don. 1843, on becoming a free churchman, he was appointed to the editorial staff of the ‘Scottish Herald,’ an Edinburgh free church paper, and was afterwards for a short time reporter on the ‘Banner of Ulster.’ In 1846 he became editor of the ‘Dumfries and Galloway Standard,’ and with a short interval, during which he edited a Sunderland paper, about 1853–4, M'Dowall conducted the ‘Galloway Standard’ till his death, raising it to an influential position. A public-spirited citizen, he was connected with all the leading institutions of his burgh, and in his ‘History of Dumfries,’ 1867 (enlarged in 1873), he produced a most valuable record. He died at Dumfries, 28 Oct. 1888. He was twice married, and his second wife survives him.
M'Dowall displays grace of fancy and expression in ‘The Man of the Woods and other Poems,’ published in 1844, 2nd edit. 1882. Two chapters of his ‘History of Dumfries,’ relating to Burns, were separately issued in 1870 as ‘Burns in Dumfriesshire.’ In 1876 he published ‘Memorials of St. Michael's Churchyard,’ a compilation of antiquarian and biographical importance. His ‘Mind in the Face,’ which appeared in 1882, and reached a third edition in 1888, is a substantial contribution to the literature of physiognomy. M'Dowall's sumptuous and exhaustive volume, ‘Chronicles of Lincluden, as an Abbey and as a College,’ was published in 1886, and his last work, issued in 1888, is a study of ballad-writers, entitled ‘Among the Old Scottish Minstrels.’
Dumfries and Galloway Standard, 31 Oct. 1888; Harper's Bards of Galloway.]
McDOWELL, BENJAMIN, D.D. (1739–1824), Presbyterian divine, son of Ephraim McDowell, an Irish emigrant, from Connor, co. Antrim, was born at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, on 25 Dec. 1739. He was educated at the universities of Princeton, New Jersey, and Glasgow. His parents had belonged to the 'reformed presbyterian' church, founded in 1743 by John Macmillan [q. v.] McDowell joined the established church of Scotland, and was licensed by the Glasgow presbytery on 3 July 1766. Visiting his relatives at Connor, co. Antrim, Ireland, he received a call to the congregation of Ballvkelly, co. Londonderry, and was there ordained by the Route presbytery on 3 Sept. 1766. He succeeded John Nelson, who had been compelled to resign on the ground of heterodoxy. McDowell soon appeared as a champion of conservative doctrine against John Cameron (1725-1799) [q. v.] The controversy was taken up by Alexander Colvill or Colville, M.D. [q. v.], to whom McDowell replied in an able defence of the Westminster doctrine. At this time 'new light' sentiments prevailed in the ministry of the general synod of Ulster ; McDowell even thought (1775) it might be necessary for the minority to preserve their orthodoxy by secession; the effect of his polemics was greatly to increase the strength of the conservative section.
In 1778 he accepted a call to Dublin, as the successor of John Baird, D.D. [q. v.] The Capel Street meeting-house (sometimes, though without any historical reason, called the Scots Church) had just been rebuilt, and had changed its name, having a new entrance into Mary's Abbey. Its congregation, however, was reduced to some half a dozen families. McDowell rapidly became a power in Dublin presbyterianism. He was ably seconded by his elder, Alderman Hutton (afterwards high sheriff and lord mayor), and the congregation of Mary's Abbey came to number two thousand souls. From 1783 he took a leading part in negotiations between the presbyterians and the government relating to 'regium donum' and other public Questions, acting with William Campbell, D.D. [q. v.], a prominent leader of the 'new light' party, who in his manuscript 'Sketches' (1803) has left a good-humoured account of their theological relations. In 1786 McDowell was elected moderator of the general synod, and in 1788 he was appointed by the synod, in conjunction with Robert Rodgers (d. 1791), minister of Corboy, co. Longford, to visit and inspect the presbyterian churches in the west and south-west of Ireland. The Edinburgh University gave him the degree of D.D. on 22 Jan. 1789. In 1791 he was in France, not drawn thither by any sympathy with the revolution. During the troubled years prior to 1798 he took no part in political agitation on either side, but organised weekly meetings for prayer, in view of the state of the nation.
On 4 Nov. 1791 James Horner (d. 1843) afterwards D.D., was ordained as his copastor. Service was regularly held on Christmas day, a very rare usage among presbyterians. On 14 May 18 1 3, as McDowellwas no longer equal to the duties of the co-pastorate, James Carlile, D.D. [q. v.], was ordained as his assistant and successor. McDowell died on 13 Sept. 1824, leaving a family. Horner preached his funeral sermon, which was published. A marble tablet to his memory was placed in his meeting-house (removed in 1864 to the new building in Rutland Square). Armstrong agrees with Horner's estimate of the excellences of his character, his fervid zeal, his gentleness, and his purity. He published: 1. 'The Requiring Sub-
