Archibald Alison, a Scottish clergyman and author, born in Edinburgh, Nov. 13, 1757, died there, May 17, 1839. He was educated at the university of Glasgow, and at Balliol college, Oxford, took orders in the church of England, and married the daughter of Dr. John Gregory, professor in the university of Edinburgh. In 1790 he obtained the perpetual curacy of Kenley in Shropshire, and afterward several other preferments in the same county. There he lived happily and tranquilly, with mingled literary and pastoral labors, till 1800, when he removed to Edinburgh for the education of his children, and became senior minister of St. Paul's chapel, in York place, where his eloquence soon attracted the attention of the cultivated society of the metropolis. In 1831 increasing years and failing health obliged him to withdraw from public duties. The first edition of his "Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste," published in 1790, though highly esteemed within a limited circle of men of culture, had been issued in too expensive a style for general circulation. A second edition, with additions, published in 1811, became popular.

In 1814 Mr. Alison published two volumes of sermons, which passed rapidly through five editions, and were republished in America.