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VOLUME IV.

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A

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY

OF

EMINENT SCOTSMEN.

IN" FOUR VOLUMES.

ORIGINALLY EDITED BT

ROBERT CHAMBERS.

NEW EDITION, REVISED UNDER THE CARE OF THE PUBLISHERS.

WITH A SUPPLEMENTAL VOLUME,

CONTINUING THE BIOGRAPHIES TO THE PRESENT TIME.

By the Eev. THOS. THOMSON,

IVTHOR OF "the ItUTOnY OP SCOTrj^ND FOa THB USH OF SCHOOI^,** ETC, KTC.

WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS.

VOL. IV.
MELVILLE— YOUNG.

BLACKIE AND SON:

GLASGOW, EDI K BURG II, AND LONDON.

MDCCCLV.

§v3

OLASOOWi

W. O. BLACKIS AND CO., FRINTEXS,

VILLAriELS.

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY

OF

EMINENT SCOTSMEN.

M.

MELVILLE, Andrew, one of the most illustrious of the Scottish reformers,
whose name stands next to that of Knox in the history of the Reformation, and
is second to none in the erudition of the time, was born on the 1st of August,
1545, at Baldovy or Baldowy, an estate on the banks of the South Esk, near
Montrose, of which his father was proprietor. The form in which the family
name was generally known at that time in Scotland and in foreign countries,
was Melvyne or Melvin. Throughout the interesting correspondence, written in
Latin, between the subject of this memoir and his amiable and accomplished
nephew, whoso life is recorded in the next article, the name is uniformly written
Melvinus. In Fifeshire, at the present day, the name is commonly pronounced
Melvin, and at an earlier period it was frequently both pronounced and written
Melin, Mellin, and Melling. The Melvilles of Baldowy were a family of some
note in the middle of the sixteenth century, and near cadets of Melville of Raith,
who was considered to be the chief of an influential name in the county of Fife.
Melville of Dysart, however, was acknowledged by Andrew Melville to have
been the chief of the Baldowy branch of the family. Andrew was the youngest
of nine sons, and had the misfortune to lose his father, who fell in the battle of
Pinkie, while be was yet only two years of age. The death of his mother, also,
soon afterwards took place, and he was thus left an orphan. The loss of his
parents, however, was in a gi-eat measure compensated by the kindness and
tenderness of his eldest brother, and the wife of that individual, both of whom
watched over his infant years with the most anxious affection and assiduity. The
long-tried and unwearied kindness of the latter, in particular, made a strong
impression upon Melville, which lasted during the whole of his life.

His brother, perceiving his eai'ly propensity to learning, resolved to encourage
it, and with this view gave him the best education which the country afforded.
He was besides of a weakly habit of body, a consideration which had its weight
in determining the line of life he should pursue. Young Melville was accord-
ingly put to the grammar-school of Montrose, where he acquired the elements
of the Latin language, and, among other accomplishments, a knowledge of
Greek, which was then a rare study in Scotland. When removed, in his
fourteenth year, to the university of St Andrews, he surprised his teachers by
his knowledge of Greek, with which they were wholly unacquainted. He was in-

ANDREW MELVILLE.

debted for this fortunate peculiarity in his education, to a Frenchman of the
name of Marsilliers, uho had been established as a teacher of Greek in the
school of Montrose, by John Erskine of Dun.

The great progress which young Melville had made in learning, excited the
astonishment and attracted the attention of the various teachers in the univer-
sity ; particularly Mr John Douglas, the rector, who on one occasion having
tiken the young and weakly boy between his knees, was so delighted with his
replies, when questioned on the subject of his studies, that he exclaimed, " My
silly fatherless and motlierless boy, it's ill to witt [to guess] what God may
make of thee yeL"

The reputation which Melville acquired soon after entering the college, in-
CT«ased with his stay there ; and he left it, on finishing the usual coui-se of
study, with the character of being " the best philosopher, poet, and Grecian, of
any young master in the land." Having acquired all the learning which his
native country afforded, he resolved to proceed to the continent to complete
his education ; and, accordingly, with the consent of his brothei-s, set out for
France in the autumn of 1564, being still only in the nineteenth year of his
age. At the university of Paris, whither he repaired, he acquired r. similar
reputation for general talent, and particularly for his knowledge of Greek,
with that which he had secured at St Andrews. Here he remained for two
years, when he removed to Poictiers. On his an-ival at the latter place, such
was the celebrity already attached to his name, he was made regent in tlie col-
lego of St Man-eon, although yet only twenty-one years of age. From Poic-
tiers, he went some time afterwards to Geneva, where he was presented with
the htimanily chair in the academy, which happened fortunately to be then va-
cant In 1571, he returned to his native country, after an absence altogether
of ten years. On his arrival at Edinburgh, he was invited by the regent Mor-
ton to enter liis family as a domestic instructor, with a promise of advancement
when opportunity should offer. This invitation he declined, alleging that he
preferred an academical life, and that the object of his highest ambition was to
obtain an appointment in one of the universities. He now retired to Baldovy,
where he spent the following three months, enjoying the society of his elder
brother, and amusing himself by superintending the studies of his nephew,
James Melville.

At the end of this period, he was appointed principal of the college of Glas-
gow by the General Assembly, and immediately proceeded thither to assume
the duties of his office. Here the learning and talents of Melville were
eminently serviceable, not only to the university over which he presided, but to
the whole kingdom. He introduced improvements in teaching and in disci-
pline, which at once procured a high degree of popularity to the college, and
greatly promoted the cause of general education throughout Scotland. Melville
possessed n considerable share of that intrepidity for which his great prede-
cessor, Knox, was so remarkable. At an interview, on one occasion, with the re-
gent Morton, who was highly displeased with some proceedings of the General
Assembly, of which Melville was a member, tlie former, irritated by what he
conceived to be obstinacy in thelalter,exclaimed, " There will never be quietness
in this country, till half-a-dozen of you be hanged or banished." — " Hark, sir,"
said Melville, " threaten your courtiers after that manner. It is the same to
me, whether I rot in the air or in the ground. The earth is the Lord's.
Patria eat ubicunque est bene. I have been ready to give my life where it
would not have been half so well wared [expended], at the pleasure of my God.
I have lived out of your country ten years, as well as in it. Let God be glori-
fied : it will not be in your power to hang or exile his trutli." It is not said

ANDREW MELVILLE.

that the vegent resented this bold lansftiage ; but probably his forbearance was
as much owing to the circtunstance of his resigning the regency, which he did
soon after, as to any other cause.

In 1580, 3Ielviile was translated to St Andrews, to fill a similar situation
with that which he occupied at Glasgow. Here he distinguished himself by the
same ability which had acquired him so much reputation in the western uni-
versity. Besides giving lectures on theology, he taught the Hebrew, Chaldee,
Syriac, and Kabbini«:al languages, and discovered such an extent of knowledge
and superiority of acquirement, that his classes were attended, not only by
young students in unusual numbers, but by several of the masters of the other
colleges. In 1582, Melville opened, with sermon, an extraordinary meeting of
the General Assembly, which had been convoked to take into consideration the
dangerous state of the protestant church, from the influence which the earl of
Arran, and the lords D'Aubigne and Lennox, exercised over the young king.
In this sermon he boldly inveighed against the absolute authority which the
court was assuming a right to exercise in ecclesiastical affairs, and alluded to a
design on the part of France, of which D'Aubigne was the instrument, to re-
establish the catholic religion in the country. The assembly, impressed with
similar sentiments, and entertaining similar apprehensions, drew up a spirited
remonstrance to tiie king, and appointed Melville to present it. He accord-
ingly repaired to Perth, where the king then was, and, despite of some alarm-
ing reports which reached him, of the personal danger to which he would ex-
pose himself from the resentment of the king's favourites, demanded and ob-
tained access to his majesty. When the remonstrance was read, Arran looked
round the apartment, and exclaimed, in a tone of defiance and menace, " Who
dares subscribe these treasonable articles?" — " We dare," replied Melville; and,
taking a pen from the clerk, he affixed his signature to the document: an ex-
ample which Avas immediately followed by the other commissioners who were
with him. The cool and dignified intrepidity of Melville, completely silenced
the blustering of Arran, who, finding himself at fault by this unexpected oppo-
sition, made no further remark; and Lennox, with better policy, having spoken
to the commissioners in a conciliatory tone, they were peaceably dismissed. It
seems probable, however, from what afterwards ensued, that Arran did not for-
get the humiliation to which 3Ielville^s boldness had on this occasion subjected
him. In less than two years afterwards, Melville was summoned before the
privy council, on a charge of high treason, founded upon some expressions
which, it was alleged, he had made use of in the pulpit. Whether Arran was
the original instigator of the prosecution, does not very distinctly appear; but
it is certain that he took an active part in its progress, and expressed an eager
anxiety for the conviction of the accused. Failing in establishing any thing to
the prejudice of Melville, the council had recourse to an expedient to effect
that which they could not accomplish through his indictment They could not
punish him for offences which they could not prove ; but they found him guilty
of declining the judgment of the council, and of behaving irreverently before them,
and condemned him to be imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh, and to be fur-
ther punished in person and goods at his majesty's pleasure. The terms of the
sentence, in so far as regarded the piacte of imprisonment, were afterwards altered
by Arran, who substituted " Blackness," where he had a creature of his own as
keeper, for Edinburgh. Several hours being allowed to Melville before he was
put in ward, he availed himself of the opportunity, and made his escape to Eng-
land. To this step, being himself in doubt whetlier he ought not rather to
submit to the sentence of the council, he was urged by some of his friends, who,
to his request for advice in the matter, replied, with the proverb of the house of

ANDREW MELVILLE.

An<ni8, " Loose and living;" which pretty plainly intimates what they conceived
would be the result, if he permitted himself to be made " fast." On leav-
ing Edinburgh, 3Ielville first proceeded to Berwick, and thence to London,
»»hero he remained till the November of 15S5. The indignation of the king-
dom having then driven Arran from the court, he returned to Scotland, after an
absence of twenty months. The plague, which had raged in the country while
he was in England, having dispersed his pupils at St Andrews, and the college
being, from this and other causes, in a state of complete disorganization, he did
not immediately resume his duties there, but proceeded to Glasgow, where he re-
mained for some time. In the month of March following, induced by an appearance
of more settled times, he returned to St Andrews, and reconurienced his lectures
and former course of instruction. These, however, were soon again inteiTupted.
In consequence of the active part which he took in the excommunication of
archbishop Adamson, who was accused of overthrowing the scriptural govern-
ment and discipline of the church of Scotland, he was commanded by the king
to leave St Andrews, and to confine himself beyond the water of Tay. From
this banishment he was soon afterwards recalled ; and, having been restored to
his majesty's favour, through the intercession of the dean of faculty and masters
of the university, he resumed his academical labours at St Andrews.

In the year following (1587,) he was chosen moderator of the General As-
sembly, and appointed one of their commissioners to the ensuing meeting of
parliament A similar honour with the first was conferred upon him in 1589,
and again in 1 594. In the year following, he was invited to take a part in
the ceremonies at the coronation of the queen, which took place in the chapel
of Holyrood, on the 17th of May. On this occasion, although he did not
know, until only two days before, that he was expected to take a part in the
approaching ceremony, he composed and delivered, before a gi'eat concourse of
noblemen and gentlemen, assembled to witness the coronation, a Latin poem,
which, having been printed next day at the earnest solicitation of his majesty,
who was much pleased with it, under the title of- " Stephaniskion," and circu-
lated throughout Europe, added greatly to the reputation which iu author had
already acquired. An instance of the generosity of Melville's disposition, which
occurred about this time, cannot be passed over, however brief the sketch of
his life may be, without doing an injustice to his memory. Archbishop Adam-
son, one of his most irreconcilable enemies, having lost the favour of the king,
was reduced, by the sequestration of his annuity, which immediately followed,
to great pecuniary distress. He applied to Melville for relief, and he did not
apply in vain. Melville immediately visited him, and undertook to support
himself and his family at his own expense, until some more effective and per-
manent assistance could be procured for him ; and this he did for several months,
finally obtaining a contribution for him from his friends in St Andrews. Such
instances of benevolence are best left to the reader's own reflections, and are
only injured by comment.

In 1590, he was chosen rector of the university; an office which he conti-
nued to hold by re-election for many years, and in which he displayed a firm-
ness and decision of character on several trying occasions, that gives him a
claim to something more than a mere literary reputation. Though a loyal sub-
ject in the best tense and most genuine acceptation of that term, he frequently
addressed king James in language nmch more remarkable for its plainness than
its courtesy. He had no sympathy whatever for the absurdities of that prince,
and would neither condescend to humour his foibles nor flatter his vanity. A
remarkable instance of this plain dealing with his majesty, occurred in 1596.
In that year, Melville formed one of a deputation from the commissioners of the

ANDREW MELVILLE.

General Aesembly, who met at Cupar in Fife, being appointed to wait upon tho
king at Falkland, for (he pui-pnse of exhorting him to prevent the consequences
of certain measures inimical to religion, uhich his council were pursuing. James
Melville, nephew of the subject of this memoir, was chosen spokesman of the
party, on account of the mildness of his manner and the courteousness of his
address. On entering the presence, he accordingly began to state the object
Bud views of the deputation. He had scarcely commenced, however, when the
king interrupted him, and in passionate language, denounced the meeting at
Cupar as illegal and seditious. James Melville was about to reply with his usual
mildness, when his uncle, stepping forward, seized the sleeve of the king's
gown, and calling his sacred majesty "God's silly vassal," proceeded to lecture
him on the impropriety of his conduct, and to point out to him the course
which he ought to pursue, particularly in matter of ecclesiastical polity. " Sir,"
he said, " we will always humbly reverence your majesty in public; but since
we have this occasion to be with your majesty in private, and since you are
brought in extreme danger both of your life and crown, and, along with you,
the country and the church of God are like to go to wreck, for not telling you
the tinith, and giving you faithful counsel, we must discharge our duty or else
be traitors both to Christ and you. Therefore, Sir, as divers times before I
have told you, so now again I must tell you, there are two kings and two king-
doms in Scotland : there is king James, the head of this commonwealth, and
there is Christ Jesus the king of the church, whose subject James the Sixth is,
and of whose kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a member."
Melville went on in a similar sti'ain with this for a great length of time, not-
withstanding repeated attempts, on the part of the king, to stop him. James
expressed the strongest repugnance at the outset to listen to him, and endeav-
oured to frighten him from his purpose by a display of the terrors of offended
royalty, but in vain. He was finally compelled to listen quietly and patiently
to all that Melville chose to say. At the conclusion of the speech, the king,
whose anger, and whose courage also probably, had subsided during its delivery,
made every concession which was required ; and the deputation returned with-
out any loss, apparently, of royal favour. It was not, however, to be ex-
pected, that Melville should have gained any ground in the king's affec-
tions by this display of sincerity and zeal ; nor were the future interviews
which took place between them better calculated for this end. 'The very next
which occurred is thus alluded to in his nephew's diai-y : " And ther they (the
king and Melville) heeled on, till all the hous and clos bathe hard mikle, of a
large houre. In end, the king takes upe and disraissis him favourablie."

However favourably James may have dismissed him, he does not seem to have
been unwilling to avail himself of the first opportunity which should offer of get-
ting rid of him. At a royal visitation of the university of St Andrews, which soon
afterwards took place, matter of censure against Melville was eagerly sought after,
and all who felt disposed to bring any complaint against him, were encouraged
to come forward with their accusations. The result was, that a large roll, filled
with charges against him, was put into the king's hands. He wm accused of
neglecting the pecuniary affairs of the college, and the duties of his office as a
teacher, of agitating questions of policy in place of lecturing on divinity, and
of inculcating doctrines subversive of the king's authority and of the peace of
the realm. At several strict examinations, he gave such satisfactory explana-
tions of his conduct, and defended himself so effectually against the slanders of
those who sought his ruin, that the visitors were left without any gi'ound or pre-
text on which to proceed against him. They, however, deprived him of the
rectorship, on the plea that it was improper that that office should be united

6 ANDREW JfELVILLK

' witli the professorship of theology, the appointment which Melville held in the
unirersity.

The accession of James to the English throne, did not abate his desire to
assume an absolute control orer the affairs of the cliurch of Scotland, and long
after his removal to England, he continued to entertain designs hostile to its
liberties. The attempts whicli he had made to obtain this supremacy, while he
was yet in Scotland, had been thwarted in a great measure by the exertions of
Melrille. His intrepidity kept James at bay, and his zeal, activity, and talents,
deprived him of all chance of succeeding, by chicanery or cunning. Melville
still presented himself as a stumbling-block in his uay, should he attempt to
approach the Scottish church with inimrcal designs, and James, therefore, now
resolved that he should be entirely removed from the kingdom. To accomplish
this, he had recourse to one of those infamous and unprincipled stratagems
which he considered the very essence of " king craft." In May 1606, Mel-
ville received a letter from his majesty, commanding him to repair to London
before the 15th of September next, that his majesty might consult with him,
and others of his learned brethren, regarding ecclesiastical matters, with tiie
view of healing all differences, and securing a good understanding between his
majesty and the church. Letters of a similar tenor were received by seven
other clergymen, amongst whom was Melville's nephew.

Though not without some doubts regarding the result of this rather extraor-
dinary invitation, Melville and his brethren set out for London, where they ar-
rived on the 25th of August. The first interview of the Scottish clergymen
with the king was sufficiently gracious. He inquired for news from Scotland,
and condescended even to be jocular. This, however, did not last long ; at
the subsequent conferences Melville found himself called upon, by the sentiments
which tlie king expressed regarding church matters, to hold the same bold and
plain language to him which he had so often done in Scotland, and this too in
the presence of great numbers of his English courtiers, who could not refrain
from expressing their admiration of Melville's boldness, and of the eloquence
with which he delivered his sentiments. In the mean tinie, however, the Scot-
tish ministers were interdicted from returning to Scotland without the special
permission of the king. On the 28th September they were required by his
majesty to give attendance in the royal chapel on the following day to witness
the celebration of the festival of St Michael. The ceremonies and fooleries of
the exhibition which took place on this occasion, were so absurd, and so nearly
approached those of the Romish church, tliat they excited in Melville a feeling
of the utmost indignation and contempt This feeling he expressed in a Latin
epigram, which he composed on returning to his lodgings. A copy of the
lines found its way to his majesty, who was greatly incensed by them, and
determined to proceed against their author on the ground that they were trea-
sonable. He was accordingly summoned before the privy council, found guilty
of scandalum magnatum, and after a confinement of nearly twelve monlhs, first in
the house of Uie dean of St Paul's, and afterwards in that of the bishop of Win-
Chester, was committed to the Tower, where he remained a prisoner for four
years. The other clergymen who had accompanied Melville to London were
allowed to return to Scotland ; but they were confined to particular part,
of Uie country, and forbidden to attend any cliurch courts. Melville's nephew
was commanded to leave London within six days, and to repair to Newrastle
apou 1 yne, and not to go ten miles beyond that town on the pain of rebellion

In th« month of February, 1611, Melville was released from the Tower on
the application of the duke of Bouillon, who had solicited his liberty from the
king, in order to procure his services as a professor in bis univenity at Sedan

ANDREW MELVILLE.

in France. Melville, Avho was now in the G6th year of his age, was exceed-
ingly reluctant to go abroad ; but, as this was a condition of his liberty, and as
there was no hope of the king's being prevailed upon to allow him to return to
Scotland, he submitted to the expatriation, and sailed for France on the 19th
of April.

On his arrival at Paris he was fortunate enough to fall in with one of his
scholars then prosecuting his studies there, by whom he was kindly and affec-
tionately received. After spending a few days in the French capital he repaired
to Sedan, and was admitted to the place destined for him in the university.

In the year following he removed to Grenoble, to superintend the education
of three sons of the treasurer of the parliament of Dauphiny, with a salary of
five hundred crowns per annum ; but, not finding the situation an agreeable one,
he returned within a short time to Sedan, and resumed his former duties.
Melville continued to maintain a close correspondence with his numerous friends
in Scotland, and particularly with his nephew, James Melville, to whom he was
warmly attached. Of him, his best, most constant, and dearest friend, however,
he was soon to be deprived. That amiable man, who had adhered to him
through good and bad fortune, through storm and sunshine, for a long series of
years, died in the beginning of the year 1614. The grief of Melville on re-
ceiving the intelligence of his death was deep and poignant. He gave way to
no boisterous expression of feeling ; but he felt the deprivation Mith all the
keenness which such a calamity is calculated to inflict on an affectionate heart.
With his fondest wishes still directed towards his native land, he requested his
friends in London to embrace any favourable opportunity which might ofter of
procuring his restoration ; and in 1616, a promise was obtained from his
majesty, that he Mould be relieved from banishment. This, promise, however,
like many others of James's, was never realized. Melville, after all that he had
done for his country, was doomed to breathe his last an exile in a foreign land.
To compensate in some measure for the misfortunes which clouded his latter
days, he was blessed with a more than ordinary share of bodily health, and that
to a later period of life than is often to be met with. " Am I not," he says, in
a letter to a friend Avritten in the year 1612, " three score and eight yeara old,
unto the Avhich age none of ray fourteen brethren came ; and, yet I thank God,
I eat, I drink, I sleep as well as I did these thirty years bygone, and better
than when I was younger — in ipso flore adolescentice, — only the gravel now and
then seasons my mirth with some little pain, which I have felt only since the
beginning of March the last year, a month before my deliverance from prison.
I feel, tiiank God, no abatement of the alacrity and ardour of my mind for the
propagation of the truth. Neither use I spectacles now more than ever, yea I
use none at all nor ever did, and see now to read Hebrew without points, and
in the smallest characters." With this good bodily health, he also enjoyed to
the close of his life that cheerfulness of disposition and vivacity of imagination
for which he was distinguished in earlier ye.irs, and in the seventy-fourth year
of his age he is found vying with the most sprightly and juvenile of his col-
leagues in the composition of an epithalamium on the occasion of the marriage
of the eldest daughter of his patron the duke of Bouillon.

