THOMAS, an eminent Scottish writer, was son of a minister at Aberdeen, and born there 1701. He had his grammatical learning at a school in Aberdeen, studied Greek and philosophy in the Marischal college there, and took the degree of M.A. in 1718. Being greatly distinguished by uncommon parts, and an early proficiency in letters, he was, Dec. 1723, made Greek professor in the college where he had been educated; and continued to teach that language with applause even to his death. In 1737, was published at London, but without his name, "An Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer;" 8vo; a second edition of which appeared in 1736; and not long after, "Proofs of the Enquiry into Homer's Life and Writings," which was a translation of the Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, and French notes, subjoined to the original work. In 1748, he published "Letters concerning Mythology," 8vo; without his name also. The same year, he was made principal of the Marischal college in Aberdeen, and is the only layman who hath been appointed principal of that college, since the patronage came to the crown, by the forfeiture of the Marischal family, in 1716; all the other principals having been ministers of the church of Scotland. March 1752, he took the degree of doctor of laws; and the year following came out the first volume of his Memoirs of the Court of Augustus, 4to. The second volume appeared in 1753; and the third, which was posthumous, and left incomplete by the author, was fitted for the press by John Mills, Esq. and published in 1764. At the same time was published a third edition of the two former volumes: Which is a proof of the good reception the work met with from the public; though it must be acknowledged that the parade with which it is written, and the peculiarity of its language, exposed it to some severity of censure.

Soon after he became principal of his college, he married a merchant's daughter of Aberdeen, by whom he had no children. Several years before his death, his health began to decline: his disorder was of the consumptive kind, and thought to be forwarded by an excess of abstemiousness which he imposed upon himself. His disaste increasinf, he was advised to travel, and accordingly set out in Feb. 1757; however, he was not able to go farther than Edinburgh, in which city he died the 8th of March following, in his 56th year. He was a very ingenious and very learned man: he had an equable flow of temper, and a truly philosophic spirit, Blackwell, spirit, both which he seems to have preserved to the Bladder. last; for on the day of his death he wrote to several of his friends.

Alexander, son of a dealer in knithofe, at Aberdeen, where he received a liberal education, studied physic under Boerhaave at Leyden, took the degree of M. D. and acquired a proficiency in the modern languages. On his return home, happening to stay some time at the Hague, he contracted an intimacy with a Swedish nobleman. Marrying a gentleman's daughter in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, he propounded practicing his profession in that part of the kingdom; but in two years finding his expectations disappointed, he came to London, where he met with still less encouragement as a physician, and commenced corrector of the press for Mr Wilkins a printer. After some years spent in this employment, he set up as a printer himself: and carried on several large works till 1734, when he became bankrupt. In what manner he subsisted for a considerable time after this event we do not learn, unless it was by the ingenuity of his wife, who published "A curious Herbal containing 502 Cuts of the most useful Plants which are now used in the Practice of Physic, engraved on folio Copperplates, after Drawings taken from the Life, by Elizabeth Blackwell. To which is added a short Description of the Plants, and their common Uses in Physic, 1739," 2 vols. folio. In or about the year 1740 he went to Sweden, and renewing his intimacy with the nobleman he knew at the Hague, again assumed the medical profession, and was very well received in that capacity; till turning projector, he laid a scheme before his Swedish majesty for draining the fens and marshes, which was well received, and many thousands employed in prosecuting it under the doctor's direction, from which he had some small allowance from the king. This scheme succeeded so well, he turned his thoughts to others of greater importance, which in the end proved fatal to him. He was suspected of being concerned in a plot with Count Teffin, and was tortured; which not producing a confession, he was beheaded August 9, 1748; and soon after this event appeared "A genuine Copy of a Letter from a merchant in Stockholm to his correspondent in London; containing an Impartial Account of Doctor Alexander Blackwell, his Plot, Trial, Character, and Behaviour, both under Examination and at the Place of Execution; together with a copy of a Paper delivered to a Friend upon the Scaffold." He possessed a good natural genius, but was somewhat flighty and a little conceited. His conversation, however, was facetious and agreeable; and he might be considered on the whole as a well-bred accomplished gentleman.