Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/137

Rh quarto. A third edition, in eighteen volumes, was commenced in 1786, and extended to 10,000 copies. By this edition the proprietors are said to have netted £42,000 of clear profit, besides being paid for their respective work as tradesmen—the one as printer, and the other as engraver. The fourth edition extended to twenty quarto volumes, and 3,500 copies. In the fifth and sixth editions, only part of the work was printed anew; and to these a supplement in six volumes was added by Mr Archibald Constable, after the property of the work bad fallen into his hands. An eighth edition, under the editorship of professor Traill, is now in the course of publication.

In the year 1773, Mr Smellie, in conjunction with Dr Gilbert Stuart, commenced a new monthly publication, The Edinburgh Magazine and Review, which was conducted for some years with great spirit and talent, but was dropped in 177G, after the production of 47 numbers, forming five octavo volumes. Its downfall was attributed to a continued series of harsh and wanton attacks from the pen of Dr Stuart, on the writings of lord Monboddo, which disgusted the public mind. Edinburgh did not at that time afford such ample scope for literary stricture as at the present day. Lord Monboddo, nevertheless, continued to be warmly attached to Mr Smellie, and they lived on terms of the strictest intimacy till his lordship's death.

In the year 1780, on the suggestion of the late earl of Buchan, a society for collecting and investigating the antiquities of Scotland, was instituted at Edinburgh. Of this society, Mr Smellie was personally invited by his lordship, to become a member; which he did, and was appointed printer of their journals and transactions. Next year, he was elected keeper of their museum of natural history; and in 1793, he was elected secretary, which office he held till his death.

It is not, we believe, generally known, that with Mr Smellie originated that admirable scheme of a statistical account of all the parishes of Scotland, which was afterwards brought to maturity by Sir John Sinclair. At the desire of the Antiquarian Society, Mr Smellie, in 1781, drew up a regular plan of the undertaking, which was printed and circulated ; but the individuals to whom they were addressed, do not seem to have understood the important nature of the application, and only a very few complied with the directions given in it.

In 1780, Mr Smellie commenced the publication of his "Translation of Buffon's Natural History;" a work which has ever stood deservedly high in the opinion of naturalists, being illustrated with numerous notes and illustrations of the French author, besides a considerable number of new observations. It is worthy of notice, that .Mr Smellie's knowledge of the French tongue, which is acknowledged to have been profound, was entirely acquired by himself, without the aid of a master; and it is a curious fact, that, of a language he so thoroughly understood, he could scarcely pronounce one word. This fact gave unbounded surprise to a friend of Buffon, who came to Edinburgh on a visit, and waited on Mr Smellie. The stranger noted it down as one of the greatest wonders of his travels, intending, he said, to astonish the French naturalist, by relating it to him. It is perhaps the best of all tests, as regards the merits of Mr Smellie's translation, that Button himself was highly pleased with it, and even requested him to translate some of his other works ; but this, from prudential motives, Mr Smellie declined.

In the year 1780, the partnership between Mr Smellie and Mr Balfour was dissolved, when the former entered into partnership with Mr William Creech, bookseller. This connexion continued to the end of 1789, when Mr Smellie commenced, and ever afterwards carried on business, entirely on his own account.