BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 369
S. OP the Genealogy of the Family oP Seton in
the fourteenth century.
4, List of the Scottish Commanders at the Battle
of Halidon, 19th July 1383, pp. 11.
6. Whether Edward 111, put to Death the Son
of Sir Alexander Seton, pp, 8.
6. List of the Scottish Commanders killed or
made prisoners at the Bsttle of Durham, pp. 8.
7. Table of Kings, p. 1.
8. Corrections and additions to Volume I., pp. 16.
9. Corrections and additions to Volume II., pp, 8.
Chronological Abridgment of the Volume, pp.
39.1
Account of the Martyrs of Smyrna and Lyons in the
Second Century, 12mo ; with Explanatory Notes.
Edinburgh, l7i6. Dedicated to Bishop Hurd,
pp. 68. Notes and Illustrations, pp. 142.-
This :is a new and correct version of two most
ancient Epistles; the one from the Church at
Smyrna to the Church at Philadelphia ; the other
from the Christians at Vienne and Lyons, to those
in Asia and Phrygia-their antiquity and authenticity
are undoubted. Great part of both is
extracted from Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History.
The former was first completely edited by Archbishop
Usher. The author of the Notes says
of them, with his usual and singul~rm odesty,
Icth at they will afford little new or interesting to
men of erudition, though they may prove of some
benetit to the unlearn’d reader.” But the erudition
he possessed in these branches is so rare, that
this notice is unnecessary. They display much
useful learning andingenions criticism, and breathe
the most ardent zeal, connected with an exemplary
knowledge of Christianity.
N.B.-This is the First Volume oP the Remains of
Christian Antiquity.
Remains of Christian Antiquity ; with Explanatory
Notes, Vol. 11. Edinburgh 1776,12mo. Dedicated
to Dr. Newton, Bishop of Bristol. Preface, pp. 7.
This Volume contains-The Trial of Justin Martyr
and his CompanionR, pp. 8,-Epistle of Dionysius,
Bishop oP Alexandria, to Fabius, Bishop of
Antioch, pp. 16,-the Trial and Execution of
Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, pp. 6,-the Trial and
Execution of FNctuosus, Bishop of Tarracona in
Spain, and of his two Deacons, Augurius and
Eulogius, pp. 8,-the Maiden of Antioch, pp. 2.
These are all newly Translated by Lord Hailes
from Eusebius, Ambrose, $13. The Notes and
Illustrations of this Volume extend from pp. 47
to 165, and display a most intimate acquaintance
with antiquity; great critical acumen, both iu
elur.idating the sense and detecting interpolations
and, above all, a fervent and enlightened zeal in
vindicating such sentiments and conduct a$
are oonfonnablc to the Word of God, against thr
malicious sarcasms of Mr. Gibbon. To thii
volume is added au Appendix of twenty-twc
pages, correcting and vindicating certain parts o
Vol. I.
lemains of Christian Antiquity, Vol. 111. Edin. 1780.
Dedicated to Thos. Balgny, D.D. Preface, pp. 2.
It contains the History of the Martyrs of Palestine
in the Third Century, translated from Eusebius,
pp. 94. Notes and Illustrations, pp. 135, in which
Mr. Gibbon again comes, and more frequently,
under renew. The partiality and ruisreprescntations
of this popular writer are here exposed in
the calmest and most satisfactory manner.
lctavius ; a dialogue. By Marcus Minucius Felix.
Edin. 1781, pp. 16. Preface.-The speakers are
Cmilius, a heathen; Octavius, a Christian,
whose arguments prevail with his friend to
renounce Paganism aud become a Christian
proselyte. Notes and Illustrations, pp. 120.
If the Manner In which the Persecutors died; a
treatise by Lactantiua, Edin. 1782. 8vo. Inscribed
to Dr. Porteous, Bishop ol Chester (afterwards
Bishop of London). Preface, pp. 37, in
which it is proved that Lactantius is the author.
Text, pp, 125.
Lactantii Divinssum Institutionum Liber Quintus,
seu de Justitia. 1777. Svo.
Disquisitions concerning the Antiquities of the
Christian Church. Glasgow, 1783. Inscribed to
Dr. Halifax, Bishop of Gloucester, pp. 194.-This
small, original, and most excellent work consists
of Six Chapters.
clhap. 1. A commentary on the Conduct and Character
of Gallio, Acts xvili. 5, 12, 17.
Chap.:% Of the Time at which the Christian Religion
became publicly known at Rome.
Chap. 3. Cause of the Persecution of the Christians
under Nero.-In this the hypothesisof Mr. Gibbon,
Vol. I., 4t0, pp. 641, is examined.
Chap. 4. Of the eminent Heathen Writers, who
are said (by Gibbon) to have disregarded or contemned
Christiuity, viz. Seneca, Pliny senior,
Tacitus, Pliny junior, Galen, Epictetus, Plutarch,
Marcus Antonius.-To the admirers of Eeathen
Philosophers, and to those especially who
state between them and the Christin doctrine
any consanguinity, this Chapter is mnestly
recommended.
