326
In the midst of all his greatness, Carstairs never
forgot the charities of domestic life. His sister, who
had been married to a clergyman in Fife, lost her
husband a few days before her brother arrived from
London on matters of great importance to the nation.
Hearing of his arrival, she came to Edinburgh to
see him. Upon calling at his lodgings in the fore-
noon, she was told he was not at leisure, as several
of the nobility and officers of state were gone in to
see him. She then bid the servant only whisper to
him, that she desired to know when it would be con-
venient for him to see her. He returned for answer
—immediately; and, leaving the company, ran to her
and embraced her in the most affectionate manner.
Upon her attempting to make some apology for her
unseasonable interruption to business, "Make your-
self easy," said he, "these gentlemen are come
hither, not on my account, but their own. They
will wait with patience till I return. You know I
never pray long,"—and, after a short, but fervent
prayer, adapted to her melancholy circumstances,
he fixed the time when he could see her more at
leisure, and returned in tears to his company.
The close attention which he must have paid to
politics does not appear to have injured his literature
any more than his religion, though it perhaps pre-
vented him from committing any work of either kind
to the press. We are told that his first oration in
the public hall of the university, after his installation
as principal, exhibited so much profound erudition,
so much acquaintance with classical learning, and
such an accurate knowledge of the Latin tongue,
that his hearers were delighted, and the celebrated
Dr. Pitcairn declared, that when Mr. Carstairs began
his address, he could not help fancying himself in the
forum of ancient Rome. In the strange mixed char-
acter which he bore through life, he must have cor-
responded with men of all orders; but, unfortunately,
there is no collection of his letters known to exist.
A great number of letters addressed to him by the
most eminent men of his time were preserved by his
widow, and conveyed through her executor to his
descendant, Principal M'Cormick, of St. Andrews,
by whom they were published in the year 1774.
CHALMERS, ALEXANDER, M.A., F.S.A. The
life of this laborious literary workman is more re-
markable for untiring industry, and its immense
amount of produce, than for greatness or originality
of genius. He was born at Aberdeen on the 29th
of March, 1759, and was the youngest son of James
Chalmers, printer in Aberdeen, an accomplished
scholar, who established the first newspaper that
existed in that town. Alexander, after completing
a classical education, continued his studies for the
medical profession; and, on finally being appointed
to practise as surgeon in the West Indies, he left
Aberdeen in 1777, to join the ship which was to
carry him to his destination. But on reaching
Portsmouth, instead of stepping on board, he sud-
denly flew off to London. He had either lost heart
at the thought of a residence in the West Indies, at
that time one of the worst of exiles, or had suddenly
become enamoured with the charms of a literary life
in the metropolis. At all events, thither he went,
and although his line of existence was stretched out
nearly sixty years beyond this period, his native city
saw him no more.
On entering London, Mr. Chalmers commenced
as a contributor to the periodical press, and became
editor of the Public Ledger and London Packet. It
was a stirring and prolific period for journalists, in
consequence of the American war; and so ably did
he exert himself, that he soon became noted as a
vigorous political writer. Besides his own, he exer-
cised his talents in other established journals of the
day, the chief of which was the St. james Chronicle,
where he wrote many essays, most of them under
the signature of Senex. He was also a valuable
assistant for some years to his fellow-townsman, Mr.
James Perry, editor and proprietor of the Morning
Chronicle, who had come to London at the same time
as himself, and to whose newspaper Chalmers contri-
buted racy paragraphs, epigrams, and satirical poems.
He was likewise a contributor to the Analytical
Review, published by Mr. Johnson, and to the
Critical Review. As the last-named magazine was
published by Mr. George Robinson of Paternoster
Row, a close connection was established between
Mr. Chalmers and that eminent publisher, which
continued till the death of the latter, and was of
important service to both parties. Chalmers, who
lived almost wholly with his friend, assisted him in
the examination of manuscripts offered for publica-
tion, and also revised, and occasionally altered and
improved, those that were passed through the press.
With most, indeed, of the principal publishers and
printers in London during fifty years Chalmers main-
tained a friendly intercourse, and of many of them
he has left interesting biographies in the obituary of
the Gentleman's Magazine, a favourite periodical to
which he frequently contributed. These literary
exertions, however, numerous though they were, and
extended over a long course of years, were as nothing
compared with his permanent labours as editor of
many of the most important works of British author-
ship; and it is by these, of which we can only give
a very brief notice, that his merits are chiefly to be
estimated.
In 1793 he published a continuation of the History
of England in Letters, two volumes. This work was
so well appreciated, that four editions successively
appeared, the last being in 1821.
In 1797 he compiled a Glossary to Shakspeare—a
task peculiarly agreeable to a Scotsman, who finds
in the copious admixture of unpolluted Saxon exist-
ing in his own native dialect, a key to much that is now
obsolete in the English of the Elizabethan period.
In 1798 he published a Sketch of the Isle of Wight,
and in the same year an edition of The Rev. James
Barclay's Complete and Universal English Dic-
tionary.
In 1803 he published a complete edition of the
British Essayists, beginning with the Tatler, and
ending with the Observer, in forty-five volumes.
The papers of this long series he carefully compared
with the originals, and enriched the work with biogra-
phical and historical prefaces, and a general index.
During the same year he produced a new edition
of Shakspeare, in nine volumes, with a life of the
author, and abridgment of the notes of Stevens,
accompanied with illustrations from the pencil of
Fuseli.
In 1805 he wrote lives of Robert Burns, and Dr.
Beattie, author of the Minstrel, which were pre-
fixed to their respective works.
In 1806 he edited Fielding's works, in ten volumes
octavo; Dr. Johnson's works, in twelve volumes
octavo; Warton's essays; the Tatler, Spectator, and
Guardian, in fourteen volumes octavo; and assisted
the Rev. W. L. Bowles in his edition of the works
of Alexander Pope.
In 1807 he edited Gibbon's Decline and Fall, in
twelve volumes octavo, to which he prefixed a Life
of the Author.
In 1808, and part of the following year, he selected
and edited, in forty-five volumes, the popular work
known as Walker's Classics.