an English divine, was born in 1757, and matriculated at Baliol College, Oxford, in 1775, where he proceeded to the degree of B.C.L., March 23, 1784. At the time of his decease he was senior minister of the Episcopal Chapel, Cowgate, Edinburgh. In 1790 Mr. Alison published Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste, which work has attained a wide celebrity. He gave to the world a number of Sermons (1809-15), also a Memoir of the Life and Writings of Lady Woodhouslee (Trans. Edinb. R. Soc. 1818, 7, 515). See Christian Remembrancer, July, 1839, p. 440; Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors. s.v.