James Elphinston

James Elphinston (December 6, 1721 – October 8, 1809) was a well noted 18th-century Scottish educator, orthographer, phonologist and linguistics expert.

(1904, Oxford edition), Chapter IV [1750], and tutor of Alexander James Dallas.

Thirty-six of Elphinston's translations of mottoes appear in Johnson's Rambler, as part of a revised, corrected edition in July 1752 and subsequently.

Robert Charles Dallas was Elphinston's biographer in the 1809 edition of Gentleman's Magazine no.

[2] His translation of the Roman poet Martial has been criticised for its bowlderization and perceived low poetic value, for example Robert Burns wrote a critical poem describing "laurell'd Martial calling Murther!"