Y

and beneficent statesman. When he was appointed to the command in Ireland, an invasion of that country by the French was confidently anticipated by the English Government. He used his utmost efforts to restore the discipline of an army that was utterly disorganised; and, as a first step, he anxiously endeavoured to protect the people, by re-establishing the supremacy of the civil power, and not allowing the military to be called out, except when it was indispensably necessary for the enforcement of the law and the maintenance of order. Finding that he received no adequate support from he head of the Irish Government, and that all his efforts were opposed and thwarted by those who presided in the councils of Ireland, he resigned the command. His departure from Ireland was deeply lamented by the reflecting portion of the people, and was speedily followed by those disastrous results which he had anticipated, and which he so ardently desired and had so wisely endeavoured to prevent. After holding for a short period the office of Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, Sir Ralph, when the enterprise against Holland was resolved upon in 1799, was again called to command under the Duke of York. The difficulties of the ground, the incle mency of the season, unavoidable delays, the disorderly movements of the Russians, and the timid duplicity of the Dutch, defeated the objects of that expedition. But it was confessed by the Dutch, the French, and the British alike, that even victory the most decisive could not have more conspicuously proved the talents of this distinguished officer. His country applauded the choice, when, in 1801, he was sent with an army to dispossess the French of Egypt. His experience in Holland and the West Indies particularly fitted him for this new command, as was proved by his carrying his army in health, in spirits, and with the requisite supplies, in spite of very great diffi culties, to the destined scene of action. The debarkation of the troops at Aboukir, in the face of an opposing force, is justly ranked among the most daring and brilliant exploits of the English army. A battle in the neighbourhood of Alexandria (March 21, 1801) was the sequel of this successful landing, and it was Sir R. Abercromby's fate to fall in the moment of victory. He was struck by a spent ball, which could not be extracted, and died seven days after the battle. The Duke of York paid a just tribute to the great soldier's memory in the general order issued on the occasion of his death -"His steady observ. ance of discipline, his ever-watchful attention to the health and wants of his troops, the persevering and unconquerable spirit which marked his military career, the splendour of his actions in the field, and the heroism of his death, are worthy the imitation of all' who desire, like him, a life of heroism and a death of glory." By a vote of the House of Commons, a monument was erected in honour of Sir Ralph Abercromby in St Paul's Cathedral. His widow was created a peeress, and a pension of £2000 a year was settled on her and her two successors in the title. It may be mentioned that Abercromby was returned, after a keen contest, as member of Parliament for his native county of Clackmannanshire in 1773; but a parlia mentary life had no attractions for him, and he did not seek re-election.

