very rare merit in any modern production, is entitled perhaps to less distinction than the perpetual sallies and outbreakings of a rich and poetical imagination, by which the homely themes on which the author is professedly employed, are constantly ennobled or contrasted, and in which the ardour of a mind evidently fitted for higher tasks is somewhat capriciously expended. It is this frequent kindling of the diviner spirit — this tendency to rise above the trivial subjects among which he has chosen to disport himself, and this power of connecting grand or beautiful conceptions with the repre- sentation of vulgar objects or ludicrous occurrences — that first recommended this poem to our notice, and still seem to us to entitle it to more general notoriety. The author is occupied, no doubt, in general with low matters, and bent upon homely mirth, but his genius soars up every now and then in spite of him ; and ' his delights' — to use a quaint expression of Shakspeare— ' his delights Are dolphin-like, and show their backs above The element they move in.' " Thus far the critic. The groundwork which the poet selected for this diversified and gorgeous superstructure, was as unpromising as it well could be, for it was the dirty and unpicturesque Loan of Anster; the sports were sack-racing, ass-racing, and a yelling competition of bagpipes; and the chief personages of the tale were Maggie Laudei-, a nymph of less than doubtful reputation in the songs and legends of Fife, and Rob the Ranter, a swaggering, deboshed bagpiper, of no better character. All this, however, was amplified into a tale of interest, as well as purified and aggrandized by redeeming touches; so that, while Maggie under liis hands became a chaste bride, and Rob the pink of rural yeomanry, Puck, almost as kingly as Oberon himself, and his tiny dame, scarcely less fair than Titania, take a part in the revels. And the exuberant wit that sparkles, effervesces, and bubbles o'er the brim — the mirth and fun, that grow fast and furious as the dancing nimble-footed stanzas proceed — for all this, too, we can find a sufficient cause, not only in the temperament of the poet, but the peculiar circumstances under which the poem was produced. For Tennant himself, although a cripple, so that he could not move except upon crutches, was requited for the loss by a buoyancy of spirit, that bore him more lightly through the ills of life than most men. In addition to this, also, it must be remembered that he had been impoverished, imprisoned, and villified ; and that "Anster Fair" was tlie natural rebound of a happy cheerful spirit, that sought and found within itself a briglit and merry world of its own, in which it could revel to the full, undisturbed by debts, duns, writs, empty pockets, and sour malignant gossipred. What were John Doe and Richard Roe compared with Rob the Ranter and his bi-ight- haired Maggie, or with Puck and his little Mab fresh from their imprisonment of 552 WILLIAM TENNANT. mustard-pot and pepper-box ? These were circumstances that made him write in such a rattling mirtliful strain as he never afterwards reached, when every aid of an honoured and prosperous condition stood obedient beside his learned chair. As for the mechanical structure of the poem, this too was happily suited to the subject, being as completely out of the beaten track as the tale itself. The following is his own account of it in his original preface : " The poem is written in stanzas of octave rhyme, or the ottava rima of the Italians, a measure said to be invented by Boccaccio, and after him employed by Tasso and Ariosto. From these writers it was transferred into English poetry by Fairfax, in his translation of "Jerusalem Delivered," but since his days has been by our poets, perhaps, too little cultivated. The stanza of Fairfax is here shut with the 'Alexandrine' of Spenser, that its close may be more full and sounding." It was not the least of Tennant's poetical achievements, that he restored this long-neglected stanza into full use in English poetr}'. It was adopted by Lord Byron in his " Beppo " and " Don Juan," and has since been followed by a whole host of imitators, both in the serious and comic strain. As it was not by poetry, however, that William Tennant meant to live, he set himself in earnest to the humble and laborious, but less precarious occupa- tion of a schoolmaster, for which he had been originally designed. In 1813, he was so fortunate as to be appointed teacher of a school in the parish of Denino, a district situated between Anstruther and St. Andrews, and about five miles from the last-named seat of learning. And it speaks not a little for his contented spirit and moderate wishes, that he accepted a situation yielding only £40 a year, at a time when his poetical reputation had obtained a fair start in the race, while his acquirements as a linguist could scarcely have been matched in Scotland. But for the present he was fully content with a quiet little cottage, and access to the stores of St. Andrews' college library ; and here, without any other teacher than books, he made himself master of the Syriac, Persian, and Arabic languages. From his limited means he also published a second edition of '• Anster Fair," much superior in typography and external appearance to the humble little volume that had first issued from the press of Anstruther. After labouring three years at Denino, where he had little literary society of any kind, except that of Hugh Cleghorn, Esq., of Stravithie, and the minister of the parish, Tennant was promoted to the more lucrative situation of schoolmaster of Lasswade, chiefly through the kind offices of Mr. George Thomson, the friend and correspondent of Burns. Besides the superior means which he now possessed of pursuing his beloved studies, his near- ness to the capital and his growing reputation brought him into full intercourse with the distinguished literary society with which Edinburgh at this time abounded, so that, both as linguist and poet, his social spirit found ample grati- fication. At Lasswade he continued to perform the duties of a parish school- master, when a further rise in office awaited him. The newly established and richly endowed institution of Dollar was in want of a teacher of the classical and Oriental languages, and as Tennant's reputation was now deservedly high, not onl}'^ for his scholarship, but — what was of far greater importance — his power of making others good scholars as well as himself, he was appointed to this profitable and important charge, in January, 1819. Even yet, however, he had not attained a promotion that was fully adequate to his merits, for in the highest charge which profound and varied scholarship could reacli, he WILLIAM TENNATvT. 553 would have been found the best fitted to occupy it. The opportunity seemed to occur in 1831, when the chair of Oriental languages in St. Mary's College, St. Andrews, became vacant, and Tennant offered himself as candidate for the professorship, and had almost succeeded, his claims and those of his rival, Dr. Scott, minister of Corstorphine, having been for some time doubtfully deliberated by the crown authorities. Tlie latter, however, was preferred, and Tennant continued three years longer at Dollar, when, by the death of Dr. Scott, he was, on the strength of his former competition, appointed to the professorsliip. In this way the author of " Anster Fair," by a series of steps, ascended from the lowest to one of the highest grades of Scottish academical distinction. But while he was thus struggling onward as a teacher, and at every stage adding to his philological acquirements, he did not lose sight of that poetical character through which he had first risen into notice. Some years, therefore, after his Anstrutlier production, he produced a new poem, entitled " Papistry Storm'd, or the Dingin' doun o' the Cathedral." The subject, as may be guessed, was the demolition of the cathedral of St. Andrews, the metropolitan church of Scotland at the commencement of the Reformation ; and in the style of the narrative he endeavoured to imitate the quaint and vigorous manner of Sir David Lyndesay. But it was not easy for a poet of the 19th century to imitate one who impersonated the very fashion and spirit of the IGth; and, therefore, it is no wonder that the attempt was a failure. Had there been a "No Popery" cry, or had the poem been published in the present da\', the subject, independently of the intrinsic merits of the work, might have forced it into wide though temporary popularity; but as it was, the age had not yet got reconciled to the demolition of the stately strongholds of Antichrist, and, therefore, his "Dingin' doun o' the Cathedral,' was as complete a downfall as the eversion it tried to commemorate. The next poetical attempt of Tennant was a poem of the epic character, which he published in 1822, under the title of the " Thane of Fife," having for its theme the invasion of the east coast of Fife by the Danes in the 9ih century-, when Constantine, the Scottish king, was slain, and the enemy obtained a footing on the coast of Fifeshire, to the great advantage of our fishing vil- lages, and the provision of skate, haddocks, and oysters for the tables of the present generation. But who of our living race could otherwise care for Hungar and his hard-knuckled belligerent Scandinavians, although the poet brought in Odin, the sire of gods and men, and Niord, the god of the winds, to back them? Therefore, although the poem was a vei-}^ good poem as far as the rules of epic poetry went — even better by half than Sir Richard Black- more's "Arthur" — and altliough the correctness of the Runic mythology was such that an ancient Scald would have translated it into a rune witliout altera- tion, the "Thane of Fife" was such an utter failure, that it met with less acceptance than its predecessor. Luckily, only the first part of the poem, con- sisting of six cantos, was published; the rest, like the story of " Cambuscan Bold," or of " The Wondrous Horse of Brass," remained unsung. Only a year after the " Thane " (in 1823J, Tennant published his "Cardinal Beaton, a Tragedy, in five acts." This dramatic poem few have read, and of that few not half of the number would greatly care to remember it. The subject itself is a noble one, and the character of the cardinal, that "less than a king, .yet greater," was amply fitted to develope the very highest of poetic V. 4 a 554 JAMES THOM. talent. But, unluckily, the poet, instead of exhibiting this bold bad man with the lofty regal and intellectual qualities which he undoubtedly possessed, has stuck to the sordid and sensual vices with which Beaton was chargeable, and has thus converted him into a mere vulgar incubus. In fact, he has made him talk, not in the elevated language of one to whom high designs, by which Europe itself was to be shaken, were familiar, but rather alter the fashion of the vulgar sensualist, who, in the phrase of Knox, " was busie at his compts with i.Ustris Marion Ogilbie." This was not a picture suited to the improved tastes of the day, and therefore the public would none of "Cardinal Beaton." Undeterred by the failure of this attempt in dramatic poetry, Tennant, in 1825, published " John Baliol," and only added another unit to his failures. His adoption of the " toom tabard" as his hero, seemed to intimate that his own wits were run out, and the poem therefore fared as its namesake had done — it was deposed and sent into oblivion. The public now wondered, and well it might, that the rich promise given in "Anster Fair" had been so poorly redeemed. What had become of that ungovernable wit that had burst its bounds, and overflowed in such profusion ? A single stanza of Rob the Ran- ter was worth fifty Baliols and Beatons to boot. Fortunately for Tennanfs character as a poet, his retirement from the stage was calm and graceful. His last work, which he published in 1845, entitled "Hebrew Dramas, founded on Incidents in Bible History," and consisting of three dramatic compositions, illustrative of characters and events mentioned in the earlier part of the Old Testament, are free of the extravagance and bad taste of his former productions, while they abound in passages of poetical dignity and gracefulness. It will easily be surmised, however, from the foregoing statements, that Tennant would have ranked higher as a poet, had he abandoned poetry altogether after his first fortunate hit. It would seem as if he had either poured out all his poetical genius in this one happy attempt, or dried it up in those verbal studies that occupied him wholly to the lust. As a prose writer, Tennant, like other great masters of languages, never attained any high distinction. It would be too mucli, indeed, to expect from a man who has acquired a dozen or a score of tongues, that he should possess the same power over the world of thouglit. Accordingly, although he was a contributor to the " Edinburgh Literary Journal," his articles, which chiefly consisted of a correspondence with the Ettrick Shepherd about a new metrical version of the P&alms, do not exhibit any peculiar excellence. His prose, indeed, is as stifle and artificial as if it were a translation, leaving the reader to suspect that he could have written it every whit as well in Syriac or llindos- tanee. It seemed, indeed, as if, in the study of so many languages, he had partly forgot his own. By a system of rigid economy, which his early condition had probably taught him, Tennant became proprietor of the pleasant villa of Devongrove, near Dol- lar, where he usually spent the summer months at the close of each college session; and there his library was his world, and its books his chief companions. There, also, his peaceful life passed away, on the 15th of October, 1848, in con- sequence of a cold of two yeais standing, by which his constitution was ex- hausted. THOM, James. — This wonderful self-taught sculptor, wliose productions excited such general interest, uas born, we believe, in Ayrshire, and in the CEORGE THOMSON. 555 year 1701). tuch is all that we can ascertain of his early history', except the additional fact, that he was bronght np to the trade of a mason or stone-cutter, in which humble and laborious occupation he continued unnoticed until he started at once into fame. This was occasioned by his celebrated group of "Tarn o' Shanter," where the figures of that well-known legend, as large as life, were chiselled out of the material upon which he had been accustomed to work — the Scotch gray-stone. No sooner was this singular production un- veiled to the public gaze, then every one recognized the likeness of personages who had long been familiar to their thoughts, and who were now thus strangely embodied, as if they had been recalled from the grave. Tarn himself, happier than a king — the Souter in the midst of one of his queerest stories — and the "couthie" landlady, supplying the materials of still further enjoyment, until it should reach its utmost, and enable "heroic Tarn" to encounter and sur- mount the terrible witches' sabbath that was awaiting him at Alloway Kirk — all these, in feature, expression, figure, attitude, and costume, were so admirably embodied, that encli seemed ready to rise up and walk : and so truthfully withal, that in each impersonation the delighted beholder saw an old acquaint- ance. While such was the fitness of the humblest classes for the task of criticism, and while such was the manner in which it was expressed, the same approving feelings were uttered by those who were conversant with the highest rules of art, and conversant with the productions of ancient Greece and modern Italy. Here was evidently a kindred genius with Burns himself — one who had expressed in stone what the poet had uttered in words; and the admira- tion which had been exclusively reserved for the "Ayrshire ploughman," was now fully shared by the Ayrshire stone cutter, who had shown himself such an able and congenial commentator. Thom having thus attained, by a single stride, to high celebrity, and been recognized as the Canova of humble everyday life, was not allowed to remain idle; orders for statues and groups poured in upon him, which brought him not only fame but fortune; and his productions in gray-stone, the first material in which he had wrought, and to which he still adhered, were eagerly sought, as choice ornaments for princely halls and stately classical gardens. After Mr. Thom had been for some time thus employed in London, he found it necessary to visit America, in consequence of the agent who had been com- missioned to exhibit his " Tarn o' Shanter " group and that of "Old ]\Iortality," by the proprietors of these statues, having made no returns, either in money or report of proceedings. In this pursuit he was partially successful; and having been gratified with his reception by the Americans, lie resolved to become a citizen of the United States. In his new adopted country, his fame soon became as extensive as in the old, so that his chisel was in frequent demand for copies of those admirable statues upon which his fame had been established. To this, also, he joined the profession of builder and architect ; and as his frugality kept pace with his industry, in the course of twelve or fourteen years of his residence in America, he acquired a comfortable competence. He died of consumption, at his lodgings in New York, on the 17th of April, 1850, at the age of fifty-one. THOMSON, Gf.okge.— Independently of the merited reputation he acquired for his successful labours in Scottish music and song, he will go down to pos- terity as the "friend and correspondent of Burns." In the very brief sketch which he has given of his own life till 1038, written for " The Land of Burns," 55Q GEORGE THOMSON. a valuable and well-known publication, he states that he was born at Lime- kilns in Fife, and, as he supposes, about 17o9, at least he was so informed; for at the time of writing, although touching on his eightieth year, he found him- self so liale and vigorous, that, as he playfully adds, he could scarcely persuade himself that he was so old. His father was a teacher at Limekilns, and after- wards in the town of Banff; and at this latter place George was taught by his parent the elements of education, and afterwards sent to study Latin and Greek at the grammar-school. From Banff his father, wlio had been struggling for some time in vain for a moderate livelihood, removed to Edinburgh, and liere his son, now seventeen years old, soon obtained a situation as clerk in the office of a writer to the signet. In this situation he remained till 1780, when, through the recommendation of Mr. John Home, author of the tragedy of Douglas, he was appointed junior clerk to the honourable Board of Trustees, and soon after, on the death of the principal clerk, he was promoted to that vacant office. Here he found himself so comfortable in worldly circumstances, and so highly esteemed by ]\Ir. Robert Arbuthnot, the secretary of the board, and afterwards by Sir William, his son and successor, that he had no desire to risk his present happiness in search of more, and accordingly he continued in this situation until the close of his long and well-spent life. On having thus established himself in comfort, Mr. George Thomson performed what he calls the " wisest act of his life," for at the age of twenty-five he married Miss Miller, daughter of Lieutenant Miller, of the 50tli regiment, a lady who made him the happy father of two sons and four daughters. The tastes of Thomson from an early period were those that are best qualified to foster such a happj^ contented spirit. He saw that there were other aims in life than that of seeking adventures, and purer pleasures to be enjoyed than that of making money. In boyhood, a love of the beautiful led his heart to the study of music and painting, and these attractive pursuits he continued to cherish in the society of their ablest professors. It was a most unwonted occu- pation, as some can still remember, for a young lawyer's clerk in the city of Edinburgh, in the latter part of the 18th century; and in Mr. Thomson's case, no small amount of devoted enthusiasm must have been required to meet the ridicule of his companions, or resist their invitations, that would have drawn him from his path. But he persevered in his own way, and soon found that the fine arts, like virtue itself, are their own reward. As one of these is gene- rally found sufficient for the final occupation of one man, music obtained the preference, and his retrospections, in old age, of the musical evenings of Iiis early days among those who were of kindred spirit with himself, in some measure serve to redeem even the Edinburgh of that period from its notorious grossness. " Having studied the violin," he tells us, " it was my custom, after the hours of business, to con over our Scottish melodies, and to devour the choruses of Handel's oratorios, in which, when performed at St. Cecilia's Hall, I generally took a part, along with a few other gentlemen — Mr. Alexander Wight, one of the most eminent counsel at the bar; Mr. Gilbert Innes, of Stow; Mr. John Russel, W.S.; Mr. John Hutton, &c. — it being then not uncommon for grave amateurs to assist at the Cecilia concerts, one of the most interesting and liberal musical institutions that ever existed in Scotland, or, indeed, in any country. I had so much delight in singing those matchless choruses, and in practising the violin quartettos of Pleyel and Haydn, that it was with joy I hailed the hour when, like the young amateur in the good old Scotch GEORGE THOMSON. 557 song, I could hie me haiiie to my Cremona, and enjoy Haydn's admirable fancies : — ' I still was pleas'd, vrliero'er I went ; and when I was alone I screw'd my pegs, and pleas'd myself with John o' Badenyon.' " Although music was his recreation, not his profession, George Thomson could not long content himself with being merely a musical dilettante. Like Burns, he resolved to do something for "puir auld Scotland's sake," in the way that nature and training had best qualified him. Might he not make a national collection of our best melodies and songs, and obtain for them suitable accom- paniments? With this patriotic ambition lie was inspired by the arrival of that celebrated miisico, Signer Tenducci, into Scotland — the iirst man of his kind, be it observed, who had ever visited the country, and who brought to Scottish ears a style of singing of which they previously could have little 0¥ no conception. The enterprise which Mr. Thomson thus contemplated was one of the most daring and self-denying description. There was the toil of collecting, arranging, and improving to be undergone; there was the expense of publishing such a costly work to be encountered. If it succeeded, there was no hope of profit to be obtained from it, or, at least, of profit adequate to the toil ; and if it failed, he was certain to be buried in the ruin of the downfall, amidst the jeers of those who would wonder that a lawyer should have em- barked in such an undertaking. But it was now the great business of his lifcj and he was ready to stake life itself upon the issue. At the very commencement of his labour, he was confronted by difficulties under which most persons would have succumbed. "On examining with great attention," he says, " the various collections on which I could by any means lay my hands, I found them all more or less exceptionable; a sad mixture of good and evil, the pure and the impure. The melodies in general were with- out any symphonies to introduce and conclude them; and the accompaniments (for the piano only) meagre and common-place; while the verses united with the melodies were, in a great many instances, coarse and vulgar, the productions of a rude age, and such as could not be tolerated or sung in good society." He first obtained the melodies tliemselves, both in print and manuscript, and after comparing copies, and hearing them sung by his fair friends, he selected the copy which he found the most simple and beautiful. His next work was to obtain accompaniments to these airs, and symphonies to introduce and conclude them ; and for this purpose he applied to Pleyel, at that time at the height of his musical popularity. As the collection grew upon his hands, Thomson found that more extensive aid than that of Pleyel was necessar^^; and accord- ingly, after dividing the numerous airs which he thought worthy of preserva- tion into different portions, he transmitted them to Haydn, Beethoven, Weber, Hummel, and other musicians, at that time the most distinguished in Europe, to whom his commission was a welcome one — for they at once appreciated the beauties of our national melodies, at that time little known beyond the boundary of the Tweed, and composed for them such rich original accompaniments, as have imparted to them all the superiority as well as permanence of an established classical music. It was, indeed, a glorious achievement that made such lilts as tlie "Broom of the Cowdenknowes," "O'er the muir amang the heather," or " Logan Water," become almost as much at home on the banks of the Seine, the Rhine, or the Dueiper, as they had hitherto been among their native 55S Gi:ORGE THOMSON. streamlets. From the Grampians to the Himalayas, every luountain was thenceforth to re-echo with the music of Scotland. The poetry, which was the last, Avas also the greatest of Thomson's diffi- culties. It was needi'ul that such lays, now so beautiful and adorned, sliould be "married to immortal verse;" but where was he to find the Cupid of such a Psyche? Some, indeed, of the old songs were every way worthy of the music \vith which they were embodied ; but these were so few, that while of tlie Scottish muse it was too justly sai i, ' Iligh-kilted was she As she gaeJ o'er the lea," our worthy countryman felt that in such a trim she could not be allowed to go inland, to provoke the scoff and merriment of proud conceited foreigners. But the hour brought the man — the soul of Scottish song to the body of Scottish melody — the Promethean fire to the beautifully modelled clay. Burns was living, for whose poetry no loveliness or grandeur of music could be too much; and when Thomson, in a happy hour, applied to him for co-operation, and unfolded to him the nature of his work, the great bard threw himself into the undertaking with all his characteristic enthusiasm. It needed but this to make the work perfect, for when has the world ever seen such a song-maker? It needed also a noble occasion like this to make Burns put forth his uttermost, and surpass all that he had as yet accomplished, for by far the choicest of his poetry is certainly to be found in Thomson's Collection. The correspondence between the musical lawyer and the poetical ploughman, which extended from 1792 till the death of the latter in 1796, while it is full of wit, vivacity, and hearty patriotic ardour in the good work in which they were engaged, reflects high credit not only upon the critical taste and vigorous intellect of George Thomson, but also upon his affectionate feelings, and honourable upright dis- position. It is the more necessary to announce this fact, as, after the death of Burns, certain anonymous biographers presumed to state that Thomson, after securing the services of the poet to a large extent, had churlishly and unjustly refused to refund them. A single glance at the correspondence between them, which was published by Dr. Currie, is sufficient to refute this odious calumny, independently of the subsequent attestations of Thomson himself. It will there be seen that the latter, although engaged in so precarious and costly an undertaking, invited the assistance of the bard with offers of a fair remunera- tion ; and that although Burns gladly embarked in the enterprise, he sturdily- stipulated that his contributions should be accepted gratuitously, or not at all. It will also be seen that, after some time, Thouison, impatient at receiving such rich donations without requital, ventured, in the most delicate manner, to transmit to the poet a sum of money, at which the latter was so indignant, that he vowed, if the offence was repeated, he would drop the correspondence at once and for ever. It is well known that Burns entertained, among his other peculiarities, such lofty notions of independence as would have stopped all reciprocity in the interchange of favours, and thrown an impassable gulf between giver and receiver, or even debtor and creditor. He would bestow, and that largely and freel}-, but he would not for an instant stoop to receive ; his songs must be considered as either beyond price or not worth purchase. Had he lived in the present da^', when genius and poetical inspiration are as marketable as the commodities in the bakehouse or shambles upon which they REV. JOHN THOMSON. 559 are nourished ; and had he seen, not starveling threadbare authors, but high- born dames and mighty earls, haggling about the price of their productions, and stickling upon a few shillings more or less per sheet, against the calculating and demurring publisher; he would have learned, that even poetry has its price, and that a Milton himself might exact it to the last doit, without imping- ing upon his dignity. Of these matchless contributions which Burns transmitted to Thomson, it is enough to state, that during the course of four short years, they amounted to more than 120. He also fully empowered Mr. Thomson to make use of all the songs he had written for Johnson's " Scots Musical Museum." But during the lifetime of Burns, only six of his productions appeared in Thomson's collection. On the death of the poet, Mr. Thomson, had he been avaricious, might have turned the rich contributions which he had on hand to his own account, by publishing them as a separate work ; for they had been unreservedly given to him, and were his own unquestionable property. But on learning that the poetical works of his friend were about to be republished in behalf of the poet's family, he transmitted the whole of these contributions to Dr. Currie, as well as the correspondence, by which the value of the publication was immeasurably enhanced, and ample profits realized for the bereaved survivors. Little, indeed, did Burns imagine, that such a controversy would ever have been raised ; and still less would he have thanked the ill-advised zeal of those who endeavoured to heighten the public sympathy in behalf of his memory, by traducing the character of a man whom he had so highly and justly esteemed. After the completion of his great national work, little remains in the life of George Thomson that is of public interest. He left the Trustees' office in 1838, after a long course of usefulness in that department; and on the Septem- ber of that 3'ear he went to London, where he took up his residence, and after- wards to Brigliton. In June, 1845, he returned to Edinburgh, and three years afterwards went again to the British metropolis ; but after little more than a year of residence there, he came back at the close of 1849 to the city in which all his early affections were enshrined. He was now so old that it seemed as if the day of his death could not be distant; and as he trode the streets of Edin- burgh, now one of the oldest of its inhabitants, he must have felt that this was no longer the world in which he had once lived. But still his cheerfulness was unbroken, and his enjoyment of happiness undiminished, and his letters of this period, written in the regular formal text-like hand of our great grandfathers, are as juvenile and buoyant as his productions of a former century. In this way the "time-honoured" lived till the 16th of February-, 1853, when he was gathered to his fathers after a few days' illness, and with a gentle departure, in which he suffered little pain, and enjoyed the full possession of all his faculties to the last. Independently of his invaluable services to Scottish Song, his name will go down to posterity from being associated with that of Burns, whose memory ages will continue to cherish. THOMSON, Rkv. John.— The title of the Scottish Claude Lorraiu which this reverend candidate for distinction acquired, at once announces the walk in whicli he excelled, and the progress he attained in it. He was born in Dailly, Ay'rshire, on the 1st of September, 1778, and was the fourth and youngest son of tlie Rev. Thomas Thomson, minister of the parish of Dailly. As he was destined by his father at an early age for the ministry, John's studies in boyhood were directed with a reference to this sacred calling; but already, he 560 REV. JOHN THOMSON. liad unconsciously made a choice for himself, and such a choice as was little in coincidence with the wonted occupations of a country pastor. Instead of sub- mitting to the drudgery of the school room and the study, the young 1)oy was to be found afield, roaming in quest of the beautiful and the picturesque, for whicli the banks of the water of Girvan are so justly famed; and to extend these explorations, he frequently rose at two o'clock in a summer morning, and made a journey of miles, that he might watch the effect of sunrise, as it fell upon different portions of the scenery, or played among the folia2:e with which the cliffs and hill tops were clothed. What he thus appreciated and admired, he was anxious to delineate, and this he did on pasteboard, i>aper, or the walls of the house, while his only materials for painting were the ends of burnt sticks, or the snuffings of candles. This was by no means the most hopeful of pre- parations for the ministry, and so he was told by his fathei-, while he was in- formed at the same time, that the pulpit was to be his final destination. John at first stood aghast, and then wept at the intelligence. He was already a painter with all his heart and soul, and how then could he be a minister? He even knelt to the old man, and besouglit him with tears in his eyes to let him follow out his own favourite bent ; but the father in reply only patted the boy's head, bidding him be a good scholar, and go to his Latin lessons. In this way, like many Scottish j-ouths of the period, John Thomson, throush mistaken parental zeal, was thrust forward towards that most sacred of offtces for which, at the time at least, he felt no inclination. As nothing remained for him but submission, the embryo painter j'ielded to necessity, and in due time was sent to the university of Edinburgh. There, besides the learned languages, he earnestly devoted his attention to the pliysical sciences, and became a respectable proficient in astronomy, geology, optics, and chemistry. While in Edinburgh, he lodged with his brother, Thomas Thom- son, afterwards the distinguished antiquarian, who was twelve years his senior, and at that time a candidate for the honours of the bar ; and in consequence of this connection, John was frequently brought into the company of Walter Scott, Francis Jeffrey, and other rising luminaries of the literai-y world, who had commenced their public life as Scottish barristers. It was impossible for the young student to mingle in such society without catching its intellectual inspiration; and he showed its effect by the proficiency he made in the dif- ferent departments of his university curriculum, as well as the acquisition of general knowledge, and his facility in imparting it. Such was his career during the winter months ; but when the return of summer released him from attend- ance on his classes, he sliowed his prevailing bent by an escape into the country, wliere the green earth and the blue sky were the volumes on which he delighted to pore. During the last session of his stay at college, he also attended for a month the lessons in drawing of Alexander Nasmyth, the teacher of so many of our Scottish artists, by whose instructions as well as his own diligent appli- cation, he improved himself in the mechanical departments of pictorial art. Having finished the usual course of theology, John Thomson, at the age of twenty-one, was licensed as a preacher; and his father having died a few months after, he succeeded him as minister of Dailly in 1800. A short time after his settlement as a country clergyman, he married Miss Ramsay, daughter of the Rev. John Ramsay, minister of Kirkmichael, Ayrshire. He had now full inclination (and he took full leisure also) to pursue his favourite bent, and thus, the pencil was as often in his hand as tlie pen, while the landscapes which he EEV. JOHN THOMSON. 