Years, however, at length undermined a constitution which disease had left
untouched until the very close of life. In 1620, his health which had preri-
ously been slightly impaired, grew worse, and in the course of the year 1622,
he died at Sedan, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.

The benefits which Melville conferred on his country in the department of
its literature are thus spoken of by Dr M'Crie : " His arrival imparted a new
impulse to the public mind, and his high reputation for learning, joined to the

8 JATilES MELVILLE.

enthmiasra with wliich he pleaded its cause, enabled him to introduce an im-
uroTod plan of study into all the universities. By his instructions and example,
he continued and increased the impulse which he had first given to the minds of
iiis countrymen. In languages, in theology, and in that species of poetical
composition which was then most practised among the learned, his influence was
direct and acknowledged." The services which he rendered the civil and re-
ligious liberties of his country are recorded by the same able author in still
stronger terms. " If the love of pure religion," he says, " rational liberty,
and polite letters, forms the basis of national virtue and happiness, I know no
individual, after her reformer, from whom Scotland has received greater bene-
fits, and to whom she owes a deeper debt of gratitude and respect, than Andrew
Melville."

MELVILLE, Jambs, with whose history are connected many most interesting
facts in the ecclesiastical and literary history of Scotland, was born at Baldovy,
near Montrose, on the 25th of July, 1556.^ His father was Richard Melville
ol Baldovy, the friend of Wishart the Martyr, and of John Erskine of Dun, and
the elder brother of Andrew Melville. Soon after the Refdi-mation, this gentle-
man became minister of Mary-Kirk, in the immediate neighbourhood of his pro-
perty, and continued so till the close of his life. He married Isobel Scrimgeour,
sister of the laird of Glasswell, a woman of great " godlines, honestie, vertew,
and afiection.'* James Melville was, therefore, to use his own expression,
descended " of-godlie, faithfuU, and honest parents, bathe lightned with the
light of the gospell, at the first dawning of the day tharof within Scotland."

The mother of James Melville having died about a year ai'ter his birth, he
vias placed under the care of a nurse, '* an evill inclynit woman ;" and after
being weaned, was lodged in the house of a cottar, from whence, when ho was
about four or five years old, he was brought home to Baldovy. He and his
elder brother David were soon afterwards sent to a school, kept by Mr William
Gray, minister of Logie-3Iontrose, " a guid, lerned, kynd man." This school
was broken up, partly by the removal of some of the boys perhaps to attend the
universities, but more immediately by the ravages of the plague at 3Ionlrose, from
which Logie was only two miles distant. James and his brother, therefore, re-
turned home, after having attended it for about five years. During the following
winter, they remained at home, receiving from their father such occasional instruc-
tion as his numerous duties permitted him to give them. At this period, Richard
Melville seems to have ^intended that both his sons should be trained to agricul-
tural pursuits, there being no learned profession in which a livelihood, even of a
very moderate kind, could be obtained. In the spring, it was resolved that, as
the elder brother was sufficiently old to assist in superintending his father's
rural affairs, he should remain at home, and that James should be sent again to
school. He accordingly attended a school at Montrose, of which Andrew
Milne, afterwai-ds minister of Fetteresso, was master. Here he continued about
two years.

Of tlie whole of this period of his life, James 3Ielville has left a most interest-
ing account ; and we only regret that, from the length to which this memoir
must otherwise extend, we are unable to give any thing more than a very rapid
sketch of this and the subsequent part of his education. He entered on his
philosophical course at St Leonard's college in the university of St Andrews, in
November, 1571, under the lare of William Collace, one of the regents. At
first he found himself unable to understand the Latin prelections, and was so
nuch chagrined that he was frequently found in tears ; but the regent took

' In a note on this date in his Diary, he says, " My vncle, Mr Andro, haulds that I was
born in An, 1567.- ji j > j ,

JAMES MELVILLE.

him to lodge at his apartments, and was so much pleased with the sweetness
of his disposition, and his anxiety to learn, that he made him the constant
object of his care, and had the satisfaction of seeing him leave the university,
after having attained its highest honours. During the prescribed period of
four years, 3Ielville was tauglit logic, (including the Aristotelian philosopliy,)
mathematics, ethics, natural philosophy, and law. At the end of the third year,
he, according to the usual custom, took tlie degree of Bachelor, and, on finish-
ing the fourth, that of Master of Arts. One of the most interesting events re-
corded by James Melville to have occurred during his residence at St Andrews,
was the arrival of John Knox there in 1571 ; and he alludes with much feeling
to the powerful effects produced on his mind by the sermons of the reformer.

After finishing his philosophical education, James Melville returned to his
father's house, where he prosecuted his studies during the summer months.
Having finished that part of his education which was necessary for general pur-
poses, it was now requisite that he should determine what profession he should
adopt. His father had destined him for that of a lawyer ; but although James
had studied some parts of that profession, and had attended the consistorial
court .It St Andrews, his heart ** was nocht sett that way." Deference to his
father's wishes had hitherto prevented him ofiering any decided opposition to
his intentions, but he had at this period taken means to show the bent of his
mind. Choosing a passage in St John's Gospel for his text, he composed a ser-
mon, which he put in a book used by his father in preparing his weekly ser-
mons. The MS. was accordingly found, and pleased his father exceedingly.
But James was now luckily saved the pain of either opposing the wishes of a
kind, but somewhat austere parent, or of applying himself to a profession for
the study of which he had no affection, by an unlooked for accident — the arrival
of his uncle, Andrew Melville, from the continent. To him his father com-
mitted James, "to bo a pledge of his love," and they were destined to be for
many years companions in labour and in adversity.

James Melville had left the university with the character of a diligent and
accomplished student. He had flattered himself that he had exhausted those
subjects which had come under his attention, but he was now to be subjected to
a severe mortification. When his uncle examined him, he found that he was
yet but a mere child in knowledge, and that many years of study were still
necessary, before he could arrive at the goal which he had supposed himself to
have already reached. James's mortification did not, however, lead liim to sit
down in despair. He renewed his studies with the determination to succeed,
and revised, under his uncle's directions, both his classical and philosophical
education. " That quarter of yeir," says he, " I thought I gat graitter light
in letters nor all my tyme befor And all this as it wer by crack-
ing and playing, sa that I lernit raikle mair by heiring of him [Andrew Mel-
ville] in daylie conversation, bathe that quarter and therefter, nor euer I lernit
of anie buik, whowbeit he set me euer to the best authors."

Endowed with such talents and acquirements, it will readily be believed that
Andrew 3Ielville was not allowed to remain long idle. He was soon after his
return invited to become principal of the university of Glasgow; an appointment
which, after a short trial, lie agreed to accept In October, 1 574, lie left Bal-
dovy to undertake the duties of his office, taking with him his nephew, who
was, in the following year, appointed one of the regents. The labours of An-
drew 3Ielville at Glasgow, have been already noticed in Iiis life, and we shall,
therefore, only extend our inquiries here to the course adopted by the subject
of this memoir. For the first year, James Melville taught his class " the Greek
grammar, Isocratis Farsenesis ad Demonicuin, the first buk of Homers Hinds,

10 JAMES MELVILLK

Phocylides, Hesiods Efyst k»i 'Hu-^ut, the Dialectic of Ram-is, the Rhetoric of
Taleus, with the practise in Ciceros Catiliiiars and Paradoxes." " The second
year of my regenting," says James Melville, ** I teachit tiie elements of nrith>
metic and geometrie, out [of] PseUiis, for shortnes ; the Offices of Cicero ;
Aristotles Logic in Greek, and Ethic, (and was the first regent that ever did
that in Scotland ;) also, Platocs Phaedon and Axiochus ; and tliat profession of
the inathematiks, logic, and morall philosophic, I keipit (as everie ane of the re-
gents keipit their awin, the schollars ay ascending and passing throw) sa lang
as I regented ther, even till I was, with Mr Andro, transported to St Andros."
His private hours were devoted to the study of the Hebrew language, and of
theolog)'. He had already, upon one occasion, given proof of his talents for
public teaching, and he had now an opportunity of continuing his labours. It
was a custom that each regent should, for a week in turn, conduct the students
to a church near the college, where tiie citizens also attended, to hear prayei-s,
and one or two chapters of the Scriptures read. The regents had liitherto con-
fined themselves exclusively to these limits, probably from a feeling of their in-
ability to offer any commentary ; but James 3Ielville, taking a general view of
the passages read, gave them a summary of the do<;trines enforced, and accom-
panied it with an application to the situations of his hearers. '' This pleasit
and comfortit guid peiple verie mikle."

The routine of academical instruction affords but few materials for biogra-
phy. James Melville has therefore recorded little relative to himself at this
period of his life, except au attack made upon him by one of the students,
and the occurrences consequent upon iL But although this affair originated willi
him, it belongs more properly to tlie life of Andrew Melville, who as principal
of the college, acted the most prominent part in all the subsequent pro-
ceedings.

Andrew Melville had now accomplished nearly all that zeal or talent could

effect for the university of Glasgow. Its revenues were improved, its

character as a seat of learning raised much above that of any of the other Scot-
tish universities, — the number of students was greatly increased, and its disci-
pline maintained with a degree of firmness, of the necessity of whicli, however
sceptical modem readers may be, the attack to which we have just alluded is a
most decided proof. The Assembly which met at Edinburgh therefore or-
dained that Melville should remove to the new college of St Andrews, " to be^in
the wark of theologie ther with sic as ho thought meit to Uik with him for that
effect, conform to the leat reformation of that universitie, and the new coHewe
therof, giffen be the kirk and past in parliament" Availing himself of the
privilege thus granted of nominating his assistants, he requested his nephew to
accompany him. James had for some time resolved upon going to France, but
he had too much respect for his uncle to refuse his request. They therefore re-
moved together from Glasgow in the month of November, 1580, leaving Thomas
Smeton, " a man of singular gifts of learning and godlines," and Patrick Mel-
ville, a young genUeman who had lately finished his philosophical studies, as
their successors.

In December they entered upon the duUes of their respective professions.
After his preface, or inaugural discourse, James Melville commenced teach-
ing his studenU the Hebrew grammar. There were, probably, few young men
in the country who, either from their opportunities of acquiring knowledge, or
their desire to improve under tiiera, were better qualified to discharge this of-
fice well ; but his natural diffidence caused him a degree of anxiety, which
many less accomplished masters have not experienced. " The grait fear and
cear,»» says he in his Diary, " quhilk was in my heart of my inhabilitie to vn-

JAMES JIELVILLE. 11

dertnk and benr out sa grait a charge as to profess theologie and hoHe tounges
ainangis ministers and inaisters, namelie [especially] in that inaist frequent vui-
nersitie of St Andres, amangs diuers alterit and displacit, and therfor malcontents
and mislykers, occupied me sa, that I behovit to forget all, and rin to my God
and my buik."

During the earlier period of their residence at St Andrews, Andrew Melville
and his nephew had many difficulties to encounter. The former principal and
professors annoyed their successors by " pursuit of the compts of the college."
The regents of St Leonards, enraged that the philosophy of their almost deified
Aristotle should be impugned, raised a commotion ; and, to quote the appro-
priate allusion of James Melville, cried out with one voice, Great is Diana of
the l'"phesians. The provost and bailiies, Avith the prior and his gentlemen pen-
sioners, were suspected of corrupt proceedings, especially in the provision of a
minister for the town, and the opposition and exposures of Andrew Melville
thus raised up for him and his fellow labourers another host of enemies. These
were all open and avowed opponents, but they had one to deal with, who, as
yet wearing tlie mask of friendship, was secretly plotting their own and the
church's ruin, — this pei-son was archbishop Adamson. Add to all this, that im-
mediately after their settlement at St Andrews, the carelessness of one of the
students had nearly been tlie cause of setting the establishment on fire, and we
shall be abundantly persuaded that it required no small energy of mind, such
as Andrew Melville indeed possessed, not only to bear up in such a situatioii,
but successively to baffle all the opposition tliat was offered to him.

But amidst many discouragements which the more sensitive mind of James
Melville must have keenly felt, he had also many cheering employments. He
was engaged in duties which we have seen had been, from an early period, the
objects of his greatest desire, — he was the teacher of some promising young
men, who afterwards became shining lights in the church, and he had the grati-
fication of being requested to occupy the pulpit on many occasions, when there
was no minister in tiie town, or when the archbishop happened to be absent.

At the Assembly which met at Edinburgh in December 1582, James Mel-
ville was earnestly requested to become minister of Stii-ling. For himself he
felt much inclined to accede to tlie wishes of the inhabitants, and the more so
as he was now on the eve of his marriage ; but his uncle, considering the af-
fairs of the college still in too precarious a state to admit of his leaving it, re-
fused his consent, and James Melville did not consider it respectful to urge his
own wislies. It was indeed fortunate that he was not permitted at this period
to leave the college, for in the very next year his uncle was required to appear
before tlie king and privy council, for certain treasonable speeches alleged to
have been uttered in his sermons. When the summons (which ordered him to
appear in tliree days) was served, James Melville was in the shire of Angus,
and could not upon so sudden a requisition return to St Andrews in time to ac-
company hiui to Erlinbui'gh. He arrived, however, on the second day of his
trial, if indeed the proceedings deserved that name. Passing over the minute
circumstances of this transaction, our narrati\e only requires that we should state
that Andrew Melville found it necessary to insure his safety by a flight into
England.

In these discouraging circumstances, James Melville was obliged to return to
St Andrews to undertake the management of the affairs of the college, — with what
feelings it may readily be judged. When he considered the magnitude of his
charge, and the situation of the church, he was completely overpowered ; but the
duration of his grief was short in proportion to its violeiice, and he soon found
the truest remedy in applying his whole energies to the performance of his in-

12 JAMES MELVILLE.

creased duties. He taught divinity from his uncle's chair, besides continuing
Ills laboui-s in tlie department which properly belonged to liiin. Nor was this
all : the Economus of the college, finding himself in tiie service of a party from
uhora little advantage or promotion could be expected, gave up his office, and
thus did the provision of the daily wants of the institution fall to Melville's lot.
In the performance of these duties, so arduous and so varied, he was greatly
supported by the masters of tlie university who attended his lectures, and gave
him nuiny encouragements. But his greatest comfort was derived from the
society of the afterwards celebrated Robert Bruce of Kinnaird, who, abandoning
his attendance on the courts of law, had, with his father's permission, begun the
study of theology at St Andrews.

Harmless, however, as a person whose attention was thus so completely occu-
pied by his own duties must certainly have been, the government did not long
permit James Melville to retain his station. The acts of the parliament 1 584,
by which the presbyterian form of church government was overthrown, Avere
proclaimed at the market cross of Edinburgh, and protested against by Robert
I'ont and others, in behalf of the church. We have already alluded to the
malpractices of archbishop Adamson. About the beginning of May, 1584,
31elville had gone to one of the northern counties to collect the revenues of the
college. It had, perhaps, been conjectured by the episcopal party, to their no
small gratification, that, finding himself unable to comply conscientiously Avith
the late enactments, he bad retired, with some of the other ministers, into Eng-
land. If so, they must liave been grievously disappointed by his return. It was
certainly not long till the archbishop abundantly manifested his real disposi-
tions; for, on the Sunday immediately following, Melville was informed that a
warrant for his apprehension was already in that prelate's possession, and that
he was to proceed immediately to its execution. At the earnest desire of his
friends, he was prevailed on to remove to Dundee, where he had no sooner
arrived, than he learned that a search had been made for him in every part of
the college, and that an indictment had been prepared against him, for hoIdin«»-
communication witli his uncle, the king's rebel. But his removal to Dundee
could serve only a very temporary purpose, for it must very soon have become
known, and would then have ceased to be any security for his liberty. After
the most anxious consideration, he resolved to accept an offer made him by one
of his cousins, to take him by sea to Berwick. This gentleman, hiring a small
boat under the pretext of conveying some of his wines to one of the coast towns
in the neighbourhood, took in Melville in the disguise of a shipwrecked sea-
man ; and, after a voyage, not less dangerous from the risk of detection, than
from a violent storm which overtook them, landed him safely at Berwick, where
he met his uncle and the other ministers who had been obliged to flee.

The suddenness with which James Blelville had been obliged to leave St An-
drews, prevented him taking his wife along with him ; to have done so, would,
in fact, have endangered the whole party. But, after arriving at Berwick, he im-
mediately sent back Iiis cousin, Alexander Scrymgeour, with a letter, requesting
this lady (a daughter of John Dury, minister of Edinburgh) to join him. This
she had very soon an opportunity of doing, by placing herself under the care
of a servant of the English ambassador, and she accordingly remained with her
husband during the short period of his exile. At Berwick they resided for
about a month ; and there, as in every other place, James 31elville's amiable
and affectionate dispositions procured him many friends. Among these was the
lady of Sir Harry Wjdrington, governor of the town, under lord Hunsdon. In
the mean time, he was invited by the earls of Angus and Mar, then at Newcastle,
to become their pastor. Being totally ignorant of the characters of these

JAMES MELVILLE. 13

noblemen, and of the cause of their exile, he felt unwilling to connect himself
with their party, and therefore replied to tlieir invitation, that he could not
comply with it, as he had never qualified himself for performing the ministerial
functions ; but that, as he had determined upon removing to the south, he
thould visit them on his way thither. When he arrived at Newcastle, he deter-
mined upon iannediately securing a passage by sea to London ; but John David-
son, one of his former masters at St Andrews, and now minister of Prestonpans,
informed him tliat it was not only his own earnest desire, but that of all their
brethren, tliat he should remain at Newcastle with the exiled lords, whose cha-
racters and cause he vindicated. To their wishes, Melville therefore acceded.

Soon after his settlement at Newcastle, Davidson, who had only waited his
arrival, departed, and left him to discharge the duties alone. Thinking it
proper that, before entering on his labours, the order of their religious obser-
vances and tlieir discipline should be determined, he drew up " the order and
raaner of exercise of the word for instruction, and discipline for correction of
raaners, used in the companie of those godlie and noble men of Scotland in
tyme of thair aboad in Englande, for the guid cause of God's kirk, thair king
and countrey," and prefixed to it an exhortative letter to the noblemen and their
followers. This prefatory epistle commences by an acknowledgment that their
present calamities were the just chastisements of the Almighty, for their luke-
warmness in the work of reformation, — for permitting the character of their
sovereign to be formed by the society of worthless and interested courtiers, — for
their pursuit of their own aggrandizement, rather than the good of their country,
— and for the violation of justice, and connivance at many odious and unnatural
crimes. But while they had thus rendered themselves the subjects of the Divina
vengeance, how great had been the crimes of the court! It had followed the
examples of Ahaz and Uzzah, in removing the altar of the Lord, — it had de-
prived the masters of their livings, and desolated the schools and universities, —
it had said to the preachers, " Prophecy no longer to us in the name of the
Lord, but speak unto us pleasant things according to our liking," — it had taken
from others the key of knowledge, — it entered not in, and those tliat would en-
ter in, it surtered not : finally, it had threatened the ministers, God's special
messengers, with imprisonment and death, and, following out its wicked designs,
had compelled them to flee to a foreign land. " Can the Lord suffer these
things long," Melville continues with great energy, " and be just in executing
of his judgments, and pouring out of his plagues upon his cursed enemies ?
Can the Lord suffer his sanctuary to be defiled, and his own to smart, and be
the Father of mercies, God of consolation, and most faithful keeper of his pro-
mises ? Can the Lord suffer his glory to be given to another ? Can he who
hath promised to make the enemies of Christ Jesus his footstool, suffer them to
tread on his head? Nay, nay, right honourable and dear brethren, he has
anointed him King on his holy mountain ; he has given him all nations for an
inheritance ; he has put into Iiis hand a sceptre of iron, to bruise in powder these
earthen vessels. When his wrath shall once begin to kindle but a little, he
shall make it notoriously known to all the world, that they only are happy who
in humility kiss the Lord Jesus, and trust in him." He then concludes by a
solemn admonition, that witli true repentance, — with unfeigned humiliation, —
with diligent perusal of God's word, — and with fervent prayer, meditation, and
zeal, they should prosecute the work of God, under the assurance that their la-
bours should not be in vain. He warns them of the diligence of the enemies
of God's church, — exhorts them to equal diligence in a good rause, — and re-
minds them that tlie ministers of Christ shall be witnesses against them, if tliey
should be found slumbering at their posts. At the request of Archibald, earl of

14 JAMES MELVILLE.

Angus, Melville also drew up a ** list of certain great abuses ;" but as it is in
many points a recapitulation of the letter just quoted from, no further allusion
to it is iiere necessary.