printed; while the roll of names of those who aided him includes every man of note in Scotland at the time, from Sir Thomas Craig and Sir George Mackenzie to Mr Alexander Nisbet and Mr Thomas Ruddiman. The Martial Achievements has not been reprinted, though practically the first example of Scottish typography in any way noticeable, vol. ii. having been printed under the scholarly supervision of Thomas Ruddiman. The date of his death is uncertain. It has been variously assigned to 1715, 1716, 1720, and 1726, and it is usually added that he left a widow in great poverty. That he was living in 1716 is certain, as Crawford speaks of him (in his Peerage, 1716) as "my worthy friend." Probably he died about 1716. Memoirs of the Abercrombys, commonly given to him, does not appear to have been published. (Chambers's Eminent Scotsmen, s. v.; Anderson's Scottish Nation, s. v.; Chalmers's Biog. Dict., s. v.; Chalmers's Life of Ruddiman; Haller's Bibliotheca Medicina Pract., 4 vols. 4to, 1779; Hutchinson's Biog. Medical, 2 vols. 8vo, 1799; Lee's Defoe, 3 vols. 8vo.) (A. B. G.) ABERCROMBY, SIR RALPH, K.B., Lieutenant-General in the British army, was the eldest son of George Abercromby of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, and was born in October 1734. After passing some time at an excellent school at Alloa, he went to Rugby, and in 1752-53 he | attended classes in Edinburgh University. In 1754 he was sent to Leipsic to study civil law, with a view to his proceding to the Scotch bar, of which it is worthy of notice that both his grandfather and his father lived to be the oldest members. On returning from the Continent he expressed a strong preference for the military profession, and a cornet's commission was accordingly obtained for him (March 1756) in the 3d Dragoon Guards. He rose through the intermediate gradations to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the regiment (1773), and in 1781 he became colonel of the 103d infantry. When that regiment was disbanded in 1783 he retired upon half-pay. That up to this time he had scarcely been engaged in active service, was owing mainly to his disapproval of the policy of the Government, and especially to his sympathies with the American colonists in their struggles for independence; and his retirement is no doubt to be ascribed to similar feelings. But on France declaring war against England in 1793, he hastened to resume his professional duties; and, being esteemed one of the ablest and most intrepid officers in the whole British forces, he was appointed to the command of a brigade under the Duke of York, for service in Holland. He commanded the advanced guard in the action on the heights of Cateau, and was wounded at Nimeguen. The duty fell to him of protecting the British army in its disastrous retreat out of Holland, in the winter of 1794-5. In 1795 he received the honour of knighthood, the Order of the Bath being conferred on him in acknowledgment of his services. The same year he was appointed to succeed Sir Charles Grey, as commanderin-chief of the British forces in the West Indies. In 1796, Grenada was suddenly attacked and taken by a detachnent of the army under his orders. He afterwards obtained possession of the settlements of Demerara and Essequibo, in South America, and of the islands of St Lucia, St Vincent, and Trinidad. He returned in 1797 'to Europe, and, in reward for his important services, was appointed to the command of the regiment of Scots Greys, ABERDARE, a town of Wales, in the county of intrusted with the governments of the Isle of Wight, Fort Glamorgan, on the right bank of the river Cynon, four George, and Fort Augustus, and raised to the rank of lieu- miles S. W. of Merthyr-Tydvil. The district around is tenant-general. He held, in 1797-8, the chief command rich in valuable mineral products, and coal and iron of the forces in Ireland. There he laboured to maintain mining are very extensively carried on in the neighbour the discipline of the army, to suppress the rising rebellion, hood. Important tin-works, too, have been recently and to protect the people from military oppression, with a opened. Part of the coal is used at the iron-works, and are worthy alike of a great general and an enlightened | large quantities are sent to Cardiff for exportation. Aber

--

A memoir of the later years of his life (1793-1801), by his son, Lord Dunfermline, was published in 1861.

dare is connected with the coast by canal and railway. | city and received gifts from the authorities. In 1497 a
Owing to the great development of the coal and iron blockhouse was built at the harbour mouth as a protection
trade, it has rapidly increased from a mere village to a against the English. During the religious struggle in the
large and flourishing town. Handsome churches, banks, 17th century between the Royalists and Covenanters the
and hotels have been erected, a good supply of water has city was plundered by both parties. In 1715 Earl
been introduced, and a public park has been opened. Marischal proclaimed the Pretender at Aberdeen. In 1745
Two markets are held weekly. The whole parish falls the Duke of Cumberland resided a short time in the city.
within the parliamentary borough of Merthyr-Tydvil. In the middle of the 18th century boys were kidnapped
The rapid growth of its population is seen by the fol- in Aberdeen, and sent as slaves to America. In 1817 the
lowing figures in 1841 the number of inhabitants was city became insolvent, with a debt of £225,710, contracted
6471; in 1851, 14,999; in 1861, 32,299; and in 1871, by public improvements, but the debt was soon paid off.
37,774.
The motto on the city arms is Bon-Accord. It formed the
watchword of the Aberdonians while aiding King Robert
the Bruce in his battles with the English.

