Gillies, JOHN

Gillies, JOHN, historian, was born at Brechin, in Forfarshire, January 18, 1747. He was educated at the university of Glasgow, and for several years acted as tutor to the sons of the Earl of Hopetoun. In 1778 he published a translation of the Orationes of Isocrates and Lysias, with some Account of their Lives; and in 1786 his principal work, the History of Ancient Greece, 2 vols. It was extremely popular on its first appearance, but has dropped out of notice since the publication of the histories of Thirlwall and Grote. His View of the Reign of Frederick II. of Prussia appeared in 1789. In 1793 he was appointed historiographer to the king for Scotland. He also published a translation of Aristotle's Ethics and Politics (1797), and of Aristotle's Rhetoric (1823), and a History of the World from Alexander to Augustus (2 vols. 1807-10). He died at Clapham, February 15, 1836.