Lot Essay
Accompanying this lot is an engraving of the above painting by R. Rhodes, published by Colnaghi Ltd, February 1822 signed by Andrew Geddes.
Henry Mackenzie was born in August 1745 in Edinburgh, where his father, Joshua Mackenzie, was a physician. His mother was Margaret, eldest daugher of Hugh Rose of Kilravock. He was educated at the High School and University of Edinburgh, and in boyhood showed so much intelligence that he was allowed to be present, at the literary tea-parties then fashionable in Edinburgh.
In 1765 he went to London to study the methods of English exchequer practice, and returning to Edinburgh became the partner of George Inglis, of Redhall, whom he succeeded as Attorney for the Crown in Scotland. He soon began to write a sentimental novel, largely under the influence of Sterne. It was entitled The Man of Feeling, and its style was remarkable for perspieuity. In 1771, it appeared anonymously, and the impression it produced was very soon compared to that made at Paris by 'La Novelle Héloise'. In 1773 appeared, also anonymously, 'The Man of the World', the hero of which was intended to be a striking contast to 'The Man of Feeling', but its complicated plot and its tedious length injured its literary value. Mackenzie belonged to a convivial and literary club all the members of which, except himself, were young Edinburgh advocates, and at his suggestion they established a weekly periodical on the model of the 'Spectator'. It was entitled the 'Mirror', and was the first Scottish periodical of the kind. It appeared, weekly from
23 Jan.1779 to 27 May 1780, when it was reissued in volume form. Of the hundred and ten papers which it contained, forty-two where written by Mackenzie. Among Mackenzie's chief contributions were two pathetic stories, 'La Roche', one of the characters in which was an idealised portraiture of Mackenzie's friend, David Hume the philosopher, and 'Louisa Venoni'. With the aid of former contributors to the Mirror, and again under Mackenzie's superintendence, a periodical of the same kind, The Lounger, was issued from 6 Feb. 1785 to 6 Jan. 1787. The issue of 9 Dec. 1786, was a glowing tribute to the genius of Burns, the first edition of whose poems had been published in the previous July, and included an appeal to the Scottish public to exert itself to avert Burn's comtemplated migration to the West Indies. Mackenzie was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Mackenzie was the Convener and Chairman of the committee appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the poems of Ossian, and drew up its report (published in 1805), the findings of which was that Macpherson had greatly altered and added to fragments of poetry which were recited in the highlands of Scotland as the work of Ossian. Mackenzie also wrote much, though always anonymously, on comtemporary politics. Of subsequently acknowledged was his elaborate defence of Pitt's policy, in a 'Review of the Principal Proceedings of the Parliament of 1784', which he wrote at the instance of his friend Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville. In 1807 his three principal fictions, with some of his tales and sketches in the Mirror and the Lounger, were issued at Edinburgh in three volumes as 'The Works of Henry Mackenzie'.
During his later years Mackenzie occupied a unique position in Edinburgh and Scottish society. He had been the intimate friend of such Scottish literary celebrities of the eighteenth century as David Hume, John Home, and Robertson the historian, and survived to enjoy the friendship of Sir Walter Scott, and to witness the decline and fall of his fortunes. Scott, who calls him 'The Northern Addison', heard him, in his eightieth year, read a paper on 'Dreams' before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and describes him as being still a sportsman and an angler, keenly interested in literature, and 'the life of company, with anecdotes and fun'.
He had married in 1776 Miss Penuel Grant, daughter of Sir Ludovick Grant, by whom he had eleven children. Strangers used to fancy that he must be a puerile, sentimental Harley - the Man of Feeling of his fiction - whereas he was far better - a hard-headed, practical man, as full of practical wisdom as most of his ficticious characters are devoid of it, and this without impairing the affectionate softness of his heart. In person he was thin, shrivelled, and yellow, kiln-dried with smoking, with something, when seen in profile, of the clever, wicked look of Voltaire.
Mackenzie died 14 January 1831.
Henry Mackenzie was born in August 1745 in Edinburgh, where his father, Joshua Mackenzie, was a physician. His mother was Margaret, eldest daugher of Hugh Rose of Kilravock. He was educated at the High School and University of Edinburgh, and in boyhood showed so much intelligence that he was allowed to be present, at the literary tea-parties then fashionable in Edinburgh.
In 1765 he went to London to study the methods of English exchequer practice, and returning to Edinburgh became the partner of George Inglis, of Redhall, whom he succeeded as Attorney for the Crown in Scotland. He soon began to write a sentimental novel, largely under the influence of Sterne. It was entitled The Man of Feeling, and its style was remarkable for perspieuity. In 1771, it appeared anonymously, and the impression it produced was very soon compared to that made at Paris by 'La Novelle Héloise'. In 1773 appeared, also anonymously, 'The Man of the World', the hero of which was intended to be a striking contast to 'The Man of Feeling', but its complicated plot and its tedious length injured its literary value. Mackenzie belonged to a convivial and literary club all the members of which, except himself, were young Edinburgh advocates, and at his suggestion they established a weekly periodical on the model of the 'Spectator'. It was entitled the 'Mirror', and was the first Scottish periodical of the kind. It appeared, weekly from
23 Jan.1779 to 27 May 1780, when it was reissued in volume form. Of the hundred and ten papers which it contained, forty-two where written by Mackenzie. Among Mackenzie's chief contributions were two pathetic stories, 'La Roche', one of the characters in which was an idealised portraiture of Mackenzie's friend, David Hume the philosopher, and 'Louisa Venoni'. With the aid of former contributors to the Mirror, and again under Mackenzie's superintendence, a periodical of the same kind, The Lounger, was issued from 6 Feb. 1785 to 6 Jan. 1787. The issue of 9 Dec. 1786, was a glowing tribute to the genius of Burns, the first edition of whose poems had been published in the previous July, and included an appeal to the Scottish public to exert itself to avert Burn's comtemplated migration to the West Indies. Mackenzie was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Mackenzie was the Convener and Chairman of the committee appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the poems of Ossian, and drew up its report (published in 1805), the findings of which was that Macpherson had greatly altered and added to fragments of poetry which were recited in the highlands of Scotland as the work of Ossian. Mackenzie also wrote much, though always anonymously, on comtemporary politics. Of subsequently acknowledged was his elaborate defence of Pitt's policy, in a 'Review of the Principal Proceedings of the Parliament of 1784', which he wrote at the instance of his friend Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville. In 1807 his three principal fictions, with some of his tales and sketches in the Mirror and the Lounger, were issued at Edinburgh in three volumes as 'The Works of Henry Mackenzie'.
During his later years Mackenzie occupied a unique position in Edinburgh and Scottish society. He had been the intimate friend of such Scottish literary celebrities of the eighteenth century as David Hume, John Home, and Robertson the historian, and survived to enjoy the friendship of Sir Walter Scott, and to witness the decline and fall of his fortunes. Scott, who calls him 'The Northern Addison', heard him, in his eightieth year, read a paper on 'Dreams' before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and describes him as being still a sportsman and an angler, keenly interested in literature, and 'the life of company, with anecdotes and fun'.
He had married in 1776 Miss Penuel Grant, daughter of Sir Ludovick Grant, by whom he had eleven children. Strangers used to fancy that he must be a puerile, sentimental Harley - the Man of Feeling of his fiction - whereas he was far better - a hard-headed, practical man, as full of practical wisdom as most of his ficticious characters are devoid of it, and this without impairing the affectionate softness of his heart. In person he was thin, shrivelled, and yellow, kiln-dried with smoking, with something, when seen in profile, of the clever, wicked look of Voltaire.
Mackenzie died 14 January 1831.