ABERDEEN, a royal burgh and city, the chief part of a parliamentary burgh, the capital of the county of Aberdeen, the chief seaport in the north of Scotland, and the fourth Scottish town in population, industry, and wealth. It lies in lat. 57° 9′ N. and long. 2° 6' W., on the German Ocean, near the mouth of the river Dee, and is 542 miles north of London, and 111 miles north of Edinburgh, by the shortest railway routes.

tory

Of eminent men connected with Aberdeen, New and Old, may be mentioned-John Barbour, Hector Boece or Boethius, Bishop Elphinstone, the Earls Marischal; George Jamesone, the famous portrait painter; Edward Raban, the first printer in Aberdeen, 1622; Rev. Andrew Cant, the Covenanter; David Anderson (Davie do a' thing), a mechanic; James Gregory, inventor of the reflecting telescope; Dr Thomas Reid, the metaphysician; Dr George Campbell, Principal of Marischal College, author of several important works, and best known by his Philosophy of Rhetoric; Dr James Beattie; Lord Byron; Sir James Mackintosh; Robert Hall; Dr R. Hamilton, who wrote on the National Debt.

Till 1800 the city stood on a few eminences, and had steep, narrow, and crooked streets, but, since the Improvement Act of that year, the whole aspect of the place has been altered by the formation of two new spacious and nearly level streets (Union Street and King Street, meeting in Castle Street), and by the subsequent laying out of many others, besides squares, terraces, &c., on nearly flat ground. The city is above eight miles in circuit, and is built on sand, gravel, and boulder clay. The highest parts are from 90 to 170 feet above the sea. The chief thoroughfare is Union Street, nearly a mile long and 70 feet broad. It runs W.S.W. from Castle Street, and crosses the Denburn, now the railway valley, by a noble granite arch 132 feet in span and 50 feet high, which cost, with a hidden arch on each side, £13,000.

Aberdeen is now a capacious, elegant, and well-built Public town, and from the material employed, consisting chiefly of Buildings light grey native granite, is called the "granite city." It contains many fine public buildings. The principal of these is Marischal College or University Buildings, which stands on the site of a pre-Reformation Franciscan Convent, and was rebuilt, 1836-1841, at a cost of about £30,000. It forms three sides of a court, which is 117 by 105 feet, and has a back wing, and a tower 100 feet high. The accommodation consists of twenty-five large class-rooms and laboratories, a hall, library, museums, &c.

Aberdeen, probably the Devana on the Diva of Ptolemy, was an important place in the 12th century. William the Lion had a residence in the city, to which he gave a charter in 1179, confirming the corporate rights granted by David I. The city received many subsequent royal charters. It was burned by Edward III. in 1336, but it was soon rebuilt and extended, and called New Aberdeen. The houses were of timber and thatched, and many such existed till 1741. The burgh records are the oldest of any Scottish burgh. They begin in 1398, and are complete to the present time, with only a short break. Extracts from them, extending from 1398 to 1570, have been published by the Spalding Club. For many centuries the city was subject to attacks by the barons of the surrounding districts, and its avenues and six ports had to be guarded The ports had all been removed by 1770. Several monasteries existed in Aberdeen before the Reformation. Most of the Scottish sovereigns visited the

The University of Aberdeen was formed by the union and incorporation, in 1860, by Act of Parliament, of the University and King's College of Aberdeen, founded in Old Aberdeen, in 1494, by William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen, under the authority of a Papal bull obtained by James IV., and of the Marischal College and University of Aberdeen, founded in New Aberdeen, in 1593, by George Keith, Earl Marischal, by a charter ratified by Act of Parliament. The officials consist of a chancellor, with rector and principal; there are 21 professors and 8 assistants, Arts and divinity are taught in King's College, and medicine, natural history, and law in Marischal College. The arts session lasts from the end of October to the beginning of April. The arts curriculum of four years, with gradua tion, costs £36, 11a There are 214 arts bursaries, 29 divinity, and 1 medical, of the aggregate annual value of £3646, £650, and £26, respectively. About 60 arts

Charches
Abd
Schools.

