746 



ROBKKTSON 



not written for delivery <>r preservation, but an really 

 recollections sometimrs dioUUid by tlie preacher himself 

 to the younger member* of a family in which he was 

 interested, noinetiine* written out by hiuuelf for them 

 when they wen at a distance. Yet another volume. The 

 Human Hart, kc., was iuued in 1880. Other works that 

 have also been puliluhed are Kfpotitar.it Lecture* on St 

 I'aul'i Kpitlle to tke Curiitttiant I1N5U); Lrrlurei and 

 Addnatt ( 1858 ); An A iialytit of ' In Memoriam ' (1862 ) ; 

 a translation from Looting The Education of tke Human 

 Race ( 1858 ) ; and JfoUt on Oenetii ( 1877 ). The Life and 

 Ltt'ertlbo latter only inferior in value to the sermons 

 by the Rev. Stanford A. Brooke, appeared in 1865, and 

 has already taken it* place among the classic* of English 

 biography. 



Robertson. JOSEPH, Scottish antii|imry, was 

 born, a small .shopkeeper's son, at Aberdeen, 17th 

 Max I slu, ami w.-i> educated at Udnv Academy, ami 

 thf grammar-school and Mariachal College of his 

 native city. An Episcopalian ami Conservative, 

 he was apprenticed to a lawyer, but took early to 

 writing, ami, after six years of literary work at 

 Edinburgh, was a newspaper editor at Aberdeen, 

 Glasgow, and Edinburgh from 1839 to 1853. He 

 was in that year appointed curator of the historical 

 department of the Edinburgh Register House, 

 received in 1864 the degree of I.I..H.. and died 

 13th December 1866. He was an originator of the 

 Aberdeen Spalding Club (1839-70), for which he 

 edited four work* ; and for the first edition of this 

 encyclopedia he wrote eighty articles (Columba, 

 Cnldees, Cuthbert, Mary Stuart, i\'c.), many of 

 wlucli have, with revision, been retained. Of his 

 other works may be noticed The Book of Bon- 

 Accord, or a Guide to the City of Aberdeen ( 1839), 

 Catalogues of the Jewels, Dresses, Books, and Paint- 

 ings of Mary Queen of Scot* (Bannatyne Club, 

 1803), the invaluable Concilia Scotite: Ecclcsue 

 X'-i-tican<e Statuta, 12S5-1559 (2 vols. Bannatyne 

 Club, 1866), and an admirable article in the 

 Viutrterly Jteview for June 1849 on 'Scottish 

 Abbeys and Cathedrals.' Sec the Memoir prefixed 

 to a reprint of the last (Aberdeen, 1891 ). 



Robertson. THOMAS WILLIAM, dramatist, 

 IMII-II at Newark-on-Trent, on 9th January 

 Ivj.i. The family had for some generations bock 

 been actors and actresses, and young Tom was 

 brought up almost on the boards. About the 

 middle of the century the Lincoln circuit, with 

 which bis father was connected, ceased to pay ; the 

 company was broken up, and Tom proceeo'ed to 

 London. There he struggled for a living, acting 

 as prompter and stage manager, writing unsiicces- 

 ful plays, acting himself, writing for newspapers 

 and magazines, Fun amongst them, translating 

 French plays, and so forth ; but Robertson was 

 never an actor of any mark. His first success as a 

 dramatist was with David Garrick, in 1864, the 

 title iVili- of which was one of Sothern's great 

 things. This was followed by tin- production of 

 the comedy Society at Liverpool ( 1865), where, and 

 later in London, it was received with the warmest 

 approval. His next oiinedy, <iur.\( ISlHi). prodnecil 

 by the Bancrofts at the I'rince. of Wales ' Theatre, 

 London, thoroughly established Rolwrtfton's fame : 

 and from that time hi- pen was kept incessantly 

 busy. Caste (1867), flu if (IHtW), .SV/,W (1869), 

 M.I'. (1870) all brought out by the Kendals at 

 the Prince of Wales s and Home (1869) and 

 Dreams (1869), the former at the Haymitrket, the 

 latter at the Gaiety, were all equally successful. 