561 painted and distributed among his friends, diffused his reputation as an artist over the country. But little did the good folks of Dailly rejoice in his growing fame: in their eyes, a minister who painted pictures, was as heinous a defaulter as the divine who actually played "upon the sinfu' sma' fiddle;" and this, with his buoyant fancy and exuberant spirits, which were sometimes supposed to tread too closely upon the bounds that separate clergymen from ordinary mortals, made the rustics suspect that their pastor was not strictly orthodox. This dislike of his strange pictorial pursuits, which they could not well com- prehend, and his mirthful humour, wliich they could comprehend too well — for r^Ir. Thomson, at this time, could draw caricatures as well as landscapes — excited the attention of his brethren of the presbytery, one of the eldest of whom (so goes the story) was sent to remonstrate with him on the subject. The culprit listened in silence, and with downcast eyes; and, at the end of the admonition, was found to have sketched, or rather etched, an amusing likeness of his rebuker with the point of a pin upon hi? thumb-nail. The incumbency of IMr. Thomson in Dailly was a short one, as in 1805 he was translated to the parish of Duddingston, a picturesque village within a mile of Edinburgh, and having the manse situated on the edge of its lake. In the neighbourhood of the northern metropolis, now rising into high literary celebrity, surrounded with scenery which can scarcely anywhere be surpassed, and by a society that could well appreciate his artistic excellence, he gave full scope to his hitherto half-imprisoned predilections, while his improvement continued to keep pace with the number of his productions. lie was soon noted as a land- scape painter of the first order; and such was the multitude of commissions that poured upon him, that sometimes nine carnages could be counted at the manse door, while at one period his revenue from this profitable source did not fall short of £1800 per annum. Who can here fail to regret the over-eager zeal of his father, by which such a painter was compelled to adopt the ministerial office; or be slow to perceive, that these were not the kind of applications that should beset a clergyman's dwelling? True, the pulpit of Duddingston was regularly occupied on the Sabbath, and the usual number of sermons preached ; but Edinburgh was close at hand, and abounded with probationers whose offices could be secured at a day's notice. In the meantime, as years went onward, Mr. Thomson's love of rich and striking scenery continued unabated, and his long pilgrimages in quest of it as ardent and frequent as ever. Often, indeed, he was to be found travelling with Grecian Williams, long before dawn, towards some selected spot, where they wished to delineate its appearance at the first sunrise ; and having reached it, the enthusiastic pair would sketch and retouch, until each had depicted the view according to his own perceptions and tastes, communicating from time to time the progress tliey were making, and playing the part of friendly critics on each other's productions. On returning to his home from these excursions, it was commonly a change from the beauties of nature to the charms of conversation and social intercourse ; for the manse of Duddingston was famed for hospitality, while the artistic reputation of its tenant was so high and so widely spread abroad, that few strangers of distinction in the fine arts arrived in Edinburgh without visiting Mr. Thomson. Indepen- dently, too, of his conversational talents, and warm-hearted aff'ectionate dis- position, that endeared him to his guests, and made his society universally courted, ]\Ir. Thomson was almost as enthusiastic a lover of music as of paint- ing, and played both on the violin and flute with admirable skill. Nor were v. 4 B the more intellectual studies of his eavlier days neglected amidst the full enjoy- ment of society, and his increasing popularity as an artist, and several articles on the departments oi" pliysical science which he wrote in the " Edinburgh Review," were conspicuous even in that distinguished journal for the vigour of their style and clearness of their arguments. Such a course of uninterrupted felicity would at last have become cloying; for man, as long as he is, man and not angel, must weep and suffer "as well as laugh and rejoice, in order to be as happy as his mixed and imperfect nature will permit. This the minister of Duddingston undoubtedly knew, and besides knowing, he was fated to experience it. For in the midst of his success, and when his young family was most dependent upon maternal care, he became a widower. The evil, heavy as it was, was not irremediable, and in fitting time a comforter was sent to him, and sent in such romantic fashion as to enhance the value ot the consolation. An amiable and attractive lad}^ daughter of j\Ir. Spence, the distinguished London dentist, and widow of Mr. Dalrymple cf Cleland, hap- pened one day, when visiting Edinburgh, to step into a picture-shop, where she saw a painting of the Fall of Foyers. Struck with the originality and beauty of this production, she eagerly asked the name of the artist, and was astonished to find that it was Mr. Thornton of Duddingston ; for, although she had seen several of his former paintings, none of them was to be compared to this. She was anxious to be personally acquainted with the author of such a painting — and such an anxiety seldom remains ungratified. She was soon introduced to him by mutual friends, and the first time that Thomson saw her, he said to himself, "That woman must be my wife ; never have I beheld for years a woman with whom I could sympathize so deeply." The result may be easily guessed. In a short time, she became Mrs. Thomson; and seldom, in the romance of marriage, has a couple so well assorted been brought together, or that so effec- tually promoted the happiness of each other. Independently of her taste in painting, she was, like himself, an ardent lover of music ; and such was her ear- nest desire to promote the cultivation of the latter art, that she set up a musical class at the manse, which was attended not only by the most tasteful of the young parishioners of Duddingston, but by several pupils from Edinburgh, all of whom she instructed of course gratuitously. Two minds so assimilated could not fail to be happy, unless there had been a dogged determination to be otherwise, which was not in their nature, and, accordingly, the domestic ingle of Dudding- stou manse beamed brighter than ever. As if all this, too, had not been enough, an event occurred by which every chivalrous feeling in the heart of Mr. Thomson was gratified to the full. His eldest son was first mate of the "Kent" East Indiaman, that took fire and went down at sea— an event that was associated with such circumstances of heroic devotedness, that it is still fresh in the memory of the present generation. At this trying crisis, when the captain was stunned with the magnitude of the danger, and unable to issue the necessary orders, young Thomson assumed the command, and used it with such judicious- ness, promptitude, and presence of mind, that the whole ship's crew and pas- sengers were extricated from the conflagration, and conveyed to the shore in safety, while he was himself the last to leave the vessel. The paintings of j\Ir. Thomson were so numerous, that it would be difficult to attempt a list of them, more especially as they were exclusively devoted to portions of Scottish scenery over the whole extent of the country. As tlie manse of Duddingston commanded a full view of the castle of Craigmillar, and DR. THOMAS THOMSON. 563 tlie picturesque landscape that surrounds it, he made this stately ruin and its accompaniments the subject of many a painting from different points of view, and under every variety of liglit — from tlie full blaze of an autumnal noon da}', to the soft half-shadowy outline and tint of a midnight moon. The striking towers and fortalices along the Scottish coast — famed as the ancient residences of the champions of our national independence, from DunstafFnage, Dunluce, and Wolfs Crag, down to the humble peel upon the rocky sea-shore — were also the subjects of his pencil ; and when these were exhausted, he devoted himself to the romantic inland scenery, which the genius of Scott had but lately opened, not only to the world, but his own countrymen — the Tr )sachs, Loch Acliray, and Achray Water, as well as the more familiar scenes of Ben- blafFen, Glenfishie, Loch Lomond, Loch Etive, and others, in which land and water, striking outline, change of light and shade, and rich diversit}- of hue, are so dear to the painter of nature, as well as the general tourist. As Mr. Thomson was not a professional artist, in the proper acceptation of the term, he was not eligible for the honour of membership among the royal Academicians; but his paintings, nevertheless, were gladly received into their Annual Exhibi- tions; while his merits, instead of being regarded with jealous}', were acknow- ledged as occupying the front rank among the British masters of landscape- jiainting, and incontestibly the best which his own country had as yet produced. These indefatigable labours wera continued till 18-40, when symptoms of rapid constitutional decay began to manifest themselves, so that he was laid aside altogether from clerical duty ; and when autumn arrived, he occupied a sick- bed, without any prospect of recovery. His death was characteristic of that deep admiration and love of the beauty of nature which had distinguished him through life, and secured him a high name in the annals of his countrymen. On the 2Gth of October, feeling that his last hour was drawing nigh, he caused Iris bed to be wheeled towards the window, that he might look upon the sun- set of a bright afternoon ; and upon this beloved spectacle he continued to gaze until he swooned from exhaustion. This was his last effort, and he died at seven o'clock on the following morning. THOMSON, Thomas, M.D., F.R.S., Regius Professor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow. — This distinguished chemist was the seventh child and youngest son of John Thomson and Elizabeth Ewan, and was born at Crieff, on the 12th April, 1773. He was first educated at the parish school of Crieff, and was sent, in 178G, in his thirteenth year, for two years, by tlie advice of his brother, and of his uncle, the Rev. John Ewan, minister of tlie parish of Wliittingham, in East Lothian, a man of some independent means, to the borough school of Stirling, at that time presided over by Dr. Doig, tlie distinguished author of the " Letters on the Savage State." Here he acquired a thorough classical education, the benefits of which have been so signally manifested in his numerous improvements of chemical nomenclature now gene- rally adopted in the science. In consequence of having written a Latin Ilora- fian poem of considerable merit, his uncle was recommended, by Principal M'Cormack of St. Andrews, to advise that he should try for a bursary at that university, which was open to public competition. He accordingly went, in 1788, to that school of learning, and, having stood an examination, carried the scholarship, which entitled him to board and lodging at the university for three years. In 1791 he came to Edinburgh, and became tutor in the family of Mr. Kerr of Blackshields, one of his pupils being afterwards well known in con- 564 " DR. THOMAS THOMSON. nection with the bank of Leith. In session 179-1-5 he began the study of medicine, and in 1795 resided in Edinburgh with his elder brother, afterwards the Rev. James Thomson, D.D,, and still (1855) minister of the parish of Eccles, author of many articles in the " Encyclopedia," and of works on the Gospel b}' St. Luke and Acts, and who succeeded the late Bishop Walker as colleague to Dr. (afterwards Bishop) Gleig, in the editorship of the "Encyclo- paedia Britannica." In the session of 1795-6 Dr. Thomson attended the lectures of the celebrated Dr. Black, of whom he always spoke in terms of the utmost veneration, and of gratitude for those invaluable instructions which first awoke the latent taste for the science of which he was destined to become so bright an ornament. In this session he wrote the article " Sea" for the " Encyclopedia." In November, 1790, he succeeded his brother in the editorship of the third edition of the "EncyclopreJia," and remained con- nected with it till 1800. It was during this period that he drew up the first outline of his " System of Chemistry," wliich appeared in the Supplement to the " Encyclopedia," under the articles Chemistry, Mineralogy, Vegetable Substances, Animal Substances, and Dyeing Substances. These all appeared before the 10th December, 1800, when the preface was published, in which it is stated, by Dr. Gleig : of the author " of these beautiful articles, a man of like principles with Dr. Robison, it is needless to say anything, since the public seems to be fully satisfied that th&y prove their author eminently qualified to teach the science of chemistr^^" During the winter session of 1800-1, he gave his first chemical course with fifty-two pupils. Hence he appears to have been before the public as a lecturer for the long period of fil'tj'-two years, and, as he used latterly to sa}-, he believed he had lived to be the oldest teacher in Europe. It was in the article IMineralogy, written about 1798, that he first intro- duced the use of symbols into chemical science, universally acknowledged to be one of the most valuable improvements in modern chemistry. In this article he arranges minerals into genera, according to their composition. Thus his first genus is A, or alumina, under which are two species, topaz and corundum, in accordance with the analyses of the daj'. The second genus is A M C, coni- ])rising spinel), which, according to Vauquelin, contained alumina, magnesia, and chrome iron ore. The fourth genus is S, including the varieties of silica or quartz. The eighth genus is S A G, or silica, alumina, and glucina, includ- ing the emerald or beryl; and thus he proceeds throughout. In the editions of his " System," the first of which (a development of the original article in the Encyclopaedia) was published in 1802, he continued the same arrange- ment and symbols, and was thus not only the originator of s^-mbolic nomen- clature in modern chemistry, but was the first chemist to bring mineralogy systematically within the domain of tliat science. In the third edition of his " System," published in 180", in illustrating the atomic theory of Dalton, and in his article on oxalic acid, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1808, he freely uses symbols. Berzelius, who appeared some years later on the chemical stage, being Dr. Thomson's junior by five years, published a work in 1814, in Swedish, in which he adopted the system of symbols used by Dr. Thomson, with some modifications (the introduction of Latin initials in certain cases), but he strictly " followed the rules for this purpose given liy Thomson in his ' Sj'stem of Chemistry,'" (och skall dervid folga en enledning som Thomson gifvit i tin keniiska handbok). The work in wiiich this passage occurs, enti- DR. THOMAS THOMSON. 565 tied " Forsok att genom anvandandet af den electrokemiska theorien, &c.,grund- lagga for iiiineralogier," af J. Jacob Berzelius, Stockholm, 1814, p. 18, was sent by Berzelius to Dr. Thomson, in the same year, with a request, in a letter wliich is still extant, that he would endeavour to procure a translator for it. Dr. Thomson applied to Dr. Marcet and others without success ; but at last prevailed on his learned friend, John Black, Esq., who so ably conducted the " Morning Chronicle " for many years, to undertake the task. Dr. Thomson gi-aduated in 1799. He continued to lecture in Edinburgh till 1811, and during that time opened a laboratory for pupils, the first of the kind, it is believed, in Great Britain. Among those who worked in his laboratory was Dr. Henry of Man- chester, a chemist, for whom he had always the greatest regard, who had visited Edinburgh for the purpose of graduation, and who there made many of his ex- periments on the analysis of the constituents of coal gas. During this period likewise, Dr. Thomson made his important investigations for Government on the malt and distillation questions, which laid the basis of the Scottish legisla- tion on excise, and rendered him in after-life the arbitrator in many important revenue cases. Ke likewise invented his saccharometer, which is still used by the Scottish excise under the title of Allans saccharometer. In 1807 he first introduced to the notice of the world, in the third edition of his " System," Dalton's views of the atomic theory, which had been privately communicated to him in 180J:. He did not confine his remarks to mere details, but made many important new deductions, and by his clear, perspicuous, and transparent style, rendered the new theory soon universally known and appreciated. Had Richter possessed such a friend as Thomson, the atomic theory of Dalton would have long been previously fully discovered and attributed to Richter. In his papers on this theory, which occupied much of his thou<;hts, from the mathe- matical precision which it promised to impart to the science, we find numerous suggestions cautiously offered, which have often been subsequently examined and confirmed, or developed in another direction. Thus, in August, 1813, he states that, according to the atomic numbers then determined, " an atom of phosphorus is ten times as heavy as an atom of hydrogen. None of the other atoms appear to be multiples of -132 (the atom of hydrogen at that time adopted by chemists), so that, if we pitch upon hydrogen for our unit, the weiglit of all the atoms will be fractional quantities, except that of phosphorus alone." It was undoubtedly this ohservation wliich caused Dr. Prout to make new inquiries, and to announce, in Nov. 1815, the view that the relation of phosphorus as a multiple of hydrogen, as detected by Thomson, may be gene- ral, connecting all other atomic weights with that unit — a view now generally adopted, and considered ag a nearly demonstrated law. The existence of such mathematical relations Dr. Thomson was continually in the habit of testing at the conclusion of his own researches, or in examining the experiments of others. Any peculiarity of character in a substance hitherto known, or in a newly-discovered body, he never failed to point out in his " System ;" and innumerable instances have occurred, and might be mentioned did our space admit, where lucrative patents have resulted from a simple state- ment or foot-note, often original on the part of the author. A fact of this kind in the "Animal Chemistry" led Mr. Robert Pattison to his ingenious patent invention of lactarin, a preparation of casein from milk, for fixing ultramarine on cotton cloth ; and Dr. Thomsons systematic plan of describing all the cha- racters of bodies in detail, led Henry Rose of Berlin to the discovery of niobium 506 DR. THOMAS THOMSON. and pelopium, two new metals. From the fragments of four imperfect crystals of certain tantalites, as the mineral dealers who sold them to him termed them, he was enabled to make some analyses, and to take a series of specific gravities, which he published in a ])aper " On the Minerals containing Columbium," in liis nephew, Dr. 11. D. Thomson's " Records of General Science," vol. iv, p. 407, in lOSG. He found that these minerals possessed an analogous constitution, but their specific gravity differs. He termed them torreylite, columbite, tan- talite, and ferrotantalite. In making his experiments he expended all the material he possessed, and he had passed the great climacteric. Professor Rose, struck with the facts, examined the minerals upon a greater scale, and, aftei immense labour, showed that not only columbic or tantalic acid was present in tiiese minerals, but likewise two new acids, niobic and pelopic acids. Instances of this kind of contribution made by Dr. Thomson to chemistry might be indefinitely particularized. About 1802 he invented the ox^'-hydrogen blow- pipe, in which he introduced the oxygen and hydrogen into one vessel ; but the whole apparatus having blown up and nearly proved fatal to him, he placed the gases in separate gas-holders. At that time he made many experiments on its powers of fusion, but as Dr. Hare had invented an apparatus at the same time, and published his experiments, Dr. Thomson did no more than exhibit the apparatus in his lectures. In August, 1804, in a paper on lead, he first pub- lished his new nomenclature of the oxides and acids, in which Latin and Greek numerals were made to denote the number of atoms of oxygen in an oxide. He thus introduces this important invention, which has been almost universally adopted in the science: — ''As colour is a very ambiguous criterion for distin- guishing metallic oxides, I have been accustomed for some time to denote the oxide with a minimum of oxygen, by prefixing the Greek ordinal number to the term oxide. Thus, protoxide of lead is lead united to a minimum of oxj-gen ; the oxide, with a maximum of oxygen, I call peroxide. Thus, brown oxide of lead is the peroxide of lead. I denominate the intermediate degrees of oxidizement by prefixing the Greek ordinals, 2nd, 8rd, 4th, &:c. Thus, deutoxide is the second oxide of lead, tritoxide of cobalt the third oxide of cobalt, and so on." This paper being translated and published in France, the nomenclature was speedily introduced into that country. But the improve- ments which he afterwards adopted by denoting the exact number of atoms of oxygen present, by the Latin, and those of the base by the Greek numerals, and used in Great Britain, never superseded, in that country, the original sug- gestion in the above note. AH these inventions were merely particular parts of a systematic arrange- ment adopted in his "System of Chemistry" — a work which, if carefully examined with a philosophic eye, will be found to have produced beneficial results to chemical science, similar to those which the systems of Ray, Linnajus, and Jussieu effected for botany-. In his second edition, published in 1804 (the first large edition having been sold in less than ten months), he divided the consideration of chemical bodies into — Book I. Simple Sub- stances : 1, Confinable bodies, including oxygen, simple combustibles, simple incombustibles, metals; 2. Unconfinable bodies, comprising heat and light. Book II. Compound Bodies: 1. Primary compounds; 2. Secondary com- pounds, &c. It is most interesting to observe how his plan was developed with the progress of the science in the different editions. It is sufficient to say that it was generally considered as a masterly arrangement, and used to be quoted DR. THOMAS THOMSON. 507 by the Professor of Logic in Edinburgh, as an admirable example of the analytic and synthetic methods. Previous to the publication of his " System," British chemists were contented with translations from the French ; and hence it was believed on the Continent that " Britain possessed scarcely a scientific chemist." That all his contemporaries viewed his plan as highly philosophic cannot be affirmed. There are some men who, having no mental powers of airangement in themselves, discover in a systematic treatise only a compilation possessing the generic characters of matter; while those who can pry below the surface, on the other hand, know that the art of arranging is one of the most difficult tasks of the philosopher ; that it requires a comprehensiveness of mind, a clear- ness of judgment, and a patience of labour, which fall to the lot of a small number of the humau race. When we recollect that many of these remarkable views began to be devised by the self-taught chemist, in a narrow close in the High Street of Edinburgh, the author being in the receipt of a salary of £50 a- year, from which he sent £15 to his aged parents; and when we contrast such a picture with the costly education and refined apparatus of the modern labora- tory, it is impossible to avoid the inference, that in Dr. Thomson Britain pos- sessed a genius of no common order. One immediate result of the publication of his "System " was the appro- priation of their due merit to respective discoverers, and especially to British chemists, who had been overlooked in the Continental treatises. It was the subject of our memoir who thus first imparted to us the true history of chem- istry, and in doing so often gave ofi'ence to disappointed individuals ; but the honesty of his nature and his unswerving love of truth never allowed him for a moment to sacrifice, even in his own case, the fact to the fallacy. During the first years of this century, he discovered many new compounds and minerals, as chloride of sulphur, allanite, sodalite, &c.; but to give a list of the numerous salts which he first formed and described during his onward career would be difficult, as he scarcely ever treated of them in separate papers, but introduced them into the body of his " System," Avithout any claim to their discovery. His exact mind was more directed towards accurate know- ledge and principles, than to novelties merely for their own sake, although there is probably no chemist Avho has added so many new bodies to the science. Hence, many of his discoveries have been attributed to others, or re-discovered over and over again, as was the case with many of his chromium compounds ^viz., chlorochromic acid, the two potash oxalates of chromium, bichromate of silver, potash chromate of magnesia, chromate of chromium, hyposulphurous acid (1817), and hydrosulphuroiis acid (1818), S^ O,, &c., all of which were examined by him above a quarter of a century ago. In 1810, Dr. Thomson published his "Elements of Chemistry," in a single volume his object being to furnish an accurate outline of the actual state of the science. In 1812 he produced his " History of the Royal Society," a most important work, as showing the influence which that society produced on the progress of science. In August, 1812, he made a tour in Sweden, and published his "observations on that country in the following y^r. It is still a valuable work and contains a very complete view of the state of science and society in Sweden. In 1813 he went to London, and started the "Annals of Phi- losophy," a periodical which he continued to conduct till 1822, when the numerous calls upon his time in the discharge of the duties of his chair at Glasgow, compelled him to resign the editorship in favour of Mr. Richard 568 DR. THOMAS THOMSON Phillips, one of his oldest friends, who pre-deceased him by one year. The journal was, in 1827, purchased by ]\Ir. Richard Taylor, and was merged iu the " Philosophical ^lagazine." In 1817, he was appointed lecturer on chemis- try in the university of Glasgow; and in 1818, at the instance of the late Duke of Montrose, Chancellor of that institution, the appointment was made a professorship with a small salary under the patronage of the Crown. As soon after his appointment as he was enabled to obtain a laboratory, he commenced his researches into the atomic constitution of chemical bodies, and produced an amount of work unparalleled in the whole range of the science, in 1825, by the publication of his " Attempt to Establish the First Principles of Chemistry by Experiment," in 2 vols. It contained " the result of many thousand experi- ments, conducted with as much care and precision as it was in his power to emplo}'." In this work he gives the specitic gravities of all the important gases, ascertained by careful experiment. The data thus ascertained were often disputed and attacked in strong but unphilosophical terms, as they tended to supersede previous experimental deductions; but the excellent subsequent determinations of specific gravities by Dumas, which were made at the request of Dr. Thomson, after that distinguished chemist had visited him at Glasgow in 18-iO, fully substantiated the greater accuracy of Dr. Thomson's numbers over those which preceded him, and in most cases furnished an identity of result. The atomic numbers given in his " First Principles " as the result of his labours, were the means of a vast number of experiments made by him- self and pupils, the data of which still exist in his series of note-books. They all tended to the result that the atomic weights of bodies are multiples b}' a whole number of the atomic weight of hydrogen — a canon confirmed to a great extent by the recent experiments of French and German chemists, and which he himself was the first to point out in the case of phosphorus. That the sub- ject of our memoir was frequently in error in his experiments is not attempted to be denied ; for, as the great Liebig has said, it is only the sluggard in chemistry who commits no faults ; but all his atomic weights of important bodies have been confirmed. After the publication of this work, he devoted himself to the examination of the inorganic kingdom of nature, purchasing and collecting every species of mineral obtainable, until his museum, now (1855) at St. Thomas's Hospital, London, which he has left behind him, became not only one of the noblest mineral collections in the kingdom, but a substantial monument of his taste and of his devotion to science. The results of his investigation of minerals were published in 183G, in his "Outlines of Mineralog}' and Geology," in 2 vols., and contained an account of about fifty new minerals which he had discovered in a period of little more than ten years. In 1830-1, Dr. Thomson published his " History of Chemistry," a master- piece of learning and research. During these feats of philosophic labour, the eyes of the community were attracted to Glasgow as the source from which tlie streams of chemistry flowed, the class of chemistry and the laboratory being flocked to as to fountains of inspiration. It would be a great omission not to mention that it was Dr. Thomson who introduced a system of giving annual reports on the progress of science in his " Annals of Philosophy ; " the first of these was published in 1813, and the last in 1819. These reports were characterized by his usual perspicuity and love of sincm adque which distinguished his conduct through life, and were com- posed with a mildness of criticism far more conducive to the dignity of the T)R. THOMAS THOMSON. 5G0 « ^ science than tliose which, three years after his reports had ceased, were begun by the distinguished Swedish chemist, Berzelius. In 1835, when Dr. R. D. Thomson started his journal, " The Records of General Science," his uncle contributed to almost every number, and encouraged him by his sympathy in his attempts to advance science. Dr. Thomson continued to lecture till the year 1841, discharging all the duties of his chair without assistance; but being then in his G9th year, and feeling his bodily powers becoming more faint, he associated with him at that period his nephew and son-in-law, Dr. R. D. Thomson, who was then resident in London. He continued, however, to deliver the inorganic course only till 1846, when the dangerous illness of his second son, from disease contracted in India, hurried him for the winter to Nice, when his nephew was appointed by theuniversity to discharge the duties of the chair, which he continued to perform till Dr. Thomson's death. Of the hardship of being obliged in his old age thus to toil in harness, and to have no retiring allowance, he never murmured or com- jilained. But there were not wanting suggestions, that one who had raised him- self to eminence from comparative obscurity, and who had benetited his country in no common measure, might have been relieved in some degree by the guar- dians of the state, without popular disaffection, from fatigues which even a green old age cannot long sustain. Dr. Thomson continued to attend the examina- tions for degrees for some years after retiring from the duties of the chair; but in consequence of the increasing defect in his hearing, he ultimately gave up this duty, and confined his public labours to attendance at the fortnightly meet- ings of the winter session of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, of which he was president from the year 183-4. Ilis last appearance there was on the Gth November, at the first meeting of the session 1850-51, when he read a biographical account of his old and affectionate friend. Dr. WoUaston, to whom he was ever most strongly attached. During the early part of 1852 his frame became visibly weaker, and, latterly, having removed to the country, where it was hoped the freshness of the summer season might brace his lan- guishing powers, his appetite failed ; but no pain appeared to mar the tranquil exit of the philosophic spirit. To inquiries after his health — " I am quite well, but weak," the good old man replied, within a few hours of his last sum- mons. On the morning of the 2d of July he bi'eathed his last in the bosom of his affectionate family, on the lovely shores of the Holy Loch. Dr. Thomson married, in 1816, IMiss Agnes Colquhoun, daughter of Mr. Colquhoun, distiller, near Stirling, with whom he enjoyed most complete and uninterrupted happi- ness. He was left a widower in 1834. He left a son, Dr. Thomas Thomson, of the Bengal army, the author of " Travels in Tibet," the result of several years' researches into the botany and physical structure of the Himalaya Moun- tains, and now (1855) superintendent of the Botanic Gardens at Calcutta; and a daughter, man-ied to her cousin, Dr. R. D. Thomson, Professor of Chemistry at St. Thomas's Hospital, London. On strangers, Dr. Thomson occasionally made an unfavourable impression; but by all who knew hinr intimately, lie was universally recognized as the most friendly and benevolent of men. Dr. Thomson was originally destined for the Church of Scotland, and continued to the last a faithful adherent. He was wont to attribute his sound and intel- lectual views of the Christian faith to the care of his mother — a woman of great beauty and sense ; and it was perhaps from his affection for her that his favourite axiom originated — that the talents are derived from the maternal v. 4 c 570 THOMAS THOMSON. parent. Who sliall prescribe exact limits to the benefits conferred on her country and her race by this liurable, but pious Christian woman — who taught in early life religion to her elder son, the author of tlie article Scripture, in the " Encyclop!tdi:i Britannica," which, in the third and many subsequent editions of that work, has been read and distributed over the glolie for nearly half a century, to a greater extent than perhaps any other religious treatise — and Avho gave the earliest impressions of his relations to his Maker to the great chemical philosopher? THOMSON, Thomas. — In few countries has the study of national antiquities been prosecuted so zealously or so successfully as in Scotland. It would be too much to assign this peculiarity either to the romantic character, or the impor- tance of the early achievements of Scotland, for these were certainly of small account in the general history of Europe. The cause is rather to be found in the grievous calamities that befell ournational archives in the times of Edward I. and Oliver Cromwell. By these, our written records, and even our national monuments, were so destroyed or obliterated, that nothing but the most devoted antiquarianism could have restored to us the semblance of a history. Hence, not only the necessity of diligent Scottish research among the relics of i)ygone ages, but the keenness with which it has been prosecuted, and the success that has attended it. Through these labours, Scotland now possesses a history that, in point both of accuracy and fulness, may compete with that of most countries of Europe. And among the foremost of those antiquaries who, for a century, have toiled in such a patriotic task, perhaps there is none entitled to take pre- cedence of him whose name stands at the head of this notice. Thomas Thomson was descended of a family tliat might well be characterized as a portion of the tribe of Levi ; for not only his father, but also his grandfather and great-grandfather, had been successively ministers of the Kirk of Scotland. To this, also, it may be added, that his younger brother John was the late minister of Duddingston, although he is better known among the lovers of the fine arts as the Claude Lorraine of Scotland. Thomas, the future antiquary, was born in the manse of Dailly, Ayrshire, of which parish his father was minister, on the 10th of November, 1768. As it was nothing more than natural that his views, from an early period, should be directed towards the church, in which his ancestors had held the ministerial office since the close of the seven- teenth century, he was sent in 1782 to prosecute the necessary studies in the university of Glasgow. He passed through what are called the "gown classes," with considerable distinction, took the degree of A.M. in 1789, and became, during the two following sessions, a student in theology. But at this time the lectures in the divinity hall, as well as the class-room of church history in the college of Glasgow, were of such a massive, not to say a heavy character, that none but a mind of congenial calibre could endure them to the end. Accord- ingly, in spite of every prospect of church advancement, which was now a sort of heir-loom in the family, Mr. Thomson's mercurial spirit broke impatienti}' from the restraint, and sought shelter in other pursuits. He resolved to study law, and devote himself to the bar; and for this purpose he exchanged the hall of theology for the law classes of Professor l\Iillar, whose lectures were of a very different description from those he had hitherto attended. After this, he com- pleted his course of legal study in the university of Edinburgh, and at the close of 1703 was admitted a member of the faculty of advocates. It is not our purpose to follow out the course of Mr. Thomson at the bar, THOMAS THOMSON. 