ROB 



translated into the German language. He had, fome years 

 previously to this, begun to take a part in the debates of 

 the general affembly of the church of Scotland, and, as he 

 poll'efled great talents for bufinefs, as well as the powers of 

 a public Speaker, he acquired an afcendancy in that body 

 which, during a long period, gave him the lead in the eccle- 

 fiaftieal politics of the country. In 1754 a " Seleft So- 

 ciety" had been eftablifhed in 'Edinburgh, among the firit 

 members of which arc found many names that, in procefs of 

 time, became highly diftinguifhed in literature and public 

 life. Amono- the number of thefe was that of Robertfon, 

 who was moll afiiduous in his attendance, and obtained from 

 it an increafe of reputation. In the mean time he was deeply 

 engaged in the iludies necefl'ary for completing the plan of 

 an hiftorical work which he had formed foon after his firft 

 fettlement as a miniller, and having taken a journey to 

 London for the purpofe of making arrangements for the 

 publication, his " Hiitory of Scotland during the Reigns 

 of Queen Mary, and King James VI." made its appearance 

 in the year 1759, in two vols. 4to. He had, previously to 

 this, as appears by the title-page of the volume, obtained 

 the degree of D. D. It was received by the public with 

 general approbation and applauie. The celebrated Hume, 

 fo far from betraying jealoufy or envy at the appearance of 

 a competitor for the hiltoric palm, took the warmelt intereft 

 in the fuccefsof the work. 



The Hiftory of Scotland appears to have been the moft 

 popular of the author's works, and it had patted through 

 fourteen editions during the life of the author. It had, in 

 every refpeft, a favourable influence on his fortune, lince 

 the fame which lie acquired by the publication was probably 

 the caufe of his rapid promotion. He had removed to 

 Edinburgh, in confequence of a prefentation to one of the 

 churches of that city, while it was in the prefs ; in the fame 

 year he was nominated chaplain of Stirling-caftle ; in 1761 

 he was appointed one of the king's chaplains in ordinary in 

 Scotland, and in the following year he was elefted principal 

 of the univerfity of Edinburgh. Two years after this he 

 was appointed to the poft of hiltoriographer royal of Scot- 

 land, with the falary of 200/. per ann., fo that, at this 

 period, he was the bell beneficed clergyman of his church. 

 He was, moreover, the acknowledged head of the party 

 which held the chief fway in a national church ; and the 

 period from his becoming principal of the univerfity of 

 Edinburgh, to his retreat from public life, was commonly 

 denominated " Dr. Robertfon's administration." 



In the midlt of the numerous avocations which his feveral 

 offices created, he proceeded to colleft materials for his 

 " Hiitory of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V.," which 

 he publimed in 1769, in three quarto volumes. This work 

 was, like the former, received with high approbation ; it 

 increafed his reputation both on account of the greater 

 maturity of ftyle to which he had attained, and of the more 

 profound and varied refearch which the weight and copiouf- 

 nefs of the theme led him to difplay. The introductory 

 volume contained a view of the progrefs of fociety in Eu- 

 rope from the fubverfion of the Roman empire to the 

 beginning of the fixteenth century, which was particularly 

 admired, as prefenting a mafterly furvey of the gradations 

 by which the focial inftitutions of antiquity have palled, 

 through the barbarifrn of the dark ages, into all that cha- 

 rafteriz.es the Hate of modern Europe. So highly pleafed 

 was Catharine, the emprefs of Ruffia, with the Hiftory of 

 Charles V., that (he conveyed her acknowledgments to the 

 author in a prefent of a rich fnuff-box fet witli diamonds. 



