Volume 3 > Half-Volume 6

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He is best known perhaps as the editor of the cele-
brated Naturalist's Library�a work superbly illus-
trated, extending to forty volumes, and published by
Lizars of Edinburgh. Changes of sweeping and
revolutionizing extent have taken place in natural
history as a science since the publication of this
extensive work, which comprised at the time of its
publication the most recent and trustworthy additions
to the greater part of the known fauna of the world
�but even in the present day the Library may still
be said to hold its own as a unique work in point
of extent and range, and as a remarkably faithful and
correct guide in so far as it represents the animal
forms known and described at the date of its publi-
cation. The illustrations to this work, taken and
coloured from nature or from approved specimens,
form a feature of super-excellent kind; and, especially
in the details of bird classification, the labours of Sir
William's hand and practical knowledge are exemp-
lified. Sir William also edited Wilson's North
American Ornithology, and at one time he conducted
the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, one of the
early standard scientific magazines, which formed
the antetype of the many and voluminous periodi-
cals of the present day. Conjointly with Prideaux
J. Selby, the late Sir Stamford Raffles, and other
naturalists, Sir William edited the Illustrations of
Ornithology, and he also performed a like office for
the celebrated Whites Natural History of Selborne�
a work just such as we might have conceived the
baronet himself to have written. Sir William thus
acted as literary godfather to many distinguished
naturalists of his day and generation; and undoubtedly
the editor's task in such cases is one demanding the
judicious exercise of powers and knowledge often
more than equal to those required for the production
of original matter. At any rate Sir William's labours
as editor were of no light kind; and the best testi-
mony to his skill was given in the faithful apprecia-
tion of his work by his contemporaries, who recog-
nized in his ample stores of knowledge and impartial
judgment sufficient guarantees for the due performance
of his many tasks.
His original labours as a pure author comprise a
history of the British Salmonid�; and doubtless his
title to speak with authority on this important subject
led to his appointment as one of the Commissioners on
Salmon Fisheries in the year 1860. The Ichnology
of Annandale formed Sir William's contribution to
one of the most fascinating departments of geological
inquiry, namely, the science of "foot-prints," or
of markings and traces of animals, the actual or fossil
remains of which have not been discovered. And in
the Memoirs of Hugh Strickland�whose magnifi-
cent ornithological collection is now deposited in the
museum of the University of Cambridge, and who
resembled Sir William in many points connected
with study�together with the Ornithological Syno-
nymsy the list of Sir William's more important lit-
erary labours may be brought to a close.
Sir William Jardine was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society, and the Linn�an Society of London
conferred a similar honour upon him. He was a
member of the British Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, and president of the Dumfries and
Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society�
his example and aid being thus conducive to the
extension of habits of scientific study and observation
in his own county and neighbourhood.
As an antiquary Sir William's opinion was valued,
and he evinced a great interest in arch�ological pur-
suits generally. The ancient castle of Spedlins, one
of the old border or baronial towers, is situated on
his estate, and overlooks Jardine Hall from the
opposite bank of the Annan Water; and this fact,
together with the many objects of antiquarian inter-
est in his own and neighbouring counties, doubtless
exerted some influence on Sir William in his study
of the historical and other associations of the past.
Sir William never entered Parliament, although
a representative man of his time and country. He
allowed himself to be nominated as a candidate in
the Conservative interest on one occasion, but with-
drew from the candidature before the day of election.
He was elected deputy-lieutenant of the county of
Dumfries in 1841. In county matters generally he
took an active part, and in agricultural pursuits he
evinced a hearty and warm interest. During the
great cattle plague epidemic Sir William proved
himself in many ways energetic and judicious in sup-
porting the measures calculated to arrest or stamp
out the disease.
In his private character Sir William was of frank
generous disposition. He was highly respected as a
landlord, and was a pleasant companion. Whilst
free from dogmatism, Sir William was able to main-
tain and argue concerning his views on scientific and
social subjects; and these views were in the majority
of instances of a temperate, well balanced kind, and
such as proceed from carefully ascertained facts and
from practical observation and research.
JEBDAN, WILLIAM, born at Kelso, 16th April,
1782; died at Bushey Heath near London, nth July,
1869. He was the third son and seventh child of
John Jerdan and Agnes Stuart. His father was the
descendant of a long line of small landowners in
Roxburghshire. The fortune of the family, how-
ever, only sufficed to provide for the sons a good
education, and to start them in life. William Jerdan
first attended the grammar-school of his native town;
and subsequently he was sent to Edinburgh, where he
studied law for more than two years in the office of
Mr. James Hume, writer and distributor of stamps
for Berwickshire. But his bent was for literature,
not law, and this he attributes chiefly to the influence
of Dr. Rutherford, author of A View of Ancient
History, &c., who had removed from Uxbridge, Mid-
dlesex, to settle at Maxwellheugh. With that gentle-
man he became a favourite, and from him learned
much. On his birth-day in 1801 he sailed from
Berwick in a smack, and reached London in nine
days. For some time he was occupied as a clerk in
the city, and in his leisure hours busied himself with
composition in prose and verse.
He gradually formed acquaintances in literary
circles, and at length he became a reporter. His
diligence and fidelity in this capacity obtained for
him the favour of men of high position, and opened the
way to that extensive intimacy with the leaders of
politics and literature which he afterwards enjoyed.
On the afternoon of the nth May, 1812, he was pro-
ceeding to his duties in the House of Commons, when
he was passed in the lobby by Mr. Spencer Perceval,
who was, almost the next moment, shot by Belling-
ham, the bankrupt merchant. Jerdan seized the
assassin and handed him over to the officers who
were presently in attendance. That was one of the
events which brought him into notice, and by which
he will be remembered. In his profession he dis-
played considerable fertility and activity. One par-
ticular circumstance marks this character; when editor
of the Sun, in 1818, he was the first to introduce
reviews of new books as a regular feature of news-
paper journalism. He afterwards started the Literary
Gazette, which during its first year circulated weekly
nearly 1000 copies stamped, and 250 unstamped.
! In its second year the circulation increased, and its