About a month after the commencement of his ministrations, Melville was
joined by 31r Patricia Galloway, who divided the labours with him. His family
was now on the increase, and it was considered necessary to remove to Berwick,
where he remained as minister of that congregation till the birth of his first
child, — a son, whom he named Ephraira, in allusion to his fruitfulness in a
strange land. Notwithstanding the stratagems of captain James Stewart, by
which lord Hunsdon was induced to forbid them to assemble in the church, tlie
congregation obtained leave, through the kind ofHces of lady Widrington, to
meet in a private house ; and Melville mentions that he was never more dili-
gently or more profiLibly employed, than during that winter. But the pleasure
which he derived from the success of his ministrations, was more than counter-
balanced by the conduct of some of his brethren at home.

It was about this period tliat many of the Scottish clergy, led on by the ex-
ample of John Craig, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, signed a deed, binding
themselves to obey the late acts of parliament, as far as " according, to the word
of God." 3Ielville saw the confusions which the introduction of such an equi-
vocal clause must produce. He accordingly addressed a most aflectionate but
faithful letter, to the subscribing ministers, in which he exhibited, at great
length, the sinfulness of their compliance, and the handle which such n compro-
mise must give to the enemies of religion. This letter, as it encouraged the
firm, and confirmed the wavering, ^vas proportionally the object of hatred to the
court Two of the students at St Andrews, being detected copying it for dis-
tribution, were compelled to flee ; and no means seem to have been omitted to
ciieck its circulation, or to weaken the force of its statements.

About the middle of February, 1 5S4-5, the noblemen, finding their present
residence too near the borders, determined upon removing farther to the south.
James Melville, therefore, prepared to follow. In the beginning of March,
he and a few friends embarked for London, where they arrived, after a voyage
rendered tedious by contrary winds; and, being joined by their companions in
exile, were not a little comforted. Soon after his arrival, Melville resumed his
ministerial labours.

Many circumstances, which it is. not necessary to detail here, conspired to
render their exile much shorter than their fondest wishes could have anticipated.
As soon as the noblemen of their party had accommodated their disputes with
the king, the brethren received a letter (dated at Stirling, Gth November, 1585)
from their fellow ministen, urging them to return with all possible expedition.
James Melville, and Robert Dury, one of his most intimate friends, therefore,
left London, and, after encountering many dangers during the darkness of tlie
nights, arrived at Linlithgow. There he found his brethren under great depres-
sion of mind: tliey had vainly expected from the parliament, then sitting, the
abrogation of the obnoxious acts of 1 584 ; and they had a further cause ol
grief in the conduct of Craig, the leader of the subscribing ministers. After
much expectation, and many fruitless attempts to persuade the king of the nn-
propriety of the acts, they were obliged to dismiss, having previously presented
a supplication, earnestly craving that no ultimate decision respecting the church
miglit be adopted, without the admission of free discussion.

During the following winter, James Melville was occupied partly in the ar-
rangement of his family aflairs, but principally in re-establishing order in the
university. The plague, which liad for some time raged with great violence,
nas now abated, and the people, regaining their former confidence, had begun

JAMES MELVILLE. 15

to return to their ordinary affairs. Taking advantage of this change, the two
Melvilles resolved on resuming their labours, and accordingly entered on their
respective duties about the middle of March. In the beginning of April the
Synod of Fife convened, and it was the duty of James Melville, as moderator
at tlie last meeting, to open their proceedings with a sermon. He chose for his
text that part of the twelfth chapter of St Paul's Epistle to the Romans, in
which the Christian church is compared to the human body, — composed, like it,
of many members, the harmonious operation of which is essential to the health
of the whole. After showing by reference to Scripture what was the constitu-
tion of the true church, — refuting the doctrine of " the human and devilish
bishopric," — adverting to the purity of the reformed constitution of their
church, and proving that the inordinate ambition of a few had been in all
ages the destruction of that purity — he turned towards the archbishop,
who was sitting with great pomp in the assembly, charged him with the
overthrow of the goodly fabric, and exhorted the brethren to cut ofT so unwor-
thy a member from among them. Notwithstanding the remonstrances and pro-
tests of the prelate, the Synod immediately took up the case, — went on, with
an inattention to all the forms of decency and some of those of justice which
their warmest advocates do not pretend to vindicate, anil ordered him to be ex-
communicated by Andrew Hunter, minister of Carnbee. Thus, by the fervour
of their zeal, and perhaps goaded on by personal wrongs, did an Assembly,
composed, in the main, of worthy men, subject themselves to censure in the case
of a man of a character disgraceful to his profession ; and whom, had they
been content to act with more moderation, nothing but the strong hand of
civil power could have screened from their highest censures, while even it
could not have defended him from deserved infamy.

But the informality of the Synod's proceedings gave their enemies an unfor-
tunate hold over them, and was the means of baffling their own ends. By the
influence of the king, the General Assembly, which met soon afterwards, an-
nulled their sentence, and the 3Ielvilles, being summoned before the king, were
commanded to confine themselves, — Andrew to his native place, and James to
his college. Thus did matters continue during that summer. James Melville
lectured to a numerous audience on the sacred history, illustrating it by
reference to geography and chronology. On each alternate day he read lectures
on St Paul's Epistle to Timothy, in the course of which he took many oppor-
tunities of attacking the hated order of bishops.

Melville was now to obtain what had all along been the object of his highest
wishes — a settlement as minister of a parish. In 1583, the charge of the con-
junct parishes of Abercrombie, Pittenweem, Anstruther, and Kilrenny, became
vacant by the decease of the incumbent, and thus they continued for several
years. When the Presbytery of St Andrews resumed their meetings on the re-
turn of the banished ministers, commissioners were appointed to visit these
parishes, and to bring them, if possible, to the unanimous choice of a
minister. James Melville, who had been nominated one of these commissioners,
soon gained the affections of the people insomuch that they unanimously requested
the Presbytery to send him among them. That court no less warmly urged
his acceptance, and he accordingly removed to his charge in July, 1586.

It may be readily conceived, that to perform the duties of four parishes was a
task far beyond the. moral and physical capabilities of any single individual,
more especially after they had so long wanted the benefit of a regular ministry.
Their conjunction was the result of the mercenary plans of Morton and
his friends, but no man wis less actuated by such motives than Melville.
No sooner did he become acquainted with the state of these parishes than he

IG JAMES M£LVILLE.

determined on their disjunction, at whatever pecuniary loss. When this was ef-
fected, he willingly resigned the proportions of stipend in favour of the minis-
ters provided for three of the parishes, while he himself undertook the charge
of the fourth (Kilrenny), — he obtained an augmentation of stipend, built a
inanse, purchased the right to the vicarage and teind fish for the support
of himself and his successors, paid the salary of a schooliunstcr, and
maintained an assistant to perform the duties of the parish, as he Mas fre-
quently engaged in the public affairs of the church. Such ii:stanccs of disin-
terested zeal are indeed rare ; but even this was not all. Many years
afterwards he printed for the use of his people a catechism which cost
five hundred merks, of which, in writing his Diary, he mentions that he could
never regain more than one fifth part. While he was thus anxiously promoting
tlie moral and religious improvement of the parishioners, he was also dis-
tinguished by the exemplification of his principles in the ordinary af^hii-s of
life. An instance of his generosity occurred soon after his settlement in hif:
new charge. In the beginning of 1588, rumours were spread through the
country of the projected invasion by the Spaniards. Some time before the de-
struction of tlie Armada was known, Melville was waited on, early in the
morning, by one of the baillies of the town, who stated that a ship filled with
Spaniards had entered their harbour in distress, and requested his advice as to
the line of conduct to be observed. When the day was further advanced, the
ofKcers (the principal of whom is styled general of twenty hulks) ^vere per-
mitted to land, and appear before the minister and principal men of the town.
They stated that their division of the squadron had been wrecked on the Fair
Isle, where they had been detained many weeks under all the miseries of
fatigue and hunger ; that they had at length procured the ship which lay in the
harbour ; and now came before them to crave their forbearance towards them.
3Ielville replied that, although they were the supporters of Christ's greatest
enemy the pope, and althougli their expedition had been undertaken with the
design of desolating the protestant kingdoms of England and Scotland, they
should know by their conduct that the people of Scotland were professors of a
purer religion. Without entering into all the minute facts of the case, it may
be enough to say, that the officers and men were all at length received on
shore, and treated with the greatest humanity. " Bot we thanked (Jod with
our heartes that we had sein tham amangs ws in that forme," is the quaint con-
clusion of James Melville, alluding to the difTerence between the objects of the
expedition and the success which had attended it.

But, however disinterested James Melville's conduct might be, it was not des-
tined to escape the most unjust suspicions. When subscriptions were raised to
assist the French protestants and the inhabitants of Geneva, (cir. 1588), he had
been appointed collector for Fife, and this appointment was now seized upon by
his enemies at court, who surmised that he had given the money thus raised to
the earl of Bothwell to enable him to raise forces. The supposition is so ab-
surd that it seems incredible that any one, arguing merely on probabilities,
should believe that money intended for Geneva, — the very stronghold of his be-
loved presbytery, — should be given to an outlaw and a catholic. Luckily Mel-
ville was not left to prove his innocence even by the doctrine of probabilities.
He had in his hands a discharge for the money granted by those to whom he
had paid it over, and it was, besides, matter of notoriety that he had been the
most active agent in the suppression of Bothwell's rebellion. Still, however, his
enemies hinted darkly where they durst not make a manly charge, and it was
not till 1594, when sent as a commissioner to the king by the Assembly on
another mission, that he had an opportunity of vindicating himself. He then

JAMES MELVILLE. 17

demanded that any one who could make a charge against him should stand
forward and give him an opportunity of vindicating himself before his sovereign.
No one appeared. Melville was admitted to a long interview in the king'g
cabinet ; and " thus," says he, " I that came to Stirling the traitor, returned
to Edinburgh a great courtier, yea a cabinet councillor."

At the opening of the General Assembly in 1590, James Melville preached.
After the usual exordium, he insisted on the necessity of maintaining the strict-
est discipline, — he recalled to the memory of his audience the history of their
country since the Reformation, the original purity of the church, and admonished
Ihem of its begun decline, — the brethren were warned of the practices of " the
belly-god bishops of England ;" and the people were exhorted to a more zealous
support of the ecclesiastical establishment, and to a more liberal communication
of temporal things to their ministers ; — lastly, he recommended a supplication
to the king, for a free and full assembly, to be held in the royal presence, for
the suppression of papists and sacrilegious persons. The activity of Melville,
and indeed of the ministers generally, against the catholics, must be considered
as one of the least defensible parts of their conduct. We are aware that those
who believe religion to be supported by works of man's device, will find strong
palliations for their actions in their peculiar circumstances ; and we do not mean
to deny, that when the popish lords trafficked with foreign powers for the sub-
version of the civil and religious institutions of the country, the government
did right in bringing them to account. They then became clearly guilty of
a civil offence, and were justly amenable for it to the secular courts. But
when the catholics were hunted down for the mere profession of their reli-
gion,— when their attachment to their opinions was considered the mere ef-
fect of obstinacy, and thus wortliy to be visited with the highest pains, — the
protestants reduced themselves to the same inconsistency with which they so
justly charged their adversaries. If it be urged in defence, that their religion
was in danger, we reply, that the conduct of the catholics, previous tp the
Ileformation, was equally defensible on the very same grounds. In both cases
was the church of the parties in imminent hazard ; and, if we defend the at-
tempt of one party to support theirs by the civil power, with what justice can
we condemn the other ? A remarkable passage occurs in the account which
friar Ogilvie (a Jesuit, who Avas executed at Glasgow in 1615) has left of his
trial. His examinators accused the kings of France and Spain of extermi-
nating the protestants. Ogilvie immediately replied : Neither has Francis ban-
ished, nor Philip burned protestants on account of religion, but on account of
heresy, which is not religion but rebellion,^ Here, then, is the rock upon
which both parties split, — that of considering it a crime to hold certain religious
opinions. Both parties were in turn equally zealous in propagating their ideas, —
both were justifiable in doing so, — and both equally unjustifiable in their absurd
attempts to control the workings of the human mind. Truth, which all parties
seem convinced is on their side, must and shall prevail, and the intolerant zeal
of man can only prove its own folly and its wickedness. We return to the nar-
rative.

When the king, in October, 1594, determined on opposing the popish lords
in person, he Avas accompanied at his own request by the two Melvilles and two
other ministers. Following the Highland system of warfare, these noblemen
retired into their fastnesses ; and the royal forces, after doing little more
than displaying themselves, were ready to disperse, for want of pay. In this

" Relatio Incarcerationis et Martyrii P. Joannis Ogilbei, &c., Duaci, 1615, p. 24. This is,
of course, the Roman Catholic account. Ogilvie's trial, and a reprint of tlie Protestant ac-
count of it set forth at the time, will be found in Pilciiirn's Criminal Trials.

IV. c

18 JAMES MELVILLE.

emergency, Jamee Melville was despatched to Edinburgh and the other princi-
pal towns, with letters from the king and the ministers, urging a liberal con.
tribution for their assistance. His services on this occasion, and the spirit in-
fused by Andrew Melville into the royal councils, materially contributed to the
success of the expedition.

We have mentioned, that at the intenriew at Stirling, James Melville had
regained the favour of the king ; but it is probable that that and subsequent
exhibitions of the royal confidence were merely intended to gain him, in an-
ticipation of the future designs of the court relative to the church. In the af-
fair of David Black, Melville had used his influence with the earl of Mar, to
procure a favourable result ; and, although the king did not express disappro-
bation of his conduct, but, on the contrary, commanded him to declare from the
pulpit at St Andrews, the amicable termination of their quarrel, he observed
that from that period his favour uniformly declined. Finding, after two years'
trial, that his conduct towards James Melville had not induced him to compro-
mise his principles, the king probably considered all further attempts to gain
him quite unnecessary.

In May, 159G, the Covenant was renewed by the synod of Fife, and in the
following July by the presbytery of St Andrews ; on both which occasions, Mel-
ville was appointed " the common mouth." After the last meeting, the barons
and gentlemen resolved that he and the laird of Keiras [Rires?] should be sent
to the king, to inform him of the report of another Spanish invasion, and of the
return of the popish lords ; but Melville's interest at court was now on the de-
cline, and his mission met with little encouragement Returning home, he ap-
plied himself assiduously to the duties of his parish. He drew up a " Sum of the
Doctrine of the Covenant renewed in the Kirk of Scotland," in the form of
question and answer. Upon this the people wei-e catechised during the month
of August : and on the first Sunday of September, the Covenant was renewed,
and the sacrament administered in the parish of Kilrenny.

During the next ten years, the life of Melville was spent in a course of op-
position, as decided as it was fruitless, to the designs of the court for the re-
establishment of episcopacy. While some of his most intimate friends yielded,
he remained firm. There was but one point which he could be induced to give
up. He was urged by the king (1597) to preach at the admission of Gladstancs,
the future archbishop, to the church of St Andrews, from which David Black had
been ejected ; and he did so, in the hope of benefiting some of his distressed
friends by the concession ; but it afterwards cost him much uncomfortable re-
flection. In the month of October he visited, along with others appointed for
that purpose, the churches in the counties of Aberdeen, Moray, and Ross. He
had entered upon this duty under considerable mental depression and bodily
suffering ; and it may be supposed to have been but little diminished, when he
detected, during the journey, the plans of the court for the re-establishment of
the episcopal order. Finding that his labours on behalf of the church had been
attended with so little success, he would willingly have retired from public life,
and shut out all reflection on so unsatisfactory a retrospect in the performance
of his numerous parochial duties : but a sense of what he owed to the church
and to his friends in adversity induced him to continue his discouraging labour ;
and, accordingly, till he was ensnared into England, whence he was not al-
lowed to return, he made the most unwearied exertions in behalf of presby-
tery. Except the gratification the mind receives from marking the continued
struggles of a good man against adversity, the reader could feel little interest
in a minute detail of circumstances, which, with a few changes of place and
date, were often repeated. Vexation of mind and fatigue of body at length

JAMES MELVILLE. 19

brought on an illness in April, 1601, which lasted about a year; but this did
not damp his zeal. When he could not appear among his brethren, and subse-
quent illness not unfrequently compelled him to be absent, he encouraged or
warned them by his letters. Every attempt was made to overcome or to gain
him. He was offered emoluments and honours, and when these could not shake
his resolution, he was threatened with prosecution ; but the latter affected him as
little. When he was told that the king hated him more than any man in Scot-
land, " because he crossed all his turns, and was a ringleader," he replied, in
the words of the poet,

Nee speratis aliquid, nee extimescens,
Exarmaveris impotentis iram.

His conduct on the first anniversary of the Gowrie conspiracy, did not tend
to mitigate his majesty's wrath. An act of parliament had been passed, ordain-
ing it to be observed as a day of thanksgiving; but as this act had never re-
ceived the sanction of the church, Melville and others refused to comply with
it. They were, therefore, summoned by proclamation to appear before the
council, and the king vowed that the ofl'ence should be considered capital.
They accordingly appeared : but his majesty, finding their determination to
vindicate their conduct, moderated his wrath, and dismissed them, after a few
words of admonition. The conduct of Melville, in relation to the ministers
imprisoned for holding the assembly at Aberdeen, was not less decided. A
short time before their trial, the earl of Dunbar requested a conference, in which
he regretted to him the state cf affairs, and promised that, if the warded ministers
would appease the king by a few concessions, the ambitious courses of the
bishops should be checked, and the king and church reconciled. With these
proposals, Melville proceeded to Blackness, the place of their confinement ; but
negotiation was too late, for the very next morning they were awakened by a
summons to stand their trial at Linlithgow. When they were found guilty of
treason, it was considered a good opportunity to try the resolution of their
brethren. To prevent all communication with each other, the synods were sum-
moned to meet on one day, when five articles, relative to the powers of the
General Assembly and the bishops, were proposed by the king's commissioners
for their assent. On this occasion, Melville was confined by illness; but he
wrote an animated letter to the synod of Fife, and had the satisfaction of hearing
that they and many others refused to comply. This letter was sent by lord
Scone, the commissioner, to the king; but the threat to make it the subject of
a prosecution does not appear to have been carried into eflect.

The court, backed by the bishops, was now pursuing its intentions with less
caution than had formerly been found necessary. An act was passed by the
parliament of 1606, recognizing the king as absolute prince, judge, and gover-
nor over all persons, estates, and causes, both spiritual and temporal, — restoring
the bishops to all their ancient honours, privileges, and emoluments, and reviving
the different chapters. Andrew Melville had been appointed by his brethren
to be present, and protest against this and another act in prejudice of the church,
passed at the same time ; but measures were taken to frustrate his purpose. No
sooner did he stand up, than an order was given to remove him, which was not
efiected, however, until he had made his errand known. The protest was drawn
up by Patrick Simson, minister of Stirling, and the reasons for it by James Mel-
ville. The latter document, with which alone we are concerned, is written in
a firm and manly style, and shows in the clearest manner, that, in appointing
bishops, the parliament had in reality committed the whole government of the
church to the king, the prelates being necessarily dependent upon him.

20 JAMES MELVILLE.

Some months previous to the meeting of this parliament, letters were directed
to the two Melvilles, and six other ministers, peremptorily desiring them to pro-
ceed to London before the 15th of September, to confer with the king on such
measures as might promote the peace of the church. Although this was the al-
leged cause for demanding their presence at the English court, there can be little
doubt that the real object of the king was to withdraw them from a scene where
they were a constant check upon his designs. Their interviews with the king
and his prelates have been already noticed in the life of Andrew Melville, and
it is only necessary to state here, that, after many attempts, as paltry as they
were unsuccessful, to win them over, to disunite them, and, when both these
failed, to lead them into expressions which might afterwards be made the ground-
work of a prosecution, Andrew Melville was committed to the Tower of London.
At the same time, James was ordered to leave London within six days for New-
castle-upon-Tyne, beyond which he was not to be permitted to go above ten miles,
on pain of rebellion. After an unsuccessful attempt to obtain some relaxation of
the rigour of his uncle's confinement, he sailed from London on the 2d of July,
1607.^ The confinement of James Melville at Newcastle, was attended by cir-
cumstances of a peculiarly painful nature. His wife was at this time in her last
illness, but notwithstanding the urgency of the case, he could not be allowed the
shortest period of absence ; he was, therefore compelled to remain in England,
with the most perfect knowledge that he must see his nearest earthly relation uu
more, and without an opportunity of performing the last duties. It was con^-
sidered a matter of special favour, that he was allowed to go to Anstrutlier for
the arrangement of his family aflairs after her death ; and even this permission
was accompanied by peremptory orders, that he should not preach nor attend
any meetings, and that he should return to England at the end of a month.

The opposition of Melville to episcopacy continued as steady during his
exile as it had been during the time of his ministry. When public disputations
were proposed, in the following year, between the ministers who had yielded to
the government and those who remained opposed, he disapproved of the plan,
and stated his objections at full length in a letter to Mr John Dykes. He con-
sidered such meetings by no means calculated for edification, and he well knew
that, were their opponents to be persuaded by argument, abundant opportunities
had already been afforded them. When the conferences were appointed to be
held at Falkland and other places, he opposed them on the same grounds ; but,
as the measure had been already determined on, he advised his brethren by let-
ter to take every precaution for the regularity of tlieir proceedings and the
safety of their persons. As Melville had anticipated, no good eflect was pro-
duced ; the prelates were now quite independent of the goodness of their argu-
ments for the support of their cause, and felt little inclination to humble them-
selves so far as to contend with untitled presbyterians.

