James Robertson (orientalist)

James Robertson (1714–1795) was a Scottish orientalist.

Life

Born in the parish of Cromarty, Robertson studied for many years at Leyden University under Jan Jacob Schultens. He was called to his native parish as minister, having been licensed by the presbytery of Edinburgh on 28 November 1744. He did not settle at Cromarty, but, after graduating at Leyden on 20 January 1749, proceeded to Oxford to study under Thomas Hunt. ^[1]

Robertson was offered an post in Philip Doddridge's Northampton Academy; but the town council of Edinburgh, in response to its divinity students, elected him about May 1751 to the chair of Hebrew in the university of Edinburgh. He received the fees of students only, his predecessor William Dawson retaining the salary for life.^[1] Robertson became librarian in 1763, appointing Duke Gordon as assistant.^[2] Samuel Johnson, who visited Edinburgh in August 1773, enjoyed his conversation with Robertson.^[1]

Infirm during the last few years of his life, Robertson died at Middlefield, Leith Walk, on 26 November 1795.^[1]

Works

Robertson wrote:^[1]

• Grammatica Linguæ Hebrææ, Edinburgh, 1758; 2nd edit. Edinburgh, 1783.
• The Resemblance of Jesus to Moses considered, Edinburgh, 1765.
• Clavis Pentateuchi, Edinburgh, 1770. This is a learned analysis of the Torah, printed in Latin and English. Two dissertations are prefixed (1) on the Arabic language, (2) on the vowel points. A second edition, by Joseph Kinghorn, was published at Norwich in 1824.

Notes

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Robertson, James (1714-1795)". Dictionary of National Biography. 48. London: Smith, Elder & Co.