Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/243

Rh of poetry, went, in that time, creditably through every department of English literature. Nothing came amiss to him; history, biography, voyages", travels and memoirs, novels and romances, pamphlets and periodicals. In all of these he wrote largely, and wrote well. In his literary labours he was indefatigable. Night and day he wrought with unwearying perseverance, and, by dint of this industry, associated with a remarkable facility in composition, he accomplished, in the course of his life, a greater amount of literary work, and of a greater variety of character, than perhaps any English writer who preceded him. Amongst the most important of his avowed works are, "The Man in the Moon," a novel; "Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa," a compilation from other works, published in 1782; a translation of "A History of Great Britain from the Revolution in 1688, to the Accession of George I. in 1714," from the Latin of Cunningham, 2 volumes 4to, 1787; "Memoirs of War in Asia," 1788; "Mammoth, or Human Nature displayed on a Grand Scale," a novel, 1789; "Travels in the Western Hebrides, from 1782 to 1790," from notes by the Rev. John Lane Buchanan, A.M., missionary minister to the Isles from the church of Scotland, 1793. Dr Thomson also largely assisted in a work which appeared about this period, entitled, "Travels into Norway, Denmark, and Russia," by. A. Smith, Esq.

Numerous as this list is, it comprises but a very small portion of our author's literary achievements, and gives but a faint idea of the extent and variety of his labours. He contributed largely, besides, to various newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals of the day. He also frequently acted as a reporter, and is said to have greatly excelled in this department of literary labour. For many years he published a weekly abridgment of politics in the Whitehall Evening Post, but lost this employment in 1798, in consequence of some political transgressions. In the latter years of his life, he was engaged in bringing up the arrears of Dodsley's Annual Register, of which he compiled the historical part from 1790 to 1800 inclusive. Amongst the last of his literary performances, (and it is a remarkable proof of the variety of his attainments,) was a work entitled "Memoirs relative to Military Tactics," dedicated to his royal highness, the duke of York, commander-in-chief of the forces. This work, which was begun in 1805, and finished in the ensuing year, was reckoned no inconsiderable addition to that department of literature to which it belongs, and is said to have been looked upon with favour by those competent to judge of its merits. Towards the close of his life, Dr Thomson wholly resigned his literary labours, and retired to Kensington, where he died, in decent, but not by any means affluent circumstances, on the 16th of March, 1817, in the 71st year of his age, leaving behind him a reputation very far from being proportioned, either to the extent of his labours, or to the amount of his abilities and acquirements.

TURNBULL,, bishop of Glasgow, and lord privy seal of Scotland, descended from the Turnbulls of Minto, in Roxburghshire, was born in the early part of the fifteenth century. Having been educated for the church, he entered into orders, and was appointed prebend of Balenrick (connected with which dignity was the lordship of Prevan) in the year 1440. In the year 1445, he was preferred to be secretary and keeper of the privy seal; at which time, as appears by the act of council, he was called William Turnbull, lord of Prevan. He wall shortly after this inaugurated Doctor of Laws, and made archdeacon of St Andrews, within the bounds of Lothian. By some writers, he is said to have been about this time bishop of Dunkeld; but this, we think, is doubtful. In the year 1447, he was promoted to the see of Glasgow, upon the death of bishop Bruce, and was consecrated in the year 1448.