James Moffat Scott

“ In private life he was of a mild and amiable disposition, but in controversy, though not discourteous according to the standard of his time, he was very economical in his concessions to his opponents, and he has been characterised in some respects as a weak and credulous writer. ”

“ Edwards's writings abound in the unconscious humour of the egotist deeply persuaded of his mission. He gives notice that 'the Almighty has destined that I should discover his true system of human economy.' In a petition to the House of Commons (1816?) ”

“ A philosophical society founded by him, and known as the Æsthetic Society, met for some time at his house in Burton Crescent. His educational experiences gradually led him to peculiar convictions. 'As Being is before knowing and doing, I affirm that education can never repair the defects of Birth.' Hence the necessity of 'the divine existence being developed and associated with man and woman prior to marriage.' He was a follower of Jacob Boehme and saturated with German transcendentalism. A. F. Barham [q. v.] says that his followers mainly congregated at Ham in Surrey ”

“ In his bearing Dornford was more of a soldier than a priest, and his talk ran much on war. He was a man of strong will, generous impulses, and pugnacious temper. He died at Plymtree on 18 Jan. 1868, aged 74. ”

“ To Japhet was given the possession of all Europe and America, and the sentence against Ham -‘servant of servants’-is now in full force. ‘Are we not trading constantly to Guinea for them? . . . How many millions of negroes have been transported from their own country since Japhet got possession of America?’ The city afterwards called Babel ‘must needs have been built in the district of Ham.’ Nimrod was the head of the undertaking, which, being contrary to the divine purpose, was defeated by a miraculous gift of languages. ”

“ Mr. Tonson, the bookseller, seeing this, suggested the thought of employing Mr. Broughton . . . who sat himself down to study the Spanish language, and in a few months acquired, as was pretended, sufficient knowledge thereof to give to the world a translation of "Don Quixote" in the true spirit of the original, and to which is prefixed the name of Jarvis.' Broughton was a lover of music, and acquainted with Handel, whom he furnished with words for some of his compositions, including the drama of 'Hercules,' first given at the Haymarket in 1745. ”

“ CRAIG, ROBERT (1730–1823) , political writer, born in 1730, was the second son of James Craig, professor of law in the university of Edinburgh. He was admitted to the Scotch bar in 1754, and about 1756 he was appointed one of the judges of the Edinburgh commissary court. This office he resigned in 1791. For many years he and his elder brother Thomas lived together, neither ever marrying. ”

“ CRAIG, Sir JAMES GIBSON (1765–1850) , politician, second son of William Gibson, merchant, was born in Edinburgh on 11 Oct. 1765. His ancestor, Sir Alexander Gibson, lord president of the court of session in the reign of James VI, married the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton, the feudal lawyer of Scotland [q. v.] In 1823 James Gibson succeeded under entail to the estate of Riccarton (Midlothian) , and took the additional name of Craig. ”

“ As an administrator he had the confidence of both sides of the house, and his knowledge of naval affairs was unquestioned. He married, 6 March 1830, Harriet Anne, daughter of the sixth Earl of Shaftesbury, and by her had two sons and two daughters. ”

“ In 1786 he was admitted a writer to the signet, and for sixty-four years he carried on the business of a law agent with eminent success, gaining the confidence of many who, on public grounds, were ardently opposed to him. ”

“ During his mayoralty he restored the interior of the mayoresses parlour — an architectural relic of the fourteenth century — and throughout his life he rendered valuable service in preserving and stimulating public appreciation of the antiquities of his native city. He had considerable ability as an artist, and made many fine drawings of ancient buildings and other memorials of the past. He died at Coventry on 22 May 1862, in his seventy-first year. ”

“ Paul's; to this conversational society Barker was introduced by a fellow-student, Samuel Dyer. Sir John Hawkins, in his ‘Life of Johnson,’ has left character portraits of some of the members of the club; he describes Barker as a dissenter by education, a unitarian by religious profession, and a disciple of Lord Shaftesbury in philosophy. According to the same authority, Barker was an acute reasoner on ethics, a deep metaphysician, an excellent classical scholar, and a student of the Italian poets. ”

“ He also speaks of Harley as having 'not only treated him like a patriot, but given him friendly advice.' For thus undertaking the office of political interpreter he was again fined forty marks and ordered to stand in the pillory twice. He has been described 'as a mere tool of the booksellers and always needy' (Granger, Biog. Hist. of England (Noble's continuation) , ii. 232) . It is at any rate certain that he was an industrious writer, and that his effrontery may be discerned through an obscure and rambling style. ”

“ He also published in Latin a small volume of academic exercises by another Göttingen professor, the philologist Heyne, who, in a preface to this publication, speaks of Dornford as a ‘learned youth’ who had ‘gained the highest honours in jurisprudence in our academy.’ His only other known work is ‘The Motives and Consequences of the Present War impartially considered’ (1793) , a pamphlet written in defence of the Pitt administration. ”

“ The latter work, which presents in alphabetical order a collection of maxims, definitions, and remarkable sayings in law and equity, has been highly commended as a student's text-book; it has found editors both in this country and in the United States. ”

“ He helped to establish (1843) the Coventry Labourers' and Artisans' Society, which developed into a co-operative society, of which he was president; he started (1845) a working man's club, which failed owing to the rival attractions of the public-house; and he took an active share in the management of the Coventry Mechanics' Institute and the Coventry Provident Dispensary. In addition to the works already named, he published the 'Philosophy of Necessity,' 2nd. ”