In the year J 777, Dr. Robertfon publifhed his "Hiftory 

 of America," in two vols. 4to., which, from the new views 

 4 



ROB 



of man and nature that it prefents, and the magnificence 

 and variety of its fcenery, is perhaps the moft entertaining 

 of his productions. Either gratitude for the communications 

 obtained from the Spanilh court, or candour carried far be- 

 yond the bounds of moderation, led him to extenuate the 

 cruelties that had been committed by that nation in their 

 conquefts in the new world, to a degree that broiiTht upon 

 him cenfure. The work proved fo acceptable to the Spanifh 

 nation, that the author was unanimoufly elected a member of 

 the Royal Academy of Madrid. In 1791 Dr. Robertfon 

 pubhlhed " An Hiftorical Difquifition concerning the 

 Knowledge which the Ancients had of India, and the Pro- 

 grefs of Trade with that Country, prior to the Difcovery 

 of the Cape of Good Hope." After this, Dr. Robert- 

 fon's health began to decline, and in June 1793 he died at 

 the age of 72. As an hiftorian his ftyle is pure, fweet, 

 dignified without ftiffnefs, (ingularly perfpicuous, and often 

 eloquent ; the arrangement of his materials is ikilfnl and 

 luminous, his mode of narration is diftinft, and his defcrip- 

 tions highly graphical ; and he difplays a fagacity in the 

 developement of caufes and effects, and in his judgment of 

 public characters and tranfaftions, which is very remarkable 

 in one who war. brought up in retirement. " If," fays one 

 of his biographers, " there is lefs glow and ardour in his 

 expreflions of moral and political feelings, than fome writers 

 in a free country have manifefted ; there is, on the other 

 hand, all the candour and impartiality which belongs to a 

 cool temper, when enlightened by knowledge and direfted 

 by principle." To his private and focial virtues the moft 

 liberal tcltimony has been given, even by thofe who were 

 his opponents in church politics. See Dr. Dugald Stewart's 

 Life of Principal Robertfon. 



Robertson, Joseph, was born at Knipe, in Weftmore- 

 land, in 1726, and educated at Appleby fchool, from 

 which place, in 1746, he went to Queen's college, Oxford, 

 where he took his degree of M. A., and, on entering holy 

 orders, he was prefented to the vicarage of Hertford, in 

 Hampfhire. In 1764 he became an author, by contributing 

 largely to the Critical Review, an occupation in which he- 

 continued more than 20 years. In 1770 he was prefented 

 to the reftory of Sutton, in Eflcx, and in 177910 the vicar- 

 age of Horncaltle, in Lincolnshire. In 1782 he publifhed 

 what he entitled " An Introduction to Polite Literature," 

 a very fmall volume, and which cannot certainly deferve fo 

 high founding a title. It has been reprinted feveral times. 

 It is a lort oi fpelling-book or primer, with good rules for 

 pronunciation. The author was, however, fo tenacious of 

 his property, that he attacked, with much feverity, the late 

 Dr. Paley, for copying a part of it without acknowledg- 

 ment, into a little piece intended for tiie ufe of Sunday- 

 Schools. Dr. Paley 's reply and defence is that of a o-en- 

 tleman and fcholar, and muft be quite fatisfaciory to the 

 candid reader. Mr. Robertfon's next piece, "An Efiuyon 

 Punftuation," was publifhed in 1785 ; it is a work of con- 

 fiderable merit, and has gone through feveral editions. In 

 1788 appeared his " DiSiertation on the Parian Chronicle." 

 Mr. Robertfon publifhed, in 1795, anew " Translation of 

 Telemachus ;" and in 1798 "An Effay on the Education 

 of Young Ladies," which was followed by an " ESlay on 

 the Nature of Englifh Verfe." He died in 1802. See 

 Gent. Mag. vol. Ixii. MontWy Mag. Meadley's Me- 

 moirs of Dr. Paley. 



Robertson's County, in Geography; a county of Ame- 

 rica, in the diftrift of Weft TenneSiee, borderina- N. on 

 Kentucky, and containing 7270 inhabitants. It is watered 

 by Cumberland and Red rivers. 



ROBERVAL, Giles Peksonne de, in Biography, an 



excellent 