bursaries, mostly from £10 to £35 in value, are given | diameter at the mouth, 3 feet high, and very thick. The
yearly by competition, or by presentation and examination.
Two-thirds of the arts students are bursars. Seventeen
annual scholarships and prizes of the yearly value of £758
are given at the end of the arts curriculum.
The average
yearly number of arts students, in the thirteen years
since the union of the arts classes of the two colleges in
1860, has been 342, while in the separate colleges together
for the nine years before the tinion, it was 431. In winter
session 1872-73 there were 623 matriculated students in
all the faculties. In 1872, 32 graduated in arts, 68 in
medicine, 5 in divinity, and 1 in law. The library has
above 80,000 volumes. The General Council in 1873 had
2075 registered members, who, with those of Glasgow Uni-
versity, return one member to Parliament.

ABERDEEN

masters. The Boys' and Girls' Hospital, lately built for £10,000, maintains and educates 50 boys and 50 girls.

The Female Orphan Asylum, founded by Mrs Elmslie, in 1840, and managed by trustees, maintains and educates, chiefly as domestic servants. 46 girls between the ages of and 16, at the yearly cost for each of about £23, 13s. Those admitted must be legitimate orphan daughters of respectable parents, who have lived three years immediately before death in Aberdeen or in the adjoining The Hospital for parishes of Old Machar and Nigg Orphan and Female Destitute Children, endowed by John Carnegie and the trustees of the Murtle Fund, maintains The and educates 50 girls, chiefly for domestic service Asylum for the Blind, established in 1843, on a foundation by Miss Cruickshank, maintains and educates about 10 blind children, and gives industrial employment to blind adults There is a boys and girls school for 150 boys The Industrial and 150 girls on Dr Bell's foundation Schools, begun by Sheriff Watson in 1841, and the Reformatory Schools, begun in 1857, having some 600 pupils on the roll, have greatly diminished juvenile crime in the district. The Murtle or John Gordon's Charitable Fund, founded in 1815, has an annual revenue from land of about | £2400, applicable to all kinds of charity, in sums from £5 to £300 The Midbeltie Fund, founded by a bequest of £20,000, in 1848, by James Allan of Midbeltie, gives yearly pensions ranging from £5 to £15 to respectable decayed widows in the parishes of St Nicholas and Old

Machar

The two parishes in which Aberdeen is situated. viz., St Nicholas and Old Machar, have each a large poor-house. The poor of both parishes cost about £20,000 a year

some polished Peterhead granite pillars, the rest being
built of concrete.

In Castle Street, the City Place and Old Market Stance, Market
1s the Market Cross, a beautiful, open-arched, hexagonal Cross
structure of freestone, 21 feet diameter, and 18 feet high.
It has lonic columns and pilasters, and an entablature of
twelve panels. On ten of the panels are medallions,
cut in stone, in high relief, of the Scottish sovereigns from
From the centre rises a com-
James I. to James VIL
posite column 12 feet high, with a Corinthian capital, on
which is the royal unicorn rampant. This cross was planned
and erected about 1682 by John Montgomery, a native
architect, for £100 sterling. On the north side of the
same street, adjoining the municipal buildings, is the
North of Scotland Bank, a Grecian building in granite,
with a portico of Corinthian columns, having most elabo-
rately carved capitals. On an eminence east of Castle
Street are the military barracks for 600 men, built in 1796
for £16,000.

The principal statues in the city are those of the last Duke of Gordon-died 1836-in grey granite, 10 feet high, Queen Victoria, in white Sicilian marble, 8 feet high, Prince Albert, bronze, natural-size, sitting posture; and a curious rough stone figure, of unknown date, supposed to be Sir William Wallace.

