SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 July 1941, Page 6

SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON

WRITER OF EUROPE'S HISTORY. He Avas born on December 29, 1792. His father Avas that lazy Alison Avho wrote on "Taste,’ and stayed in bed till tAVO in the afternoon. Tiic- son Avas called to the bar in 1814 and Avas soon earning about £6OO a year. He made four notable tours abroad. He became friendly with many famous men. He Avorked like a galley slave and amassed a considerable fortune. He married a niece of Lord Woodhcuselee, and Avas very happy. He became sheriff of Lanarkshire with a salary of £l4OO a year. He took up the pen, and Avieided it with mighty power as a historian. Possil House near GlasgOAv was his home from 1835 till he died in 1867. About 150,000 people attended his funeral at GlasgOAv, for he was known throughout southern'* Scotland as a famous man—and Avas talked about for walking 20 miles in five hours when 70. But it is as a historian that he is now famed. He began his History of Europe on January 1, 1829. The first two volumes brought 250 guineas. Volumes came out every 18 months till the last pages of the last were begun in the morning of June 6, 1842. Alison dictating till three the following morning, when his secretary broke doAvn, and he wrote for three hours himself, determined that his book should come out on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo.

Of this book, the sixth edition brought him £2,000. Four years later 100.000 copies had been sold in • the United States. An edition in 20 volumes ran to 12.000 copies, and later editions ran to 20.000 and 25,000.