Volume 3 > Half-Volume 5

18
1773, that they had resolved to emigrate to America.
This they afterwards did; but either having not suc-
ceeded to their wish, or finding the love of country
too strong for voluntary exile, they returned to Skye,
where Flora died on the 4th of March, 1790, leaving
behind her a son, John, the subject of the present
memoir, and a daughter, married to a Mr. Macleod,
a distant relation to the chief of that name. "It is
remarkable," writes Sir Walter Scott, "that this
distinguished lady signed her name Flory, instead of
the more classical orthography. Her marriage con-
tract, which is in my possession, bears the name
spelled Flory."
At an early period John Macdonald went to India,
and on his way thither had occasion to reside for a
short time in London. This was at a period when
the alarm of the Jacobite war of 1715 and 1745 had
ceased to be remembered, and when the Celtic dress
had not as yet become familiar to the English eye.
At this transition period the Highland costume of
our young Scottish adventurer appears to have ex-
cited as much astonishment, and also displeasure, as
the kaross of the Caffre or the sheep-skua of the
Tartar would have done, had they been paraded upon
the pavement of Cheapside. Writing of this event
in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1820, he says, "I
well recollect my arrival in London about half a
century ago on my way to India, and the disappro-
bation expressed in the streets of my tartan dress;
but now I see with satisfaction the variegated High-
land manufacture prevalent as a favourite and taste-
ful costume, from the humble cottage to the superb
castle. To Sir Walter Scott's elegant and fascinat-
ing writings we are to ascribe this wonderful revolu-
tion in public sentiment."
As it was to the scientific departments of the mili-
tary profession that Macdonald devoted his labours,
his career to the close was that of a studious observer
and philosophic writer, rather than a stirring adven-
turous soldier. He passed many years in the service
of the East India Company, and attained the rank
of captain of engineers on the Bengal establishment.
While thus employed, the important subject of the
diurnal variation of the magnetic needle occupied
much of his attention, and on this he made a series
of observations in 1794 and the two following years,
at Bencoolen, Sumatra, and St. Helena, which he
communicated in 1798 to the Royal Society, who
published them in their Transactions, and elected
him a fellow in 1800. About the last-mentioned
period he also returned to Britain, and was appointed
lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Clan-Alpine Regi-
ment, and commandant of the Royal Edinburgh
Artillery.
After his arrival, the life of Colonel Macdonald
was one of diligent useful authorship, so that his
history from this period is best comprised in the titles
of his works, and the dates of their publication. Of
these we give the following list:�
In 1803 he published " Rules and Regulations for
the Field Exercise and Manoeuvres of the French In-
fantry, issued August1,  1791. Translated from the
French, with Explanatory Notes and Illustrative
References to the British and Prussian Systems of
Tactics," &c. &c. In two volumes I2mo.
In 1804, when he belonged to the 1st battalion of
Cinque Ports Volunteers, and when every kind of
military instruction was most needed for our home-
bred soldiery while in training against the menaced
invasion of the country from France, Colonel Mac-
donald published another work in one volume, en-
titled " The Experienced Officer; or, Instructions by
the General of Division Wimpffen to his Sons, and
to all Young Men intended tor the Military Profes-
sion, being a Series of Rules laid down by General
Wimpffen, to enable Officers of every Rank to carry
on War in all its Branches and Descriptions, from
the least Important Enterprises and Expeditions, to
the Decisive Battles which involve the Fate of Em-
pires. With Notes and an Introduction."
In 1807, while chief engineer at Fort Marlborough,
he published Instructions for the Conduct of Infantry
on Actual Service. This was also translated from
the French, and published in two volumes, with ex.
planatory notes.
In 1808 appeared his first work upon a subject
which had employed his attention for years. This
was A Treatise on Telegraphic Communication, Naval,
Military, and Political, 8vo, in which he proposed
a different plan from that hitherto adopted.
In 1811 Colonel Macdonald produced a work in
startling contrast to his former subjects, but which
was only one among the studies of a comprehensive
philosophic mind, under the title of A Treatise, Ex-
planatory of the Principles constituting the Practice
and Theory of the Violoncello. This work was pub-
lished in one volume folio.
In 1812, reverting to his military avocations, he
published a translation of " The Formations and Man-
anevres of Infantry, by the Chevalier Duteil," I2mo.
This was the last of his productions in military
science, and, as may be surmised from the date, the
last that was needed�for the French science of war-
fare was now well understood by our armies, as their
hostile instructors were learning to their cost. This
fact, however, shows the judiciousness of the plan
which Macdonald had adopted as an expositor of
warlike science, and indicates in some measure the
probable benefit with which his own individual
labours were followed.
In 1816 Colonel Macdonald returned to the im-
portant subject of telegraph communication, by pub-
lishing his Telegraphic Dictionary, a laborious work,
containing 150,000 words, phrases, and sentences.
The estimate formed of the value of this work was
shown by the directors of the East India Company,
who voted the sum of �400 to assist in defraying the
expense of publication; it was also highly recom-
mended by the secretary of the admiralty and the
adjutant-general of the army.
In addition to these separate productions, Colonel
Macdonald was a contributor to the Gentleman's
Magazine for several years until the close of his life;
but the subjects of these essays are too numerous to
specify. They were chiefly connected, however,
with the philosophical studies which had occupied
his attention from an early period, and were charac-
terized by the philanthropy that had always animated
his pen in seeking to promote the best interests of
society. The same spirit was manifested in his per-
sonal exertions; and during the last twelve or fifteen
years of his life, which were spent in Exeter, the
charitable institutions of that city always found him
an active co-operator, as well as liberal contributor.
He died there on the 16th of August, 1831, aged
seventy-two, and was buried in Exeter Cathedral.
MACDONALD, REV. JOHN, D.D. This pious,
earnest, and devoted minister of the gospel, whose
labours among his Celtic brethren of Scotland ob-
tained for him the distinguishing title of the'' Apostle
of the North," was the son of James Macdonald, also
a remarkable character and man of congenial spirit,
who was a catechist in Reay, and who lived to the
patriarchal age of ninety-five years. The subject of
this memoir was born on the 12th of November, 1779,
and the circumstances of his baptism were anything
bat apostolic. The pulpit of Reay being at that time