. a newspaper in Aberdeen. He then returned to
Edin., where he worked for the brothers Chambers, the eminent publishers,
and where he became acquainted with Wilson, Sir William Hamilton, and
Chalmers, for the last of whom he cherished an extraordinary veneration.
Going to London in 1847 he wrote extensively in reviews, magazines, and
encyclopaedias. In 1852 he became Prof. of English Literature in Univ.
Coll., and in 1858 ed. of _Macmillan's Magazine_. He was appointed in
1865 Prof. of English Literature in Edin., where he exercised a profound
influence on his students, many of whom have risen to high positions in
literature. Though a most laborious student and man of letters, M. took a
warm interest in various public questions, including Italian
emancipation, and the higher education of women. He was the author of
many important works, including _Essays Biographical and Critical_
(1856), _British Novelists_ (1859), and _Recent British Philosophy_
(1865). His _magnum opus_ is his monumental _Life of John Milton_ (6
vols., 1859-80) the most complete biography of any Englishman, dealing as
it does not only with the personal life of the poet, but with the
history, political, social, and religious of his time. Other books are
_Drummond of Hawthornden_ (1873), _De Quincey_ (in English Men of Letters
Series) (1878), _Edinburgh Sketches and Memories_ (1892), and _Carlyle
Personally and in his Writings_. He also ed. the standard ed. of De
Quincey's works, and the Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, his
introductions in connection with which are of great historical value. He
was appointed Historiographer for Scotland in 1893. M. was full of
learning guided by sagacity, genial, broad-minded, and sane in his
judgments of men and things, and thoroughly honest and sincere.

MATHER, COTTON (1663-1728).--Divine, _s._ of Increase M., a leading
American divine, was _ed._ at Harvard, became a minister, and was
colleague to his _f._ He was laborious, able, and learned, but extremely
bigoted and self-sufficient. He carried on a persecution of so-called
"witches," which led to the shedding of much innocent blood; on the other
hand he was so much of a reformer as to advocate inoculation for
small-pox. He was a copious author, his chief work being _Magnalia
Christi Americana_ (1702), an ecclesiastical history of New England.
Others were _Late Memorable Providences relating to Witchcraft and
Possession_ (1689), and _The Wonders of the