HYNDFORD, JOHN CARMICHAEL, Third EARL OF, a Scottish nobleman of some diplomatic celebrity in the reign of George II., was born in 1701, and succeeded to the family honours in 1737. He represented, as one of the Sixteen Peers, the Scottish nobility in several parliaments, acted for two successive -years (1739, 1740) as Royal Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and held the dignity of lord-lieutenant of the county of Lanark, in the upper district of which the family estates were situated. His diplomatic life began upon the occasion of the seizure of Silesia by Frederick the Great in 1741, when his lordship was deputed envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Prussian court. In this mission he succeeded in effecting an accommodation between that unscrupulous prince and the EmpresaQueen Maria Theresa, by a treaty concluded the following year at Breslau. So sensible were the parties of the value of his lordship's mediation and services, that by a grant from the King of Prussia, ratified subsequently at Vienna by the empress-queen, he was per mitted to assume, in addition to the family armorial bearings, the Silesian eagle, with the motto "ex bens merito," and was moreover honoured by his own king with the national decoration of the order of tho Thistle. At Berlin he became acquainted, through the intro duction of Frederick, with the famous Baron Trenck, who gratefully acknowledges in his 'Memoirs' the "parental trouble" which his lordship took in counselling him and promoting his interests when they met some years after at Moscow. In 1744 Lord Hyndford was sent ambassador to Russia, where he became a great favourite with the Empress Elizabeth, who took an active part in behalf of Maria Theresa; and he was highly instrumental in bringing about, in 1748, the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which terminated what is known in history as the war of the Austrian Succession. In this mission his lordship continued till the end of 1749, and on his return was con stituted a privy councillor and lord of the bed-chamber. In 1752 he was sent to the court of Vienna on his third embassy, with which, after a few months, his career as a diplomatist terminated, though he did not altogether withdraw from political life. In 1761 ha received
a further mark of the king's esteem in the appointment of lord vice admiral of Scotland. After his return from Vienna his time was divided between London and the family seat at Carmichael, in the vicinity of which the memory of the `ambassador' is still cherished with almost filial regard by the descendants of those who benefited by the mnnificence and public spirit which he never ceased to manifest in promoting the interests of his county. During his whole lifetime, and particularly his latter years, his attention was unremittingly devoted to his estates, which he enhanced in value by extensive improvements, and enlarged by judicious purchases and advantageous exchanges. lie died in 1767, leaving no issue. His official corres pondence, extending to twenty-three volumes in manuscript, is now deposited in the British Museum, to which it was secured by purchase in 1838.
(Ld attentis ClIALCIDEN us), a celebrated neo-Platonist I- of the 4th century, was born at Chalets in Ccelo-syria, and is dis tinguished by his birth-place from another of the same name and of the same school and century, born at Apamea in Syria, of whom how ever little is known. From his admirers and disciples Iamblichus received the flattering titles of "most divine teacher" and " wonder ful," and enjoyed a reputation among his contemporaries which cast into the shade the fame of his teacher Porphyry, whom nevertheless he was far from equalling either in extent of learning or in powers of mind. The literary career of Iamblichus extends from the reign of Constantine the Great to that of Julian the Apostate, whose esteem and favour he obtained, not only on account of his general adherence to and defence of the old national religion, but particularly for his Life of Pythagoras.' C Iamblichi de Vita Pythagoricl liber, Gr. et Lat., illustrates • L Ktistero. Aocedit Malchus sive Porphyrius de vita, Pythag &a. k0. Anastelodami, I 740, 4to.; the same by Klassling, Leipzig, 1815, 2, Th. 8vo.) In this work lambliehus ascribed to the Italian philosopher miraculous powers and zeta which might rival, if not surpass, the signs and wonders on which the Christiana not only founded the divine authority of their creed, but still laid claim to.