 But in the midst of his triumphs Tom Rolierl-on 

 died, in London, on 3d February 1871. His best 

 comedies still retain their |>oimlarity. thirty years 

 after they were lirxt produced. This is owing in 

 the first place to the excellence of their construc- 

 tion nnil stagecraft, and in the next to their bright 

 nnd merry humour, their wholesome, healthy tone, 

 then huppx contrasts, and the sunny spirit that 



shines through them. See his 1'rinriiml llrnmatic 

 Works, with Memoir bv his son (2 vols. 1H89), and 

 the Life itn<l llV/Vim/*, by IVmlwrton (1893). 



Kiihrrlson. WILLIAM, the historian, was born 

 19th ScptciiiW 1721, at Borthxvick in Midlothian, 

 of which parish his father wa> minister. He went 

 to school at Piilkeith, at twelve entered the iini- 

 venity of Edinburgh, and at twenty-two was 

 ordained as minister of Gladsmuir. On the .-mlilen 

 death of his lathei ami mother soon after, the care 

 of a younger brother and six sisters devolved upon 

 him, and this duty he at once cheerfully undertook. 

 although his income was but 100 a year. At the 

 same time he was assiduous in preaching, in cute 

 chising, and in all the duties of his olliee. Hi- 

 vigour and patriotism he showed by joining a Imilv 

 of volunteers formed for the defence of Eatabun 

 against the Jacobite rebels in 1745, and after the 

 surrender of the city he offered his services to the 

 royalist commander at Haddington. As early as 

 1751 we find Robertson taking a prominent part in 

 the debate- of the General Assembly, and indeed 

 his influence soon became supreme aa leader of the 

 ' Moderate ' Party in the church. He carried the 

 deposition of Gillespie in the Assembly in 1752, 

 and in 1757 the acquittal of Carlyle of Inveresk 

 hefoie the Synod for having been present at the 

 performance of Home's tragedy of Douglas on the 

 Edinburgh stage. From 1 7">!i till his death he was 

 joint -minister with l)r Erskine of Greyfriars 

 Church, Edinburgh, and in the same year he was 

 appointed chaplain of Stirling Castle. Still further, 

 in 1761 he became a royal chaplain, in 17(i'2 prin- 

 cipal of the university of Edinburgh, and in 1784 

 the office of king's historiographer was revived in 

 his favour, with a salary of 200 a year. Tempting 

 offers of golden preferment in the English church 

 were hem out to liini, but these he was too sensible 

 and honest to accept. All this was because of the 

 splendid and immediate success of hi- Ilislnry of 

 ^i'ii/fiiiiil (1753-50), which earned the warmest 

 praises from Hume, Horace Walpole, Lord Chester- 

 field, Bishop Warbiirton, David Garrick, and Baron 

 d'HoIbach. if not Dr Johnson ' Sir, I love UoU-rt- 

 son ; and I won't talk of his liook," said the doctor 

 to Boswell. Next followed the History of t/n !! ,'jn 

 of the Emperor Charles V. (3 vols. 1769), to which 

 was prefixed an admirably synthetic and su^e-i i\ e 

 View of the State of Society in Europe from the 

 subversion of the Roman Empire to t/n M^wutMf 

 of the Sixteenth Century. This is the most valuable 

 of Robertson's works. The field has been often 

 since traversed by authors who have di-eovered 

 much new material, but all the use they have 

 made of it has become an indirect tribute to the 

 natural sagacity of Robertson. He received 4500 

 for the copyright, and was gratified by the most 

 flattering praises from Voltaire and Gibbon. The 

 History of America appeared in 1777 ; An His- 

 torical Disquisition concerning l/n h'unir/ii/i/i' irhirli 

 tin- Ait'-ii-ntx linil of India in 1791. Robertson died 

 near Edinburgh, llth June 1793, and was buried 

 in the Greyfriars churchyard. 



llober tson's Histories "are still excellent reading, 

 although in every cose they have been left behind 

 by the more' valuable works of a later day. Their 

 merit is great, considering the slenderness of the 

 materials then available and the fact that he lixed 

 almost half n century licfore the modern conception 

 of the scope and method of history awoke. None 

 of his contemporaries philosophised on defective 

 data with greater dignity or less unconsciousness 

 of 18th-century limitations; but it is true that 

 many of the remarks in his review of the state of 

 Europe display a quite remarkable sagacity and 

 power of generalisation. His style is clear and 

 correct, but is formal, and lark.- idiomatic vigour 

 and spontaneity. 



