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efforts, however, to obtain the seat were quite un-
successful. In his later life his literary labours and
political services were acknowledged by the govern-
ment of his party, through which he obtained the
consulate at Dunkirk, and in July, 1868, a similar
post at Barcelona. He continued in this last office
till his death on the 9th January, 1873. Immediately
before his decease he was in the habit of contributing
to the Pall Mall Gazette, under the appellation of
"An Englishman in Spain."
Mr. Hannay's style was simple, vigorous, racy,
and in his more ambitious works enriched by apt
classical allusions. Notwithstanding the somewhat
intemperate or intolerant habit of expression so patent
in his political papers, he was one of the kindliest
of men. He was a charming conversationalist, and
a very storehouse of anecdotes. While he has not
left behind him any work likely to hold its place long
in our libraries in this age of many books, he cer-
tainly contributed not a little to the cheer and en-
lightenment of his own generation and to the im-
provement of journalistic literature.
HILL, DAVID OCTAVIUS, R.S.A. This accom-
plished and popular artist was the son of Thomas
Hill, a bookseller in Perth, and was born in the
" Fair City" in 1802. He early showed a love for
art, and on his father's removal to Edinburgh became
a student in the Trustees' Academy, where he had
the advantage of receiving the elements of a profes-
sional education under Andrew Wilson, a well-
known landscape-painter. While yet a mere boy
he executed some views of the scenery of his native
shire in lithography, an art then in its infancy. In
1823 he exhibited his first pictures, which were con-
sidered as giving promise of a brilliant career. In
the earlier part of his life he applied himself to
portrait-painting, and he would no doubt have at-
tained distinction in this branch of art, but his im-
aginative faculty was strongly developed, and he
early discarded portraiture for subjects illustrative of
humble Scottish life, no doubt taking David Allan
and Wilkie as his models. These works—of which
we may specify his Scottish Wedding, suggested by
a scene in the Gentle Shepherd—were favourably
regarded by critics. But the strength of his ma-
tured powers was devoted to the painting of land-
scape, and he will be best remembered by his pictures
of Scottish scenery. D. O. Hill was an ardent
admirer of Turner, and belonged to the poetic rather
than to the realistic school. Like Turner he was no
mere topographical painter; the scene which he seeks
to represent is subjected to his own ideal conception.
While the character of his mind was speculative, he
had a fine feeling for nature, and no one ever wor-
shipped her with more genuine enthusiasm; and if
he generally found in her poetical suggestions hidden
from the "profane vulgar," few will venture to say
that he was ever untrue to her teachings. In such
pictures as his Dream of Carrick Shore he does not
seek to give, as he could so easily have done, a
transcript of Culzean Castle as it would appear to an
every-day observer or topographic draughtsman; but,
as the title indicates, a memory of the combined im-
pressions made on his own "inward eye" by what
was to him no " common sight," but a scene
"Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream."
He often veils his scenes with the pensive melan-
choly of evening—sunset and immediately after sun-
down are with him favourite effects of light; grace-
fulness of form and excellence of arrangement of
light and shadow prevail. To this latter quality is
due in great measure the marked success with which
his pictures were translated by engraving. Of his
many landscapes we may mention his Dumbarton,
from Kirkton Hill, one of his most charming pictures;
Ayr, from Carrick Hill; Stirling and the Carse of
Menteith, from Wallace's Pass; Old and New Edin-
burgh, as seen from the Mons Meg Battery on the
Castle Rock;1 River Tay, from the Bridge of Perth;
and The Valley of the Nith, a magnificent picture,
which exhibits Burns' house at Ellisland, with a
wide and historical landscape. Mr. Hill did not
confine himself, however, to the illustration of Scot-
tish scenery, but also produced some excellent pictures
of classic spots in England and Ireland (Windsor
Castle,1 Kenilworth, Durham, Fotheringay, Peep o'
Day on the River Suir, &c.) He executed with
enthusiasm, and with eminent success, the paintings
for sixty landscapes contained in the well-known
illustrated work The Land of Burns, the subject of
which was suggested by Mr. Hill and carried out with
spirit by the publishers Messrs. Blackie of Glasgow.
Mr. Hill's position as an artist must yield, how-
ever, to his merits as a propagator of artistic feeling
and ideas. He was ever ready with help, encourage-
ment, and advice to the young aspirant. No man
in his day fought more earnestly, or at greater per-
sonal sacrifice, in the interest of his profession. He
took a prominent part in the formation of the Scot-
tish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architec-
ture, now the Royal Scottish Academy, not a little
of the success of which is due to his devotion, energy,
and foresight. It was through his efforts, aided by
those of others, that the government consented to
the erection of the splendid National Galleries in
Edinburgh, one half of which is devoted to the exhi-
bitions of the Academy. It was he who suggested
the idea, and did much towards the formation, of
the "Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts
in Scotland," an association which has proved the
parent of the numerous art-unions now established
throughout the kingdom. At the time of the dis-
covery of photography, about 1843, he devoted him-
self to its study, under the impression that a new
era was at hand in the development of art, and by
the production of many splendid specimens of the
Talbotype (Calotypes, five vols. 1844), in conjunction
with Robert Adamson, he gave a decided artistic
impetus to what had previously been little beyond
a mechanical and chemical process. Many of the
portraits in this collection were reproduced in his
large painting, The First General Assembly of the
Free Church of Scotland, signing the Act of Separa-
tion and Deed of Demission at Tanfield, 1843, a work
containing about 450 actual portraits. It may be
mentioned that even here Mr. Hill is idealistic, in-
troducing some representative men who were not
actually present on that memorable occasion. It
was due to his foresight and enthusiasm in the cause
of National Art that his brother, Alexander Hill,
was induced to throw himself into the business of
printselling and publishing, by which he was enabled
to do so much for art in Scotland.
In personal appearance Mr. Hill was the ideal
of an artist, with his striking presence, fine head,
beautifully chiselled features, and long, fair silken hair.
He was a man of genial temperament, and, from
first to last, a general favourite in the cultured society
of Edinburgh. He died on the 17th of May, 1870.
In the year immediately preceding his decease he
retired from the post of secretary to the Royal
Scottish Academy, which he had filled since the
year 1827, a period of forty-three years. A bust of
1 Admirably engraved on a large scale by William Richardson.