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DALZELL, ANDREW, A. M. and
F. R. S., was born in the year 1750, at a farm house in the parish
of Ratho near Edinburgh, the son of an industrious husbandman. He acquired
the principles of his classical education at the parochial school of the
parish; from thence he went to the university of Edinburgh. There by his
assiduity and the gentleness and purity of his manners and conduct, he
acquired the esteem of the professors, and, in consequence of their high
recommendation, was appointed tutor to lord Maitland, now earl of
Lauderdale. He attended lord Maitland to the university of Glasgow, where
he assisted him in his studies, and with him heard the celebrated
professor Millar deliver a course of his juridical lectures. Having
accompanied his pupil to Paris, he was on his return home recommended, and
through the interest of the Lauderdale family appointed, to succeed Mr
Hunter as professor of Greek in the university of Edinburgh. Classical
learning had fallen into great neglect in Edinburgh when Mr Dalzell
assumed his chair, for while professor Moore, one of the most profound and
accurate scholars of the age, was raising the celebrity of the Glasgow
university, by his teaching of the Greek language, and while the Foulises
were printing in their press at that city, their beautiful editions of the
Greek classics, the literati of the Scottish capital were dedicating their
whole attention to the cultivation of English and French literature. It
became therefore the anxious desire of professor Dalzell to revive the
taste for ancient learning. To promote this object he delivered a course
of lectures on the language, history, eloquence, philosophy, poetry,
literature, antiquities, and fine arts of the Greeks. Possessed of a
perfect knowledge of the subject, these lectures were admirable for their
systematic arrangement and the elegance of the language in which they were
clothed, and being delivered in a distinct tone, with much suavity of
manner, they caused a general and enthusiastic study of the language.
Indeed it became a sort of fashion of the students of the university to
attend his lectures, and the celebrity he acquired had the effect of
drawing many students to Edinburgh from England, and from distant parts of
the kingdom. In order still farther to increase that enthusiastic love of
Grecian literature which he wished to instil into the minds of his pupils,
he published severa1 volumes of collections of select passages from the
Greek writers. These he accompanied with short Latin notes,
which are remarkable for their perspicuity and judgment, and for the
classical purity of their language. The unremitting care which he bestowed
on the improvement of his students, was repaid by them with the most
affectionate respect, nor did the interest he felt in them, terminate with
the discharge of his academical duties, for he exerted himself to the
utmost in promoting their future welfare, and to him, hundreds owed their
establishment in life. But although he was thus eminently successful in
reviving the love of ancient literature in Edinburgh, it was often a
subject of deep regret to him, that his influence over the minds of his
pupils was only transitory, and that when he happened to meet them in
after life, he almost invariably found that they had neglected their
classical studies. Such, it is much to be feared, must ever
be the case, the prosecution of ancient learning being, generally
speaking, incompatible with the struggle and bustle of the world. The only
satisfaction which remains, is that the deficiency is daily becoming less
important in the increasing beauty and copiousness of modern, more
especially of English literature.
On the death of Dr James
Robertson professor of oriental languages, Mr Dalzell was appointed to
succeed him as keeper of the library of the university. He was afterwards
chosen to succeed the Rev. Dr John Drysdale, as principal clerk to the
General Assembly of the church of Scotland, being the first layman who had
ever held that honourable appointment. For some time before his death, the
delicate state of his health prevented him from performing his public
duties, when his place was ably supplied by Dr Thomas Macknight, one of
the city clergymen of Edinburgh. He died on the 8th December,
1806, having for upwards of thirty years shed a luster on the university
by his many virtues, his high talents, and great classical attainments.
Remarkable for many amiable qualities, and endowed with high talents, it
may easily be supposed that his society was the delight of his friends;
and as he had the good fortune to live during one of the brightest periods
of Scottish literary history, when a galaxy of great men adorned the
society of Edinburgh, he included in the circle of his acquaintance many
of the greatest men this country ever produced. Of the number of his
intimate friends were Dr Gilbert Stewart, Dr Russel the historian, Sir
Robert Liston, Dr Robertson the historian, Lord Monboddo, Dugald Stewart,
and professor Christison. Mr Dalzell, in his stature was about the middle
height; his features were full but not heavy, with a fair complexion and a
mild and serene expression of countenance. His address was pleasing and
unpretending, and his conversation and manner singularly graceful. He was
frequently to be met in his solitary walks in the king’s park, which was
one of his favourite lounges. He was married to the daughter to the well
known Dr John Drysdale of the Tron church, and left several children. His
works consist of the collections from Greek authors, which he published in
several volumes, under the title of "Collectanea Minora," and
"Collectanea Majora," a translation of Chevalier’s Description
of the Plain of Troy, and many valuable papers of biography, and on other
subjects, which he contributed to the Edinburgh Royal Society’s
Transactions. He also edited Dr Drysdale’s Sermons.
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