SIBBALD, JAMES, an
ingenious inquirer into Scottish literary antiquities, was the son of Mr
John Sibbald, farmer at Whitlaw, in Roxburghshire, where he was born in the
year 1747, or early in 1748. He was educated at the grammar school of
Selkirk, from which Whitlaw is only a few miles distant. He commenced life,
by leasing the farm of Newton from Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobs. Here he
pursued various studies, each of which, for the time, seemed to him the most
important in the world; till another succeeded, and in its turn absorbed his
whole attention. One of his favourite pursuits was botany, then little
studied by any class of people in Scotland, and particularly by farmers.
Owing to the depression which the American war produced in the value of farm
stock, Mr Sibbald found his affairs by no means in a prosperous condition;
and, accordingly, in May, 1779, he disposed of the whole by auction, and,
giving up his lease to the landlord, repaired to Edinburgh, with about a
hundred pounds in his pocket, in order to commence a new line of life. A
taste for literature, and an acquaintance with Mr Charles Elliot, who was a
native of the same district, induced him to enter as a kind of volunteer
shopman into the employment of that eminent publisher, with whom he
continued about a year. He then purchased the circulating library which had
formerly belonged to Allan Ramsay, and, in 1780 or 1781, commenced business
as a bookseller in the Parliament Square. It is not unworthy of notice, that
Mr Sibbald conducted the library at the time when Sir Walter Scott, then a
boy, devoured its contents with the ardour described in one of his
autobiographical prefaces. Mr Sibbald carried on business with a degree of
spirit and enterprise, beyond the most of his brethren. He was the first to
introduce the better order of engravings into Edinburgh, in which department
of trade he was for a considerable time eminently successful. Many of these
prints were of the mezzotinto kind, and were coloured to resemble paintings.
Being viewed in the Scottish capital as altogether the production of
metropolitan genius, they were exceedingly well received, and extensively
purchased. At length, Mr Sibbald was detected one day in the act of
colouring some of them himself; and from that time his trade experienced an
evident decline. He had not been long in business, when his talents and
acquired knowledge sought an appropriate field of display, in a monthly
literary miscellany, which he established, (1783,) under the name of the
"Edinburgh Magazine." This was the first time that a rival to the ancient
Scots Magazine met with decided success. The Edinburgh Magazine was of a
somewhat more ambitious and attractive character than its predecessor;
contained more original matter, and that of a livelier kind; and was
ornamented by engraved frontispieces, representing mansions, castles, and
other remarkable objects. Mr Sibbald was himself the editor and chief
contributor; and it is said that his articles, though not marked by any
signature, were generally distinguished as superior to the ordinary papers
then admitted into magazines. His lucubrations on Scottish antiquities were
of so much merit, as to secure to their author the friendship of lord Hailes,
and other eminent literary characters, who became occasional contributors to
his miscellany. Early in 1791, with the view of devoting himself more to
literary pursuits, Mr Sibbald made an arrangement for giving up the
management of his business to two young men, Messrs Laurie and Symington,
the property of the stock and of the magazine continuing in his own hands,
while those individuals paid him an allowance for both out of the profits.
From this period, till late in 1792, the magazine professes, on the
title-page, to be printed for him, but sold by Laurie and Symington. At the
date last mentioned, his name disappears entirely from the work, which,
however, was still carried on for his benefit, the sale being generally
about six or seven hundred copies.
In 1792, Mr Sibbald conducted
a newspaper, which was then started, under the name of the "Edinburgh
Herald," and which did not continue long in existence. It is worth
mentioning that, in this paper, he commenced the practice of giving an
original leading article, similar to what was presented in the London
prints, though it has only been in recent times that such a plan became
general in Scotland. According to the notes of an agreement formed in July,
1793, between Mr Sibbald and Mr Laurie, the temporary direction and profits
of the Edinburgh circulating library, were conveyed to the latter for ten
years, from the ensuing January, in consideration of a rent of, it is
believed, £200 per annum, to be paid quarterly to Mr Sibbald, but subject to
a deduction for the purchase of new books, to be added to the library. Mr
Sibbald now went to London, where he resided for some years, in the
enjoyment of literary society, and the prosecution of various literary
speculations, being supported by the small independency which he had thus
secured for himself. Here he composed a work, entitled, "Record of the
Public Ministry of Jesus Christ; comprehending all that is related by the
Four Evangelists, in one regular narrative, without repetition or omission,
arranged with strict attention to the Chronology, and to their own Words,
according to the most esteemed translation; with Preliminary Observations."
