Dr Alexander, an eminent philologist, was the son of a shepherd, and was born at Dunkitterick, in the Steartry of Kirkcudbright, in October 1775. His elementary education was almost entirely self-acquired. The few books that a peasant's cot possessed were conned over with eager avidity as he sat by the family hearth in the evening, or lay amid his flock on the hillside during the day. At length, in 1789, he was enabled to attend the school of Minnigaff. The next five years were spent by him in studying in the school during the summer, in teaching the children of neighbouring families during the winter, and in greedily devouring knowledge at every opportunity. Books of all kinds were bought or borrowed; grammars and dictionaries of several languages, old and obscure treatises, histories, and poems, were perused and re-perused; he acquired a knowledge of the French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and of the Anglo-Saxon, Welsh, and Arabic alphabets; he also wrote and prepared for publication a volume of poems. In 1794 his name as a self-taught scholar, which had for some time been spreading in the neighbourhood, reached the ears of the Rev. Dr Baird of Edinburgh. By that gentleman's assistance he was enabled forthwith to enter the metropolitan university. In the course of two years a bursary was conferred upon him, and he began to study for the church. Though compelled to earn a scanty livelihood by giving private lessons, he continued, during every spare hour, to cultivate his literary Murray, tastes, and to gratify his ever-growing desire for general information. He contributed several miscellaneous articles to the Scots Magazine and the Edinburgh Review. He also acquired an intimacy with all the European languages, and with the Geez, Amharic, and Abyssinian dialects. His knowledge of the last of these tongues recommended him, in 1802, for the task of editing Bruce's Travels. The edition appeared three years afterwards, in 7 volumes 8vo, accompanied by a Life of the author, and by copious philological and antiquarian notes. Shortly after this, in 1806, Murray was ordained assistant and successor to the minister of Urr in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and succeeded to the sole charge of this parish in 1809. Meanwhile his edition of Bruce's Travels had been extending the fame of his scholarship, and had been opening up a road to honour and preferment. Accordingly, in 1811 he was employed to translate a Geez letter that had been sent to the king from the governor of Tigre; and in 1812 he was elected to the chair of oriental languages in Edinburgh. The degree of D.D. was also conferred upon him. Murray had now attained his proper position in life. At the same time, the stores of learning which his daily and nightly studies had amassed were beginning to assume a tangible form in a History of the European Languages. He set himself to his academical duties with more than his wonted enthusiasm. But long before the end of his first session his toil-worn constitution broke down, and he died in April 1813, at the age of thirty-seven. His philological work was edited in the same year by Dr Scot of Corstorphine. Another work of Murray's, The Outlines of Oriental Philology, had appeared in 1812.

Murray, John, an eminent chemist, was born in Edinburgh in 1778, and became a pupil of the celebrated Dr Joseph Black. Murray commenced his career as an apothecary in his native city; but soon began to give chemical lectures, which were remarkable for clearness of diction and a happy mode of illustration; so that he was justly considered one of the ablest and most popular teachers of chemistry in the present century. His System of Chemistry, in 4 vols. 8vo, went through four large editions, and was regarded as one of the very best works on the subject of that period. The first volume contains a very admirable statement of the doctrines of heat in relation to chemistry, as promulgated by Black and later philosophers. His smaller work, entitled Elements of Chemistry, in 2 vols., was also very popular. Dr Murray afterwards gave annual courses of materia medica and pharmacy, which were numerously attended; and he published a good System of those branches of medicine, which went through two editions. The publication of Playfair's admirable Illustrations of the Hutonian Theory of the Earth, in 1802, quickly called forth Murray's Comparative View of the Hutonian and Neptunian Theories. He was a zealous defender of the latter; and although the igneous origin of mineral bodies is now generally received, Murray has given us by far the best and most ingenious defence of the Neptunian doctrines ever given to the world. Dr Murray was the author of several papers in the Transactions of the Edinburgh Royal Society; one of the most interesting of which is "The Analyses of several Mineral Waters," in which he showed how salts obtained by their evaporation may be different from those actually dissolved in the waters. Dr Murray was much respected and esteemed by those who best knew him. He died prematurely, of disease of the heart, on 22d June 1820.

