Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/806

782 mentioned appeared the Itinerarium Septentrionale, his greatest and best known work. He was already the friend of Sir John Clerk, of Penicuick, better known as Baron Clerk, from his having been appointed one of the Barons of the Exchequer; and the Baron and Roger Gale are the “ two gentlemen, the honour of their age and country,” whose letters were published, without their consent it appears, as an appendix to the Itinerarium. Subsequently Gordon was appointed secretary to the Society for the Encouragement of Learning, with an annual salary of £50. llesigning this post he succeeded Dr Stukeley as secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, and also acted for a short time as secretary to the Egyptian Club, an association composed of gentlemen who had visited Egypt. In 1741 he accompanied Governor Glen to South Carolina. No explanation has yet been given of the reasons which led to this step, or of the relations between the old “ Roman ” antiquary and his new patron. A hint, but nothing more, is afforded by the fact that in the list of subscribers to the I tinerarium we ﬁnd the name of “James Glen of Longcroft, Esq.” Through the inﬂuence probably of his friend, Gordon, besides receiving a grant of land in Carolina, was appointed registrar of the province, and justice of the peace, and ﬁlled several other ofﬁces. From his will, still in existence, dated 22d August 1754, we learn that he had a son Alexander and a daughter Frances, to whom he bequeathed most of his property, among which were portraits of himself and of friends painted by his own hand.

1em  GORDON,, (1751–1793), third and youngest son of Cosmo George, duke of Gordon, was born in London 26th December 1751. After completing his education at Eton, he entered the navy, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant; but on account of a disagreement regarding promotion with Lord Sandwith, then at the head of the admiralty, he resigned his commission shortly before the commencement of the American war. In 1774 he entered parliament as member for the small borough of Luggershall, and possessing some wit, great ease of address, and the conﬁdence arising from sincere conviction, he advocated his individual notions on any subject with great volubility and with something of the eagerness of monomania. After supporting the ministry for some time, he began to attack both ministry and opposition with such ceaseless pertinacity that it became a common saying that “there were three parties in parliament, the ministry, the opposition, and Lord George Gordon.” He vehemently opposed the passing of the Acts for the removal of the Roman Catholic disabilities, and took a leading part in organizing the Protestant associations of Seotland and England. Of both associations he was chosen president, and on June 2d 1780 he headed the mob which marched in procession from that time in St George’s Fields to the Houses of Parliament in order to present the mouster petition against the Acts. After the mob reached Westminster a terriﬁc riot ensued, which continued several days, during which the city was virtually at their mercy. At ﬁrst indeed they dispersed after threatening to make a forcible entry into the House of Commons, but reassembled soon afterwards and destroyed several Roman Catholic chapels, pillaged the private dwellings of many Roman Catholics, set ﬁre to Newgate and broke open all the other prisons, attacked the Bank of England and several other public buildings, and continued the work of violence and conflagration until the interference of the military, by whom no fewer than 450 persons were killed and wounded before the riots were quelled. For his share in instigating the riots Lord Gordon was apprehended on a charge of high treason; but, mainly through the skilful and eloquent defence of Erskine, he was acquitted on the ground that he had no treasonable intentions. In 1786 he was excommunicated by the archbishop of Canterbury for refusing to bear witness in an ecclesiastical suit; and in 1787 he was convicted of libelling the queen of France, the French ambassador, and the administration of justice in England. He was, however, permitted to withdraw from the court without bail, and made his escape to Holland; but on account of representations from the court of Versailles he was commanded to quit that country, and, returning to England, was apprehended, and in January 1788 was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in Newgate, where, after refusing to grant the guarantees required as a condition of his obtaining his liberty at the conclusion of his original term of imprisonment, he died of delirious fever November 1, 1793. Some time before his apprehension he had become a convert to Judaism, and had undergone the initiatory rite. A serious defence of most of his eccentricities is undertaken in The Life of Lord George Gordon, with. a Philosophical Review of his Political Conduct, by Robert \Vatson, M.D., London, 1795.  GORDON, (1788–1864), Scottish painter, was the eldest son of Captain “'atson, ll.N., a cadet of the family of \Vatson of Overmains, in the county of Berwick. He was born in Edinburgh in 1788, and, it being his father’s desire that he should enter the army, was educated specially with a view to his joining the Royal Eunineers. As drawing was even at that Period considered a not inappropriate accomplishment for the scientific service, he was, while waiting for his commission, entered as a student in the Government school of design, then as now under the management of the Board of Manufactures. With the opportunity, his natural taste for art quickly developed itself, and his industry and progress were such that his father was persuaded to allow him to adopt it as his profession. Captain Watson was himself a skilful draughtsman, and his brother George Watson, afterwards president of the Scottish Academy, stood high as a portrait painter, second only to Sir Henry Raeburn, who also was a friend of the family. Between the. studios of his uncle and his friend, John Watson seems to have thought he had every necessary assistance a young artist required, and neither then nor at a future period showed any desire for foreign study; his art consequently is more purely of native growth than that of any of his contemporaries. In the year 1808 he sent to the exhibition of the Lyceum in Nicolson Street a subject from the [my of "(1‘ Last JIinstrel, and continued for some years to exhibit fancy subjects; but, although freely and sweetly painted,th(-y were altogether without the force and character which in his own proper walk stamped his portrait pictures as the works of a master. After the death of Sir Henry Ilaeburn in 1823, he succeeded to much of his practice ; and as there were at Edinburgh four artists of the name of Watson, _ all of them portrait painters, he assumed in 1826 the name of Gordon, by which he is best known. Mixing a good deal in literary and scientiﬁc society, he painted most of the notabilities who lived in or visited the northern metropolis during his career; one of the earliest of his famous sitters was Sir Walter Scott, who sat for a ﬁrst portrait in 1820. Then came J. G. Lockhart in 1821 ; Professor Wilson, 1822 and 1850, two portraits; Sir Archibald Alison, 1839; Dr Chalmers, 1844 ; a little later De Quincey;and Sir David Brewster, 1864, being the last picture he painted. Among his most important works may be mentioned the earl of Dalhousie, 1833, now in the Archers’ Hall, Edinburgh ; Sir Alexander Hope, 1835, in the county buildings;