CHALMERS, George, an historical, antiquarian, and political writer of considerable eminence, was descended from the family of Chalmers of Pittensear, in the county of Moray, and was born at Fochabers in the end of the year 1742. After the usual attendance at the grammar school of his native town, he was sent to King’s College, Aberdeen, where lie passed through the regular academical course, and had as one of his preceptors the celebrated Dr Reid, then professor of moral philosophy. Mr Chalmers subsequently removed to Edinburgh, where he studied law for several years. In 1763, when in his twenty-first year, he went to America, with an uncle, as a companion, and to assist him, as a lawyer, in the recovery of a tract of land of considerable extent in Maryland. The prospects which opened to him there induced him to settle at Baltimore, in Maryland, where he practised as a lawyer; and by his abilities, assiduity, and integrity, he acquired in a few years business of considerable extent and emolument. During this time commenced the unhappy disputes between the two countries, which ended in the establishment of American independence; and in which Mr Chalmers rendered himself obnoxious by taking a decided part with the royalist party. In the great question relative to the payment of tithes, which overset the church establishment of the southern colonies, he appeared on the side of the clergy, and was opposed by Patrick Henry, the Virginia lawyer, who afterwards distinguished himself by moving in the Virginia Commons House the five propositions which led to the separation of the colonies from the crown. His pleading, we are informed, was truly constitutional, and displayed great acuteness and research; hut public opinion was so decidedly engaged on the opposite side, and partyspirit raged with so much violence, that he found it expedient to abandon all his professional prospects, and, like many of his countrymen placed in a similar situation, at considerable personal sacrifices to seek for refuge in his native country.

Mr Chalmers came to England about the year 1775. His claims as a suffering loyalist, and his perfect knowledge of the real object of the colonial dispute, and of the personal character of the leading agitators, with the means both domestic and foreign on which they relied for the success of their cause, might have recommended him to ministers as an able partizan; but he received no compensation for the losses he had sustained, and several years elapsed ere he obtained an appointment which placed him in a state of tranquillity and independence. In the mean time Mr Chalmers applied himself with great diligence and assiduity to the first of his literary undertakings. This was to investigate the history and establishment of the English colonies in North America; and enjoying free access to the state-papers, and other documents preserved among the plantation records, he obtained much original and important information. His work is entitled “Political Annals of the present United Colonies, from their Settlement to the Peace of 1763; compiled chiefly from Records, and authorized often by the insertion of State Papers.” London, 1780, 4to. It was intended to have formed two volumes; but the second, which should have contained the period between the British revolution of 1688 and the peace of 1763, never appeared. The first volume, containing the earlier history, is fortunately complete in itself; and he has traced, in a clear and instructive manner, the original settlement of the different colonies, and the progressive changes in their constitutions and forms of government, as affected by the state of public affairs in the parent kingdom. The number of original documents which are introduced would have given historical value to any similar work, however it might have been executed; but every page of this arduous undertaking bears evidence of the author’s diligence and research; and it has been of essential benefit to later writers. It might be supposed that one chief object contemplated by Mr Chalmers in this work, was to trace the progress of colonial administration, for the purpose of vindicating the conduct of the British government in the recent contests.^[1. From a list of his publications, communicated by Mr Chalmers to Ι∖l’r George Paton, in May 1791, it appears that Mr Chalmers was also the author of the following tracts. Án Answer from the Electors of Bristol, to the Letter of Edmund Burke, Esq. on the Affairs of America. I.and. 1777, 8vo. The Propriety of allowing a qualified Export of Wool discussed historically. Lond. 1782, 8vo. An Introduction to the History of the Revolt of the Colonies. Vol. I. only printed, which was cancelled. Lond. 1782, 8vo, p. 500, ending with the Reign of George I. Three tracts on the Irish Arrangements. Lond. 1785, 8vo. ] This, however, was not the fact, although it was natural for a person in his situation to view with some degree of hostility what he styled “the contention of the confederated colonies against the supreme power of the state,” as such feelings were entertained by most men in Britain at that time, who were not prepared to see a people shaking themselves free from the thraldom of a distant government. In 1782 first appeared the “Estimate of the Comparative Strength of Great Britain during the present and four preceding Reigns,” by Mr Chalmers. This work passedthrough several editions in an enlarged form, and was also translated into French and German. It was succeeded by a tract entitled “Opinions on interesting subjects of Public Law and Commercial Policy; arising from American Independance.” London, 1784, 8vo.