1

The Dee to the south of the city is crossed by three Bridges. bridges, the old bridge of Dee, an iron suspension bridge, and the Caledonian Railway bridge. The first, till 1832 the only access to the city from the south, consists of seven semicircular ribbed arches, is about 30 feet high, and was built early in the 16th century by Bishops Elphinstone and Dunbar. It was nearly all rebuilt 1718-1723, The Royal Infirmary, instituted in 1740, was rebuilt and from bemg 14 feet wide, it was in 1842 made 26 feet wide. From Castle Street, King Street leads in the 1833-1840 in the Grecian style, at the cost of £17,000 direction of the new bridge of Don (a little east of the old It is a well-situated, large, commodious, and imposing building It has three stories, the front being 166 feet" Brig o' Balgownie "), of five granite arches, each 75 feet A detached fever. long and 50 feet high, with a dome. The managers house was built in 1872 for about £2500 were incorporated by royal charter in 1773, and much The institution 19 supincreased in number in 1852 ported by land rents, feu-duties, legacies, donations, subscriptions, church collections, &c. average 1200 cubic feet of space.

Each bed has on an
There are on the average

130 resident patients, costing each on the average a shilling daily, and the number of patients treated may be stated at 1700 annually, besides outdoor patients receiving advice and medicine. The recent annual expenditure has been about £4300.

There is a staff of a dozen medical officers. The Royal Lunatic Asylum, opened in 1800, consists of two separate houses, valued in 1870 at £40,000, in an It is under the same management enclosure of 40 acres. as the Infirmar The recent daily average of patients has The annual been about 420, at an annual cost of £13,000 The General Dispensary, rate for each pauper is £25, 108 Vaccine, and Lying-in Institution, founded in 1823, has The Hospital for had as many as 6781 cases in one year Incurables has a daily average of 26 patients, and the Ophthalmic and Auric Institution has had 671 cases in a year.

The Music Hall, built in 1821 and 1859 at the cost of £16,500, has a front 90 feet long, with a portico of 6 Ionic pillars 30 feet high, large, highly-decorated lobbies and rooms; and a hall 150 feet long, 68 broad, and 50 high, with a flat ceiling, and galleries. The hall holds 2000 persons seated, and has a fine organ and an orchestra for 300 Here H.R.H. Prince Albert opened the British Association, as president, 14th September 1859. Theatre and Opera House was built in 1872, in the mixed Gothic style, for £8400, with the stage 52 feet by 29, and The front wall the auditorum for 1700 to 1800 persons. is of bluish granite and red and yellow freestone, with

A new

span, built for nearly £13,000 in 1827-1832.

A defective harbour, and a shallow sand and gravel bar at Harbour,
its entrance, long retarded the trade of Aberdeen, but, under a
various Acts since 1773, they have been greatly deepened
The north pier, built partly by Smeaton, 1775-1781, and
partly by Telford, 1810-1815, extends 2000 feet into the
German Ocean It is 30 feet broad, and, with the parapet,
It consists of large granite
blocks
rises 15 feet above high water.
It has increased the depth of water on the bar
The wet dock, of 29 acres, and with
from a few feet to 22 or 24 feet at spring tides, and to 17
or 18 feet at neap.

6000 feet of quay, was completed in 1848, and called
Victoria Dock, in honour of Her Majesty's visit to the
city in that year. These and other improvements of the
harbour and its entrance cost £325,000 down to 1848.
By the Harbour Act of 1868, the Dee near the harbour
has been diverted to the south, at the cost of £80,000,
and 90 acres of new ground (in addition to 25 acres
formerly made up) for harbour works are being made up on
the city or north side of the river; £80,000 has been
laid out in forming in the sea, at the south side of the
river, a new breakwater of concrete, 1050 feet long, against
The navigation channel is
south and south-east storms.
being widened and deepened, and the old pier or break-
water on the north side of the river mouth is to be
lengthened at least 500 feet seaward A body of 31 com-
missioners manage the harbour affairs.

Aberdeen Bay affords safe anchorage with off-shore winds, but not with those from the N.E., E., and S. E. On the Girdleness, the south point of the bay, a lighthouse was built in 1833, in lat. 57° 8′ N., and long. 2° 3′ W., with two fixed lights, one vertically below the other, and respectively 115 and 185 feet above mean tide. There are also fixed leading lights to direct ships entering the harbour

Water

Manufao tures, &c