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Scottish author and critic, was born at Carnwath, Lanarkshire, on the 7th of January 1750. He studied first divinity and then medicine at the university of Edinburgh, and subsequently, after some experience as a surgeon, took the degree of M.D. at St Andrews in 1778. He began to practise as a physician at Alnwick, but he became financially independent by his marriage with the daughter of Mr John Gray, and abandoned his profession for a literary life in Edinburgh. For several years his attention was occupied with his edition of The Works of the British Poets, with Prefaces Biographical and Critical (14 vols. 8vo, Edin., 1792-1807). His other publications were, The Miscellaneous Works of Tobias Smollett, M.D., with Memoirs of his Life and Writings (Edin., 1796); Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., with Critical Observations on his Works (Edin., 1815); The Works of John Moore, M.D. with Memoirs of his Life and Writings (Edin., 7 vols., 1820); and The Grave and other Poems, by Robert Blair; to which are prefixed some Account of his Life and Observations on his Writings (Edin., 1826). Dr Anderson died in Edinburgh in 1830. |