In August 1786, Mr Chalmers was fortunate in Obtaining the situation of chief clerk to the Committee of Privy Council, which was then appointed for the “consideration of all matters relating to trade and foreign plantations.” The duties of this respectable office he continued to discharge for nearly forty years; and being an office of considerable emolument, he was enabled to spend his life in ease and affluence, and to devote himself during this long period to an unwearied prosecution of literary and antiquarian pursuits. He also continued till the close of life to act as colonial agent for the Bahama Islands.

It was probably not many years after his permanent official appointment that Mr Chalmers had his attention directed in an especial manner to the history, early literature, and topographical antiquities of Scotland; and while he was silently collecting materials for several important national works, and which fully required a lifetime to execute, he allowed himself perhaps too often to lay them aside, to bring out others of a more temporary interest or importance. The following is a list of the several works he published subsequent to 1786. 1. Life of

Daniel De Foe, prefixed to an edition of his History of the Union, Lond. 1786; and of Robinson Crusoe, 1790, 8vo. 2. Life of Sir John Davies, prefixed to his Historical Tracts regarding Ireland. Lond. 1786, 8vo. 3. Collection of Treaties between Great Britain and other Powers. Lond. 1790, 2 vols. 8vo. 4. Life of Thomas Pain, the author of the seditious work entitled Rights of Man. (Tenth edition) Lond. 1793, 8vo. This was [7:6:309]published under the assumed name of “Francis Oldys, A. Μ. of the university of Pensylvania.” 5. Life of Thomas Ruddiman, A. Μ.; to which are subjoined New Anecdotes of Buchanan. Lond. 1794, 8vo. 6. Prefatory Introduction to Dr Johnson’s Debates in Parliament. Lond. 1794, 8vo. 7. Vindication of the Privilege of the People in respect to the constitutional right of Free Discussion; with a Retrospect of various proceedings relative to the Violations of that Right. Lond. 1796, 8vo. (Anonymous.) 8. An Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers, which were exhibited in Norfolk Street. Lond. 1797, 8vo. 9. A Supplemental Apology for the Believers in the Shakspeare-Papers; being a Reply to Mr Malone’s Answer, &c., with a Dedication to George Steevens, and a Postscript to T. J. Mathias. 1799, 8vo. 10. Appendix to the Supplemental Apology; being the Documents for the Opinion that Hugh Boyd wrote Junius’ Letters. 1800, 8vo. 11. Life of Allan Ramsay, prefixed to an edition of his Poems. Lond. 1800, 2 vols. 8vo.^[2. The “Remarks on Ramsay’s Poetry,” prefixed to this edition, were from the pen of the late Lord Woodhouselee. ] 12. Life of Gregory King, pre fixed to his Observations on the State of England in 1696. Lond. 1804, 8vo. 13. The Poetical Works of Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount, Lion King at Arms under James V.; with a Life of the Author, prefatory Dissertations, and an appropriate Glossary. Lond. 1806, 3 vols. 8vo. 14. Caledonia, or an Account, Historical and Topographic, of North Britain, from the most ancient to the present times; with a Dictionary of Places, Chorographical and Philological. Vol. I. Loud. 1807, 4to; Vol. II. Lond. 1810, 4to. 15. A Chronological Account of Commerce and Coinage in Great Britain, from the Restoration till 1810. Lond. 1810, 8vo. 16. Considerations on Commerce, Bullion, and Coin, Circulation and Exchanges; with a view to our present circumstances. 1811, 8vo. 17. An Historical View of the Domestic Economy of Great Britain and Ireland, from the earliest to the present times, &c. (being a new edition of the Comparative Estimate, “corrected, enlarged, and continued to 1812"). Edinburgh, 1812, 8vo.^[3. It may also be noticed, that, in 1812, upon the murder of Mr Perceval, a most impudent attempt was made to discredit Mr Chalmers, by a person who had been convicted of other literary forgeries, by publishing, in Mr Chalmers’ name, a pamphlet entitled “An Appeal to the Generosity of the British Nation on behalf of the family of the unfortunate Bellingham.” ] 18. Opinions of eminent Lawyers on various points of English Jurisprudence, chiefly concerning the Colonies, Fisheries, and Commerce of Great Britain. Lond. 1814, 2 vols. 8vo. 19. A Tract (privately printed) in answer to Malone’s Account of Shakspeare’s Tempest. Lond. 1815, 8vo. 20. Comparative Views of the State of Great Britain and lreland before and since the War. Lond. 1817, 8vo. 21. The Author of Junius ascertained, from a concatenation of circumstances, amounting to moral demonstration. Lond. 1817, 8vo. 22. Churchyard’s Chips concerning Scotland; being a Collection of his Pieces relative to that Country, with Notes and a Life of the Author. Lond. 1817, 8vo. 23. Life of Mary Queen of Scots, drawn from the State Papers, with six Subsidiary Memoirs. Lond. 1818, 2 vols. 4to, and reprinted in 3 vols. 8vo. 24. The Poetical Remains of some of the Scotish Kings, now first collected. Lond. 1824, 8vo. 25. Robene and Makyne, and the Testament of Cresseid, by Robert Henryson, edited and presented by Mr Chalmers as a contribution to the Bannatyne Club, of which he was a Member. Edinburgh, 1824, 4to. 26. Caledonia, Vol. III. 1824, 4to. 27. A Detection of the Love-Letters lately attributed in Hugh Campbell’s work to Mary Queen of Scots. Lond. 1825, 8vo.

