APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 613 



a Roman catliolic, lie never took 

 his seat in the legislative assembly 

 of the nation. Hence he had the 

 more time to bestow on agricultu- 

 ral pursuits, to which he vvns par- 

 ticularly attentive. Urbanity of 

 disposition, unaffected politeness 

 and affability of manners, added 

 dignity to his rank, and conciliated 

 the estimation of the distinguished 

 circle in which he moved. 



In Craig's-court, Charing Cross, 

 David Pitcairn, M. D. F. R. S. 

 F. A. S. fellow of the college of 

 physicians of London, and physi- 

 cian extraordinary to the prince of 

 Wales. He was the eldest son of 

 the gallant major John Pitcairn, 

 of the marines, who was killed in 

 the attack upon Bunker's Hill, in 

 June 1775, and Elizabeth, daugh- 

 ter of Robert Dalrymple, esq. of 

 Annefield in the county of Dum- 

 fries. His paternal family was one 

 of the most ancient in Fifeshire, 

 deriving its name from a landed 

 possession called Pitcairn ; Nisbett 

 in his heraldry says, that he has 

 seen a charter to it dated in HI 7. 

 In the course of time, one of the 

 family acquired by marriage the 

 estate of Forther, in the same 

 county ; after which the lands of 

 Pitcairn went ofi' with a younger 

 son, from whom was descended Dr. 

 Archibald Pitcairn, of Pitcairn, 

 justly famed as a physician, poet, 

 wit, scholar, and mathematician. 

 Of the elder branch. Dr. David 

 Pitcairn became the representative 

 upon the death of his uncle, the 

 well known Dr. William Pitcairn, 

 who had practised physic here for 

 nearly half a century, and had been 

 many years president of the college 

 of physicians. Dr. David Pitcairn 

 was born on the 1st of May, 174-9, 

 in the house of his grandfather, the 



rev. David Pitcairn, minister of Dy- 

 sart, in the county of Fife. When 

 about nine or ten years old, he was 

 sent to the high school at Edin- 

 burgh, where he remained four 

 years ; after which he went to the 

 university of Glasgow, and prose- 

 cuted his studies there till he arriv- 

 ed at the age of twenty. At this 

 period of his life he used to spend 

 much of his leisure time with the 

 family of the rev. James Baillie, 

 minister of Both well, in the county 

 of Lanark, and father of the present 

 Dr. Matthew Baillie, of London, 

 and of the celebrated dramatic 

 writer, miss Joanna Baillie. Dur- 

 ing this intercourse commenced 

 an affectionate intimacy between 

 Dr. Pitcairn and Dr. Baillie; which 

 afterwards, as the difference of 

 their years, became less in propor- 

 tion to their whole ages, gradually 

 changed into the warmest friend- 

 ship, that continued ever after.— 

 It being now determined that he 

 should be a physician, he went in 

 1769 to the university of Edin- 

 burgh, and studied medicine there 

 for three years, under the immedi- 

 ate direction of the illustrious Cul- 

 len. In 1772 he came to London, 

 and attended the lectures of Dr. 

 W. Hunter, and Dr. G. Fordyce. 

 About the same time also, that he 

 might attain an English degree in 

 physic, though he was then nearly 

 23 years old, he entered at Ben- 

 net's college, Cambridge. In 1780, 

 several years before he received 

 his doctor's degree, he was elected 

 physician to St. Bartholomew's Hos- 

 pital ; and about the same time 

 may be placed the commencement 

 of his private medical practice. In 

 1792, he was chosen physician to 

 Christ's Hospital; and in the fol- 

 lowing year, his private practice 



being 