57 1 where, to gain a high name at this period, it was necessary to he wholly, as well as completely, a lawyer and orator. His own bias in a different direction was so distinctly indicated, as quickly to secure for him a high reputation in Scottish antiquarianism, and on this account he was selected, in 1800, to super- intend a new edition of the works of Lord Hailes, which were to be collected and edited for publication, accompanied with a biographical memoir. This intention was not carried out, and JMr. Thomson's aid was only available for an edition of his lordship's " Annals' and " Historical Tracts," which were after- wards published in 1819. An office, however, of permanent character, as well as of the highest importance, was already being prepared for his occupation. The neglect that had hitherto been shown towards our national records began, although at a late hour, to be acknowledged, and after due consideration of the subject in the House of Commons, two royal commissions were issued, the one in 1800, and the other in 1806, for the preservation and due arrangement of our public archives. It was found, however, that "the superintendence of the matters arising within this office should be confided to a deputy of acknow- ledged skill and ability, being a resident advocate of the Scottish bar, of un- doubted learning, tried merit, and considerable standing ;" and to this effect Lord Frederick Campbell, the lord-clerk register, having memorialized his majesty (George IlL), a royal warrant was issued in 180G, authorizing the appointment of the office. A fit Archivarius to fill it was not still to seek ; and, to the satisfaction of all who felt an interest in this important department, Mr. Thomas Thomson was forthwith nominated deputy-clerk j'egister. "Among those who rejoiced in the appointment, no one could be more ardent tlian Sir Walter Scott. " Have you seen," he writes in a letter to George Ellis, "have you seen my friend, Tom Thomson, who is just now in London? He has, I believe, the advantage of knowing you, and I hope you will meet, as he under- stands more of old books, old laws, and old histor}', than any man in Scotland. He has lately received an appointment under the Lord Register of Scotland, which puts all our records under his immediate inspection and control ; and I expect many valuable discoveries to be the consequence of his investigation, if he escapes being smothered in the cloud of dust which his researches will certainly raise about his eais." Speaking at a later period in conversation upon the subject of antiquarian studies in general, Scott observed — ''It is common to laugh at such researches, but they pay the good brains that meddle with them; and had Thomson been as diligent in setting down his discoveries as he has been in making them, he might, long before this time of day, have placed himself on a level witli Ducange or Camden." The rest of his long literary life, which extended over nearly half a century, is best detailed by a list of the literary works which he published. And to begin with those which he prepared in his capacity of deputy-clerk register-, and which were published under authority of the Commissioners in the Public Records of the Kingdom, they were the following: — "Inquisitionum ad Capellum Domini Reikis Retornaturum, quse in Pub- licis Archivis Scotiie adhuc servantur, Abbreviatio," 1811-1816. o vols., folio. *'Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotoruni in Archivis Publicis asservatum. Jicccvi-Mccccxxiv." 1814. Folio. "The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland. Vol. ii. to vol, xi. mccccxxiv- MDCcvii." 1814 to 1824. 10 vols., folio. Of this series, the first volume, owing 572 THOMAS THOMSON. to many difficulties, chiefly arising from the remote and obscure period to which its "Acts" refer, remained unfinished so late as 1841, when ]Mr. Thomson's connection with the register-office ceased. It was completed and published, however, in 1844, under the superintendence of Mr. Innes. " The Acts of the Lords Auditors of Causes and Complaints, mcccclxvi- Mccccxciv." 1839. Folio. "The Acts of the Lords of Council in Civil Causes, mcccclxxviii-mccccxcv." 1839. Folio. In addition to these, Mr. Thomson prepared the following abbreviates, of wliich only a limited number were published for the use of the register-office : — " A Continuation of the Retours of Services to the Chancery-Office, from tho Union, a.d. 1707, to the present time." "An Abbreviate or Digest of the Registers of Sasines, General and Particular, arranged in Counties, with Relative Indexes, from the 1st of January, 1781, tv) the present time." "An Abbreviate of Adjudications fi-om the same period to 1830." "An Abbreviate of Inhibitions, General and Particular, arranged in Counties, from the same period to 1830." Of an equally professional, and still more personal description, were the fol- lowing : — • "The First Five Annual Reports of the Deputy-Clerk Register of Scotland," from 1808 to 1811. One vol., folio. "Annual Reports, from the Sixth to the Fourteenth (from 1811 to 1822)." One vol., folio. We now pass from the labours of the deputy-clerk register, to those of the member of the Bannatyne Club, This antiquarian institution, which was ori- ginated in 1823, unanimously elected Mr. Thomson to the honorary office of vice-president; and afterwards, in 1832, in consequence of the death of Sir Walter Scott, the distinguished president of the club, Mr. Thomson, with the same unanimity, was appointed to succeed him. His services in behalf of this important association were thus characterized by Lord Cockburn, its vice- president, in the funeral eulogium which he pronounced before the members, after the decease of Mr. Thomson: — "As one of our original founders, and deeply conversant with our objects and aims, he was, while absent from Edinburgh, unanimously chosen vice-president. After co-operating assiduously with Sir Walter Scott, our first president, in all the business of the institution, he became our second president on the death of that illustrious person ; and throughout the whole of the succeeding twenty years, was our master and our guide. With several powerful associates or competitors, in detached fields, or subordinate walks, it was by his knowledge and sagacity that our general course was directed. The value of his superintendence is attested by its results. The publications of the Bannatyne Club form the greatest, the most difficult, the most important, and the most splendid disclosures that have ever been made of the latent historical treasures of our country. The merit of these works is certainly not due to him entirely ; if it had at all been ascribed to him in his presence his candour would have at once disclaimed it, and given the proper part to its true owners. But those by whom the contributions, either of indi- viduals or of the club, have been prepared, and who are best acquainted with the difficulties attending tlie execution of such undertakings, will acknowledge the aid which they uniformly derived from the president's judgment and zeal. THOMAS THOMSON. 573 And never did any one apply to him for advice without feeling his accessibility, and his cordial disposition to assist. The hasty, and indeed sometimes even the patient, murmured occasionally at his slowness; and he had certainly no taste for vulgar rapidity ; but this was the result of caution and fastidiousness — both good qualities ; and though it sometimes wearied expectation, was gene- rally rewarded by improved excellence in the end." The literary exertions thus so highly and so justly commended, which Mr. Thomson performed in behalf of the Bannatyne Club, and which were published under its auspices, are comprised in the following list : — "Alex. Myln, Vitas Dunkeldensis Ecclesite Episcoporum." 4to, 1828. " Discours particulier d'Escosse, escrit en 1559." 4to, 1824. "The Historie and Life of King James the Sext." 4to, 1825. "Memoirs of his own Life, by Sir James Melville, of Halhill." 4to, 182". — Speaking of this work while in progress, Sir Walter Scott thus alludes to it in his diary — "Thomson is superintending a capital edition of Sir James Melville's Memoirs. It is brave to see how he wags his Scots tongue, and what a differ- ence there is in the form and firmness of the language, compared to the mincing English edition in which he has hitherto been alone known." " Memoirs of his own Life and Times, by Sir James Turner." 4to, 1829. "The History of Scotland, by John Lesley, Bishop of Ross." 4to, 1830. " Collection of Ancient Scottish Prophecies, in alliterative verse." 4to, 1833. "Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents, from the PoUok MS." 4to, 1833. " The Ragman Rolls, 1291-129G." 4to, 1834. " The Booke of the Universall Kirk of Scotland, 15G0-1618." 3 vols. 4to, 1839, 1840, 1845. " The Accounts of the Great Chamberlains of Scotland, &c., 1326-1406." In 2 vols. 4to, 1817. A third volume of do. 4to, 1845. " A Diary of the Public Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall." 4fo, 1843. " Munimenta Vetustiora Comitatus de Mortoun, and Original Letters and Papers in the Archives of the Earls of Morton." 4to, 1852. In addition to the foregoing, ]Mr. Thomson edited the following works, which were chiefly printed for private circulation : — " A Compilation of the Forms of Process in the Court of Session, during the earlier periods after its establishment, with the Variations which they have since undergone," &c. 8vo, 1809. "A Collection of Inventories, and other Records of the Royal Wardrobe and Jewelhouse ; and of the Artillery and ^Munition in some of the Royal Castles, 1488-1G06." 4to, 1815. " The Chamberlain Rolls, 1306-1406." 4to, 1817. " Inventory of Worke done for the State, by [Evan Tyler] his Majesties Printer in Scotland, December, 1642— October, 1647." 4to, 1815. " Ane Addicioun of Scottis Cornikles and Deidis." Small 4to, 1819. *' Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland from the Restoration of King Charles II., A.D. 1660, by Sir George Mackenzie, of Rosehaugh, Knight." 4to, 1821. " Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of the Right Honourable George Baillie of Jerviswood, and of Lady Grissell, by their daugher. Lady Murray." " Menu de la Maison de la Royne faict par Mons. de Pinguillon. m.d.lxii." 4to, 1824. 574: THOMAS THOMSON. This amount of antiquarian lal3our indicates an extent of reading, a patience of research, and a lieroic pertinacity of purpose which it would be difficult fully to estimate. And this, too, be it remembered, was in a department of litera- ture in which little fame is to be won, and the achievements of which are so often misprized and ridiculed. "No one," says Lord Cockburn, in his "Life of Lord Jeffrey" — when speaking of Thomas Thomson — "no one has done nearly so much to recover, to arrange, to explain, and to preserve our historical muniments. He found them almost a chaos, and after bringing them into order, has left them on a system, of which the value will be felt the more every day that they accumulate. His real merit, great as it may seem now, will seem still greater 500 years hence." Adverting to Mr. Thomson's capacity for legal study, and the disinterestedness with wliich it was kept in abeyance, for the sake of that department in which he was so well qualified to excel, Lord Cock- burn adds — " Had he not allowed his taste for antiquarian research to allure him from the common drudgery of his profession, he would have stood high in practice, as he always did in character, at the bar; and would now have been adorning the bench by his considerate wisdom and peculiar learning." In turn- ing to Mr. Thomson's course as a barrister, we find his lordship's commenda- tions fully borne out. His knowledge of ancient Scottish history and juris- prudence was so well known, even at the outset, that so early as 1805-7, he was emploj-ed in the famous Craigengillan case, in which a fair estate of about £12,000 per annum depended upon the old marriage laws of Scotland, and the kind of union that sufficed to establish a legal claim to legitimacy and inlierit- ance. Another suit in which he was retained in 181G, was the case of Cranstoun versus Gibson, in which the principle of our northern elections had to be traced to its fountain-head, inasmuch as the franchise of Scotland, as connected with the valuation of old church lands, was involved in the result. While his brethren of the long robe were utterly in the dark upon such questions of medioBval and monastic lore, Mr. Thomson, as may easily be supposed, felt himself upon his own proper ground; he accordingly produced in one of his memorials, such a lucid account of the origin of the taxation of land in Scot- land, that Lord Glenlee, the presiding judge, could not help exclaiming, "It is just delightful! It is like reading a lost decade of Livy ! " Mr. Thomson, indeed, did not secure a judge's gown, for that, as we liave seen, was never at any time the mark of his ambition; but an office, not greatly inferior in importance and emolument, was freely conceded to him in 1828, by his lieing appointed one of the principal clerks of Session — an office which Sir Walter Scott himself held, and beyond which he sought no higher. Amidst the various qualifications which Mr. Thomson possessed, we Avould greatly err if we confined the literary part of his character to his undoubted superiority in antiquities and black letter. On the contrary, his general know- ledge, as well as his talents and taste, were so fully recognized, that at the creation of the "Edinburgh Review" in 1802, he was one of that illustrious coterie who were wont to meet in solemn secrecy for the purpose of commencing it, and by whose joint labours that critical tribunal was silently built up, before whose dread awards the whole literary world was so soon compelled to bow and tremble. For this journal he also wrote several articles, and, during the occa- sional absences of Mr. Jeffrey, took charge of its editorship. Mr. Thomson married Anne, daughter of Thomas Reed, Esq., formerly army agent in Dublin. He died at his residence at Shrubhill, between Edinburgh I — LIEUT.-COL. JAMES TOD. 575 and Leith, on the 2 J of October, 1852, and was interred in the Dean Cemetery. His character was thus appropriately summed up by Lord Murray at the ensu- ing Anniversary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland — " In the death of my old and valued friend, Mr. Thomas Thomson, the Society has to deplore the loss of one, whose contributions to our antiquarian literature, and to the facilities of the historical student of the Records of Scotland, have conferred a boon upon the country, such as it would be difficult to over-estimate in value. He was a man of great and varied learning, and a highly refined mind. His enthusiasm was undamped by the intricacy and forbidding aspects of one of the most per- plexing and protracted labours which ever engrossed the life-labour of the legal antiquary ; and yet, while devoting his fine mind to such labours in his study, lie united to all the acquirements requisite for such pursuits, manners the most pleasing, and a warmth and geniality of feeling which have embalmed him in the memories of a numerous circle of friends and admirers." TOD, LiEUTEXAXT-CoLONEL James. — Of the early life of this distinguished historian of the East we have been able to glean only a few particulars. Such, however, is frequently the case with his countrymen. Their talents and enterprise lead them to eminence, and place them full in the view of the world; but when the general curiosity is expressed in, Where was he born? — who were his parents? — how was he trained and educated for the place he so worthily occupies? — the biographer is compelled to confess his ignorance, or feel his way at hap-hazard and by conjecture. With these remarks we juage it necessary to premise a notice of Lieutenant- Colonel Tod, of the Honourable East India Company's Service, and their political agent in the Western Rajpoot states. He was born in Scotland about the year 1782; but in what district, or of what parentage, we are unable to ascertain. In March, 1800, he went to India, being then only in his eighteenth year, and obtained a commission in the second Bengal European regiment. Although he commenced his career thus early, he appears to have arrived in India an unbefriended adventurer ; for, instead of waiting for promotion like his brother officers, who had patronage to back their merits, he volunteered for the Molucca Isles, was transferred to the marine service on board the Morning- ton, and afterwards, to use his own expression, "ran the gauntlet from Calcutta to Hurdwar." In the course of this run, however, he not only escaped the dangers that crossed it, but reached the starting-place of a new and better career. At the close of 180.5, when he was nothing more than a subaltern in the subsidiary force at Gwalior, an embassy was to be sent, at the close of the Mahratta war, to Sindhia, at that time encamped at Mewar, in Rajpootana. Tod's friend, Mv. Gricme Mercer, was sent as ambassador on this occasion, while Tod himself was to accompany him as assistant. The country of Rajast- 'han, of which it formed a part, was thenceforth to be the "home of his adop- tion," as he affectionately called it, and the place to which the best part of his life v>as to be enthusiastically and usefully devoted. On settling down amidst the official duties with whicli he was intrusted, Tod, now scarcely twenty-four years old, resolved to be something more than a mere political resident. Great capacities, hitherto undeveloped, were strug- gling within him, which the new land of his abode was calculated to call forth ; and, under this inspiration, he successively became geographer, historian, and archaeologist. As was natural, the geography of Rajast'han was the first sub- ject of his inquiry, into which he threw himself with ardour, almost as soon 576 LIEUT.-COL. JAMES TOIX as he arrived ; and for this there was urgent need — for large and important though the country was, it was still a mere terra incognita to his employers, the conquerors of the East. Once a vast cluster of provinces,that composed an empire extending, in all probability, from the Jumna and Ganges to the base of the Himalaya, comprehending nearly eight degrees of latitude, and nine of longitude, it still was a large territory, inhabited by a variety of interesting races, but who, from the misgovernment of their own chiefs, and the absence of European instruction, were fast sinking into hopeless barbarism. He there- fore began the survey of the country, which hitherto, in the maps of India, had been almost a total blank, while the course of rivers and the position of capitals were in most cases utterly reversed. All this mass of ignorance and error was superseded by his ample and accurate map of Rajast'han, which he completed and presented to the Marquis of Hastings in 1815. To the country itself thus delineated he gave the name of Central India, and that name it has ever since retained. The value of the map was fully tested as a guide in the operations of the government only two years afterwards, as its information was adopted in the plan of operations, by Lord Hastings, in 1817. It was not enough for Tod, however, that he should be the geographer of his adopted country: he resolved also to be its historian. It was a bold attempt. Hitherto it had generally been thought in Europe that Indian history was but a myth — a collection of opium dreams, more unreal than even the Arabian Kights' Entertainments — and therefore unworthy of a moment's attention. The names, indeed, of Alexander of iMacedon and Timour, of Mahmoud of Gazni, Baber, and Acbar, were familiar as invaders and conquerors of India; but the peoples and heroes whom they slew or subjugated in the lands which they formed into new empires, were as unknown as if they had been the inha- bitants of a different planet; and yet these people must have had a history of some kind or other, and, perchance, a history worth reading, if it were only written. This, he resolved, should be done ; but where were the materials i Eajast'han had abounded in poets and fabulists, and these, too, of the true eastern stamp; but it had not a Herodotus or a Xenophon, nor yet even a Bede or Fordun. These were all but insuperable difficulties, let the amount of research and talent be what it might. All this, however, he overcame. The labour which he endured in such a task, while it has a startling sound to Euro- pean ears, gives a high idea of his indomitable zeal and perseverance, ile began with the sacred genealogies contained in the Puranas, examined the Mahabharat, studied the historical poems of Chund, Jesselmer, Marwar, and Mewar, and the bardic lays containing the history of the Kheetchies, and that of the Hara princes of Kotah and Boondi. He also procured and carefully studied a large portion of the compilations of Jeysing of Amber or Jeypoor, the learned rajah of modern times, illustrating the history of his race. For ten years he was occupied with this mountain of recondite matter, being assisted in his labours l)y an erudite scholar of that eastern sect called the Jains, who made copious extracts from the above-mentioned mass, and translated them into those more familiar dialects of the East with which Tod was acquainted. He also mingled in frequent conversation with the most intelligent of the people; and having made himself master of their language, he extracted from them the knowledge of their historical traditions, whether in tales, allegories, or poems, and ques- tioned them about their religious opinions, and their daily habits and usages. His ardent enthusiasm, and the Asiatic character that was rapidly ingrafting LIErT.-COL. JAMES TOD. 577 itself upon his Scottish temperament, admirably fitted him for such a task; and seated amidst the ruins of ancient cities, with a group of these story-tellers around him, he listened for hours to their stirring tales of the wild chivalry of the East, and the patriotic deeds of their ancestors, until he felt as if he was a r?ajpoot, and that the bleak northern country in which his boyhood had been spent was nothing more than a dream of the night. But still his hereditary ca.uiion~ cannincss if you will— did not desert him under such tempting circum- stances; and, therefore, independently of such sources of information, he studied every authentic monument, inscription, and architectural relic, by which he tested the innumerable legends that solicited his notice; and the result was his "Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han," of which the first volume was published in London in 1829. This splendid work at once demonstrated that India has actually a native history, while it became the text-book and authority of our most distinguished Oriental scholars. It also gave an irresis- tible impulse to that study of Indo-Grecian antiquities which has since been so extensively prosecuted, and by which so much new light has been thrown upon ancient history, by revealing the connection between the European and Asiatic races. And worthy, indeed, were the past achievements of the Rajpoots of such a commemoration. Proud of our northern chivalry of ancient days, and the national liberties which it established, we are too apt to lose sight of other nations that have struggled as bravely, though not so successfully, as ourselves. But Rajast'han, through the labours of Colonel Tod, has now a chronicle to unfold to the world, in which a patriotism as devoted, and sacrifices as great, and valiant deeds as illustrious are to be found as adorn the pages of Greece and Rome, or even our own Britain. " What nation on earth," he exclaims triumphantly, "could have maintained the semblance of civilization, the spirit or the customs of their forefathers, during so many centuries of overwhelming depression, but one of such singular character as the Rajpoot? . . . Rajast'han exhibits the sole example in the history of mankind, of a people withstanding every outrage barbarity could inflict, or human nature sustain, from a foe whose religion commands annihilation; and bent to the earth, yet rising buoyant from the pressure, and making calamity a whetstone to coui'age. . . . Not an iota of their religion or customs have they lost, though many a foot of land." That so noble and gallant a people should have been overcome, and that in the midst of such achievements the country should still have continued to diminish, so that it became the very Poland of the East, can be easily explained, as in the case of Poland, by the defective nature of its government. Wherever the patriarchal sj-stem of rule predominates, the bravery, the devotedness,and patriot- ism of its people have been unavailing. They have furnished, indeed, a glorious and spirit-stirring histor3' ; but decay and downfall have been the inevitable close. Such was the fate of Rajast'han, a land of many tribes and many princes. Tlie Parthians, by whom they were overrun, and the Tartars, by wliom they were finally subdued, were united nations ; and that single advantage made them victorious over a people braver perhaps than themselves, but divided by the feudality which prevented a united and universal resistance, and insured a piecemeal destruction. Such was the nature of Tod's labours till 1817, when he was appointed political agent of government over that extensive country, comprising the five principal states of Rajast'han, viz., Mewar, !Marwar, Jessulmer, Kotah, and V. 4 1> 578 LIEUT.-COL. JAMES TOD. Boondi. It was a liigli office for one holding his subordinate military rank, although scarcely too high for his service and merits, and the confidence which the Rajpoots reposed iu him. But the appointment seems to have given umbrage to those who perhaps thought themselves better entitled to promo- tion, irrespective of their fitness for such a peculiar office. The sympathy also which he felt for the people, and the influence which he possessed among the native princes caused him for a short time to be regarded at head-qunrters with suspicion and jealousy. But these unseeml}' feelings, although they annoyed him at first, he soon refuted by his conduct, while the excellence of his admin- istration endeared him more and more every day to the people. This Bishop Heber found afterwards, in his Episcopal tour, when he passed through the province of Mewar. On this occasion, the inquiries of the people as to the welfare of their "Tod Sahib" were incessant, and whether they should ever see him again. It is not often that the deputy who rules in the name of foreign masters is thus endeared to a subjugated, but still high-spirited people. The nature of his administration, his attempts for the restoration of Rajpootana, and the estimation in which his labours were held, can be best understood from the following letter to a friend : — " Regarding Bhilwana, the work of my hands, in February, 1818, there was not a dog in it; in 1822 I left SOOO houses, of which 1200 were bankers and merchants ; an entire street, arcaded, was built under my directions, and with my means. The merchants from Calcutta, Jessulmer, Delhi, Surat — I'rom every mart in India — had their correspondents; and, in fact, it was becoming the chief mart of Rajast'han. The affection of these people a thousand times repaid my cares. The females met me at a dis- tance, with vessels of water on their heads, singing the Sohaloh, and the whole of the merchants and bankers advanced in a body to conduct me through it. The streets were crowded; brocades of gold silks were suspended from the shops — it made me proud, not vain. It was with difficulty 1 checked the determina- tion to call it Todgunge ; but whatever I did was in the Rana's name. My conscience tells me I deserved their love. How health and comfort were spurned in their behalf! I have lain on my pallet with high fever, my spleen so enlarged as to be felt in every part of my ribs; fifty leeclies at work, left to a servant to superintend, whilst I had the whole of the territorial officers of the district of Mondelgurh, consisting of 350 towns and villages, at the other side, taking the whole of their accounts, and separating the fisc and the lands of the chiefs even to a beegah— all the while half-dead with inanition. But I had the principle of life strong within me. It appears now a dream. But a week before I was at the point of death ; but it was vain to tell me to desist fronr work. A short time after I was knocked off my elephant in going to restore to the chief of the Megawats twenty-seven villages, alienated for forty-five years, which I recovered from the fangs of the Mahrattas. The animal ran off, crossing the wooden bridge of his moat, and the arch, being too low, carried me fairly off'. That I was not crushed was a miracle. That night the triumphal arch of the Megawats was levelled to the ground! These are the men without gratitude! It was worth a broken limb, yet I escaped with bruises. But my head burns as did my heart for my Rajpoots." In this short account we have the secret of that wondrous spell by whicli we retain the empire of the Enst. Compare Colonel Tod with a Roman praetor or pro-consul! It is only when Britain will impose rulers upon her Indian dependencies who will pillage, rather than protect and benefit the people, that EGBERT TRAILL. 579 her rule over India will pass away into other hands, and leave nothing behind it but the glory and the shame of a liistorical remembrance. The rest of Colonel Tod's proceedings among the Rajpoots may be briefly told. In 1819 he completed the circuit of Marwar, and visited its capital, Joudpoor, by the route of Komulmer, and returned to Oodipoor by the way of Mairta and Ajmer, In 1820 he visited Kotah and Boondi, and on tlie fol- lowing year he revisited the latter province, in consequence of tlie death of his friend the Rao Rajah Ram Sing, who bequeathed to tlie colonel the guardian- ship of his son, the prince of the Haras. It was now time that his personal connection with India should cease, as after a residence of twenty-two years of incessant occupation in that climate, his broken constitution could withstand it no lono-er. He was accordingly released from his duties as British political agent of Rajast'han, which he had discharged during five years, and allowed to return to England. But instead of instantly availing himself of the oppor- tunity, by hastening to embark when he left the valley of OoJipoor in June, 1822, he crossed the Aravalli to the sacred mountain of Aboo, and explored the remains of that district, so venerated in the religious traditions of Hindoos- tan. His interest in Rajpootana and love of travel being still unabated, he continued his journey of research, in which he discovered the ruins of an ancient city in the borders of ]\Iarwar, explored the ancient capital of the Bal- hara kings, and crossed the peninsula of Saurashtra, visiting in his way the towns, temples, and shrines that illustrated the ancient history of the country. This journey was so replete with interest that ho drew up a full account of it after his return to England. He finally embarked at Bombay in the early part of 1823, and arrived in England the same year. On returning home. Colonel Tod by no means abandoned himself to a life of rest or recreation. His Indian studies and discoveries, carried over so long a period, and involving such important subjects, were to be arranged and pre- pared for the press, and to this duty he turned his attention with all his wonted ardour. And how well he discharged his task the " Annals of Rajast'han" will sufficiently attest, independently of his other writings. It opened up new paths in the study of the history, philosophy, and religion of India, which subsequent scholars have entered with the happiest results. But these efforts, upon a constitution already all but exhausted, accelerated the process of decay ; and a complaint in the chest obliged him to take up his residence in Italy, where he chiefly abode during the last twelve months of his life. Still his studies were continued, and during the winter while he staid in Rome, he employed himself daily in a work entitled, " Travels in Western India," con- taining his observations during a journey to the Peninsula of Guzerat, which he had made before his departure for Britain. From Italy he returned to England in the beginning of September, 1835, and on the 14th of November he came from his mother's residence in Hampshire, to London, ready to publish his work on Western India, and retire for the rest of his life to a property which he had lately purchased. But on the 16th, the anniversary of his mar- riage, while transacting business at his banker's, he was suddenl}^ struck with apoplexy, under which he continued speechless and insensible for twenty-seven hours, when he expired on the afternoon of the 17th, 1835. TRAILL, Rev. Robert. — The family of the Traills is of considerable anti- quity, and was settled in Fifeshire, where they possessed the estate of Blebo. The first of the name who appears in Scottish history was Walter Traill, son 580 ROBERT TRAILL. of the laird of Blebo, who was appointed Archbishop of St. Andrews, by King Robert III., about tlie year 1385. The father of Robert Traill, who was min- ister of the Greyfriars' Church, Edinburgh, was one of those bold witnesses for the Covenant, who lived during the stormy period of the Commonwealth, and the still more trying season of the Restoration, in which, at the age of sixty, he was banished from Scotland for life upon the charge of holding a conventicle, because he had read and expounded Scripture to a few friends who were assembled in his house. In consequence of this sentence he retired to Holland, the usual place of refuge for the exiled Presbyterians of Scotland, and there spent the rest of his life. It was in the midst of these troubles that the subject of the present memoir was ushered into the world. He was born at Elie, in Fifeshire, of which parish his father at first was minister, in May, 1G42. Being destined for the ministry, at a period when the office in Scotland possessed few secular attractions, and was best fitted to test the disinterestedness of its candidates, he prosecuted the usual course of study in the university of Edinburgh, and secured by his pro- ficiency the approbation of the professors. While a divinity student, and as yet only nineteen years old, he evinced his sincerity and courage by attend- ing James Guthrie, of Stirling, to the scaffold, when that faithful martyr was executed for his adherence to the persecuted Kirk of Scotland. It was easy to foresee from such a commencement that the course of the young man would be neither a profitable nor a safe one. On the banishment of his father two years afterwai'ds, the circumstances of the family were so straitened, that Robert Trail, who shared in all their trials, was often without a home. Matters in 1CG6 became even worse, in consequence of some copies of the "Apologetic Relation " — a work obnoxious to the prelates and privy council, having been found in their house ; for in consequence of this discovery, his mother, brother, and himself were obliged to hide themselves from pursuit. While he w^as thus a fugitive, the unfortunate rout at Pentland occurred; and — as in the trials that followed, all the homeless and persecuted in Scotland were assumed as being more or less iznplicated in the insurrection — Robert Traill, whether truly or falsely, was said to have been in the ranks of the insurgents, in consequence of which charge, he was liable every hour to be apprehended and executed as a traitor. In this difficulty he fled to Holland in 1G67, and joined his father, who had been settled there four years. Here he resumed his studies in theo- logy, and assisted !Nethenus, professor of divinity at Utrecht, in publishing " Rutherford's Examination of Arminianism." The stay of Robert Traill in Holland must have been a short one, probably only till the close of 1GG8; for in April, 1GG9, he was preaching in London upon a Thursday previous to the administration of the Lord's Supper. It is probable, that having completed his theological studies in Holland, he had come to England in the earlier part of the year, and received ordination from the London Presbj'ter}'. Here he preached for some time without any settled charge, and was afterwards permanently appointed to the Presbyterian Church at Cranbrook, a small town in Kent. In this retirement he could exercise his calling in safety, as the Presbyterianism of England was not regarded as either so formidable or so important as to provoke the interposition of state persecu- tion. But the case was very different in his native Scotland, which he visited in 1077. During his sojourn in Edinburgh he privately preached there, not- withstanding the severe laws against conventicles; and as the privy council ROBERT TRAILL. £81 had their spies everywhere, he was soon arraigned for this highest of offences before their bar. His trial was a brief one. He was first accused as a holder of house-conventicles, and this he acknowledged to be true. He was then asked if he had also preached at field-conventicles ; but as this was the trying question, upon what was a capital offence, he gave no answer ; and when required to clear himself by oath, of having preached at, or attended such meetings, he refused to comply. For lack of witnesses or proof they would oblige him to be his own accuser, and were prepared to punish him whether he confessed or remained silent! But such was the law of Scotland in those days against the persecuted children of the Covenant. On further questioning, all that he acknowledged was, that he had been ordained a minister in London, and that he had conversed with Mr. John Welch, one whom they had proscribed, upon the English border. For these offences he was sentenced to imprisonment in the Bass — a punishment only short of the gallows; and here he remained three months, at the end of which period he was released by order of government. It is not impossible that he had some influential friends in the English metropolis, otherwise he might have remained in the Bass for years, had his life endured it so long. On being released from his damp and dismal dungeon, that was scooped in the bowels of the sea-girt rock, Traill returned to Cranbrook, and resumed his ministerial duties over his little flock, until he was called to a wider sphere in London. There he lived and laboured as a Presbj'terian minis- ter, until he died in May, 171C, at the ripe age of seventy-four, having wit- nessed before he closed his ej'es the deposition of the Stuarts, the firm establish- ment of Presbyterianism in his native country, the union of the two kingdoms, and the prospect of peaceful days and more liberal principles of rule under the accession of the Hanoverian dynasty. Such are the few particulars that can be ascertained of the life of Robert Traill ; and from these it is evident that he was a man of peace, and that the persecutions he so manfully endured were not sought by him, but thrust upon him. It is easy, also, to perceive from his published works, that he was a thoughtful student, as well as one of large and vigorous intellect; and that his taste as a writer was greatly in advance of his cotemporary countrymen. His writings are essentially English— clear, nervous, and Saxon — while the catho- licity of their sentiments made them a favourite with every class of religious men both in England and Scotland. Although so well adapted, also, to obtain influence and distinction in authorship, he did not commit his first work to the press until he had attained the ripe age of forty, and even tlien, such was his modesty, that it was extorted from him by the importunity of his admirers; while his second publication did not follow till ten years after. The following is a list of his writings — Sermon on " How Ministers may best win Souls." Letter on " Antinomianism," Thirteen discourses on "The Throne of Grace; from ITeb. iv. IG." Sixteen sermons on " The Prayer of our Saviour; in John xvii. 24." These works obtained such high popularity, and were found so useful, that after his death the following were also published from his manuscripts : — Twentj'-one sermons on " Steadfast Adherence to the Profession of our Faith; from Heb. x. 23." Eleven sermons from 1 Peter i. 1—1. Six sermons on Galatians ii. 21. 