Chap. 5. Illustrations of a Conjecture by Gibbon,
respecting the silence of Dio Cassius concerning
the Christians.-In this Chapter, with extreme
impartiality, he amplifies and supports an idea of
Mr. Gibbon on this head.
Chap. 6. Of the Circumstances respecting Christianity
that &re to be found in the Augutan His-
It 8eems very probable that the close attention
which Lord Hailes appears to have given to such
subjects, was in some measure the effect of the mistakes
and partiality of Gibbon In no one work
from 1776the date of Mr. Gibbon’s first publication-
has he omitted to trace this unfair and insiuu
a t i i author; but in 1786, he came forth of set
purpose, with the most able and formidable reply
which he has received, entitled, “An Inquiry into
the Secondary Causes which Mr. Gibbon has assigned
for the rapid Growth of Christianity. By S i David
Notes and Illustrations, pp. 109.
tory.
I
1 This Work, with some of the minor publications, has been reprinted in three vols. 8vo. Edin. 1819.
3 B
370 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Dalrymple. Edinburgh, 1786 ; gratefully and affectionately
inscribed to Richard (Hurd), Bishop of
Worcester, 4t0, pp. 213. In flve Chapters.
Sketch of the Life of John Barclay, 4t0, 1786.
Sketch of the Life of John Hamilton, a Secular Priest,
Sketch of the Life of Sir Janies Ramsay, a General
Officer in the Armies of Gustavus Adolphus, King
of Sweden, with a head.
Life of George Lesley (an eminent Capuchin Friar in
the early part of the 17th century), 4t0, pp. 24.
Sketch of the Life of Mark Alexander Boyd, 4to.
Specimen of a Life of James Marquis of Montrosa
These lives were written and published an a speeimen
of the manner in which a Biographia Scotica
might be executed. With the exception of the last,
they have been reprinted in the Appendix to the
edition of his Annals printed in 1819.
4tO.
Davidis Humei, Scoti, summl apud suo8 philosophi,
de vita sua acta, liber aingularis ; nunc primum
Latin0 redditua. [Edin.] 1787, 4to.
Adami Smith!, LL.D., ad Gulielmum Strahanum
armigerum, de rebns novissimis Davidis Hurnei,
Epistola, nunc primum Latine redditta. [Edin.]
1768, 4tO.
The Opinions of Sarah, Duchess Dowager of Marlborough,
published from her original MSS. 1788,
12mo, pp. 120 (with a few Foot Notes by Lord
Hailes, in which he corrects the splenetic partiality
of her Grace)-a singularly curious
work.
The Address of Q. Sept. Tertullian to Scapula Tertullus,
proconsul of Africa, translated by Sir
David Dalrymple. Edin. 1790, 12mo. Inscribed
to Dr. John Butler, Bishop of Hereford. Preface,
pp. 4. Translation, pp. 18. Original, pp. 13.
Notes and Illustrations, pp. 135,
No. CXLVIII.
REV. DR. DAVID JOHNSTON,
MINISTER OF NORTH LEITH.
IT may be said of this excellent man, that he inherited the virtues of the clercial
character by descent. His father was minister of Amgask, in the county of
Fife, and his maternal grandfather, the Rev. Mr. David Williamson, of the parish
of St. Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh, was a celebrated clergyman in the days of the
persecution.’
His early years were sedulously
devoted to the study of those acquirements necessary for the important office
MR. DAVIDJ OHNSwTaOs bNor n in 1733.
1 51r. Williamson was the son of a respectable glover in St. Andrews. He was ordained to the
West Kirk in 1661. The re-establishment of Episcopacy took place two years afterwards ; but, in
defiance of an order of Council, issued in 1664, he continued to preach in his church till the year
following, when he WWJ compelled to abandon his charge. Ee then retired to the west country,
preaching to the people in the fields and at conventiclas. In 1687, on the Act of Toleration being
passed, Mr. Williamson returned to Edinburgh ; and waa so well received by his old parishioners,
that they erected a meeting-house for him, where they attended on his ministrations. The prelatists
of the West Kirk soon found themselves almost totally deserted by their congregation ; but their
hands being tied np by the Toleration Act, they secretly stirred up the civil magistrate against him
by false accusations, in consequence of which he was imprisoned, but subsequently liberated ; yet
the ~amep arty continued to harass him in various ways, until, by the Revolution, he was happily
restored to the parish church in 168,!3. It is to Mr. Williamson that the “Author of Waverley ”
alludes in the following couplet of an absurd old ballad, put into the mouth of a syren of the mob
aa old Deans and his daughter Jeanie are pressing through the crowd to the trial of Effie :-
‘‘Mess David Williamson, chosen of twenty,
Ran up the pupit stairs, and sang Eilliecrankic.”
He was seven times married-a circumstance which afforded a fund of merriment to the Jacobites.
See Scottish Paspils, vol. i. Edin. 12mo.