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CALLUS, JULIUS AQUILA. 



GALT, JOHN. 



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calls him his colleague (' Topica,' 7), aud in another passage he has 

 preserved the legal definition of Littus which Callus on some occasion 

 gave. ('Topics,' 12.) Uallus was the author of an ediutal rule or 

 formula as to dolus malus (fraud) in matters of buying and selling, 

 which he promulgated as prsotor. (Cic., 'De OSBciis,' iii. 14; 'Dig.' 9, 

 tit 2.) The Lei Aquilia, which gave the actio damn! injuria ('Dig.' 9, 

 tit 2; Gaius, iii. 210), was not proposed by this Aquilius, but by a 

 tribune Aquilius. The high opinion which Cicero entertained of his 

 friend Callus is expressed in his oration Pro A. Csecina (c. 27), where 

 he pronounces upon him a eulogium which few lawyers have merited : 

 " The authority of such a man can never have too much weight, 

 whose judgment the Roman people have seen tried in providing 

 security against fraud, uot in showing how fraud may be practised ; a 

 man who never separated the principles of law (jus civile) from those 

 of equity, who for so many years dedicated his genius, his industry, 

 and his integrity to the Roman people, which integrity was ever 

 ready and ever at command; who is so great and good a man that he 

 seems to have been formed a lawyer by nature, and not by education ; 

 BO skilful and so learned that not knowledge only but goodness too 

 appears to be the product of the law ; whose genius is so powerful, 

 whose integrity so manifest, that whatever you draw from that source 

 you will find to be pure and clear." Cicero's oration Pro P. Quintio 

 was made before Callus as judex. Callus is cited several times in the 

 ' Digest ' (50, tit. 16, s. 77; 46, tit 4, s. 18, &<x), but there is no excerpt 

 fi-.iui his writings. Gallus devised or expounded some clauses of the 

 formula of Accepitalio. ('Dig.' 46, tit. 4, e. 18.) 



CALLUS, JULIUS AQUILA, or Julius Callus Aquila, a jurist 

 under the empire, of uncertain date. There are two excerpts in the 

 'Digest' from his 'Liber Responsorum' (26, tit 7, s. 34 ; and 26, 

 tit 10,8. I'J). 



GALT, JOHN', wa born at Irvine in Ayrshire, on the 2nd of May 

 1779. His father, a sea-captain in the West India trade, removed to 

 Greenock, when John was about eleven years of age ; and in that 

 busy town he received an education for commercial pursuits. He 

 spent some time as a clerk in tha Greenock custom-house ; whence he 

 was transferred, in the same character, to the counting-house of a 

 mercantile firm in the pl;ice. When he was between twenty and 

 twenty-five years of age he left Scotland for London, where he 

 intended to establish himself as a merchant His literary propensities 

 however which had previously led him into frequent compooitiou.i, 

 were further nourished by a few months of inaction in the metro- 

 polio. The result was, the production of a poem in octo-syllabic 

 verse called ' The Battle of Largg,' portions of which were printed in 

 the 'Scot*' Magazine,' 1803 and 1804 ; and on the originality of which 

 (as having preceded Sir Walter Scott's metrical romances) he prided 

 himself not a little in after-life. Other studies, chiefly in history and 

 political economy, were prosecuted occasionally after he had embarked 

 in commerce. This he had done in partnership with another young 

 Scotchman ; but the partners disagreed, their affairs became entangled, 

 and in about three years the firm was bankrupt After a short 

 attempt to re-establish himself in business along with a brother, 

 Mr. Gait entered himself at Lincoln's Inn; but determining (partly 

 for the sake of his health) to spend abroad some part of the time before 

 his being called to the bar, he left England in 1809. 



If is travels lasted for nearly three years. He afterwards described 

 tin m in two works : ' Voyages and Travels in the years 1809, 1810, 

 and 1811, containing Statistical, Commercial, and Miscellaneous Ob- 

 servations on Gibraltar, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, and Turkey,' 1812, 

 4 to ; aud ' Letters from the Levant, containing Views of the State 

 of Society, Manners, Opinions, and Commerce, hi Greece and several 

 of the Principal Islands of the Archipelago,' 1813, 8vo. Soon after his 

 return he married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Tilloch, the editor of 

 the ' Philosophical Magazine,' and also proprietor of the ' Star ' news- 

 paper, on which Mr. Gait was for some time employed. By this lady 

 he left two sons. He now wrote the following works : ' The Life 

 and Administration of Cardinal Wolsey,' 1812, 4to, 1818, 8vo; 'Keflec- 

 n Politic il and Commercial Subjects,' 1812, 8vo; volume of 

 ' Tragedies ' (Maddalen, Agamemnon, Lady Macbeth, Antonia, and Cly- 

 -tra), 1812, 4to ; ' The Life and Studies of Benjamin West, Esq.,' 

 ivo, 1818, 8vo. He edited also, during its short career, 'The 

 New British Theatre,' which was at first intended to contain a series 

 of dramas reject-it by the managers ; and in which, besides other con- 

 tributions of the e litor, was printed a vigorous tragedy called ' The 

 HI." These production* uowever were composed in the intervals 

 left by undertakings of other kinds, chiefly commercial. In the course 

 of his travels ho bad devised a scheme for importing British goods 

 into the Continent by way of Turkey, notwithstanding Napoleon's 

 > of exclusion ; and he spent some time in vain endeavours to 

 obtain support for this plan. On another occasion he acted as a par- 

 liamentary agent for a Scottish canal bill. He had giveu up the 

 study of the law, but he was desirous to obtain a footing in some 

 d-[.:irtrne!it of active business, entertaining a strong reluctance to 

 making literature the main employment of his life. 



u to tbis tirnt), iutleed, his lit'.-rary success had by no means 

 been <. : work* had not generally obtained credit even for the 



iuess aud comprehensiveness of thinking, aud the acute obser- 

 vation of life, which they really evinced: while his tendency to 

 paradox in opinion, his oddity aud clumsiness of language, and the 



coarseness with which his vigour was alloyed, had furnished topics of 

 ridicule to some who thought his works worth criticising. 