582 THOMAS TROTTER. Ten sermons on various subjects. These were transcribed from family MSS., and issued by the Cheap Publication Society of the Free Church of Scotland in 1845. TROTTER, Thomas, ]\I.D., wlio held at one time the important office of physician to the Channel fleet, was born in Roxburghshire, educated at the university of Edinburgh, and wliile still young, was appointed surgeon in the Royal Navy in 1782. Finding occupation in his own particular department too scanty, or rival aspirants too numerous, he turned his attention to the African trade, and was, as he has informed us, the first of his professional corps ■who was obliged to betake himself to that humble and somewhat perilous voca- tion. Returning from Africa in 1785, he settled as a medical practitioner at a small town in Northumberland, and obtained the degree of M.D. at Edinburgh, in 1788. Better days now began to dawn upon him ; for on the following year he was appointed, through the patronage of Admiral Roddam, surgeon to that commander's flag-ship; in 1793, he was made ph3'sician to the Royal Hospital at Portsmouth, and in 1794, physician to the fleet. This was high as well as rapid promotion for one who had been fain to com- mence his pursuit of fortune in a merchant ship, and under the baneful sun of Africa ; but the first step in his ascent once secured, Dr. Trotter soon showed his fitness for the eminence to which he was raised, for in 1790, only a year after his first appointment, he published a " Review of the Medical Depart- ment of the British Navy." Such also was his care for the health of the naval service, the important improvements he introduced into its regulations, and his attention to the due promotion of merit among the navy surgeons, that all classes combined in acknowledging his worth. After having occupied the important charge of physician to the fleet for several years, he retired upon a pension of £200 per annum, and settled at Newcastle, where he practised with reputation till his death, which occurred in that town on the 5tli September, 1832. As an author, Dr. Trotter was known to the medical world at large by the excellent works he published, as well as the reforms he effected in the British navy. A list of these productions we here give in their order: — 1. " Treatise on the Scurvy." 2. "Thesis ^ De Ebrietatc:" 1788. 3. "Review of the Medical Department of the British Navy." 1790. A work to which we have already adverted. 4. " ^ledical and Chemical Essays." 179G. 5. '■'■ Medica Nantica, or an Essay on the Diseases of Seamen." 3 vols., 8vo. 1799. 6. "Essay on Drunkenness." 1804. This was a translation with additions of his Thesis which he had written in 1788, and which had been highly com- mended by Dr. Cullen. 7. ■' An Address to the Proprietors and Managers of Coal Jlines, on the Means of Destroying Damp." 180G. 8. " A View of the Nervous Temperament ; being a Practical Treatise on Nervous, Bilious, Stomach, and Liver Complaints." 8vo. 1812. Dr. Trotter was a poet as well as physician, and his productions in this department, forgotten though they now are, excited during their own day sucix an amount of respectful attention, as mere common rhymes could scarcely have obtained. First in the list of these was his " Susjnria Oceani" being a PATRICK FRASER TYTLER. 583 monody on the death of Earl Howe; the next, published in 1813, was a tragedy, entitled " The Noble Foundling, or the Hermit of the Tweed." He also published a volume of his miscellaneous poetr}^ and was a frequent contri- butor at his leisure hours, not only to the " Medical Journal," but also to the " European Magazine," and other literary periodicals. TYTLER, Patrick Eraser. — The rarest, as well as the most valuable inheri- tance that can be transmitted, is certainly that of a high intellectual organiza- tion; and when great mental qualities are continued in their descent througli more than a single generation, a family aristocracy is established, with whicli mere hereditary rank and title cannot compete. The Douglasses of old, the Hunters, Gregories, Napiers, and Malcolms of modern times, are proofs of the assertion. With these can be classed the honoured name of the subject of this memoir. He was the son of Alexander Eraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, whose writings as a lawyer, professor of universal liistory, critic, and bio- grapher are too well known to require enumeration ; and grandson of William Tytler of Woodhouselee, the generous champion of Mary Queen of Scots, and successful investigator of our ancient national history and literature. Thus, for nearly a century, the labours of these distinguished three have followed in unin- terrupted succession, and been almost exclusively devoted to the illustration of the annals of our country. Patrick Eraser Tytler was born at Edinburgh, on the 30th of August, 1791j and was the fourth son of Lord Woodhouselee. His early education was com- menced at the high-school of his native city, where he had for his preceptors, Mr. (afterwards Professor) Christison, and Dr. Adam the rector of the institu- tion. On leaving the high-school he entered the university of Edinburgh in 1805, and went through the usual course of literary and philosophical studies necessar}' for the study of the law, having chosen the Scottish bar for his des- tination. Besides the eminent public teachers, who at this time occupied the literary chairs in the high-school and college of Edinburgh, Mr. Tytler was so fortunate as to have for his private tutor the Rev. John Black, a highly accom- plished scholar, who in 1810 published a " Life of Tasso," and was afterwards minister of Coylton, in Ayrshire. It frequently happens, both at school and college, that those who afterwards distinguish themselves in authorship, give no correspondent promise of the eminence they are destined to attain ; as diligent and ambitious as their class- fellows, they yet pass on without notice, and are little heai'd of, until, it may be, they burst out in full strength, and take the public attention by storm. In such cases, however, it will generally be found, that the young student has higher aims than those of his companions ; that he is silently training himself for a great achievement; and that, in such a process, he does not mistake the gymnasium for the battle-field, or waste his energies upon mere tyro-skirmishing or prize-fighting. Such seems to have been the case with the future historian of Scotland, during the course of his eai'ly education. It has been stated b}' one who was his class fellow for yeai"s, that he was of an amiable temper and greatly beloved by all his companions ; and that he always held a respectable place in the class, without distinguishing himself in any particular manner. After having ended his studies at the university, Mr. Tytler underwent his public examinations, and was admitted into the faculty of Advocates on the 8d of July, 1813. In his case, howevei-, the law, as a profession, had few attractions, compared with those of literature and historical research, and there* 584 PATRICK FRASER TYTLER. fore, after some desultory practice, he finally abandoned the bar for the more congenial work ot authorship. An event also occurred, after he had -worn the barrister's gown scarcely a twelvemonth, that must have had some influence in confirming his choice. This was the peace of 1814, by which the Continent, and especially France, were thrown open to British tourists, and the spirit of travel set free to wander where it listed. Like many of our young inquirers who were eager in this way to finish their studies, Mr. Tytler availed himself of the opportunity, by making a tour through France and Belgium ; and the companions of his journey on this occasion were Mr. (afterwards Sir Archibald) Alison, the well-known historian of modern Europe, and the present Lord Justice Clerk Hope. In the j'ear following (1815) a work was published anonymously in Edinburgh in two volumes, small octavo, under the title of "Travels in France during the years 1814-5, comprising a residence at Paris during the stay of the Allied Armies, and at Aix at the period of the landing of Bonaparte." This work was the production of Mr. Alison, and in his acknow- ledgment, that in preparing it, he was "indebted to the journals of a few friends who had preceded him in their visit to the capital" (Paris), he is be- lieved to have especial reference to the communications of Mr. T^'tler. After this modest entrance into authorship, by placing a supply of the raw material in the hands of an able workman, Mr. Tytler made a bolder advance by adventuring original compositions of his own, in the pages of the Edin- burgh and Blackwood's Magazine, Of these anonymous productions, by which he tried his early strength, and put himself in training for higher efforts, two have been mentioned : these were, a " Life of Michael Scott," the Merlin or Friar Bacon of North Britain ; and a fragment, under the title of a " Literary Romance," in which as much of a tale was supplied as gave work to tlie imagination of the reader, and enabled him to form a conclusion for himself. A mind so well stored could not long remain contented with the transient efforts of journalism ; and Mr. Tytler's first work, which was published in Edinburgh in 1819, clearly indicated the course of his studie?, while it gave promise of the historical accessions which he was afterwards to contribute to the annals of his country. This was his " Life of James Crichton of Cluny, commonly called the Admirable Crichton " — a personage of whose learning and varied talents such wonderful tales had been told, that posterity had begun to class him with King Arthur, and the other mythic heroes of old British history, who people the fairy regions of Avalon. This work was so favourably received by the public, that a second edition of it, corrected and enlarged, with an Appendix of Original Papers, was published in 1823. The next literary production of Mi: Tytler was "An Account of the Life and Writings of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton, including Biographical Sketches of the most eminent Legal Characters from the institution of the Court of Ses- sion by James V., till the period of the Union of the Crowns," This was pub- lished in Edinburgh in 1823. A third work, also biographical, was published by Mr. Tytler, but anony- mously, in 1826. This was the " Life of John Wicklyff," the English Re- former. These productions, laborious though they were, from the antiquarian toil and research they had occasioned, were considered by him as only light preludes to the far more important work which he now contemplated. The circumstances PATRICK FllASER TYTLER. 585 that first led to such an undertaking are -worthy of notice. Mr. Tytler having, during the course of a summer excursion, paid a visit to Abbotsford, was re- ceived with that -svarm-hearted welcome, and ushered into that choice intellec- tual society, for which the illustrious owner and his hall were at all times so distinguished ; and during the hours of that happy evening, tale, and song, and literary discussion, and old remembrances, followed each other in rich and rapid succession. Matters, however, of more lasting moment occupied, as usual, the mind of Sir Walter Scott, and during the evening he took Mr. Tytler aside for the purpose of some bye conversation. It was to advise him to write a HisTOPvY OF Scotland. He had long, in common with many of our most dis- tinguished countrymen, felt the want of such a work ;'■ and several years before this period he had himself been almost persuaded by the publishers to under- take so congenial a task, and had thought that, by interspersing the narrative with romantic anecdotes, illustrative of the manners of his countrymen, he might produce a work such as the public would gladly welcome. He had, indeed, he added, made a partial commencement, in the form of an introductory essay — the same which was afterwards published in the "Quarterly Review" for January, 181G, as an article upon the Cullodeu Papers. But on thinking further on the subject, he found difficulties in his way which, in his (Sir Walters) case, could not easily be surmounted. He saw that a Scottish his- tory must be something more important than a popular romance; and that although the materials for it were so abundant in the form of national records, old Scottish authors, public and private documents, and other such sources, yet the task of digesting, elucidating, and arranging these materials, would engross more time than he could spare. He also found that the task must be pursued not only in Scotland, but in London, among the national archives, and wherever else such information could be found — a kind of labour which his official duties and other avocations would completely prevent. Perceiving these difficulties, he had abandoned the alluring enterprise, notwithstanding his conviction that a History of Scotland had still to be written, and his own wish to supply the deficiency ; and he had at last settled into the purpose of attempting nothing more in this way than a collection of historical anecdotes for the young, such as might impress upon their memories the brave and good deeds of illustrious Scotsmen, and inspire them with sentiments of nationality. t * In a letter written upon this subject, a.d. 1S23, Sir Walter Scott thus summed up our national deficiency: — "We are still but very indifferently provided with Scotch histories of a general description. Lord Ilailes' ' Annals ' are the foundation-stone, and an excellent book, though dryly written. Pinkerton, in two very unreadable quartos, which yet abound in information, takes up the thread where Hailes drops it— and then you have Robertson, down to the union of the crowns. But I would beware of task-work, which Pinkerton at least must always be, and I would relieve him [his correspondent's pupil] every now and then by looking at the pages of old Pitscottie, where events are told with so much naivete, and even humour, and such individuality, PS it were, that it places the actors and scenes before the reader. The whole history of James V. and Queen Mary may be read to great advantage in the elegant Latin of Lesly, bishop of Ross, and collated with the account which his opponent Buchanan, in language still more classical, gives of the same eventful reigns. Laing is but a bad guide through the 17th century, ycc I hardly know where a combinod account of these events is to be had, so far as Scotland is concerned." t This Sir Walter Scott accomplished by his " Talcs of a Grandfather,"' published v. 4 E 586 PATRICK FRASER TYTLER. All this, as the reader may perceive, was preparatory to an advice — a request. It was nothing less than that Mr. Tytler himself should be the historian of Scotland. Here Sir Walter did not fail to urge upon his young friend such motives as might incite him to the attempt. It was one that would be most congenial to his previous studies and pursuits. It would concentrate upon one great aim those efforts which he had expended upon a variety of subjects. It would gratify his patriotic feelings as a Scot, as well as his predilections for historical writing. The work itself would indeed be long and laborious ; but then he had the advantage of youth on his side, so that he might live to complete it; and if it were written under a deep conviction of the import- ance of historical truth, what a permanent benefit it would prove to his country! Finally, Sir Walter finished his persua&ions, in his own kind, char- acteristic manner, by offering to Mr. Tytler all the assistance in his power, not only in obtaining admission to all the repositories in which the mate- rials were contained, but his best advice in pursuing the necessary investi- gations. This was a memorable conversation in tlie life of IMr. Tytler: it was the turning-point of his literary career, the bias b}' which his whole after-course was directed. Deeply and anxiously he mused upon it, on his evening ride homeward to the mansion of Yair, where at that time he was sojourning; and it was after he had forded the Tweed at Bordside that he gave vent to his imprisoned feelings, by rehearsing to his friend who accompanied him, the whole tenor of the dialogue. On being asked how he liked the suggestion, he replied, that the undertaking had a very formidable appearance — and that though he had always been attached to historical pursuits, and was ambitious of becoming a historian, he had never conceived the idea of writing the history of his own country, from the peculiar difficulties that lay in the way of such an attempt, and in making it what he thought a History of Scotland ought to be ; now, however, he felt otherwise, and would lay the suggestion to heart, not only on account of the quarter from which it had come, but the assistance that had been so kindly promised. The resolution on which he finally settled he must have arrived at promptly, and followed up with almost immediate action, by which he stood committed to a lifetime of work in a new sphere of occupation, and to v/hatever, in the shape of success or failure, it might chance to bring him. The devotedness of a hero who saves his country, or of a legislator who regenerates it, may be matched by the devotedness of him who records their deeds. The historian who evolves the full truth of a Marathon or Bannockburn fight from the remote obscuiity in which it is clouded, may have had as hard and heroic a task as he who has achieved it. It was in the summer of 1828 that the first volume of Tytler's " History of Scotland " issued from the press. As it was only the first instalment of a large promise, the public received it as such; and while its merits were felt, the language of criticism was cautious and measured, although both commendation and hopeful encouragement were by no means withheld. The rest of the work followed at intervals; and as each successive volume appeared, the general in 1827. The precise year of this interview between Sir Walter and Mr. Tytler has been luifortunately forgot; but as the indefatigable author of " Waverley," was not accustomed to d.iliy with a purpose he had once formed, the conversation probably occurred in the summer of the previous year. PATRICK FRx\SER TYTLER. 587 p.pproliation was deepened: it was soon felt and acknowledged that a truly national liistoiy was now in progi'ess, to supersede the fragmentary records in which the Scottish nationality had been liampered and confined. At length the whole was completed in the winter of 1843, when the ninth and last volume appeared. His task was ended, and the author thus gracefully bade it adieu in the last paragraph: — "It is with feelings of gratitude, mingled with regret, that the author now closes this work — the history of his country — the labour of little less than eighteen years: gratitude to the Giver of all good, that life and health have been spared to complete, however imperfectly, an arduous under- taking; regret that the tranquil pleasures of historical investigation, the happy hours devoted to the pursuit of truth, are at an end, and that he must at last bid farewell to an old and dear companion." The completed history was now before the world, but it had not needed to wait thus long to establish the last- ing reputation which it now possesses. The generous labour, the indefatigable reseai'ch, and lucid order by which it is so eminently distinguished ; the always deepening interest of the narrative, and increasing eloquence of the style, by which the work gathers and grows in attractiveness to the last, were felt not only by the learned and critical, but the reading public at large, so that even those who could not coincide with the author in his views of the Scottish Re- formation, and the agencies by which it was effected, were yet compelled to acknowledge the honesty, the modesty, and the disinterestedness with which his statements were announced, as well as the strong array of evidence with which they were apparently corroborated. With his Tory and high church Episcopalian principles, and with the strange documents in his hands, which he had rescued from the dust of ages, and brought for the first time to the light of day, they could not well imagine how he could have written otherwise. Such was the conviction even of those who entered the field against him, armed with opposite views, and counter evidence to make them good. A sublunar}'- history wholly divested of sublunary feelings would not be worth reading. Although Tytler's " Flistory of Scotland" is complete in itself, as far as the original aim and purpose of the autlior are concerned, yet when the whole was concluded, he felt, in common with many whose opinion he respected, that a still more ample field should have been comprised. Thus, he commenced with the reign of Alexander III., the prelude to the wars of Scottish independence, because it is only from this point that our national history can be properly authenticated. Edward I., who made such wild havoc with the Scottish muniments, so that no trace of Scotland as an independent kingdom should ever be found, was unable to annihilate the memory of the prosperity he had destroyed, the cruelties he had perpetrated, and the gallantry with which his usurpation had been overthrown; these were burnt in, as with a branding-iron, upon Scottish memory to the end of time, and Edward, by his work of demoli- tion, only erected himself into a notorious pillar, to form a new starting-point for the national history to commence its glorious career. Tytler, however, knew that a stirring and eventful era had gone before, and that the early boy- hood and youth of Scotland was not only full of interest, but a subject of intense curiosity; and doubly difficult though the task would have been, he had resolved, even long before the history was ended, to explore this mythic period, and avail himself of such facts and probabilities as it afforded, in the form of a preliminary dissertation. Such was his purpose, which his previous investigations had well fitted him to effect ; and all that he required was only 588 PATRICK FRASER TYTLER. a breathing interval, after the nine volumes of his history had been finished. But that interval, in his case so needed, could not restore the active brain and buoyant spirit that had already accomplished their appointed duty, and accom- plished it so well! lie had also purposed to terminate his history, not at the union of the two crowns of England and Scotland under James 1., but of the two kingdoms under Anne; but here he found the incidents so voluminous, and withal so difficult to sift, condense, and arrange, as would have formed a task equal to all his past labours, and required a new lifetime for its fulfil- ment, so that the design was abandoned. During the long space of nearly eighteen years, in which ^Tr. Tytler was employed in the " History of Scotland," this, although his greatest, was not his only literary production ; and during occasional intervals he published the following works, which of themselves would have been reckoned a considerable amount of authorship : — "Lives of Scottish Wortiiies," in three volumes 12mo. Published in Mur- ray's "Family Library." London, 1831-33. " Historical View of the Progress of Discovery on the more Northern Coasts of America." Published in the "Edinburgh Cabinet Library" of Messrs, Oliver & Boyd. 1832. "Memoirs of the War carried on in Scotland and Ireland, lGu9-91, by Major-General Hugh Mackay." This volume, which he edited in conjunction with Mr, Hog of Newliston, and Mr, Adam Urquhart, was presented to the Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs in 1833. " Life of Sir Walter Raleigh." Publislied in the " Edinburgh Cabinet Library," 12mo, 1853. " Life of King Kenry the Eighth." London, 1887. " England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mar}-, with the Contem- porary History of Europe; in a Series of Original Letters, never before pub- lished; with Historical Introductions," &c. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1839. The article "Scotland," in the seventh edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britan- nica," which was afterwards published in a separate form, as a History of Scot- land for the use of Schools, While ]\Ir. Tytler thus occasionally unbent his mind with what to others would have proved a serious burden, he was also alive to the stir of the world around him, and felt sufficient interest in the passing events of the day. This was especially the case when that important ecclesiastical movement, the Dis- ruption, occurred in Scotland in 18i3. As a Christian, a Scotchman, and a historian, it was especially calculated to arrest his attention ; while the fact or his being an Episcopalian removed him from the turmoil, and enabled him to regard it with a cool, dispassionate eye. The sentiments, therefore, of one so situated, and so conversant with the historical facts and principles which were appealed to by the contending parties on this occasion, are well worthy of notice. These he full}^ and distinctly delivered in a letter, dated June Gth, 1843, to a friend, who had abandoned the Establishment, and joined himself to the Free Church. " 1 do not see," he writes, " how, consistently with j'our principles, and belief in what constitutes a true Presbyterian Kirk, you could have acted otherwise. In our conversations on the subject, I remember often saying, that had I been a Presbyterian, I must have done the same. Popular election of their ministers, and complete spiritual independence, were, from the first, the two great principles laid down by Knox as the foundation on which PATRICK FlUSER TYTLER. 589 their whole superstructure rested, and, indeed, without the last, no cliurch could stand. With the first— the right of the people to choose their ministers— I have no sympathies: with the last, every feeling of my heart and reason is on your side — and no one knows how soon the Church of England may have to contend for it. Let us hope that if it does come to this, there may be as much courage and conscience in England as across the border." In his mode of study, Mr. Ty tier, although so deeply immersed in the absorb- ing research of history and antiriuarianism, was no peevish recluse student, sheltering himself within the innermost recesses of his hermitage, and quarrel- ing witli every sound above a gentle whisper: instead of this, his favourite place of work was the parlour or the drawing-room, surrounded by the society of his family and friends; and there lie consulted his authorities, arranged his notes, and wrote out his copy for the printer, animated and cheered onward rather tlian disturbed by the society around him; listening to the music that might be going on, to which he was very partial, and mingling in the subjects of conversation. In this cheerful, genial fashion, he embodied into living form the materials of his anxious research, which he had gleaned among the MSS. of the British Museum, or the State Paper Office. That he might be near these fountain-heads also, he resided for a considerable period during the latter part of his life in the metropolis. During the present reign, he was oftener tlian once a guest at Windsor, where he was received with honourable distinction ; and during the administration of Sir Robert Peel, when literary merit was not thouglit unworthy of state recognition and reward, his high services as a national historian were attested by a pension of £200 per annum. In everyday life, unconnected with his intellectual pursuits, the high moral worth, amiable gentle temper, and conversational powers of iMr. Tytler, endeared him to a wide circle of friends, by whom these qualities are still most affec- tionately remembered. But the characteristic by which he was especially distinguislied, was the deep-seated religious principle for wliich he was noted from Ills earliest youtli, and by which his whole course of life was regulated to the close, both in his private and literary relationsliips. In subservience to this were his hilarity and wit, which were so pervaded with his own amiable temperament, that instead of repelling, they attracted all around him, and mesmerized the company for the time into happy beings like himself. In this way the historian, amidst the throngs and events of centuries, main- tained and preserved to the end his own personal identity, instead of losing it among past ages— a trait of intellectual independence, hard indeed to compass, and very rarely to be found among those wlio have won for themselves a high literary reputation, especially among the more crabbed and abstruse depart- ments of intellect. In the earlier part of his life Mr. Tytler served in the troop of the Mid-Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry — a corps in which not only the highest rank but the best talent of Scotland was enrolled ; and among such congenial spirits he soon took the lead, not only on account of the fascinating wit and cheerfulness of his conversation, but the songs which he composed and sung — for he was also a poet of no common mark ; and the lyrics with which he was wont to charm tlie mess-table, were connected with the military affairs of the regiment, and the duties with which his comrades were occupied. On one occasion, being desirous of retirement, probably'- for a holiday's recreation, and aware how his furlough would be apt to be invaded, he stole away to the house of his brother, at Woodhouselee. But his absence was instantly felt in 590 DAVID VEDDER. the next merry meeting of his comrades, at their headquarters of Mussel- burgli, and a covporars troop, with a led horse, and a mock warrant for seizure, were despatclied to apprehend and bring back the deserter'. Tytler, who espied the coming of this band, escaped by a back-door, and took shelter in the wood above Woodhouselee. After he had remained there for such a length of time that he thought the danger must be over, he ventured to return to the house ; but ill had he calculated upon the double sharpness of the lawyer-soldiers of the Lothian Yeomanry. He was captured at the very threshold by the ambush that awaited his return, deprived of his arms, mounted upon the led horse, and carried off in triumph to the military encampment. This diverting pantomime, of what in the stern realities of war is often a moving tragedy, so greatly tickled his fancy, that on the same evening he composed a song, detailing, in most comic fashion, the circumstances of his capture, which he sang at the mess-table on the following day, amidst the applauding peals of his companions, who were thus well requited for tlieir trouble. This song ever after continued to be the most popular of all his lyrical jn-oductions. But we must hasten to the mournful termination — " the last scene of all." In 1843 IMr. Tytler had finished his " History of Scotland;" and although he had already written so much, and this, too, upon subjects where the apparent quantity of labour bears but a small proportion to the toil and research that have produced it, he was still earnest to accomplish more, and hopeful, after a period of rest, to be enabled to resume those occupations which had now become the chief element of his existence. But even already his literary life had drawn to a close. Although of a healthy vigorous constitution, active habits, and cheerful temperament, his over-wearied mind and exhausted frame had no longer power to rally ; and after wandering over the Continent in a hopeless pursuit of health, he returned home to die. His death occurred on the morning of Christmas Eve (2-ith December), 1849, after several years of sickness and suffering, and when he had entered his fiftj'-ninth j-ear. Mr. Tytler was twice married. His first wife, who died in 1835, was Rachel Elizabeth, daughter of the late Thomas Hog, Esq., of Newliston, by whom he had two sons, Alexander and Thomas Patrick, both in the East India Com- pany's military service, and one daughter. His second wife, who still sur- vives him, was Anastasia, daughter of the late Thomson Bonar, Esq., of Camden Place, Kent. V. VEDDER, David. — This warm-hearted enthusiastic sailor-poet, whose open countenance and massive form have so recently disappeared from among us, was born in the parish of Burness, Orkney, in 1790. His father was a small proprietor near Kirkwall; but of him he was bereaved in early boyhood; his widowed mother, however, directed the first steps of his education with singular ability, and carefully led him into that good path which he followed out to the end of his days. Being left an orphan at tlie age of twelve, David chose the occupation most natural to an island boy and Orcadian — it was that of a sailor, DAVID VEDDER. 59 1 and in the first instance as a cabin-boy ; but at the age of eighteen he rose to the rank of mate, and only two years after to the command of a ship, in Avhich he made several voyages to Greenland and other places. Afterwards he entered the revenue service, as first officer of an armed cruiser, in which he continued till 1820, when he obtained the government appointment of tide-sur- veyor of customs, and officiated in that capacity at the ports of Montrose, Kirkcaldy, Dundee, and Leith, till the close of his active and well-spent life. Although the tempest-beaten shores and incessantly shifting skies of Orkney are so fitted to inspire poetical emotions — though its wild scenery is fraught with such romantic historical remembrances — and though its children are the descendants of those Vi-kings and Jarls, who wrought such wondrous deeds in their day, and of those Scalds who recorded them in song — yet it is singular that so few Orcadians of the modern stock have distinguished themselves in the walks of poetry. A veritable Orkney poet, therefore, is the more valuable, on account of the rarity of the species — and one of these few, as well as the choicest specimen of the whole, was David Vedder. The maternal education, although so early terminated, had not only made him a reader and a thinker, but had cultivated his poetical tendencies, so that the ocean storms, by which they might have been otherwise extinguished, only seem to have nursed them into full maturity. Even while a young sailor, and amidst the boisterous navigation of the Northern seas, his chief recreation as well as delight was poetry, so that he ventured at the early age of twenty-one to launch his first published poem into the pages of a magazine. Thus committed to the destinies of the press, other similar attempts quickly followed ; and encouraged by the favourable reception they experienced, he commenced authorship in earnest, with a volume entitled the " Covenanter's Communion, and other Poems," which was published by Blackwood in 182G. This work was so favourably received, that the whole im- pression was soon exhausted. We can only give a brief enumeration of David Vedder's other works. To the "Covenanter's Communion" succeeded his " Orcadian Sketches"— a produc- tion of prose and verse intermixed, in the strong sonorous poetry of which the ringing of his native storms predominates, while many of the events are remini- scences of his own early life. This was followed by a "Life of Sir AValter Scott," which was much read and admired, until it was superseded by the able and ample narrative of Lockhart. In 1841 he published a volume of his col- lected pieces, under the title of " Poems — Legendary, Lyrical, and Descriptive." In 1848 he published, in conjunction with his son in-law, Mr. Frederick Schenck, the distinguished liihographei-, a splendidly illustrated volume, en- titled " Lays and Lithographs," the whole of the letter-press of which was sup- plied by ]\Ir. Vedder. His last principal work was a new English version of the quaint old German story of " Reynard the Fox," adorned with similar illustrations. Besides these entire productions, Mr. Vedder was considerably employed, over a course of years, as a coadjutor in other literary undertakings. These, inde- pendently of numerous contributions to newspapers and magazines, consisted of additions to George Thomson's " Musical Miscellany," Blackie's " Book of Scottish Song," and Robertson's "Whistlebinkie." He also contributed the greater part of the letter-press to Geikie's well-known volume of " Etchings." As his authorship had commenced, in like manner it terminated, with the Covenanters; for during his last illness he was employed in the composition of 592 DR. ^VILLTAM ^^'ALL.