Norman MacColl

“ He visited a great part of Russia and Central Asia; and resided for some months in a Russian village, studying the language and also examining the condition of the peasantry. On his return he read a paper on Kuldja before the Geographical Society, and commenced a work on Russia, one or two chapters of which appeared in the ‘Fortnightly Review,’ but it was never published, as his energies were absorbed for a time in editing the ‘Weekly Dispatch,’ which he purchased within a year after his return home ”

“ The mystery attaching to the authorship of the ‘Letters of Junius’ especially fascinated him, and he acquired with his wonted thoroughness a knowledge of everything bearing on the problem that none of his contemporaries could rival. Unlike other students of the riddle, he was not so anxious to find out who Junius was as to show who he was not ”

“ In 1778 he published ‘A Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland in a series of letters to John Watkinson, M.D.’ There is not much philosophy in this book, which is supposed to record the tour of an Englishman in the south of Ireland, and gives a description of the chief towns. ”

“ He had been long interested in Pope, but his investigations were much aided by the purchase by the British Museum in 1853 of the Caryll papers, which revealed the manner in which Pope prepared his correspondence for publication. In a series of contributions to the ‘Athenæum’ and ‘Notes and Queries’ Dilke was able to explain the mystery of the publication of the letters by Curll, to make clear the poet's parentage, to settle several matters in his early life, to identify the ‘Unfortunate Lady,’ and in various other points to throw fresh light on Pope's career and his poetry. ”

“ He was busy contributing to the periodicals which sprang up within a few years of the peace, such as the ‘London Review,’ the ‘London Magazine,’ and ‘Colburn's New Monthly,’ and naturally enough when the ‘Retrospective Review’ was started he became one of its chief supporters. ”

“ In 1834 Archbishop Howley gave him the living of Monks-eleigh in Suffolk, and eighteen months later Bishop Van Mildert bestowed on him the rectory of Crayke. At Crayke he remained till his death. In 1841 Archbishop Harcourt appointed him to the stall of Knaresborough in York Minster, and in 1846 made him archdeacon of Cleveland. ”

“ Grant removed from Laggan to the neighbourhood of Stirling. In order to provide an outfit for her eldest son, who had received a commission in the East India Company's service, she was advised to print a selection from her correspondence, which appeared in 1806 as 'Letters from the Mountains,' in three volumes. The success of the book was immediate. Since the publication of 'Ossian' there had been a growing interest in the highlands, where the disciples of Rousseau supposed they had found an example of a race uncorrupted by the vices of civilisation. ”

“ Sundry remarks on the trade of the country are thrown in, and Campbell advocates ‘a political and commercial union’ with England. Boswell styles the ‘Survey’ ‘a very entertaining book, which has, however, one fault—that it assumes the fictitious character of an Englishman.’ In the ‘Survey’ Johnson's epitaph on Goldsmith appeared for the first time in print. ”

“ In 1853 he went to New York as an English commissioner to the Industrial Exhibition, and in 1855 he visited Paris on a similar errand. He was one of the five royal commissioners for the exhibition of 1862, and was made a baronet in the same year. He sat as a liberal for Wallingford in the parliament of 1865, but lost his seat at the general election of 1868. At this time his health was failing, and having gone to Russia as English commissioner at a Horticultural Exhibition, he died on 10 May 1869 at St. ”

“ Her novels are, with the exception of 'Bellasis,' tales of domestic life, with comparatively little incident, but marked by good feeling and refined taste. Her chief gift was an unusual power of writing easy and natural dialogue. ”

“ To a student of Boswell the diary is highly interesting, as it affords striking confirmation of Boswell's accuracy. Being a popular preacher himself, Campbell went to hear Dr. Dodd and other pulpit orators of the day, and his remarks are very uncomplimentary. Campbell was in London again in 1795, where he died on 20 June. Campbell's diary was printed at Sydney, N.S.W., in 1854, and reprinted, with some omissions, by Dr. ”

“ In 1826 Scott, Mackenzie, and other friends procured her a pension of 100l., which, with several legacies from old friends and pupils, made her last years comfortable. All her children except one son died before her ”