MACDONALD M'GAVIN. 



623 



Mid acute sensibility. His manners were court- 

 eous ; his conversation was rich, varied, and re- 

 markable for its unaffected simplicity. 



MACDONALD, JOHN, formerly lieutenant- 

 colonel of the royal Clan- Alpine regiment, was the 

 only son of the celebrated Flora Rlacdonald, who 

 so materially assisted prince Charles in evading the 

 English soldiery, in 1746. It is stated in the ac- 

 count of the rebellion, published under the title of 

 " Ascanius," that she was the daughter of Mr Mac- 

 donald, a tacksman or gentleman farmer, of Mel- 

 ton, in South Uist, and was, in 1746, about twenty- 

 four years old. It is also said that her portrait 

 was painted in London, in 1747, for commodore 

 Smith, in whose ship she had been brought pri- 

 soner from Scotland. Mr Croker adds, in his 

 edition of Boswell's Johnson, that he has not been 

 able to trace that portrait ; but it may be remarked 

 that there are four prints of this celebrated lady : 

 one a mezzotint, by M'Ardell, from A. Ramsay ; 

 another mezzotint, by J. Faber, 1747, from T. 

 Hudson ; and a third, engraved by Johnson ; and a 

 large portrait, published in 1827, by T. Lupton, 

 from a painting by J. Goubaud. In Dr Johnson's 

 letter to Mrs Thrale, in 1773, in which he describes 

 his visit to Flora Macdonald, it is stated, " She and 

 her husband are poor, and are going to try their for- 

 tune in America." Mr Croker remarks that they did 

 emigrate to America ; but returned to Skye, where 

 she died, on the 4th of March, 1790, leaving a son, 

 colonel John Macdonald ; and a daughter, married to 

 a Macleod in Skye. The son, John Macdonald, 

 passed many years in the service of the East India 

 Company, and attained the rank of captain in the 

 corps of Engineers on the Bengal establishment. In 

 the years 1794, 1795, and 1796, he carried on, at 

 Bencoolen.in Sumatra, andat St Helena, a continued 

 series of observations on the diurnal variation of the 

 magnetic needle, which he communicated, in 1798, 

 to the royal society, and which were afterwards 

 published in the Philosophical Transactions. He was 

 elected a fellow of the royal society in 1800. About 

 that time he returned to England, and was appointed 

 lieutenant -colonel of the royal Clan-Alpine regi- 

 ment, and commandant of the royal Edinburgh ar- 

 tillery. He was for some time stationed in Ireland. 

 In 1803 he published, in two volumes 12mo, 

 " Rules and Regulations for the Field Exercise and 

 Manoeuvres of the French Infantry, issued Aug. 1, 

 1791 ; translated from the French, with explana- 

 tory notes, and illustrative references to the British 

 and Prussian systems of Tactics," &c. In the 

 following year, when he belonged to the 1st bat- 

 talion of Cinque Ports volunteers, he published 

 another similar work, entitled " The Experienced 

 Officer ; or, Instructions by the General of Division, 

 Wimpffen, to his Sons, and to all young Men in- 

 tended for the military profession ; being a series 

 of rules laid down by General Wimpffen, to enable 

 officers of every rank to carry on war, in all its 

 branches and descriptions, from the least important 

 enterprises, and expeditions, to the decisive battles 

 which involve the fate of empires. With notes, 

 and an introduction." In 1807, being then chief 

 Engineer at Fort Marlborough, he published two 

 more volumes, translated from the French, with ex- 

 planatory notes, of " Instructions for the Conduct 

 of Infantry on actual Service." His last work of 

 this nature was a translation of " The Formations 

 and Manoeuvres of Infantry, by the Chevalier 

 Duteil," 1812, 12mo. In 1811, he published, in 

 folio, an essay on harmonics, under the title of "A 



Treatise, explanatory of the Principles constitut- 

 ing the Practice and Theory of the Violoncello." 



Another subject which colonel Macdonald for 

 many years ardently pursued, was that of convey- 

 ing intelligence by telegraphs. In 1808, he pub- 

 lished in 8vo. " A Treatise on Telegraphic Com- 

 munication, naval, military, and political." In this 

 he proposes a new telegraphic system ; and, in 1816, 

 he issued a Telegraphic Dictionary, extending to 

 150,000 words, phrases, and sentences. The di- 

 rectors of the East India Company liberally granted 

 400 towards its publication ; and the colonel 

 received testimonials to the utility of his plans 

 from Mr Secretary Barrow, of the admiralty, and 

 Sir Harry Calvert, adjutant-general. But the most 

 favourite subject of his scientific researches, was 

 the magnetic Poles and the variation of the Mag- 

 net ; which, as we have before noticed, was that 

 of his first published labours in the Philosophical 

 Transactions. On this topic he contributed no less 

 than sixteen letters to the Gentleman's Magazine. 

 To the same miscellany he also contributed a vast 

 number of articles on various subjects. He died 

 at Exeter, where he had resided for twelve or 

 fifteen years, on the 16th August, 1831, aged 

 seventy-two. 



M'GAVIN, WILLIAM, author of " The Protes- 

 tant," a controversial work on the leading doctrines 

 of the church of Rome, was born August 12th, 

 1773, on the farm of Darnlaw, in the parish of 

 Auchinleck, Ayrshire, which his father held on 

 lease from lord Auchinleck, and afterwards from 

 his son James Boswell, the biographer of Johnson. 

 A short attendance at the school of that parish, 

 when about seven years of age, constituted the 

 whole education of a regular kind, which he ever 

 enjoyed. His parents having removed in 1783 to 

 Paisley, and being in by no means affluent circum- 

 stances, he was sent at an early period of life to 

 earn his bread as a draw-boy in one of the manu- 

 factories. Subsequently he tried weaving of silk, 

 but eventually was led by his taste for reading to 

 become apprentice to Mr John Neilson, printer and 

 bookseller ; a situation highly congenial to his taste, 

 and which afforded him the means of cultivating 

 his mind to a considerable extent. The duty of 

 reading proof-sheets in his master's shop was the 

 circumstance which first led him to study the Eng- 

 lish language carefully ; and, considering the 

 limited nature of his education, it is surprising that 

 he should have been able to attract notice as an 

 author under the age of twenty. In 1793, having 

 left Mr Neilson's shop, he was found qualified to 

 assist his elder brother in the management of a 

 school, where writing, arithmetic, and mathematics 

 were taught. Of this seminary he afterwards be. 

 came sole master; but he ultimately abandoned 

 teaching as a pursuit not agreeable to his genius or 

 temper, and in 1798, was engaged as book-keeper 

 and clerk by Mr David Lamb, an American cotton 

 merchant, to whose two sons he at the same time 

 acted as tutor. Some years afterwards, on Mr 

 Lamb removing to America, Mr M'Gavin became 

 his partner ; the business was carried on in Glas- 

 gow. In 1805, Mr M'Gavin married Miss Isabella 

 Campbell of Paisley. As his business was of a 

 light nature, and Mrs M'Gavin brought him no 

 children, he enjoyed more leisure for the cultivation 

 of his mind than falls to the lot of most merchants 

 in the busy capital of the west of Scotland. At 

 a later period, after the death of his original pa- 

 tron, he entered into partnership with the son uf 