Notwithstanding the decided conduct of Melville, several attempts were again
made, during his residence at Newcastle, to enlist him in the service of the
king. In the month of October, immediately following his sentence of banish-
ment. Sir William Anstruther * waited on him. He was authorized by the king
to say that, if Melville would waive his opinions, his majesty would not only re-
ceive him into favour, but " advance him beyond any minister in Scotland."
Melville replied, that no man was more willing to serve the king in his calling

• M'Crle's MelTille, second edition, vol. ii. p. 187. The date attached by Wodrow to
Melville's embarkatiou, is the 2nd of June, and to his arrival at Newcastle, the 10th of that
month. — Wodrow^s life of James Melville, p. 132.

♦ Wodrow's Life of James Melville, p. 133. Thisgentleman is named Sir John Anstruther
by Dr M'Crie ; Life uf Melville, 2nd ediU vol. ii. p. 234.

JA]ME3 MELVILLE. 21

than he, and that his majesty knew very well his affection — what service he had
done, and was willing to do in so far as conscience would suffer him ; adding
that the king found no fault nor ill with him that he knew of, but that he would
not be a bishop. " If in my judgment and my conscience," he concluded, after
some further remarks, " I thought it would not undo his majesty's monarchy and
the church of Christ within the same, and so bring on a fearful judgment, I
could as gladly take a bishopric and serve the king therein as I could keep my
breath within me, so far am I from delighting to contradict and oppone to his
majesty, as is laid to my charge ; for in all things, saving my conscience, his
majesty hath found, and shall find me most prompt to his pleasure and service.'*
With this reply the conversation ended.

During his exile various attempts were made Oy his parishioners to obtain
leave for his return. In February, 1608, the elders of the church of An-
struther prepared a petition with that view, to be presented to the commissioners
of the General Assembly, and Avhen through stratagem they were prevented
from presenting it, another was given in to the Assembly Avhich met at Linlith<
gow in July, 1609. An application to the king on his behalf was promised ;
but a reply which he made to a most unprovoked attack on the presbyterians in
a sermon by the vicar of Newcastle, affbrded the bishops and their friends n
ready excuse for the non-fulfilment of this promise. To preserve appearances,
the prelates did indeed transmit to court a representation in favour of the
banished ministei-s ; but this is now ascertained to have been nothing more tlian
a piece of the vilest hypocrisy. A private letter was transmitted at the same
time, discouraging those very representations which in public they advocated,
and urging the continuation of their banishment in unabated rigour. Equally
unfavourable in their results, although M'e have less evidence of insincerity,
were the fair promises of the eai'l of Dunbar and of archbishop Spottiswood.*

We have already noticed the anxious, though unsuccessful, effbrts of Melville
in behalf of his uncle. During the whole period of the imprisonment of
Andrew Melville, his nephew's attentions were continued. He supplied his
uncle with money and such other necessaries as could be sent him, and received
in return the productions of his muse. About this period their correspondence,
which they maintained with surprising regularity, took a turn somewhat out of
its usual course. James Melville had now been for two years a widower ; he
had become attached to a lady, the daughter of the vicar of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and he earnestly begged his uncle's advice. The match was con-
sidered unequal in point of years, and a long correspondence ensued, from
which it became evident, that, while James's respect for his uncle had led him
to request his advice, his feelings had previously become too strongly intei-ested
to admit of any doubt as to the decision of the question. Finding his nephew's
happiness so deeply concerned in the result, Andrew Melville yielded, and the
marriage accordingly took place. Whatever may have been his fears, it is but
justice to state, that this connexion led to no compromise of principle, and that
it was attended with the happiest results.

It would seem that the bishops, not content with separating James Jlelville
from his brethren, still thought themselves insecure if he was allowed to remain

• Another representation in behalf of Melville appears to have been presented to the
Sj-nod of Fife by his parishioners in 1610. Archbishop Gladstanes, the only authority for
this statement, writes thus on the subject to the king : " As for me, I wU not advise jour
majesty any thing in this matter, because I know not what is the man's humour as yet, but
rather wish that, ere any such man get liberty, our turns tooksetling a while." Lifeof Glad-
stanes in Wodrow's Biographical Collections, (printed for the ]\raitland Club,) vol. i.,
pp. 274, 275. So little confidence, does it appear, had the bishops in the stability of their
establishment.

22 JAMES MELVILLE.

at Newcastle. They accordingly obtained an ordei' for his removal to Carlisle,
which was afterwards changed by the interest of his friends to Berwick.
About this period he was again urged by the earl of Dunbar to accede to the
wishes of the king, but with as little success as formerly. That nobleman
therefore took him with him to Berwick, where he continued almost to the
date of his death. This period of his life seems to have been devoted to a work
on the proper execution of which his mind was most anxiously bent — his
Apology for the Church of Scotland. This work, which however he did not live
to see published, bears the title of " Jacobi Melvini libellus Supplex Ecclesise
Scoticanse Apologeticus." It was printed at London and appeared in 1645.

About the year 16 12, Melville appears to have petitioned the king for
liberty to return to his native country. He received for answer that he need
indulge no hopes but by submitting absolutely to the acts of the General As-
sembly of 1610. Such conditions he would not«of course accept, and he con-
sidered his return altogether hopeless. But the very measures which the king
and the bishops had been pursuing were the means of carrying his wishes into
effect. The prelates had lately assumed a degree of hauteur which the nobility
could ill have brooked, even had they felt no jealousy of a class of men, who,
raised from comparative obscurity , now formed a powerful opposition to the ancient
councillors of the throne. They therefore determined to exert their influence
for the return of the ministers, and to second the representations of their congre-
gations and friends. In this even the bishops felt themselves obliged to join,
and they at the same time determined upon a last attempt to obtain from the
ministei's a partial recognition of their authority, but in this they were unsuccess-
ful. James Melville therefore obtained leave to return to Scotland, but it was now
too late. His mind had for some time brooded with unceasing melancholy over
the unhappy state of the church, and his health declined at the same time.
He had proceeded but a short way in his return home, when he was suddenly
taken ill, and was with difficulty brought back to Berwick. Notwithstanding
the prompt administration of medicine, his complaint soon exhibited fatal symp-
toms ; and, after lingering a few days, during which he retained the most perfect
tranquillity, and expressed the firmest convictions of the justice of the cause in
which he suffered, he gently expired in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and
eighth of his banishment

The character of Melville is so fully developed in the transactions of his life,
that if the present sketch is in any degree complete, all attempt at its further de-
lineation must be unnecessary. A list of his works will be found in the Notes
to Dr M'Crie'g Life of Andrew Melville. Of these, one is his Diary, which
has been printed as a contribution to the Bannatyne Club, and which has sup-
plied the materials for the present sketck up to 1601, where it concludes.
This Diary, combining, as it certainly does, perfect simplicity of style with a
thorough knowledge of its principles, — containing the most interesting notices
of himself and other public men, while it is perfectly free from egotism, — and,
above all, indicating throughout, the best feelings both of a Christian and a
gentleman, is one of the most captivating articles in the whole range of auto-
biographical history. It is no less remarkable than, in our estimation, it is un-
questionable, that the most interesting additions to Scottish history, brought to
light in our times, are written by persons of the same name. We allude to the
Diary of James Melville, and the Memoirs of Sir James Melville, with which it
must not be confounded. There is one point, however, in Melville's Diary,
which must forcibly strike every one who is acquainted with its author's history,
— we mean the allusion in many parts of his narrative to whatever evils befell
the enemies of the church, as special instances of the Divine vengeance for their

SIR JAMES MELVILLE. 23

opposition to its measures. Its enemies were undoubtedly highly criminal ; but
this method of pronouncing judgment upon them cannot bo defended upon any
ground of Scripture or charity.

But while we condemn this theory, in connexion with James Melville's name,
justice requires the admission, that it was by no means a peculiar tenet of his,
— it was the doctrine of an age, rather than of an individual. It is, moreover,
let it ever be remembered, to such men as Andrew and James Melville, that we
owe much of our present liberty ; and, but for their firmness in the maintenance
of those very principles which we are so apt to condemn, we might, still have been
acting those bloody scenes which have passed away Avith the reigns of Charles
and of James. They struggled for their children, — for blessings, in the enjoy-
ment of which they could never hope to participate. And let not us, who have
entered into their labours, in our zeal to exhibit our superior enlightenment,
forget or underrate our obligations. The days may come when our privileges
may be taken away ; and how many of those who condemn the zeal and the
principles of their forefathers, will be found prepared to hazard so much for
conscience' sake, or to exhibit even a small portion of their courage and self-
denied patriotism, in the attempt to regain them ?

MELVILLE, (Sir) James, a courtier of eminence, and author of the well
known memoirs of his own life and times which bear his name. In that work
he has made effectual provision to keep posterity mindful of the events of his
life, and the following memoir will chiefly consist of an abridgment of the
facts he has himself detailed.^ He appears to have been born in the year
1535. His father was Sir John Melville of Kaith, one of the early props of
the reformed faith, who, after suffering from the hate of Beaton, fell a victim to
his successor, archbishop Hamilton, in 1549.'"* Nor were his children, or his
widow, who Avas a daughter of Sir Alexander Napier of Merchiston, spared
from persecution. James, who was the third son, was, by the queen dowager's
influence and direction, sent at the age of fourteen, under the protection of the
French ambassador returning to France, to be a page of honour to the young
queen of Scotland. The French ambassador Monluc, bishop of Valence, be^
sides his embassy to Scotland, had, before his return, to accomplish a secret mis-
sion to the malcontents of Ireland, who had begun to breathe a wish to cast off
the yoke of England, and might have proved a very valuable acquisition to
France. To Ireland Melville accompanied him. Immediately on his arrival Sir
James encountered a love adventure, which he tells with much satisfaction. The
ship had been overtaken by a storm, and with difliculty was enabled to land at
Lochfeul. They were entertained by O'Docherty, one of the bishop's friends,
who lived in " a dark tour," and fed his friends with such " cauld fair" as
" herring and biscuits," it being Lent. The bishop was observed to bend his
eyes so attentively on O'Docherty's daughter, that the prudent father thought it
right to provide him with the company of another female, in whose conduct he
had less interest or responsibility. I'his lady was so far accomplished as to be
able to speak English, but she produced an awkward scene by her ignorance
of etiquette, in mistaking a phial " of the only maist precious balm that grew
in Egypt, which Soliman the great Turc had given in a present to the said
bishop " for something eatable, " because it had ane odoriphant smell."
** Therefore she licked it clean out." The consequence of the bishop's rage
was the discovery of his unpriestly conduct. 3Ieanwhile O'Docherty's young
daughter, who had fled from the bishop, was seized with a sudden attachment
for Melville, " She came and sought me wherever I was, and brought a priest

' From the beautiful edition of his memoirs printed by the Bannatyne Club, 1827,
» "Wood's Peerage, ii. 112.

24 SIR JAMES MELVILLE.

with her that could speak English, and offered, if I would marry her, to go
with me to any part which I pleased." But James was prudent at fourteen. He
tlianked her, said that he was yet young, that he had no rents, and uas bound for
France. With the assistance of Wauchope, archbishop of Armagh (a Scotsman)
Monluc proceeded with his mission. From O'Docherty's house they went to
the dwelling of the bisliop of Roy. Here they were detained until the arrival
of a Highland boat, which wns to convey them to Scotland, and after more
storms and dangers, losing their rudder, they at length landed at Bute.
In the person to whom the boat belonged, Melville found a friend, James
M'Conell of Kiltyre, who had experienced acts of kindness from his father.
Soon after their return to Scotland, Melville sailed with the ambassador to
France, and landed on the coast of Brittany. The bishop proceeding by post
to Paris, left his young protege to the attendance of " twa young Scottis gen-
tlemen," who were instructed to be careful of him on the way, and to provide
him with the necessary expenses, which should be afterwards refunded to them.
The three young men bought a nag each, and afterwards fell into company
with three additional companions, a Frenchman, a Spaniard, and a Briton, all
travelling in the same direction. At the end of their fii-st day's journey from
Brest, they all took up their night's rest in a chamber containing three beds.
The two Frenchmen and the two Scotsmen slept together. Melville was ac-
companied by the Spaniard. In this situation he discovered himself to be the
subject of plot and counterplot. He first heard the Scotsmen — with much sim-
plicity certainly, when it is remembered that a countryman was within hearing —
observe, that as the bishop had directed them to purvey for their companion,
" therefore we will pay for his ordinair all the way, and sail compt up twice as
meikle to his master when we come to Paris, and so sail won our own ex'
penses."^ This was a good solid discreet speculation, but it need not have been
so plainly expressed. While it was hatching, the Frenchmen in the next
bed were contemplating a similar plot, on the security of the ignorance of
Frencli on the part of their companions, and their inexperience of French
travelling, proposing simply to pay the tavern bills themselves, and charge a
handsome premium " sufficient to pay their expenses" for their trouble. Mel-
ville says he could not refrain " laughing in his mind." The Frenchmen he
easily managed, but the Scotsmen were obdurate, insisting on their privilege of
paying his charges, and he found his only recourse to be a separate enumeration
of the charges, and the " louns " never obtained payment of their overcharge.
But the Frenchmen were resolved by force to be revenged on the detecter of
their cunning. In the middle of a wood they procured two bullies to interrupt
and attack the travellers, and when Melville and his friends drew, they joined
their hired champions. But Melville, by his own account, was never discomfited,
and when they saw their " countenance and that they made for defence," they
pretended it was mere sport. Melville informs us, how, after his arrival at
Paris, his friend the bishop was called to Rome, and himself left behind to
learn to play upon the lute and to write French. In the month of May, 1553,
Melville appears to have disconnected himself from the bishop, of whom he
gives some curious notices toucl:ing his proficiency in the art magique and
mathematique, and came into the service of the constable of France, an office in
the acquisition of which he was much annoyed by the interference of a captain
Ringan Cocburn, " a busy medlar." At this point in his progress the narrator
stops to offer up thanks for his good fortune. As a pensioner of France, he
became attached to the cause of iJiat country in the war with Charles V., and
was present at the siege of St Quentin, where his patron the constable was
* Memoirs, p. 13. partially modernized in ortiiograph}'.

SIR JAMES MELVILLE. 25

wounded and taken prisoner, and himself " being evil hurt with a stroke of
ft mass upon the head, was mounted again by his servant upon a Scots gelding,
that carried him home through the enemies who were all between him and
home ; and two of them struck at his head with swords, because his head piece
was tane off after the first rencounter that the mass had enforced, and the two
were standing between him and home, to keep prisoners in a narrow strait;"
but Melville's horse ran between them ** against his will," as he candidly tells,
and saved his master by clearing a wall, after which he met his friend Harry
Killigrew, who held the steed, while its master entered a barber's shop to have
his wounds dressed. Melville appears to have attended the constable in his
captivity, and along with him was present at the conference of Chateau Cam-
bresis, the consequence of which he states to be " that Spayne obtained all their
desires ; the Constable obtained liberty : the Cardinal of Lorraine could not
mend himself, no n)ore than the commissioners of England." After the peace,
the king, at the instigation of the constable, formed the design of sending Mel-
ville to Scotland to negotiate its terms with reference to this country, and to
check the proceedings of Murray, then prior of St Andrews, and the rising in-
fluence of the Lor^s of the Congregation. The cardinal of Lorraine, however,
had influence sufficient to procure this office for Monsieur De Buttoncourt, a
person whose haughty manner, backed with the designs of the " Holy alliance"
he represented, served to stir up the flame he was sent to allay, and the more
prudent 3Ielville, whose birth and education certainly did not qualify him to
conduct such a mission with vigour, or even integrity to his employers,
was sent over with instructions moderate to the ear, but strong in their
import A war for mere religion was however deprecated ; the constable shrewd.
]y observing, that they had enough to do in ruling the consciences of their own
countrymen, and must leave Scotsmen's souls to God. Melville was instructed
" to seem only to be there for to visit his friends." He found the queen regent
in the old tower of Falkland, in bitterness of spirit from the frustration of her
ambitious designs. Quietly and stealthily the emissary acquired his secret infor-
mation. The ostensible answer he brought with him to France was, that the prior
of St Andrews did not aspire to the crown ; a matter on which the bearings were
probably sufficiently known at the court of France without a mission. Such,
however, is the sum of what he narrates as his answer to the constable, who ex-
hibited great grief that the accidental death of Henry, which had intervened,
and. his own dismission, prevented a king and prime minister of France from
reaping the fruit of Melville's cheering intelligence. Scotsmen becoming at
that time unpopular in France, Melville obtained the royal permission to travel
through other parts of the continent. With recommendations from his friend
the constable, he visited the court of the elector Palatine, where he was advised
to remain and learn the Dutch tongue, and was courteously received. At the
death of Francis II., he returned to France as a messenger of condolence
for the departed, and congratulation to the successor, from the court of the
Palatine. He returned to the Palatine, with " a fair reward, worth a thousand
crowns ;" whether to the Palatine or himself, is not clear. When Melville per-
ceived queen Mary about to follow the advice of those who recommended her
return to Scotland, he called on her with the offer of his " most humble and
dutiful service;" and the queen gave him thanks for the opinions she heard of
his affection towards her service, and desired him, when he should think fit to
leave Germany, to join her service in Scotland. The cardinal of Lorraine,
among his other projects, having discovered the propriety of a marriage betwixt
Mary and the archduke Charles of Austria, brother to Maximilian, Melville
was deputed by secretary Maitland to discover what manner of man this Charles

26 SIR JAMES MELVILLE.

might happen to be ; to inquire as to his religion, his rents, his qualities, his
age, and stature. Melville had a very discreet and confidential meeting with
Maximilian, who made diligent inquiry as to the intentions of the queen of
Scots and her subjecU, regarding the alleged right to the English throne ; while
it struck the wily Scot, that he was not particularly anxious to advance his
brother to a throne, presently that of Scotland, but not unlikely to be that of
the island of Britain. To obtain such information as might prove a sure foot-
ing for his future steps, he procured his companion, Mons. Zuleger, to drink
with the secretaries of Maximilian, and ascertained his suspicions to be well
founded. Notwithstanding a cordial invitation to join the court of Maximilian,
(no other man ever had so many sources of liveliliood continually springing up
in his path,) Melville returned to the Palatine. On his way he enjoyed a tour
of pleasure, passing to Venice and Rome, and returning through Switzerland
to Heidelberg, where the elector held his court. He afterwards revisited
Paris on a matrimonial scheme, concocted by the queen-mother, betwixt her
son and Maximilian's eldest daughter, acting in the high capacity of the bearer
of a miniature of the lady. The welcomes of his friend the constable, not on
the best of terms with the queen-mother, seem now to have f^len with far less
cordiality on the heart of Melville, and he seems to have looked with some
misliking at that dignitary's taking the opportunity of presenting the picture,
to appear at court, where " he sat down upon a stool, and held his bonnet upon
his head, taking upon him the full authority of his great office, to the queen-
mother's great misliking." While at Paris, he received despatches from 3Iur-
ray and secretary Maitland, requesting his immediate return to his native coun-
try, to be employed in the service of the queen, a mandate which he obeyed.
3Ieanwhile the Palatine and his son, duke Casimer, showed an ambition fur a
union of the latter with Elizabeth of England ; a measure which 31elville found
curious grounds for dissuading, in fulfilment of his principle of using sudi influ-
ence as he might command, to interfere witli the appearance of an heir to the
crown of England. But Melville could not refuse the almost professional duty
of conveying the young duke's picture to England. He obtained an interview
with Elizabeth, who was more attentive to the subject of the marriage of queen
Mary, than to her own ; expressing disapprobation of a union with the arch-
duke Charles, and recommending her favourite Dudley. He proceeded to
Scotland, and was received by Mary at Perth, on the 5th May, 15G4. He
was informed that it had been the queen's intention to have employed him in
Germany, but she had now chosen for him a mission to England. He is most
amiable in his motives for following the young queen. He was loth to lose
" the occasions and oilers of preferment that was made to him in France and
other parts : but the queen was so instant and so well inclined, and showed her-
self endowed with so many princely virtues, that he thought it would be against
good conscience to leave her, requiring so earnestly his help and service ;" so
that, in short, he " thought her more worthy to be served for little profit, than
any other prince in Europe for great commodity." He proceeded to England
with ample instructions, the amicable purport of which, either as they were really
delivered, or as 31elville has chosen to record them, is well known to the read-
ers of history. Melville made sundry inquiries at " very dear friends" attend-
ing the court of Elizabeth, as to his best method of proceeding with the haughty
queen ; and having, on due consideration, established in his mind a set of
canons for the occasion, stoutly adhered to them, and found the advantage of
doing so. He was peculiarly cautious on the subject of the marriage ; he re-
mained to witness the installation of Dudley as earl of Leicester and baron of
Denbigh, cautiously avoiding any admission of the propriety of countenancing

SIR JAMES MELVILLE. 27

a union betwixt him and the queen, while he bestowed on him as much praise
as Elizabeth chose to exact, and consented to join in invectives against the per-
sonal a])pearance of Darnley — his being " lang, histy, beardless, and lady-
faced," djc. — " albeit," continues the narrator, " I had a secret charge to pur-
chase leave for him to pass in Scotland, where his father was already." Mel-
rille spent nine days at the court of ICngland, and made excellent use of his
time. His memorial of the period contains many most ingenious devices, by
which he contrived to support the honour of the queen of Scotland, while
he flattered the queen of England on her superiority. He delighted her
nmch, by telling her the Italian dress became her more than any other one, be-
cause ho saw she preferred it herself, — this was no disparagement to his own
queen. He said they were both the fairest women in their country ; and, be-
ing driven to extremities, told Elizabeth he thought her the whiter, but that his
own queen was very " luesome ;" leaving the inference, when Elizabeth chose
to make it, that she was as much more " luesome" as she was whiter, though by
no means making so discreditable an admission. It happened fortunately that the
queen of Scotland, being taller than the queen of England, the latter decided
the former to be too tall. Melville, who had no foresight of the more enlarged
opinions of posterity, reviews all his petty tricks and successful flatteries, with
the air of one claiming praise for acts which increase the happiness of the hu-
man race. The following paragraph is exemplary to all courtiers. He had
been giving moderate praise to the musical abilities of Mary. " That same day
afier dinner, my lord of Hunsden drew me up to a quiet gallery, that I might
hear some music ; but he said he durst not avow it, Avhere I might hear the
queen play upon the virginals. |^ut after I had hearkened a while, I took by
the tapestry that hung before the door of the chamber, and seeing her back was
towai'ds the door, I entered within the chamber, and stood still at the door
cheek, and heard her play excellently well ; but she left off" so soon as she
turned about and saw me, and came forward, seeming to strike me with her
left hand, and to think shame ; alleging that she used not to play before men,
but when she was solitary her alane, to eschew melancholy ; and asked how I
came there. I said, as I was walking with my L. of Hunsden, as I passed by
the chamber door, I heard such melody that ravished and drew me within the
chamber I wist not how ; excusing my fault of homelyness, as being brought up
in the court of France, and was willing to sufl^er Avhat kind of punishment would
please her lay upon me for my ofi'ence." The result was, that he acknow-
ledged Elizabeth a better musician than Mary, and she said his French was good.
After so much politeness, the opinion of Elizabeth, which he retailed to Mary,
was, " there was neither plain dealing, nor upright meaning, but great dissi-
mulation,— emulation that her (3Iary's) princely qualities should over soon chase
her out and displace her from the kingdom."

