WILSON 591 contributions to these journals may be mentioned essays on the "Medical and Surgical Sciences of the Hindus" (1823); the "Hindu History of Kashmir" (1824); "Hindu Fiction" (1825); and his masterly "Account of the Re ligious Sects of the Hindus, their History, Doctrines, and Practices" (1828-32). In 1827 he published Select Speci mens of the Theatre of the Hindus, in 3 vols., in which, besides a very full and highly appreciative survey of Indian dramaturgy, which still remains the standard authority on the subject, he offered elegant translations of six complete plays and short accounts of twenty-three others. This work was reprinted in London in 1835, in 2 vols., and again in Wilson s Collected Works (vols. xi. and xii.). Of considerable importance, alike to Sanskrit and vernacular students, and to Eastern antiquarians generally, was his next publication, the Mackenzie Collection (2 vols., 1828; 2d ed. in one vol., 1882), being a descriptive catalogue of the extensive collection of Oriental, especially South Indian, MSS. and antiquities made by Col. Colin Mackenzie, and purchased from his widow by the Indian Government, now deposited partly in the India Office, London, and partly at Madras. Neither his extensive literary researches, how ever, nor the official duties of an assay master and mint .secretary, at any time prevented Wilson from taking a pro minent part in all social amusements of the Anglo-Indian community of Calcutta, especially in musical and theatrical entertainments. His interest in political and economic affairs in India is shown by his Historical Sketch of the First Burmese War, with Documents, Political and Geo graphical (1827, reprinted in London), and his Review of the External Commerce of Bengal from 1813 to 1828 (1830), as well as by his History of British India from 1805 to 1835, in continuation of Mill s History, 3 vols. (1844-48), and largely based on his personal impressions and recollections. He also acted for many years as secre tary to the committee of public instruction. As such, he not only organized and superintended the studies of the Hindu College from the time of its establishment, but took a leading part in the promotion of public education among the natives, and the introduction of the English language and European science, although, as one of the staunchest opponents, on grounds of expediency and feasibleness, of the proposal that English should be made the sole medium of instruction in native schools, he became for a time the object of bitter attacks. Long, however, before this con troversy came to an end he had been called away to a different sphere of scholarly activity. In 1832 the uni versity of Oxford, in recognition of his services to Oriental scholarship, selected L>r Wilson to be the first occupant of the newly founded Boden chair of Sanskrit. Shortly after his return to England he was also appointed librarian to the East India Company. He now found himself in a position singularly favourable to learned research and literary pursuits ; and the long record of his subsequent work shows that he made the best of his opportunities. He immediately joined the Royal Asiatic Society, and, succeeding Colebrooke as director (in 1837), he was the very soul of the society up to the time of his death, scarcely a number of its journal appearing without some interest ing contribution from his pen. His death took place at London on 8th May 18GO. Of these contributions we need only mention here his " Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya " (1836), based on documents con tained in the Mackenzie collection ; the continuation of his "Ana lysis of the Purfmas " (1836), begun in the Bengal Society s Journal (1832) ; "Civil and Religious Institutions of the Sikhs" and "Re ligious Festivals of the Hindus" (1848); "Analysis and Revised Translation of the Rock Inscriptions of Kapur di Giri" (1850) ; and his popular lecture "On the Present State of the Cultivation of ( (ricntal Literature " (1852). Hardly less numerous, and certainly not less valuable, are his separate publications during this period, by which important light was thrown on many departments of Eastern inquiry. The. most noteworthy of these works are the text of, and commentary on, the Sankhyakarika (1837), being a very popular summary of the Sankhya philosophy, with a translation (of the text by Colebrooke, and the commentary by Wilson) ; trans lation of the Vishnu Pur ana (1840, 2d annotated ed. by F. E. Hall ; Works, vols. vi.-x.) ; Ariana Antiqua, Antiquities and Coins of Afghanistan (1841) ; edition of Dasakumdracharita (1846) ; Gloss ary of Indian Revenue, Judicial, &c., Terms (1855) ; Translation of the First Four Asltiakas (rather more than one-half) of the Sacred Hymns of the Rigveda, 3 vols., 1850-57 ; Grammar of the Sanskrit Lan guage, in several editions ; and two lectures on the Religious Practices and Opinions of the Hindus, delivered at Oxford in 1840. In the Collected Works (12 vols.) the more valuable of his papers and lec tures form three volumes of essays on Sanskrit Literature and two volumes of essays on The Religion of the Jlindus, edited by Dr R. Rost. While in point of accurate scholarship Wilson was per haps scarcely the equal of Colebrooke, any deficiency in this respect is far more than counterbalanced by the many-sidedness of his genius, by literary powers of a very high order, by his admirable artistic taste, and by broad human sympathies, which enabled him fully to appreciate and enjoy the merits and beauties of the ancient Indian literature. A considerable number of Sanskrit MSS. (540 vols.) collected by Wilson in India are now in the Bodleian. WILSON", JOHN (1785-1854), better known as CHRISTO PHER NORTH (the pen-name which he used in his contri butions to Blaclavood s Magazine), was born at Paisley on 18th May 1785. His father, who bore the same name with himself, was a wealthy gauze manufacturer of no particular family or education. His mother, Margaret Sym, was of gentler blood, possessing also beauty and talents. John was the fourth child, but the eldest son, and he had nine brothers and sisters. 1 He appears, like many Scotchmen of genius, to have been rather irregularly educated in his earlier days, the best of his physical and sporting, if not of his scholastic, training being received at the manse of the village of Mearns, of which constant notices appear in the Essays. He was only twelve when he was first entered at the university of Glasgow, and he continued to attend various classes in that university for six years, being for the most part domiciled with and under the tutorship of Prof. Jardine. His father s death had immediately preceded his first entry at Glasgow. In these six years Wilson "made himself " in all ways, acquiring not inconsiderable scholar ship, perfecting himself in all sports and exercises, and falling in love with a certain " Margaret," who was the object of his affections for several years. The most curious literary memorial of these early years is a letter to Words worth, written in 1802 without any personal acquaintance or introduction, and betraying not a little priggishness, as we should now count it, but in that respect only showing the difference of contemporary manners, and interesting as being the first evidence of what was nearly a lifelong connexion of admiring though sometimes recalcitrant criticism. In June 1803 Wilson was entered as a gentleman commoner at Magdalen College, Oxford. Men have seldom felt more than Wilson the charm which Oxford exercises on all but a very few, and generally (with some noteworthy exceptions, such as Gibbon and Jeffrey) very worthless, sons ; and in much of his later work, notably in the essay called " Old North and Young North," he has expressed his feeling. But it does not appear that his Magdalen days were altogether happy, though he perfected himself in " bruising," pedestrianism, and other sports, and read so as to obtain a brilliant first class. His love affairs with "Margaret" did not go happily, and he seems to have made no intimate friends at his own college and few in the university. He took his degree in 1807 and found himself at twenty-two his own master ; and he had a good 1 The youngest brother was James Wilson " of Woodville " (1795- 1856), who became a zoologist of some repute. He contributed to JHaekwood s Magazine and to the North British and Quarterly Iteriews, and wrote most of the articles on natural history ( " Entomology," " Helniintholo<ry," "Mammalia," "Ornithology," " Reptiles, " &c. ) in
the seventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.