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 of pastoral theology for the secession church, but retained his charge. Harper took an active part in promoting the union of the secession and relief bodies, which was effected in 1848. In that year he was transferred from the chair of pastoral to that of systematic theology. He also promoted a commemoration of the Westminster Assembly in 1843, and of the evangelical alliance which sprang out of that commemoration. In 1850 he was appointed editor of the 'United Presbyterian Magazine,' which took the place of the journals of the Secession and the Relief. In 1860 he became moderator of the united presbyterian synod. He supported the proposal of union between the united presbyterian and free churches, and was an active member of the committee which strove to effect that union, but unsuccessfully, owing to the opposition of Dr. Begg and others. In 1876, when the theological hall of the united presbyterian church was reconstructed, and the period of study changed and enlarged, he was associated with Dr. Cairns in the chair of apologetical and systematic theology, and likewise called to preside over the college. In 1877 the university of Glasgow conferred on him the honorary degree of D.D. He died on 13 April 1879.

Harper made no important contributions to literature, but enjoyed an excellent reputation as a scholar and theologian.  HARPER, JOHN (d. 1742), actor, originally performed at Bartholomew and Southwark fairs. A performance for his benefit at Bullock's booth in Birdcage Alley, consisting of the 'Jew of Venice,' songs and dances, and the drunken man by Harper, is announced in the 'Daily Courant' of 24 Sept. 1719. On 7 Nov. at Lincoln's Inn Fields he was the original Montmorency in Buckingham's 'Henry IV of France,' and during the season of 1719-20 he played Teague in 'The Committee,' and was the first representative among other characters of Grogram (a mercer) in the 'Pretenders,' and Sir Roland Heartfree in Griffin's ' Whig and Tory.' He remained at Lincoln's Inn Fields until 1721, playing among other parts Dr. Caius in the 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' and Ajax in 'Troilus and Cressida.' On 27 Oct. 1721 his name appears as Sir Epicure Mammon in the 'Alchemist' at Drury Lane. Here he remained for eleven years, taking the parts of booby squires, foxhunters, &c., proving himself what Victor calls 'a jolly facetious low comedian.' His good voice was serviceable in ballad opera and farce. Davies, who speaks of him as 'a lusty fat man,' praises the brutal and jolly ignorance of his Sir Harry Gubbins in the 'Tender Husband,' the absurd humour, awkward bashfulness, and good-natured obstinacy of his Sir Wilful Witwould in the 'Way of the World,' and declares his Jobson 'the Cobbler in the 'Devil to Pay, or the Wives Metamorphosed,' of Coffey an admirable second to Miss Clive's inimitable Nell. For some years he was the Falstaff of Drury Lane, and he also played the king in 'King Henry VIII,' and in Banks' 'Virtue Betrayed.' His Falstaff was more popular than that of Quin, and had, according to Victor, a jollity wanting in his rival. Tony Aston says that 'the Falstaff of Betterton wanted the drollery of Harper' (Brief Supplement, p. 4). In Sir Epicure Mammon he failed to please Davies, and his only qualifications for King Henry appear to have been fatness and joviality. Harper was one of the actors who in 1733 seceded from Drury Lane. On account of his 'natural timidity,' according to Davies, he was selected by Highmore, the patentee, in order to test the status of an actor, to be the victim of legal proceedings taken under the Vagrant Act, 12 Queen Anne, and on 12 Nov. 1733 he was committed to Bridewell as a vagabond. On 20 Nov. he came before the chief justice of the king's bench. It was pleaded on his behalf that he paid his debts, was well esteemed by persons of condition, was a freeholder in Surrey, and a householder in Westminster. He was discharged amid acclamations on his own recognisance. On 21 Oct. 1738 Harper's name appears in the Drury Lane bills in his favourite part of Cacafogo in 'Rule a Wife and have a Wife.' Soon afterwards he had a stroke of paralysis. He died on 1 Jan. 1742. A print of Harper as Jobson was published in 1739.  HARPER, JOHN (1809–1842), architect, was born at Dunkenhalgh Hall, near Blackburn, Lancashire, on 11 Nov. 1809. He studied his profession under Benjamin and Philip Wyatt, and when with them prepared the designs for Apsley House, York House, and the Duke of York's Column. He commenced practice as an architect at York, and was employed by the Duke of Devonshire at Bolton Abbey, by Lord Londesborough, and others. His best-known works are the proprietary school at Clifton, York, the Roman catholic church at Bury, Lancashire, and the Freetown and Elton churches in the same town. When travelling in Italy for the purpose of studying art, he caught a 