Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/229

Rh and whether from this circumstance, or his classical feelings, he has dwelt on the habits, of his friend in a manner which would hardly fail to draw "damages" from a modern jury. In 1718, Keill published "Introductio ad verarn Astronomiam, seu lectiones Astronomicee," a work which was reprinted in the year 1721, at which period, at the request of the duchess of Chandos, he published a translation of this work in English, with emendations, under the title of "An Introduction to the true Astronomy; or, Astronomical Lectures, read in the astronomical school of the university of Oxford." The year in which he accomplished these literary labours was the last of his life; during the summer of 1721, he was seized with a violent fever, of which he died in the month of September, in the fiftieth year of his age. Besides the works we have mentioned, he published in 1715, an edition of Commandinus's Euclid, with additions.

KEITH-ELPHINSTONE,, (viscount Keith, K. B. admiral of the Red, &c.) a distinguished modern naval officer, was the fifth son of Charles, tenth lord Elphinstone, by the lady Clementina Fleming, only child of John, sixth earl of Wigton, and niece and heir-of-line to the last earl Marischal. His lordship was born on the 12th January, 1746, at Elphinstone in East Lothian, the ancient but now dismantled seat of the family of Elphinstone.

Mr Elphinstone was early taught, by his remoteness from the chance of family inheritance, to trust to his own exertions for the advancement of his fortune; and, having from his earliest years shown a predilection for the navy, he was, at sixteen, ranked as a midshipman in the Gosport, commanded by captain Jervis, afterwards earl St Vincent. The peace of 1763 soon put an end to his immediate hopes of naval glory—though not before he had experienced much advantage from the tuition of his eminent commander. He subsequently served in the Juno, Lively, and Emerald frigates, and, entering on board an Indiaman, commanded by his elder brother, the honourable W. Elphinstone, made a voyage to China, where, however, he suffered considerably from the climate. Notwithstanding this latter circumstance, he did not scruple to make a voyage to the East Indies in 1767, under commodore Sir John Lindsay, by whom he was promoted to a lieutenancy.

In 1772, he was advanced to the rank of commander in the Scorpion of fourteen guns. In the spring of 1775, he was made post-captain on board the Marlborough, seventy-four guns, and soon after he obtained, first, the command of the Pearl, and then of the Perseus frigate. In the Perseus, which was remarkable as the first ship in the British navy that was sheathed with copper, he made a conspicuous figure, during the early years of the contest with America, as an active and intrepid officer on the coast of that country, under lord Howe and admiral Arbuthnot. He was likewise often engaged in the services, in this unhappy war, where sea and land forces were united—in particular at the reduction of Charleston, he conducted himself with such gallantry in the command of a detachment of seamen, as to gain frequent and most honourable mention in the of-