clerk to the General Assembly of the church of Scotland, being the first layman who had ever held that honourable appointment. For some time before his death, the delicate state of his health prevented him from performing his public
duties, when his place was ably supplied by Dr Thomas Macknight, one of the city clergymen of Edinburgh. He died on the 8th December, 1806, having for upwards of thirty years shed a lustre on the university by his many virtues, his high talents, and great classical attainments. Remarkable for many amiable qualities, and endowed with high talents, it may easily be supposed that his society was the delight of his friends; and as he had the good fortune to live during one of the brightest periods of Scottish literary history, when a galaxy of great men adorned the society of Edinburgh, he included in the circle of his acquaintance many of the greatest men this country ever produced. Of the number of his intimate friends were Dr Gilbert Stewart, Dr Russel the historian, Sir Robert Listen, Dr Robertson the historian, Lord Monboddo, Dugald
Stewart, and professor Christison. Mr Dalzell, in his stature was about the middle height; his features were full but not heavy, with a fair complexion and a mild and serene expression of countenance'. His address was pleasing and unpretending, and his conversation and manner singularly graceful. He was frequently to be met in his solitary walks in the king's park, which was one of his favourite lounges. He was married to the daughter of the well known Dr John Drysdale of the Tron church, and left several children.
His works consist of the collections from Greek authors, which he published in several volumes, under the title of "Collectanea Minora," and "Collectanea Majora," a translation of Chevalier's Description of the Plain of Troy, and many valuable papers of biography, and on other subjects, which he contributed to the Edinburgh Royal Society's Transactions. He also edited Dr Drysdale's Sermons.
DAVID I., a celebrated Scottish monarch, was the youngest of the six sons of Malcolm III., who reigned between 1057, and 1093, and who must be familiar to every reader, as the overthrower of Macbeth, and also the first king of the Scots that was entitled to be considered as a civilized prince. The mother of king David was Margaret, the sister of Edgar Atheling, heir to the Saxon line of English princes, but displaced by William the Conqueror. The year of David's birth is not known ; but it is conjectured to have been not long antecedent to the death of his father, as all his elder brothers were then under age. It is conjectured that he must have received the name of David, from having been born at a time when his mother had no hope of more children, in reference to the youngest son of Jesse. Owing to the usurpations of Donald liane, and Duncan, he spent his early years at the English court, under the protection of Henry I., who had married his sister Matilda or Maud, the celebrated founder of London bridge. . There, according to an English historian, "his manners were polished from the rust of Scottish barbarity." Here also he took to wife, Matilda, the daughter of Waltheof, earl of Northumberland, and widow of Simon de St Liz, earl of Northampton. After the Scottish throne had been occupied successively by his elder brothers, Edgar and Alexander, he acceded to it on the 27th of April, 1124, when he must have been in the very prime of life. Soon before this time, namely, in 1113, he had manifested that zeal for the church, which distinguished him throughout his reign, by bringing a colony of Benedictine monks from Tyron, in France, whom he settled at Selkirk. These he subsequently translated to Roxburgh, and finally, 1128, to Kelso. In the latter year, besides founding the magnificent monastery of Kelso, he erected that of Holyrood at Edinburgh, which he endowed in the most liberal manner.
During the reign of Henry I., David maintained a good understanding with