“ While unflinching in its conclusions the work is moderate and reverent in tone; in this respect, as well as the scientific temper in which the investigation is conducted, it marked in the history of English rationalism the first considerable departure from the acrimonious deism of the eighteenth century. Among those who sought the acquaintance of the author was Dr. Brabant, a retired physician of Devizes, and an indefatigable German scholar. Brabant introduced the book to Strauss, with whose ‘Leben Jesu’ or the works of other recent German critics Hennell was when he wrote unacquainted. ”

“ In a nomination speech in 1803 he declared it was 'quite fair' that landlords should exercise political influence over their tenants, and that he would be 'sorry to see the day when men of property would not use such influence.' In commercial policy he was a strong protectionist, and in the interests of his constituents supported the restrictions on Irish industries. ”

“ He died at his house, The College, Derby, on 6 Dec. 1825, aged 80, and was buried in the local church of All Saints. He was never married.
In Coke's time the French revolution was the chief political topic. At the general election in 1802 the excitement in Nottingham was so great that he suffered personal violence and was obliged to leave the town. The polling went against him, but a committee of the House of Commons declared the election void for want of freedom, and, on the issue of a new writ, he was re-elected. ”

“ He was a well-known contributor to the press, and the author of many pamphlets on political and social subjects. Among his publications was a translation of a work by Baron Von Valentini, ‘On the Seat of War in European Turkey,’ and a pamphlet on England's foreign relations issued in 1838, which was reviewed by Brougham in the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ vol. lxviii. He took a warm interest in the welfare of sailors, and was an active member of the committee of the National Lifeboat Institution. He died unmarried on 5 Oct. ”

“ Barham adds that he considered him as essentially a superior man to Coleridge, and with much higher spiritual attainments and experience. 'His numerous acquaintances regarded him as a moral phenomenon, as a unique specimen of human character, as a study, as a curiosity, and an absolute undefinable.' The earning of a livelihood was naturally a subordinate matter with him ”

“ Bradshaw be yet alive, I here declare to the world and to him that I freely forgive him what he owes both in money and books if he will only be so kind as to make me a visit.' Dunton believed Bradshaw to be the author of the 'Turkish Spy,' but this conjecture is negatived by counter claims supported on better authority (Gent. Mag. lvi. pt. i. p. 33; Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, i. 413; D'Israeli, Curiosities of Literature, 5th ed. ii. 134) . ”

“ Miss Evans, at the time an intimate friend of the Brays, was greatly interested and influenced by the ‘Inquiry,’ and in 1852 she wrote an account of it for the ‘Analytical Catalogue’ of Chapman's publications. ”

“ Parr in a grateful letter.
In 1793 he was sent along with Maurice Margarot as a delegate from the London Corresponding Society to the ‘British Convention of the Delegates of the People’ assembled at Edinburgh. The avowed object of the convention was to obtain universal suffrage and annual parliaments. It had ‘secret committees’ and ‘conventions of emergency,’ its members addressed each other as ‘citizens,’ and generally adopted the language of the French revolutionists. Gerrald was received at Edinburgh with enthusiasm ”

“ He also brought out a humorous periodical, called ‘The Cigar,’ and he was for some time editor of the ‘Monthly Magazine.’ For the last three or four years of his life he devoted himself to an elaborate work on natural history. ”

“ He was offered a pension, which, according to Fitzwilliam, he rejected, thinking ‘a retreat upon 1,200l. a year an inadequate recompense for the magnitude and importance of his services’ (A Letter from Earl Fitzwilliam to the Earl of Carlisle, 1795) . ”

“ Cooke was reinstated by Lord Camden, and in 1796 he was appointed under-secretary in the civil department. He was thus brought into intimate relations with Lord Castlereagh, the chief secretary, an association which was maintained and strengthened in later years. ”

“ BROWNE, JOSEPH (fl. 1706) , physician, has been generally described as a charlatan. His origin is unknown, and the particulars of his personal history are scanty, but it is probable that he was the Joseph Browne of Jesus College, Cambridge, who proceeded M.B. 1695 ”

“ In a letter to Whitefield he reproaches him for his frequent absences from his cure of souls in Georgia, ‘though he often preached and expounded four times a day when he was on the spot.’ While treating Wesley with more respect, he pronounces unreservedly against his system as having ‘introduced many disorders, enthusiasm, antinomianism, Calvinism, a neglect and contempt of God's ordinances, and almost all other duties.’ Besides occasional sermons, he published: 1. ‘An Essay towards vindicating the literal sense of the Demoniacks in the New Testament,’ 1737 (anonymous) . 2. ”

“ In 1788 he came to England to prosecute a lawsuit in connection with his property. From this time he engaged in politics, taking a prominent part in the agitation for parliamentary reform. He renewed his acquaintance with Dr. ”

“ Bowden was therefore a nonconformist, and not improbably a relative of the Rev. John Bowden [see Bowden, John] who preached Mrs. Rowe's funeral sermon.
[Gent. Mag. xxxi. 424. xlviii. 485; Life of Mrs. Rowe prefixed to her works. 1739.] ”

“ Hewitt also published ‘A Guide for Constables,’ 1779, and ‘Memoirs of Lady Wilbrihammon, alias Mollineux, alias Irving, an Impostress,’ Birmingham (1778?) , 4to. He died 20 April 1802.
[A Journal of the Proceedings of J. Hewitt, Senior Alderman of the City of Coventry; Coventry Mercury, 26 April 1802; Colville's Worthies of Warwickshire; Watt's Bibl. Brit.] ”