This work, so often quoted, is familiar to every antiquary; but as the name
of the intelligent and laborious editor does not appear in any of our
biographical dictionaries, a short sketch may not be unacceptable to our
readers.
William Robertson was born at Fordyce, in the county of Banff, in the year
1740. Having gone through the usual course of elementary instruction in
reading and writing, he entered the Latin class at the grammar school of
his native parish; a seminary then, as now, of great celebrity in the North
of Scotland. Among his schoolfellows he contracted a particular intimacy
with Mr. George Chalmers, afterwards Secretary of the Board of Trade; so
well known by many elaborate and valuable commercial, historical, and
biographical publications. The connexion between the schoolboys,
originating in a similarity of taste and pursuits, was strengthened at a
subsequent period of their lives by the contributions of the intelligent
Deputy Keeper of the Records of Scotland to the local and historical
information of the author of _Caledonia_, so honourably recorded in that
national work. He completed his academical studies at King's College,
Aberdeen, where he was particularly distinguished by his proficiency in the
Greek language, under Professor Leslie. He was then apprenticed to Mr.
Turner of Turnerhall, advocate in Aberdeen; but had been little more than a
year in that situation, when Mr. Burnett of Monboddo applied to Professor
Leslie to recommend to him as his second clerk a young man who had a
competent knowledge of the Greek language, and properly qualified to aid
him in his literary pursuits. The Professor immediately mentioned young
Robertson; and Mr. Turner, in the most handsome manner, cancelled his
articles of apprenticeship. During his connexion with Mr. Burnett, he
accompanied him in several visits to France, on taking evidence as one of
the counsel in the great Douglas cause. On his first visit there, he went
with him to see the savage girl, who, at that time, was creating a great
sensation in Paris; and, at his request, made a translation {102} of M.
Condamines' account of her, to which Mr. Burnett wrote a preface. In the
year 1766 he was appointed Chamberlain to James, Earl of Findlater and
Seafield, on the recommendation of Lord Monboddo. In 1768 he published, at
Edinburgh, _The History of Greece, from the Earliest Times till it became a
Roman Province_, being a concise and particular account of the civil
government, religion, literature, and military affairs of the states of
Greece, for the use of seminaries of education, and the general reader, in
1 vol. 12mo. At this period, having caught a portion of the jealous
nationality of the multitude, he published a political _jeu d'esprit_
entitled _A North Briton Extraordinary_, by a young Scotsman in the
Corsican service, 4to., 1769: designed to repel the illiberal invectives of
Mr. Wilkes against the people of Scotland. Some of the popular objections
to the Union reiterated by the young Scotsman having been found in the
characteristic discussion between Lieutenant Lesmahagon and Matthew Bramble
on the same subject, in _The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker_, the
authorship was on that account erroneously attributed to Dr. Smollet, who
had then discontinued an unsuccessful opposition to Mr. Wilkes in the _The
Briton_.
In 1773 Mr. Robertson married Miss Donald, only child of Captain Alexander
Donald, of the 89th, or Gordon Highlanders. In the year 1777 he received
his commission from Lord Frederick Campbell, the Lord Clerk Register of
Scotland, as colleague of his brother, Mr. Alexander Robertson, who had
been appointed one of the Deputy Keepers of the Records of Scotland some
years before. He was now in a situation completely suited to his wishes,
and entered on the duties of his office with the utmost enthusiasm. It very
early occurred to him, that many ancient records of Scotland, which had
been removed by Edward I., might still be recovered; and he suggested to
Lord Frederick Campbell, who was as enthusiastic as himself in everything
tending to throw light on the early history of Scotland, that searches
ought to be made in the State Paper Office in London for the purpose of
ascertaining whether some of the earlier records might yet be found. Lord
Frederick Campbell entered warmly into his views, and the success with
which the search was made may be ascertained by consulting the Preface to
the _Index of Charters_.
The Reports to the Parliamentary Commissioners appointed to inquire into
the state of the records, with the suggestions made by him, and which have
been so ably followed up since his death by the late Thomas Thomson, Esq.,
Deputy Clerk Register, were considered of such importance as to merit a
vote of thanks of the Select Committee, which was transmitted to him along
with a very friendly letter from Mr. Abbot, then Speaker of the House of
Commons, afterwards Lord Colchester. He commenced the laborious work of
printing _The Records of the Parliament of Scotland_, in which he made
considerable progress, having, previous to his death, completed one very
large folio volume.
Between the years 1780 and 1790, in consequence of a strict investigation
into the validity of the claims of several persons to peerages in Scotland,
Mr. Robertson was much employed in inquiring into the state of the peerage,
both by those who made and those who rejected such claims. This
circumstance naturally led him to a minute acquaintance with the subject;
and induced him to publish, in 1794, a quarto volume, entitled _Proceedings
relative to the Peerage of Scotland from 16th January, 1707, to 20th April,
1788_: a work which has been found of the greatest service in conducting
the elections of the representative peers of Scotland.