This enumeration contains, we believe, a pretty exact list of all Mr Chalmers’ publications;^[4. Two excellent papers in the Looker-on have been ascribed by mistake to Air George Chalmers. The author is the present Alexander Chalmers, Esq., a most worthy and highly respected veteran in literature, who is a native of Aberdeen, and has been long resident in London, but is no relative of the author of Caledonia. ] and of most of them it is not necessary to make any particular mention. His Life of Ruddiman the grammarian preserves many curious notices, and throws much light on the state of literature in Scotland during the earlier part of the last century; but written unfortunately in a very stately and inflated style, which the author too much affected. His volumes on the Shakspeare controversy are full of curious matter relating to the history of the stage and the early drama, but, on the whole, display a great waste of erudition; and it would have been as creditable to his judgment had Mr Chalmers not placed himself in a situation to be mistaken for an apologist of literary forgery or credulity, while attempting to show that papers which had been proved to be forgeries might nevertheless have been genuine. Neither was he more fortunate in his endeavours to fix the authorship of Junius’ Letters on Hugh Boyd; for although he had satisfied himself, by bringing the proof, as he thought, to a moral certainty, and some of the coincidences he has adduced are very remarkable, the public voice has not sanctioned his decision. His edition of Sir David Lyndsay was a valuable accession to our stock of old Scotish poetry, as it is the only complete edition of his poetical works, and the text has been restored by a careful collation of the early printed copies, which are of the greatest rarity. The volume of Churchyard’s pieces is also very curious, and well edited. His Life of Queen Mary is a work of great labour and research, but is not entirely original; at least from the preface we learn that the reverend John Whitaker, the Historian of Manchester, and the Vindicator of the Scotish Queen, had left behind him an unfinished Life of Mary. His papers were put into Mr Chalmers’ hands by his widow and daughters for publication; but he informs us that “various avocations, and some years of ill health, have hitherto prevented me from executing their desires, as well as my own wishes,” by publishing this work; and that he found it necessary “to rewrite the whole.” The history of our ill-fated Queen was one that occupied much of Mr Chalmers’ attention, being “convinced that she was a calumniated woman and an injured princess.” One of the latest acts of his life was to expose an unwise and ignorant attempt to bring into public notice some fictitious letters, purporting to be “originals” of love-letters from Queen Mary to the Earl of Bothwell, and hitherto unknown; while they had appeared in more than one edition about a century before, but had been suffered to slumber in merited oblivion.

