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divine, was born at Tweedmouth about 17%; was edu- cated at St. Andrew's University, and became a minis- ter of the Gospel. After occupying two other charges, he became, witli Chahners and others, minister of old (irayfriars, Edinburgh. He died in aiarch, 1868, at Tor- quay, Devonshire. Dr. Robert Lee published a transla- tion' of the Thesis o/Erastiis (184-1) :— Prayers foi- Pub- lic Worship: — Handbook of Devotion: — Prai/crs for Family Worship : — The Bible, with New Marijinal Ref- erences; a work which brought upon liim severe condem- nation for Rationalistic tendency. It is, however, by no means to be inferred from this that Dr. Lee was not of the evangelical school; he fought the Socinians with the utmost exertion, and, as a Scotchman expressed it, " Dr. Lee emptied the Unitarian chapel" at Edinburgh. Dr. Lee was the leader in innovations and changes in the Church Establishment of Scotland. His views were ultra-liberal; and from the year 1858, when the innova- tions were complained of before the Low-Church courts, till the commencement of his last illness, he fought a great battle, as the Bail;) Review expresses it, far what he deemed a more liberal construction of the laws of the Church in the matter of public worship — in other words, publishing, using, defending written prayers — and by his own force of character, his ingenuity and power as a controversialist, and his influence over the younger min- isters of the Church, he probably did more to carry for- ward the movement with which his name is identified than all the rest of his brethren who took part with him. See Scotland, Chukcii of. (.J. H. W.)
Lee, Robert P.,D.D., a (Dutch) Reformed minis- ter, was born in 1803, at Yorktown, N. Y. ; graduated at Dickinson College in 1824, and at the theological semi- nary at New Brunswick in 1828. The first year of his ministry, 1828-9, was spent as a missionary in New York City. He was pastor of the Reformed (Dutch) Church of Montgomery, in Orange Co., N. Y., from 1829 to 1858, Avhen he died, in the midst of his usefulness. Dr. Lee was a rare man, a close student, a diligent and accu- rate theologian, an impressive, but not showy preacher. His mind was remarkably clear, comprehensive, and acute. His judgment was ripe and instinctively right. Decided in bis theology, he loved its truths, and ex- pounded and defended them with tenacity and power. In the classis and synods of his Church lie was a repre- sentative man; among his brethren and neighboring congregations he was a trusted counsellor and a peace- maker. Without haste or prejudices, calm and wise, of positive character and noted piety, lie was always influ- ential, and yet singularly modest and retiring. His per- sonal presence was commanding, his fine countenance beamed with intelligence and benevolence, and his whole demeanor was such as became the true minister of Christ. His death was a great loss to the whole denomination, of which he Avas a noble representative. — Corwin, lUun- iial of Personal Recollections, p. 1.36. (W. J. R. T.)
Lee, Samuel (1), D.D., a distinguished English Orientalist and Biblical scholar, was born at Longnor, in Shropshire, May 14, 1783 ; was educated but moder- ately, and apprenticed to a carpenter. His aptitude for learning, however, led him to continue his studies pri- vateh-, and he thus accpiired the Latin language. He next mastered the Greek, and from that he advanced to Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Samaritan, all of which he acquired by his own unaided efforts before he was twenty-five years of age. By this time he had mar- ried, and exchanged his former occupation for that of a schoolmaster. Attracting the notice of archdeacon Cor- bett and Dr. .Jon. Scott, he was, by their aid, enabled to add to his other acquisitions a knowledge of Arabic, Persic, and Hindustanee, as well as some European and other tongues. In 1815 he accepted an engagement with the Church Missionary Society, and became a stu- dent of Queen's College, Cambridge, where he took his degree of B.A. in 1817. At this time he edited portions of the Scriptures, and of the I'rayer-book, in several Ori- ental languages. In 1818 he took orders, and preached
at Shrewsbury, still carrying on his Oriental studies; at this time he is said to have had the mastery over eigh- teen languages. In 1819 he was honored, as his talents certainly deserved, with the professorship of Arabic, and in 1834 was made regius professor of Hebrew at Cam- bridge University, besides receiving some pieces of Church preferment, and the title of D.D., first from the University of Halle, and then from that of Cambridge. Shortly before his death, Dec. 16, 1852. he was made rec- tor of Barley, in Somersetshire, where he died. Besides the editions of the Scriptures which he carried through the press, he published several valuable linguistical works, of which the most important are. Grammar of the Hebreio Lanyuuf/e, compiled from the best authorities, chiefly Oriental, which has passed through several edi- tions : — A Lexicon, Ileb., Chald., and Engl. (Lond. 1840) : — The Book of the Patriarch Job translated, icith Intro- duction and Commentary (Lond. 1837) : — An Inquiry into the Nature, Progress, and End of Prophecy (Camb. 1849) : —Prolegomena in Bib. Polygl. Londinens. Minora (Lond. 1828). He also published an edition of the controver- sial tracts of INIartyn and his opponents; edited Sir Wil- liam Jones's Grammar of the Persian Language, with an addition of his own, containing a synopsis of Arabic grammar ; and translated and annotated the travels of Ibn-Batuta from the Arabic. A minor work of his, Dissent Unscriptural and Unreasonable, led to a contro- versy with Dr. J. Pye Smith (in 1834; the pamphlets were published in 1835). Dr. Lee has generally been recognised not only iis a great scholar, but also as the greatest British Orientalist of his day, and his writings bear evident traces of a vigorous, earnest, and independ- ent mind, loving truth, and boldly pursuing it. See Lond. Genii. Magazine, 1853, pt. i, 203 sq.; BlackivooWs Magaziiie, xlix, 597 sq. ; Kitto, Bibl. Cyclop, vol. ii, s. v. ; AHibone, Diet. Brit, and A mer. A uthors, vol. ii, s. v.