a professor], and who was deservedly esteemed by all to whom he was personally known.'
[Journal of Jurisprudence; Glasgow Herald; Records of Society of Writers to the Signet; Edinburgh newspapers, 20 Jan. 1866; notes furnished to the writer by Professor Bell's son, John M. Bell, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh.]
BELL, ANDREW (1726–1809), engraver, was born in 1726, and began his professional career in the humble employment of engraving letters, names, and crests on plates and dog-collars. Though a very indifferent engraver, he rose to be the first in his line in Edinburgh. He engraved all the plates to illustrate his friend Smellie's translation of Buffon, which appeared in 1782. His success in life, however, is to be attributed rather to the result of a fortunate speculation than to his powers as an engraver. This was the publication of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica,' of which he was originally the half-proprietor, and to which he furnished the plates. The first edition of this book (the ninth edition of which is now in course of publication) was completed in 1771, and consisted only of 3 vols. quarto. The plan was Smellie's, and all the principal articles were written or compiled by him. On the death of Colin McFarquhar, an Edinburgh printer, in 1793, Bell became sole proprietor of the 'Encyclopædia.' By the sale of the third edition, which was completed in 1797 in 18 vols., and consisted of 10,000 copies, the sum of 42,000l. was realised. Though Bell did not enjoy a liberal education in his youth, yet by means of extensive reading and constant intercourse with men of letters he became remarkable for the extent of his information. In his personal appearance he was noticeable for his smallness of stature, the immense size of his nose, and the deformities of his legs. He bore these personal peculiarities, however, with philosophic equanimity, and they constantly formed the subject of his own jokes. He died at his house in Lauriston Lane, at the age of eighty-three, on 10 May 1809, leaving two daughters and a handsome fortune, which was mostly derived from the profits of the 'Encyclopædia.' A sketch of him, with his friend Smellie, by John Kay, the miniature painter of Edinburgh, will be found in vol. i. of 'The Original Portraits,' No. 86.
[Kay's Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings (1877), i. 13, 210; Kerr's Memoirs of the Life of William Smellie (1811); Encyclopædia Britannica (8th edit. 1860), pp. v-xxix.]
BELL, ANDREW (1753–1832), founder of the Madras system of education, was the second son of a barber in St. Andrews, and was born there on 27 March 1753. His father was a man of some education and of great mechanical ingenuity, and a good chess player. From his mother, the descendant of a Dutchman who came over with William III, Bell inherited a hasty temper and a good deal of eccentricity. She died by her own hand. His school-life began when he was not more than four years old; and no doubt a great part of the energy with which he afterwards took up the subject of education was due to a recollection of the cruel discipline to which he had himself been subjected. In 1769 he entered St. Andrews University, holding a family bursary, and partly supporting himself by private teaching. He distinguished himself chiefly in mathematics and natural philosophy, subjects to which he was attracted by the influence of one of the professors, Dr. Wilkie, the author of 'The Epigoniad.' Little is known of his college days. In 1774 he went to Virginia, where he seems to have lived as tutor in a planter's family, besides doing a little business in tobacco on his own account. Returning home in 1781, and bringing his two pupils with him, he continued for several years to direct their education at St. Andrews. He then took orders in the church of England, and for a short time officiated in the Episcopal Chapel of Leith. In 1787 he sailed for India, after receiving from his university the complimentary degree of D.D. Within less than two years he succeeded, by dint of persistent asking, in getting appointed to no less than eight army chaplainships, all of which he held simultaneously. The salaries were considerable; but the duties were so light as to leave him practically free for other work. His intention was to settle in Calcutta, and as a first step he delivered some scientific lectures, which attracted a good deal of attention; but he was soon diverted from everything else to the subject which filled his mind for the rest of his life. In 1789 he accepted the post of superintendent of the Madras Male Orphan Asylum, an institution founded in that year by the East India Company for the education of the sons of military men. Perhaps the most marked feature in Bell's character was his love of money; but for once he declined to take any salary out of the limited funds of the charity. The work presented peculiar difficulties; for the teachers were ill-paid and inefficient, and the half-caste children little amenable to moral influences; so that for some time the school made slow progress. It occurred to him that the work of teaching the alphabet might be done by the pupils themselves, and
