ROBERTSON. 
situation little is known, but it appears from his common¬ 
place book, that, whilst still a mere youth, he was pursuing 
his literary course with .singular assiduity. His inquiries were 
not much directed to physical or mathematical subjects; but 
he attended closely to topics of moral philosophy, and to the 
principles of taste and criticism. He also joined a society of 
his fellow-students, who exercised themselves in elocution and 
extemporaneous discussion and debate ; a practice to which 
the universities of Scotland have owed much of their credit 
and utility. After the completion of his course, which was 
in the theological class, he obtained a license to preach in 
1741, and in 1743 was presented by the earl of Hopeton to 
the living of Gladsmuir in East Lothian. His father and 
mother both dying about this time, leaving a family of six 
daughters and a younger son, with a very slender provision, 
Mr. Robertson, though his income did not exceed one hun¬ 
dred pounds, did not hesitate to give proof of his fraternal af- 
'fection and the generosity of his disposition, by bringing the 
whole family to his parsonage, where he educated his sisters 
under his own roof, till they were respectably settled in life. 
He also displayed his zealous attachment to the cause of lb 
berty, by his efforts in the year of the rebellion in favour of 
the reigning family, which he carried so far as to quit for a 
time his parochial charge, and join the volunteers of Edin¬ 
burgh. 
In 1751, he found himself warranted in prudence to form 
a matrimonial union, which had long been the object of his 
warmest wishes, with his cousin, the daughter of Mr. Nisbet, 
one of the ministers of Edinburgh. He had, in the mean 
time, rendered himself distinguished by his eloquence and 
good taste as a preacher, and a sermon which he delivered in 
1755, before the society for propagating Christian know¬ 
ledge, and which was the only composition of that kind that 
he ever printed, raised him to fame as a pulpit orator. It 
passed through five editions, and was translated into German. 
Some years before, he had begun to take a part in the debates 
of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and as 
he possessed great talents for business, as well as the powers 
of a public speaker, he acquired an ascendancy in that body, 
which, during a long period, gave him the lead in the eccle¬ 
siastical politics of that country. He steadily maintained the 
principles, of the subordination of courts in the presbyterian 
government, with the supremacy of the General Assembly, 
and of the regal right of patronage in the presentation to liv¬ 
ings. Although the latter of these was highly unpopular in 
its exercise, and perhaps is an infringement of the spirit of 
pure presbyterian discipline, yet as it was established by 
law, and as in many instances opposition to it had pro¬ 
duced great disorders, lie thought the peace and reputation of 
his church best consulted in asserting it. AVhen he first 
spoke, in 1751, to a point of church discipline, he was left 
in a minority; but by his persuasive manner, his powers of 
argument, and his skill in management, he gained a victory, 
and ever after rarely failed to bring the Assembly to concur 
in his opinions. 
In 1754, a Select Society was established in Edinburgh, 
among the first members of which are found names, that have 
since become highly distinguished in literature and public 
life. In the number of these was that of Robertson, who was 
an assiduous attendant on its meetings, and obtained from it 
■an increase of reputation. One of the members was the Rev. 
John Home, whose publication, in 1757, of the tragedy of 
Douglas, brought on him a violent attack from the rigorists 
of the Scotch church. In the debates on this subject, his 
friend Robertson gave him all the aid of his reasoning and 
eloquence; and his good offices carried the greater weight, as 
the decorum and circumspection of his own clerical conduct 
raised him above all suspicion of wishing to encourage a laxi¬ 
ty of which he might avail himself, for he had never entered 
the doors of a playhouse. In the mean time, he was deeply 
engaged in the studies necessary for completing the plan of a 
historical work, which he had formed soon after his firpt set¬ 
tlement as a minister; and after having taken a journey to 
London, for the purpose of making arrangements for the pub¬ 
139 
lication, his “ History of Scotland during the Reigns of 
Queen Mary and King James VI.” appeared early in 1759, 
in 2 vols. 4to. From the title-page we learn that he had at 
this time obtained the degree of D. D. There are few exam¬ 
ples of a work of this class received with such imme¬ 
diate and general applause. Several of the first literary 
characters in the kingdom expressed to the author their high 
sense of its merits, and congratulated him as having attained 
the first rank among historians. Among these, it is pleasing 
to find the celebrated Hume, so far from betraying envy at 
the appearance of a competitor for the historic palm, taking 
the warmest interest in the success of the work, and bestowing 
the most liberal praise on the writer. Robertson and Hume 
were, indeed, rare instances of faithful and intimate friendship 
maintained through life, notwithstanding religious and poli¬ 
tical differences, and the still severer trial of rivalry in reputa¬ 
tion. The History of Scotland appears to have been the 
most popular of the author’s works, and he saw the fourteenth 
edition of it before his death. It had, in every view, a fa¬ 
vourable influence on his fortune, since the fame he acquired 
by it was probably the cause of his rapid promotions. He 
had removed to Edinburgh, in consequence of a presentation 
to one of the churches of that city, whilst it was in the press: 
in the same year, 1759, he was nominated chaplain of Stir¬ 
ling Castle; in 1761, one of the king’s chaplains in ordinary 
for Scotland; and in 1762, he was elected principal of the 
university of Edinburgh. Two years afterwards, the post of 
historiographer royal for Scotland, with a salary of £200 per 
annum, was revived in his favour; and thus he became the 
best beneficed clergyman of his church. His emoluments, 
however, in the aggregate, were far inferior to those of many 
private clergymen of the sister-kingdom, obtained by mere 
family or political interest. But his influence was not to be 
measured by his income. He was the acknowledged head 
of the party which held the chief sway in a national church ; 
and the period from his becoming principal of the university 
of Edinburgh, to his retreat from public life, was usually de¬ 
nominated Dr. Robertson's administration. It was pecu¬ 
liarly to his honour that this influence was not, as it had for¬ 
merly been, derived from a connexion with those who ma 
naged the political affairs of Scotland; it was personal aha 
independent, and was preserved through all the intermediate 
changes in the civil power. As head of a flourishing seat of 
education, he was minutely attentive to all his duties, and 
co-operated with the greatest liberality in all the improve¬ 
ments, public and private, that have contributed to raise 
Edinburgh to its present celebrity. 
In the midst of the numerous avocations which his seve¬ 
ral offices created, Dr. Robertson was so far from neglecting 
the literary department in which he had acquired so much 
distinction, that the publication of his first history was imme¬ 
diately followed by considerations upon the choice of a sub¬ 
ject for a second. After due deliberation, the period of the 
Emperor Charles V. seemed to him to afford most scope for a 
work of general interest. It appears, indeed, that there was 
a design, and that proceeding from the highest source, of en¬ 
gaging him in writing a new history of England; and that 
after he had answered to himself the objection of taking a 
ground pre-occupied by his friend Hume, he was not averse 
to the task. From some unknown cause, however, it proved 
abortive; and he proceeded with all his industry to execute 
the design, which his judgment had suggested. In 1769 his 
“ History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V., with a 
View of the Progress of Society in Europe, from the Subver- 
. sion of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Sixteenth 
Century,” was published in three quarto volumes. Though 
high expectations were formed of this work, they were at least 
equalled by the applause with which it was received. It was 
generally regarded as raising him a degree higher in the scale 
of historic merit, both on account of the greater maturity of 
style which he had attained, and of the more profound and va¬ 
ried research which the weight and copiousness of the theme 
led him to display. The introductory volume, correspond¬ 
ing to the second clause of the title, was particularly admired, 
as 
