serted their antiquity, but had purposely expressed himself with ambiguity. He seems to have been influenced chiefly by exaggerated notions of his own literary abilities; but it is perhaps worth noting that, while himself a literary forger, he expressed his belief in the authenticity of the Shakespeare papers forged by Ireland (cf. Nichols, Illustr. of Lit. iii. 779).
In 1784 Pinkerton published anonymously an ‘Essay on Medals,’ in two volumes: a valuable work, which originated in a manual and tables originally made for his own use, and gradually enlarged. In the final preparation of the work for publication he had the assistance of Francis Douce [q. v.] and Mr. Southgate of the British Museum. A third edition appeared in 1808. Under the name of Robert Heron (the surname of his mother), Pinkerton published, in 1785, a somewhat eccentric volume, entitled ‘Letters of Literature,’ in which, besides recommending a new method of orthography, he expressed very depreciatory opinions of the classical authors of Greece and Rome. The work has been ascribed to Robert Heron [q. v.], miscellaneous writer; but the coincidence of the name was mere accident, and the statement that it injuriously affected Heron's prospects can scarce be accepted, as Heron was then quite unknown. The book led to an acquaintance with Horace Walpole, who introduced Pinkerton to Gibbon the historian. Gibbon is said to have formed a high estimate of Pinkerton's learning and historical abilities, and to have recommended him as translator and editor of a proposed series of ‘English Monkish Historians;’ the project which then came to nothing was attempted by Henry Petrie [q. v.] After the death of Walpole, Pinkerton sold a collection of his remarks and letters to the proprietors of the ‘Monthly Magazine,’ and in 1799 they were published in two small volumes under the title ‘Walpoliana.’
In 1786 Pinkerton rendered an important service to Scottish literature by bringing out two volumes of ‘Ancient Scotish Poems never before in print. But now published from the MS. Collections of Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, Knight, and Lord Privy Seal of Scotland, and a Senator of the College of Justice, comprising pieces written from about 1420 till 1586, with large Notes and a Glossary.’ Prefixed to the volumes were an ‘Essay on the Origin of Scotish Poetry’ and a ‘List of all the Scotch Poets, with Brief Remarks;’ and an appendix was added, ‘containing among other articles an account of the Maitland and Bannatyne MSS.’ Nichols (Illustr. of Lit. v. 670) and, following him, Robert Chambers (Eminent Scotsmen) affirm this work to have been also practically a forgery; and describe the manuscripts as ‘feigned to have been discovered in the Pepysian Library, Cambridge.’ They of course were then, and still are, in the Pepysian Library [see Maitland, Sir Richard, Lord Lethington]. In 1787, under the name of H. Bennet, M.A., Pinkerton published ‘The Treasury of Wit,’ being a methodical selection of about ‘Twelve Hundred of the Best Apophthegms and Jests from Books in several Languages,’ with a ‘Discourse on Wit and Humour.’ The same year appeared his ‘Dissertation on the Origin and Progress of the Scythians or Goths, being an Introduction to the Ancient and Modern History of Europe.’ The value of the work is by no means commensurate with its grandiloquent title. Its chief purpose was to expound his peculiar hypothesis as to the inveterate inferiority of the Celtic race. He affirms that the ‘Irish, the Scottish highlanders, the Welsh, the Bretons, and the Spanish Biscayans’ are the only surviving aborigines of Europe, and that their features, history, actions, and manners indicate a fatal moral and intellectual weakness, rendering them incapable of susceptibility to the higher influences of civilisation. Throughout the work facts are subordinated to preconceived theories. In 1788 he contributed to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ a series of twelve letters on the ‘Cultivation of Our National History.’ In 1789 he published a collection of ‘Ancient Lives of the Scottish Saints,’ a new edition of his work on ‘Medals,’ and a new edition of Barbour's poem of ‘The Bruce.’ In 1790 appeared his ‘Medallic History of England till the Revolution,’ and an ‘Inquiry into the History of Scotland preceding the Reign of Malcolm III, or 1056, including the authentic History of that Period,’ a work of considerable original research. In 1792 he edited in three volumes ‘Scotish Poems reprinted from Scarce Editions.’ In 1797 he delivered ‘to the public candour’ what he termed the ‘greatest labour of his life:’ ‘The History of Scotland from the Accession of the House of Stuart to that of Mary, with Appendices of Original Documents,’ in two volumes, with portraits of the author. Notwithstanding the combined tameness and pomposity of its style, the work is still of considerable value as an historical authority, and indicates very thorough and painstaking research. The majority, but not all, of the original documents in the appendix are now included in one or other of the later historical collections. In connection with the preparation of the work, Pinkerton, on the recommendation of Archibald Constable the publisher
