| Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th Edition | Public Domain via Project Gutenberg |
(1703-1841), Scottish man of letters, was born at Whitefield, Perthshire, in 1793. He was educated at Edinburgh and at the university of St Andrews, where he studied for the church. He wrote a "Sketch of the History of Edinburgh," for Ewbank's Picturesque Views of that city, 1823-1825. In 1826 he became a member of the Faculty of Advocates, and obtained the degree of LL.D. from King's College, Aberdeen. His works include a Critical Examination of Macculloch's Work on the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (1826), Aperçu sur les Hiêroglyphes d'Égypte (Paris, 1827), a Vindication of the Scottish Bar from the Attacks of Mr Broughton, and History of the Highlands and Highland Clans (1834-1836). He was appointed editor of the Caledonian Mercury in 1827; and two years later he became sub-editor of the seventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, to which he contributed a large number of articles. He died in April 1841.