kirk--each of them being treated of as
regards name, situation and extent, natural objects, antiquities,
establishment as shires, civil history, agriculture, manufactures and
trade, and ecclesiastical history. In 1824, after an interval of
fourteen years, the third volume appeared, giving, under the same
headings, a description of the seven south-western counties--Dumfries,
Kirkcudbright, Wigtown, Ayr, Lanark, Renfrew and Dumbarton. In the
preface to this volume the author states that the materials for the
history of the central and northern counties were collected, and that he
expected the work would be completed in two years, but this expectation
was not destined to be realized. He had also been engaged on a history
of Scottish poetry and a history of printing in Scotland. Each of them
he thought likely to extend to two large quarto volumes, and on both he
expended an unusual amount of enthusiasm and energy. He had also
prepared for the press an elaborate history of the life and reign of
David I. In his later researches he was assisted by his nephew James,
son of Alexander Chalmers, writer in Elgin.

George Chalmers died in London on the 31st of May 1825. His valuable and
extensive library he bequeathed to his nephew, at whose death in 1841 it
was sold and dispersed. Chalmers was a member of the Royal and
Antiquarian Societies of London, an honorary member of the Antiquarian
Society of Scotland, and a member of other learned societies. In private
life he was undoubtedly an amiable man, although the dogmatic tone that
disfigures portions of his writings procured him many opponents. Among
his avowed antagonists in literary warfare the most distinguished were
Malone and Steevens, the Shakespeare editors; Mathias, the author of the
_Pursuits of Literature_; Dr Jamieson, the Scottish lexicographer;
Pinkerton, the historian; Dr Irving, the biographer of the Scottish
poets; and Dr Currie of Liverpool, But with all his failings in judgment
Chalmers was a valuable writer. He uniformly had recourse to original
sources of information; and he is entitled to great praise for his
patriotic and self-sacrificing endeavours to illustrate the history,
literature and antiquities of his native country. (J. M'D.)

CHALMERS, GEORGE PAUL (1836-1878), Scottish painter, was born at
Montrose, and studied at Edinburgh. His landscapes are now more valued
than the portraits which formed his earlier work. The best of these are
"The End