ANDREW CALDWELL,
A literary character, was the eldest son of Charles Caldwell, Esq. an eminent solicitor, and was born in Dublin, in the year 1732. He received part of his education in one of the Scotch universities, from whence he removed to London, and after having resided for about five years in the Temple, returned to Dublin, where he was admitted to the bar in 1760. But his father being possessed of a good estate, fully adequate to his son’s wishes, he did not prosecute with “unremitting ardour” the dull and tedious study of the law, and for several years before his death, had quitted it altogether. His literary and studious disposition, conjoined with his taste for the fine arts, always occupied every leisure hour, as he patronised liberally all those who excelled in any of the various branches of art.
He had made architecture the chief object of his study, and about the year 1770, published anonymously, some very judicious “Observations on the Public Buildings of Dublin,” and on some edifices which at that period were about to be erected in that city, at the expense of the state. The only other known production of his pen that has been published, is a very curious “Account of the extraordinary Escape of James Stewart, Esq. (commonly called Athenian Stewart) by being put to death by some Turks, in whose company he happened to be travelling;” the substance of which had been communicated to Mr Caldwell by the late Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, as related to his lordship by Stewart himself. Of this narrative, of which only a small number was printed at London in 1804, for the use of the author’s friends, it is believed not more than a dozen copies were distributed in this country.
Mr. Caldwell’s literary taste naturally led him to collect a large library, which contained many rare volumes, and was particularly rich in botany and natural history.
He died at the house of his nephew, Major-General
