C16
No. LVII.
REV. HUGH BLAIR, D.D. OF THE HIGH CHURCH, EDINBURGH.
THE author of the " Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres," and
of five volumes of universally admired Sermons, whose life and
writings have done so much credit to the Scottish pulpit, was born
at Edinburgh in 1718. His father was a merchant, and grandson to
Robert Blair, an eminent Presbyterian "' Scots Worthy" of the
seventeenth century.*.
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c18
James Gregory (1753-1821), Professor of
medicine
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C 20
.
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Cleric 21
No. LXXIII.
THE REV. DR JOHN ERSKINE,
LATE OF THE OLD GREVFRIAR'S CHURCH, EDINBURGH. THIS is a very
faithful representation of the above worthy man and no less
excellent divine. The attitude in which he is delineated is that
which he invariably assumed on entering upon his discourse, and is
remarkably in unison with the description of the "colleague of Dr
Robertson," furnished by the graphic pen of Sir Walter Scott, in
the novel of Guy Mannering.* DR ERSKINE, born on the 2d of June
1721, was the eldest son of John
Erskine, Esq. of Carnock, Professor of Scots Law in the University
of Edinburgh, and well known as the author of the Institutes of the
Law of Scotland. . . 2nd copy
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Andrew Bell; William Smellie
by John Kay
etching, 1787 Andrew Bell (1725 or 1726-1809), Engraver and
publisher. William Smellie (1740-1795), Printer, editor and
antiquary.
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C 23
No.CLXVIII.
GEORGE MEALMAKER,
AUTHOR OF THE " MORAL AND POLITICAL CATECHISM OP MAN."
GEORGE was an extensive weaver in the Seagate of Dundee, at a
period when the giant power of steam had not come into competition
with the hand-loom. Unfortunately for himself, he became deeply
infected with the political spirit of the times ; and, in 1796,
from his superior capacity, acquired the distinction of a leading
member of one of those societies of " United Scotsmen," formed at
that period in various parts of Scotland, " particularly in the
counties of Fife, Forfar, and Perth." £15
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C24
No. XCII.
MR RALPH RYLANCE.
MB RYLANCE was, by profession, a literary man a veritable "
scribbler of all work," in prose or in verse "From grave to gay,
from lively to severe." Whether in the penny-a-line department of a
newspaper the compilation of a preface or index the getting up of a
pamphlet for the nonce a review or the redaction of goodly quarto
volumes of voyages and travels originally written by others* the
licking into harmony and grace the confusion of language and ideas
in manuscripts on any given subject Ralph was a ready and "
universal penman."£12
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No. LXXII.
GEORGE PRATT, (THE TOWN-CRIER.)
THIS person was Town-Crier of Edinburgh about the year 1784, and
made himself remarkable for the manner of his address in
discharging the duties of his office. This singularity consisted in
an extremely pompous delivery, which proceeded from the very high
opinion he entertained of the importance and dignity of his
situation as a public officer.
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William Cummings No.LV.
WILLIAM CUMMING, ESQ.
THE old gentleman represented in this Etching was a person of
eccentric habits. He was immensely rich, and carried on a very
extensive and lucrative business as a private banker at one time in
the Parliament Close, and latterly, under the firm of Cumming &
Son, in the Royal Exchange. He died in 1790. His demise was thus
announced in the periodicals of the day : " March 27, at Edinburgh,
in an advanced age, William : Cumming, Esq., many years an eminent
banker. £8
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x
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No.XCVI.
MR THOMAS NEIL, WRIGHT AND PRECENTOR, IN THE CHARACTER OF " THE
OLD WIFE." from 230 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
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N o . X
X X V I I I .
D R G R E G O R Y G R A N T .
