Linlithgow; Lord President Hope, in the Parliament House ; and Dr Chalmers, 1844. These are all full lengths, and were exhibited in London, where they attracted great atten- tion (the Chalmers portrait was purchased some years later by Sir Robert Peel, and is now in the Peel Gallery) ; they belong to his middle period, and are distinguished by great sweetness in execution, and, unlike his later works, are generally rich in colour. The full length of Dr Brunton, 1844, and Dr Lee, the principal of the university, 1846, both in the staircase of the College Library, mark a modification of his style, which ultimately resolved itself into extreme
simplicity, both of colour and treatment.During the last twenty years of his life he painted many distinguished Englishmen who came to Edinburgh to sit to him. And it is significant of the position he held in the esteem of artists themselves that David Cox, the landscape painter, on being presented with his portrait, subscribed for by many friends, chose to go to Edinburgh to have it executed by Watson Gordon, although he neither knew the painter personally nor had ever before visited the country. Among the portraits painted during this period, in what may be termed his third style, are De Quincey, the opium eater, in the National Portrait Gallery, London; General Sir Thomas Maedougall Brisbane, in the Royal Society ; the prince of Wales, Lord Macaulay, Sir M. Packiugton, Lord Murray, Lord Cockburn, Lord Rutherford, and Sir John Shaw Lefcvre, in the Scottish National Gallery, and a host of others, for latterly he not only possessed great facility of brush but was industrious to a fault. These latter pictures are mostly clear and grey, sometimes showing little or no positive colour, the flesh itself being very grey, and the handling extremely masterly, though never ob- truding its cleverness. He was very successful in rendering acute observant character, and there is a look of mobility of feature, in repose it is true, but suggesting that the eye could twinkle and the lips relax. As an example of his last style, showing pearly flesh painting freely handled, yet highly finished, the head of Sir John Shaw Lefevre will hold its own in any school.
John Watson Gordon was one of the earlier members of the Royal Scottish Academy, and was elected its president in 1850 ; he was at the same time appointed limner to her majesty for Scotland, and received the honour of knight- hood. Since 1841 he had been an associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1851 he was elected a Royal Academician. Sir John continued to paint with little if any diminution of power until within a very few weeks of his death, which occurred on the 1st of J uue 1864.
GORDON, Patrick (1635–1699), of Auchleuchries, a Russian general, was descended from a Scotch family of Aberdeenshirc, who possessed the small estate of Auchleuch- ries, and were connected with the house of Haddo. He was born in 1635, and after completing his education at the parish schools of Cruden and Ellon, entered, in his fifteenth year, the Jesuit college at Braunsberg, Prussia ; but, as “ his humour could not endure such a still and strict way of living,” he soon resolved to return home. He changed his mind, however, before re-embarkiug, and after journeying on foot in several parts of Germany, ultimately, in 1655, enlisted at Hamburg in the Swedish service. In the course of the next five years he served alternately with the Poles and Swedes as he was taken prisoner by either. In 1661, after changing his resolution more than once, he took service in the Russian army under Alexis I., and in 1666 he was sent on a special mission to England. After his return he distinguished himself in several wars against the Turks and Tartars in southern Russia, and in recognition of his services he in 1678 was made major-general, in 1679 was appointed to the chief command at Kiefi“, and in 1683 was made lieutenant-general. He visited England in 1686, and, after his return to Russia, he in 1687 and 1689 took part as quartermaster-gcueral in the expeditions against the Crim Tartars in the Crimea. On the breaking out of the revolu- tion in Moscow in the latter year, Gordon with the troops he commanded virtually decided events in favour of the czar Peter I., and against the czarina Sophia. He was therefore during the remainder of his life in high favour with the czar, who confided to him the command of his capital during his absence from Russia, employed him in organizing his army according to the European system, and latterly raised him to the rank of general-in-chief. He died November 29, 1699. The czar, who had visited him frequently during his illness, was with him when he died, and with his own hands closed his eyes.
General Gordon left behind him a diary of his life, written in Eng- lish. Several of those parts of the diary connected with the military history of Russia. were at an early period translated into German— thcn the literary language of St Petersburg—but never printed, although made use of for various other works. A complete German translation, by Prince M. A. Kolenski and Mr M. C. Powell, was published, the first volume at Moscow in 1849, the second at St Pctersburg in 1851, and the third at St Petersburg in 1853; and Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries, 1635—1699, was printed, under the editorship of Joseph Robertson, for the Spalding Club, Aberdeen, 1859.
GORE, Mrs Catherine Grace (1799–1861), an exceedingly prolific English novelist, was born in 1799 at East Retford, Nottinghamshire, and was the daughter of Mr Moody, a wine-merchant. In 1823 she was married to Captain Charles Gore 5 and, in the same year, she published her first work, Theresa Jlfarchmont, or the lllaicl ofIIonom'. Then followed, in rapid succession, the Lettre (le C(ic'het and The Reign of Terror (1827), Ilungarian Tales, illanners of the Day (1830), filothers and Daughters (1831), and The Fair of May Fair (1832). At this point the critics began to say that Mrs Gore had written enough ; and she accordingly went to France to extend her range of obser- vation, and did not publish till 1836, when her next novel, entitled illrs Armytage, appeared. - Every succeeding year saw several volumes from her pen ; and in 1839 The Cabinet fllinister, Prefemnent, and The Com'tier of the Days of Charles II. were issued from the press. But in 1841 Mrs Gore fairly eclipsed her other novels by the publication of Cecil, or the Adventures of a Coxcomb, which produced a great sensation. This year also appeared Creville, or a Season in Paris. Then followed, in 1842, Ormington, or Cecil a Peer, Fascination, and The Ambassador’s Wife 3 and in 1843 Mrs Gore produced another masterpiece, entitled The Banker’s Wife. She continued to write, with unfailing fertility of invention, till her death in January 1861. Mrs Gore also published some dramas and translations from the French , but it is as a fashionable novelist that she is re- membered. Her life was one of extraordinary literary in— dustry, as may be inferred from the fact that she is the author of more than seventy distinct worl-zs. Among her best novels are Cecil, or the Adventures of a Coxcomb, Greville, and The Banker’s Wife. Cecil gives extremely vivid sketches of London fashionable life, and is full of happy epigrammatie touches. It displays great knowledge of London clubs, for which Mrs Gore was indebted to Mr Beckford, the author of Vatheh. The narrative is varied by occasional glimpses of Continental life. G'reville is marked by faithful pictures of English country life, and of the ease and grace of French society. The Banker’s Wife is distinguished for masterly studies of character, especially in the persons of Mr Hamlyn, the cold calculating money- maker, and his warm-hearted country neighbour, Colonel Hamilton.
in invention, lively satire, shrewd insight into character, and keen observation of life. They are exceedingly deficient
in feeling 3 and the lover of fiction paSSes a pleasant hour