Scottish man of letters, 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 Encyclopædia Britannica, to which he contributed a large number of articles. He died in April 1841.