\CE. a beautiful ballad, descriptive of their sufferings, founded upon an incident in the life of Andrew Grey, of CluTston, in Ayrshire. The estimate of Vedder's literary and intellectual character has been justly and briefly expressed by the Rev. George Gilfillan in the following words — "As a poet and prose writer his powers were of no ordinary kind. He added to strong unrestrained sense much fancy and humour. If not a 'maker' in the full extent of that name, he had unquestionably a true natural vein. Dr. Chalmers used actually to electrify his class-room by reading those lines of Vedder's. entitled 'All Nature worships there;' and many parts of his 'Cove- nanter's Communion' and his 'Orcadian Sketches' display similar power and truth of genius. Although in a great degree self-taught, he managed not only to acquire an excellent English style, but an extensive knowledge of foreign tongues, and his translations from the Gei'man are understood to be exceedingly faithful and spirited." The death of Mr. Vedder occurred at his residence in Newington, near Edin- burgh, on the 11th of February, 1854, when he had reached his sixty-fourth year. His funeral was attended by most of the literary men of Edinburgh, who thus rendered public honour to his talents and worth ; and a selection from his writings, edited by that distinguished young poet, Alexander Smith, is expected to be published, the profits of which are to be devoted to the erec- tion of a monument over the grave of Vedder, in the Southern Cemetery at the Grange. w. WALLACE, LL.D., William. — Tiiis talented mathematician was born at Dysart Fifeshire.on tlie 23d of September, 17G8,and was the son of a manufacturer of leather in that town. After having been taught to read at a private school, kept by an old woman, he was sent to a public seminary, ^Yhere he learned to write; but the still more important branch of education in his case— that of arithmetic — he learned at home from the instructions of his father. His father having been unsuccessful in business, removed to Edinburgh, where William was bound apprentice to a bookbinder ; still, however, dwelling under the paternal roof, and availing himself of his father's course of instruction. Besides this he was wont, when opportunity offered, to read such books as were placed under his charge for binding. His mind having been thus awoke to action, his favourite bias quickly took the lead : he purchased a few mathematical books, and pored over them till they could teach him nothing further. In this way, we are told, before he had readied his twentieth year he was a considerable proficient in elementary geometry and trigonometry', algebra with fluxions, conic sections, and astronomy. During this successful pursuit of scientific knowledge, he was likewise so fortunate as to form an acquaintance with a man who assisted Dr. Robison in his class-room experiments, and who offered to introduce him to the professor. This offer Wallace, who had now finished his apprenticeship, gladly accepted. The doctor was not long in perceiving the earnest scientific zeal of the young man, and the proficiency he had made in mathematics, and tliere;bre gave him permission to attend the course of lectures on natural philosophj' gratuitously. To avail himself of such a welcome oppor- DR. \V^.LIAM WALLACE. 593 tunity, Wallace, whose circumstances were lliose of a straitened journe3nian, worked hard at his trade during a portion of the time that should liave been devoted to sleep. Here, too, Dr. Robisons kind patronage did not terminate, for he introduced his protege to Professor Playfair, who lent him scientific books, and gave him valuable suggestions for the study of the higher branches •of mathematics. Dr. Robison also intrusted him with tlie tuition of one of his own pupils in geometry- — a useful training to William V/allace, for the impor- tant charges as a public instructor, which he afterwards occupied. Finding that the trade to which he had served a regular apprenticeship afforded too little time for studj', and that he might advance himself to some- tiling better, Wallace became a warehouseman in a printing office, wiiere liis opportunities of acquiring knowledge were more abundant. Here he mastered the difficulties of the Latin language by his own industry, aided by a few lessons from a college student, and afterwards studied French. He then exchanged the printing-office for the situation of shopman to one of the principal book- sellers of Edinburgh — and approaching still nearer to the ultimate mark, he devoted his evenings to the teaching of mathematics as a private tutor. As this last occupation was more congenial than the other, lie devoted himself to it entirely, having abandoned the shop for that purpose ; and a short time after- wards he was appointed assistant teacher of mathematics in the academy of Perth. This was in 1794, when he had attained his twenty-sixth year, and acquired such a reputation that the most scientific men in Edinburgh welcomed him as a brother. Soon after he had settled in Perth he married, and for nine years after there was a lull in his hitlierto changeable course, during which he quietly discharged the duties of his somewhat obscure and humble calling. But the time thus spent was not spent in idleness, as he evinced when the fitting season arrived; and among the fruits of his studies at Perth, were three articles, which successively appeared in the respective publications for whicli they were intended. The first, which was presented to the Ro^-al Society of Edinburgh in 170G, was entitled '"Geometrical Porisms, with Examples of their Applications to the Solution of Problems." About the same period he contributed the article "Porism" to the third edition of the "Encycloptedia Bri- taunica." His third article, which he presented to the Ro3'al Society of Edin- burgh, contained a new method of expressing the co efficients in the development of the formula that represents the mutual perturbation of two planets ; to which was added an appendix, giving a quickly' converging series for the rectification of an ellipse. The scientific men who were qualified to judge of these papers bore high testimony to their accuracy and originality. The time at length arrived when IMr. Wallace was to be elevated to a more fitting sphere of action. From the obscurity of such a town as Perth, his repu- tation had so widely diff"used itself, that in 1803 he was invited to stand as candidate for the office of mathematical master in tlie Royal Military College, lately established at Great Marlow, in Buckinghamshire. He consented, moved to this by the advice of his venerated friend, Professor Plaj-fair; and in the examination of candidates, his qualifications were found so much superior, that he was immediately elected to the office. It is interesting to notice that, in the following year, his countryman, Mr. Ivory, who, like himself, had been the subject of struggle and change, and who had also fought his way to scientific reputation, was elected to the professorship of mathematics in the same college. On the removal of the institution to Sandhurst, in Berkshire, Mr. Wallace V. 4 F 594 DR. WILLIAM WALLACR. accompanied it, and continued to teach in a manner that secured the appi-oba tion of the directors. In 1818 his sphere of educational duty was extended, in consequence of a resolution of the directors of the college, that a half-yearly course of lectures on practical astronomy should be given to the students, and that Mr. Wallace should be the lecturer. As this course also was to be combined with instructions on the manner of making celestial observa- tions, a small observatory was erected lor the purpose, and furnished with the necessary instruments. This addition to the routine of a military education, has done much to remove the objections often brought against our bravest officers of the army, on account of their deficiency iu the science of their profession. Another movement was now to occur in the changeful career of Mr. Wallace. In 1819 Professor Playfair died; Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Leslie was appointed to succeed him ; and by this transference the chair of mathematics in the university of Edinburgh became vacant, and open to competition. The height of Wallace's ambition was to obtain a Scottish professorship, and accordingly he threw himself into the contest with his whole heart and energ3\ In the trial of candidates, which was a keen one, he was successful, and he brought the maturity of his experience as a teacher, as well as his rich scientific acquirements as a mathematician, to a chair but too often filled with men un- practised in the common ways of life, and whose whole occupation is to muse and dream over a problem. Many of the scientific men of the present day can still remember, with gratitude, the efficiency with which Mr. Wallace dis- charged the duties of his professorship, and the impulse which his teaching imparted to their studies. He thus continued to labour till 1838, when he was obliged to retire from office in consequence of ill health ; and on his retirement, government expressed its sense of the value of his services, both at Sandhurst and Edinburgh, by conferring on him a pension ; and the university of Edin- burgh, by making him a doctor of laws. Five years of private life succeeded, during which, however, his mind was not idle in his favourite pursuits, as was attested by his productions during this period, while he was unfitted by sick- ness for the usual intercourse of society. Having reached the age of seventy- five, he died at Edinburgh, on the 28th of April, 184.3. Besides those scientific articles which we have already mentioned. Professor Wallace, in the earlier part of his life, was a contributor to Leybourne's "Mathematical Repository," and the "Gentleman's Mathematical Companion:' he was also author of the principal mathematical articles in the " Edinburgh Encyclopaedia," and the fourth edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." To these productions the following may be added: — In 1808, he presented to the Royal Society of Edinburgh an article entitled " iSew Series for the Quadrature of the Conic Sections, and the Comi^utation of Logarithms." In 1823, he presented another, entitled, "Investigation of Formuloe for find- ing the Logarithms of Trigonometrical Quantities from one another." In 1831, he presented another, entitled, "Account of the Invention of the Pan- tograph, and a Description of the Eidograph." Of this instrument, called the eido- graph — from iJoo;, a ibrm, and yQCifnv, to draw — he was himself the inventor; and, like the pantograph, it is used for the purpose of copying plans or other drawings, on the same or on different scales. Professor Wallace was also the inventor of the chorograph, an instrument for describing on paper any triangle EEV. RALPH WARDLAW, D.D. 595 havins; one side and all its angles given, and also for constracting two similar triangles on two given straight lines, having the angles given. In 1836 he contributed a paper to the "Transactions" of the Roj'al Astro- nomical Society, entitled, " Two Elementar}' Solutions of Kepler's Problem by the Angular Calculus." He also contributed another, under the title of " Geo- metrical Theorems and Formulae, particularly applicable to some Geodetical Problems," to the Cambridge Philosophical Society, which w\is published in the sixth volume of their " Transactions." In 1838, when laid aside by sickness, he also composed a work upon the same subject, which he dedicated to his friend, Colonel Colby. In 1839 Professor Wallace gave his last contribution to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, under the title of " Solution of a Functional Equation, with its Application to the Parallelogram of Forces, and the Curve of Equilibrium," ^Yhich was published in the fourteenth volume of their " Transactions." WARDLAW, D.D., Rev. Ralph. — This able controversialist, eloquent preacher, and graceful popular writer, who, for more than half-a-century, con- tinued to rivet the public attention and secure its esteem, could have been no man of ordinary, or even of merely second-rate attainments. When to this, however, we add that he was the uncompromising champion of a church \\liich was totally opposed to the Presbyterianism of Scotland; that, mainly by his able superintendence and universally recognized worth, he raised it to an eminence as high, perhaps, as it is capable of reaching in the land of Solemn Leagues and Covenants; and that, notwithstanding the many hard debates which he waged, in order to clear the space around him, and make his footing good, he still continued to retain the esteem of those parties upon whom his blows had fallen the heaviest — in such a case, our certainty of his surpassing worth is confirmed beyond doubt or cavil. After this brief explanation, we may the less regret that the long life of Dr. Wardlaw presents so few incidents for the purposes of popular biography. So regular was the round of his duties, and with such undeviating diligence were they performed, that the narrative of a year or two in his career would be a fair and sufficient specimen of his life- long history. Ralph Wardlaw was horn in the small, but ancient and historical town of Dalkeith, on the 22d of December, 1779. It is not known whether his parents had been settled residenters in that locality at the period of his birth, or merely temporary sojourners. Six months after that event they removed to Glasgow, and there his father was long known and honoured, not only as a prosperous merchant and civic magistrate, but an amiable, upright, consistent Christian. By his mother, Ralph possessed a quartering in his escutcheon of which he was justly proud, for she was a descendant of Ebenezer Erskine, the father of the Scottish Secession Church. This ancestry, independently of his own personal worth and reputation, greatly endeared Dr. Wardlaw to the clergy and laity of that denomination. When he had nearly reached his eighth year. Dr. Wardlaw was sent to the grammar or high school of Glasgow, where he con- tinued for four years. On finishing this preliminary course of scholarship, he entered the university of Glasgow; and though not yet twelve years of age, he seems to have soon attracted the observant eye, and secured the esteem of Mr. Richardson, the professor of humanitj', himself an accurate as well as a refined accomplished scholar. In after years, indeed, the professor was wont to declare, that there were two of liis pupils of whom he had always formed 59G REV. RALPH WARDLAW, D.D. the highest hopes in their future career, in consequence of the excellent taste, talents, and proficiency whicli their boyhood manifested. One of tliese two was Ralph WarJlaw, and in liim, at least, tlie prognostic was not disappointed. As the great-grandson of Ebenezer Erskine, and grandson of Mr. James Fisher, who succeeded Erskine, his father-in-law, as professor of theology to the Burgher or Secession Synod, it was natural that Ralph Wardlaw in early life should have directed his wishes to the work of the ministr}'. Accordingly, when his academical curriculum at the college of Glasgow was finished, he entered the theological hall of the Secession Church, at that time under the superintendence of Dr. Lawson, of Selkirk. But strong and unwavering though his adherence had hitherto been to the church of his fathers, events soon occurred by which the young student's views on the subject of ecclesiastical polity were completely changed. This was the new movement in favour of Independency, which the Ilaldanes had introduced from England, and were DOW supporting in their own country with such success, that numerous con- versions were the fruits. At all this the people of Scotland looked on at first witli indignation and wonder, not unmingled with contempt. They could not understand why laymen should dare to preach, or how churches could stand upright of themselves, unpropped by presbyteries and synods; and had the cause continued to depend upon lay directors and isolated tabernacles, it might possibly have passed away with those who had commenced it. The public feeling of hostility, however, was considerably softened when two ordained ministers of the Church of Scotland — the Rev. Messrs. Innes and Ewing — left their comfortable charges, and threw themselves into the new movement. By this event it had not only obtained a regular accredited ministry, but entitled itself to a dispassionate hearing. One of those who in this manner thought and felt, was Ralph Wardlaw ; and such was the effect upon his con- victions, that when his course of study at the theological liall was ended, instead of taking license as a Secession preacher, he gave himself to the Inde- pendents, and joined their church in Glasgow, under the pastoral supejintea- dence of Mr. Greville Ewing. It was certainly a most disinterested choice; for little, indeed, did it offer him either in the way of emolument or distinction, and as little could lie calculate upon the future growth of Scottish Congrega- tionalism, or the eminence which himself would obtain as the most influential of its ministers. After having made so decisive a choice, IMr. "Wardlaw was soon called to that sacred office for which he had hitherto been in training. A chapel was erected for him in Albion Street, Glasgow, chiefly through the exertions of his per- sonal friends, and to the pastoral charge of the congregation assembling in that building he was inducted by Mr. Ewing, on the IGth of February, 1803. Soon after his ordination he married Miss Jane Smith, his cousin, who was his comforter and helpmate from youth to old age. As a child, she had sat with him on the same form at school, where they mastered together their per- plexing lessons in English reading and spelling. Nearly seventy years after, it was her mournful task to close his lifeless eyelids, and bewail his departure. In Glasgow, the cause of Congregationalism continued to grow so rapidly, under the care of Jlr. lowing and Mv. AVardlaw, that it was found necessary, in 1811, to institute a theological academy in that city, for the regular training of an efficient ministry. Over this important charge these two were appointed as professors; and it would be difficult to tell whether the institution was most liEV. r.ALPII ^YARDLAW, D.D. 597 benefited by the biblical scholarship and profound exegetical theolowy of Mr. Ewing, or the clear logic, graceful eloquence, and critical tact of Mr. Ward- law. The latter continued to discharge the duties of this important office till the close of his life, and for the greater part of that time wholly without remuneration. At length, when a salary was attached to it, the amount was so small as scarcely to defray the mere expenses which were involved in the labour. This parsimony was thought strange, considering how many wealthy members belonged to his flock ; but, on the other hand, the numerous exigences of a new and rising cause, and the expensive missionary enterprises in which it was engaged, may account for this stinted liberality to the professor of theology. In the enthusiastic affection of his pupils, however, who were proud of the growing fame of their teacher, as u it had been their own; in the pro- ficiency they made under his charge, in consequence of which many of them took the highest prizes in the university of Glasgow ; and in the eminence which several of them reached as ministers, both in Scotland and England, Mr. Wardlaw enjoyed a requital which no salary, however liberal, could have equalled. The character of his teaching is thus described in one of the dis- courses delivered at his funeral : — "His lectures were admirable specimens of acute disquisition, perspicacious reasoning, and solid conclusion. Their aim was principally directed to the elucidation and defence of that system of truth which their author believed to be revealed in the Scriptures. His theology was primarily biblical, secondarily polemical ; he sought first to read the mind of the Spirit as unfolded in the written word, and having satisfied himself on this point, he summoned all the resources of his logic to defend the judgment he had formed from cavil or objection. Beyond this he did not go much into the region of systematic or historical theology ; while of the speculations of mere philosophical theologians he took little note, as either lying beyond the sphere which he had prescribed for himself, or not likely to be directly useful to those whom it was his ambition to train to be 'able ministers of the New Testament.' To those who were privileged to attend his prelections, they were valuable not only for the amount of sound theological knowledge which they imparted, but also as models of theological disquisition, and as affording an excellent discipline for tlie faculties of those who were destined to teach others." After Mr. Wardlaw had continued for sixteen years to officiate as the minister of Albion Street chapel, his congregation had increased so greatly, that the building, though not a small one, was insufficient for their accommodation. They therefore erected that larger edifice in West George Street, where he con- tinued to officiate till the close of his life. Soon after, his widely-spread repu- tation procured for him the degree of D.D. from one of the principal colleges in An^erica, and this, too, at a time when literary degrees from that quarter were more rarely given than now, and therefore more worth having. But how our own Scottish universities allowed themselves to be anticipated in con- ferring this honour upon such a man as Di". Wardlaw, is one of those anomalies which, perhaps, not even their learning and acuteness would be sufficient to solve. Allusion has already been made to the popularity of Dr. Wardlaw's ministry, and the steadiness with which this went onward to the end. And yet he was not a Boanerges, to take the popular mind by storm — a preacher that could strike, rouse, or astonish. His pulpit excellencies, indeed, were of a far less obtrusive, but, on that account, of a more sure and permanent character: he 59S REV. RALPH WARDLAW. D.U. was contented to succeed by pentle persivasion and slow deliberate conviction. The following sketcli, from a biographical notice, will give a full and accurate idea of tlie nature of his preaching: — "His main strength lies in his extensive acquaintance with Scripture, his argumentative distinctness and dexterity, his refined taste, his unimpeachable good sense, and the felicity with which he connects his subject with the personal interests and responsibilities of his audience. He seldom indulges in any ornament, or in any play of fancy, beyond the occasional introduction of some select figure or comparison, for tlie sake of illustration. He is never dull or common-place ; but his vivacity is that of the understanding rather than of the imagination. At times, and when handling suitable themes, a burst of feeling escapes him which is felt to be perfectly genuine, and whicli seldom fails to communicate its contagion to the hearers ; but he spends no time on mere sentimentalities, and shows no ambition whatever to provoke a tear, except as that may l)e the sign of his arrow having touched the heart. His chief aim seems always to be, to convey fully and clearly to the mind of his hearers the truth presented by the part of Scripture from which he is discoursing. Hence he is eminently textual as a preacher, eminently faithful as an expositor. Hence, also, the practical cha- racter of all his discourses. With all his closeness of reasoning and nicety of discrimination, he never indulges in mere abstract speculation — never verges into the regions of transcendentalism — never amuses his audience by adroit defences of fanciful hypotheses, or by gj-mnastic displays of dialectical subtlety. All is serious, solid, earnest, practical ; and though an effort of continuous attention is required on the part of the hearer, in order fully to apprehend the train of his reasoning and illustrations, such an effort will seldom be put forth without being rewarded by a large accession of valuable and sound scriptural knowledge." This intellectual, classical, and subdued style of preaching was delivered in a sufhcientl^' correspondent manner. The author from whom we have just quoted thus describes it : — " In the pulpit Dr. Wardlaw employs little action. An expressive elevation of the eyebrows, an easy and simple action of either hand, and an occasional motion of the body, effected by a grace- ful step backwards, are the only gestures lie is in the habit of employing. His voice, though somewhat feeble, is of considerable compass, and is finely modu- lated, so that he can make himself distinctly heard by a large assemblage; and, notwithstanding the disadvantage of reading his discourses, can, by the variety of his intonations, avoid the monotony into which this practice so frequently leads. There is, indeed, a peculiar charm in the sound of his voice, which is not without its effect in sustaining the attention and engaging the interest of his hearers. This, combined with the fulness of his matter, and the piety of his whole discourse, reminds one, in listening to him, of the Jewish high-priest of old, on whose garment the sweet-toned bell and the pomegranate, symbolical of richness, betokened the comi)ined clearness and copiousness of that revelation of which he was the herald, whilst on his forehead was inscribed 'Holiness to the Lord,' as the crown and consummation of the whole.' From the foregoing account of the nature of his sermons, the diligence of Dr. Wardlaw in his pulpit preparations may be easily surmised. It was laborious investigation, and careful well-weighed thought, expressed in apposite words and polished sentences; and when these extended, as they often did, to three discourses each Sabbath, instead of two, they constituted an amount of weekly study sufficient to establish the character of a truly painstaking divine. REV. RALPH WARDL.WV, D.D. 599 To this also must be added his duties as a theological professor, which occupied much of his time and attention, and were most diligently discharged. But our idea of his industry is wonderfully heightened by the recollection that he was also a voluminous author; so that, during a course of forty years, his appeals to the public through the press were never intermitted for any great length of time. A separate enumeration of these would be difficult, and tliere!ore we can only refer to them under their general classification, as it was given in the funeral sermon preached by Dr. Alexander: — "His writings may be classed imder three heads — theological, homiletical, and biographical. To the first belong his 'Discourses on the Socinian Controversy,' his 'Ciiristian Ethics,' his volume on the ' Atonement,' his ' Letters to the Society of Friends,' his ' Treatises on Baptism and Congregationalism,' his ' Lectures on Ecclesiastical Establish- ments,'and his 'Essay on Miracles,' the latest but not the least important of his published writings. Under the second head may be ranked his sermons, of which, besides a connected series in a volume, a great number were published separately; his 'Expository Lectures on Ecclesiastes,' his 'Lectures on Prostitu- tion,' and his ' Exposition of the Narrative of the Last Days of Jacob, and the Life of Joseph.' To the third class belong his jNIemoir of Dr. M'AU, of Man- chester,' prefixed to the collected Discourses of that eminent pulpit orator ; his Introductory Essay to an edition of 'Bishop Hall's Contemplations,' and his 'Memoir of his Son-in-law,' the Rev. John Reid, late of Bellary. Besides these he contributed many articles to religious periodicals, chiefly of a practical kind. He was the author also of several hymns, which, in correctness of sentiment, beauty of expression, and sweetness of rhythm, have few to equal them in our language, and will long hold a primary place in our collections of sacred verse. " In this enumeration it is to be observed that the greater part of Dr. Ward- law's writings were of a controversial nature. For this his peculiar intellectual character especially fitted him, as well as his devotedness to pure abstract truth, which he thouglit should be defended at all points, and against every gainsayer. Ilis productions of this nature, therefore, may be divided into two classes — those which dealt with avowed opinions hostile to every, or some impor- tant point of Ciiristian doctrine, such as the Socinian Controversy, which was one of his earliest appearances on the field ; his "Discourses on Alan's Responsibility to God for his Religious Belief," and his "Letters on the Errors of Quakerism," addressed to the Society of Friends. The other class comprised those doctrines upon which the different bodies of Christians are at variance, such as the Nature and Extent of the Atonement, in which he strenuously opposed tlie views of a new party, headed by IMr. Mnrshall ; his defence of Infant Baptism, and his series of lectures calling in question the necessity and propriety of national Church Establishments. In this waj'-, as a Christian against unbelievers, as an orthodox Christian against those of a mixed creed, and as an Independent zeal- ous for his own church, and ready to answer all or any other party that might attack it, he may be said to have fought his way, during nearly forty years, over the whole round of theological polemics. All this seems to constitute an amount of pugnacity not easily reconcilable with a meek and gentle spirit. But it must be remembered that Dr. Wardlaw did not step out of his way in quest of disputations; on the contrary, they met him in every street, and even knocked at his door, to call him out to fresh contest. Besides, in such a life of controversy, no one perhaps has ever better shown the courtesy of a coo REV. RALPH WAIIDLAW, D.D. thoroughly refined gentleman, blended with the meekness and tolerance of the Christian. lie writes not in hatred but in love ; to convince and win, not to irritate and defeat : he writes to show the greatness and the excellence of the truth he advocates, and not his own ; and even when he runs most keenly upon his adversary, it is to extinguish his garments, that have caught fire, where another would have thrown liim into the kennel. And thus, although he had assailed so many parties in turn, yet all united in esteeming or loving him, because all had experienced his warm-hearted catholic philanthropy, as well as been convinced of his sincerity. By such gentleness, too, he was no loser, for he was one of the most sriccessful of disputants. Only on one of these occasions he suffered a signal defeat ; this was in the well-known Apocrypha Controversy, waged with such keenness thirtj' years ago, and which so com- pletely divided the Cliristian world, that the wise, the learned, and the good were parted from each other, and only brought together for mutual conflict. In this terrible discussion — which was waged with a fervour, and even with a rancour, up to the iighting-point of which. Dr. Wardlaw could never, by any possibility, have been fully kindled — it is not wonderful that he should have failed, more especially when he adopted what is now recognized as the wrong side of the question, and had Dr. Andrew Thomson for his antagonist. We must now hasten to the closing period of Dr. Wardlaw "s uneventful but most nseful and well-spent life. A rapid review of it was thus briefly but correctly given at the beginning of 1850, by the Rev. Dr. Alexander of Edin- burgh : — " As a minister of the gospel, he has, for nearly half a century, laboured in connection with the same church with the most honourable diligence, the most judicious and blameless deportment, and the most gratifying success. As a theological professor, he has devoted the energies of his remarkable mind, and the resources of his extensive reading and thinking, to the education of the rising ministry in his own denomination, and that for more than a quarter of a century, without any remuneration from man, than the gratitude of liis pupils and the thanks of the churches. As an author, he has long held the first rank among theological polemics, and no mean j)lace in other departments of reli- gious literature. Unrivalled as a master of logic, he has shown himself also possessed of eloquence of the purest order, and of a breadth and practicability of view which are often denied to great dialecticians. And as a man, he has passed through a long life, in a position where many eyes were upon him, with an unblemislied reputation, and has descended into tli« vale of years, sur- rounded by the love, the respect, and the confidence of all good and generous men." Will it be believed, however, that the occasion which called forth such an honourtdjle and truthful testimony, was an aspersion of the worst kind which was attempted to be fastened upon the character of Dr. Wardlaw. After having lived and laboured so well from youth to old age, an accusation was raised against him, more fit to be hurled against a sordid money-broker or fraudulent shopkeeper, than a man of such high and w ell-tried excellence. But it fared as it deserved; it was met with universal scorn; and the answer everywhere ^vas— "Dr. Wardlaw?