Patrick Brydone

Patrick Brydone, a Scottish traveller, was born in Coldingham, Berwickshire, where his father was Church of Scotland minister, in 1741. After attending St. Andrews University, he went abroad as travelling tutor or companion, with Mr. Beckford and some other gentlemen. On his return to England from his first tour in the Mediterranean, he published an account of his travels in Sicily and Malta, of which a second edition appeared in 1790, in 2 volumes. Brydone's observations of old lava flows led him to suggest that the Earth was much older than was then widely believed. His work became popular for its descriptions, and procured the author admission into the Royal Society. The connections he hereby formed obtained for him the situation of comptroller of the stamp-office, which he held to his death, in 1819. Besides his tour in Sicily and Malta, he was the author of some papers in the "Philosophical Transactions".