MACKENZIE, Sit' GEORGE, ftll eminent Scottish lawyer and politician, son of Simon Mackenzie, brother of the earl of Seaforth, was b. at Dundee in 1636, studied Greek and philosophy at St. Andrews and Aberdeen, and civil law at Bourges, in France, then— as he himself calls it—" the Athens of Scottish lawyers." In 1661 lie acted SS counsel for the marquis of Argyle, then tried by a commission of parliament for high treason. About the same time lie was made a justice-depute, and among his other duties we find him, in 1661, appointed to repair " once in the week at least to Mussellairgh and Dal keith, and to try and judge such persons as are there or thereabout delated of witch craft." He was soon after knighted, entered the Scottish parliament in 1669 as inember for Ross-shire, and in 1677 was named king's advocate. Up to this point his career had been marked by a decidedly patriotic spirit, and he was even oue of the most popular men in the country. In the tnidst of his professional labors. he prosecuted literature with great assiduity. In 1663 appeared his RdigioStoici, or a Short Discourse upon several Divine andlforal Subjects; in 1665 his Moral Essay upon Solitude; and in 1667 his 31-oral Gallantry. He also composed some poetry. His style is admirable for the time in which
he lived; lie was among the first Scotchmen who wrote the English language purely. Mackenzie cultivated the friendship of the great English writers of his day, and his own taste appears to have been excellent. Dryden, in his Discourse on the Origin and Progress • of Satire, alludes to him as " that noble wit of Scotland." Unhappily, in the popular mind he is better known as criminal prosecutor in the memorable days of the covenant, in which capacity be earned for himself the ugly name of the " 3Iackenzie;" nor, we fear, can it be disproved—in spite of his liberal antecedents—that he became a willing instrument of despqtism. Ile has, however, written a defense of himself, entitled A Vindication of the Government of Charlcs 11. Iu 1678 appeared his Discourse on the Laws .ana Customs of Scotland in Matters Criminal; in 1684 his Institutions of the Laws of Scot larul; and shortly after, he took the leading part in founding the Advocates' library. He -thee reired to Oxford, and died in London, May 2, 1691.