The next public duty in which 3Ielville was engaged, was as bearer of the
intelligence of the birth of the prince, afterwards James VL, to the court of
England, for which purpose he left Edinburgh on the 19th June, 1566. He
found Elizabeth dancing after supper, in a state of jovialty and merriment,
which was momentarily quashed on the reception of what she termed the wel-
come intelligence. But next morning the queen had prepared herself to receive
her complimentary friend, who had excused his homeliness on the ground of
his having been brought up in France, and the spirit of their previous confer-
ence was renewed ; the courtier turning his complimentary allusions into a veiy
hideous picture of the evils of marriage, as experienced by his own queen, that
no little bit of endeavour on his part, (according to his avowal,) might be lost,
conducive to settling in the mind of the English queen, a solid detestation of

28 SIR JAMES MELVILLE.

matrimony. He takes credit to himself for having given sage and excellent ad-
vice to the Scottish queen, on the occurrence of her various unfortunate predi-
lections, particularly on her conduct towards Bothwell during the life of Darn-
ley, and happened to be among those attendants of the queen who were so very
easily taken prisoners by the aspirant to the crown. After this event, he con-
sidered it prudent to obtain leave to return home, and enjoy his " rents ;" but
80 long as he was able to transact messages and carry pictures, tlie atmosphere of
a court seems to have been to him the breath of life ; he appears to have waited
in quiet expectation for whatever little transactions might fall to his lot, and,
among other occasions, was present at the marriage of the queen to Bothwell,
after that nobleman's ** fury" against him, before which he had been obliged to
flee on account of his advice to the queen, " more honest than wise," had been
propitiated. On the formation of the party for crowning the young prince, he
was, as far as his book is concerned, still a zealous servant of his fallen mistress.
He was chosen commissioner or emissary to the opposite party, — a post he de-
clined to accept, until advised to become the instrument of peace, by Maitland,
Kirkaldy, and " other secret favourers of the queen." On tlie same principle
of attention to the interests of Mary, he acted as emissary to meet Murray at
Berwick, on his approaching Scotland to assume the regency. He was equally
accommodating in furthering the introduction of Lennox, and was engaged in
his usual employments under Mar and Morton. It would be tedious to follow
him in his list of negotiations, any thing which is important in them being more
nearly concerned with the history of the times, than with the subject of our
memoir. The character in which he acted is sufficiently exemplified by the de-
tails already unfolded ; and it would require more labour and discernment than
most men command, to determine for what party he really acted, or on what
principles of national policy he combated. It may be mentioned, that he al-
leges llie busy temper of finding fault with the proceedings of the great, witli
which he so complacently charges himself on divers occasions, to have lost him
the countenance of Morton, while with superlative generosity he recommended
the laird of Carmichael to avoid a similar course; and the laird, profiting by the
advi(^, forgot that injured man, the giver of it. When James wished to free
himself from the unceremonious authoi's of the Raid of Ruthven, he requested
the counsel and assistance of Melville, who, although he had taken leave of the
court, and resolved to live " a quiet contemplative life all the rest of his days,"
graciously assented to the royal petition. He read his majesty a lecture on the
conduct of young princes, and assisted in enabling him to attend the convention
at St Andrews ; or, according to his own account, was the sole procurer of his
liberty. He was appointed a gentleman of the bedchamber, and a member of
the privy council ; but Arran, whom he opposed, managed to supplant him,
notwithstanding an unmercifully long letter, reminding James of his services,
and the royal promises, and bestowing nuich advice, useful for governors. He
was deprived of his offices, and had no more opportunity " to do good." But
he was not entirely excluded from the sun of royalty ; he was directed to pre-
pare instructions for himself as an ambassador to tlie court of England, and held
a long conference with the king about the state of the nation, full of much sago
advice. He was appointed to " entertain " the three Danish ambassadors, whose
mission concerning the restoration of the islands of Orkney, terminated in the
king's marriage with a Danish princess: and when these gentlemen were plunged
into a state of considerable rage at their reception, he was found a most use-
ful and pacific mediator. He was appointed the confidential head of that
embassy proposed to Allry, and afterwards accepted by tlie earl Marischal, for
bringing oyer the royal bride ; but he had arrived at that period of life, when

WILLIAM MESTON. 29

he found it necessary or agreeable to resign lucrative missions. The portion of
bis memoirs referring to this period, introduces a vivid description of the machi-
nations of the uitches to impede the wishes of king James, by which a relation
of his own was drowned in crossing the frith of Fortii. On the arrival of the
queen, Melville was presented to her as her counsellor, and gentleman of her
bedchamber. His last public duty appears to have been that of receiving the
presents of the ambassadors at the christening of Prince Henry. He declined
following James to his new dominions, but afterwards paid him a visit, and was
kindly received at the English court. His latter days appear to have been spent
in preparing his memoirs, so often quoted as a model of wisdom for the guidance
of his descendants. Two mutilated editions of this curious work were published
in English, besides a Fren(;h translation, before the discovery of the original manu-
scripts, which liad passed through the hands of the IMarchraont family, produced
the late genuine edition. Sir James died on the Ist November, 1607,* in the
eighty-second year of his age. In his character there seems little either to re-
spect or admire ; but it is to be remembered that he lived in an age, when those
who were not murderers or national traitors, were of a comparatively high stan-
dard of morality.

iMES TON, William, an ingenious and learned poet of the eighteenth centurj',
was born in the parish of Mid-Mar, Aberdeenshire, about the year 1688. His
parents were in humble circumstances, but, by submitting to privations them-
selves, they contrived to give their son a liberal education. Having acquired
the earlier rudiments of learning at a country school, he was sent to the IMaris-
chal college, Aberdeen, where he made such proficiency, that, on the completion
of his studies, he was elected one of the doctors of the high school of New
Aberdeen. In this situation he continued for some time, discharging its duties
with an assiduity and talent which procured him much respect and considerable
popularity as a teacher. While thus employed, his reputation and qualifications
attracted the notice of the noble family of Marischal, and he was chosen
to be preceptor and governor to the young earl, and his brother, the celebrated
Marshal Keith. Of this trust he acquitted himself so well, that, on the occur-
rence of a vacancy in 1714, in the office of professor of philosophy in Marischal
college, he was appointed to it through the influence of the countess Marischal.
This office he also filled with great ability, and with universal approbation ;
but he was permitted to retain it only for a very short time. In the following
year, 1715, the civil war broke out, and 3Ieston, adhering to the political
principles of his patrons, lost his professorship. To compensate this depriva-
tion, he was made governor of Dunotter castle, by the earl Marischal ; a singu-
lar enough change of profession, but sufficiently characteristic of tiie times.

After the battle of Sheriff muir, Meston, with several others of his party, fled
to the hills, where they skulked till the act of indemnity was passed, when they
returned to their homes.

During the time of his concealment, Meston composed, for the amusement of
his companions, several of those humorous poetical effusions which he has en-
titled Jlolher Grim's Tales, and which were published in Idinburgh in
1767. Steady to his political principles, he refused after his return, to yield
obedience to the new dynasty, and thus cut himself off from every ciiance
of being restored to his former appointment ; an event which might otherwise
have taken place. In these circumstances, destitute of employment, and equally
destitute of the means of subsistence, he accepted an invitation from the

* Wood's Peerage, ii. 112. The introduction to the last edition of his works, sajs aged 72.
This is inconsistent with liis having been 14 yiars of age in 1549, wheu lie accompanied
Moiduc to France.

30 WILLIAM MESTON.

countess Marischal to reside in her family, and availed himself of lier hospitality
till her death ; contributing largely to the entertainment of all her guests by
his wit, and by the exercise of a singularly happy vein of pleasantry which he

On the death of the countess, Meston was again left destitute, and for some
years continued in very straitened circumstances. At the end of this period he
opened an academy at Elgin, in conjunction with his brother, Mr Samuel Mes-
tan, who was eminently skilled in the Greek language. For some years the
academy throve well, and yielded its teachers a comfortable living. Meston
gave instructions in all the branches of learning taught at universities, became
popular as a teacher, and by his assiduity acquired the unlimited confidence of
his employers. His success, however, in place of operating as an incitement to
further exertion, seems to have thrown him off his guard. Always of a social
disposition, he now became a thorough-paced boon companion ; and betook
himself with a devotion and Cordiality to his book, his bottle, and his friend,
which was wholly incompatible with his success as a teacher. The consequence
was, that in a few years the academy fell so much away that he gave it up, and
removed to Tureff, a village on the northwest limits of Aberdeenshire, to which
he had been invited by the countess of Errol, who knew and appreciated
his talents. From this lady Meston received, after his removal, much kind-
ness. She allowed him the use of the family lodging in the village rent-free,
and sent him many presents from time to time to better his housekeeping. The
academy also succeeded well, and continued to improve during several years,
until an unfortunate occurrence suddenly terminated its existence.

Two of Meston's young gentlemen having quarrelled while playing at shut-
tle-cock, one of them drew a knife and stabbed the other in the breast. The
wound was not fatal, but the parents of the other children became alarmed for
their safety ; and though no blame whatever could attach to the master in what
had happened, they were all removed, and poor Meston was left without a
pupil.

Driven from Tureff, Meston went next to Montrose, where he attempted to
open another academy, but without success. From Montrose he removed to
Perth, and here found some employment in his profession of teaching, but was
in a short time afterwards taken into the family of Mr Oliphaiit of Gask as a
private preceptor. In this situation he remained for several years, when, falling
into a bad state of health, he resigned it, and removed to Peterhead for the
benefit of its mineral waters. The unfortunate poet was now once more re-
duced to utter destitution, with the aggravation of a debilitated frame and failing
constitution. For this luckless hour he had made no provision. With the
true spirit of a poet, he had always entertained a most sublime contempt for
money, and for all habits of economy ; spending to-day what he had acquired
to-day, and boldly leaving to-morrow to provide for itself. The comforts, how-
ever, which he was unable to procure for himself in his sickness, were liberally
supplied to him by a generous friend. His old patroness, the countess of Errol,
furnished him with every necessary and comfort which his infirmities and for-
lorn condition required, even to the fitting out of his apartment. Finding no
benefit to his health from his residence at Peterhead, he removed to Aberdeen,
where he died in the spring of 1745, and was buried in the Spittal churchyard
of Old Aberdeen.

Meston was esteemed one of the best classical scholars of his time. He was
also an excellent mathematician. As a poet his fame is now reduced to very
□arrow limits. His poetry is, we believe, scarcely known to the present
generation ; and yet it would teem to merit a better fate, were it not perhaps

WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLB. 31

for its gi-ossness and indelicacy. He was a slavish imitator of Butler in style
and manner ; and it is not improbably owing to this circumstance, which neces-
sarily excluded originality, that his otherwise clever poems have so soon sunk
into oblivion. But though a copyist of style and manner, Meston had a geniu?
of his own, and that of a pretty high order. In many instances his poetry ex-
hibits scintillations of wit and humour not inferior to the brightest in the pages
of Hudibras. A volume of his poems, containing The Knight, Mother Grim's
Tales, and several other miscellaneous pieces, was published, as already noticed,
in Edinburgh in 1767, and this is, we believe, all that remains of 3Ieston, a
man of very considerable genius, and " a fellow of infinite jest."

MICKLE, William Julius, (originally Meikle,) the translator pf Camoens'
Lusiad, and an original poet of considerable merit, was one of the sons of the
Rev, Alexander Meikle, who in early life was a dissenting clergyman in London,
and assistant to Dr Watt, but finally settled as minister of the parish of Lang-
holm, in Dumfries-shire, where the subject of this memoir was born, in 1734.
The mother of the poet was Julia Henderson, of a good family in Mid Lothian.
The Rev. Mr Meikle, whose learning is testified by his having been employed
in the translation of Bayle's Dictionary, was his son's first teacher. The young
poet was afterwards, on the death of his father, sent to reside in Edinburgh,
with his aunt, the wife of Mr Myrtle, an eminent brewer ; there he attended the
High School for some years. It is said, however, that, though his passion for
poetry was early displayed, he was by no means attached to literature in gen-
eral, till tlie age of thirteen, when, Spenser's P^airy Queen falling in his way,
he became passionately fond of that author, and immediately began to imitate
his manner. At sixteen, Mickle was called from school to keep the accounts of
his aunt, who, having lost her husband, carried on the business on her own ac-
count Not long after, he was admitted to a share in the business, and his pros-
pects were, at the outset of life, extremely agreeable. For reasons, however,
which have not been explained, he was unfortunate in trade ; and about the
year 1763, became bankrupt Without staying to obtain a settlement with his
creditoi-s, he proceeded to London, tried to procure a commission in the marine
service, but, the war being just then concluded, failed in his design. Before
leaving the Scottish capital, he had devoted himself, only too much, perhaps, to
poetry. At eighteen, he had composed two tragedies and half an epic poem,
besides some minor and occasional pieces. Being now prompted to try what
poetry could do for him, he introduced himself and several of his pieces to the
notice of lord Lytielton, who, it is understood, conceived a respectful opinion of
his abilities, and recommended him to persevere in versification, but yielded him
no more substantial proof of favour.

Mickle appears to have been rescued from these painful circumstances, by be-
ing appointed corrector to the Clarendon press, at Oxford. This was a situa-
tion by no means worthy of his abilities; but, while not altogether uncongenial
to his taste, it had the advantage of leaving him a little leisure for literary pur-
suits, and thus seemed to secure to him what has always been found of the
greatest consequence to friendless men of genius, — a fixed routine of duties, and
a steady means of livelihood, while a portion of the mental energies are left
salient for higher objects. Accordingly, from the year 1765, Mickle published
a succession of short poems, some of which attracted considerable notice, and
made him known respectfully to the world of letters. He also ventured into the
walk of religious controversy, and wrote pamphlets against Voltaire and Mr
Harewood, besides contributing frequently to the newspaper called the White-
hall Evening Post.

In his early youth, he had perused Castara's translation of the Lusiad of Camoens,

32 -WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE.

and ever since had entertained the design of executing an English version. He
now, for the Hrst time, found leisure and encouragement to attempt so laborious
a task. The first canto was published as a specimen in 1771, and met with so
mucli approbation, as to induce him to abandon his duties at Oxford, and de-
vote himself entirely to this more pleasing occupation. Having retired to a
farm house at Forest-hill, he applied himself unremittingly lo the labour, sub-
sisting upon the money which he drew from time to time as subscriptions for his
work. In 1775, the version was completed ; and, that no means might be want-
ing for obtaining it a favourable reception, he published it, with a dedication to
a nobleman of high influence, with whom his family had been connected. The
work obtain^ a large measure of public approbation, which it has ever since re-
tained ; biit Its reception with the patron was not what the translator had been
led to expect. A copy was bound in a most expensive manner, and sent to that
high personage ; but, months passing on without any notice even of its receipt,
a friend of the poet, in high official situation, called upon his lordship, to learn,
if possible, the cause of his silence. He found that some frivolous literary ad-
versary of Mickle had prejudiced the noble lord against the work, and that the
presentation copy was, till that moment, unopened. We have here, perhaps,
one of the latest instances of that prostration of genius before tlie shrine of
rank, which was formerly supposed to be so indispensable to literary success,
but was, in reality, even in the most favourable instances, only productive of
paltry and proximate advantages. The whole system of dedication was an ab-
surdity. Books were in reality written for the public, and to the public did
their authors look for that honour which forms the best motive for literary exer-
tion. To profess to devote their works more particularly to some single member
of the community, was an impertinence to all the rest, that ought never to have
been practised ; and we might the more readily denounce the above instance of
*' patrician meanness," as 31ickle's first biographer terms it, if we could see any
rationality in the author expecting so much more from one individual, for his
labours, than from another.

During the progress of his translation, Mickle composed a tragedy, under the
title of the Siege of Marseilles, Avhich was shown to Garrick, and rejected
on account of its want of stage effect It was then revised and altered by 3]r
Home, author of the tragedy of Douglas ; and a proposal was made to the au-
thor to bring it forward in the Edinburgh theatre. This idea was afterwards
abandoned, and the tragedy remained in abeyance till the conclusion of the
Lusiad, when the author made another effort to bring it out on the London
stage. It was shown to Mr Harris of Covent Garden, and again rejected. Af-
ter this repulse, Mickle relinquished all expectations of advantage from the
theatre, though he permitted the unfortunate play to be shown to Sheridan,
from whom he never again received it.

The Lusiad was so well received, that a second edition was found necessary
in 1779. In the same year, Mickle published a pamphlet on the India ques-
tion, uhich was at one time expected to obtain for him some marks even of royal
favour. In May, the most fortunate incident in his life took place. His friend,
Mr Johnston, formerly governor of South Carolina, was then appointed to the
command of the Roniney man-of-war, and Mickle, being chosen by him as his
secretary, went out to sea in his company, in order to partake of whatever good
fortune he might encounter, during a cruise against the Spaniards. In Novem-
ber, he arrived at Lisbon, where he was received with very flattering marks of at-
tention, and stayed six months, during which time he collected many traits of the
Portuguese character and customs, with the intention, never fulfilled, of com-
bining them iifa book. During his residence in Portugal, he wrote his best

JOHN MILLAR. 33

poem, Altnada Hill, which was published in 1781. The crujse had been highly
successful, and Mickle, being appointed joint agent for the prizes, was sent
home to superintend the legal proceedings connected with their condemnation.
His own share of the results was very considerable, and, together with the for-
tune he acquired by his wife, whom he married in June, 1782, at once established
liis independence. The remainder of his life was spent in literary leisure, at
Wheatley, in Oxfordshire, where he died, October 25, 1788, after a short ill-
ness, leaving one son. Mickle's poems are not voluminous, and have been
eclipsed, like so much of the other verse of the last century, by the infinitely
superior productions of the present or immediately by-past age. Many of
them, however, show considerable energy of thought ; others, great sweetness
of versification ; and his translation has obtained the rank of a classic. It is not
to be overlooked, moreover, that the authorship of one exquisite song in his
native dialect, Colins' Welcome, is ascribed to him, though not upon definite
grounds.

After Mickle's death, his Scottish creditors revived their claims upon his ex-
ecutors. An Edinburgh agent, named Henderson, having got the debts vested
in his own person, raised an action in England for their recovery. Not having
furnished himself with the necessary vouchers, he lost his action, with costs,
which the executors employed another Scottish agent to recover. This latter
individual — to whom we are indebted for some of the information in the pre-
sent memoir — being aware that the debts might have still been available in a
Scottish court, succeeded in getting the business managed extra-judicially ; so
that the poet's representatives were no more troubled with his Scottish creditors.

