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PATRICK ABERCROMBY (1656–c.-1716)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 44 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PATRICK See also:ABERCROMBY (1656–c.-1716)  , Scottish physician and antiquarian, was the third son of See also:Alexander See also:Abercromby of Fetterneir in See also:Aberdeenshire, and See also:brother of See also:Francis Aber- cromby, who was created See also:Lord Glasford by See also:James II . He was See also:born at See also:Forfar in 1656 apparently of a See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:family . Intending to become a See also:doctor of See also:medicine he entered the university of St See also:Andrews, where he took his degree of M.D. in 1685, but apparently he spent most of his youthful years abroad . It has been stated that he attended the university of See also:Paris . The Discourse of Wit (1685), sometimes assigned to him, belongs to Dr See also:David Abercromby (q.v.) . On his return to See also:Scotland, he is found practising as a physician in See also:Edinburgh, where, besides his professional duties, he gave himself with characteristic zeal to the study of antiquities . He was appointed physician to James II. in 1685, but the revolution deprived him of the See also:post . Living during the agitations for the See also:union of See also:England and Scotland, he took See also:part in the See also:war of See also:pamphlets inaugurated and sustained by prominent men on both sides of the Border, and he crossed swords with no less redoubtable a foe than See also:Daniel See also:Defoe in his Advantages of the See also:Act of See also:Security compared with those of the intended Union (Edinburgh, 1707), and A Vindication of the Same against Mr De Foe (ibid.) . A See also:minor See also:literary See also:work of Abercromby's was a See also:translation of See also:Jean de Beaugue's Histoire de la guerre d'Ecosse (1556) which appeared in 1707 . But the work with which his name is permanently associated is his See also:Martial Atchievements of the Scots Nation, issued in two large folios, vol. i . 1711, vol. ii . 1716 .

In the See also:

title-See also:page and See also:preface to vol. i. he disclaims the ambition of being an historian, but in vol. ii., in title-page and preface alike, he is no longer a See also:simple biographer, but an historian . Even though, read in the See also:light of later researches, much of the first See also:volume must necessarily be relegated to the region of the mythical, none the less was the historian a laborious and accomplished reader and investigator of all available authorities, as well See also:manuscript as printed; while the See also:roll of names of those who aided him includes every See also:man of See also:note in Scotland at the See also:time, from See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Craig and Sir See also:George See also:Mackenzie to Alexander Nisbet and Thomas See also:Ruddiman . The date of Abercromby's See also:death is uncertain . It has been variously assigned to 1715, 1716, 1720, and 1726, and it is usually added that he See also:left a widow in See also:great poverty . The See also:Memoirs of the Abercrombys, commonly attributed to him, do not appear to have been published . See See also:Robert See also:Chambers, Eminent Scotsmen, s.v.; See also:William See also:Anderson, Scottish Nation, s.v.; Alexander See also:Chalmers, Biog . Dict., s.v.; George Chalmers, See also:Life of Ruddiman; William See also:Lee, Defoe .

End of Article: PATRICK ABERCROMBY (1656–c.-1716)
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