ROBERTSON, JOSEPH, the most accomplished Scottish antiquary of the present cen tury, was b. 'at Aberdeen on May 17. 1810. He was educated at Udny, in his native county, at the grammar-school of Aberdeen, and afterward at the Marischal there. The law was 6,hosen for him as his profession, but his heart was not in time task, and from an early age he devoted himself to literature. His chief attention then, as, in his after life, was directed to researches connected with the history and antiqui ties of Scotland; and in 1833 lie went to Edinburgh, the place of all others best adapted for the cultivation of his favorite studies. there he wrote for and Boyd's Cabinet Cyclopedia a volume on the Circumnavigation of the Globe, which was published in 1836. The work by which lie became first generally known, The Book of Bon-accord, or a Guide to the City of Aberdeen, was published, in 1839. It is: justly styled by Mr. Charles Knight, in his Life of Shakespeare, " a most lively, instruc tive, and learned volume—a model of guide-books." A continuation of this work was promised, but was never completed. In the following year his Delick Literarice, new volume of gable-talk, was published. Iu 1839 he returned to the north to under take the editorship of the Aberdeen Constitutional newspaper; and in the end of that year, in conjunction with Mr.•John Stuart, he founded the Spalding club, a society instituted for printing the'historieal, ecclesiastical, genealogical, topographical, and lit erary remains of the n.e. counties of Scotland. This society, formed on the model of the Bannatyne and Maitland clubs, has printed many valuable works on Scottish archm ology, which otherwise would have been all but inaccessible. Its was a History of Scots from 1637 to 1641, written by James Gordon, parson of Rothiemay, which was issued in three vols. in '1841, under the joint editorship of Mr. Robertson and Mr. Grub. Robertson edited for the same club ,a volume of Collections v for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff (1843); three vols. of Illustrations of the Topography and Antiquities of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff (1847, 1857, and 1862); and Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (1856). He also contributed to the fifth volume of the miscellany of the club, in 1852, a learned paper On Scholastic Offices in the Scottish Church in the 12th and 13th Centuries. In 1843 Robertson went to Glasgow to become editor of the Glasgow Constitutional flews paper. While in that city he edited for the Maitland club, in 1846, a volume contain ing the Book of the Collegiate Church of St. Mary and St. Anne, Glasgow, and the Chartulary of the Black Friars of Glasgow; and in 1847, the fourth volume of the miscellany of the club. In June, 1849, he contributed to the Quarterly Review an arti cle on Scottish abbeys and cathedrals, which has become a text-book for all who write on that subject. In the same year he once more took up his residence in the Scottish metropolis, on being appointed editor of the Edinburgh Evening Courant. He dis
charged his editorial duties at Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Edinburgh with faithfulness and ability; but he found a more congenial occupation when, in 1853, he was appointed, through the earl of Aberdeen, who knew and appreciated his merits, to the office which is now known as that of curator of the historical department of the register-house at Edinburgh. In 1863 he edited for the Bannatyne club the Catalogues of the Jewels, Dresses, Furniture, Books, and Paintings of Mary Queen, of Scots. This volume contains a preface which forms a most valuable contribution to the history of Mary's reign, and supplies information ou almost all the controversies connected with her life. With the sanction and zealous encouragement of sir William Gibson-Craig, lord clerk-register of Scotland, lie projected the publication of a series of works connected with the history of Scotland, similar to those which have appeared in England under the direction of the master of the rolls. The first volume of the series, the chronicles of the Picts and Scots, has been edited by Mr. Skene. and several others have since been published. Rob ertson assisted in other literary undertakings, and was a valuable contributer to this Encyclopcedia. His articles are generally connected with his favorite studies; among them are those on ARCILCOLOGY, BURGII, ST. COLUMBA, CRANNOGES, the CULDEES, DAYID I., the FAMILY OF DOUGLAS, IONA, MARY STEWART. and OSMAN". The last and most important of Robertson's works was his Concilia Scotia, printed iu two vols., in 1866, for the Bannatyne club. This work has done for the Scottish church that which archdeacon Wilkins did for the church of England in his concilia Magnce Britannia et Hibernia. It contains the statutes of all the Scottish councils, whether provincial or diocesan, from the earliest period to the reformation, printed carefully from the best authorities; and the preface, which occupies the greater part of the first volume, is a learned and authentic history of the councils, and of everything bearing on the subject of them. The authorities are quoted with an accuracy and copiousness for which Robertson was remarkable, and which contrasts strongly with the carelessness in that respect which marks some popular historians of the present day. In April, 1864, Rob ertson received the degree of LL.D. from the university of Edinburgh. • He died on Dec. 13, 1866, almost immediately after the publication of his ConcRia Scotian. Robert son's labors were not to be estimated merely by the works which appeared under his name, or which he is known• to have written. There was hardly.a work of any merit published during the last twenty years of his life, in connection with Scottish history and antiquities, to which he did not in some way or other give his assistance; and his assist ance was given with it thorough heartiness- which only those who have benefited by it can appreciate. No literary man of his time was more beloved by his friends and inti mate associates. In the relations of private life, he was most exemplary.