MILLAR, John, professor of law in the university of Glasgow, and author
of the Historical "View of the English Government, was born on the 22nd
of June, 1735, in the parish of Shotts, of which his father, the Rev. Mr James
Millar, was minister. Two years after his birth, his father was translated to
Hamilton, and he was hiniself placed under the charge of his uncle, Mr John
Millar of Milhaugh, in the neighbouring parish of Blantyre, where he spent
almost all his early years. Having been taught to read by his uncle, he was
placed in 1742, at the school of Hamilton, in order to be instructed in Latin
and Greek. In 1746, being designed for the church, he went to Glasgow
college, where he distinguished himself as an attentive and intelligent student.
He had the advantage of the society of Dr Cullen, (then professor of chemistry
at Glasgow,) to whose wife he was related, and of the acquaintance of other per-
sons distinguished by their intelligence. He was particularly fortunate in ob-
taining the friendship of Dr Adam Smith, whose lectures and conversation first
directed his attention to the particular line of research in which he afterwards
became so eminent. As his mind expanded, he found that the clerical pro-
fession was not agreeable to his tastes or faculties, and he accordingly adopted
the resolution of studying for the Scottish bar. About the time when his col-
lege studies were finished, he became preceptor to the eldest son of lord Kanies,
in whose society he spent two years, during which he formed an intimacy with
David Hume and other eminent persons. " It seldom happens," says the
Edinburgh Review, " that we can trace the genealogy of a literary progeny so
correctly as the two circumstances which have now been mentioned, enable us
to do that of Mr Millar's future studies. It is perfectly evident to all who are
acquainted with their writings, that his speculations are all formed upon the
model of those of lord Kames and Dr Smith ; and that his merit consists almost
entirely in the accuracy with which he surveyed, and the sagacity with which
he pursued, the path which they had the merit of discovering. It was one
great object of those original authors to trace back the history of society to its

31 JOHN MILLAR.

most simple and universal element ; to resolve almost all that has been ascribed
to positive institution, to the spontaneous iind irresistible development of cer^
tain obvious principles, — and to show Avith how little contrivance or polititsil
wisdom the most complicated and apparently artificial schemes of policy might
have been erected. This is very nearly the precise definition of what Mr Mil-
lar aimed at accomplishing in his lectures and his publications ; and when we
find that he attended the lectures of Dr Smith, and lived in the family of lord
Karnes, we cannot hesitate to ascribe the bent of his genius, and the peculiar
tenor of his speculations, to the impressions he must have received from those
early occurrences."

Mr Millar was called to the bar in 1760, and was soon looked upon as one of
the individuals likely to rise to eminence in his profession ; but having married
at this early stage of his career, and finding it improbable tliat his labours at
the bar would for some years be adequate to his support, he was tempted by an
opportune vacancy in the chair of civil law in Glasgow college, to apply for
that comparatively obscure situation. Having been successful in his object,
(1761,) he applied himself with all the ardour of an uncommonly active and
sanguine temperament, to the improvement of the class. Heretofore the pro-
fessorship of civil law at Glasgow had been in a gi'eat measure useless to the
community. The students were seldom more than four in number, and some-
times even less. The late professor, however, had broken through the estab-
lished usage of lecturing in Latin, and Mr Millar not only persevered in the
same popular course, but adopted other means calculated to attract a larger au-
dience. Instead of writing his lectures — a practice which generally induces the
professor to adhere to one train of ideas, and resist the introduction of all pro-
gressive improvements, he delivered them extempore, and thus not only took a
prompt advantage of every new view that arose in the progress of his science,
but enabled himself to introduce familiar and lively illustrations, which were
calculated to excite and keep alive the attention of his students to an uncommon
degree. Discarding the old academical pomp, he reduced himself to a level
with his hearers ; he talked to them, and carefully observed that they under-
stood all that he said, and acceded to all his propositions. " His manner,"
says the Edinburgh Review,' " was familiar and animated, approaching more
nearly to gayety than enthusiasm ; and the facts which he had to state, or the
elementary positions he had to lay down, were given in the simple, clear, and
unembarrassed diction in which a well-bred man would tell a story or deliver
an opinion in society. All objections that occurred, were stated in a forcible,
clear, and lively manner ; and the answers, which were often thrown into a
kind of dramatic form, were delivered with all the simplicity, vivacity, and easy
phraseology of good conversation. His illustrations were always familiar, and
often amusing ; and while nothing could be more forcible or conclusive than
the reasonings which he employed, the tone and style in which they were de-
livered gave them an easy and attractive air, and imparted, to a profound and
learned discussion, the charms of an animated and interesting conversation.
No individual, indeed, ever did more to break down the old and unfortunate
distinction between the wisdom of the academician and the wisdom of the n>an
of the world : and as most of the topics which fell under his discussion were of
a kind that did not lose their interest beyond the walls of a college, so the
views which he took of them, and the language in which they were conveyed,
were completely adapted to the actual condition of society ; and prepared those
to whom they had been made familiar, to maintain and express them with pre-

• The aitide we are now quoting «a5 probably the composition of Mr Jeffrey, who, if we
are not misUiken, vras a pupil of Mr Millitr.

pupi

JOHN MILLAR. 35

cision, without running the least risk of an imputation of pedantry or ig-
norance.

" It will be admitted to have required no ordinary share of intrepidity and
confidence in the subsUintial merits of his instructions, to have enabled a profes-
sor thus to lay aside the shield of academical stateliness, and not only expose
his thoughts in the undress of extemporaneous expression, but to exhibit them,
nithout any of the advantages of imposing or authoritative pretences, on the fair
level of equal discussion, and with no other recommendatioiis but those of
superior expediency or reason." He carried his system, however, even to a
more hazardous extreme : at the conclusion of every lecture, he invited his
students to gather around him, and in easy conversation to discuss the principles
he had been expounding. It has been justly remarked, that no teacher who
did not possess an unusually minute and extensive knowledge of his subject
could have ventured upon such a practice ; which, however, in his case, was at-
tended with the best effects upon his pupils. Such, altogether, was the success
which attended his prelections, that the class was speedily increased to about
forty, and the pi'ofessor in the Edinburgh college, after seeing his students pro-
portionally diminished, was obliged to abandon the practice of lecturing in
Latin, in which he had persevered till Mr Millar's reputation as an effective
lecturer was completely established.

During the whole time of his connexion with Glasgow college, Mr Millar
was a zealous and active member of the Literary Society, a club chiefly formed
of the professors, and whose practice it was to meet weekly, and, after hearing
an essay read by some member in rotation, to discuss the views which it ad-
vanced. The tenor of Mr Millar's life was little marked by events. He spent
his time between the college and a small farm called Whitemoss (near Kilbride,)
which he took great pleasure in improving. Excepting, indeed, two visits to
the metropolis in 1774 and 1792, and the publication of his two books, there
is hardly any incident to which we find our notice particularly called.

Amongst his lectures on jurisprudence, those which referred to the subject of
government were remarked to possess an unusual interest. In these he de-
livered a theoretical history of the progress of society, through the various stages
of savage, pastoral, agricultural, and commercial life ; with a view of the insti-
tutions and changes which would naturally be suggested in their political and
domestic habits by their successive transformation ; illustrating his remarks by
an historical review of all the ancient governments, and more particularly by that
of Great Britain. The interest which he found they excited, induced him, in
1771, to publish a short treatise on the subject, which was favourably received.
Even to cursory readers, it was calculated to afford amusement, by the various
views of human nature which it exhibited, and by the singularity of many of
the traits of manners, as well as of national characters and institutions, which it
traced to their sources. Some years afterwards, Mr Millar was induced, by the
prevalence of what he conceived to be erroneous ideas respecting the origin of
the English government, to expand his views on that subject, with a view to
publication. After a careful preparation, he published, in 1787, his Histori-
cal View of the English Government, from the Settlement of the Saxons in
Britain, to the Accession of the House of Stewart. By subsequent labour Mr
Millar intended to bring down the history to his own time, but he only
completed it to the Revolution, and a new and posthumous edition in 1803, in
four volumes 8vo, comprised that period. As a writer, Mr 31illar retained lit-
tle of that vivacity and fertility of illustration, which gave such a charm to his
extemporaneous lectures. The style of his compositions is nevertheless forcible
and distinct. His Historical View, containing much inquiry into the remote

86 JOSEPH MITCHELTj.

periods of our government, and many distinctions which it requires some efTort
of attention fully to underetand, could not be of a very popular nature ; but it
has been justly appreciated by those who Mere fitted by their habits and
previous studies to take an interest in such researches; and, considering the
nature of the subjects of which it treats, its having gone through three editions
is no slight proof of public approbation.

" The distinguishing feature of Mr Millar's intellect," says the Edinburgh
Review, " was, the great clearness and accuracy of his apprehension, and the
singular sagacity with which he seized upon the true statement of a question,
and disentangled the point in dispute from the mass of sophisticated argument
in which it was frequently involved. His great delight was to simplify an intri-
cate question, and to reduce a perplexed and elaborate system of argument to a
few plain problems of common sense. * * To form a sound judgment
upon all points of substantial importance, appeared to him to require little
more than the free and independent use of that vulgar sense on which
no man is entitled to value himself; and he was apt to look with suf-
ficient contempt upon the elaborate and ingenious errors into which philo-
sophers are so apt to reason themselves. To bring down the dignity of
such false science, and to expose the emptiness of ostentatious and pedantic
reasoners, was therefore one of his favourite employments. He had, indeed,
no prejudices of veneration in his nature ; his respect was reserved for those
who had either made discoveries of practical ability, or combined into a system
the scattered truths of speculation." For the remainder of a very elaborate esti-
mate of the genius of professor 31illar, we must refer those who take an unusual
interest in the subject, to the Review itself.* We may only mention, what
every one will have anticipated from the preceding extract, that 3Ir Millar was
of whig politics, bordering on republicanism, and that his sentiments had con-
siderable influence with his pupils, some of whom, as lord Jeffrey, lord chief
commissioner Adam, of the Jury court, and the earl of Lauderdale, were dis-
tinguished on that side of the great political question which so long divided
public opinion in this country.

In his private character, Mr Millar was extremely amiable. His conversation
was cheerful, unatfected, and uncommonly agreeable. His countenance was
very animated and expressive ; his stature about the middle size ; his person
strong, active, and athletic, rather than elegant. Though devoted chiefly to
metaphysical inquiries, he was extensively acqiiainted with the natural sciences,
with history, with the belles leltres, and, indeed, almost all branches of human
learning. He retained good health till the end of the year 1790, when he
was seized with a very dangerous inflamir.atory complaint, from which he re-
covered to a certain extent ; but a year and a half after, having exposed him-
self to cold, he was seized with pleurisy, by which he was carried off. May 30,
1 801. Professor Millar left four sons and six daughters. A full memoir of his
life was ^vritten by his nephew, Mr John Craig, and prefixed to a fourth
edition of his Origin of the Distinction of Ranks, published in 1 808.

MITCHELL, Joseph, a dramatist of the eighteenth century, was bom about
the year 1684. His father, who is described as a stone-cutter, appeai-s to have
been in decent circumstances, as he gave his son a liberal education, includ-
ing a course at one of the Scottish universities, but which of them is not now
known. On completing his education, Mitchell repaired to London, with the
view of pushing his fortune in that metropolis, and was lucky enough to get into
favour with the earl of Stair and Sir Robert Walpole. How he effected this,
whether by the force of his talents, or by what other means, is not known ; but

» Vol. iii. p. 158.

DR. MONRO, PRIMUS. 37

his hold on the patronage of the latter especially, seems to have been singularly
strong, as Sir Robert almost entirely supported him during his after life.
The zeal and gratitude of Mitchell, in return for this benevolence, and which
took the shape of literary elusion, sometimes in behalf of, and sometimes compii-
mentary to his patron, became so marked, as to procure for him the title of Sir
Robert Walpole's poet. The recltless and extravagant habits of Mitchell, how-
ever, kept him constantly in a state of great pecuniary distress, notwithstanding
the liberal patronage of Walpole ; and so inveterate were these habits, that a
legacy of several thousand pounds, which was left him by an uncle of his wife,
scarcely afforded him even a temporary relief.

Although Mitchell's abilities were of but a very moderate order, he yet ranked
amongst iiis friends many of the most eminent men of his times, particularly
Mr Aaron Hill. To this gentleman he on one occasion communicated his dis-
tressed condition, and sought assistance from him. Mr Hill was unable to af-
ford him any pecuniary relief, but he generously presented him with both
the profits and reputation of a little dramatic piece, entitled Fatal ICxtrava-
gance ; a piece which he seems ingeniously to have adapted at once to relieve
and reprove the object of his benevolence. This play was acted and printed in
Mr Mitchell's name, and the profits accruing from it were considerable ; but
though he accepted the latter, he was candid enough to disclaim the merit of
being its author, and took every opportunity of undeceiving the world on this
point, and of acknowledging his obligations to Mr Hill.

Of Mitchell, there is little more known. His talents were not of a suf-
ficiently high order to attract much notice while he lived, or to prompt any
inquiry after his death. He died on the 6th July, 1738. The following dra-
matic productions appear under his name, but the last only is really his, and it
is not Avithout considerable merit : — Fatal Extravagance, a tragedy, 8vo, 1720 ;
Fatal Extravagance, a tragedy, enlarged, 12mo, 1726 ; and The Highland Fair,
an opera, Bvo, 1731. In 1729, he published, besides, two octavo volumes of
miscellaneous poetry.

MONRO, Alexander, M. D., usually called Secundus, to distinguish him from
his father, an eminent medical writer and teacher. Before entering upon the
memoirs of this individual, it is necessary to give some account of his father,
Dr Monro, Primus, the founder of the medical school of Edinburgh, who, hav-
ing been born in London, is not precisely entitled to appear in this work under
a separate head.

Dr Monro, Primus, was born in London, September 19, 1697. He was the
son of Mr John Monro, a surgeon in the army of king William, descended from
the family of Monro of Milton, in the north of Scotland. His mother was of
the family of Forbes of CuUoden. Having retired from the army, Mr Monro
settled in Edinburgh about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and enter-
ing the college of surgeons, soon acquired considerable practice. His favourite
employment, however, was to superintend the education of his son, whose talents
he perceived at an early period. Though medical and anatomical chairs at that
time existed in the university of Edinburgh, they were quite inefhcient, and
hence it was found necessary to send young Monro elsewhere for the completion
of his education. He went successively to London, Paris, and Leyden, and be-
came the attentive pupil of the great men who then taught at those universities,
among whom were Cheselden, Hawksby, Chowel, Bouquet, Thibaut, and Boe^r-
haave. Not content with listening to the instructions of these teachers, he
studied assiduously by himself, especially in the department of anatomy. While
attending Cheselden in London, lie made numerous anatomical preparations,
which he sent home ; and, while here, even laid the foundation of his important

38 DR. MONRO, PRIMUS.

work on the bones, a sketch of which he read before a society of young surgeons
and physicians, of which he had been elected a member. Before his return, his
father had presented several of his preparations to the college, so that his skill
was already well known. Tlje titular professor of anatomy to the college of
surgeons had even formed tiie resolution of relinquishing his appointment in
favour of this promising young anatomist, who, he thought, would be able to
convert it into an useful profession. Accordingly, on his arrival in Edinburgh,
in 1719, when only twenty-two years of age, he was nominated to this dignity.
Early in the ensuing year, he coumienced the first regular course of anatomical
and chirurgic^l lectures and demonstrations, which were ever delivered in that
city. From his abilities and zeal, and the preparations with which he illustrated
his discourses, success could hardly fail to attend his labours. It could not, how-
ever, be expected that an anatomical and surgical course alone, however valu-
able, or a single professor, however great his abilities, could be sufficient to
raise the fame of a medical school, which had to combat many rival seminaries
of deserved eminence. It became, therefore, a matter of the utmost consequence
to obtain such associates as could second and support his labours. His father,
to whose zeal fur the establishment of a medical school in Edinburgh, much of
his son's success is to be attributed, prevailed on Dr Alston, then king's botanist
for Scotland, to begin a coui-se of lectures on the materia medica. Me also took
an expedient for improving his son's mode of lecturing. Without the young
teacher's knowledge, he invited the president and fellows of the college of phy-
sicians, and the whole company of surgeons, to honour the first day's lecture
with their presence. This unexpected company threw the doctor into sucii
confusion, that he forgot the words of the discourse, which he had written and
committed to memory. Having left his papers at home, he was at a loss for a
little time what to do ; but, with much presence of mind, he immediately began
to show some of the anatomical preparations, in order to gain time for recollec-
tion ; and very soon resolved not to attempt to repeat the discourse which ho
had prepared, but to express himself in such language as should occur to hiui
from the subject, which he was confident that he understood. The experiment
succeeded ; he delivered himself well, and gained great applause as a good and
"ready speaker. Thus discovering his own strength, he resolved henceforth
never to recite any written discourse in teaching, and acquired a free and ele-
gant style of delivering lectures.

The want of lectures on other branches, which still remained as an obstacle
to the creation of a medical school, was soon altogether overcome by the zeal of
the elder Monro, through whose induence his son and Dr Alston were put upon
the college establishment, together with co-operative lectureships, undertaken by
Drs Sinclair, Rutherford, and Plumer. Such was the origin of the medical
school of Edinburgh, which for a century has been one of the most eminent
and most frequented in Europe. The system was completed in the course of a
few years, by the establishment of tiie Royal Infirmary at Edinburgh, w'hich was
chieHy urged forward by Ur Monro, with a view to the advantage of his pupils,
and by Ueorge Drummond, the lord provost of the city. In this institution, Dr
Monro commenced clinical lectures on the surgical, and Rutherford a similar
course on the medical cases. The former, in his various capacities of physician,
lecturer, and manager, took an active part in the whole business of the Infir-
mary. He personally attended the opening of every body ; and he not only
dictated to the students an accurate report of the dissection, but, with nice dis-
crimination, contrasted the diseased and sound state of every organ. Thus, in
his own person, he afforded to the students a conspicuous example of tiie ad-
vantages of early anatomical pursuits, iis the happiest foundation fur a medical

DR. MONRO, PRIMUS. 39

superstructure. His being at once engaged in two departments, the anatomical
theatre and the clinical chair, furnished him uith opportunities for experiment
both on the dead and living body, and placed liim in the most favourable situa<
tion for the improvement of medicine ; and from these opportunities he derived
every possible advantage which they could afford.

None of the professors connected with medicine in the Edinburgh university,
contributed so much to the formation of the school, as Dr Monro, who was inde-
fatigable in the labours of his office, and in the cultivation of his art, and soon
made himself known to the professional world by a variety of ingenious and
valuable publications. During a period of nearly forty years, he continued,
without any interruption, to deliver a course of lectures, extending from the end
of October to the beginning of May ; and so great was the reputation which he
acquired, that students flocked to him from the most distant parts of the king-
dom. His fii-st and principal publication was his Osteology, or Treatise on the
Anatomy of the Bones, which appeared in 1726, when he was as yet under
thirty years of age. This treatise, though intended originally for the use of his
pupils, speedily became popular among the faculty in general, and was trans-
lated into most of the languages of Europe. The French edition, in folio,
published by M. Sue, demonstrator of sculpture to the Royal Academy of Paris,
was adorned with masterly engravings. In the later editions, Dr Monro added
a concise Neurology^ or description of the nerves, and a very accurate account
of the lacteal system and thoracic duct.

In every society at Edinburgh, for the improvement of arts, or of letters, Dr
Monro was one of the most distinguished ornaments. He was a member of the
Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons ; of the Medical Society ; of the Philoso-
phical Society ; of the Select Society for questions in morality and politics ;
and of the Society for promoting arts, sciences, and manufactures in Scotland.
He was also a member of several foreign societies, to which he had been recom-
mended by his great reputation. It was to his zeal and activity that the world
was chiefly indebted for the six volumes of Medical Essays and Observations, by
a society at Edinburgh, the first of which appeared in 1732. Dr Monro acted
as editor of this work, and contributed to it many valuable papers on anatomi-
cal, physiological, and practical subjects ; the most elaborate of which was an
Essay on the Nutrition of the Foetus, in three dissei'tations. On this society be-
ing afterwards revived under a different title, Dr 3Ionro again took an active
part in its proceedings as one of the vice-presidents, and was a liberal contribu-
tor to its publications, of which three volumes appeared, under the title of Es-
says, Physical and Literary. His last publication was an Account of the Suc-
cess of Inoculation in Scotland, written originally as an answer to some inquiries
addressed to him from the committee of the faculty of physicians at Paris, ap-
pointed to investigate the merits of tiie practice. It was afterwards published
at the request of several of his friends, and contributed to extend the practice
in Scotland. Besides the works which he published, he left several manuscripts,
written at different times, of which the following are the principal : A History
of Anatomical Writers, — an Encheiresis Anatomica, — Heads of many of his
Lectures, — a Treatise on Wounds and Tumours, — a Treatise on Comparative
Anatomy, — and an oration De Cuticula. The last two were printed in an edi-
tion of his whole works, in one volume, 4to, published by his son, Dr Alexander
3Ionro, 1781.

The advance of age and infirmity, induced Dr Monro to resign his chair, in
1759, in favour of his son ; but he continued almost to the close of his life to
perform his duties in the Koyal Infirmary, Several of his latter years were
jmbittered by a severe disease, a fungous ulcer in the bladder and rectum ;

40 DR. MONRO, SECUNDUS.

but he bore his distresses with great patience and resignation, and at last died
in perfect cahnness, July 10, I7(i7, in the seventieth year of his age.

