Robertson, Joseph, a learned English divine, was burn at Knipe, Westmoreland Co., Aug. 28, 1726. He entered (Queen's College, Oxford, in 1746, where he took his degree of arts. Receiving orders, he was for some time curate to Dr. Sykes at Kayleigh, and in 1758 received the living of Herriard, Ham])shire. In 1770 he became rector of Sutton, in Essex, and in 1779 he was presented to the living of Horncastle, in Lincoln- shire. He died Jan. 19, 1802. Among his ])rincipal publications are, a tract on Culinary Poisons (Lond. 1781) : — Introduction to Study of Polite Literature (ibid. 1782): — Education of Youny lAidies (ibid. 1798, 8vo). Besides other miscellaneous works, he contributed to The Critical Review from August, 1764, to September, 1785, over 2620 criticisms on theological, classical, po- etical, and miscellaneous publications. See Chalmers, Pirx/. Diet. s. V. ; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A ulh. s. V.
Robertson, Wesley, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Cliureh, was born in New Provitlence, N.J. He was converted in 1828, and united with the Church. In 1834 he received license as a local preacher, and in 1836 was received on probation in the Philadelphia Con- ference. He labored with great acceptability, being in- strumental in the conversion of large numbers and suc- cessful in the building of churches. In the spring of 1857 he took a supernumerary relation, and made New- ark his residence, where he remained until August, 1864. He then went to Jacksonville, Fla., to labor under the direction of the Christian Commission, where he died Nov. 2, 1864. See Minutes of Annual Conf. 1865, p. 49.
Robertson, William, D.D., often called Princi- pal Robertson, a celebrated Scottish historian, was born at Borthwick, county of Mid-Lothian, Scotland, Sept. 19, 1721. His father, the Rev. William Robertson, was minister at Borthwick when his son was born, and af- terwards at the Grey Friars' Church, Edinburgh. After a preparatory course at the school of Dalkeith, and when only twelve years of age, young Robertson obtained ad- mission into the University of Edinburgh, where his subsecpient progress in learning was rapid, in proportion to the astonishing acquirements of his childhood. In 1741, before he was twenty years old, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh to preach; in 1743 lie was appointed minister of Gladsmuir, in Haddington- shire, where he acquired a high reputation as an elo- quent pulpit orator; in 1751 he marrietl, and soon after became leader of the Moderate party in the Church of Scotland, in which capacity he is said to have evinced in the General Assembly a readiness and eloquence in debate which his friend Gibbon might have envied in the House of Commons. In 1759 he first liecame known as a historian by the publication of his flistory of Scot- land, which benefited his fortune to the extent of £000, and his fame was by one effort placed on an imperisha- ble basis. No first work was ever more successful. It was extolled by Hume, Burke, and other eminent crit- ics. About the same time he removed to Edinburgh, and became chaplain of Stirling Castle; in 1761 he was nominated one of the king's cliaplains-in-ordinary for IX.-D
Scotland; in 1762 he was elected principal of the Uni- versity of Edinl)iirgh, and in 17(i4 was made historiog- rapher for Scotland, with a salary of 4)200 per annum. Stinudated by such success, as well as by an ardent de- votion to literature, he continued his studies, and in 1769 produced his History of the Reiyn of Charles V, which raised his tlien increasing reputation still liigher, and which is considered his capital work. Tlie intro- ductory part consists of an able sketch of the political and social state of Europe at tlie time of the ac(•es^ion of Charles V, a most important jieriod, which forms the connection between the iSIiddle Ages ami tlie liistory of modern European society and politics. In 1777 lie published his History of America, which was followed in 1788 by Additions and Corrections to the former Kdi~ tions; and in 1791 he published his Historical JHsqui- sition concerniny the Knovledye vhich the Amicnts had of India, a slight work, to which he had been led liy major Rennel's Memoir of a J\Jap of Iliudostan. After spending a life of equal piety, usefulness, and honor, he died, June 11, 1793. His remains were followed to their resting-place in Grey Friars' Church-yard iiy a large concourse of the most illustrious magnates of the king- dom, the famous professors of the ancient university, the chiefs of the learned ])rofessions, and by many pri- vate citizens — all anxious to testify their respect to the memory of one whose intellectual productions cast so bright. a lustre on the record of Scottish letters. "A month or two previous to his decease he was removed to Grange House, near Eilinburgh, where his friend Dugald Stewart enjoyed those visits which, fortiniately for the world, led to the composition of that charming memoir of the principal which has been so often praised and so seldom equalled." Dr. Robertson was a man of dignified and pure personal habits. His conduct as a Christian minister, as a member of societj^, as a re- lation, and as a friend was wholly without a stain. Lord Brougham, a relative of his, in his Lives of the Men of Letters of the Time of Georye III, says, "His affections were warm ; they were ever under control, and therefore equal and steady. His conversation was cheerful, and it was varied. Vast information, copious anecdote, perfect appositeness of illustration — narration or description wholly free from pedantry or stillness, but as felicitous and as striking as might be expected from such a master — great liveliness, and often wit, and often humor, with a full disposition to enjoy the merri- ment of the hour, but in the most scrupulous absence of everything like coarseness of any description — these formed the staples of his talk." Most of the works of Dr. Robertson relate to that important period when the countries of Europe were beginning to form constitu- tions and act upon the political systems which were for centuries preserved. His style is elegant, clear, and vigorous, with occasional passages of great beauty. It seems to have conqdetely surprised his contemporaries; and Horace Walpole, in a letter to the author, expresses the feeling with his usual point and vivacity : " But could I suspect that a man I believe much younger, and whose dialect I scarce understood, and who came to me with all the diffi<lence and modesty of a very middling author, and who, I was told, had passed his life in a small living near Edinburgh— could I then suspect that he had not only written what all the world now allows to be the best modern history, but that he had written it in the purest English, and with as much seeming knowledge of men and courts as if he had passed all liis life in important embassies?" <iibbon also has borne ample testimony to his style. In his Memoirs (ch. v), he says: "Tlie perfect composition, the nervous lan- guage, the well-turned periods, of Dr. Robertson in- flamed me to tlie ambitious hope that I might one day tread in his footsteps; the calm philosophy, the care- less, inimitable beauties, of his friend and rival Hume often forced me to close the volume with a mixed seii- sation of delight and despair." Robertson is more imi- forin and measured than Hume. He has few salient