2l8 dents Instructor, the Joiner's Assistant, and the Principles of Architecture—the last-mentioned work, in three volumes, 8vo, having commenced its serial appearance in 1794, and been completed in 1809. After a residence of eleven years in London, Mr. Nicholson returned to Scotland in 1800, and dwelt eight years in Glasgow, a city already rising into eminence, and which his skill as an architect greatly aided to adorn and benefit. His chief works in Glasgow were the wooden bridge formerly across the Clyde; Carl ton Place, which may be termed the commencement of these handsome modern residences in which the city is now so abundant; and the large structure that terminates the second quadrangle of the university. The next residence of Mr. Nicholson was Carlisle, where, through the recommendation of his country- man Telford—who, like himself, had commenced life as a stone-mason—he was appointed architect of the county of Cumberland, and in this situation he superintended the building of the new court-houses in the county town. While here he also obtained rewards from the Society of Arts for an improvement in hand-railing, and for the invention of an instru- ment called the centrolinear. After remaining two years in Carlisle, he returned in 1810 to London, and resumed the work of authorship, in which his pen was both active and prolific, as appears by the list of his works at this period. These were, the Archi- tectural Dictionary, in two volumes large quarto, the publication of which extended from 1812 to 1819; Mechanical Exercises, and the Builder and Work- man's New Director. Besides these practical works connected with his own profession as an architect, Mr. Nicholson turned his attention to subjects of a more purely scientific character, and was author of the Method of Increments, Essays on the Combina- torial Analysis, Essay on Involution and Evolution (for which he received the thanks of the Academic des Sciences at Paris), Analytical and Arithmetical Essays, and the Rudiments of Algebra. In 1827 he commenced the publication of a work entitled the School of Architecture and Engineering, which he designed to complete in twelve numbers at is. 6d. each; but in consequence of the bankruptcy of the publishers, only five numbers appeared. This failure, combined with the pecuniary loss it occasioned him, so annoyed Mr. Nicholson, that in 1829 he removed from London to Morpeth, and afterwards, in 1832, to Newcastle-on-Tyne, where his time was chiefly spent in teaching, for which purpose he opened a school in the Arcade; and in the production of various scientific works. Here, also, his well-established reputation procured his election as president and honorary member of several societies connected with architecture, civil engineering, and the fine arts. But notwithstanding such a long life of interesting and multifarious authorship, his pecuniary profits by no means kept pace with his merits; and while he was the means of enriching others by his discoveries and instructions, he obtained little else for his own share than the reputation of a highly-talented origi- nator. His writings, twenty-seven in number, were thus justly characterized in a petition from the in- habitants of Newcastle to his majesty in 1835, for the grant of a pension to Nicholson from the privy- purse:—"The works of Peter Nicholson, while they have contributed to the advancement of knowledge, have tended to raise the English mechanic to that pre-eminence he has attained over the other artificers of Europe; and, while they have been honoured with the proudest marks of distinction by the various learned societies of this kingdom, have yet failed to produce to their author those benefits which are necessary for his existence; and it must ever be a source of regret that an individual who, having de- voted his best energies to the advancement of science, should be left at the close of a long and laborious life, and in his seventy-third year, to struggle in penury and want." This application to the royal bounty was made after an attempt of Nicholson's grateful friends in Newcastle had failed to raise for him an annuity by a general subscription. On this occasion the sum of ,£320 had been subscribed, which only sufficed for present emergencies. Mr. Nicholson left Newcastle for Carlisle in October, 1841, and died there, June 18, 1844, in the seventy- ninth year of his age. He was twice married. By his first wife, who died at Morpeth in 1832, he had one son, Michael Angelo, author of the Carpenter and Joiner's Companion, who died in 1842; by his second marriage Mr. Nicholson had a son and daughter, who survived him. NICOLL, REV. ALEXANDER, D.C.L., canon of Christchurch, and regius professor of Hebrew in the university of Oxford, was the youngest son of John Nicoll, at Monymusk, in Aberdeenshire, where he was born, April 3, 1793. He was carefully reared by his parent in the principles of the Scottish Episcopal church; and, while little more than four years of age, was placed at a private school con- ducted by a Mr. Sivewright, where he received the first rudiments of learning. Two years afterwards he was put to the parish school, taught by Mr. Duff, who grounded him in classical literature. His be- haviour at school was that of a modest, assiduous student, and nothing but a reprimand ever disturbed the composure which was natural to him. At this school his attainments were such as to attract the notice of the clergymen of the presbytery in the course of their professional visitations. In 1805 he removed to the grammar-school of Aberdeen, at which city his elder brother, Mr. Lewis Nicoll, advocate, was able to take charge of his personal conduct. At the commencement of the winter ses- sion of the same year he became a candidate for a bursary at the Marischal College, and obtained one of the smallest in the gift of that institution. He therefore attended the classes of Latin and Greek during the session 1805-6, at the close of which he gained the prize of the silver pen, always bestowed on the best scholar. This honour, being as usual announced in the provincial newspapers, caused him to be noticed by various eminent individuals as a young man of peculiar promise. Before the next session he had studied mathematics at home, and pursued a course of miscellaneous reading. Besides attending the classes formerly mentioned, he entered in 1806 that of mathematics, then taught by Dr. Hamilton, the well-known expositor of the national debt; and also attended the prelections of Mr. Beattie in natural and civil history. During the ensuing vacation he directed his attention to drawing, and produced several maps sketched in a very neat manner. Soon after the commencement of his third college session in 1807, Bishop Skinner, of Aberdeen, in- formed him that there was a vacancy at Baliol College, in one of the exhibitions upon Snell's foundation, which he thought might be obtained. By the advice of his elder brother he proceeded to Oxford, with a letter of recommendation from Bishop Skinner to Dr. Parsons, the master of the college, and was at once elected to the vacant exhibition. Having been put under the charge of a tutor (the Rev. Mr. Jenkyns), he commenced his studies with great eagerness, par- ticularly in the department of Greek, where his chief