Murray, John, an eminent publisher, was the son of John Murray, a bookseller in Fleet Street, London, and was born in November 1778. His education was received at the High School of Edinburgh and at several seminaries in England. In his fifteenth year he was left, by his father's death, to conduct the business, with the assistance of the shopman, Mr Highley. On his coming of age, he made his assistant a partner. The partnership, however, was dissolved in 1803; and Murray began a career of publication unrivalled in the history of literature. His acuteness in detecting the merits of an author, and his knack of discerning the taste and wants of the public, soon rendered him one of the most successful of publishers. In 1807 he suggested to Canning the project of establishing a Tory periodical that might prove a worthy rival to the Edinburgh Review. The plan received the approval and hearty co-operation of Walter Scott in 1808; and in 1809 Murray published the first number of the Quarterly Review. In 1810 he sought the acquaintance of Lord Byron, whose high poetical powers were not yet recognised, made him a liberal offer for the first two cantos of Childe Harold, and commenced a literary connection with him which increased the fame of both publisher and poet. To other eminent authors he was equally generous. They received princely sums for the copyrights of their works. If the sale surpassed expectation, the stipulated price was increased, and sometimes even doubled. Such generous and highly honourable conduct soon raised Murray to the position of a patron of literature. Authors began to frequent the shop in Albemarle Street, to which he had removed in 1812. In his little back parlour there might have been seen of an afternoon such men as Byron, Scott, Crabbe, Southey, Washington Irving, and Lockhart, enjoying the racy and humorous conversation of the publisher. Among the many undertakings which he continued to conduct was the Family Library, begun in 1829. He sometimes published with great success works, such as the Sketch-Book, which had proved failures in the hands of other publishers. He died in June 1843, leaving his trade to his son, the present Mr John Murray.

Murray, Lindley, the author of a well-known English Grammar, was born at Swatara in Pennsylvania in 1745. After receiving his education at Philadelphia and New York, he entered his father's counting-house; but afterwards studied law, and practised at the bar until the breaking out of the war of independence, when he became a merchant, and soon amassed a handsome fortune, which enabled him to retire. He spent the remaining years of his life in England; and wrote The Power of Religion on the Mind in 1787, and his English Grammar in 1795. Several other school-books, both English and French, followed. His last publications were A Selection from Horne's Commentary on the Psalms, 12mo, 1808; and The Duty and Benefit of a Daily Perusal of the Scriptures, 1817. He died in February 1826. Memoirs of Lindley Murray were published by Elizabeth Frank, 8vo, York, 1826.

Murray, Sir Robert, one of the founders of the Royal Society, was the son of Sir Robert Murray of Craigie, and was born about the beginning of the seventeenth century. After serving in the French army, and rising to the rank of colonel, he returned to Scotland during the civil broils, and became an ardent and trustworthy supporter of Charles I. The downfall of the royal cause compelled him to betake himself once more to France. He appears to have dwelt there, and to have held a commission in the French army until Charles II. placed himself at the head of the Scots in 1650. His loyalty was rewarded in the following year by his being promoted to the important offices of justice-clerk and a lord of session in Scotland. These appointments, rendered null and void by the complete overthrow of the King's cause at Worcester, were confirmed on the restoration in 1660. It was at this time that Sir Robert Murray began to take a prominent part in a small club that had been founded by Robert Boyle, Lord Brounker, and others, for the discussion of natural science, or, as it was then called, "the New Philosophy." He was present at the meeting of the 28th November 1660, when it was proposed Murray, "that some course might be thought of to improve this meeting to a more regular way of debating things." He undertook to advocate this proposal to the court. His suit was successful; an encouraging answer was returned by the government; and on the 15th July 1662 the club was incorporated by charter under the designation of "The Royal Society." Sir Robert was its first president. During the rest of his life he continued to be one of its most active members, and delivered before it several learned papers. He died in June 1673. Sir Robert Murray is described by Burnet, in his History of My Own Times, as "the wisest and worthiest man of that age."

Murray, William, Earl of Mansfield, a celebrated English lawyer, was the fourth son of David, Earl of Stormont, and was born at Perth on 2d March 1705. He received his education in England, first at Westminster School, and subsequently at Christ Church College, Oxford, where he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1727, and that of Master in 1730. Having completed his academical studies, he shortly after became a member of Lincoln's Inn. Being called to the bar, Murray early acquired reputation as a speaker, and obtained a good practice in his profession. As early as 1736 we find him professionally employed against the bill of pains and penalties, which afterwards passed into a law, against the city of Edinburgh on account of the riotous murder of Captain Porteous. In 1738 he married Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Winchelsea; and in 1742 he was appointed solicitor-general, and chosen representative of Boroughbridge, for which place he was afterwards returned in 1747, and again in 1754. In 1748 he acted as one of the managers for the impeachment of Lord Lovat by the Commons, and in his observations on the evidence, in reply to the prisoner, displayed singular candour and ability.