— impossible!" The principal Congregational churches of Scotland held meetings on the occasion, to express their firm conviction in his integrity ; the leading ministers of English Independency, to the number of sixty-six, signed a joint address to him to the same effect; while— what was perhaps more gratifying to his feelings— a meeting of the members of his own congregation was held in their chapel of West George Street, to testify their REV. DAVID WELSH, D.D. COl assvirance of his innocence, and admiration of his worth. It was held on the 16th of January, and was joined by ministers from far and near, as well as of almost every denomination, while the presentation of a rich and beautiful silver tea service graced tlie occasion. In his address to the meeting, he thus adverted to the stigma that had been cast upon him : — " I have felt it not a little hard — I am far from meaning on the part of God, who has his own ways and his own instruments of trial to liis servants and people, and who does all things well, but on the part of man — at this advanced period of my life and ministry, to be assailed as 1 have been. When a young man's character is maligned, he has time, as the phrase is, to live it down ; but when one has come to be a septua- genarian, such a process of self-vindication seems next to hopeless, unless, indeed (if we may borrow a figure from our neighbours of the Emerald Isle), he may be so happy as to have lived it down before it came — by anticipation." This, indeed, was exactly his own case, notwithstanding the oddity of the expression, and his character only shone out the brighter from the cloud that had attempted to obscure it. In February, 1853, when he had completed the fiftieth year of his ministry, and when a great anniversary' was held in the City Hall, Glasgow, on the occasion, he was thus enabled to advert to the harassing incident: — "It is just three years since I was called to pass through the heaviest trial of my life, and it is just three years since, mercifully to myself, and to others marvellously, that my strength for official duty was renewed. He whose it is to turn the sliadow of death into the morning, has dispelled the darkness, and has made it only to contribute to augment the serenity and clieerfuluess of the light which has succeeded." It was with this renewed frame, and in this cheerful spirit, that he was visited only ten months after by his last sickness. That sickness was also of brief continuance, for only three weeks before his death he was able to discharge his usual pulpit duties, and administer the sacred rite of the Lord's Supper to the members of his flock. He died on the 17th of December, 1853, at the age of seventy-four. A public funeral, attended by thousands, repaired to the Necro- polis, where his remains were interred ; while the harmonizing of all denomina- tions of Christians in this last solemn duty, and the deep sorrow that was settled on evtry countenance, proclaimed that every h.eart felt the loss they had sus- tained- -that a father in Israel had departed. Dr. "'Vardlaw was survived by his widowed partner, who has already been mentiq'aed ; and by a large family, of whom one son is a missionary at Bellary, in tly^ East, and another a merchant in Glasgow. Two of his daughters were alsp^ engaged in missionary enterprise with their Imsbands, and of these, one is Kow a widow, resident with her family in Glasgow. WELSH, D.D., Riiv. David. — This distinguished scholar and divine, whom a great national event made the mark of general attention, notwithstanding his recluse studious habits and unobtrusive disposition, was born at Braefoot, in the parish of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, on the 11th of December, 1793. His father, a substantial farmer and small landholder, had a family of twelve children, of whom David was the youngest. Being at an early period intended for the ministry, David, after receiving the earlier part of his education at the parish school of Moffat, went to Edinburgh, where he attended the high school for a year, and afterwards became a student at the university. Here his progress, though considerable, was silent and retired, so that at first he was little noticed among his ardent competitors in Latin and Greek; it was not words, V. 4 G 602 REV. DAVID WELSH. D.D. but thoughts that chiefly captivated his attention, and therefore it was not until he had entered the classes of logic and philosophy that he began to attract the notice of his class-fellows. In the latter he was so fortunate as to have for his teacher Dr. Thomas Brown, the most acute and eloquent of metaphysicians of whom he became not only the pupil, but the friend, and finally the affection- ate biographer. The ardent attachment of the young student to such a pre- ceptor, the enthusiasm with which he received his instructions, and docility with whicli he placed himself under the guidance of such a mind, not only alreadj' evinced the intellectual bent of David Welsh, but predicted his future eminence, and this more especially, as he had already only entered his fifteenth year. On joining the divinity hall, which he did in 1811, he brought to the study of theology all the reading and research of liis former years ; and although in substantial acquirements he was already considerabl^MU advance of most young students of his early standing, tl ey were accompanied with a shrinking bash- fulness, that prevented his supeiiority from being generally recognized. It would be well for towardly young students in general, and especially those of our divinity halls, if they were equally sheltered from that injudicious ad- miration by which improvement is so often stopped short, and an overween- ing vanity implanted in its stead. At this period it was of more than usual im- portance that divinity students should stud}- the great questions of church polity, in reference to their connection between the civil and ecclesiastical powers ; for upon them, in their future character as ministers, that uncompromising conflict was to depend which was finally to end in the Disruption. But David Welsh had already embraced that party in the church to which he adhered through life, and those principles for which he was to sacrifice one of the highest stand- ings in our Scottish universities. He was the descendant of a church-honoured line of Tweedsmuir sheep-farmers, who had suff'ered in the days of the Cove- nant for their adherence to the spiritual independence of the kirk against the domination of Erastianism and the Stuarts, and these principles had de- scended to him not only with a sacred, but hereditary'- claim. While Welsh was, therefore, a Whig in politics, he was decidedly evangelical in his religious sentiments, and thoroughly at one with the party in the church, still indeed a small and struggling minority, by whom they were represented. After having studied theology during the prescribed period of four years, he was licensed as a preacher, by the presbytery of Lochmaben, in May, 181 G. As he was still young, having only reached his twenty-second year, he was in no haste to enter upon the important duties of the ministry; instead of this he resumed the work of self-improvement, and continued to add to his store of knowledge as well as experience of the world. It was only thus that he could effectually prepare him- self, not only for the duties of a country minister, but the important charges which he was afterwards to occupy. Among these studies the exact sciences held a conspicuous place — geometry, algebra, and natural philosophy. Nor among these should the study of phrenology be forgot, to which he had become a convert through the arguments of its talented apostle, Mr. Combe. There was something in this fresh and tempting science so congenial to his own favourite study of the human mind — and it was so felicitous, as he judged, in its plan of decomposing so complex a thing as a human character into its simple primitive elements — that he soon became one of the most distinguished as well as enthu- siastic students of phrenology, while his name, after he was noted as a learned. REV. DAVID \YELSII. D.D. 603 philosophical, and orthodox country minister, was a tower of strength to the science, under the charges of infidelity and materialism that were brought against it. These charges, indeed, became at last too serious to be disregarded, and Mr. Welsh, in after life, became a less zealous and open advocate of the cause. Still, however, he was not to lie shaken from his belief in phrenology, in consequence of the injudicious uses that had been made of it, and, therefore, to the end, he continued a firm believer at least in its general principles and application. These he used in his processes of self-examination, and, doubtless, derived much benefit from the practice. Not content witli feeling himself weak or sinful in the gross, and condemning himself in wholesale terms, he tasked himself sternly in particulars, and for this purpose, took himself to pieces, and examined bit by bit the origin of the offence or deficiency. Conscience pre- sented to him his own likeness mapped all over like a phrenological cast ; and thus, while recording in his private journal whatever was amiss, each fault is specified not by its general name, but by its number. It would be well if phrenologists in general would turn the science to such a good account. After having been nearly five years a licentiate, Mr. Welsh was ordained minister of the parish of Crossmichael, on the 22d of jMach, 1821. His pre- sentation was highly honourable to the patron as well as himself; for while the latter was a Whig, the former was a Tory, and at this time political feeling was near its height; so that the young minister owed his promotion to that superiority of character which he liad already acquired, and which the patron showed himself well fitted to appreciate. On entering upon the duties of a country minister, Mi*. Welsh had two weighty obstacles to encounter, which would have marred the popularity of most persons thus circumstanced. The first arose from the state of his health, which was always delicate; so that the task of public speaking, so easy to the robust, was with him a work of labour, and often of pain. The other originated in the studious reflective habits he had already found so congenial to his nature, and which could ill brook the daily and hourly demands of commonplace parochial business. But the ph^'sical obstacles and intellectual predilections were equally sacrificed upon that altar of duty at which he now ministered, and he soon became a most popular and useful preacher, as well as a laborious painstaking minister. On this head, his character is best attested by two of his distinguished co-pres- byters, who were at one in their esteem of Mr. Welsh to the close of his life, although the Disruption, that afterwards ensued, rent them asunder in opinions of more vital importance. " 1 need not tell you," thus writes one of them to his biographer, "that Sir Alexander | Gordon of Greenlaw, the patron, Avho had presented ]\Ir. Welsh, notwithstanding his political principles] had soon cause to rejoice that he had been guided by the wisdom that is profitable to direct, to do so. Dr. Welsh realized, in every respect, his most sanguine expectations, and Avas soon admitted by all parties to be the most superior, and efficient, and popular minister that was ever settled in that district of Scotland. I visited him more than once in the manse of Crossmichael ; preached to his congrega- tion, and mingled a good deal with his people ; and never did I see a minister more beloved, or reigning more absolutely in the affections of his people." "From the time that he came to Galloway," the other thus writes of him, "I had the privilege of close intimacy and uninterrupted friendship with him; and certainly I could fill pages in commendation of his talents— his acuteness of intellect — his grasp of mind — liis unwearied zeal in the discharge of his profes- 604 I^EV. DxVVID WELSH, D.D. sional duties— the strong hold he had of the affections of his own people— the admiration that his pulpit ministrations met with wherever he appeared in public — the esteem in which he was held by his brethren — and the universal respect that attached to him from the community at large. . . . Notwith- standing all the innate modesty of our excellent friend, it was not possible that, in the most retired retreat, the great vigour of his mind, and the worth of his character as a Christian man and a Christian pastor, could long be hid or con- fined within the precincts of his immediate locality. It might be predicted of him, from the time of his appearance in public life — perhaps in his earliest days— that he was destined to hold a high place among his professional brethren ; and that circumstances would, in the providence of God, occur to bring him into public notice." Such was his course in the parish of Crossmichael, and such the effect of his labours. Independently, too, of his ministerial duties, in which he was so zealous and successful, Mr. Welsh still continued to be a diligent student, and one of his first, as well as the most distinguished of his literary labours, was his " Life of Dr. Thomas Brown," professor of moral philosoph}-- in the uni- versity of Edinburgh, who had been the guide of his early studies, and friend of his more advanced years. This congenial task he undertook not only from grateful affection, but in consequence of the urgent request of Dr. Brown's friends, who thought that the office could not be intrusted to better hands. It is enough to state respecting the merits of this biographical work, that it was worthy of the man whom it commemorated, as well as a profound and luminous exposition of the ethical and metaphysical principles which he had so eloquently taught as a professor; "and in holding converse," it may be added, in the words of a competent critic — "in holding converse through his memoir with the biographer himself, as well as with its interesting suliject, one cannot avoid being infected with a portion of the same earnest and beauti- ful enthusiasm, which animates so evidently alike the silent inquiries of the master, and kindles the admiration of his accomplished disciple." While engaged in writing this work, the author also resolved, when it was finished, to produce a treatise on Logic, a design, however, which was never executed. In the meantime, his studies were continued, not only among his old, but among new fields of research ; and in the latter was political economy, one of the most important, but withal most difficult, of modern sciences. The subject of education, also, as a science, engaged at this time his close attention, from the accident of the well-known Dr. Bell having become one of his neighbours and acquaintances ; and in consequence of these inquiries, Mr. Welsh, was enabled to turn his knowledge to an excellent practical account in the super- intendence of schools, when his sphere of operation was transferred from a small secluded parish to the educational wants of a crowded city. And that period of transference was not long delayed. It was soon evident, from the superior talents of the minister of Crossmichael, from his love of mental improvement, and from the earnestness with which he prosecuted the work of intellectual acquirement, in a situation where so many minds relapse into mere literary ease and recreation, that he was fitted for a still more important situation than that which he now occupied. Accordingly, a vacancy having occurred in the church of St. David's, Glasgow, Mr. Welsh, whose reputation was already known, was invited by the town council of Glasgow to occupy the charge. He accepted the offer, and was inducted toward the close of 1827. IJEV. DAVID ^VELSH, D.D. 605 In this new field he found full scope for his talents, and was quickly distin- guished, not only as an eloquent and useful preacher, but a most effective pro- moter of the interests of education, now become of paramount importance in such an over-crowded manufacturing city. Here also he found that cheering and strengthening intercourse of mind with kindred mind, which forms only an occasional episode in a country manse. He likewise married Miss Hamil- ton, sister of the Lord Provost, and to all appearance had reached that comfort- able termination in which the rest of his days were to be spent in peace. But his health, which had been always delicate, and the weakness of his chest, niade the task of preaching to large audiences, and the week-day duties of his office, so laborious and oppressive, that in a few years he would have sunk under them. Happily, however, his labours were not thus prematurely to ter- minate ; find the offer of the chair of church history, in the university of Edinburgh, which he received from government in 1831, came to his relief. This was the boundary to which unconsciously all his past studies had been tending, while the weakly state of his constitution only hastened the crisis. It was more in accordance with his feeling of duty to accept such a charge, for which he had strength enough, than to break down in an office which was growing too much for him. And, even setting this aside, he felt that the great work of training up an efficient ministry was of still higher importance than the ministerial office itself. These inducements were obvious not onl}' to him- self, but to his attached congregation; and they freely acquiesced in the parting, although with much sorrow and regret. He therefore left Glasgow, in Novem- ber, 1831, for his new sphere of action, and received the degree of doctor in divinity from the university, at his departure. The office into which Dr. Welsh was now inducted, had hitherto, in Scot- land, for more than a century, been one of the least distinguished of all our university professorships. This was by no means owing either to the infe- rior importance of church history as a subject of study, or to any innate dry- ness and want of interest that belongs to it ; on the contrary, we know that it embraces subjects of the highest import, and exhibits the development of the human mind in its strongest and most intense aspects — and is consequently of a more stirring and interesting character in itself, than either the rise and fall of empires, or the record of triumphs and defeats. But Scotland had been so exclusively occupied with her Solemn League and Covenant, that she had found little time to attend to the history of other churches ; and even when better days succeeded, those classical and antiquarian studies upon which ecclesiastical history so much depends, had fallen so miserably into abeyance, that the evil seemed to have become incurable. What, indeed, could a student make of the history of the church for at least twelve centuries, when his " small Latin and less Greek" could scarcely suffice to make out the name of a bygone heresy, or decipher the text in the original upon which the controversy was founded? In this state, any one or anything had sufficed as a stop-gap, to fill the vacuum of such a professorship — and it had been filled accordingly. But now a new order of things had succeeded, A more ardent literary spirit had commenced among our students, a wider field of inquiry had been opened, and they could no longer submit to doze over a course of lectures as dark as the dark ages, among which they lingered for months, or listen to a teacher who, perhaps, knew less about the matter than themselves. It will be seen, therefore, that nothing could have been more opportune than the appointment of Dr. Welsh. 606 REV. DAVID WELSH, D.D. His clear and vigorous mind, his varied acquirements and extensive reading, Ii.id not only furnished him witli tlie requisite stores of knowledge, but given him the power of selecting what was fittest from the mass, arranging it in the most effective form, and expressing it in tliat perspicuous attractive style which insured attention and stimulated inquiry. And besides all this aptitude, he was so profoundly impressed with the importance of his charge, that he resolved to give himself wholly to its duties; and with this view, he abstained from every engagement, either of literature or public business, that might in any way have allured him from his work. The devout conscientious spirit, too, in which all this waj undertaken and carried on, will be manifest from the following memorandum found among his papers. After mentioning what he regarded as shortcomings in the duties of his professorship, and confessing them penitentl}^ before the Lord, he adds: "In His strengiii i now bind my- self, during the present session, — " 1. To set apart one hour every Saturday for prayer for my students, and for considering my failures and deficiencies in the past week, with correspond- ing resolutions of amendment in the succeeding week. " 2. To make it a distinct object daily, praying for assistance to supply the deficiencies and correct the errors mentioned in the preceding page. " 3. To make a study, as opportunity presents, of the passages in Scripture that relate to my duties as a teacher, and to the duties of the young. " 4. To add to my resolutions from time to time, as new light shines. "5. To read the above at least once a-week — strictly examining myself how far my conduct corresponds, and praying that God may search and try me. " In looking at a student, ask, how can I do him good, or have I ever done him good?" In this spirit Dr. Welsh entered upon his duties ; and perhaps it would be needless to add how distinguished he soon became as a professor of church history. In his hands, a course of teaching hitherto so uninteresting and unprofitable, seemed to start into new life. At the close of each session he sat regularly in the General Assembly, as member for the presbytery of Loch- carron, but without taking an active part in its proceedings, as, from his delicate health, nervous temperament, and constitutional diffidence, he was neither a bold combatant in debate, nor a ready extemporaneous speaker. In the latter capacity, indeed, he jocularly compared himself to a narrow-necked bottle, from which the liquid is hurriedly discharged in jerks and gurgles. In the third session of his professorship (1834) he published a volume of " Sermons on Practical Subjects," which he had preached during his ministry in Crossmichael and Glasgow ; and although they were intended merely for private circulation among the two congregations, they at once went beyond these narrow bounds, and obtained a wide popularity. During the spring and summer of the same year he also went abroad, accompanied by his wife and two children, and resided at Bonn and Heidelberg, besides visiting other places in German}'. This trip, however, instead of being a mere pleasure tour, was undertaken by Dr. Welsh for the purpose of perfecting himself in German, in reference to the advancement of his studies in theology and church history ; and to acquaint himself, by personal examination, with the educational system of Prussia, with a view to the introduction of its improvements into that of Scotland. Having now, by frequent re- writing and improvement, brought his course of college lectures to some conformity with his own rigid standard, and EEV. DAVID WELSH, D.D. 607 having become familiarized with the duties of his cliair, Dr. Welsh at lengtli ventured to take a larger share in the general business of the cliurch than he had hitherto attempted. Accordingly, in 1838, he accepted the office of vice-convener of the Colonial Committee, and in ISil, that of convener. This situation, when conscientiously filled, involved an amount of study about the spiritual wants of our colonies, of extensive correspondence, and delicate influential management, as had hitherto daunted the boldest, and made them pause perhaps too often ; but in the case of Dr. Welsh, these difficult duties were entered and discharged with the same unflinching zeal which he had so successfully brought to his professorship. He also took a very active and influential share in an important controversy of the day, regarding the mono- poly in printing the Bil)lc, which had so long prevailed in Scotland, but was now felt to be an intolerable religious grievance; and on the monopoly being abrogated, and a board of control and revision established for the new editions of the Scriptures, Dr. Welsh was ultimately appointed by government to be secretary of the board. How he occupied this most trying and responsible charge is thus stated by his talented and distinguished biographer: " His fitness was acknowledged by all, and his performance even exceeded the expectations of the country. In the main matter of securing accuracy in the impressions of the Scriptures, complete success may truly be said to have been achieved, and chiefly through his care and knowledge ; while the conciliatory manner in which the control exercised by the board was carried into efl'ect, through him, guarded against all cause of discontent on the part of the trade, and soon did away with those jealousies which a little indiscretion might have called into such activity as to have greatly marred the usefulness of the measure. He brought the whole machinery into smooth and efficient working order, and handed it over to his successor in a state that required little more than the ordinary care of seeing that nothing should interfere with the system as he had arranged it." During this interval, an under-current had been going on in the life of Dr. Welsh, that was soon to assume the entire predominance. We allude to those great church questions that had been agitated from year to year, and were now to end in the Disruptiox. Upon these questions he had meditated deeply and conscientiously, and at every step had gone along with the evange- lical party in tlie Church of Scotland, and at last had arrived with them at the conclusion, that further concession to the state was impossible ; that all state advantages must be foregone by the church, in behalf of those principles that were part and parcel of her very existence. Such was the decision to which the controversy had come in 1842 ; and upon that memorable year, the decision was to be announced, and the church committed on the issue. At such a solemn period of assize, the high estimation in which Dr. Welsh was held was fully shown by his election to the office of moderator of the General Assembly; and this office, now so fraught with difficulty and deep responsibility, he undertook with fear and trembling. The faithfulness and ability with which he discharged it, is matter of history. Many important measures were passed at the sittings of this Assembly; but the most important of all was the "claim, declaration, and protest," in which the spiritual rights of the church were announced, the assumptions of the civil courts abjured, and the resolution of foregoing all the benefits of an Establishment distinctly declared, unless these rights were recognized, and the encroachments of the civil courts terminated. Another year rolled on, and the General Assembly again met; but it could only meet for the final departure of such as still adhered to the protest of the Ibrmer year— for the State had determined not to yield. All things were therefore in readiness for the meditated disruption, and nothing remained but to seize the proper moment to announce it. This was the trying duty of Dr. Welsh, as moderator of the former Assembly ; and to be performed while he was labouring under the depression of that wasting disease Avhich at no distant period brought him to the grave. But calmly and with an unaltered step he went through the preliminary duties of that great movement; and on Wednesday, the day previous to the opening of the Assembly, he signed the protest of his brethren, and afterwards dined, according to established rule, with the commissioner, to whom he announced the purposes of the morrow. On Thursday, he preached before the commissioner and a crowded auditory upon the text, "Let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind ;" and after this solemn note of preparation, he repaired with the brilliant cortege and throng of divines to St. Andrew's Church, and opened the Assembly with prayer. Tliis duty ended, the promised moment had come. While all were hushed with painful expectation, the pale sickness- worn face of Dr. Welsh was for the last~ time turned to the commissioner's throne, and in a voice that was soft and slow, but firm and articulate, he thus announced the final purpose of his brethren: "According to the usual form of procedure, this is the time for making up the roll ; but, in consequence of certain proceedings affecting our rights and privileges — proceedings which have been sanctioned by her Majesty's government, and by the legislature of the country ; and more especially, in respect that there has been an infringement on the liberties of our constitution, so that we could not now constitute this court without a violation of the terms of the union between church and state in this land, as now authoritatively declared, I must protest against our proceeding further. The reasons that have led me to this conclusion, are lully set forth in the document which 1 hold in my hand, and which, with permission of the house, I shall now proceed to read." He then read the protest ; and after bowing to the throne, he left the chair of office, and proceeded to the door, followed by Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Gordon, and the fathers of this momentous secession. Thus the departure commenced ; a long array succeeded ; and the procession slowly wound its way to Tanfield, where a large hall had been hastily fitted up in expectation of the emergency ; and there, a new General Assembly was constituted, by the new — or shall we gay — by the old and long-forgotten, but now regenerated Church of Scotland. Amidst the many sacrifices that were made on this occasion by the ministers of the newly constituted Free Church of Scotland— sacrifices which even their enemies will acknowledge were neither few nor trivial— those of Dr. Welsh were of no ordinary importance. In attaining to the professorship of church history in the university of Edinburgh, lie had reached an office all but the highest to which a Scottish ecclesiastic could aspire. It was besides so admira- bly suited to all his past acquirements, and now matured intellectual habits, that perhaps no other could have been found over the whole range of Scotland so completely adapted to his likings. And yet, this he knew from the begin- ning that he must forego, as soon as he abandoned the state patronage of the Establishment. In addition to his chair, he held the office of Secretary to the Board for the publication of the Bible, an office that yielded him a revenue of i500 per annum ; but this comfortable independence, so rare among the scanty SIR DAVID WILKIE. 609 endowments of our national chinch, must also be sacrificed as well as his pro- fessorship. Both offices were quickly reclaimed by the state, as he had antici- pated from the beginning. All this would have been enough, and even more than enough, for a bold and brave man in the full strength of manhood, and still eager for enterprise : but in the case of Dr. Welsh the fire of life was well nigh exhausted ; a mortal disease was silently and slowly, but securely drying up the fountain-head of his existence ; and he had arrived at that state in which every effort is weariness and pain, while tranquillity is prized as the greatest of blessings. And yet he abandoned all, and braced himself anew for fresh action, so that the rest of his brief life was full of exertion and bustle. The chief department that fell to his share was that of Education in connection with the Free Church ; and his valuable services in the erection of schools and the establishment of a college, will continue of themselves to endear his memory to the scholars of future generations. Of this new cullege, which commenced its labours immediately after the Disruption, for the training of an efficient ministrv, Dr. Welsh was professor in ecclesiastical history, while Dr. Chalmers held the office of principal. Dr. Welsh also became editor of the " North British Review," and by his able management contributed to raise that periodi- cal to the high literary standing which it quickly obtained. In 1844 he also published his " Elements of Church History " in one volume, which was intended to be the first of a series extending to six or seven volumes, that should carry down the history of the church to the close of the sixteenth cen- tury. But his labours had already approached their close ; and his inability to continue his college prelections at the close of the year, was the last of man^- warnings which he had lately received that his departure was at hand, and might probably be in a single moment. The disease under which he laboured was one of those complaints of the heart, now so prevalent, but still so little understood, that often make sickness so painful and death so sudden. And thus it was with Dr. Welsh. He had retired to Camis Eskin, on the banks of the Clyde, but without finding relief, and on the 24th of April, 1C45, his troubles were closed. A passage of Scripture had been read to liim, which he turned into a fervent prayer, and as soon as it was ended he stretched out his arms, and instantly expired. Such was the departure of one of whom it was stated by Lord Advocate Rutherford, in his place in Parliament, shortly after the event, that " within the last fortnight, a gentleman had been carried to his grave, who had com- manded more private affection and more public regard than, perhaps, any other man who had recently expired — a gentleman who had taken a high and pro- minent position in the great movement that had separated the Church of Scot- land— a gentleman firm and determined in his line of action, but at the same time, of all the men concerned in that movement, the most moderate in counsel, and the most temperate in language- a man who had never uttered a word or done a deed intended to give offence."' WILKIE, Sir David. — While the wondrous discovery of the power of steam was going on, and those experiments commencing by which our whole island was to be contracted into a day's journey, the doom of Scotland's nationality was sealed. It was evident that our country would soon be absorbed into Eng- land, and Edinburgh be converted into a suburban village of London. But while our distinctive national manners were thus about to pass away, and even our scenery to be moulded into new forms, three Scottish master-minds appeared, V. 4 II 610 SIR DAVID WILKIE. by whose genius the whole aspect of the country, as well as the charactei- of the people, were to be electrotyped, before they had vanished for ever. Burns, Scott, Wilkie — these were the honoured three by whom the face and features, the life and expression of Scotland were limned at the best, and by wliose por- traitures it will be known in future ages, however the original itself may change or wither. The strongly-marked and homely, but intellectual physiognom}' of the Scot ; his rural occupations and modes of life ; his sports and pleasures, nay, even the Doric Saxon of his speech, will all continue as living realities, when the Scotchman himself will be as indiscernible as the native of Kent or Middlesex. The third of this patriotic triumvirate, David Wilkie, was born at Cults, Fifeshire, on the 18th of November, 1785. His father, the Rev. David Wilkie, minister of the parish of Cults, was an amiable specimen of the Scottish divines of tbe old patriarchal school, who, besides attending to the duties of his sacred calling, was a most diligent student, as was shown by his "Theory of Interest," a work which he published in 1794. As his stipend was one of the smallest in Scotland, amounting to only £113 per annum, out of which a family was to be maintained, as well as the hospitality of a country manse supported, the painter learned from his earliest years those practices of honourable economy, self- denial, and independence, that characterized the whole of his after life. When his education had been continued for some time at home, David, at the age of seven, was sent to the parish school of Pitlessie, which was about a mile from the manse of Cults. But already he had found out more congenial occupations than learning the rules of grammar and arithmetic : even when a little child, his chief occupation was to sketch upon the floor with a piece of chalk such figures as struck his fancy ; and when he went to school, his slate and paper were soon employed for other purposes than those of counting and penmanship. He became the portrait painter of the school, and was usually surrounded by a group of boys and girls, all waiting to have their likenesses taken in turn. That w^hich in others is a passing freak, a mere boyish love of imitation, was in him the commencement of the serious business of life : he was thus uncon- sciously training himself to his vocation while he was handling chalk, charcoal, keel, or ink, watching the effects of light and shade, or studying, with his hands in his pockets, the attitudes and expressions of his school-fellows wh^ they were busy at their play. With this was combined that love of tale and histor}'- which characterizes the painter of life and action, while the narratives that most interested his fancy were those that related to Scotland, lie thus showed that he was to be a national painter. In some cases, enthusiastic young aspir- ants seem to start into excellence at a single bound, and produce works in their early boyhood which their more matured experience can scarcely amend. But with Wilkie the case was different. He was studying without a guide, while his standard was so high that every attempt was an effort which still fell short of the mark. In the meantime, his memory and his scrap-book were gradually accumulating those germs which were afterwards to expand into such a rich harvest. From the school of Pitlessie, Wilkie went to that of Kettle, and afterwards to the academy of Cupar; but his progress was still the same — a very mediocre proficiency in the ordinary departments of education, because they were held in check by one favourite pursuit. The minister of Cults at length perceived that his son would be a painter, and nothing else, and, there- fore, yielded as to an unwelcome necessity; and therein he was right, as it was SIR DAVID WILKIE. 