was also a contributor to the ‘North British Review,’ and wrote for the eighth edition of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica’ a number of biographies, among them those of Queen Elizabeth, William Penn, Lord Jeffrey, and the Ettrick Shepherd. He wrote the memoir of Falconer prefixed to the ‘Shipwreck’ (1858 and 1868), and of James Montgomery (1860) and Gray (1876) prefixed to editions of their poems. He delivered several series of lectures before the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution. In April 1871 he received the degree of LL.D. from the university of Edinburgh, and in the November of the same year he was entertained at a public banquet, when he was presented with a portrait and bust of himself.
Carruthers was the friend or correspondent of several of his eminent contemporaries. Rogers furnished him with some material for his edition of Pope, and Macaulay asked for and received from him on highland matters information which was duly acknowledged in the ‘History.’ When Thackeray visited Inverness to lecture on the Four Georges, the acquaintance which he made with Carruthers, who is said to have resembled him in face, ripened into considerable intimacy. Carruthers died at Inverness on 26 May 1878, busy to the last with the newspaper which he had edited for more than half a century. His fellow-townsmen honoured him with a public funeral.
[Carruthers's writings; obituary notices in the Inverness Courier of 30 May and in the Scotsman of 28 May 1878.]
CARSE, ALEXANDER (fl. 1812–1820), painter, was a native of Edinburgh, where he enjoyed a good reputation as a painter. About 1812 he came to London, and in the ensuing years exhibited several pictures at the Royal Academy and at the British Institution. His pictures chiefly represented scenes from Scottish domestic life, often of a humorous character. His colouring and drawing met with very favourable criticism. He resided for some years in Grenville Street, Somers Town, but seems about 1820 to have returned to Edinburgh, where he continued to paint for some years. He is sometimes described as ‘Old Carse,’ which seems to point to his being the father of William Carse [q. v.] The date of his death has not been ascertained. A picture by him has recently been presented to the Scottish National Gallery.
[Graves's Dict. of Artists; Catalogues of the Royal Academy and the British Institution; Annals of the Fine Arts, i. 423, ii. 44; information from Mr. J. M. Gray.]
CARSE, WILLIAM (fl. 1818–1845), painter, was a native of Edinburgh, and seems to have been the son of Alexander Carse [q. v.] In 1818 he was a student at the British Institution, and resided with Alexander Carse at Grenville Street, Somers Town. His first pictures were cattle pieces in the style of Paul Potter, but later he devoted himself to subject pictures, chiefly scenes from lowly Scottish life. In the years 1820–9 he exhibited pictures at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Suffolk Street Exhibition. During the latter part of his residence in London he resided in Southampton Crescent, Euston Square. About 1830 he returned to Edinburgh, and exhibited pictures in the Royal Scottish Academy up to 1845, after which date he cannot be traced.
[Graves's Dict. of Artists; Catalogues of the Royal Academy and the British Institution; Annals of the Fine Arts, iii. 598; information from Mr. J. M. Gray.]
CARSEWELL, JOHN (fl. 1560–1572), bishop of the Isles, was in his earlier years chaplain to the Earl of Argyll and rector of Kilmartin. When the assembly of the kirk, on 20 July 1560, appointed superintendents of the various districts of Scotland, Carsewell was appointed superintendent of Argyll and the Isles (Knox, Works, ii. 87; Calderwood, History, ii. 11). He was also dean of the Chapel Royal of Stirling (Keith, History, Appendix, p. 128). In his capacity of superintendent of Argyll he was appointed by the assembly, in 1567, to ‘take satisfaction’ from Argyll for separation from his wife, and for ‘other heinous offences’ (Calderwood, ii. 397). In July 1569 he was rebuked by the assembly for accepting the bishopric of the Isles, and for attending a parliament ‘holden by the queen after the murther of the king’ (ib. ii. 491). He died some time before 20 Sept. 1572.
[Keith's Scottish Bishops, 307–8; Calderwood's History of the Church of Scotland., vols. ii. and iii.]
CARSON, AGLIONBY ROSS (1780–1850), classical scholar and rector of the high school of Edinburgh, was born at Holywood, Dumfriesshire, in 1780. He was educated at Wallace Hall endowed school, in the parish of Closeburn, and at the university of Edinburgh, which he entered in 1797. In 1801 he was elected rector of the grammar school of Dumfries, and in 1806 a classical master of the high school of Edinburgh, of which he became rector in 1820. In 1826 he received the degree of LL.D. from the university of