In 1754 Mr Murray was appointed attorney-general in the room of Sir Dudley Ryder; and in 1756 he succeeded the same person as chief justice of the King's Bench. He took his seat on the bench on the 11th of November, and was immediately afterwards raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Mansfield. Owing to various reforms which he introduced, the business of the court increased to an extent never before known, and continued to be despatched with exemplary regularity. It is stated by Sir James Burrow, in the preface to his Reports, that at the sitting for London and Middlesex there were as many as eight hundred causes set down in a year, "and all disposed of."

During the very unsettled state of the ministry in 1757 Lord Mansfield accepted the office of chancellor of the exchequer, and was the means of effecting a coalition of parties, out of which was formed a strong and successful administration. In the same year he was offered the great seal, on the retirement of Lord Hardwicke, but declined it. His political sympathies were not on the popular side, and at the commencement of the reign of George III. he was marked out as an object of party rancour, and continued for many years exposed to violent and unsparing invective, the most vigorous specimens of which have come down to us in the Letters of Junius. The affair of Mr Wilkes' outlawry served to rekindle the animosity with which he had been regarded by the popular party, and exposed him to renewed attacks. On the day when judgment was to be given on this case, not only the court, but the whole of Westminster Hall and Palace Yard, were crowded with anxious spectators. Lord Mansfield took notice of the popular excitement which had been directed against the judges of the court, particularly himself; and declared his contempt for all the threats which had been employed to deter the court from doing their duty. "I honour the King," said he, "and respect the people; but many things acquired by the favour of either are, in my account, objects not worth ambition. I wish popularity; but it is that popularity which follows, not that which is run after."

In the beginning of 1770 Lord Mansfield was once more offered the great seal, which he again declined; and a similar offer, renewed the following year, found him equally inflexible. About the same time he was attacked, in both Houses of Parliament, on account of his direction to the jury in the case of Woodfall the printer, who had been prosecuted for a libel. He maintained the dangerous principle that the question of law belonged exclusively to the court, and that the only point competent for the jury to try was merely the fact of publication, leaving it to the judges afterwards to decide whether the matter published did or did not amount to a libel. In 1776 his lordship was raised to the dignity of earl.

During the excitement and lawlessness of June 1780 Lord Mansfield was marked out as an object of popular vengeance, and his house in Bloomsbury Square, with everything it contained, including his library and manuscripts, were wholly consumed. His lordship submitted to his loss with calmness and dignity, and declined a proposed indemnification by the House of Commons.

From this time it seemed as if popular hatred had spent its force; and during the remainder of his life all parties united in a common feeling of respect and reverence for his character and virtues. Notwithstanding his advanced age, he continued until 1787 to discharge his judicial functions with his wonted regularity; but from that time his infirmities increased so rapidly, that in June 1788 he came to the resolution of resigning his office, and withdrawing into the shade of retirement. His health continued to decline, but his mental faculties remained unimpaired almost to the last. He died on the 20th of March 1793, in the eighty-ninth year of his age, leaving his immense fortune to his nephew Lord Stormont, who also, in virtue of a new patent granted in 1792, succeeded to his title.

As a politician, Mansfield had too little courage to be the leader, and too much ability to be the dupe, of any party. He was not a forward nor a frequent speaker, but reserved himself for occasions worthy of himself, and never spoke except on subjects which he had carefully considered. In debate he was eloquent as well as judicious; displaying wisdom and good sense, set forth in the clearest method. He affected no sallies of imagination nor bursts of passion, and he never condescended to personal abuse or virulent altercation. His character as a judge has always stood high, although his legislation was more successful in commercial law than in that of real property; and the depth of his legal learning has been frequently questioned. He was tolerant in matters of religion; and in private life he was easy, friendly, and engaging; extremely sensible of worth in other men, and ready upon all occasions to countenance and patronize it. (See Life of Lord Mansfield, by Henry Roscoe, in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia.)

the principal known river of Australia, rises in the Australian Alps, or Warragong Mountains, in S. Lat. 36° 20', E. Long. 148° 15'. It flows in a very irregular course towards the N.W., forming the greater part of the boundary between New South Wales and Victoria. In E. Long. 142° it takes a general direction towards the W., in 140° it turns S.S.W., and finally falls into Lake Victoria, and through it into the ocean, in S. Lat. 36° 30', and E. Long. 139°. This river and its tributaries water a most extensive tract of country, comprising the whole of Victoria and New South Wales, with the exception of a narrow strip that extends along the coast. The length of the main river is not more than 700 miles; and though several of its affluents much exceed it in the length of their course, yet they are all inferior to it in the volume and rapidity of their water. Not far from its source it has a breadth of 100 yards; and in 143° E. Long., where it receives the Murrumbidgee, it is three or four times as broad. From its junction with the Darling, in E. Long. 142°, to its mouth, the breadth of the river is on an average from 100