Dr 3Ionro had in early life married Miss Isabella 3Iacdonald, daughter of
Sir Donald 3Iacdonald of Sleat, by whom he liad eight children, four of whom,
three sons and a daugliter, reached maturity. Two of his sons became distin-
guished physicians — namely, Dr Donald 3Ionro, who attained an eminent prac-
tice in London, and became the author of several valuable treatises, — an Essay
on Dropsy, 1765 — on the Diseases of 3Iilitary Hospitals, 1764 — on Mineral
Waters, 1771 — on preserving the Health of Soldiers, &a, — and died in 1802;
and Dr Alexander 3Ionro secundus, of whose life we shall proceed to give an
extended notice.

Dr Monro secundus, was the youngest son of Dr Alexander Monro primus,
whose life has just been commemorated, and was born at Edinburgh, on the
20th of March, 1733. He learned the first rudiments of classical education,
under the tuition of Mr Mundell, then an eminent teacher of languages, at
Edinburgh. At the university of his native city, Dr Monro went through the
ordinary course of philosophy, preparatory to his medical studies. During that
course, he was a pupil of the celebrated Maclaurin, for Mathematics, — of Sir
John Pringle, for ethics^ — and of Dr Matthew Stewart, for experimental philo-
sophy. About the 1 8th year of his age, he entered on his medical studies un>
der his illustrious father, who, from his lectures and writings, had, by that time,
justly obtained very great celebrity. Young 3Ionro soon became a very useful
assistant to his father in the dissecting-room, and was highly respected for his
early acquirements, among the companions of his studies ; several of whom, Dr
Hugh Smith of London, Dr 3Iatthew Dobson of Liverpool, Dr William Farr of
Plymouth, and some others, were afterwards justly celebrated in the annals of
medicine, by their writings.

Dr Monro, after completing the academical course of medical study at Edin-
burgh, under Drs Rutherford, Plumer, Sinclair, Alston, and other eminent men,
obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine, on the I7th of October, 1755. On that
occasion, he published and defended an inaugural dissertation, De Testibus et Se-
mine in variis Animalibus. That dissertation, which manifests his accurate
knowledge of minute anatomy, was illustrated by five capital engravings, each plate
containing several different figures ; and it laid the foundation of the important
discoveries which he afterwards made with regard to the lymphatic system. The
public testimony which Dr Monro thus gave of his anatomical knowledge, and
the reputation which he had acquired both as a demonstrator and lecturer, when
occasionally assisting his father, naturally attracted the attention of the patrons
of the university of Edinburgh ; and to secure to the seminary under their care,
a young man of such distinguished abilities, he was, on the 12th of July, 1755,
when he liad but just entered on the twenty-third year of his age, admitted
into the university as professor of anatomy and surgery, in conjunction with his
father ; but that father, still in the vigour of life, and fully able to execute every
part of the duties of his office, did not require the immediate assistance of his
son. Accordingly, young Monro, after finishing his academical studies at home,
resolved to prosecute them abroad. With this intention, he visited both London
and Paris, where he had an opportunity of being a pupil of the most eminent
professors in these cities. But his foreign studies were principally prosecuted at
the university of Berlin. There he had every opportunity of improving himself
under the celebrated professor Meckell, who was at that time justly esteemed
one of the first anatomical teachers in Europe. During his residence in Berlin,
he was not only a pupil at the prelections of Meckell, but lived in his house, and
thus enjoyed the benefit of his instructions both in public and private. That

DR. MONRO, SECUNDUS. 41

from these sources, his natural and acquired abilities were much improved, may
readily be supposed ; and he himself was so fully sensible of what he owed to so
eminent a preceptor as Meckell, tliat during the long period for which he taught
anatomy at Edinburgh, he allowed not a single year to pass without repeatedly
expressing his gratitude, for the instruction he had received under the roof of
this .justly celebrated professor.

From Berlin, Dr Monro returned to Edinburgh in summer 1758. Immedi-
ately upon his return, he was admitted a licentiate of the Koyal College of Phy-
sicians, and entered upon actual practice. As soon as the regulations of the
college would permit, he was raised to the rank of Fellowship, and took his seat
as a member of that respectable body on the 1st of May, 1759. After that date,
for more than half a century, he continued to exert himself with unwearied ac-
tivity, not only as a professor and practitioner, but as an improver of the heal-
ing art, and of our knowledge of the philosophy and structure of the animal
frame. This will abundantly appear from a short review of the different publi-
cations with which he has enriched the treasury of medical philosophy, convey-
ing important instruction both to his contemporaries, and to the latest posterity.

Very soon after he settled in Edinburgh, he not only became a colleague of
his father in the college, but he succeeded him also as secretary to the Philoso-
phical Society of Edinburgh. In the volumes published by the society, Dr
Monro first appeared as an author. His first publication was printed in the first
volume of a well known and justly celebrated work, entitled. Essays and Obser-
vations, Physical and Literary, read before a Society in Edinburgh, and pub-
lished by them. This first volume of their memoirs appeared in 1754, and
contains two anatomical essays by Alexander Monro, student of medicine in the
university of Edinburgh ; from both of which he obtained very great credit as an
intelligent and industrious young anatomist. In their second volume, published in
1756, are contained also two articles from his pen ; the dissection of a monster,
and the history of a genuine volvulus of the intestines ; both of which served ma-
terially to improve the philosophy of medicine, and to do credit to the author.
His next three publications were more of a controversial nature, than calculated
to extend our knowledge of the structure or philosophy of the human body.
From a very early period, as appears from his inaugural dissertation, he had
adopted the idea, that the valvular lymphatics over the whole of the animal
body, were one general system of absorbents : and, with the view of promulgat-
ing this doctrine, he published at Bei'lin, in 1758, a short treatise, Ue Venis
Lymphaticis Valvulosis. The grand idea, however, which this short treatise
contained, was afterwards claimed by Dr William Hunter of London ; and this
claim drew from the pen of Dr Monro two other publications, — Observations,
Anatomical and Physiological, wherein Dr Hunter's claim to some Discoveries,
is examined, — and, Answer to the Notes on the Postscript to Observations Ana-
tomical and Physiological. Here, the only difference between these two
eminent men, was, not with regard to the extent or use of the valvular lympha-
tics, but with regard to the merit of being the discoverer of their use. A judg-
ment on that controversy is now of very little importance ; and perhaps neither
of them is justly entitled to the merit of the discovery. For, prior to either,
that the lymphatics were a general system, had been explicitly stated by the il-
lustrious Hoffman. But that the anatomical labours, both of Monro and Hunter,
independently of any information wliich the one derived from the other, tended
very much to extend our knowledge of the lymphatic system, will not be denied
by any intelligent reader.

In the ye.ar 1771, the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, which Dr Monro
tended not a little to support, by fulfilling all the duties of an intelligent and

42 DR. MONRO, SECUNDUS.

active secretary, published the third and last volume of their Essays and Obser-
vations, Physical and Literary. This volume, among many other valuable es-
says, is enriched by a production of Dr Monro, entitled. An Attempt to Deter-
mine by Experiments, how far some of the most powerful Medicines, Opium,
Ardent Spiriu, and Essential Oils, affect Animals, by acting on those Nerves to
which they are primarily applied, and thereby bringing the rest of the Nervous
System irito sufferance, by what is called Sympathy of Nerves ; and how far these
Medicines affect Animals after being taken in by their Absorbent Veins, and
mixed and conveyed with their Blood in the course of circulation ; with Physio-
logical and Practical Remarks. This elaborate dissertation, highly interesting
in the practice of Medicine, afforded ample proofs of the genius, the judgment,
and the industry of the author.

In 1783, Dr Monro published a large folio volume, entitled, Observations on
the Structure and Functions of the Nervous System. This volume, which was
illustrated by numerous engravings, was soon afterwards translated into German
and into other modern European languages ; and, high as his reputation was
before, it tended both to support and to increase his fame.

The same consequences also resulted from another folio volume which he
published in the year 1785, entitled, The Structure and Physiology of Fishes,
explained and compared with those of Man and other Animals, illustrated with
Figures. In 1788, he published a third folio volume, entitled, A Descrip-
tion of all the Bursae Mucosae of the Human Body ; their Structure explained,
and compared with that of the Capsular Ligaments of the Joints ; and of those
Sacs which line the cavities of the thorax and abdomen, with Remarks on the
Accidents and Diseases which affect these several Sacs, and on the operations ne-
cessary fur their cure.

For these three works, the folio form was necessary, on account of the size
of the plates with which they were illustrated, and which had been engraved
at a very great expense. Although all these three folios were presented to the
learned world within the short space of five years, yet they may be considered
as the scientific fruits of the best part of Dr Monro's life. For, although a large
portion of his time was necessarily occupied in teaching anatomy to numerous
classes, and in extensive practice as a physician, yet, amidst all his important
avocations, he prosecuted with unwearied assiduity the extension of discovery,
and neglected no opportunity of increasing our knowledge of the philosophy of
the human body. Of his success in these interesting pursuits, the three works
now>mentioned, will transmit incontrovertible evidence to the latest posterity.

Dr Monro primus, as already noticed, had officiated for more than thirty
years as secretary to a Medical Society in Edinburgh, which was formed of the
most eminent physicians of the city at that time. During this period, he
had published in their name, six volumes of Medical Essays, which had ob-
tained the approbation of the most eminent physicians in every country of Eu-
rope, insomuch, that the illustrious Haller had represented it as a book qttem
nemo carere potest. But about the year 1750, a proposal was made to
unite the physicians and philosopiiers of Edinburgh into one Society. This
poposal was strenuously supported by Henry Home, afterwards lord Karnes,
and Mr David Hume. The union was accordingly accomplished ; and in
place of the Medical, they assumed the name of the Philosophical So-
ciety of Edinburgh. Dr Monro primus still continued to be one of their
secretaries, and had conjoined with him Mr David Hume, the historian, for
the philosophical department This society published three volumes of Essays
and Observations, Physical and Literary. The first volume, as hris already
been observed, contains some papers written by Alexander Monro secundus.

DR. MONRO, SECUNDUS. 43

when a student of medicine. But after his return from his studies on the
continent, and after his conjunction with his father in the professorship of
anatomy, he was also conjoined with him as secretary to the Philosophical
Society of Edinburgh ; and although Mr Hume still retained the name of the
philosophical secretary, yet Dr Monro secundus may justly be considered as the
editor of the two last volumes. With the venerable lord Karnes as their presi-
dent, and Dr Monro secundum as their acting secretary, (for Mr Hume, not
long after his appointment, left Edinburgh, to act in a diplomatic cliaracter in
France,) the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh had regular meetings. The
physicians and philosophers, who were then the greatest ornaments of Edin-
burgh,— lord Kames, Sir George Clerk, Mr John Clerk, Drs Cullen, Home,
Hope, Black, Young, Monro, and many others, — constituted the strength of
the association ; and the Essays and Observations, Physical and Literary,
which they published to the world, will ever hold a distinguished place in mark-
ing the progress of science. The third and last volume published by the
Philosophical Society of Edinburgh in 1771, contains several papers from the
pen of Dr Monro secundus. Besides the interesting experiments on opium,
ardent spirits, and essential oils, of which mention has already been made, it
contains important observations, communicated by him, on Polypus in the
Pharynx and (Esophagus, and on the use of mercury in convulsive diseases.
Soon after the publication of this third volume, a plan was projected for putting
the Pliilosophical Society of Edinburgh upon a still more respectable footing
and extensive scale, and of comprehending not only medical and physical
science, but every species of literary and philological discussions. This exten-
sion was particularly enforced by Dr Robertson, then principal, and Mr Dal-
zell, then professor of Greek, in the university of Edinburgh. The negotiation
terminated in the Philosophical Society as a body, with the addition of many
other eminent scholars, being incorporated by royal charter in the year 1782,
under the title of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,

On tiie establishment of the Royal Society, Dr Monro, whose time was much
occupied with extensive practice in medicine, declined any longer officiating as
secretary ; but he continued not only to be one of their councillors, but to be
an active and useful fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; and he en-
riched their transactions with several valuable communications, parti«:ularly with
the description of a human male monster, with an elaborate series of experi-
ments on animal electricity or galvanism, which, from the discoveries of Galvani,
professor of anatomy of Bologna, has engaged the attention of almost every
philosopher in Europe, and with observations on the Muscles, particularly on
the effects of their oblique fibres.

The last publication with which Dr Monro enriched medical science, Avas a
quarto volume, consisting of three treatises, on the Brain, the Eye, and the
Ear, published at Edinburgh in the year 1797. And although these organs
had before been examined with the utmost attention by anatomists of the first
eminence, yet, from careful examination, he made no inconsiderable addition
to our knowledge, both of the structure and functions of these important
organs.

Dr Monro's talents extended his fame over all Europe, and he had the
honour of being admitted a member of the most celebrated medical institutions,
particularly of the royal academies of Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Moscow, and
other learned societies. His eminence as an author was nut superior to his
fame as a teacher of medicine. For a long series of years his class room was
attended by crowded audiences ; and no hearer of real discernment could lis-
ten to him without being both pleased and instructed by his prelections. He

44 GEORGE CUNNINGHAM MONTEATH.

began to teach medicine immediately upon his return from the continent, at
the beginning of the winter session 1758-59. During that winter, his father,
Dr 3Ionro primus, gave the introductory lectures, and a very few others. But
by much the greater part of liie course was given by the young professor; and
for forty succeeding yeara he perfonned the arduous duties of the anatomical
chair without any assistant. No teacher could attend to the business of his
chair with more assiduity. Indeed, during the whole of that period, he made
it an invariable rule to postpone to his academical duties every other business
that could possibly admit of delay.

AVhile we thus state Dr 3Ionro's character as an author and a teacher, his
worth as a man and a citizen must not be forgotten. With his brethren of the
profession, and his colleagues in the university, he lived on the most amicable
terms. He seems to have had constantly in his mind the admirable observation
of Seneca : " Beneficiis humana vita consistit et concordia ; nee terrore, sed
mutuo amore, in fuedus auxiliumque commune constringitur." No man could en-
joy to a higher degree, or more successfully lead others to enjoy, innocent
mirth at the social board. He was one of the earliest members, and most regular
attendants of, the Harveian Society, — a society which was formed with the in-
tention of encouraging experimental inquiry among the rising generation, and
in promoting convivial mirth among its living members. In every respect Dr
Monro was an honest and an honourable man. He was no flatterer ; but he did
not withhold applause where he thought it was merited. Both the applause
and the censure of Dr Monro upon all occasions, demonstrated the candid, the
open, and the honest man. As a citizen, a friend, and a parent, his conduct
was amiable and affectionate in the higliest degree ; and as a medical writer
and teacher, he had few equals among his contemporaries. His various pub-
lished works may be recapitulated as follows : Treatise on the Lymphatics,
1770 ; On the Anatomy of Fishes, 1785 ; On the Nerves, 1783 ; On'tlie Bursa
Mucosas, 1788; and three Treatises on the Brain, the Eye, and the Ear,
1797.

Dr Monro's chief amusements lay in the witnessing of dramatic performances,
and in the cultivation of his garden. Not many years after his establisluuent
in Edinburgh he purchased the beautiful estate of Craiglockhart, on the banks
of the Water of Leith, within a few miles of the city. He planted and beauti-
fied some charmingly romantic hills, which afforded him such delightful pros-
pects of wood and water, hill and dale, city and cottage, as have seldom been
equalled ; and here he spent many hours stolen from the labours of his profes-
sion. In 1800, finding his health declining, he began to receive the assistance
of his son, Dr Alexander Monro, Urtius, who succeeded him as professor of
anatomy ; but he continued to deliver the most important part of the lectures
till 1808 9, when he closed his academical labours, to the regret of his numerous
students. At the same time he gave up his medical practice, but survived till
the 2<1 of October, 1817, when he died in the 85lh year of his age.

MONTEATH, George Cunningham, author of a Manual of the Diseases of the
Human Eye, was born, December 4, 1788, in the manse of Neilston, Benfrew-
shire, of wliich parish his father, the Rev. Dr John Monteath, (latterly of Hous-
ton and Killallan,) was then minister. After passing through the medical and
surgical classes in the university of Glasgow, the subject of this notice attended
the hospitals in London, where he attracted the notice of Sir Astley Cooper,
and other eminent anatomists, and received a diploma fnmi the Royal College
of Surgeons. In 1809, by the recommendation of Dr M. Baillie, he w.n8 ap-
pointed surgeon to lord Lovaine's Northumberland regiment of militia, in which
situation he remained four yeai-s, honoured with the aflection and esteem of all

GEORGE CUNNINGHAM MONTEATH. 45

his brother officers. He then resigned his commission, and commenced practice
in Glasgow, as a physician and oculist. In 1813, he commenced, with a friend,
a series of lectures on practical anatomy, but was soon obliged, by the rapid in-
crease of his practice, to relinquish this duty. Being the first practitioner in
Glasgow who devoted particular attention to the diseases of the eye, he soon be-
came celebrated, not only in the city, but over all the west of Scotland, for his
skilful treatment of that class of complaints, and had many important and diffi-
cult cases intrusted to him. In 1821, he published his Manual of the Diseases
of the Human Eye, which became a popular work on the subject. Though
possessed originally of a good constitution, Dr Monteath gradually sank under
the pressure of his multifarious duties ; and, having been seized with inflammation,
in consequence of a night journey, he was cut oif, January 25, 1828, in the
fortieth year of his age.

Dr Monteath was characterized, by one who knew him well, and who under-
took the task of commemorating his death in the public prints, as " at once an
accomplished physician and an eminent surgeon." His mind, distinguished as it
was by clearness of method, minuteness of observation, and soundness of judg-
ment, was particularly fitted for the investigations of the former profession.
His power of distinguishing, (perhaps the power upon which success in the prac-
tice of medicine depends more than any other,) added to his thorough know-
ledge of what others had discovered, and his readiness in applying what either
his erudition or his experience supplied, made some regret that he did not de-
vote himself to the business of a physician alone.

" As a surgeon, however, his success was perhaps still more remarkable. It
was not the success of chance, — it was the result of patient application, at an
early period of life, to that science, without which all attempts at eminence in
this department, must necessarily fail, — we mean the science of anatomy. It
was the result of close and emulous attention to the practice of the ablest sur-
geons in the metropolis. It was attributable in no small degree to an accuracy
in planning his operations, and a collectedness of mind at the time of operation,
such that no accident could occur which had not been preconsidered, or which
could in the slightest measure discompose him. Every surgical operation which
he undertook, had evidently been the subject of mucii previous thought, — every
ordinary circumstance had been carefully investigated, — many circumstances
which a common mind would probably have overlooked, had been weighed
with deep attention, — and neither the honour of his art, nor the safety of his
patient, was at any time left to what might occur at the moment.

" Dr Monteath was particularly distinguished as an oculist, and was unques-
tionably the first individual in this city who materially improved the treatment
of the diseases of the eye. It was here that the qualities of mind, to which we
have already alluded, were of the greatest service to him, — namely, his power
of minute observation, and the art, in which he so highly excelled, of distin-
guishing cases, which, though they might seem alike when viewed superficially,
were, in fact, very different, and might require even opposite means of cure.

" Dr Monteath's attention to his patients was particularly deserving of approba-
tion,— it extended to the poorest as well as the richest, and allowed no cir-
cumstance to escape notice, which could tend, even in a remote degree, to
alleviate suffering, or secure recovery. Those who had no other means of judg-
ing of his superiority as a medical practitioner, must have been struck with this
trait of his character, and acknowledged it as an excellence of no mean value.
His manner was soothing, and his politeness fascinating. None who had ever
employed him as a medical attendant, could see him approach, without feeling
their distress already in part subdued, their fears allayed, and their hopes in-

46 ALEXANDER MONTGOMERY;

vigorated, by the presence of one, in whose nuiple skill and unwearied pning
they could so implicitly confide."

MON TGOMEHY, Alexander, an early poet of considerable fame, appears
to have been a younger son of Montgomery of Hazelhead Castde, in Ayrshire,
a branch of the noble family of Eglintoune. He flourished in the reign of James
VI., but probably wrote verses at an antecedent period, as some of his composi-
tions are transcribed in the Bannatyne Manuscript, which was written in 1568.
The date of his birth — further than that it was upon an Easter-day — the place
and nature of his education, and the pursuits of his early years, are all involved
in obscurity. He is said to have been brought up in the county of Argyle ; a
fact which seems to gather some confirmation from a passage in Dempster —
" eques Montanus vulgo vocatus," — as if he had acquired some common nick-
name, such as " the Highland trooper ;" for Montgomery never was knighted.
There is some reason to suppose that he was at one time a domestic or com-
mander in the guard of the regent Morton. His most familiar title, " Captain
Alexander Montgomery," renders it probable that the latter was the nature of
his office, for the word Captain seems to have been first used in Scotland, in
reference to officers in the immediate service of the sovereign. Melville, in his
Diary, mentions that when Patrick Adamson was promoted to the archbishopric
of St Andrews, (an event which occurred in the year 1577,) there was then at
court " captain Montgomery, a good honest man, and the regent's domestic,''
who, recollecting a phrase which the new primate had been accustonied to use
in his sermons, remarked to some of his companions, " for as often as it was
reported by Mr Patrick, the prophet would mean this, I never understood
what the prophet meant till now."

