Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/375

 , among other papers, one, in 1818, ‘On the Ancient Geography of Central and Eastern Asia, with Illustrations derived from Recent Discoveries in the North of India’ (Trans. viii. 171–203). In 1817 he enlarged and completed Dr. Leyden's ‘Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa.’ Similar works by him on Asia and North America followed; the former being published in three volumes at Edinburgh in 1820 (cf. Quarterly Review, xxiv. 311–41), and the latter in London in 1829.

Murray's magnum opus was the 'Encyclopedia of Geography, a Description of the Earth, physical, statistical, civil, and political' (London, 1834), of which the purely geographical part was written by himself, while Sir W. Hooker undertook the zoological, Professor W. Wallace the geological, and V. W. Swainston the astronomical departments. A supplement was published in 1843. The work contained eighty-two maps and over a thousand woodcuts. It was well received, and an American edition (1843) in three volumes, edited by Thos. G. Bradford, had a large sale. Murray also contributed largely to the press, and in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library there appeared compilations by him on the history or geography of the Southern Seas' (1826), the 'Polar Seas' 1830), 'British India' (1832), 'China' (1836), 'British America' (1839), 'Africa' (1830), 'The United States' (1844). Many of these volumes had the advantage of contributions on natural history by Jameson, Traill, J. Nicol, and others. Murray was for a time editor of the 'Scots Magazine,' and was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London. His connection with Constable's 'Edinburgh Gazetteer ' caused him to figure in in the celebrated tory squib, written by Hogg and others, called ‘Translation from an Ancient Chaldee MS.’ (ch. iii. 47–8), which appeared in ‘Blackwood's Magazine’ for October 1817. He died after a short illness, while on a visit to London, in Wardrobe Place, Doctors' Commons, on 4 March 1846. T. Constable refers to him as ‘an eminent geographer, whose extreme modesty prevented his being known and honoured as he deserved to be’ (''Arch. Constable and his Friends'', ii. 381).

Besides the works mentioned Murray's chief publications were: 1. ‘A Catechism of Geography,’ 4th ed. enlarged, Edinb. 1833, 12mo, 7th ed. 1842. 2. ‘Travels of Marco Polo,’ amended and enlarged, with notes,’ 1844 8vo, 1845 12mo. Posthumously: 3. ‘The African Continent: a Narrative of Discovery and Invention … with an Account of recent exploring expeditions by J. M. Wilson,’ 1853, 8vo. 4. ‘Pictorial History of the United States of America to the close of Pres. Taylor's Admin. … with Additions and Corrections by H. C. Watson,’ illustrated, Boston, Massachusetts, 1861, 8vo.



 MURRAY, JAMES (d. 1596), of Pardovis, author of the placards against Bothwell, was third son of Sir William Murray of Tullibardine, by Catherine, daughter of Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchy. He was a younger brother of Sir William Murray of Tullibardine [q. v.], comptroller. On 24 Aug. 1564 Mary queen of Scots wrote to Elizabeth for a passport for him to trade with England for the space of one year (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1564-5, entry 632). The real purpose of the pass seems, however, to have been to permit him to proceed on a private embassy of the queen of Scots to France. In February 1565 he returned from France as a messenger from Bothwell to the queen in regard to the conditions of Bothwell's return to Scotland (ib. entry 1017), and on 30 May a pass was obtained for him to go back again through England to France (ib. entry 1207). Notwithstanding his previous relations with Bothwell, Murray, after the murder of Darnley, became his determined enemy. When the privy council on 12 Feb. published a proclamation announcing a reward of two thousand merks Scots for the discovery of the perpetrators of the crime, placards were on the 16th affixed on the Tolbooth declaring the murderers to be Bothwell, Sir James Balfour, and others. On the proclamation of a reward for the name of the person who had issued the placards, another was affixed in which the author expressed his willingness to disclose himself and to make good his accusation, provided the money were placed in an honest man's hands. In March Murray announced that he was the author of the placards (Drury to Cecil, 21 March 1567, ib. entry 1034), and on 14 March an order was issued by the privy council to prevent him leaving the country (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 500). Nevertheless Murray succeeded in escaping arrest, and even offered to furnish proofs at the trial of Bothwell of the guilt of Bothwell and his accomplices, provided his own safety were guaranteed, but the queen declined to agree to these conditions (Drury to Cecil, 27 March and 2 April, Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1566-8, entries 1052 and