Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/291

Macsparran  about glebe land which lasted for twenty-eight years. In June 1736 he went to England for a year. The university of Oxford, to mark their appreciation of the sacrifices which he had made in resisting the dissenters, conferred on him the degree of D.D. on 5 April 1787. On 4 Aug. 1751 Macsparran preached at St. Paul's Church, Narragansett, a sermon on the 'Sacred Dignity of the Christian Priesthood vindicated,' which he afterwards had printed at Newport, Rhode Island. The object of his discourse was to correct sundry irregularities which had crept into the worship of the English church in America; but the congregational clergy chose to understand it as directed against themselves, and some vigorous pamphleteering ensued, in which, however, Macsparran declined to take part. In 1752 the lawsuit, on which Macsparran expended at least 600l., ended in favour of the 'independent teacher,' The Bishop of London condoled with him on the loss of a cause 'so just on the church's side,' and hinted that there would be no difficulty in making him bishop of Rhode Island were he so inclined. Macsparran accordingly went to England in the autumn of 1754, accompanied by his wife; but the death of his wife induced him to return to America in February 1756 without becoming a bishop. 'He had rather dwell,' he said, 'in the hearts of his parishioners than wear all the bishop's gowns in the world.' He longed in reality for preferment in Ireland, for which he knew himself to be peculiarly well qualified, as he could read and write, and upon occasion preach, in Irish.

Macsparran died at his house in South Kingston, Rhode Island, on 1 Dec. 1757, and was buried on 6 Dec. under the communion table in St. Paul's, Narragansett. On 22 May 1722 he married Hannah, daughter of William Gardiner of Boston Neck, Narragansett. She died in London of smallpox on 24 June 1755, and was buried in Broadway Chapel burying-yard in Westminster, leaving no issue.

His chief work is entitled 'America Dissected: being a Full and True Account of the American Colonies,' Dublin, 1753. It consists of three letters addressed respectively to the Hon. Colonel Henry Cary, his cousin the Rev. Paul Limrick, and William Stevenson, and was published to warn 'unsteady people' against emigrating to America on account of bad climate, bad money, danger from enemies, pestilent heresies, and the like. This curious work, which is among the scarcest of Americana, was reprinted in an appendix to Wilkins Updike's 'History of the Episcopal Church in Narragansett,' New York, 1847, with portraits of Macsparran and his wife. Macsparran likewise published several sermons, which are also very scarce. He contemplated printing an extended history of the colonies, especially of New England, but of this no trace could be found among his papers.

 MACTAGGART, JOHN (1791–1830), encyclopaedist and versifier, was born in the parish of Borgue, Kirkcudbrightshire, 26 June 1791. At Kirkcudbright academy he displayed mathematical faculty, and entering Edinburgh University in 1817 he specially studied mathematics and physics, but withdrew at the end of two sessions, as he 'never received any good from attending the university.' After a few years at home as an agriculturist he was appointed in 1826, by Rennie the engineer, clerk of works to the Rideau Canal, Canada, where his special knowledge and strong character were very serviceable. In 1828 he returned in weak health, bringing with him a work in two volumes on his experiences in Canada. He died 8 Jan. 1830.

Mactaggart's 'Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia,' published in 1824, and reprinted in 1876, is a clever and eccentric medley of local history, quaint etymologies, stray verses, biographical notices, &c. Alphabetically arranged, the work gives, in its proper place, an autobiography of Mactaggart himself. 'Three Years in Canada,' a vigorous, characteristic narrative, appeared in 1829. Mactaggart also wrote a pamphlet entitled 'Osborne and Symington on the Weigh-Beam.'

 MACVICAR, JOHN GIBSON (1800–1884), author, born at Dundee on 16 March 1800, was second son of Patrick Macvicar, minister of St. Paul's, Dundee, by his first wife, Agnes, daughter of John Gibson, minister of Mains, Forfarshire (, Fasti Eccl. Scot. vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 696). After being educated privately he entered in 1814 the university of St. Andrews, where he won a prize for mathematics and the medal for natural philosophy. Then proceeding to Edinburgh he studied chemistry, anatomy, and natural history, besides the ordinary subjects. He was licensed as a preacher by the presbytery of Dundee, but before receiving a call was appointed in 1827 to a new lectureship in natural history instituted at St. Andrews, which Dr.