tion, and energy, and he accomplished much valuable work both at home and abroad. He was a zealous opponent of the principles maintained in the Oxford tracts, against the tendencies of which he both spoke and preached with vehemence. His style of preaching was vigorous; his short pithy sentences were meant to have the effect of goads, and they were often pungent; but, as his biographer admits, ‘things were said many times that might have better been left unsaid. But though men might smile, they never slept. India is a sleepy place, and he effectually roused it.’ As a European traveller his narrowness is often conspicuous, and he is too frequently congratulating his fellow countrymen upon their freedom from ‘gross popish impostures.’ In his spiritual egotism and his eminently technical view of religion he was a typical evangelical. But he did not pride himself upon his taste or his tact; his qualities were more of the primitive apostolic order, and for his pure simplicity of mind and artlessness of demeanour he has been termed ‘a Dr. Primrose in lawn sleeves.’
A portrait of Wilson by Claxton, now in the Town Hall, Calcutta, was engraved by W. Holl for the ‘Life’ by Josiah Bateman, who married one of the bishop's daughters.
Wilson's most important publications were:
- . ‘Sermons on various Subjects of Christian Doctrine and Practice,’ London, 1818 and 1827, 8vo.
- ‘Letters from an absent Brother, containing some Account of a Tour through parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Northern Italy, and France in the Summer of 1823,’ London, 1825, 2 vols. (several editions).
- ‘The Evidences of Christianity: Lectures,’ 1828–30, 2 vols. 8vo; 4th edit. 1860, 12mo (a réchauffé of Paley, praised by McIlvaine in his subsequent ‘Lectures’).
- ‘The Divine Authority and Perpetual Obligation of the Lord's Day,’ 1831, 1840.
- ‘Sermons in India during a Primary Visitation,’ 1838, 8vo.
- ‘Sufficiency of the Scripture as a Rule of Faith,’ 1841, 8vo.
- ‘Expository Lectures on St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians,’ 1845, 8vo; New York, 1846; London, 3rd edit. 1853. In these lectures the writer protests against the erroneous teaching of the Oxford tracts. A similar view was echoed in his son's ‘Our Protestant Faith in Danger’ (London, 1850).
- ‘The Bishop of Calcutta's Farewell to England,’ five sermons, Oxford, 1846, 12mo.
[Bateman's Life of the Rt. Rev. Daniel Wilson, D.D., London, 1860, and condensed, 1861 (with portrait); Bishop Wilson's Journal Letters, addressed to his Family during the first nine years of his Episcopate, edited by his son, Daniel Wilson, London, 1863; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Gardiner's Wadham College Registers; Gent. Mag. 1858, i. 552; Times, 4 Feb. 1858; Smith's Life of William Carey, 1887, p. 371; Hist. of Christianity in India, Madras, 1895; Stock's History of the Church Missionary Society, 1899, vols. i. and ii. passim; Allen and McClure's History of the S.P.C.K. 1898, pp. 298 sq.; Smith's Life of Alexander Duff, 1879, ii. 334; London Review, July 1860; Quarterly Review, October 1863; Good Words, 1876, pp. 199, 271 (an interesting character sketch by Sir John Kaye); Illustrated London News, 6 Feb. 1858; Anderson's Colonial Church, ii. 370; Wheatley and Cunningham's London, iii. 293; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
WILSON, Sir DANIEL (1816–1892), archæologist and educational reformer, was the son of Archibald Wilson, wine merchant, of Edinburgh, who married, on 2 June 1812, Janet, daughter of John Aitken of Greenock, a land surveyor. He was one of eleven children: a younger brother was George Wilson (1818–1859) [q. v.] He was born in Edinburgh on 5 Jan. 1816, and educated first at the High School, then at the university of Edinburgh. Embarking on a literary career, he went to London in 1837, and wrote with varying success for the press; but in 1842 he returned to Edinburgh, and gave special attention to archæological subjects, publishing in 1847 his ‘Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time,’ which he illustrated with his own sketches; a revised edition appeared in 1891. In 1845 he was appointed honorary secretary of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, and in 1851 published his great work on the archæology of Scotland.
In 1853 Wilson was appointed professor of history and English literature in Toronto University. From his arrival in Canada he devoted himself with marked success to the furtherance of education in the colony. In 1854 he was offered, but did not accept, the post of principal of McGill University, Montreal. In 1854 he became editor of the journal of the Canadian Institute, and in 1859 and 1860 was president of the institute. In 1863 he received the first silver medal of the Natural History Society for original research. In 1881 he became president of Toronto University, in 1882 vice-president of the literature section of the Canadian Royal Society, and in 1885 president of that section. He was knighted in 1888.
Wilson's work in Canada is fairly described in his own words: ‘I have resolutely battled for the maintenance of a national system of university education in opposition to sectarian or denominational
