219
deficiency lay, and where he found himself, with
only seven months' study of that language in a
Scotch university, pitted against youths who had
studied at the much superior schools of Oxford for
three years. His native capacity and unwearied
application soon placed him on a level with his com-
panions, and a college life then began to have great
charms for him. At Baliol he had the society of a
little knot of Scottish students, partners with himself
in the enjoyment of Snell's foundation, and among
whom were several individuals afterwards distin-
guished in public life. For several years he prose-
cuted his studies with much diligence and success;
and in 1811, after the usual examination, obtained the
degree of Bachelor of Arts. It was not till 1813 that
he directed his attention to the languages of the East,
in which he was destined to become so noted a pro-
ficient. In a letter to his brother dated in December
that year, he says: "For the last year I have been
chiefly engaged in the study of the oriental languages,
the Hebrew, Arabic, and Persic, and occasionally
the modern languages. I have latterly obtained
some knowledge of French, Italian, Spanish, Portu-
guese, and German. There is no place where there
are finer opportunities for studying the oriental lan-
guages than in Oxford. The Bodleian Library, to
which I have had access for the last two years, is
said to be richer in that department than any other.
I have lately been introduced to Dr. Winstanley,
principal of Alban Hall, one of the best linguists in
Oxford. I also know Dr. Macbride, who has lately
been appointed principal of Magdalen Hall and
lecturer in Arabic, who has already shown me great
kindness." Soon after, on account of his knowledge
of languages, particularly those of the East, he was
appointed, without solicitation, one of the sub-lib-
rarians of the Bodleian, a situation which greatly
favoured the progress of his studies.
In 1817 Mr. Nicoll received deacon's orders, and
was appointed the curate of one of the churches in
Oxford, where he had part of the duty to perform.
This, however, did not in the least retard his studies,
or his exertions in the Bodleian. On considering
various circumstances in the history of this institu-
tion, he had marked out for himself a line of duty,
by which he greatly benefited its interests and ele-
vated his own reputation. He perceived that the
enormous treasure of oriental manuscripts, about
30,000 in number, was in a great measure useless,
from being imperfectly catalogued; and to remedy
this defect he forthwith applied himself. He first
drew up a catalogue of the manuscripts brought from
the East by Dr. E. D. Clarke, and, by publishing it,
at once established his fame as an orientalist of the
first class. He then entered on the gigantic task of
completing the general catalogue of the eastern
manuscripts, which had been begun about a hundred
years before by Uri, the celebrated Hungarian. The
first fasciculus which he put forth of this work,
embracing manuscripts in nearly a dozen different
tongues, analyzing their contents, and estimating
their merits in clear, forcible, and elegant Latin,
diffused Nicoll's reputation throughout Europe, and
brought him into acquaintance and correspondence
with all the eminent orientalists at home and abroad.
Every summer thereafter he visited the Continent
in order to examine various celebrated collections;
and ere he died, there was not one of any note which
he had not seen. His epistolary correspondence
with the eminent foreign literati was conducted
chiefly in Latin, which he wrote with perfect facility;
but his knowledge of the modern European lan-
guages was hardly less extraordinary than his oriental
scholarship. He spoke and wrote with ease and
accuracy French, Italian, German, Danish, Swedish,
and Romaic. In short, it was the common saying of
the Oxonian common-rooms, that Nicoll could walk
to the wall of China without need of an interpreter.
In the midst of all the honours that were paid to him,
and though his intercourse with so many distinguished
men had given ease and elegance to his manners,
he never lost the original modesty and reserve of his
nature. It was forcibly said of him by an eminent
scholar, after conversing with him, "Sir, he is not
modest—he is modesty itself."
The time at length arrived when he was to receive
a reward due to his great merits and exertions. In
June, 1822, on the promotion of Dr. Richard Laur-
ence to the archbishopric of Cashel, Nicoll was,
without solicitation, appointed to the vacant chair
of regius professor of oriental languages; the follow-
ing being the letter in which Lord Liverpool an-
nounced the appointment:—
" Fife House, 19th June, 1822.
" SIR,—In consequence of the promotion of Dr.
Laurence to the archbishopric of Cashel, the regius
professorship of Hebrew in the university of Oxford,
together with the canonry of Christchurch attached
to it, becomes vacant. The high reputation which
you have acquired as an oriental scholar, and the
value attached to your labours, have induced his
majesty to approve of you as Dr. Laurence's suc-
cessor; and I can entertain no doubt that this mark
of royal favour conferred upon you without solicita-
tion, will be a strong inducement to you to persevere
in those studies by which you have acquired so much
credit, and to use your utmost endeavours to promote
the study of oriental literature in the university of
Oxford.—I have the honour to be, Sir, your very
obedient humble servant,
(Signed)                  "LIVERPOOL,"
Nicoll was thus elevated from a salary of about £200
a year, and the comparatively humble situation of a
sub-librarian in the Bodleian, to the enjoyment of
£"2000, and two of the highest dignities in the uni-
versity. He soon after took the degree of D.C.L.
For some years Dr. Nicoll performed the duties
of his high station with the greatest zeal and success,
producing a considerable increase in the attendance
of his class, and not neglecting at the same tune
the important task which he had undertaken at the
Bodleian. He had nearly completed the catalogue,
when, on the 24th of September, 1828, having pre-
viously weakened his constitution by intense study,
he was cut off by an inflammation in the windpipe,
in the thirty-sixth year of his age.
Dr. Nicoll was twice married; first, to a Danish
lady, who died in 1825; secondly, to Sophia, daughter
of the Rev. J. Parsons, the learned editor of the
Oxford Septuagint, and by whom a memoir of Dr.
Nicoll was prefixed to a posthumous volume of his
sermons. By his second wife Dr. Nicoll had three
daughters, who survived him. '' This great scholar,"
said one of the journals in alluding to his death,
"has left behind him a reputation which his family
may well consider as their dearest treasure. While
his attainments were of the first order, his personal
character was without spot or blemish. He was
virtuous in every relation of life; cheerful in poverty;
humble in prosperity; sincere, kind, generous, and
eminently pious."
NICOLL, ROBERT. The life of a poet born and
nursed in poverty is generally continued in poverty
to the close: his career is a struggle of want and
privation, of which the end too often is nothing but
defeat and disaster. Such was the history of Robert
Nicoll, a poet of great promise, but whose career was