611 a field new to Scottish enterprise, as well as of uncertain promise. But tlie chief difficulty was to find a school in which Wilkie should study his future profession, as those of Rome and London were too expensive for his father's means. Fortunately, the Trustees' Academy of Edinburgh was accessible, and there he was admitted as a pupil at the age of fourteen, through the recom- mendation of the Earl of Leven, where he was so fortunate as to have John Graham for his teacher, and William Allan for his class-fellow. " The progress Jie [Wilkie] made in art," says the latter, "was marvellous. Everything he attempted indicated a knowledge far beyond his years; and he soon took up that position in art which he maintained to the last. He was always on the look-out for character; he frequented trystes, fairs, and market-places, where there is generally a large assemblage of the country people of all ages, bargain- ing, or disposing of their various commodities. These were the sources whence he drew his best materials; there he found that vigorous variety of character impressed on his very earliest works, which has made them take such a lasting hold on the public mind." After remaining in the Trustees' Academy five ^-ears, and obtaining a ten guinea prize, Wilkie returned to Cults, and resolved to commence his profession in earnest, by producing some original painting Avorthy of public attention. His choice was a truly Scottish subject — the "Fair of Pitlessie," a village in his own neighbourhood. While the grouping and incidents were to be original, the characters were to be veritable persons; for "I now see," he said, "how superior painting from nature is to anything that our imagination, assisted by our menior}^, can conceive." But how to get these personages to sit— there lay the difficulty, for few men, and least of all, Scotchmen, are ambitious of figur- ing in a picture where drollery or caricature is to predominate. At last a strange expedient suggested itself one Sunday at church, on marking one of his victims whom he had destined for the Fair, nodding in the midst of sermon. Wilkie at once secured the man's likeness with a piece of red chalk ou the blank leaf of his Bible. In this way, he went on fiom face to face, on successive Sabbaths, in the kirk ; and not content with the sleepers, he next fell upon the wakeful, minister, elders, and precentor included, until every countenance of note in Pitlessie was faithfully copied. The.se doings could not long escape notice; heavy complaints were made of the profanity of the young artist in thus desecrating the house of God— and we scarcely hold his apology a just one, that while his hand and eye were thus employed his ear was as open as ever to listen. It was the Scottish apology of one v.'ho imagines, that the chief purpose of going to church is to hear a sermon. While he was thus procuring materials on the Sabbath, his week days were employed in transfer- ring them to the canvas, until the whole figures, 140 in all, were introduced, and the " Fair of Pitlessie " completed. It was a wonderful production of art, independently of the youth of the artist, who as yet had only reached his nine- teenth year; and as such he valued it when his judgment was riper, and his power of colouring more complete, so that he thus wrote of it to a friend in 1812: "The picture of the country fair I saw when I was last in Scotland; and although it is no doubt very badly painted, it has more subject and more entertainment in it than any other three pictures I have since produced." In the meantime the whole country side rang with the fame of this wonderful picture, the like of which had never been seen in Scotland, so that the pro- fanity of the painter was soon forgot; and an old woman, who was supposed to G12 SIR DAVID WILKIE. know more of futurity than a whole kirk session, spae'd on the occasion, that, as there had been a Sir David Lindsay in poetry, there would be a Sir David Wilkie in painting, and that she should live to see it. All tills praise was gratifying, but something more substantial was needed; and accordingly', after the Fair was linished and disposed of, Wilkie betook himself to the painting of portraits, in which he had several customers. At the same time he produced " The Village Recruit," a painting in which a recruiting sergeant, at a country inn, is doing his best to persuale three clod- poles to become heroes and generals. Having soon exhausted the '" kingdom of Fife" as a mart of portrait painting, and found it too limited for his ambition, as well as too penurious for his subsistence, he resolved to establish himself in London. Thither he accordingly repaired in May, 1805, and en- tered the Royal Academy as a probationer, where he was characterized by his compeers as a " tall, pale, thin Scotsman." Here, also, he formed an inti- mate acquaintanceship with Haydon, a congenial spirit in talent and aspirations — but with what a different termination! Wilkie's attendance at the academy was punctuality itself, while his diligence when there was such as to astonisli his more mercurial companions — whom he out-stripped, however, in the long- run. In the meantime, the small store of money which he had brought witli him began to fail, while his letters of introduction had procured him no sitters. Fortunately he at this time became acquainted with Mr. Stodart, the piano- forte maker, who not only sat for his portrait but induced others to follow his example; and in this way the desponding ariist was enabled to go on with fresh resources, although not without much economizing. " Among the many ways," he writes to his father, " by which we try here to save expense, is that of cleaning our own boots and shoes; for you must know that the people of the house will not clean them, and when you send them out to the shoe- blacks in the street, they become expensive." At the close of the year (1B05), ho passed from the condition of a probationer to that of a student of the academy, by which his means of improvement were considerably enlarged, and his merits brought more fully into notice. Among those who now learned to appreciate him as an artist of high promise was the Earl of Mansfield, for wiiom he painted the "Village Politicians." Other orders from persons of rank and influence followed, so that he was now on the fair highway to fame and for- tune. And yet, with all this, there were very heavy drawbacks. His ambition for proficiency in his art was so great, that he felt as if all he had done lu Scotland was a mere waste of time; while his modesty induced him to put such inadequate prices upon the pictures for which he was now commissioned, that he was not only in debt but also a sufferer from sickness, occasioned by anxiety and incessant application. In the meantime, his " Village Politicians," which was placed in the exhibition of the Royal Academy, not only delighted the public, but astonished the artists, who universally felt that a bright parti- cular star had risen in their horizon ; and so loud was the applause, that it rang to the remotest nooks of Fife, and gladdened the old patriarch of Cults, who was justly proud of his son's fame. " You cannot imagine," he wrote to him in the joy of his heart, " how great a fervour of admiration these accounts have produced in your favour in tliis quarter of the country ; in particular, the gentlemen for whom you painted pictures last year affirm that each of them is worth 100 guineas." "I am now redoubling my application," the young artist wrote in reply, " with the sure hopes of success. My ambition is goo SIR DAVID WILKIE. 613 beyond all bounds, and I have the vanity to hope that Scotland will one day be proud to boast of your affectionate son." The next painting which Wilkie executed was " The Blind Fiddler." This was undertaken for Sir George Beaumont, himself a painter and lover of the fine arts, as well as the most generous and efficient of all the artist's patrons. The great historical picture of "Alfred in the Neat-herd's Cottage" followed. Here Wilkie had no model, and was therefore obliged, like tlie poet or novelist^ to task his imagination. But to draw the most heroic and intellectual of sove- reigns in the disguise of a Saxon peasant, was the great difficult}' which Wilkie had to encounter. TJie power of language might so depict him, even though thus shrouded, that anyone would say, "Aye, every inch a king!" But the pencil has neither the same minuteness as the pen, nor yet the same univer- sally intelligible power; and thus, let a sovereign in a painting be stripped of his robes and his crown, and how difficult it will be to read the tokens of royalty in his mere gesture and look ! But Wilkie was proud of the task, for it was not only a great national subject, but its selection for his especial effort, showed the iiigh confidence that was already reposed in his talents. This admirable production, which was finished at the close of 1806, and was the result of intense study and labour, justified, by its excellence and the reputa- tion it acquired, the pains which had been bestowed upon it. It was at this time that Benjamin West declared of him, " Never in my whole experience iiave I met with a young artist like Wilkie : he may be young in years, but he is old in the experience of his art. I consider him an honour to his country." Thus rich in reputation, although still poor in purse, for it was almost wholly for fimie that as yet he had worked, the artist paid a visit to his native country, in May, 1807, chiefly for the purpose of recruiting his health, which had suf- fered by the intensity of his labours. After languishing in the manse of Cults fill October, when he had only partially recovered, he hurried back to his little l)arlour studio in London, which was now become his true home; and there, his first effort was to finish " The Card-players,' a painting for the Duke of Gloucester, which he had left on the easel at his departure. "The Card-players ■' was succeeded by the "Rent Day," one of Wilkie's best productions. It was painted for the Earl of Mulgrave, who allowed him to choose his own subject ; and that the selection was a happy one, has been well attested by the excellence of the picture itself, and the admiration it excited. Of the various figures, indeed, which severally tell their tale with unmistakeable distinctness, who can forget the harsh, overbearing, money- calculating, and money-counting factor, ready either to flatter or explode, as the rent may be forthcoming or not? — the old tenant seized with a fit of cougliing, which actually seems to ring from the canvas? — the farmer eating, or rather cramming at the well-furnished table, and apparently mindful of the adage that fingers were made before knives and forks?— the butler, who struggles with the rebellious cork, which refuses to quit its hold ? — the for- tunate tenants who have paid up in full, and are regaling themselves at the table with beef and pasty ; and the luckless tenants whose business is not yet dispatched, and who either are unable to pay, or are prepared to pay with a protest? Even tlie little fat pug dog of the mansion, and the lean hungry dog of the rent-racked farmer, indicate the wealth and luxury of the landlord, and the means by which all this profusion is supplied. As soon as the " Rent Day" appeared, it was generally declared to be equal, if not superior, to any 614 SIR DAVID WILKIE. thing tliat Wilkie had hitherto produced. And as j^et, with all this full-grown celebrity-, he had only reached the age of twenty-three! But the four vears he had spent in London had been years of constant occupation and steady pro- gress ; and now, tliat he had attained such excellence in his art, and so high a reputation, he was the same modest, unassuming, and painstaking student whicli he had been at his first entrance into the metro2)olis ; and not a day, no, not an hour of abatement could be perceived in the diligence with which he still continued at his task of self-improvement, or the docility witli which he received ever^^ suggestion that tended to proniote it. All this is fully attested by the extracts that have been published from his London Journal of this period. From these we find that he still attended the academy, and took les- sons as a pupil. At home, he usually painted five hours a-day ; and if visited in the midst of work, he conversed with his visitors, while his hand and eye were still busied with the canvas. Every kind of model also was used in his occupation ; for he was of opinion, that however imagination niiglit aggrandize the work of the painter, nature must be his authority and exemplar. When the day's work of the studio was finished, his ramble for recreation or pleasure Avas still in subservience to his pursuits ; and thus his visits were to picture galleries and artists; his rambles into the country were in quest of picturesque cottages and their simple inhabitants; and even his walks in the streets were turned to profitable account, with here a face and there an attitude, amidst the ceaselessly revolving panorama. His chief indulgence in an evening was to repair to the theatre, where he enjo^'ed a rich treat, not merely in the play itself, but in the attitudes of the best performers, where grace and nature were combined in the living delineations of the drama. And still, go where he might, his affectionate heart never seems to have lost sight of his native home ; and it may be fairly questioned, whether the delight which his success occasioned in the manse of Cults was not as high a recompense, in his estimation, as any- thing that fame could bestow. There is something beautiful and touching in the fact, that while he was fighting his up-hill way in London, through the difficulties of scanty payments, his chief anxiety, besides that of becoming a great painter, was to be able to present his sister Helen with a pianoforte. His letters to his sister and parents at this time are the best of all his portraits. The year 1808 was a busy year with Wilkie, as he was then employed upon three paintings, each excellent in its kind, and well fitted to advance his repu- tation. The chief of these, known as " The Sick Lady,' ' was in a higher style of art than he had hitherto attempted, as well as of a very different character; it was an entire abandonment of humble and Scottish life and quiet humour, in which he had hitherto been without a rival, in favour of the graceful, the sentimental, and pathetic. The pains which he bestowed upon this picture, the anxiety with which he touched and retouched it, and the time that was suffered to elapse before it was completed, Avere the proper accompaniments of this bold attempt in a new field. It is enough to sa\% that this production, while equal to all its predecessors in point of artistic excellence, was not regarded with the same admiration. And how could it be otherwise? It was in Scot- tish life that the secret of Wilkie's strength lay, for there he painted as no other man could paint ; but when he left this walk, of which he was so exclu- sively the master, and entered into that of the English artist, he could even at the best do nothing more than others had done before liim. It was Burns abandoning his native streams and native dialect, for the banks of the Thames, STR DAVID WILKTE. 615 and the diction of Pope or Addison. " The Jew's Harp," which was his next production, was less ambitious, and more in his own natural manner. Tlie same was also the case with " The Cut Finger," in which an old cottage matron is performing the part of chirurgeon to a bluff blubbering bo}', who has cut his finger in the act of rigging a toy-boat. In the following year (1809) Wilkie, who had hitherto been contented to rank as a pupil of the Royal Academy, was made one of its associates. At the next exhibition of the Academy, however, he sustained such a slight, as somewhat damped the satisfaction he enjoyed in his election. He had painted a picture which he called " A Man Teasing a Girl by putting on her Cap," and sent it to the exhibition, but was requested by the members to withdraw it. The only cause they stated was that it was inferior to his other productions, and would therefore be likely to diminish his reputation. It was suspected, however, that the true reason was professional jealousy, and that the academicians were impatient that a Scotsman, who only dealt in the " pan-and-spoon style," as they scornfully termed it, should have maintained the ascendencj' so long. Wilkie withdrew his painting, and digested the affront in silence. This he could do all the better, that for a year he had been employed upon his picture of " The Alehouse Door," and was anxious j to bring it to a termination. I This painting, which was injudiciously changed in its title to that of " The j Village Festival," was a great effort of Wilkie's ambition, in which he wished I to compete with Teniers and Ostade. He felt that it was a daring attempt, but ! his indomitable perseverance was fully commensurate with the courage of such j an enterprise. And few indeed of the uninitiated in art can comprehend but a I tithe of that diligence which he bestowed upon the work till it was finished. j After having decided upon the subject, he sallied out with Haydon in quest of j an alehouse that might serve as the ground- work of the picture ; and having found one to his mind at Paddington, he made occasional pilgrimages thither, I until he had transferred it, with its accompaniments, altered and improved to suit its new destination, upon the foreground of his canvas. And then came the living models which were to be sought in the streets of London, and hired to sit to him, sometimes for a whole figure, sometimes for a face or part of a face, and sometimes for nothing more than a neck, a hand, or a foot. Then suc- ceeded the altering and improving, the rubbing out and replacing, the obliterat- ing, the touching and retouching, such as the most fastidious poets — even Gray himself — never endured in the most finished and lengthened of their composi- tions. With all this his journal of 1809-10 is filled, and an astounding record it certainly is of the patience and labour bestowed upon a work of art — upon that which is commonly regarded as nothing higher than a mere object of plea- surable but passing excitement. At first, he had purposed to paint nothing moi'e than a group of rustics carousing at an alehouse door, and had gone onw^ard as Burns himself had often done after the muse had been fairly stirred, until " Perhaps it may turn out a sang, Perhaps it may a sermon." A sermon Wilkie's painting certainly became, both in its elaborate character and moral power. The figures multiplied under his creative hand, each assumed a language of its own, and the sum of all was a most eloquent exposition of the pleasures of social enjoyment, coupled with dissuasives against excess. No one, however unskilled in arc, can fail to remark how the lesson is fully broughc 61 G SIR DAVID WILKIE. out in the faces before him, where every shade of the effects of drinking is caught, from the cheering look inspired by the incipient draught of ale, to the idiot inanity of him who lies prostrate in the mire, without even the power to wallow in it. The close application of the artist, and the annoyance he experienced at the jealous}' of his brethren, were followed b}' a fever, through which he was obliged to retire for some time to Ilampstead. But even under a tedious recovery, lie was unable wholly to relinquish his wonted pursuits, notwithstanding the orders of the physician and the entreaties of his friends. In 1811, the Academy repaired the injury they had done, by electing him a royal academician. This was a high honour, especially when conferred upon one so young, for as yet he had only reached the age of twenty-six. As he had hitherto profited so little in a pecuniary point of view by his paintings, he now began to execute a plan which he had contemplated three years before, of collecting and exhibiting them on his own account. He therefore obtained the temporary use of them from their purchasers, hired a large room in Pall jMall, where they could be shown to advantage, and opened it with a collection of twenty-nine pieces, the production of his pencil, extending from the years 1804 to 1811. But although the price of admission was only a shilling, the speculation failed to be profitable. A public exhibition of this kind requires an amount as well ercrombj's Martial A- sity of Edinburgh 51 chievements ; Biographie Uuiverselle, 2 Alves, Robert Abfrcrombt, (Sir) Ralph Campbell's Hist. Scot. Poetry, 52 Public Characters ; History of the Expe- Anderson, Adam dition to Egypt, &c., .... 4 Macpherson's Edition of Anderson's His- Abernetut, John tory of Commerce; Chalmers's Gen. An. Obituary, 1832 13 Biog. Die 52 Adam, Alexander Anderson, Alexander Life of Dr Adam, O'y Alexander Hender- Hutton's Mathematical Dictionary, 53 son); Edin. 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Brit. Tlh edition ; Mackenzie, . 139 Barclay, John, M.A. Oral Information; Scots Mag. y«siH«, . 140 Barclay, John, M.D. Encye. Brit. 7'Ds4.Y, (Sir) Ujvid Macintyee. Duncan Life, by G. Chalmers, prefixed to his Works; Kcid's Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica; Private Irving'3 Lives of Scot. Poets, , . 419 Information, 501 Lindsay, Johu, Earl of Crawford and Lindsay Mackk.nzie, George, Earl of Cromarty His Life, 8vo; Wood's Peerage, , 453 Wood's Parish of Cramond, . . . 504 Lindsay, Robert, of Pitscottie Mackenzie, (Sir) George Preface to his Chronicles, . . . 40O Ruddimau's edition of his Works ; Autho- LiTHGOW, William rities quoted in notes, .... 505 His Travels; Traditionarv Iiiformaliou, . 4G0 Mackenzie, Henry LiVINGSTONK, Joiin British Gallery of Contemporary Portraits; Life published iu 1751; Murray's Lit. Hist. Ballantyne's iSovelist's Librai-y; Private of Galloway, 404 Information, . , . . . 512 LocKHAUT, (Sir) George JIackixtosh, (Sir) James Authorities quoted in notes, . . .471 An. Obit. Is34; Inverness Courier Nens- LocKiiART, George, of Carnwatli paper, 517 Lockhart Papers; Stuart Papers; Histo- Macknigut, (Dr) James ries of the Rebelliou of 1715; Pamphlets Life, by his son, prefi.ved to bis Work on the of the Period, &c. 476 Epistles, 5-25 Lockhart, (Sir) William, of Lee Maclauri.n, Colin Authorities quoted in notes, . . . 484 Biog. Brit. ; CuUoden Papers, . . 529 Logan, George Macneil, Hector Chalmers's Life of Kuddiman, and other Edin. An. Reg. 1818; Ed. Lit. Journal, ii , 539 authorities quoted in notes, . . 4S8 Macpheeson, James Logan, John Scots Mag. 1796; Brewster's Encyc. ; all Anderson's Brit. Poets ; Private Informa- the Works, connected with the Ossiau tion, 490 Controversy, alluded to in the article, 541 Lothian, (Dr) Wiliiam Maie (or Major), John Trans Ed. Roy. Soc. i , . . . . 493 Authorities quoted in notes, . . . 553 Love, John Maitland, (Sir) Richard Chalmers's Ruddiman, .... 493 Authorities quoted iu notes, . . . 536 Low, George M ait LAND, WUliam Preface to I'auna Orcadensis, . . . 494 Nichols's Bouyer, 563 Lowe, John Malcolm, (Sir) John Remain3 of Xitlisdale and Galloway Soug, 495 Au. Obit. 1834, Carlisle Patriot, . . 563 XIacoiaemiu, John Mallet, David Alhena;um, iii. ; D'Israeli's Calamities, . 496 Anderson's British Poets ; An Reg. ix., Macdonald, Andrew xxiii; Wilkes's Correspondence, , 567 ^'Israeli's Calamities; Campbell's Hist. M'Gavin, William Scot. Poetry; Ediu. Mag. 1819; Gent. Funeral Sermon, by the Rev. Grerilie Mag. Ix. ; Biographia Dramatica, . 497 Ewing; I'amily Information, . . 572 VOL . IV. PAGp: PAGE Mklville, Andrew Mitchell, Joseph Life by M'Crie 1 Biographia Dramatica, , , . , 36 Melville, James MuNRO, Alexander, M.D., Secundxis, (including His Diary ; Authorities quoted in notes, 8 Memoir of Dr .\Iuuro, Primus) Melville, (Sir) James Life, by Dr Duncan, Edin. An. Reg. 1817; Memoirs by liiraself, Bann. Club edition; An. Obit. 1818; An. Reg. 1780; Life Wood's Peerage, .... 23 prefixed to Works of Dr Munro, rrimus, 37 1 Meston, William Monteath, George Cunningham Life prefixed to bis Poems; Aberdeen Family Information, . . . .44 Mag. 29 Montgomkey, Alexander MicKLE, William Julius Life prefixed to Irving's edition of liis Scots Mag. 1789; Johnson and Chalmers's Works 45 British Poets ; Oral Information, . 31 Moor, James, LL.D. MiLLAa, John Appendix to Notices and DocuroRiits il- lustrative of tlie Literary History of INDEX. 663 VtGK PAGE Glasgow, presented by Uichard Duncan, Playeate, John Esq., to the Maitlaad Club, 47 Authorities quoted in notes, . 120 MooEE, (Di) John Playfair, William Anderson's edition of his Works; Scots An. Obit. lB2i, • . . . , 15-! Mag. 1790; Edin. Encyc, . 48 PoLLOK, Robert Moore, (Sir) John Authority quoted in note. 138 Rees's Cyc; An. Reg:.; Public Characters ; Pont, Robert Scots Mag. 1809 ; Ur Cleland's Enumer- Authorities quoted in notes, . 141 ation; Narrative of the Campaisn in Pont, Timothy Spain, by Dr James Moore, 8m;., 50 Authorities quoted in text and notes. li3 MoEiSQN, Robert PuiNOLE, (Sir) John Pulteney's Sketches; Rees's Cyc; Ath. Life by Dr Kippis ; Sir II. Moncrieff Well- Oxon. ii„ 63 wood's Life of Dr Erskine, 14 1 MuNKO, (Sir) Thomas Raebuen, (Sir) Henry Life and Correspondence, 3 vols., . 65 An. Obit. 1824; Cunningham's Lives of MuEE, (Sir) William Painters ; Family Information, . 146 Lyle's JJidlads and Songs, 71 Ramsat, Allan, Poet, McREAY, Ale.vander, D.D. Life, by Chalmers, prefixed to an edition Life by Sir II. Moncrieflf Wellwood ; Mur- of his Works, London, 1800; Life by ray's Lit. Hist, of Galloway, . 72 W. Tennant, Author of Anster Fair; Mt'EEAY, Patrick, Lord Elibank Notices iu the Scots Mag., Pamphlets, Park's Walpole; Wood's Peerage; Bos- &c. IDl nell's Johnson, 77 Ramsay, Allan, Painter MuEEiT, (Sir) Robert Cunningham's Lives of Painters ; Ed- Authorities quoted in notes, . 79 ward's Walpole ; Tytler's Karnes ; Ed. MuREAT, Wilham, Earl of Mansfield An. Reg. 1813; Chalmers's Gen. Biog. Authorities quoted in notes, . 81 Die. ; Private Information, . 153 MxLKE, Robert Ramsay, Andrew Michael Chalmers's Gen. Biog. Die., 67 Biog. Brit.; Memoir by himself; Swift's Kapieb, John Works; Private Information, IGO Life by Earl of Buchan ; W'icoLL, Alexander, D.C.L. Edinburgh Encyclopedia; Edin. Mag. 1821, 163 Family Information, .... 93 Renwick, James Ogilvie, John, D.D. Life by A. ShieUs ; Wodrow'a History ; Lives of Scottish Poets, ii.; Scots Mag. Scots Wortliies, &c , , 171 1814, S5 Richardson, William OGIL^T, John Scots Mag. 1814; the Student (a small Aikin's Gen. Biog.; Starke's Biog. Scot., 95 periodical work published at Glasgow), Pantiiee, David quoted in Edin. Mag. 1820, 176 Lit. Hist, of Galloway, .... 97 Robertson, Alexander Pabk, Mungo Family Papers, ..... 177 Scots Mag. 1815; Edin. Mag. 1819; his Robertson, William Travels; Lives of Travellers, in the Life by Stewart ; Life of Home, 178 National Library; Lander's Travels; RoBisoN, (Dr) John Private Information, .... 97 Life by Professor Playfair, 184 Pateeson, William RoLLOCK, Roliert Statistical Account of the Parish of Tin- Spntswood's History of the Church of wald; History of the Settlement of Scotland; Aikin's General Biography; Daricn; History of the Bank of Eng- M'Crie's MelvUle, &c., 18S land; M'Crie's Lives of Bryson and Rose, George Veitch, Sec, 108 Ed. An. Register, 1818, .... 194 Patrick, Saint Ross, Alexander, Miscellaneous Writer Trans, of Antiq. Soc. of Scotland, ii,, 120 Grainger's Bingraph. Hist. iii. ; Hudibras; Pknnecuik, Alexander Censura Literaria, iv. ; Sir R. Sibbald's Scots Mag. 1805, 1806, .... 121 MS 195 Pebrt, WiUiam Ross, Alexander, Divine An. Obit. 1823; Edin. Mag. 1822, 122 Contriljuted by a Local Inquirer, . » 197 PiNKERTON, John Ross, Alexander, Poet Authorities quoted in notes, . 12i Life by Alex. Thomson, and otlier autho- PlTCAlENE, (Dr) Archibald rities quoted in text and notes, . 198 Life by Webster, 1781 ; Chalmers's Ruddi- Row, John mau ; Tytler's Karnes, 12S Memorials of the Family of Ure ; Council — — — — — ■ ■ — ■ 1 6G4 INDEX. 1 PAGK PA UK Recordsof Aberdeen; Polemical Pamph- SoMEEviLLE, (Dr) Thomas lets of the Period i203 Annual Obit. 1824; Private Information; RoxBUKOii, 'William, 205 Historical Works, . . . .303 KoY, William Spotswood, John, Superintendent Watt's Bihliotheca ; An. Register, xxxii. 533 ; Wodrow's Biograph. Collections, . . 306 An. Obit. 1817 20G Spotswood, John, Archbishop RlDDiMAN, Thomas Life prefixed to his History ; Steven- Life by Geor-e Chalmers, . . .207 son's History of tlie Cliurch and State of RUiNCiiMAN, Ale.vauder Scotland; Historical and Critical Dic- i Cunningham's Lives of Painters; Scots tionary, &c., .... . 306 Mag. 1802 212 Spotswood, (Sir) Robert Russell, Alexander Life prefixed to his Practicks ; History Scots Mag. 1771. 2U of the Rebellious from 1638 to 1660, in j Russell, William Constable's Miscellany, . . .311 1 Life, by Dr Irving, in Blackwood's Mag. Stf.uakt, (Sir) James 1 iii. ; Chalmers's Gen. Biog. Die, , . 21-1 Life prefixed to his Works; Orig. Letters RUTHEBFOED, John from Lady M. W. Montague to Sir 1 Gleig's Supp. to Encvc. Brit., . . . 21G James Steuart, . . . . ,313 KUTHERFOBD, Samucl Stkwaet, Dugald History of the Church of Scotland; Liv- An. Obit. 1829; Edinburgh Encyclopedia, 316 ingston's Cliaractei-istics ; Scots Wor- Stewart, (Dr) Matthew thies; Life by the Rev. Thomas Murray, Life, by Playfair, in Trans. R. Soc. Ed. i., 324 Edin., &c., 216 Stewart, (General) David Rtmkr, Thomas An. Obit. 1831, 326 Sir Walter Scott's edition of Sir Tris- Stone, Edmund trem; Irving's Lives of Scottish Poets, 222 Ilutton's Mathem. Dictionary, . . 328 j Sage, John Steahan, William Life by Gillan; Gleig's Supp. to Encyc. Authorities quoted, . . . .329 Brit. ; Chalmers's Ruddimau, . . 225 Steang, (Di-) Jolin 1 Scott, Michael Authorities quoted, .... 331 Edin. Mag. 1820 228 Strange, (Sir) Robert ' Scott, (Sir) Walter Scots. Mag. 1761, 1762 ; Gent. Mag. Ixii. ; 1 Life, forming Supplement to Chambers's Chalmers's Gen. Biog. Die, . . .336 / Edinburgh Journal ; Private Inform., . 230 Stuaet, Mary ScouGAL, Henry Histories of the Period; Bell's Life of Contributed by a Local Inquirer, . , 243 Mary Queen of Scots, , . . 338 ScEiJiGF.R, Henry Stuaet, James, Earl of Moray M'Kenzie's Lives; M'Crie's Melville, &c., 245 Histories of the Period, . . • . 349 Sharp, James Stuart, John, Earl of Bute Wodrow's History; Life of Archbishop Wood's Peerage; Nicliols's Anecdotes; Sharp • . 247 Brydges's Peerage, .... 352 SuoET, James Stuaet, Gilbert Trans, of Ant. Soc. of Scotland, . . 258 Authorities quoted, 355 SiBBALU, James Tannahill, Robert Family Information, .... 259 Family Information, .... 361 SiBBALD, (Sir) Robert Tatloe, James Pulteney's Sketches ; Edin. Mag. xl ; Family Papers, 365 Boswell's Johnson, .... 261 Telford, Thomas Sinclair, George Obituary notices. Sic., ... . 368 Records of Univ. of Glasgow ; Edin. Rev. XX. ; Wodrow's Life of D. Dickson, . 263 Thomson, (Dr) Andrew Life prefixed to Posthumous voliune SiMSON, (Dr) Robert of Sermons, 370 Life by Dr Traill, Encyc. Brit , , . 264 Thomson, James Skinnee, John Authorities and Sources of Information Ecclesiastical Magazine, 1833, ; . 268 quoted, 373 Smellie, William Thomson, (Dr) Wilham Life by Robert Kerr, . . . .270 An. Obit. 1818. ... .378 Smeton, Thomas TuENBULi, William Authorities quoted in note», , . . 274 M'Ure's History of Glasgow; Keith's Smith, Adam Scottish Bishops, &c., . . . . 379 Life by Dugald Stewart, . . .278 Title E, William Smollett, Tobias Trans, of Roy. Soc. Ed. iv. ; Life of Li.'^e by Anderson ; Private Information, 293 Beattie, 383 INDEX. 6g5 PAGE PAGE Tytlee, Alexander Fraser Weddekbuen, Alexander, Earl of Rosslyn 1 Trans, of Roy. Soc. Ed. viii , . . .385 Brydges's Peerage ; History of the Reign TyiLEB, James of George III. ; Family Memoirs, MS., 410 Life, published anonymously; Private In- Wedderburn, Janies formation, 391 Family Memoirs, MS. ; Sibbald's Chroni- Ubquhart, (Sir) Tliomas cle of Scottish Poetry, . . .413 i Retrospective Rev. vi 391 Wedueebubn, David Authorities quoted in notes, . . . 450 1 Wallace, William Welch, John Fovduii; Rymer's Foedera; Anderson's Scots Worthies ; M'Crie's Life of Knox,' . 452 Numismata; Barbour; Henry the Min- Wellwood, (Sir) Henry MoncriefT, Bart., D.D. strel; English Chronicles; Statistical Christian Instructor, 1838, . . .456 Account of Scot; Dalryni pie's Annals; WiLKtE, William, D.D. Tytler's History of Scotland; Henry's Anderson's British Poets, . . . 451 Britain, 395 William, King of Scots Wallace, James Dalrymple's Annals, . . . .461 j Scots AVortUies ; M'Crie's Lives of Veitch WiLLOCK, John and Bryson, Sec, 411 Authorities quoted in notes, . . . 4G5 VrAl.LACK, Robert, D.D. Willtson, John Scots Magaz. 1771, 1809; Retrospective Life prefixed to his Works, 4to, . . 467 Rev. ii. ; Ritchie's Life ol Hume ; Family Wilson, Alexander Information, 415 Life prefixed to his Ornithology in Con- Waedlaw, Henry stable's Miscellany ; Life in Sparkes's Spotsnood's History of the Church of Library of American Biography, . . 46S Scotland ; Keith's Scottish Bishops ; History of St. Andrews, &c,, . .417 Wilson, Florence Dempster ; Mackenzie's Scots Writers ; Buchanan's Works, . . . .478 Watson, Robert, D.D. WiNBAM, John Encyc. Brit. ; Bee, vii., viii. ; Scots Mag. Wodrow's Biog. Collections, MS., . . 478 1781; Croker's Boswell; Prefaces to WisiiAKT, GeOige Works, 420 Kuo-x's History ; Spotswood ; M'Crie's Watt, James . Knox ; Tytler's History of Scotland, , 480 Edin. Encyc. articles frott, Bleaching, and WisiiART, George, Bisliop Inland Navigation ; Edin. Rev. vol. .xiii.; Keith's Catalogue; "ilalfour's Annals; Cleland's Progress of the Commerce Wodrow's History; Constable's Miscel- and Manufactures of Glasgow ; Tred- lany, xxxii., 431 gold on the Steam Engine ; Galloway WiTUEEspooN, John Christ. lustruc. 1829 ; Funeral Sermon by cbanic, vol. ii ; Private Information, . 422 Rodgers, 4S7 Watt, Robert, M.D. WoDROW, Robert Family Information 433 Life prefixed to Lis History, Glasgow, 1828, 490 Waugh, Alexander, D.D. Wyntown, Andrew Life of Dr Waugh, Svo, . . . .439 Irving's Lives of Scottish Poets; Elhs's Webster, Alexander, D.D. Specimens, 401 Scots Magaz. Ib02; Cliambers's Scottish Young, Patrick Songs; Traditional Information, . . 442 Aitkin's Gen. Biog. Dictionary, . . 490 ( vol - V. PAGE PAGR Adeecromhif, John, M D. Aesistbong, John, of Gihiockie Edin. Quarterly Medical Jour. ; Obituaries, 1 Pitscotlie; Sir Walter Scott's Border An- Agnew (Sir) Andrew tiquities, 21 Play fair's Domestic Antiq.; Sir W. Scott's Tales of a Grandfather; Scots Mag., . 4 Baillie, Joanna Alison, (Rev.) Archibald, M.A., LL.B. Family Information, . . . .23 Penny Cyclopedia ; An. Reg. ; Geut. Mag., 7 Balfoue, (Dr) Robert Allan, (Sir) William Family Information, .... 25 Art. Union Journ. ; Family Information ; Obituaries, 9 Balmer, (Rev.) Robert, D.D. Anderson, (Rev.) Christopher Life prefixed to his Lectures and Dis- Life by his Nephew, . , . .15 Cuurses, SO 6GC^ INDEX. PACK lAGE Babton, Andrew Douglas, William (Knight of Liddesdale) Buchanau's and Tjtler's Hists. of Scotlam , So Hume of Godscroft; Tytler's Hist, of Scot- )5ell (Sir) Cliarks land; Sir W. Scott's Historical Notices, 191 Penny Cyclopedia 39 Douglas, (Sir) William Bell, James Fordun; Buchanan 197 Pii7ate Information, .... 43 Drummond, (Captain) Thomas BiEXiK, (Sir) Richard Life of, and article on Drummond Lyht, in Gent. Mag. 45 Penny Cyclopedia 199 Bla.\e. (Sir) Gilbert, M.I). Duncan (Rev.) Henry, D.D. Penny Cyclopedia, 48 Life by Rev. George Duncan, . . £01 BuBNES, (Sir) Alexander DuNCAis, John Burnes' Travels in Bokhara; Historits of Annual Register 211 India; Obituaries, .... 53 Duncan, Thomas, R.S.A., A R.A. BuEXET, James Gent. Ma;. ; Art Union Journal, . . 212 Cunningham's Lives of Eminent Painters, 57 FoEnYCE, (Colonel) John BuKxs, Allan Family Information; Personal Recollections, 21 1 Annual Register, 59 Galloway, (Sir) Arcliibald, K.C.B. Bl-exs, John, M.D. Gent. Mag 218 Galt Jobu Family Information, .... 60 Gait's Autobiog. and Reminiscences, . 219 Calder, (Sir) Robert, Bart. Gardner, George James's Navai Hist.; Naval Hist, and Family Information; Personal Recollections, 228 Biog. of Great Britain ; Alison's Hist, ol Geikie, Walter Europe, 62 Life, prefixed to his Sketches, by Sir Thos. Cameron, Donald, of Lochiel Dick Lauder 233 Smibert's Clans of the Highlands of Scot- GlLFiLLAN, Rubert land; Browne's Hist, of the Highlands ; Life, prefixed to his Poems, hy W. Ander- Memoirs of Sir Ewau Cameron, pub. by son, 214 Abbotsford Club 68 Gillespie, (Rev.) Thomas, D.D. Cami'BELL, (Sir) Archibald, Bart., G.C.B., &c. An. Reg. ; Ediu. Courant ; Personal Recol- Annual Register, 74 lections, 236 Campbell, (Rev.) John Gillies, John, LL.D., F.R.S., F.A.S. Dr Gardener's Memoirs of Eminent Mis- An. Obit.; Penny Cyclopedia; An. Reg., 237 1 siunaries, 76 Gordon, (Rev.) Robert. D.D. j Campbell, Thomas Free Church Mag. ; Personal Recollections, 239 j Dr Beattie's Life of Campbell, 81 Graham, Thomas, Lord Lyuedoch Military Hist, and Biog. of Great Britain; Chalmers, Alexander, M.A., E.S.A. Gent. Mag ; Alison's Hist, of Europe, 245 1 Gent. Mag 95 Grant, Mrs , of Laggan CnAiMEEs, (Rev.) Thomas, D.D. Edin. Courant, ..... 252 Haana's Life of Dr. Chalmers; Oral com- Grant, (Sir) William munications ; Personal Recollections, . 93 An. Obit 255 Cochkane, (Sir) Alexander Forrester Inglis, IIaldane, James Alexander G.C.B. Menion-s of Robert and James IIaldane, by j Marshall's Naval Biog. 145 Alexander Haldane, Esq., . . . 257 Combe, Andrew-, M.D. Haldane, Robert Do. do 266 Lite by George Combe, W.S., . 113 Hall, (Captain) Basil Cook, (Rev.) George, D.D. Penny Cyclopedia ; Rose's Biog. Die. ; Cap- liieshire Journal 154 t.iin Hall's published Works, . . £79 CUNSIXGHAM, Allan Hendfeson, Thomas Hog's Reminiscences; An. Obit.; Gent. Penny Cyclopedia ; An. Reg., . . . 2SG Mag.; Frazei's Mag., .... 155 Hepbuene, James, Earl of Botliwell Dale, David Calderwood's History, Wodrow edition; Authority stated iu note, 161 Tytler's Hist, of Scotland; Mignet's Daltell, (Sir) John Graham, Bart. Hist, of aueen Mary; Scottish Histories, 289 Gent. Mag., 177 Heeiot, John Douglas, Arcliibahl (Bell-the-Cat) Popular Encyclopedia; Gent. Mag., . 297 Heugh. (Rev.) Hugh, D.D. Hume of Godscroft; Tytler's History of Life by the Rev. H. M. MacgUL . . 299 Hogg, James Scotland ; Scottish Histories, 179 Douglas, David Hogg's Autobiographies; Obituaries; Lock- Tauuton Courier ; Penny Cyclopedia, 185 liaVt's Life of Sir Walter Scott, . . 802 Douglas, James, Eail of Douglas HoBSBURGn, James Hume of Godscroft ; Scottish Histories-, 187 Asiatic Journal, 815 1 r: INDEX. G67 Inglis, Henry David Gent. Mag. ; Literary Gazette, . . 318 Ibvinr, (Rev.) Edward Jones's Life of Irving; Dr Ilanna's Life of Dr. Chalmers; Personal Recollections, 3i20 IvoKT, James Marquis of Northampton's Address to the Royal Society, Nov. 1842, . . . 33-4 J.\M1ES0N, (Rev. Dr) Scotsman ; Gent. Mag., .... 336 Jeffrky, Francis Lord Life by Lord Cockburn, .... 340 Keith, (Sir) Robert Murray Keith's Life and Correspondence, . . 354 Eemp, George Meikle Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, . . SCO Kemp, Kenneth G. Annual Register, . . . , , 3G4 Knox, William Life prefixed to the last edit, of his Puems ; Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott, . 305 Landsbouougii, David, D.D. Family Information, .... 368 Laing, William Caledonian Mercury 369 Laudf.r, (Sir) Thomas Dick Tait's Magazine ; Oral Communications, 370 LibTON, Robert Annual Register, 375 LOCKHABT, Jolm Ediiu Courant; Lockhart's Life of Sir W. Scott, ....... 37S Loudon, John Claudius Memoir by Mrs. Loudon ; Gardener's Mag., 381 Love, (Rev. Dr) John Communication from a Friend ; Personal Recollections, 38-1 Macadam, John Ayrshire Journals, . . . 387 M'Chetne, (Rev.) Robert M. Life by tlie Rev. A. Bnnar, . . . 3S9 M'Cete, (Rev.) Thomas, D.D. Life by the Rev. Thomas M'Cric, D D., LL.D .39! Macdonald, (Lieutenant-Colonel) Jolin Gent Mag. 407 Macgill, (Rev.) Stevenson, D.D. Life by Dr Burns; Peisonal Recollec- tions, . . . . . 409 Macintosh, Charles Memoir by liis Son, . . . 