College, London; at Heidelberg he worked at German; at Berlin he studied psychology, metaphysics and also physiology under du Bois-Reymond, and heard lectures on Hegel, Kant and the history of philosophy, ancient and modern. After two months at Göttingen, he went to Paris in June 1863. In the same year he returned to Aberdeen and helped Alexander Bain with the revision of some of his books. In 1864 he was appointed to help Professor Geddes with his Greek classes, but he gave up the vacations to philosophical work. In 1866 he was appointed professor of philosophy of mind and logic at University College, London. This post he retained until ill-health compelled him to resign a few months before his death in 1892. He lectured on logic, deductive and inductive, systematic psychology and ethical theory. He left little published work. A comprehensive work on Hobbes was never completed, though part of the materials were used for an article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and another portion was published as one of Blackwood's “ Philosophical Classics.” Together with Bain, he edited Grote's Aristotle, and was the editor of Mind from its foundation in 1876 till 1891. He was keenly interested in German philosophy, and took every opportunity of making German works on English writers known in the United Kingdom. In philosophy he followed mainly Mill and Bain, but he was acquainted with all philosophical literature. He was associated with his wife (a daughter of Mr Justice Crompton) in many kinds of social work; he sat on the Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage, and was actively associated with its president, John Stuart Mill. He warmly supported the admission of women students to University College.
ROBERTSON, JOSEPH (1810–1866), Scottish antiquary,
was born at Aberdeen on the 17th of May 1810, the son of a
small shopkeeper. He was educated in Marischal College in
Aberdeen and was for some years engaged in literary and newspaper
work there and in Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1839
he helped to found the Spalding Club, organized to publish the
historical, genealogical, topographical and literary remains of
the north-eastern counties of Scotland, and he edited eight
of its thirty-eight volumes. In 18 S3 he was appointed curator
of the historical and antiquarian department of the General
Register House, Edinburgh, hitherto a subordinate and unimportant
oftice, but which, in his hands, became of the first
consequence to the interests of antiquarian literature in Scotland.
His inventory of the personal property and jewels of Mary Queen
of Scots, prefaced by a paper of great learning and research,
and his essays on Scottish architecture, preceded his greatest
work, published by the Bannatyne Club (1866), Concilia
Scotiae, Ecclesiae Scoticanae Statuta. In 1864 the University
of Edinburgh conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D.
He died on the 13th of December 1866.
ROBERTSON, THOMAS WILLIAM (1829–1871), English
actor and dramatist, was born at Newark on the 9th of January
1829. As a dramatist he had a brief but very brilliant career.
The son of a provincial actor and manager, chief of a “circuit”
that ranged from Bristol to Cambridge, Robertson was familiar
with the stage from his childhood; he was the eldest of a large
family, the actress Margaret (Madge) Robertson (Mrs Kendal)
being the youngest. His success came late. A farcical comedy
by him, A Night's Adventure, was produced at the Olympic
under Farren's management as early as 1851, but this did not
make good his footing, and he remained for some years longer
in the provinces, varying his work as an actor with miscellaneous
contributions to newspapers. In 1860 he went to London, and
edited a mining journal to which he contributed a novel afterwards
dramatized with the title Shadow Tree Shaft. He was
at one time prompter at the Olympic under the management
of Charles Mathews. He wrote a farce entitled A Cantab,
which was played at the Strand Theatre in 1861. This brought
him a reputation in a Bohemian clique, but so little practical
assistance that he thought of abandoning the profession to
become a tobacconist. Then, in 1864, came his first marked
success, David Garrick, produced at the Haymarket with
Edward Sothern in the principal character. It was not, however,
till the production of Society at the Prince of Wales
Theatre in 1865, under the management of Miss Marie Wilton,
afterwards Mrs Bancroft, that the originality and cleverness
of the dramatist were fully recognized. Play-writer and
company were exactly suited one to another; the plays and
the acting together-the small size of the playhouse being
also in their favour—were at once recognized as a new thing.
Although some critics sneered at the “cup-and-saucer comedy,”
voted it absurdly realistic, said there was nothing in it but
commonplace life represented without a trace of Sheridanian
wit and sparkle, all London flocked to the little house in Tottenham Street, and the stage was at once inundated with imitations of the new style of acting and the new kind of play. Robertson, although his health was already undermined, rapidly followed
up Society with a series of characteristic plays which made
the reputation of himself, the company and the theatre. All
his best known plays (except David Garrick) were written
for the old Prince of Wales's under the Bancrofts, and that
régime is now an historical incident in the progress of the
English stage. Ours was produced in 1866, Caste in 1867,
Play in 1868, School in 1869, M. P. in 1870. Unhappily, Robertson
enjoyed his success for but a short time. He died in London
on the 3rd of February 1871. His work is notable for its
masterly stagecraft, wholesome and generous humour, bright
and unstained dialogue, and high dramatic sense of human
character in its theatrical aspects.
See Principal Dramatic Works of Robertson; with Memoir by his son (1889); and T. E. Pemberton, Life and Writings of Robertson (1893).
ROBERTSON, WILLIAM (1721–1793), Scottish historian, born at Borthwick, Mid Lothian, on the 19th of September 1721, was the eldest son of the Rev. William Robertson. He was educated at the school of Dalkeith and the university of Edinburgh. He was from the first intended for the ministry; in 1743 he was presented to the living of Gladsmuir in East Lothian, and two years later he lost both his father and his mother, who died within a few hours of each other. The support and education of a younger brother and six sisters then devolved upon him, though at that time his income was less than £100 a year. Robertson's inclination for study was never allowed to interfere with his duties as a parish minister, and his power as a preacher had made him a local celebrity while still a young man.
His energy and decision of character were brought out vividly by the rebellion of 1745. When Edinburgh seemed in danger of falling into the hands of the rebels he joined the volunteers in the capital. When the city was surrendered he was one of the small band who repaired to Haddington and offered their services to the commander of the royal forces. Such a man could not remain in obscurity, and in 1746 he was elected a member of the General Assembly, where his influence as leader of the “moderate” party was for many years nearly supreme (see Presbyterianism).
During all this period of prominent activity in the public life of Edinburgh, Robertson was busy with his historical labours. His History of Scotland, begun in 1753, was published in 1759. Till he had finished his book Robertson had never left his native country; but the publication of his history necessitated a journey to London, and he passed the early months of the year 1758 'partly in the capital and partly in leisurely rambles in the counties of England. The success of the History of Scotland was immediate, and within a month a second edition was called for. Before the end of the author's life the book had reached its fourteenth edition; and it soon brought him other rewards than literary fame. In 1759 he was appointed chaplain of Stirling Castle, in 1761 one of His Majesty's chaplains in ordinary, and in 1762 he was chosen principal of the university of Edinburgh. In May 1763 he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly, and in August of the same year the office of king's historiographer was revived in his favour with a salary of £200 a year.
The rest of Robertson's life was uneventful. His History of
