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RUSSELL, WILLIAM, a
historical and miscellaneous writer, was the elder son of Alexander Russell
and Christian Ballantyne, residing at Windydoors, in the county of Selkirk,
where he was born in the year 1741. At the neighbouring school of
Innerleithen, he acquired a slender knowledge of Latin and Greek, and,
having removed in 1756, to Edinburgh, he there studied writing and
arithmetic for about ten months. This completed the amount of his school
education. He now commenced an apprenticeship of five years, under
Messrs Martin and Wotherspoon, booksellers and printers, during which period
he added considerably to his stock of knowledge by private study. At the end
of his apprenticeship, he published a selection of modern poetry, which was
thought judicious, and helped to extend the reputation of Gray and Shenstone
in his native country. In 1763, while working as a journeyman printer, he
became a member of a literary association styled the Miscellaneous Society,
of which Mr Andrew Dalzell, afterwards professor of Greek in the Edinburgh
university, and Mr Robert Liston, afterwards Sir Robert, and ambassador at
Constantinople, were also members. To these two gentlemen he submitted a
translation of Crebillon’s "Rhadamisthe et Zenobie," which, after their
revisal, was presented to Garrick, but rejected. Not long after he seems to
have formed an intimacy with Patrick lord Elibank, who invited him to spend
some time at his seat in East Lothian, and encouraged him in the prosecution
of a literary career. He therefore relinquished his labours as a printer;
and after spending a considerable time in study at his father’s house in the
country, set out, in May 1767, for London. Here he was disappointed in his
best hopes, and found it necessary to seek subsistence as corrector of the
press to Mr Strachan, the celebrated printer. While prosecuting this
employment, he published several essays in prose and verse, but without
fixing the attention of the world in any eminent degree. His "Sentimental
Tales" appeared in 1770; his "Fables, Sentimental and Moral," and
translation of Thomas’s "Essay on the Character of Women," in 1772; and his
"Julia," a poetical Romance, in 1774. Other pieces were scattered throughout
the periodical works. His success was nevertheless such as to enable him to
give up his office at the press, and depend upon his pen for subsistence.
After an unsuccessful History of America, he produced, in 1779, the first
two volumes of the work by which alone his name has been rescued from
oblivion—"The History of Modern Europe:" the three remaining
volumes appeared in 1784.
This has ever since been
reckoned a useful and most convenient work on the subject which it treats.
"It possesses," says Dr Irving, with whose opinion we entirely concur,
"great merit, as a popular view of a very extensive period of history. The
author displays no inconsiderable judgment in the selection of his leading
incidents, and in the general arrangement of his materials; and he seems to
have studied the philosophy of history with assiduity and success. His
narrative is always free from languor; and his liberal reflections are
conveyed in a lively and elegant style." Dr Irving states that, in the
composition of each volume of this book, the author spent twelve months. He
closed the history with the peace of Paris in 1763; and it has been
continued to the close of the reign of George IV., by Dr Coote and other
writers.
Mr Russell’s studies were
interrupted for a while in 1780, by a voyage to Jamaica, which he undertook
for the purpose of recovering some money left there by a deceased brother.
In 1787, he married Miss Scott, and retired to a farm called Knottyholm,
near Langholm, where he spent the remainder of his days in an elegant
cottage on the banks of the Esk. In 1792, he received the degree of doctor
of laws from St Andrews, and in the ensuing year published the first two
volumes of a "History of Ancient Europe," which is characterized by nearly
the same qualities as the former work. He did not live, however, to complete
this undertaking, being cut off by a sudden stroke of palsy, December 25,
1793. He was buried in the church-yard of the parish of Westerkirk. This
accomplished writer left a widow and a daughter.
Dr Russell was a man of
indefatigable industry. Before he had perfected one scheme, another always
presented itself to his mind. Besides two complete tragedies, entitled "Pyrrhus,"
and "Zenobia," he left behind him an analysis of Bryant’s Mythology, and the
following unfinished productions: 1. The earl of Strafford, a tragedy. 2.
Modern Life, a comedy. 3. The Love Marriage, an opera. 4. Human Happiness, a
poem intended to have been composed in four books. 5. A Historical and
Philosophical View of the Progress of mankind in the knowledge of the
Terraqueous Globe. 6. The History of Modern Europe, Part III. from the Peace
of Paris in 1763, to the general pacification in 1783. 7. The History of
England from the beginning of the reign of George III. to the conclusion of
the American war. In the composition of the last of these works he was
engaged at the time of his death. It was to be comprised in three volumes
8vo, for the copyright of which Mr Cadell had stipulated to pay seven
hundred and fifty pounds.
"Dr Russell," says one who
knew him, [Mr Alexander Chalmers, in his General Biographical Dictionary –
Art. WILLIAM RUSSELL.] "without exhibiting the graces of polished
life, was an agreeable companion, and possessed a considerable fund of
general knowledge, and a zeal for literature and genius which approached to
enthusiasm. In all his undertakings he was strictly honourable, and deserved
the confidence reposed in him by his employers." |
