Hamilton Delin! Page Sculp NEPTUNE refigning the REINS of his CHARIOT to BRITANNIA. Lond Jan 11779.Publish'd as the Act directs by Donaldson St Pauls Churchyard. LIVE S OF THE BRITISH ADMIRALS: CONTAINING A NEW AND ACCURATE NAVAL HISTORY, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD S. BY DR. JohnCAMPBELL. WITH A CONTINUATION DOWN TO THE YEAR 1779, INCLUDING THE NAVAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE LATE WAR, AND AN WRITTEN UNDER THE INSPECTION OF Join DOCTOR BERKENHOUT. THE WHOLE ILLUSTRATED WITH CORRECT MAPS; AND IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. IV. LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. G. J. AND J. ROBINSON, M.DCC.LXXIV. THE L I "F E O F DR. CAMP BELL*. D R. JOHN CAMPBELL, an eminent hiftorical, biogra phical, and political writer of the present century, was a native of that part of Great Britain called Scotland, and born in the city of Edinburgh, on the 8th of March, 1707-8. His father was Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, Efq; and captain of horse in a regiment commanded by the then earl of Hyndford; and his mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Smith, Efq; of Windsor, in Berkshire +. Our author was their fourth fon; and, at the age of five years, he was brought by Mrs. Campbell to Windfor, from Scotland, which This life is extracted from the new edition of the BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA, written by DR. KIPPIS, DR. TOWERS, &c. + The Campbells of Glenlyon are a branch of the noble house of Breadalbane, of which a diftin&t account may be seen in Nifbet's and Douglas's Peerages. For information concerning the respectable family of the Smiths of Windfor, recourse may be had to Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, and to N°. 5800, a book of Heraldry, in folio, in the British Mufcum. Mrs. Campbell likewife, and conit quently our author, had the honour of claiming a descent from the famous poet, Waller. VOL. IV. country country he never faw afterwards. It was at Windfor that he is fuppofed to have received the first principles of his education, under the direction and patronage of his uncle, Smith, Efq; of that place. At a proper age, he was placed out as a clerk to an attorney, being intended for the law; but whether it was that his genius could not be confined to that dry study, or to whatever caufes befides it might be owing, it is certain that he did not pursue the line of his original designation: neither did he engage in any other particular profession, unless that of an author should be confidered in this light. One thing we are fure of, that he did not spend his time in idleness and diffipation, but in fuch a close application to the acquifition of knowledge of various kinds, as foon enabled him to appear with great advantage in the literary world. What smaller pieces might be written by Mr. Campbell, in the early part of his life, we are not capable of ascertaining; but we know that, in 1736, before he had completed his thirtieth year, he gave to the public, in two volumes folio, "The Military History of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough; comprehendîng the History of both those illuftrious perfons, to the time of their decease." This performance was enriched with maps, plans, and cuts, by the beft hands, and particularly by the ingenious Claude du Bofc. The reputation hence acquired by our author, occafioned him foon after to be folicited to take a part in the "Ancient Universal History," a work of great merit, as well as magnitude, though drawn up with fomething of that inequality which is almost unavoidable, when a number of perfons are engaged in carrying on the fame undertaking. This hiftory was published at firft, we believe, periodically; and five volumes of it, in folio, were completed in 1740. The fixth volume was finished in 1742, and the feventh in 1744. A fecond edition' of it, in octavo, began to be published in 1747, and was carried on monthly, with uncommon fuccefs, till the whole was concluded in twenty volumes. For what parts of it the Republic of Letters was more immediately indebted to Mr. Campbell, it is not in our power to determine, excepting that he is understood to have been the writer of the Cofmogony, which affords a diftinguished proof of his extenfive acquaintance with the fyftems of the ancient philofophers. Whilft our author was employed |