of athletic sports and an enthusiastic volunteer.
Besides writing many articles in prose and verse for ‘Good Words,’ ‘Macmillan's Magazine,’ ‘Blackwood's Magazine,’ ‘The Scotsman,’ and other periodicals and newspapers, Nicolson's chief publications were:
- ‘The Lay of the Beanmòhr: a Song of the Sudreyar,’ Dunedin [Edinburgh], 1867, 4to.
- ‘A Collection of Gaelic Proverbs and Familiar Phrases. Based on Macintosh's Collection. Edited by Alexander Nicolson,’ Edinburgh, 1881, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1882.
- ‘Memoirs of Adam Black,’ Edinburgh, 1885, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1885.
- ‘Verses by Alexander Nicolson, LL.D., with Memoir by Walter Smith, D.D.,’ Edinburgh, 1893, 8vo. Nicolson also edited in 1857 a volume entitled ‘Edinburgh Essays,’ written by a number of his friends connected with the university.
[Obituary notices in Times and Scotsman, 14 Jan. 1893; Edwards's Modern Scottish Poets, 3rd ser. pp. 417–19; Scottish Law Review, ix. 38–40; Memoir by Dr. Walter Smith, prefixed to Nicolson's Verses, which volume contains a portrait of their author.]
NICOLSON, WILLIAM (1655–1727), divine and antiquary, probably born at Plumbland, Cumberland, on Whit-Sunday, 1655, was the eldest son of the Rev. Joseph Nicolson (d. 1686), rector of Plumbland, who married Mary, daughter of John Brisco of Crofton in Thursby, gentleman. He was educated at Dovenby in Bridekirk (Miscellany Accounts, pp. 84, 89) and at Queen's College, Oxford, matriculating on 1 July 1670, and graduating B.A. 23 Feb. 1675–1676, and M.A. 3 July 1679. He was elected taberder on 3 Feb. 1675, and fellow on 6 Nov. 1679, vacating his fellowship in the spring of 1682. In 1678 he visited Leipzig, at the expense of Sir Joseph Williamson, then secretary of state, to learn German and the northern languages of Europe, and, after undergoing great hardships, returned home through France. While at Leipzig he translated from English into Latin an essay of Robert Hooke towards a proof of the motion of the earth from the sun's parallax, which was printed at the cost of the professor who suggested it; and after his return to England he sent some letters to David Hanisius, which are inserted in the ‘Historia Bibliothecæ Augustæ,’ at Wolffenbuttel, by Jacobus Burckhard, pt. iii. chap. iii. pp. 297–8. Subsequently he contributed descriptions of Poland, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland to the first volume of Moses Pitt's ‘English Atlas’ (Oxford, 1680), accounts of the empire of Germany to the second and third volumes (1681 and 1683), and had begun, for the same undertaking, the supervision and completion of the description of Turkey (Thoresby, Corresp. i. 122). Hearne says that Nicolson had ‘ye reputation (and not undeservedly) of a drinking fellow and boon companion;’ but his industry must always have been great, for at Oxford, in addition to the labours already specified, he transcribed for Bishop Fell the large lexicon of Junius, and compiled a ‘Glossarium Brigantinum.’
Nicolson was ordained deacon in December 1679, and became chaplain to the Right Rev. Edward Rainbow, bishop of Carlisle, who soon secured his advancement in the church. In 1681 he was appointed to the vicarage of Torpenhow, Cumberland, and held it until 2 Feb. 1698–9, when he resigned, in exchange with his brother-in-law, for the vicarage of Addingham. He was collated to the first stall in Carlisle Cathedral on 17 Nov. 1681, and to the archdeaconry of Carlisle, on 3 Oct. 1682; was instituted in the same year to the rectory of Great Salkeld, which was annexed to the archdeaconry, and in February 1698–9 to the vicarage of Addingham, retaining the whole of these preferments until his elevation to the episcopal bench in 1702. From 1682 he resided at Great Salkeld, where he built outhouses at the rectory, constructed new school buildings, and erected a wall round the churchyard. Two letters by him, dated November 1685, are in the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ xv. 1287–95. The first, addressed to the Rev. Obadiah Walker, master of University College, Oxford, related to a runic inscription at Beaucastle; the second, written to Sir William Dugdale, concerned a similar inscription on the font at Bridekirk. They are reprinted in the second impression of Gibson's edition of Camden's ‘Britannia,’ ii. 1007–10, 1029–31. He was elected F.R.S. on 30 Nov. 1705.
Nicolson, if we may rely on the statement of Hearne, inclined in early life to toryism and high-church principles; but he soon changed these views, ‘courting ye figure of ye Loggerhead at Lambeth’ (Hearne, Collections, ii. 62). Into parliamentary elections in the northern counties he threw all his energies; he was censured by the House of Commons for his interference, and it was rumoured that he had been committed for treason (Bagot MSS., Hist. MSS. Comm. 10th Rep. App. iv. pp. 332–6). In April 1702 he applied in vain for the deanery of Carlisle, but through the interest of Sir Christopher Musgrave of Edenhall, the prominent whig in Cumberland, he was soon after appointed to the see of Carlisle. He was consecrated at Lambeth on 14 June 1702,