He was hardly more successful in his next literary attempt, ' The 

 Earthquake," 3 vols. 12mo, 1820, a serious novel, marked by that 

 clumsy aud gloomy strength of feeling which pervaded his dramas. 

 But he now hit upon the ground in which lay his strength, the deliuea- 

 tion of familiar Scottish life, in his own admirable vein of quaint, 

 shrewd, homely, observant humour. In 1820 and 1821 his 'Ayrshire 

 Legatees ' appeared in successive numbers of ' Blackwood's Magazine ; ' 

 and the work was immediately published separately. Its popularity 

 encouraged him to a series of sketches similar in character. The next 

 of these was ' The Annals of the Parish,' 1821 ; which however had 

 been written several years before. Then came the ' Provost,' ' The 

 Steamboat,' and 'Sir Andrew Wyllie' (3 vols.), all in 1822; 'The 

 Gathering of the West,' in 1823; and then in a somewhat different 

 style, 'The Entail,' 3 vols. 1823; and two historical novels, 'Ringhau 

 Gilhaize ' and 'The Spae-wife,' in. 1823. 



The reputation which Mr. Gait had acquired for activity in business, 

 and for acquaintance with the principles and practice of commerce, 

 now opened up for him the most brilliant prospects of his life. 

 Certain inhabitants of Canada gave him a commission as their a?eut, 

 to prosecute their claims on the home government for losses which 

 they had suffered during the occupation of the province by the forces 

 of the United States. The uegociatious arising out of this affair 

 issued in the adoption by the government of a proposal made by 

 Mr. Gait, to sell crown lands in Upper Canada, for the purpose of 

 defraying the claims of his constituents. The Canada Company, incor- 

 porated in 1826, undertook to purchase those lauds and to colonise 

 them. Before the company obtained its charter, Mr. Gait had gone 

 out as one of the government commissioners for valuing the lands, and 

 had returned to England in the summer of 1S25. In the autumn of 

 1826, when the sales had taken place, he was sent out by the Company, 

 being at first employed in making inquiries for them and in arranging 

 their system of management ; but afterwards as the superintendent 

 of their operations. Under his direction were founded the earliest 

 of the settlements which have since risen into importance : Guelph 

 was entirely a place of his making ; and the village of Gait received 

 its name from him. His conduct however, although distinguished by 

 great intelligence, energy, aud enterprise, appears to have been deficient 

 not only in commercial caution, but in deference both to the pro- 

 vincial government and to his employers at home, <uid he hiins-lf 

 maintained that the colonial authorities were prejudiced against him 

 as a democrat, by misrepresentations of the tenor of his books of 

 travels. The governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, sent home complaints 

 against him; alarm was excited about the Company's affairs; and the 

 directors superseded him. He returned to England in the spring of 

 1829, after a residence of about two years aud a half. Soon after- 

 wards, being pressed by some of his creditors, he took the benefit of 

 the Insolvent Debtors' Act. 



After this unfortunate catastrophe, Mr. Gait, now fifty years old, 

 did not again make any sustained attempt at obtaining mercantile 

 occupation. The embarrassment of his affairs forced him upon 

 authorship for the subsistence of himself and his family, and although 

 he was not able to produce any work comparable to the few which had 

 gained for him hia literary celebrity, the circumstances in which his 

 exertions were made were such as to render his active industry at once 

 meritorious aud touching. His earliest works in this period were his 

 novels of ' Lawrie Todd ' and ' Southeunan,' and the caustic ' Lite of 

 Lord Bjron,' 1830. While writing the last of these he undertook the 

 editorship of the ' Courier' newspaper, which however he very speedily 

 resigned. His health now broke up rapidly. He had already had a 

 slight shock of paralysis ; a second occurred soon after his withdrawal 

 from the newspaper. But his literary exertions were never relaxed, 

 unless for a short time, when he attempted the formation of a new 

 American Land Company. 



About midsummer 1832 paralysis recurred with increased violence ; 

 and from that time he was a confirmed invalid. He retired to Scot- 

 land, where repeated attacks of palsy made his body an utter wreck, 

 but with surprisingly little effect on his courage or on the vigour of 

 his intellect. His memory failed much, but his invention was active 

 to the last He continued to dictate his compositions long after he 

 had lost the use of every limb. Volume after volume, so composed, 

 and committed to the press, as ho himself said, " to wrench life from 

 famine," ought to receive, uot the unfavourable judgment merited by 

 unavoidable defects, but the compassionate forbearance due to the 

 manly fortitude of the ill fated author. Among these fruits of decay, 

 there were, besides several novels and tales, and contributions to 

 periodicals, two works which give, in a very incomplete and disjointed 

 much information about his life and writings : ' The Auto- 

 biography of John Gait,' 2 vols. 8vo, 1833; and 'The Literary Life 

 and Miscellanies of John Gait,' 3 vols. 12mo, 1834. 



Mr. Gait died at Greenock on the llth of April 1839, when he had 

 almost completed his sixtieth year, aud a few days after he had 

 suffered his fourteenth stroke of palsy. The list of his writings, as 

 given by himself (perhaps incompletely, and omitting many papers 

 furnished to periodicals), is very large. His novels alone are twenty- 

 four in number, making about fifty volumes ; his dramas are hardly less 

 numerous ; his biographical and miscellaneous works are even more BO. 