T H I S g e n t l e m a n , l o n
g k n o w n a s a r
e s p e c t a b l e a n d e m i n e n
t p h y s i c i a n i n E d i n
b u r g h , w a s a b r o t h e
r o f M r C o l q u h o u
n G r a n t , w h o s e e x p l o i t
s , 0 ; a n a d h e r e n t o
f P r i n c e C h a r l e s E d w a r
d , h a v e b e e n n o t i c e
d i n a f o r m e r
a r t i c l e . T h e e d u c a t i o
n o f D R G R A N T
w a s c a r e f u l l y s u p e r i n t e n
d e d , a n d p e r f e c t e d a
t t h e m o s t c e l e b r a t e
d s c h o o l s o f t h
e d a y £12
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No.I.
Mr JOHN DOWIE,
VINTNER, LIBBERTON'S WYND. "JOHNNIE BOWIE'S Tavern" was a place of
old standing, and particularly celebrated for the excellence of its
ale, " Nor' Loch trouts, and Welsh rabbits."It was situated in a
narrow alley (called Libberton's Wynd) running between the
Lawnmarket and Cowgate, which has lately been demolished to make
way for the Bridge of George the Fourth. The tavern, both as to
internal andexternal appearance, wore an unpromising aspect. £12
foxed larger & rare
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No.CIV.
REV.DAVID DICKSON,
MINISTER OF NEW NORTH CHURCH, EDINBURGH.MB DICKSON, the third son
of the Rev. David Dickson, minister of New-lands, Peeblesshire, and
afterwards proprietor of the estate of Kilbucho, in the same
county, was born in April 1754. After receiving his elementary
education at the parochial school of West Linton, the parish
immediately adjoining to that of Newlands, he was removed to the
grammar-school at
Peebles, then under the skilful tuition of Mr Oman, who is still
remembered as a superior linguist and a most successful teacher.
Entering the University of Glasgow in 1766, he there prosecuted his
literary, philosophical, and theological course of studies, till
the session of 1774-5, when he completed them at the Divinity Hall
of Edinburgh.
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No. CXI.
REV. JOHN M'DONALD,
OF THE GAELIC CHAPEL, CASTLE WYND, EDINBURGH.MB M'DONALD, son of a
small farmer at Rae, in Caithness, was born there on the 12th of
November 1779. Having acquired the rudiments of education at the
parish school, he commenced his theological studies at King's
College, Aberdeen, in 1797, and was licensed to preach in 1805. For
sometime thereafter he was employed as a missionary in his native
district ; and, in 1807, was chosen successor to the Rev. Mr
M'Lachlan in the Gaelic Chapel, Edinburgh. Here he continued about
six years, and was greatly esteemed by his congregation as a sound
preacher and an amiable man.
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No. LXVIII.
MR ALEXANDER WOOD,SURGEON.
THE pencil of Kay has done justice to the memory of this eminent
surgeon and very excellent man, by the production of two striking
portraits of him. The one here prefixed possesses the real
octogenarian demeanour of the " kind old Sandy Wood," who is
represented as passing along the North Bridge with an umbrella
under his arm, in allusion to the circumstance of his having been
the first person in Edinburgh who made use of that very convenient
article now so common. . MR WOOD'S father was the youngest son of
Mr Wood of Warriston, in Mid-Lothian now the property of the Eail
of Morton. second copy
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P 10
£8 sorry uattributed
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82No.
LXXXII.
CHARLES HAY, ESQ., ADVOCATE,
TAKEN A SHORT TIME BEFORE HIS ELEVATION TO THE BENCH.
CHARLES HAY, son of James Hay, Esq. of Cocklaw, Writer to the
Signet,was born in 1747.* After the usual preparatory course of
education, he passeda dvocate in 1768, having just attained the
years of majority ; but, unlike most young practitioners, Hay had
so thoroughly studied the principles of the law, "that he has been
frequently heard to declare he was as good a lawyer at that time as
he ever was at any after period." He soon became distinguished by
his strong natural abilities, as well as by his extensive knowledge
of the profession, which embraced alike the minutest forms of the
daily practice of the Court and the highest and most subtle points
of jurisprudence. As a pleader he was very effective.£12
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