the earliest British history which placed reliance on the fund of authentic information, to be found in the records of parliament. But the genius of Guthrie was not to be chained to the history of the events of one island; at divers times about the years 1764-5, appeared portions of "A General History of the World, from the creation to the present time, by William Guthrie, esq., John Gray, esq., and others, eminent in this branch of literature," in twelve volumes. "No authors," says the Critical Review, "ever pursued an original plan with fewer deviations than the writers of this work. They connect history in such a manner, that Europe seems one republic, though under different heads and constitutions." Guthrie was then a principal writer in that leading periodical, in which his works received much praise, because, to save trouble, and as being best acquainted with the subject, the author of the books took on himself the duties of critic, and was consequently well satisfied with the performance. In 1767, Mr Guthrie published in parts a History of Scotland, in ten volumes, octavo. It commences with "the earliest period," and introduces us to an ample acquaintance with Dornadilla, Durst, Corbred, and the numerous other long-lived monarchs, whose names Father Innes had, some time previously, consigned to the regions of fable. Of several of these persons he presents us with very respectable portraits, which prove their taste in dress, and knowledge of theatrical effect, to have been by no means contemptible. In this work the author adheres with pertinacity to many opinions which prior authors of celebrity considered they had exploded; like Goodall, he seems anxious to take vengeance on those who showed the ancient Scots to have come from Ireland, by proving the Irish to have come from Scotland, and a similar spirit seems to have actuated him in maintaining the regiam magestatem of Scotland, to have been the original of the regiam potestatem of Glanvil—Nicholson and others having discovered that the Scottish code was borrowed from the English. With all its imperfections, this book constituted the best complete history of Scotland published during the last century, and it is not without regret that we are compelled to admit its superiority to any equally lengthy, detailed, and comprehensive history of Scotland which has yet appeared. The views of policy are frequently profound and accurate, and the knowledge of the contemporaneous history of other nations frequently exhibited, shows that attention and consideration might have enabled the author to have produced a standard historical work; towards its general merits Pinkerton has addressed the following growl of qualified praise: "Guthrie's History of Scotland, is the best of the modern, but it is a mere money-job, hasty and inaccurate," It would be a useless and tedious task to particularize the numerous works of this justly styled u miscellaneous writer." One of the works, however, which bear his name, has received the unqualified approbation of the world. "Guthrie's Historical and Geographical Grammar" is known to every one, from the school-boy to the philosopher, as a useful and well digested manual of information. This work had reached its twenty-first edition before the year 1810; it was translated into French in 1801, by Messieurs Noel and Soules, and the translation was re-edited for the fourth time in a very splendid manner in 1807. The astronomical information was supplied by James Gregory, and rumour bestows on Knox, the bookseller, the reputation of having written the remaining part under the guarantee of a name of literary authority. Besides the works already enumerated, Guthrie translated Quintilian, Cicero De Officiis, and Cicero's Epistles to Atticus—he likewise wrote, "The Friends, a sentimental history," in two volumes, and "Remarks on English Tragedy." This singular individual terminated his laborious life in March, 1770. The following tribute to his varied qualifications is to be found on his tombstone in Mary-le-bone,—"Near this place lies interred the body of William Guthrie, esq., who died,
