Archibald Maclaine (1722–1804) was an Irish minister, known as a translator. He spent nearly half a century as pastor at the English church in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Life

From a Scots-Irish background, the son of Lauchlin Maclaine and brother of

James Maclaine "Captain" James Maclaine (occasionally "Maclean", "MacLean", or "Maclane") (1724 – 3 October 1750) was an Irish man of a respectable presbyterian family who had a brief but notorious career as a mounted highwayman in London with his accompl ...

the highwayman, he was born at

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

. He was educated at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

, where he studied under Francis Hutcheson for the Presbyterian ministry. He matriculated there in 1739, took his M.A. degree in 1746, and was awarded a D.D. in 1767. In 1746 Maclaine became assistant to his maternal uncle, Robert Milling, a pastor of the Church of St John and St Philip at

, and in 1747 was admitted co-pastor. Known in Holland for his learning, he was for a time preceptor to the

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by the stadtholders of, and then the heirs apparent of ...

. Ill-health, and the disturbances of the fall of the Dutch Republic after the Flanders campaign, led him to resign his charge in 1796. Maclaine settled at

Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...

where he died on 25 November 1804, and was buried in

Bath Abbey The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictines, Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, i ...

. The Rev. John Simpson attended his death-bed. A monument was erected to Maclaine's memory by his friend

Henry Hope Henry Hope (1735–1811) was an Amsterdam merchant banker born in Braintree, Province of Massachusetts Bay. He emigrated to the Netherlands to join the family business, the Dutch bank Hope & Co., at a young age. From 1779, Henry became the man ...

. The epitaph was by Simpson.

Works

Maclaine published in 1765, in 2 vols., a translation from Latin, with notes, of

Johann Lorenz Mosheim Johann Lorenz von Mosheim or Johann Lorenz Mosheim (9 October 1693 – 9 September 1755) was a German Lutheran church historian. Biography He was born at Lübeck on 9 October 1693 or 1694. After studying at the '' gymnasium'' of Lübeck, he ent ...

's ''Ecclesiastical History''. It was reprinted in 1768 in 5 vols., and in 1782, 1806, 1810, and 1825, in 6 vols. This major work met with the approval of

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

, who used it in his abridgement of Mosheim, ''A Concise Ecclesiastical History'' (1781). Maclaine also translated from the French Jean Jacob Vernet's ''Dialogues on some Important Subjects'', 1753. Other works were: *''Series of Letters on occasion of his "View of the Internal Evidence of Christianity,"'' 1777; 2nd edit. 1778, addressed to

Soame Jenyns Soame Jenyns (1 January 1704 – 18 December 1787) was an English writer and Member of Parliament. He was an early advocate of the ethical consideration of animals. Life and work He was the eldest son of Sir Roger Jenyns and his second wife El ...

. These contained criticism of

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

for his tone. Having stated that Gibbon was free to speak his mind—in contrast to French citizens—he wrote " ..a sneer may have its place and time: but surely its ''place'' cannot be historical narrative, when Christianity the subject of discussion." *''Religion, a Preservative Against Barbarism and Anarchy: A Sermon from Jeremiah, XIII. 16. Preached at the Hague, February 13th, 1793'' (1793). *''The Solemn Voice of Public Events Considered in a Discourse from Zephaniah iii. 6,7.'' (1797). *''Discourses on Various Subjects Delivered in the English Church at the Hague'' (1799). With his father-in-law, Maclaine was involved in editing a periodical, the ''Bibliothèque des sciences et des beaux-arts''. He contributed literary articles to ''

The Monthly Review ''The Monthly Review'' (1749–1845) was an English periodical founded by Ralph Griffiths, a Nonconformist bookseller. The first periodical in England to offer reviews, it featured the novelist and poet Oliver Goldsmith as an early contributo ...

''.

Family

Maclaine married in 1758 Esther Wilhelmina Chais (1736–1789), daughter of the Genevan minister Charles-Pierre Chais. They had three sons and a daughter; Charles Anthony, the eldest, was a lawyer, recorder of Brabant, and Henry, the second son, an army officer in Dutch service.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Maclaine, Archibald 1722 births 1804 deaths 18th-century Irish Presbyterian ministers Christian clergy from County Monaghan 18th-century Irish translators Alumni of the University of Glasgow Irish emigrants to the Netherlands People from The Hague