officially shelved as agent to the governor-general of Murshidabad. This virtual extinction of one of the most brilliant men in the service was attributed to the jealousy of a clique, but no further explanation seems necessary than the fact, admitted by Torrens's biographer, that he disliked his vocation and made few friends among his colleagues. If another reason is required, it may be found in the indiscretion of which his writings afford sufficient proof. Among them, for instance, is a squib in the style of Blackwood's 'Chaldee Manuscript' on an occurrence which had created much stir in Calcutta, extremely clever and amusing, but which must have made an enemy of one of the most influential personages in Bengal, supposing that he had not been made one already. In his latter days Torrens turned as much as he could from official life to literature, producing 'Madame de Malguet' (London, 1848, 3vols. 12mo), a novel founded on youthful experiences in France, so greatly admired by the veteran Miss Edgeworth that she wrote to the publishers to ascertain the author; and 'Remarks on the Scope and Uses of Military Literature and History,' a book highly eulogised by his biographer; it began to appear in the 'Eastern Star' in January 1846, and was subsequently reissued in book form. No copy of it is in the British Museum Library, but copious extracts are reprinted in the 'Collected Writings' (ed. Hume). He also contributed a number of papers to the Royal Asiatic Society's Journal. He died at Calcutta from the effects of climate on 11 Aug. 1852.
Torrens's dispersed literary remains were collected and printed at Calcutta, and published in London by J. Hume in 1854. They justify his character for wit and brilliancy, but are too slight and occasional to survive, and the unquestionable merits of his novel have not preserved it from oblivion. His literary reputation must rest on his translation of the 'Arabian Nights,' unfortunately unfinished, but pronounced superior to all later versions in virtue of 'that literary instinct and feeling which is more necessary even than scholarship to the successful translator' (Nation, New York, 1900, ii. 167).
[Torrens's Works in Brit. Museum Library; Memoir by J. Hume, prefixed to his edition of Torrens's literary remains; Kaye, History of the War in Afghanistan, vol. i.; Gent. Mag. 1852, ii. 546; New York Nation, 30 Aug. and 6 Sept. 1900.]
TORRY, PATRICK (1763–1852), bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane, born on 27 Dec. 1763, in the parish of King Edward, Aberdeenshire, was son of Thomas Torry, a woollen cloth manufacturer at Garneston, and his wife, Jane Watson, daughter of a farmer in the same parish. He was educated as a member of the established presbyterian church of Scotland, but his uncle James Watson, a Jacobite, who had been out in 1745, impressed episcopalian views upon him, and after mastering Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and mathematics, Torry at the age of eighteen began teaching, first in Selkirk parish school, under his uncle, and then at Lonmay, Aberdeenshire. In June 1782 he went to live with John Skinner (1721–1807) [q. v.], who completed his conversion to episcopalianism, and in the following September he was ordained deacon of the Scottish episcopal church by Bishop Robert Kilgour of Aberdeen. Though only nineteen years old, he was at once put in charge of a congregation at Arradoul, in Rathven parish, Banffshire, and in 1783 he was ordained priest. In 1787 he married Kilgour's daughter, Christian, who died without issue in 1789; in that year Torry became Kilgour's assistant in his charge at Peterhead, and on Kilgour's death in 1791 Torry succeeded to his charge, which he held until 1837. In 1807 he was made treasurer of the Scottish Episcopal Friendly Society, and on 6 Oct. 1808 he was elected bishop of Dunkeld, in succession to Jonathan Watson; he retained his pastoral charge at Peterhead, where he resided. George Gleig [q. v.] was originally chosen bishop, but the hostility of Bishop John Skinner (1744–1816) [q. v.] kept Gleig out of the see.
Torry retained his bishopric for forty-four years; in 1837 he resigned his charge of the congregation at Peterhead, though he continued to reside there, and in September 1841, by the death of Bishop James Walker [q. v.],he became pro-primus of the episcopal church of Scotland. In a synod held at Edinburgh in September 1844, it was decided to revive the episcopal title of St. Andrews, and Torry was henceforth known as bishop of the united dioceses of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane. The most important incident of his episcopate was the publication in April 1850 of his 'Prayerbook,' which claimed to be the embodiment of the usages of the episcopal church of Scotland. Torry had throughout his life been a staunch champion of the Scottish communion office, which was derived, through Laud's prayer-book of 1637, from the first prayer-book of Edward VI, and was used by the Scottish non-jurors until the death of Prince Charles in 1788, when
