Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/231

 of fifty years' duration, Mr. Graham Dalyell published "Observations on some Interesting Phenomena in Animal Physiology, exhibited by several Species of Planariæ," 8vo, 1814. Another work, which he published in 1847, in two splendid quartos, enriched with more than a hundred coloured plates, drawn from the living subjects, was entitled, "Rare and Remarkable Animals of Scotland, represented from Living Subjects, with Practical Observations on their Nature." He was also the author of several articles in the "Encyclopedia Britannica."

From the foregoing brief notice, some estimate may be formed of the literary character of Mr. Dalyell. An antiquary at a time when Scottish antiquarianism was little cultivated, his labours as well as his example gave a powerful impulse to that study, which soon became so widely diffused, and has been productive of such happy results. It is owing, indeed, to this spirit of inquiry, that few histories of nations have been more effectually cleared from darkness, and purified from error, than that of Scotland, although few have undergone such a cruel process as that which was devised to annihilate it. But Mr. Dalyell was something more than an antiquary, although he stood in the front rank of the order; he was also an accomplished classical scholar, and well acquainted with mechanical science and natural history, of which his writings are an abundant proof. Although as an author he was so prolific, his diligence and perseverance are the more to be admired, when we remember that such was his fastidiousness in composition, that he would seldom commit his manuscript to the press until it had been re-written four or five times over.

Sir John Graham Dalyell received the honour of knighthood by patent in 1836, and succeeded to the baronetcy of Binns, by the death of his elder brother, in 1841. His own death occurred on the 7th of June, 1851. As he was never married, he was succeeded in his title and estates by his brother, Sir William Cunningham Cavendish Dalyell, commander in the royal navy.

, surnamed, was the son of George, fifth Earl of Angus. The elder branch of the noble house of Douglas, that was represented by the holders of the earldom of that name, and the dukedom of Touraine in France, had become so powerful, and so dangerous to the royal family, that the Stuarts had tried by every plan, both of violence and policy, to lessen its influence and circumscribe its power. One method which they adopted was, to exalt the house of Angus, a younger branch of the family. But this only superseded one evil by another, and the Earls of Angus soon threatened to become as formidable to royal authority as the Earls of Douglas had formerly been. Archibald, who succeeded to the earldom of Angus when only six or seven years old, was born to an inheritance which his father had greatly enlarged, so that when the young minor attained to manhood, he was by far the most powerful nobleman in Scotland, and he was commonly called the "Great Earl of Angus." He married, in 1468, Elizabeth Boyd, daughter of Robert, Lord Boyd, the all-powerful and afterwards disgraced minister of James III., by whom he had four sons and three daughters.

During the earlier part of the reign of James III., little of Angus is known, except that he was distinguished for stature, strength, and courage, like most of his race, as well as for great possessions and political influence. It was probably during this reign that an event occurred, characteristic of the man and the times. One day, at table, as the king was conversing with his courtiers, of the men of Scotland who were pre-eminent in corporeal endowments, all