Caledonia: Or, a Historical and Topographical Account of North Britain, From the Most Ancient to the Present Times With a Dictionary of Places Chorographical & Philological; Volume 8

by George Chalmers

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278 pages, Paperback

Published August 24, 2016

About the author

George Chalmers (1742-1825) was a Scottish antiquarian, political writer and controversialist.

Chalmers was a graduate of the University of Aberdeen and studied law at the University of Edinburgh. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London and an honorary member of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland.

Chalmers' major work was his Caledonia, which he left incomplete. The first volume appeared in 1807, and is introductory to the others. It is divided into four books, treating successively of the Roman, the Pictish, the Scottish and the Scoto-Saxon periods, from 80 to 1306 AD. The second volume, published in 1810, gives an account of the seven south-eastern counties of Scotland — Roxburgh, Berwick, East Lothian ("Haddington"), Edinburgh/Midlothian (all as "Edinburgh"), West Lothian ("Linlithgow"), Peebles and Selkirk. In 1824 the third volume appeared, giving, under the same headings, a description of the seven south-western counties — Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Wigtown, Ayr, Lanark, Renfrew and Dumbarton.

Chalmers wrote biographical sketches of Daniel Defoe, Sir John Davies, Allan Ramsay, Sir David Lyndsay, Thomas Churchyard and others, for editions of their works. The British government paid him to write a hostile biography of Thomas Paine, which he published under the assumed name of Francis Oldys, A.M., of the University of Pennsylvania.