But Mr Chalmers’greatest work is his “Caledonia.” Such a gigantic undertaking must have been the labour of many years previous to the appearance of the first volume in 1807,^[5. An evident allusion to his Caledonia occurs in a letter written by Ritson the antiquary in December 1796 (Nichols’ lllustr. of Literature, vol. iii. p. 779). In a letter dated February 1794, Mr Chalmers refers to a projected work, Villare Scoticum, which may have been the groundwork of his Caledonia. (Paton Letters, Advocates’ Library). ] when he says, “1 presume to lay before the public a work which has been the agreeable amusement of many evenings." It is divided into four books, each treating “of such periods as were analogous to the genuine history of each successive people.” These periods are the Roman, the Pictish, the Scotish, and the Scoto-Saxon period, from A. υ. 80 to 1306. In these books there is presented, in a condensed form, all that relates to the people, the language, the history civil and ecclesiastical, [7:6:310]and the agricultural and commercial state of Scotland during the first thirteen centuries of our era; and in thus investigating the history and antiquities of his native country, he has determined, with not less decision than propriety, many controverted points of great and perplexing obscurity. According to his original plan, the second volume should have contained his “Dictionary of Places;” but was probably reserved for the conclusion of the work, as the author proceeded to carry on his topographical survey of Scotland, deduced from the commencement of the fourteenth century, under the head of the several shires. Accordingly we find that each shire forms a separate chapter, divided into eight sections :—The first treating of its name; the second of its situation and extent; the third of its natural objects; the fourth of its antiquities; the fifth of its establishment as a shire; the sixth of its civil history; the seventh of its agriculture, manufactures, and trade; and the eighth of its ecclesiastical history. This second volume contained the seven south-eastern shires; namely, Roxburgh, Berwick, Haddington, Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Peebles, and Selkirk. “In the subsequent volumes,” he says, “will follow the topographical history of the southwestern, the eastern, and northern shires, in convenient season; as the materials are provided, the details are formed, and the composition is easy to the pen of diligence.” An interval of fourteen years, however, elapsed before the appearance of the third volume, which contained the seven south-western shires, namely, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Wigton, Ayr, Lanark, Renfrew, and Dumbarton. On this occasion he says, “the accounts of some other shires are already written; and the materials for the whole have been abundantly collected, while the composition becomes daily more facile from the habit of writing. With all those facilities, tujo years will probably see the whole com-pktβd." But he was not doomed to survive two years, or to have the satisfaction of bringing this work to a successful termination. In fact, another volume would have been inadequate for this purpose, as more than half the shires remained to be described; and we know that Mr Chalmers thought it would extend to five volumes. In a letter to the writer of this article, dated February 1824, he says, “My standing work is Caledonia. I am working hard to go to press with another, that is, the fourth volume, of Caledonia, next autumn. My heart is set in finishing this great work, if I be spared.” From letters written in the same year, stating his progress in the work, it might be inferred that he had brought it well on to a conclusion; but in the ardour of his desires he was too apt to overlook the most arduous part of his task; and we have reason to believe that he left behind him very scanty materials for this purpose. The last time the writer of this article saw Mr Chalmers (which was only a few weeks before his death, and when he seemed to enjoy his usual good health), he had, in compliance with the urgent request of his friends, and aware of his own very advanced age, being then upwards of eighty, latterly come to the resolution of compressing his materials, so as to keep the work, if possible, within its original prescribed limits.

Besides the termination of “Caledonia,” Mr Chalmers had for many years been engaged in collecting materials for other works of not less important and laborious a nature. Indeed the vigour of his mind, when he had attained far more than the usual period of human life, was remarkable, and he continued to speak of his literary undertakings as if half that period lay still before him untrodden. One of these works was a History of Scotish Poetry, another a History of Printing in Scotland ; each of them, it was calculated, likely to extend to two large volumes in quarto. In reference to these works (for which he had begun to collect materials at least twenty years before), he says, in a letter written in 1815, “My collections for Scots Printing are encreased to a pretty large extent, and fair arrangement.” In 1816, “I long much to bring my whole strength upon the History of Poets and Poetry in Scotland, that you may have a standard work upon this interesting subject.” In 1817, “I shall very soon close my Scotish Printers, which will be a more curious book than I originally conceived.” In the same year, as an apology for some delay in answering a letter, he writes, “You will easily pardon or pity a man who is oppressed with official, political, and literary labours; and who does, by working morning, noon, and night, more than any other man in my situation could do.” He had also prepared for the press an elaborate History of the Life and Reign of David I. who died in 1153. With all his unwearied diligence and activity of mind, it was evident to those who knew him, that during the latter period of his life he would have made comparatively but little progress in these works had he been left to his own individual resources. But it was fortunate for him that he enjoyed the able assistance of his nephew Mr James Chalmers, who gave up a situation in one of the public offices for the sole purpose of assisting his uncle in his researches. With what assiduity and success that gentleman continued to labour for upwards of twenty years need not be stated to those who have the pleasure of his acquaintance; and it is matter of regret that not merely the risk, but the certainty of the loss that would attend the publication of such large and voluminous works, should deter him from completing “Caledonia,” or those other works we have alluded to, for which, by his literary habits, he is so eminently qualified.