415 M'Kail, (Rev.) Hugh Scots Worthies ; Wodiow's History; Naph- tali, ... . .416 Mackenzie, Sir Alexander Mackenzie's Voyages 431 MACKINNON, (Colonel) David United Service Journal, . . . 423 Macnish, (Dr.) Life by Delta (Dr Moir), : . 4i6 Maitland, John, Duke of Lauderdale Burnet; Wodrow; Histories of tlie Peiiod, 430 Malcolm, (Sir) Charles Annual Register, .... 442 face Malcolm III., King of Scots Scottish Histories; Hailes; Scottish Anti- quaries, 433 Malcolm, (Sir) Pulteney Gent. Mag.; An. Reg., .... 443 Mayne, John Gent. Mag.; Notes to Johnson's Musical Museum ; Introduction to the last edition of the Siller Gun 440 Middlk.ton, Earl of Douglas's British Peerage; Wodrow ; Bur- net ; Histories of the Period, c . 449 Mill, James Morning Chronicle ; Obituaries, . . 455 Moir, David Macbeth, M.D. Life, by Thomas Aird, prefixed to Moir's Poetical Works, 453 MoKCREiri', Lord Edin. Courant ; Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk; Cockburn's Life of Lord Jeffrey; Family Communications, . 404 MONIGOMEBY, Jamcs Life by Holland and Everett; Personal RicoUectious, 469 Motherwell, WiUiam Life, by James M'Conechy, prefixed to Jlotherwell's Poem<, .... 474 Murray, (Sir) George United Service Journal, . . . 476 Napier, Macvey Annual Register 430 Nasmyth, Alexander Edin. Courant, 481 Nasmytii, Peter Lit. Gazetts, 483 Nicholson, Peter Builder's Journal, 485 NicoLL, Robert Life prefixed to liis Works; Memoir ot NicuU in Tail's Mag, by Ebenezer Elliott, 487 NiMMo, Alexander Gent. Mag., .490 PicKEN, Andrew Atlienfcum, 493 Pbingle, Ti.onias Life, by Leitch Ritchie, prefixed to Pringle's Poems, - .... 494 Randolph, Thomas, Earl of Murray Barboui-'s Bruce; Wynton's Chronicle; Buchanan's History of Scotland; Haile's Annals of Scotland, . . . .499 Rkid, John, M.D. Life by George Wilson, M.D., . . 506 Scott, David Life by W. B. Scott ; North British Review, for May, 1849, 512 Scott, Michael Notice prefixed to Tom Cringle's Log in Blackwood's Standard Novels, . . 519 Sinclair, (Sir) John Life by Rev. Jolin Sinclair; Memoir by Catherine Sinclair; Quarterly Agricul- tural Journal, 520 G68 INDEX. PAGE l-AGR Stevenson, Robert Tbottee, Thomas, M.D. Memoir, by A. Stevenson, in new Philo- Notices in Trotter's Essay on Scurvy ; Bopliical Journal; Personal Recollec- Newcastle Journal ; An. Reg., 583 tions 536 Tytler, Patrick Fraser STnuTiiERs, John Communications of Family and Friends, . 583 Autobiograpliy prefixed to his Poetical Vedder, Pavid Works 544 U. Presbyterian Mag.; Glasgow Citizen ; Pennant, William Scotsman ; Stirling Advertiser, . 590 lIo?g's Weekly Iiislructor; Memoir pre- Wallack, William fixed to Chambers's edition of Auster -Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Fair, 549 Society, vol. vi., £93 TiioM, James Wardlaw, (Rev.) Ralph, D.D. Annual Register, 554 Scottish Congregational Mag. for 1850 and TuojisoN, George 1853; Funeral Discourses and Services; Wilson's Land of Burns; Communications Glasgow Examiner, .... 595 of a Friend, 555 Welsh, (Rev.) David, D.D. Thomson, (Rev.) John Memoir by A. Dunlop, .... eoi Memoir in Hogg's Instructor, 559 WlLK[E, (Sir) David Thomson, Thomas Life by Allan Cunningham 609 Life of, by David Laing, in Bannutyne Club Wilson, John Papers ; An. Reg., .... 570 Notices by a Student; Journals; Obi- Thomson, Thomas (Professor of Chemistry) fi26 Family Information, .... Tod, (Colonel) 563 WiLSON, W. Rae Family Communications; Obituaries, 631 Tod's Annals of llajast'han ; Tod's Per- sonal Karrative ; Asiatic Journal, . 575 Wood, (Sir) Andrew TEAiLt, (Rev.) Robert Pitscottie; Buchanan; Life of Wood in Historical Notices of the Period; MSS. of Tait's Mag.; Notes on Sibbald's History Robert Traill; Family Memorials, 579 of Fife, 637 Vr. G. BLACKIE AND CO., PEINTEES, VILLAFIEI.D, GLASOOW. PUBLISHEllS' PREFACE. The Scottish Biographical Dictionary was originally printed in four volumes, and completed in the year 183-i, as will be seen from the Editor's Preface, which is subjoined. A Nev/ Edition, including memorials of the many eminent individuals deceased since that date, having been called for, the Publishers, besides reprinting from stereotype the four volumes of which the Work was primarily composed, have added a fifth volume, including the later lives adverted to, under the editorship of the Eev. Thomas Thomson, author of the " History of Scotland for the use of Schools," &;c. The stereotypes of the original Work have been revised under the inspection of the Publishers. The alterations required ' to be made consisted chiefly in bringing references to passing events, and individuals living when the Work was written, into chrono- logical harmony with the more advanced period of time in which it now appears; the emendation of several verbal inaccuracies; the correction of some erroneous statements ; and the interfusion of the original Supplement. In executing this latter part of the revision, it has been found needfid, in a few cases to retrench, in others to amplify, individual lives ; two or three biographies have likewise been wholly re- written ; one additional memoir added — that of St. Aidan ; and seven, of persons who appeared to have insufficient claims, have been suppressed. In Mi'. Thomson's PUBLISI I K US' PREFACE. SuPPLEJiENTARY VoLUME, besides tlie lives of individuals recently deceased, a few belonging to more ancient times have been in- serted, which were casually omitted in the original Work. In order to enhance the value of this edition, the series of Illustrations has been greatly extended ; and the "Work, in fact, now presents a very complete Scottish Portrait Gallery. It need scarcely be added, that by this combination of pictorial repre- sentation with biographic delineation, the reader is made familiar at once with the actions, the character, and tlie countenances of many of those distinguished persons whose genius or exploits have increased the fame of our native laud. Glasgotv, August, 1835. PREFACE ORIGINAL EDITION BY MU. ROBERT CHAMBERS. A Biographical Dictionary of eminent natives of Scotland lias been regarded as a desideratum in our national literature, for the gi-eater part of a century". Such a work was successively contemplated by Sir David Dalrymple and Mr William Smellie, each, of whom proceeded so far with the design as to write a few of the articles. When the editor of the present work began a few years ago to inquii-e into the literary and historical antiquities of his country, he found the desire of possessing a dictionary of this kind not in the least abated, but very little hope enter- tained that, under the existing prospects of literature, it would be pos- sible to present such a book to the public. He proceeded, nevertheless, perhaps rather under the influence of a peculiar enthusiasm, than any ■wiser or more considerate motive, to take upon himself a task which at least two of his predecessors had failed to accomplish, and for which he could not but feel himself to be in many respects imperfectly qualified. Sometime after beginning his labours, a fortunate alliance with his pre- sent publishers, who had projected a similar work, removed many of the original difficulties, and he was enabled to commence the publica- tion in 1832. In now taking a retrospective view of his labom-s, he sees, with some regi'et, passages which he could amend, and even one or two articles which, upon a more rigid estimate of merit, he would be disposed to omit. He has much satisfaction, however, in reflecting that very few instances of error in point of fact have been indicated to him ; so that he is enabled to hope that his work, upon the whole, makes that near approach to correctness, which is the most valuable feature in a book of reference. With regard to one very important point in the composition of the work, he trusts he may be permitted to hazard an observation. Of the many hundreds of persons whom he has commemorated, there are men of all denominations, religious and political, and even some who were the direct antagonists of each other, either in controversy or in civil war. He is aware that the most of wi'iters, under his circumstances, would have felt it to be a duty, wherever there was occasion to allude VI PREFACE. to points of controversy, to express their own views, and adjust the estimate of every character by a reference to certain standards erected in their own minds. Such the present editor did not feel to be his duty. Considering that there can hardly be a Scottish Biographical Dictionary on each side of the great questions, and, furthermore, disposed to such a course by a sincere though humble desire to take a mild view of the opinions and proceedings of all honourable men, he studied, on the contrary, to confine himself to a simple representation of the pre- possessions of the various individuals under his notice, even to the extent, occasionally, of what may appear a tenderness, or perhaps some- thing more, for the opinions of various opposite thinkers, and the deeds of various contending partizans. Such a method of memoir-writing may expose him to some degree of censure, in an age characterized so much as the present by party heats ; but he trusts that it is the course which v/ill be most approved of by those who may chance to consult ids pages in future times, when it is to be hoped that the most of the now existing controversies will only be matter of historical curiosity. "While he experiences a natiu-al, and, he hopes, allowable satisfaction in thus bringing to a close the greatest literary undertaking of his life, he cannot suppress a simultaneous feeling of regret at observing, throughout his volumes, the names of so many men who, at the time he commenced his undertaking, seemed little likely to go so soon throuo-h. that solemn change which was to fit them for commemoration in his pages. Some of these he had the pleasure of considering as his friends ; and the pain with which be found himself called upon to narrate their biography, was proportionally great. Even in such a matter as this, humanity may read a toiichiug lesson of the frailty and uncertainty of all that here belongs to it. He cannot conclude without gratefully acknowledging the kindness of many eminent and resiDectable individuals, in supplying him with the information which he required, and also the zeal and talent displayed by various gentlemen in assisting him in the details of the work. Anne Street, Edinburgh, November 7, 1834. LIST OF ENGIIAYINGS DIEECTIONS TO THE BINDER. YOL. I. PAlKItB. ENGEAVER. PAGE. Abercroinby, General Sir Ealpli K.B Frontispiece.... Hoii^neT... Eobinson Glasgow College Engraved Title.... Bo-agh Flemming . Adam, Alexander LL.D Raebui-n Freeman 16 Aikman. William Aikman Freeman 33 Anderson, Jolin F.R.S Hell GO Baillie, Eobert of Jerviswood Shury 88 Beaton, Cardinal ArcLbishop of St. Andrews Freeman 167 Beattie, James LL.D Reynolds Shaw 183 Black, Joseph JI.D Eaebiu'n Rogers 218 Blacklock, Ecv.-Thomas D.D Holl. , 225 Boece. Hector Howison 262 Boswell, James of Auchinleck Reynolds Freeman 276 Boyd, Robert of Troohrig Rogers 298 Bruce, James of Kinnaird Martin Freeman 327 Buchanan. George Freeman 410 Burnet, Gilbert Bishop of Salisburj' Riley .Rogers 428 Burns. Robert Naismith Robinson 440 Campbell, Archibald ilarquis of Argj'le Freeman 469 Campbell, Rev. George D.D Bogle Holl 489 Campbell, John Duke of Argyle and Greenwich Aikman Robinson 493 Cant. Andrew Freeman 510 Carstairs, "William Principal of the University of) > Freeman 516 Edinburgh j Colquhoun, Patrick LL.D Freeman 564 I- . viii LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. VOL. IL PAI.NTEU. K>-GKAVEK. TAOE. Elliot, George Augustus Lord Heathfield... Frojiiisju'cce. Eejaiolds Holl. , St. Andrews Engraved Title Bough Bradsliaw Crudeu, Alexander M.A Fry Holl 14 CuUen, Vv'illiam M.D Cochrane Howison 18 Dalrymide, James Viscount Stair Medina ..Howison 5i Dalyell, General Thomas of Einns Robinson 58 Douglas, James Fourth Earl of Morton Shaw 115 Drummond, "William of Hawthornden Jansen Rogers 141 Duncan, Adam Viscount Camperdown, Admiral ofj >Hoppner Robinson 162 the Blue, &c j Erskine. Hon. Henry Raeburn Howison 243 Erskine, John Earl of Marr Kueller Page 250 Fletcher, Andrew of Saltoun Aikman Freeman 323 Forbes, Duncan of Culloden Freeman 335 Forbes, Sir "William of Pitsligo Raeburn Robinson 355 Gordon, Robert of Straloch Jamesone Freeman 472 Grahame. Rev. James Freeman 494 Graham, John Viscount Diiiulee Lely Freeman 527 Gregory, James M.A Holl 541 Gregory, John M.D Chalmers Howison 545 Guthrie, Rev. James Minister of Stirling Freeman 553 Hamilton, Robert LL.D Holl 576 VOL. II L PAINTKR. ENGBAVEE. TAGE. Hunter, "William M.D Frontisjylece.... "Reynolds Freeman The High Street, Edinburgh Engraved Tt^Zc... Bough Forest Henderson. Alexander Freeman, 17 Henry, Robert D.D Martin Freeman 28 Home, Henry Lord Kames Martin Freeman Gl Home. Rev. John Raeburn Rogers 72 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. IX PAI.VTEB. ENGEAVEB. PAGK. Hunter, Jolin F.E.S Eeynolds Holl 15G Jamesone. George Jamesone Freeman 242 Knox. John Cook 325 Laing. Alexander Gordon Freeman 33G Leigliton, Robert Archbisliop of Glasgow Freeman 37G Mackenzie. Sir George Kneller Rogers 505 Mackenzie. Henry , Gordon Freeman 512 Mackintosli. Sir James Lawrence Freeman 517 Macneil. Hector William Rogers 539 M'Gavin. "William Campbell Freeman 572 VOL. IV. PAIKTKR. ENGKAYER. PAGE Munro, Sir Thomas Bart. K.B Frontis2)icee....^hee Knight __ Aberdeen University, King's College, Engraved TiiZc... Bough Richardson. Moore. John M.D Cochrane Cochran 49 Moore, Sir John K.B Lawrence Freeman 50 Napier, John of Merchiston Freeman SS Raebum, Sir Henry R.A Raeburn Knight 14G Ramsay. Allan Aikman Howison 151 Scott, Sir Walter Bart Gordon Robinson 230 Sharp, James Archbishop of St. Andrews Lely Page 247 Skinner. Rev. John Woolnoth 2G9 Stewart. Dugald Raebm-n Freeman 316 Stewart, Major-General David of Garth Gordon Shaw 32G Strange. Sir Robert Greuse Freeman 33G Stuart, James Earl of Murray Knight 349 Tannahill. Robert Blair Freeman 361 Thomson, Rev. Andrew D.D "Watson Holl 370 Watt, James LL.D. F.R.S.L., &c Beechey HoU 422 Wellwood, Sir H. Moncrieflf Bart. D.D Raeburn Freeman 45G Wishart. George Freeman 484 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. VOL. V. PAINTKR. EXGHAVKR. PACK. Chalmers, Eev. Tliomas D.D i^;wiD FOR THE USE OV SCHOOLS," ETC., ETC. WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS. VOL. II. ORICHTON— HAMILTON. BLACKIE AND SON: GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND LONDON. MDCC C LV. GLASGOW: W. G. BLACKIK AND CO , rBlNTECS, VILLA FIELD. A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OP EMINENT SCOTSMEN. IX FOUR VOLUMES. ORIGINALLY EDITED BY ROBERT CHAMBERS. NEW EDITION, REVISED UNDER THE C.AJIE OF THE PUBLISHERS. WITH A SUPPLEMENTAL YOLTJME, ! CONTINUING THE BIOGEATHIES TO THE PRESENT TIME. ; By the Eev. THOS. THOMSON, AVITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS. VOL. V. ABERCROMBIE— WOOD. BLACKIE AXD SON: GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND LONDON. j ilDCCCLV. GLASGOW: W. G. CLACKIB AND CO , PEINIEKS, VU.LAFIELD. PREFACE FIFTH, OR SUPPLEMENTAL VOLUiME, While a national Bio^aphy is so fitted to arrest the general attention, and endear itself to the patriotic feelings of those people whose great and good men it commemorates, a national Scottish Biography possesses such advantages of this natm-e, as must always impai-t to it an especial interest. For it exhibits a country the least populous in Europe, and originally the most remote and neglected, producing, in spite of these disadvantages, such a miiltitude of leading minds in every depart- ment of thought and action, as have advanced it into the very foremost rank of nations, and given it an imperishable name in history. The men by whom such a change has been achieved must have left a memorial of no ordinary importance. Something more, however, than a merely intellectual and historical interest belongs, in a peculiar degree, to Scottish Biography. Those men of whom it is the record, were in most instances of humble origin and scanty resources — men who were obliged not only skilfully to use, but in many cases absolutely to create the means by which they were borne onward — and who yet, by their talents, their energy, and their moral worth, won theii- way to eminence in every department of human excel- lence. While patriotism is ennobled and purified by the st\idy of such examples, how persuasive a lesson they contain for the ingenuous yoiiths by whom the manhood of Scotland in a few years will be represented ! It is by such reading that they can best be taught — ^by the example of such precvu-sors that they will be best animated and directed. In these instances they have full proof, that however adverse theii' own cii'cum- stances are, eveiything may be compelled to give way to indomitable resolution, unwearing industiy, and steady upright integrity. A full national Biography for Scotland, from the earliest period till 1834, was accomplished by the work, the publication of which was com- pleted dm-ing that year, vmder the title of " Lives of Illustrious a>t> Distinguished Scotsmen," of which the first foiir vohimes of the pre- sent is a re issue. But since the period of its first publication, circum- stances have occun-ed, through which a large addition to the original collection was ui'gently demanded. The close of the last, and the earlier PREFACE. part of the present century, have constituted an epoch in the history of the Scottish mind, such as our country, prolific though it has been of eminent men, has never previously enjoyed. But of these illustrious Scotsmen of our own day, the greater part have died since the year 1834, while they were so numerous as well as distinguished, that nothing less than an entu-e volume seemed necessary for their memorial. If in this estimate it should be alleged that a mistake has been made — that the worth which our own eyes have beheld, and over Avhich the grave has so recently closed, has in some instances been rated higher than a future time, and the increasing experience of society will ratify — still we trust, it is a mistake which the succeeding generation will be easily disposed to pardon. In this additional volume they will read the record of men whom their fathers delighted to honour, and by whom, in no small degree, their own characters have been moulded. In such an extended mode, also, of writing a national Biography, a mass of information is bequeathed to posterity, in which the excess can be easily reduced to those dimensions which it ought to occupy in future history. This is certainly a more venial error than that of a too comiDendious narrative, the defects or omissions of which, in the course of a few years, it might be difficult, or even impossible to rectify. The author of this additional volume of the '•' Lives of Illustrious ANT) Distinguished Scotsmen" has only to add, that the following memoirs owe nothing more to him than the care of editorial revision : viz., those of Joanna Baillie, Rev. Dr. Robert Balfour, James Bell, John Burns, M.D., David Dale, Colonel John Fordyce, George Gardner, Charles Mackintosh, James Montgomery, and Thomas Thomson, M.D., RR.S. These were derived from sources of information to which he either had no ready access, or were connected with subjects to w^hich he thought he could not render such ample justice as they merited. For the authorship of the rest of the volume, vv^hatever may be its merits or defects, he claims the entire responsibility. THOMAS THOMSON". A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. IN" FOUR VOLUMES. ORIGINALLY EDITED BY EGBERT CHAMBEES. JSTEW EDITION", EEVISED UNDER THE CARE OF THE PUBLISHERS. WITH A SUPPLEMENTAL YOLUME, CONTINUING THE BIOGRAPHIES TO THE PRESENT TIME. By the Eev. THOS. THOMSON, AUTnOB OF "the HISTORV of SCOTIAND for the use of SCH00I5," ETC., ETC. WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS. VOL. IIL HAMILTON— M'GAVIN. BI,ACKIE AND SON: GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND LONDON. MD C CCLV. GtASGOff: W. G. DLACKIE AND CO., PRTSTER3, VILLA HELD, 1 A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART OP EMINENT SCOTSMEN. IN FOUR VOLUMES. OP.lGiNALLI EDITED BY ROBERT CHAMBERS. NEW EDITION, REVISED UNDER THE CARE OF THE PUBLISHERS. WITH A SUPPLEMENTAL VOLUME, CONTINUING THE BIOGEAPHIES TO THE PRESENT TIME. 1 By the Kev. THOS. THOMSON, AUTHOR OF "xnr. niSTORV OK SCOXrANH FOR TUB USE OF ECHOOLS." ETC, KTC. AVITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS. VOL. IV. MELVILLE— YOUNG. 1 1 BLACKIE AND SON: 1 GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND LONDON. MDCCCLV. GLASGOW : VI. G. BLACKIE AND CO., PEINTEBS, \'ILLAFIELD. MATTHEW BAILLIE, IM.D. 95 admired ; and it must be added, that the same liberal and just ideas which, on all occasions, guided his conduct as an individual, ruled him in his many public duties : he jiever countenanced any measures which had the appearance of op- pression or hostility towards the members of his professidn. Men seldom act, collectively, with the same honour and integTity as they would do individually ; and a member of a public body requires an unusual share of moral courage, who opposes those measures of his associates, which he may not himself approve of; but if there was one qualification more than another, ^vhich gave Dr Baillie the public confidence he enjoyed, and raised him to the zenith of professional dis- tinction, it was his inflexible integrity. In 1799, Dr BaiUie commenced the publication of " A Series of Engravings, to illustrate some parts of Blorbid Anatomy," in successive fasciculi, which were completed in 1802. The di-a wings for this splendid work Avere done by IMr Clift, the Conservator of the Hunterian Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields ; and they were creditable at once to the taste and liberahty of Dr Baillie, and to the state of art in that day. Dr Baillie afterwai-ds published " An Anatomical de- sa'iption of the Gravid Uterus ; " and throughout the whole course of his pro- fessional life, he contributed lai-gely to the transactions and medical collections of the time. When he was at the height of his popularity, he enjoyed a higher in- come than any preceding physician, and ^vhich was only inferior to the sum received by one particular contemporary. In one of his busiest yeai-s, ivhen he had scai-cely time to take a single meal, it is said to have reached £10,000. He Avas admitted to have the greatest consultation business of liis time ; and it was known that he was applied to for medical advice from many distant quarters of the world. From his arduous, and to liis mind, often irksome duties, he en- joyed no relaxation for many years, till at length he began to indulge in an annual retirement of a few months to the countiy. On one of the first of these occasions, he paid a visit to the land of his birth, which, during an absence of thirty years, spent in busy and distracting pursuits, he had never ceased to re- gard with the most tender feeHngs. The love of country was, indeed, a promi- nent featui'e in his character ; and he was prepared on this occasion to realize many enjoyments which he had previously contemplated with enthusiasm, in the prospect of once more beholding the land and friends of liis youth. The result was far different from his expectations. He found most of his early companions either scattered over the world, in search, as he himself had been, of fortune, or else forgotten in untimely graves ; of tliose who survived, many ivere removed beyond his sympathies by that total alteration of feeling- Avhich a difference of worldly circumstances so invai'iably effects in the hearts of early friends, on the side of the depressed party as well as the elevated. Dr Baillie was introduced to the favourable notice of the royal family, in con- sequence of his ti-eatment of the duke of Gloucester. Being subsequently joined in consultation wth the king's physicians, upon his majesty's own unhappy case, he came more prominently than ever into public view, as in some measure the principal director of the royal treatment. The political responsibility of this situation was so very weighty, that, if Dr Baillie had been a man of less firmness of nerve, he could scarcely have maintained himself under it. Such, however, was the public confidence in his inflexible integi-ity, that, amidst the hopes and fears which for a long time agitated the nation, on the subject of the king's health, the opinion of Dr Baillie ever regulated that of the publia On the fu-st vacancy, which occurred in 1810, he was appointed one of the physicians to the king, with the offer of a baronetcy, which, however, his good sense and unas- suming disposition induced him to decline. Dr BaiUie at length sunk under the weight of his practice, notwithsianding 96 GENEUAL SIR DAVID BAIllD. that for several yeai-s he had taken evei7 possible expedient to shift oft his duties to the cai-e of youni-er aspirants. At the last quarterly meeting of the CoUeo-e of Physicians before his death, when there uas a full assemblage of members, in the midst of the affairs for the consideration of which they were called together, Dr Eaillie entered the room, emaciated, hectic, and with all the sjinptoms of approaching dissolution. Such was the effect of his sudden and unexpected appearance, that the public business was suspended, and every one present instantly and spontaneously rose, and remained standing until Dr Bailie had taken his seat; the incident though trivial evinces the eff'ectionate rever- ence with which he was regarded. Besides the natural claim he had upon this body, from his uuapproached anatomical and medical skill, and the extraordinary beni"-nity and worth of his character, he had entitled himself to its peculiar gi-atitude by leaving to it the Avhole of his valuable collection of preparations, together with the sum of six hundred pounds to keep it in order. Dr Baillie died on the SSd of September, 1823. Dr Bailie had married, 6th May, 1791, Jliss Sophia Denman, second daughter of Dr Denman of London, a distinguished physician, and sister of Mr., subsequently Lord Denman and Lord Chief-Justice of England. By her lie left one son, to whom he devoted his estate of Dautisbourne, in Gloucestershire, and one daughter. The sums and eff'ects destined by his will, many of which were given to medical institu- tions and public charities, were sworn in the Prerogative Court at less than £80,000. Dr Baillie is thus characterised in the Annual Obituary for 1824. "He seemed to have an innate goodness of heart, a secret sympathy with the virtuous, and to rejoice in then- honourable and dignified conduct, as in a thing in which lie had a personal interest, and as if he felt that his own character was raised by it, as well as human natui-e ennobled. He censured warndy what he disapproved, from a strong attachment to what is right, not to display his superiority to others, or to give vent to any asperity of temper ; at the same time he was indulgent to failings ; his kindness to others leading him on many occasions to overlook what was due to himself; and even in liis last illness he paid gratuitous professional visits which were above his strength, and was in danger of suddenly exhausting liiinself by exertions for others. His liberal disposition was well known to all acquainted with public subscriptions; the gi-eat extent to which it showed itself in private benefactions is known only to those who were nearly connected with him, and perhaps was fully known only to himself." BAIRD, (the Right Honourable, General Six-) David, a distinguished comman- der dui-ing the wars of the French Revolution, ^vas the second sundving son of William Baird, Esq., heir, by settlement, of his second cousin Su- John Baird, of Newbyth, Bart, He entered the army, December 16, 1772, as an ensign in the 2nd foot, joined fhe Kegiment at Gibraltar, April 1773, and returned to Britain in 177G. Having been promoted to a lieutenancy in 1778, he inmiediately after obtained a company in the 73rd, a regiment then just raised by Lord Macleod, with wliich he sailed for India, and arrived at Madras, January 17 80. Tliis young regiment was here at once ushered into the trying and hazardous scenes of the war against Hyder Ally, whom the English company had provoked by a shameful breach of faith into a hostility that tlireatened to overwhelm it. In July 1780, while the company, exclusive of Lord Macleod's regiment, had only about 5,000 men under arms, Hyder burst into the Carnatic with an army of 100,000 men, disciplined and commanded by French officers, and laid siege to Arcot, the capital of the only native prince friendly to the British. Sir Hector Munro, commander-in-chief of the Company's troops, set out to relieve this city on the 25th of August, expecting to be joined on the 30th, by a large detachment then in the northem circai-s under Colonel Baillie. On learning- this HENRY BELL. 201 scientific calculation, he never could carry into practice. Owing to an imperfection in even liis mechanical skill, he scarcely ever made one part of a model suit the rest, so that many designs, after a great deal of pains and expense, were successively abandoned. He was, in short, the hero of a thousand blunders and one success." The idea of propelling vessels by means of steam early took possession of his mind. "In ISOO (he writes) I applied to Lord Melville, on purpose to show his lordship and the other members of the Admiralty, the practicability and great utility of applying steam to the propelling of vessels against -winds and tides, and every ob- struction on rivers and seas, where there was depth of water." Disappointed in this application, he repeated the attempt in 1803, with the same result, notwithstanding the emphatic declaration of the celebrated Lord Nelson, who, addressing their lord- ships on the occasion, said, "My Lords, if you do not adopt Mr Bell's scheme, other nations will, and in the end vex every vein of this empire. It will succeed (he added), and you should encourage Mr Bell." Having obtained no support in this country, Bell forwarded copies of the prospectus of his scheme to the different nations of Europe, and to the United States of America. " The Americans," he writes, "were the first who put my plan into practice, and were quiclily followed by other nations." The various attempts which preceded that of Bell are briefly noticed in the " Fifth Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Steam-Boats, June, 1832, Sir Henry Parnell, chairman." Mentioning the follow- ing as experimenters, namely, Mr Jonathan Hulls, in 1736; the Duke of Bridge- water, on the Manchester and Runcorn canal; Mr Miller of Dalswiuton; the Marquis de Jouffroy (a French nobleman), in 1781 ; Lord Stanhope, in 1795; and Mr Symington and Mr Taylor, on the Forth and Clyde canal, in 1801-2; the Report proceeds — " These ingenious men made valuable experiments, and tested well the mighty power of steam. Still no practical uses resulted from any of these attempts. It was not till the year 1807, when the Americans began to use steam- boats on their rivers, that their safety and utility were first proved. But the merit of constructing these boats is due to natives of Great Britain. Mr Henry Bell of Glasgow gave the first model of them to the late Mr Fulton of America, and cor- responded regularly with Fulton on the subject. Mr Bell continued to turn his talents to the improving of steam apparatus, and its application to various manu- factures about GlasgoAv; and in 1811, constructed the Comet steam-boat." The launching of the first American steam-boat on the Hudson, and the first British steam-boat on the Clyde, was the commencement of the application of Watt's great discovery as a locomotive power. Already the improvement of the steam-engine had given a new impulse to manufacturing industry, which only re- quired a more peaceable era to develope itself in boundless progression. But the improved steam-engine was now also to be employed in increasing the rapidity and regularity of conveyance by water, and in uniting the most remote parts of the globe in social and commercial relationship. It was destined also, before the lapse of many years, to accelerate the speed of travelling by land to a degree which had not been imagined by the most sanguine ; and from the united influence of both was to be evoked that most astonishing discovery of all, which, literally annihilating time and space, makes the lightning itself the medium of communica- tion throughout continents, and across arms of the sea. It is remarkable, as Dr. Lardner has observed, that the introduction of steam navigation is due to the in- telligence of men "none of whom shared those privileges of mental culture enjoyed by the favoured sons of wealth; none of wliom grew up within the walls of schools or colleges, drawing inspiration from the fountains of ancient learning ; " but "sus- tained by that innate consciousness of power, stimulated by that irrepressible force of will, go eminently characterbtic of minds of the first order, they, in their humble I. 2 0 202 HENRY BELL. and obscure positions, persevered against adverse and embarrassing circumstances, against the doubts, the opposition, and not untVequently the ridicule of an incre- dulous world, until at length, truth was triumphant, and mankind now gathers the rich harvest sown by these illustrious labourers." In ISOS, Bell removed to the modern village of Helensburgh, on the Firth of Clyde, where his wife undertook the superintendence of the public baths, and at the same time kept the principal inn, whilst he continued to prosecute his favourite scheme, without much regard to the ordinary affairs of the world. In 1812 he pro- duced his steam-boat, the Comet, of 30 tons burthen, with an engine of three horse- power. The Comet, so called from the celebrated comet which appeared at that time, was built by Messrs John Wood and Co., at Port-Glasgow, and made her trial trip on the 18th of January, when she sailed from Glasgow to Greenock, making five miles an hour against a head-wind. In August of the same year we find Bell advertising the Comet to ply upon the Clyde three times a-week from Glasgow, "to sail by the power of air, wind, and steam." In September the voyage was extended to Oban and Fort- William, and was to be accomplished to and from the latter place in four days. Mr Bell lived to see his invention universally adopted. The Clyde, which first enjoyed the advantages of steam-navigation, became the principal seat of this description of ship-building; and, at the present time, Clyde- built steamers maintain their superiority in every port in* the world. Steam-ships are now launched from the building-yards of Glasgow and Greenock of 2000 tonnage and 800 horse-power ; and Clyde-built ships, with Glasgow engines, make the voyage betwixt Liverpool and New York in ten days. Steam-boat building and marine-engine-making received their first powerful impulse from the solution of the problem of ocean steam-navigation.' From tables, constructed by Dr Strang from returns furnished to him by the various ship-builders and engineers in Glasgow, Dura- barton, Greenock, and Port-Glasgow, it appears that, during the seven years from 1846 to 1S52, there were constructed at Glasgow and in its neighbourhood, 123 vessels, of which 1 was of wood, 122 of iron, SO paddle, and 43 screw ; consisting of 200 wooden tonnage ; ^0,441 iron tonnage ; C610 horse-power engines for wooden hulls, 22,539 horse-power engines for iron hulls, and 4720 horse-power engines for vessels not built on the Clyde. During the same period there were constructed in Dumbarton, 58 vessels, all of iron, 20 being for paddles and 38 for screws, and having a tonnage of 29, TGI ; and during the last three years of the same period 3615 horse- power engines were made there for iron hulls, and 200 horse-power engines for vessels not built on the Clyde. During the same period, from 1S46 to 1852, there were constructed at Greenock and Port- Glasgow, 66 steam-vessels, of which 13 were of wood, and 53 of iron, 41 paddle, and 25 screw ; consisting of 18,131 wood tonnage, and 29,071 iron tonnage, 129 horse-power engines for wooden bulls, 5439 horse- power engines for iron hulls, and 4514 horse-power engines for vessels not built on the Clyde. For the whole ports in the Clyde, the steam-vessels built and the marine engines made, from 1846 to 1852, were as follows : — Number of steam vessels built — Wood hulls, 14 ; iron hulls, 233 ; in all, 247 ; of these 141 were paddles, and 106 screws. The tonnage of the wooden steamers amounts to 18,331, of the iron to 129,273. The engines' horse-power in wood hulls was 6739, the engines' horse-power in iron hulls was 31,593 ; while there was of engines' horse-power for vessels not constructed on the Clyde, 9434, making a grand total of 247 steamers, amounting to 147,604 tons, and of engines 47,766 horse-power. The steam communication which has, for several years, existed betwixt our West Indian and North American colonies and the mother country, has recently been extended to Australia and the Cape of Good Hope, thus uniting Great Britain to her most distant dependencies by new and powerful ties, and literally realizing the vivid description of George Can- KEW V/OEKS AND NEW EDITIONS, rUBLISHED BY ELACKIE AND SOX: GLASGOW, EDrNBURGII, AND LONDON. SUPERIOR FAMILY BIBLES, COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. THE IMPERIAL FAMILY BIBLE; Containing the Old and New Testaments, according; to the most correct copies of the Author, ized ^'ersio^. With many thousand Critical, Explanatory, and Practical Notes. 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