CAMPBELL, GEORGE, an eminent preacher, divine, and metaphysician of the Church of Scot land, born at Aberdeen in 1719. He shewed early talent, and prepared himself for the law till the age of 22, when he devoted himself to the study of theology, attending lectures both in King's College and in Marischal College, and at the same time forwarding his general improvement by joining a learned society. He was ordained minister of Ban chory-Ternan in 1748, and there began those lite rary labours which have given him a lasting repu tation. In 1757 he was translated to Aberdeen, where he acquired great fame as a preacher, and as a lecturer on rhetoric and criticism. In 1759 he was appointed Principal of Marischal College, and soon after published his celebrated Dissertation On Miracles, in answer to Hume's essay on the same subject. This work passed through several editions, and was translated into French, Dutch, and Ger man. In 1771 he was elected Professor of Divinity in Marischal College, and devoted himself with the greatest energy to the duties of that office. In
1795, having attained the age of 76, he resigned his and soon after, on receiving a pension of £300 a-year from Government, also gave up his office of principal. In the following year he was struck with paralysis, and died.
Besides his Dissertation on Miracles, and the Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, which were pub lished after his death, he published in 1776 his Philosophy of Rhetoric, and at a later date his Translation of the four Gospels, with preliminary dissertations and explanatory notes. This has long been a standard work in biblical literature. The Preliminary Dissertations are very valuable ; they lay down clearly the principles and criterion of biblical interpretation, and abound in sound criti cism. The translation presents generally the sense of the original, but is disfigured by false taste and a stilted artificial style. The appended notes are, like the dissertations, worthy of commendation.