ANDERSON. 



159 



8vo, which was so acceptable to his country, that, 

 besides a reward, thanks were voted to him by par- 

 liament, to be delivered by the lord-chancellor, hi 

 presence of her majesty's high- commissioner and the 

 estates. Mr Anderson's publication is now of little 

 value, except for the cliarters attached to it in the 

 shape of an appendix. Under these circumstances, 

 Anderson found it easy to secure the patronage of 

 the Scottish estates towards a design for engraving 

 and publishing a series of fee-similes of the royal 

 charters, previous to the reign of James I., and of 

 seals, medals, and coins, from the earliest to the 

 present time. In November, 1706, he had a parlia- 

 mentary grant of three hundred pounds towards this 

 object. He then proceeded vigorously with die 

 ...work, and in March, 1707, liad not only expended 

 the three hundred pounds granted by parliament, but 

 five hundred and ninety pounds besides, which he 

 had drawn from his own funds. A committee re- 

 ported the facts ; and the estates, while they ap- 

 proved of his conduct, recommended to the queen to 

 bestow upon him an additional contribution of one 

 thousand and fifty pounds sterling. Intoxicated with 

 this success, A. now gave up his profession, and, 

 resolving to devote himself entirely to the national 

 service as an antiquary, removed to London, in order 

 to superintend the progress of his work. The event 

 only added another proof to what is already abun- 

 dantly clear, that scarcely any prospects in the pre- 

 carious fields of literature, ought to tempt a man 

 altogether to resign a professional means of subsis- 

 tence. The money voted by the expiring parliament 

 is said to have never been paid ; but, in lieu of 

 money, he was favoured, in 1715, with the appoint- 

 ment of post-master general for Scotland ; but of 

 this he was deprived in little more than two years. 

 What progress he now made with his great work is 

 not very clearly known. He is found, in 1718, ad- 

 vertising that those who might wish to encourage it 

 " could see specimens at his house, above the post- 

 office in Edinburgh." As the expense of engraving 

 must have borne hard upon his diminished resources, 

 he would appear to have digressed for some years 

 into an employment of a kindred nature, attended 

 with greater facilities of publication. In 1727, he 

 published the two first volumes of his well-known 

 " Collections relating to the History of Mary, Queen 

 of Scotland,'' Edinburgh, 4to, which was speedily 

 completed by the addition of two other volumes. 

 A. died in 1728, of a stroke of apoplexy, leaving his 

 great work unfinished. The plates were sold, in 

 1729, by auction, at 530, and it was not till 1737 

 that the work appeared, under the title of " Selectus 

 Diplomatum et Numismatum Scotias Thesaurus," the 

 whole being under the care of the celebrated Thomas 

 Iluddiman, who added a most elaborate preface. 



ANDERSON, James, D. D., author of a large and 

 useful work, entitled, " Royal Genealogies," was the 

 brother of Adam Anderson, author of the Commer- 

 cial History. He was for many years minister of the 

 Scots presbyterian church in Swallow-street, Picca- 

 dilly, and was well known among the people of that 

 persuasion in London, by the nick-name of Bishop 

 Anderson. He was a learned but imprudent man, 

 and lost a considerable part of his property from too 

 deep dabbling in the South- sea scheme. His mag- 

 num op^ls as an author was, " Royal Genealogies, or 

 the Genealogical Tables of Emperors, Kings, and 

 Princes, from Adam (!) to these Times," London, 

 /olio, 1732. The compilation of this huge work, in 

 which he was aided by many eminent personages, 

 whose families entered into its plan, cost him, accor- 

 ding to his own account, the labour of seven years. 

 It is certainly the completes! work of the kind in 

 existence, though with no pretensions to discrimina- 



tion. Dr A. also wrote " The Constitutions of the 

 Free Masons," being the chaplain of tliat body in 

 London. The dates of his birth and death are not 

 ascertained. 



ANDERSON, James, an agricultural and miscellane- 

 ous writer of great merit, was the son of a farmer at 

 Hermiston, in the county of Midlothian, Scotland, 

 where he was born in the year 1739. His father 

 dying when he was young, he was educated by his 

 guardian to occupy the farm, which, accordingly, he 

 began to manage at the early age of fifteen. At the 

 same time, he attended the chemical lectures given 

 in the university of Edinburgh by Dr Cullen, who, 

 although surprised tliat one so young should have 

 formed this resolution, had soon reason to admire his 

 pupil's laudable curiosity and good sense, and liber- 

 ally afforded him every encouragement in his power. 

 To chemistry he added the study of certain collateral 

 branches of science ; so that, when he entered upon 

 his farm, he was not only able to keep up with his 

 more aged and experienced neighbours, but adopted 

 a number of improvements, suggested by scientific 

 knowledge and native good sense, which were 

 speedily found to be of a most profitable nature. 

 Among his improvements was the introduction of the 

 small two-horse plough, which, since then, has so 

 completely banished the lumbering engine, formerly 

 drawn by a string of cattle. Nor did the necessary 

 business of his farm preclude all advancement in 

 knowledge. He still prosecuted his studies with 

 great eagerness, and soon contrived to amass an im- 

 mense stock of information upon almost all subjects. 

 His first attempts in literature appeared in the shape 

 of Essays on Planting, in Ruddiman's Weekly Maga- 

 zine for 1771. In 1777, having previously removed 

 to a large farm in Aberdeenshire, he published these 

 essays in a separate volume. In 1776, appeared his 

 Essay on Chimneys, in which the principle afterwards 

 acted on in the patent Bath stove was first explained. 

 In the same year with his volume on planting, ap- 

 peared various pamphlets connected with rural 

 economy, all of which were more or less calculated 

 to gratify the increasing desire of his countrymen for 

 scientific knowledge upon such familiar subjects. 

 The feme of these works procured him a very exten- 

 sive acquaintance with persons of eminence, who 

 wished to profit by the remarks of so able a practical 

 farmer ; and in 1780, the university of Aberdeen 

 acknowledged his merit by conferring upon him the 

 degree of LL. D. A. had been married in 1768; 

 and a desire of educating a very numerous family, 

 together with certain considerations as to the enjoy- 

 ment of literary society, induced him, in 1783, to 

 remove to Edinburgh, leaving the management of 

 his farm to persons properly qualified. A tract which 

 he had written on the subject of the Fisheries, though 

 not printed, attracted the attention of the govern- 

 ment, and he was requested, hi 1784, to undertake a 

 tour of the western coast of Scotland, for the purpose 

 of obtaining information on this important subject. 

 He readily acquiesced, and performed the task to 

 the high satisfaction of his employers, who, however, 

 never offered him any remuneration. The result of 

 his labours appeared in 1785,. as " An Account of 

 the present state of the Hebrides and Western Coasts 

 of Scotland ; being the substance of a report to the 

 Lords of the Treasury." Passing over some minor 

 works of Dr A., we must make honourable mention 

 of a literary and scientific miscellany which he com- 

 menced in 1791, under the title of "The Bee." 

 This work was published in weekly numbers at 

 sixpence, and, by its delightful intermixture of use- 

 ful information with lighter matters of the belles 

 lettres, was eminently calculated for the improve- 

 ment of the young. The work ran from the 