to 150 yards; and where it enters Lake Victoria it is about 200 yards wide, and often as deep as 10 fathoms. Thus, like most of the rivers of Australia, the Murray, while broad, full, and rapid in the higher parts of its course, becomes gradually less as it approaches the sea, receiving no tributaries for a considerable distance above its mouth, and flowing through a marshy and alluvial soil. The plain through which the Murray flows is in general low and flat, slightly sloping towards the sea, and in about 144. E. Long., the course of the river winds through extensive tracts of reeds. Further down, the banks are lined for a very long distance with trees, which give to the river the appearance of an avenue; and it is remarkable that the same kind of wood is never found on opposite sides. Below its junction with the Darling, the Murray forces its way between precipitous cliffs of limestone rock, which rise in some places to the height of 200 feet; but these, as the river approaches the coast, give place to lower undulating hills inclosing between them large tracts of marshy land overgrown with reeds. The river is very much subject to floods. Its annual rise is about 16 or 20 feet; but the waters of the Murrumbidgee frequently cause it to rise 30 or 40 feet above its usual level. When the river is in flood, it is navigable as far up as Albury, about 90 miles from its source; and steamers and barges now ply regularly as far up as that place, when there is sufficient depth of water, which is about six months in the year. The entrance into Lake Victoria from the sea is difficult, if not dangerous, owing to the violent surf and to the constant changes in the position of the channel, which is also very shallow. In order to avoid the inconveniences of this navigation, a tramway has been constructed for a distance of 8 miles, between Goolwa, on the Murray, and Port Elliot, on the ocean. This is now working in connection with the river steamers.

The tributaries of the Murray form the greater part of the entire system of that river. The Murrumbidgee rises in the same mountains as the Murray, a short distance to the north of that river, and flows for the most part of its course in a direction nearly parallel. The country through which it flows resembles, in its low, flat character, that near the Murray; and it passes through many tracts of marshy and reedy ground in its course. As it proceeds westward it is gradually diminished in volume and rapidity, and finally discharges its waters into the Murray. The Lachlan River rises in the mountains to the west of Sydney, and flows first W., and then S.W., until it is lost in marshes which are drained by the Murrumbidgee. The Macquarie rises in the same chain of mountains farther to the N., and flows in a N.E. direction; but it soon becomes gradually less, till it is absorbed in an extensive morass. The longest of the affluents of the Murray is the Darling, a river which rises in the N.E. of New South Wales, and flows in an irregular course towards the S.W., till it falls into the Murray. In the upper part of its course it receives many tributaries, of which the principal are the Balonne, from the N., which falls into it by several branches, and the Macquarie from the S.E., through the marshes in which that river ends. It also receives the River Bogan, which runs parallel to the Macquarie; but in the lower part of its course it has no important tributaries. The water of the Darling is salt near its source, but below its junction with the Bogan it is fresh, and quite fit for drinking. The flats through which the Darling flows, near its union with the Murray, differ from those of the latter river in the beauty of their scenery, and in being covered, not with reeds, but with the most luxuriant vegetation. Its current here is generally sluggish, and its waters, which are muddy, do not in general contribute much to increase the volume of the Murray; but, like all the Australian rivers, it is subject to inundations, and is very variable in its condition, sometimes rising 4 feet in the course of twenty-four hours. Its banks, like those of the Murray, are thickly covered with timber.

The navigation of the Darling is very uncertain; but it has been ascended as far as 50 miles above its confluence with the Murray. The basin of the Murray is bounded on the S. and E. by mountains, which skirt the coast, and which are known by various names at different parts. On the W. it is bounded by a range running N. and S., near the boundary between New South Wales and South Australia; and on the N. there is believed to be another range extending E. and W., and forming the watershed of the rivers of Australia. The general character of the basin of the Murray is flat. It is in some parts dry and destitute of water, and in others alluvial and marshy. The best part of this region is that at the N.E. corner, called Darling Downs, an extensive region of rich pasture grounds. This country seems to be very thinly peopled, and in some places, as far as the eye can reach, there is no trace to be seen of human habitations. This is almost the only portion of the interior of Australia that has been explored, and this has only been done in comparatively recent times. No attempt was made before 1813 to cross the mountains which form the eastern boundary of the Murray River system, and it was not till 1829 that its mouth in Lake Victoria was reached. In that year Captain Sturt followed the course of the Murrumbidgee from its source to the Murray, and that river down to the sea. The Lachlan and the Macquarie had been explored by Oxley in 1817 and 1818; and part of the upper course of the Darling was discovered by Sturt in 1828, who also penetrated, in 1844, for some distance up the Darling, and thence into the centre of Australia.