[ 230 ] [FEB. 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 



HENRY MACKENZIE, ESQ. 



Henry Mackenzie, " the Addison of the 

 North," was the son of Dr. Joshua Mac- 

 kenzie, of a distinguished branch of the 

 ancient family of the Mackenzies of the 

 north of Scotland. He was born in the 

 year 1745, or 1746 we believe the former. 

 After receiving a liberal education, he de- 

 voted himself to the law ; and, in 1766, he 

 became an attorney in the Scottish Court of 

 Exchequer. Ultimately his practice in 

 that court produced him about 800 a year ; 

 he become comptroller-general of taxes for 

 Scotland, with a salary of 600 a year ; and, 

 altogether, his annual income was upwards 

 of 2,000. 



When very young, Mr. Mackenzie was 

 the author of numerous little pieces in 

 verse ; and, though of a kind and gentle 

 temper, the credit which he enjoyed for 

 wit induced him occasionally to attempt 

 the satiric strain. It was, however, in ten- 

 derness and simplicity in the plaintive 

 tone of the elegy in that charming fresh- 

 ness of imagery which belongs to the pas- 

 toral, that he was seen to most advantage. 

 He next aspired to the novel the senti- 

 mental and pathetic novel; and, in 1768 

 or 1769, in his hours of relaxation from 

 professional employment, he wrote, what 

 has generally been considered his master- 

 piece, The Man of Feeling. At first, 

 the booksellers declined its publication, 

 even as a gratuitous offering; but difficul- 

 ties were at length surmounted the book 

 appeared anonymously and the warmest 

 enthusiasm was excited in its favour. The 

 ladies of Edinburgh, like those of Paris on 

 the appearance of La Nouvelle Heloise, 

 all fancied themselves with the author. But 

 the writer was unknown ; and a Mr. Eccles, 

 a young Irish clergyman, was desirous of 

 appropriating his fame to himself. He ac- 

 cordingly was at the pains of transcribing 

 the entire work, and of marking the manu- 

 script with erasures and interlineations, to 

 give it the air of that copy in which the au- 

 thor had wrought the last polish on his 

 piece before sending it to the press. Of 

 course, this gross attempt at deception was 

 not long successful. The Man of Feeling 

 was published in 1771; and the eclat with 

 which its real author was received, when 

 known, induced him, in the same, or fol- 

 lowing year, to adventure the publication of 

 a poem entitled The Pursuit of Happi- 

 ness. 



Mr. Mackenzie's next production was 

 The Man of the World ; a sort of second 

 part of The Man of Feeling; but, like 

 most second parts, continuations, sequels, 

 &c., it was, though clever and interesting, 

 inferior to its predecessor. Dr. Johnson, 

 despising and abhorring the fashionable 

 whine of sensibility, treated the work with 

 far more asperity than it deserved. 



Julia de Roubigne, a novel, in the epis- 

 tolary form, was the last work of this class 

 from the pen of Mr. Mackenzie. It is ex- 

 tremely elegant, tender, and affecting ; but 

 its pathos has a cast of sickliness, and the 

 mournful nature of the catastrophe produces 

 a sensation more painful than pleasing on 

 the mind of the reader. 



In 1773, Mr. Mackenzie produced a 

 tragedy under the title of The Prince of 

 Tunis, which, with Mrs. Yates as its he- 

 roine, was performed with applause, for six 

 nights at the Edinburgh Theatre. Of three 

 other dramatic pieces by Mr. Mackenzie, 

 the next was The Shipwreck, or Fatal Cu- 

 riosity. This was an alteration and ampli- 

 fication of Lilly's horrible but rather cele- 

 brated tragedy of Fatal Curiosity, sug- 

 gested by a perusal of Mr. Harris's Philolo- 

 gical Essays, then recently published. Some 

 new characters were introduced with the view 

 of exciting more sympathy with the calami- 

 ties of the Wilmot family. Rather unfortu- 

 nately, Mr. Colman had, about the same 

 time, taken a fancy to alter Lilly's play. His 

 production was brought out at the Hay- 

 market, in 1782 ; and Mr. Mackenzie's at 

 Covent Garden, in 1?83 or 1784. The 

 Force of Fashion, a comedy, by Mr. Mac- 

 kenzie, was acted one night at Covent Gar- 

 den Theatre, in 1789 ; but, from its failure, 

 it was never printed. The object of this 

 piece was to ridicule those persons who 

 effect fashionable follies and vices, while in 

 reality they despise them. Its language was 

 elegant ; but its characters, though not ill- 

 drawn, wanted novelty ; and, altogether, its 

 deficiency in stage effect was palpable. Ano- 

 ther unsuccessful comedy of Mr. Macken- 

 zie's, mentioned in Campbell's History of 

 Poetry in Scotland, was The White Hypo- 

 crite , produced at Covent Garden in the 

 season of 1788-9. 



Turning back to the year 1767, we find 

 that Mr. Mackenzie then married Miss 

 Pennel Grant, sister of Sir James Grant, of 

 Grant, by whom he had a family of eleven 

 children. 



About ten or twelve years afterwards, he 

 and a few of his friends, mostly lawyers, 

 who used to meet occasionally, for convivial 

 conversation, at a tavern kept by M. 

 Bayll, a Frenchman, projected the publica- 

 tion of a series of papers on morals, man- 

 ners, taste and literature, similar to those 

 of the Spectator. This society, originally 

 designated The Tabernacle, but afterwards 

 The Mirror Club, consisted of Mr. Mac- 

 kenzie, Mr. Craig, Mr. Cullen, Mr. Ban- 

 natine, Mr. Macleod, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. 

 Solicitor-General Blair, Mr. George Home, 

 and Mr. George Ogilvie ; several of whom 

 afterwards became judges in the supreme 

 Courts of Scotland. Of these, Mr., now 

 Sir William Bannatine, a venerable and 

 accomplished gentleman of the old school, 



