URQUHART, or Urchard,Sir Thomas (c. 1605- 1660), one of the most original and raciest translators from any foreign language into English, was the son of Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, the representative of a very ancient family, and of Christian, daughter of the fourth Lord Elphinstone. His birth-year is uncertain, but it is guessed at 1605, and his birthplace was the old mansion-house of Cromarty. Not much is known of his youth, or indeed of any part of his life; but he was certainly well educated, travelled over Europe, succeeded to a considerable, though much embarrassed inheritance, and got together a remarkable library, which, however, fell into the hands of his creditors. All his later life was disturbed by pecuniary and political difficulties. He was an enthusiastic Royalist; and, so far as religious matters went, his principles may be judged from his favourite signature, “C. P.,” for Christianus Presbyteromastix. He took part in the “Trot of Turriff” in 1639, and was rewarded by being knighted on 7th April 1641 by the king’s own hand at Whitehall. He took occasion by this visit to London to see through the press his first work, a collection of Epigrams of no great merit. Four years later, in 1645, he produced a tract called Trissotetras, a treatise on logarithms, adjusted to a kind of memoria technica, like that of the scholastic logic. In 1649 he was proclaimed a rebel and traitor at the Cross of Edinburgh; but this does not seem to have done him much harm, and, though he took part in the march to Worcester, and was there wounded and taken prisoner, his always embarrassed affairs do not seem to have been much worsened thereby. He published in rapid succession during 1652 and 1653 a series of tracts with quaint titles and quainter contents. ...