This work was published at Edinburgh in 1798, and was chiefly remarkable for
the view which it took respecting the space of time occupied by the public
ministrations of Christ, which former writers had supposed to be three or
four years, but was represented by Mr Sibbald as comprehended within twelve
months. While in London, his Scottish relations altogether lost sight of
him; they neither knew where he lived, nor how he lived. At length his
brother William, a merchant in Leith, made a particular inquiry into these
circumstances, by a letter, which he sent through such a channel as to be
sure of reaching him. The answer was comprised in the following words:—"My
lodging is in Soho, and my business is so so." Having subsequently returned
to Edinburgh, he there edited, in 1797, a work, entitled, "The Vocal
Magazine, a Selection of the most esteemed English, Scots, and Irish Airs,
ancient and modern, adapted for the Harpsichord or Violin." For such an
employment he was qualified by a general acquaintance with music. In 1799,
Mr Sibbald revised his agreement with Mr Laurie, who undertook to lease the
business for twenty-one years, after January, 1800, at the rent of one
hundred guineas, himself supplying the new books, which were to remain his
own property. Finding, however, that, even at this low rental, he did not
prosper in his undertaking, Laurie soon after gave up the business into the
hands of Mr Sibbald, by whom it was carried on till his death. [The history
of the Edinburgh circulating library may here be briefly narrated.
Established by Allan Ramsay in 1725, it was conducted by that eminent person
till near the period of his death, in 1757, when it was sold to a Mr Yair,
whose widow carried it on till 1780, when it was sold to Mr Sibbald. A
daughter of Mrs Yair was married to the late Dr Bell, author of the "Madras
System of Education." By Mr Sibbald, who greatly increased the collection,
it was conducted, under various circumstances, as above stated, till 1803,
when his brother and executor, William Sibbald, merchant in Leith,
endeavoured to carry it on, under the superintendence of a Mr Stevenson.
Finding it by no means prosperous, and the latter gentleman having died, Mr
Sibbald disposed of it, in 1806, to Mr Alexander Mackay, who conducted it
until a recent period, when it was broken up, and sold off by auction. It
does not appear to have thriven in any remarkable degree, till the accession
of Mr Mackay, who retired from it with a competency.]
The latter years of this
ingenious man were chiefly spent in the compilation of his well-known
"Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, and Glossary of the Scottish Language," four
volumes, 12mo; a work of taste and erudition, which will perpetuate his name
among those who have illustrated our national literature. The three first
volumes exhibit a regular chronological series of extracts from the writings
of the Scottish poets to the reign of James VI.; illustrated by
biographical, critical, and archaeological notices: the fourth contains a
vocabulary of the language, only inferior in amplitude and general value to
the more voluminous work of Dr Jamieson. The "Chronicle" appeared in 1802.
This ingenious writer died,
in April, 1803, at his lodgings in Leith Walk. Two portraits of him have
been given by Kay; one representing him as he daily walked up the centre of
the High Street of Edinburgh, with his hand behind his back, and an umbrella
under his arm; another places him amidst a group of connoisseurs, who are
inspecting a picture. He was a man of eccentric, but benevolent and amiable
character. The same exclusiveness which actuated his studies, governed him
in domestic life: even in food, he used to give his whole favour for a time
to one object, and then change it for some other, to which he was in turn as
fondly devoted. He belonged to a great number of convivial clubs, and was so
much beloved by many of his associates in those fraternities, that, for some
years after his death, they celebrated his birth-day by a social meeting. |