GORDON, Alexander, a distinguished draughtsman, scholar, and antiquary, who resided many years in Italy, and also travelled in France, Germany, and other countries. The date of his birth has not been ascertained. In 1736 he was appointed secretary to the society for encouraging learning; and the same year he succeeded Dr Stukeley as secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, an office which he resigned in 1741 in favour of Mr Joseph Ames. He was for a short time secretary to the Egyptian Club, composed of Lord Sandwich, Dr Shaw, Dr Pococke, and other distinguished persons who had visited ⅛ypt∙ In 1741 he accompanied Governor Glen to Carolina, where, besides a grant of land which he received, he held several offices, and died a justice of the peace, leaving a handsome estate to his family. He published, 1. Itinerarium Septentrionale, or a Journey through most parts of the Counties of Scotland, in two parts, with sixty-six copperplates. 1726, folio; 2. Supplement to the Itinerarium, 1732, folio; 3. The Lives of Pope Alexander VI. and his son Caesar Borgia, comprehending the wars in the reign of Charles VIII. and Louis XII., and the chief transactions and revolutions in Italy from 1492 to 1516, with an appendix of original pieces; 4. A complete History of the Ancient Amphitheatres, more especially regarding the architecture of these buildings, and in particular that of Verona, by the Marquis Scipio Maffei, translated from the Italian, 1730, 8vo, afterwards enlarged in a second edition; 5. An Essay towards explaining the Hieroglyphical Figures on the Coffin of the ancient Mummy belonging to Captain William Lethicullier, 1737, folio, with cuts; 6. Twenty-five Plates of all the Egyptian Mummies and other Egyptian Antiquities in England, 1739, folio.

Gordon, Thomas, noted for his translations and political writings, was born at Kirkcudbright, in Galloway, about the end of the seventeenth century. When a young man he repaired to London, where he supported himself by’ teaching languages, until he procured employment under the Earl of Oxford, in Queen Anne’s time, but in what capacity is not known. He first distinguished himself by two pamphlets in defence of Hoadly, in the Bangorian controversy; and these recommended him to Mr Trenchard, an author of the same stamp, in conjunction with whom he wrote letters under the name of “Cato,” upon a variety of important public subjects. About the same time they published another periodical paper, under the title of the “Independent Whig,” which was continued some years after Trenchard’s death by Gordon alone, and directed against the hierarchy of the church, but with more acrimony than had been evinced in Cato’s Letters. On the death of his associate, Sir Robert Walpole retained him to defend his administration, which he did in several pamphlets; and at the time of his death, which happened on the 28th of July 1750, he was first commissioner of the wine licenses, an office which he had enjoyed manyyears. Gordon published English translations of Sallust and Tacitus, with additional discourses, containing much good matter. Two collections of his tracts have also been preserved; the one entitled A Cordial for Low Spirits, in three volumes; and the other, The Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy Shaken, in two volumes. But these, like many other posthumous productions, might have been suppressed without detriment to his reputation.