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GORDON, ALEXANDER, author
of various learned and useful antiquarian works, is one of the numerous
subjects for the present publication, of whom nothing is known except
their birth in Scotland, and their transactions in public life out
of it. He was a well-educated man, possessing, what was not in his
time common among the Scottish literati, an intimate knowledge of the
Greek language. In early life, he travelled through France, and other
parts of the continent, and spent some years in Italy. His first
publication referred to the antiquities of his native country, which he
seems to have explored with minute and pains-taking fidelity. The work
appeared in 1726, under the title of "Itinerarium Septentrionale, or
a Journey through most parts of the counties of Scotland, in two parts,
with sixty-six copper-plates," folio: a supplement, published in
1732, was entitled, "Additions and Corrections to the Itinerarium
Septentrionale, containing several dissertations on, and descriptions of
Roman antiquities discovered in Scotland since publishing the said
Itinerary." These were among the first efforts in what may be called
pure-antiquities which were made in Scotland. The itinerary was considered
so valuable a work, that it was translated into Latin, and published in
Holland in 1731, (the Supplement included,) for the use of general
scholars throughout Europe. In 1729, Mr Gordon published "The Lives
of Pope Alexander VI. and his son Caesar Borgia, comprehending the wars in
the reign of Charles VIII. and Lewis XII., kings of France, and the chief
transactions and revolutions in Italy from 1492 to 1516, with an appendix
of original pieces referred to in the work." This work was also in
folio. In 1730, he published in octavo, "A Complete History of
Ancient Amphitheatres, more particularly regarding the architecture of
these buildings, and in particular that of Verona; by the marquis Scipio
Maffei; translated from the Italian." In 1736, Mr Gordon was
appointed secretary to the Society for the encouragement of learning, with
an annual salary of fifty pounds; and also secretary to the Antiquarian
Society: the former place he resigned in 1739, and the latter in 1741.
About the same time, he officiated as secretary to the Egyptian Club, an
association of learned individuals who had visited Egypt, comprising lord
Sandwich, Dr Shaw, Dr Pococke, and others of nearly equal distinction. Mr
Gordon published two other works—"An Essay towards explaining the
hieroglyphical figures on the coffin of the ancient mummy belonging to
captain William Lethieullier," 1737, and "Twenty-five plates of
all the Egyptian mummies and other Egyptian antiquities in England,"
about 1739—both in folio.
Mr Gordon was destined,
after doing so much to explain the antiquities of the old world, to the
uncongenial fate of spending his last years in the new, where there are no
ancient remains whatever. He was induced in 1741, to accompany governor
Glen to Carolina in North America, where, besides a grant of land, he had
several offices, particularly that of register of the province. He died
about 1750, leaving a valuable estate to his family. |