Mr "George Chalmers died in his house, James’s Street, Buckingham Gate, London, May 31st 1825, after a few days illness, in the eighty-third year of his age. He was a member of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, London, an honorary member of the Antiquaries of Scotland, and of other learned societies. In private life he exhibited nothing of that assuming superiority and dogmatic tone which mark his controversial writings. For, in forming a just estimate of his character, it neither can nor ought to be concealed, that he was a writer of strong prejudices, with an indescribable want of taste or elegance in composition. He is also chargeable with a want of minute accuracy in scholarship, in some instances amounting to a forgetfulness of the common rules of grammatical construction. It might have been too much to expect classical purity of style along with patient research and minute elaboration of doubtful points; but we wish he had contented himself with writing in a natural and simple manner, without affecting ornament. But the tone and spirit of his writings is sometimes much more offensive than the manner. In his Life of Queen Mary, he would have left a more favourable impression on the minds of his readers had he declaimed with less vehemence against her various accusers and political antagonists; and we should have valued the book more had he treated with a greater degree of courtesy the persons who, in recent times, presumed to inquire into, or to express their doubts of, the purity and correctness of the personal conduct of the unhappy queen. By his political as well as antiquarian writings he involved himself in disputes with persons of very different characters and attainments. But Mr Chalmers had a mind that was not to be diverted from his purpose by any mode of literary hostility. Neither the sneers of professed wits, nor the cavils and exposures of other adversaries, had any effect in subduing that lofty confidence in himself and his own powers, which is sometimes allied with genius, and is at least essential for the accomplishment of any great undertaking. In Mr Chalmers, however, this sustaining self-complacency[7:6:311] was joined with perhaps too liberal a share of indifference to the opinion of others. That in all his literary and political contests he manifested no undue want of candour and forbearance, we fear cannot be truly asserted, as it was not likely that, in the fervour of politics, and the jarrings of party interests, his candour and judgment would have that control over his temper which was wanting in the discussion of questions of less excitement. Among his avowed antagonists in literary warfare the most distinguished were Malone and Steevens, the Shakspeare editors; Mr Mathias, the author of the Pursuits of Literature; Dr Jamieson, the Scotish lexicorapher; Mr Pinkerton, the historian; Dr Irving, the biographer of the Scotish poets; and Dr Currie of Liverpool. Of these we shall allude only to the last in particular. In July 1793 there was published a letter, “political and commercial,” addressed to Pitt, under the name of “Jaspar Wilson,” in which the writer deprecated this country continuing at war with France, and attributing much of the commercial distresses which prevailed, not only in England, but throughout Europe, to the “funding system supporting the war-system.” This letter excited so much attention, that several supporters of the measures of the English government came forward to answer it, and among the rest Mr Chalmers. This he did in the form of a letter of 130 pages, addressed to Dr Currie by name as the reputed author of Jaspar Wilson, prefixed as a dedication to a new edition, in 1794, of his “Comparative Estimate,” but written in a tone of familiarity and intimacy, which, however it might suit Mr Chalmers’ views at the time, was, it appears, wholly unwarranted.^[6. See statement in the Life of Dr Currie, the amiable and accomplished biographer of Robert Burns, vol. i. pp. 201-6, and 504-G. ]

But with all his failings in judgment and in matters of taste, Mr Chalmers was an invaluable writer. He uniformly had recourse to the fountain-sources of information, not trusting to the statements and conclusions of preceding writers; and thus he never failed to bring new lights to bear upon his subject. There can be no doubt also, however biassed he might seem in his sentiments, that the desire of truth was predominant; and his patriotic endeavours to illustrate the history, literature, and antiquities of his native country, were attended by very great pecuniary sacrifices, instead of being productive to the author. As he says in the preface to Caledonia, vol. ii. “In the investigation of truth I have not been discouraged by any difficulty, and I have not declined any labour; I have sought new documents, and I have tried in my narrative to be neither too general nor too minute.” His Caledonia is a work of higher importance than perhaps any that could be named illustrative of the history and state of this part of the British empire. As a literary monument of the author’s industry and erudition, it is to be lamented that a work of such noble dimensions should not have displayed greater simplicity of style; and had it been happily completed, and a new edition called for, although such a process was not to be looked for from the author’s hand, it was susceptible of much improvement,even were such corrections limited to drawing the pen through superfluous epithets and unnecessary reflections. That the plan adopted was the best, any more than that the execution was all that could be desired, cannot be affirmed; but with all such minor defects, it is a work which a person of greater genius or scholarship would not have undertaken, and one which a mere plodding antiquary’ could not have performed. The very able and perspicuous manner in which he has investigated the state of the country from the remotest period of our history, tracing through its fabulous epochs the various tribes who successively inhabited the respective districts and petty kingdoms, may be thought to constitute the most valuable portion of that truly national work; and yet, in the comprehensive view which is given of its subsequent state and condition, whether in general or local detail, not less skill is shown in condensing and reducing a vast and unformed mass of materials, which, even as a mere book of reference, must be of the greatest benefit to all future labourers in the same wide and fruitful field of investigation. As the author of this work, the name of George Chalmers will be honourably remembered by his countrymen; and he may be set forth as an example of what human industry'· and talents, when united in the same individual, are able to accomplish. (c. c. c.)