Montgomery appears afterwards to have been in the service of king James,
who, in his ilewles and Cautelis, published in 1582, quotes some of the
poems of tile subject of this memoir. His services were acknowledged by
a pension of five hundred merks, chargeable upon certain rents of the arch-
bishopric of Glasgow, which was confirmed in 1583, and again in 1589. Vari-
ous places throughout Scotland are pointed out by tradition, as having been the
residence of Montgomery, particularly the ruins of Compston Castle, near
Kirkcudbright, now involved in the pleasure grounds connected with the modern
mansion-house of Dundrennan. In 1586, the poet commenced a tour of the
Continent. After his return, he was involved in a tedious and vexatious lawsuit
respecting his pension, which drew from him some severe remarks upon the
lawyers and judges of that time. Of his principal poem, " Tlie Cherry and the
Slae," the first known edition was printed by Robert Waldegrave, in 1607. The
poet appears, from a passage in a memoir of Mure of Rowallan,' his nephew, to
have died between this date and 1611.

" The poems of Montgomery," says Dr Irving, ** display an elegant and
lively fancy ; and his versification is often distinguished by a degree of har-
mony, which most of his contemporaries were incapable of attaining. He has
attempted a great variety of subjecU, as well as of measures, but his chief beau-
ties seem to be of the lyric kind. It is highly probable that his taste was
formed by the study of the Italian poets : he has left many sonneU constructed
on the regular model, and his quaint conceits seem not unfrequently to betray
their lulian origin. The subject of love, which has attbrded so fertile a theme
to the poets of every ago and nation, has furnished Montgomery with the most

common and favourite topic for the exercise of his talents His

most serious effort is, ' The Cherry and the Slae,' a poem of considerable length,

and certainly of very considerable ingenuity The images are

> Lyie's Ballads, Loudon, 1827.

JAMES MOOB, LL.D. 47

scattered even with profusion ; and almost every stanza displays the vivacity of
the author's mind. In this, as well as in his other productions, Montgomery's
illustrations are very frequently and very happily drawn from the most familiar
objects ; and he often applies proverbial expressions, in a very pointed and

pleasing manner. The genuine explanation of the allegory may

perhaps be, that virtue, though of very hard attainment, ought to be preferred
to vice : virtue is represented by the cherry, a refreshing fruit, growing upon a
tali tree, and that tree rising from a formidable precipice ; vice is represented
by the sloe, a fruit which may easily be plucked, but is bitter to the taste."

" The Cherry and the Slae" has longer retained popularity than any other
poetical composition of the reign of James VI. It continued to be occasionally
printed, for popular use, till a recent period ; and in 1822, this, as well as the
other poetical works of Montgomery, appeared in a very handsome edition,
under the superintendence of 3Ir David Laing. Dr Irving contributed to the
publication a biographical preface, from which we have chiefly derived the pre-
sent memoir.

MOOR, James, LL.D., an eminent Greek scholar, was the son of 3Ir Ro-
bert Muir, schoolmaster in Glasgow ; a person of considerable learning, and of
such unwearied industry, that, being too poor to purchase Newton^s Principia,
he copied the whole book with his own hand. The subject of this notice en-
tered the university of Glasgow in 1725, and distinguished himself by great
industry and capacity as a student. After finishing his academical course, and
taking the degree of M. A., with considerable applause, he taught a school for
some time in Glasgow. This situation he seems to have abandoned, in order to
become tutor to the earls of Selkirk and Errol, in which capacity he travelled
abroad. He was afterwards in the family of the earl of Kilmarnock ; and on
the burning of Dean Caslle, which took place in his absence, lost a considerable
stock of books, which he had employed himself in collecting for his own use.
Without the knowledge of the earl. Moor instructed lord Boyd in Greek, so
that the young nobleman was able to surprise his father one day by reading, at
his tutor's desire, one of the odes of Anacreon. In 1742, he was appointed
librarian to the university of Glasgow ; and in July, 1746, became professor of
Greek in the same nstitution, the earl of Selkirk advancing him ^600, in
order to purchase the resignation of the preceding incumbent. On the con-
demnation of his patron, the earl of Kilmarnock, for his concern in the insur-
rection of 1745, Moor, who was of opposite politics, made a jouniey to London,
for the purpose of making interest with the ministers for his lordship's pardon ;
an enterprise honourable to his feelings, however unsuccessful.

Moor was a useful professor, and, besides his academical duties, conferred
some benefits on the literary world by his publications. In company with pro-
fessor Muirhead, he superintended, at the request of the university, a very
splendid edition of Homer, published by the Foulises of Glasgow. He also
edited their Herodotus, and was of service in several of their other publications.
Some essays, read by him before the Literary Society [of Glasgow], of which he
was a constituent member, were collected and published, in 8vo, in 1759. In
1766, he published " A Vindication of Virgil from the charge of Puerility, im-
puted to him by Dr Pearce," 12mo. His principal work, however, was his
Grammar of the Greek Language, which has ever since been very extensively
used in schools. He collected a large and valuable library, and selected a
cabinet of medals, which the university afterwards purchased. In 1761, he was
appointed vice-rector of the college, by the earl of Errol, the lord rector, who,
under the designation of lord Boyd, had formerly been his pupil. In 1763,
he applied to the university for the degree of Doctor of Laws, which was granted

4S DR. JOHN MOORE.

to him, in consideration of his talents and services. Dr Moor was addicted to the
cultivation of light literature, and used to amuse himself and iiis friends, by
writing verses in the lludibrastic vein. He resigned his chair in 1774, on ac-
count of bad health, and died on the 17th of September, 1779.

MOORE, (Dr) John, a miscellaneous writer of the last century, was born in
Stirling, in the year 1730. His father, the reverend Charles Moore, was a
clergyman of the Scottish episcopal church, settled at Stirling. His mother was
the daui,'hter of John Anderson, Esq., Dowhill, Glasgow.

On the death of his father, which took place in 1735, his mother removed
with her family to Glasgow, where a small property had been left her by her
father. Having here gone through the usual course of grammar-sdiool educa-
tion, young J>Ioore was matriculated at the university, and attended the
various classes necessary to qualify him for the profession of medicine, for which
he was early intended. At a more advanced stage of his studies he was placed
under the care of Dr Gordon, an eminent practitioner of tliat day; and while
under his tuition attended the lectures of Dr Hamilton, then anatomical demon-
strator, and those of the celebrated Dr CuUen, at that time professor of medicine
at Glasgow.

In 1747, Mr Moore, desirous of adding to the professional knowledge which
he had already acquired, by visiting a new and wider field of experience, pro-
ceeded to the continent, under the protection of the duke of Argyle, to whom
he had procured an introduction. The duke, then a commoner, was lieutenant-
colonel of a regiment of foot, and was about to embark for Flanders to serve
under the duke of Cumberland, who was there in command of tiie allied
army. 'On arriving at Maestricht, he attended the military hospitals there, in
the i^ipacity of mate, and found abundance of practice, as these receptacles were
filled with soldiers, wounded at the battle of LafTeldt, which had just been
fought. In consequence of a recommendation which he soon after obtained
from 3Ir Middleton, director-general of the military hospitals, to the earl of
Albemarle, Mr Moore removed to Flushing, where he again attended the mili-
tary hospitals. From this duty, however, he was almost inmiediately called to
the assistance of the surgeon of the Coldstream foot guards, of which regiment
his new patron, the earl of Albemarle, was colonel. With this corps, Mr
Moore, after passing tlie autumn of 1747 in Flushing, removed to Breda,
where he spent the winter in garrison. In the summer of the following year,
a peace having been in the mean time concluded, he returned to England with
general Braddock.

Although thus fairly on the world, and in possession of very considerable ex-
perience in his profession, Mr Moore was yet only in the seventeenth year of
his age. After remaining some time in London, during which he attended
the anatomical lectures of his celebrated countryman, Dr Hunter, he went to
Paris, to acquire what knowledge might be afforded by an attendance on the
hospital and medical lectures of that city, then reckoned the best school in
Europe. Fortunately for Mr Moore, his early patron, the earl of Albemarle,
was at this time residing in Paris, as ambassador from the court of Great
Britain. Mr Moore lost no time in waiting upon his excellency, who, having
always entertained the highest opinion of his merits, immediately appointed
him surgeon to his household. He had thus an opportunity afforded him of
enjoying the first society in Paris, being at all times a welcome guest at the
table of the ambassador.

After residing nearly two years in the French capital, Mr Moore was
invited by his first master, Dr Gordon, to return to Glasgow, and to enter into
partnership with him in his business. With this invitation he thought it ad-

■?iti"sn-e of TtaTU-f'

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SBOii THE ORierHAL IH THE POSSESSIO:!! OE

CHAHLES ■MACXNTOSH.EBQIIEKE.F.A.S.nilN'CHATTjtN.

BI.ACraB & sou, GEIiASQOW, KDINBURaH fcLaHDON.

DR. JOHN MOOEE. 49

visable to comply, and soon after left Paris. He returned, however, by the way
of London, where lie remained a few months for the purpose of attending
another course of Dr Hunter's lectures, together with those of Dr Sniellie on
midwifery. From London he proceeded to Glasgow, when the proposed con-
nexion with Dr Gordon immediately took place. This connexion continued for
two years. At the end of that period, his partner having received a diploma,
confined himself solely to the practice of physic, while Mr Moore continued the
business of a surgeon, assuming now as his partner, Mr Hamilton, professor of
anatomy, instead of Dr Gordon, who had necessarily, from tiie change in his
practice, withdrawn from the concern.

In 17G9, a circumstance occurred which totally altered Dr Moore's prospects
in life, and opened up others more congenial, there is every reason to believe,
than those to which his profession confined him. In the year just named, he
was called upon to attend James George, duke of Hamilton, who, then but in
the fourteenth year of his age, was affected with a consumptive disorder, of
which, after a lingering illness, he died. Dr Moore's assiduity in this case, al-
though unavailing as to the issue, led to a close conne«ion with the noble
family of his late patient In tiie following year, having previously obtained
a diploma as doctor of medicine from the university of Glasgow, he was en-
gaged by the duchess of Argyle to attend her son, tlie duke of Hamilton, as
a companion during his travels. The duke, who was at this time about
fourteen or fifteen years of age, was, like his brother, also of a sickly con-
stitution, and in Dr Moore was found exactly such a person as was fittest to at-
tend him ; one who combined a knowledge of medicine with some experience
of continental travel, and an enlightened mind. The young duke and his com-
panion remained abroad for five years, during which they visited France, Italy,
Switzerland, and Germany.

On his return from the continent, which was in the year 1778, Dr Moore
removed with his family from Glasgow to London, and in the year following,
1779, published his celebrated work, entitled, "A View of Society and Plan-
ners in France, Switzerland, and Germany." This work was so well received,
that it attained a seventh edition in less than ten years, besides the Irish
editions, and French, German, and Italian translations. Two years afterwards,
he published a continuation of the same work, entitled, " A View of Society
and 3Ianners in Italy." During this period, however, his medical practice was
by no means extensive ; a circumstance which has been attributed, not to any
disinclination on the part of the public, with whom he was so popular as an au-
thor, to patronize him, but to his own reluctance to engage in the drudgery en-
tailed on a general practice. The rambling and unfettered life which he had
led upon the continent had, in a great degree, unfitted him for the laborious
routine of professional duty, and his reluctance again to involve himself in it
appears to have adhered to him throughout the whole of his after life, and
greatly marred his prosperity in the world.

In 1785, he published his " 3Iedical Sketches;" a work which sufficiently
showed that his limited practice did not proceed from any deficiency of know-
ledge in his profession. It was received with much favour by the public, al-
though it is said to have given offence to some of the medical gentlemen of the
time, who thought their interest likely to suffer by the disclosures which it
made of what had hitherto been considered amongst the secrets of the pro-
fession.

Dr Moore's next publication was his celebrated novel, " Zeluco," a work un-
questionably of the very highest order of merit, and which has long since
become one of the fixed and component parts of every British library.

50 SIR JOHN MOORE.

In the August of 1792, he went to Paris, to witness with his own eyes the
meniornble proceedings which were then in progress in the French capital,
and which others were content to learn from report. Dr Mooro, on this oc-
casion, frequently attended the National Assembly. He was present also
at the attack on tiie Tuilleries, and witnessed many other sanguinary doings
of that frightful period. On his return to England, he began to arrange the
materials with which his journey had supplied him, and in 1795, published " A
View of the Causes and Progress of the French Revolution," in two volumes
8to., dedicated to the duke of Devonshire. This work was followed, in 1796,
by " Edward : Various Views of Human Nature, taken from Life and Mau-
i ners, chiefly in England;" and this again, in 1800, by " Mordaunl, being
Sketches of Life, Characters, and Manners in various countries; including the
Memoirs of a French Lady of Quality," in two volumes 8vo. These works
scarcely supported the reputation which their author had previously acquired :
in the latter he is supposed, in detailing some gallant feats of a young British
officer, to allude to his heroic son, the late general Moore, who was then a
field- officer. ^

Dr Moore has the merit of having been one of the first men of note who ap-
preciated and noticed the talents of Burns, who drew up, and forwarded to him,
at his request, a sketch of his life. This was followed by a correspondence in
1787, which is to be found in those editions of the poet's works, which include
his Letters.

At the time of the publication of his last work, " Mordaunt," Dr Moore had
attained the 70th year of his age. He did not again appear before the public,
but spent the short remaining period of his life in the quiet seclusion of his
residence at Richmond, in Surrey. After an illness of considerable duration,
he died at his house in Clifford Street, London, February 29, 1802.

" As an author," says a distinguished modern writer,' " Dr Moore was more
distinguished by the range of his information, than by its accuracy, or extent
upon any particular subject ; and his writings did not owe their celebrity to any
great depth or even originality of thought As a novelist, he showed no ex-
traordinary felicity in the department of invention ; no great powers of diversi-
fying his characters, or ease in conducting his narrative. The main quality of
his works is that particular species of sardonic wit, with which they are indeed
perhaps profusely tinctured, but which fi'equently confers a grace and poignancy
on the general strain of good sense and judicious observation, that pervades the
whole of them,"

Dr Moore left five sons, and one daughter, by his wife, previously Miss Sim-
son, daughter of the reverend Mr Simson, professor of divinity in the univer-
sity of Glasgow. The eldest of the former, John, became the celebrated military
general already alluded to ; the second adopted his father's profession ; the
third entered the navy ; the fourth was admitted into the department of the
secretary of state ; and the fifth was bred to the bar.

MOORE, (Sir) John, a distinguished military commander, was born at Glasgow,
on the 13th of November, 1761. He was the eldest son of Dr John Moore, the
subject of the preceding article, by a daughter of John Simson, professor of
divinity in the university of Glasgow. His education commenced at a public
school in Glasgow, and, afterwards advanced at the university of that city, was
completed under the eye of his father, then acting as travelling tutor to the
duke of Hamilton. The subject of this memoir accompanied Dr Moore during
five years of continental travel, by which means he acquired a knowledge of

1 Mr Thomas Campbell, in his memoir of Dr Moore, oontributed to Brewster's Edinburgh
Encyclopedia.

Sir T. Lawrence.

LllEPJTENAKlT v^EKIilA.! SOIR JQIHIKI i^OOlEpKolB.

Bi MT:V'. Se r.rrN. r,LA;\(¥1W RDUTBtlKGaS- LONDON

SIR JOHN MOORE. 51

most European languages, and a degree of polish and intelligence very uncom-
mon in young men of his rank, either in that or the present age. Having
chosen the army as a profession, he obtained, through the Hamilton interest, a
commission as ensign in the 51st regiment, which he joined at Minorca in
1776, being then only fifteen years of age. A lieutenancy in the 82nd regi-
ment was his first step of promotion ; and he seems to have held that station, with-
out much distinction or any censure, during the several campaigns of the Ameri-
can war, at the end of which, in 1783, his regiment was reduced. In 1788,
he was appointed major in the 60th; but this he soon exchanged for a similar
post in his original regiment, the 5 1st: in 1790, he purchased a lieutenant-
colonelcy in the same regiment

Such was the rank of Sir John 3Ioore at the commencement of the French
revolutionary war. From Gibraltar, where he was then stationed, he was ordered,
in 1794, to accompany the expedition for the reduction of Corsica. The bravery
and skill which he displayed on this occasion, especially in storming the JIo-
zello fort, where he received his first wound, introduced him to the favourable
notice of general Chai'les Stuart, whom he succeeded soon after in the capacity
of adjutant-general. Returning to England in 1795, he was raised to the rank
of brigadier-general, and appointed to serve with Sir Ralph Abercromby, in the
expedition against the West Indies. There he assisted in the reduction of
Demerara, Essequebo, and Berbice, and afterwards in that of St Lucie; in which
last enterprise, he had an important post assigned to him, the duties of which he
executed in such a manner, that he was characterized by general Abercromby
as " the admiration of the whole army," and aflferwards intrusted with the
government of the island. This charge, undertaken with reluctance, and ren-
dered full of danger and labour from the hfistility of the natives, and the number
of Maroon negroes who constantly infested the country, was managed with a
decision and activity that overcame every obstacle.

Two sucfiessive attacks of the yellow fever, soon compelled general Moore to
leave the West Indies ; but, in company with Sir Ralph Abercromby, he wag
destined to reach yet higher distinction. The first scene in which they again
acted together, was the Irish rebellion of 1798. The victory gained over the
rebels at Wexford, mainly owing to the talents of general flloore, was the pre-
lude to the suppression of that luckless movement of an irritated people. This
field of exertion was not that in which a soldier of good feelings can be anxious
to gain distinction ; nor was there much scope for military talent in the enter-
prise. It is, therefore, highly creditable to general Moore, that he acquitted
himself of all the duties intrusted to him on the occasion, with universal appro-
bation.

In 1799, the subject of our memoir, promoted to the rank of major-gene-
ral, served under Sir Ralph Abercromby in the unfortunate expedition to the
Helder, where he displayed his wonted bravery, and was slightly wounded. In
the subsequent campaign in Egypt, under the same commander, he found a wider
and more favourable theatre for the display of his military talents. In the land-
ing at Aboukir, he led the way, and cairied by assault the batteries with which
the French endeavoured to prevent that movement In the subsequent battle of
Aboukir, March 21, 1801, he conducted himself with signal gallantry, and was
severely wounded.

At the end of the campaign, he returned to England, and received the honour
of knighthood, with the order of the Bath. For some time after this, he held
an important command in Kent, and afterwards succeeded general Fox in the
command of the army in Sicily, whence he was recalled in the end of the year
1807. In the month of May, 1808, he was sent to the Baltic, with an arniar

52 SIR JOHN MOORE.

ment of ten thousand men, on behalf of the king of Sweden, who was at this
time threatened with sinmltaneous attacks from France, Russia, and Denmark.
With this force. Sir John reached Gottenburg on the 17th, but was not per-
mitted to land the troops ; he himself, however, repaired to Stockholm, to con-
sult with the Swedish cabineL Here, to his astonishment, he learned that the
Swedish monarch, despising the tame idea of defensive operations, was wholly
engrossed witii dreams of conquesL He proposed that some Swedish regiments
should be collected at (iottenburg, with which the British troops should be
joined, and that tills united force should take possession of Zealand. The British
general represented this to be impossible, on account of the number of French
and Spanisii troops which occupied the island of Funen, and which could not,
in present circumstances, be prevented from p<issing over to Zealand. It was
next proposed to land the British alone in Finland, where they would have
liad the principal part of the whole effective force of the Russian empire to con-
tend with. Sir John having, in reply to this proposal, modestly hinted that ten
thousand British troops might not be found equal to such an undertaking, the
impatient Gustavu% ordered him to be instantly arrested. He had the good
fortune, however, to make his escape, and with the troops returned immediately
to England. Without being permitted to land, general Moore was ordered to
proceed, under the command of Sir Harry Burrard, to Portugal, in order to
give the aid of his talents to the expedition already formed in that country, for
tile assistance of the Spanish patriots, in expelling the French from their terri<
tory.

Sir John did not arrive in Portugal till after the signing of the convention
of Cintra, and thus escaped all participation in the odium which was attached to
that transaction. Disgusted with the manner in which the affairs of Portugal
were conducted, Sir Arthur W^ellesley, now duke of W'ellington, applied for
leave of absence, which was granted. Sir Hew Dalrymple was recalled, and Sir
Harry Burrard having resigned. Sir John Moore was left commander-in-chief of
the army. In this command he was formally confirmed by a letter from lord
Castlereagh, dated September 25, 1808, which informed him, that an army
under his orders, of not less than thirty-five thousand men, five thousand of them
cavalry, was to be employed in the north of Spain, for assisting the Span-
ish government. Fifteen thousand troops, it was stated, were to be sent to
join him by the way of Corunna; and he Wfis to make immediate preparations
for carrying the plan into efiect, it being left to his own judgment to inarch for
■ome point in Galicia, or on the borders of Leon, by land ; or to transport his
troops by sea, from Lisbon to Corunna, whither the re-inforcements for his
army were to be sent. Sir John 3Ioore lost no time in entering upon the duties
of his important charge, though he seems to have done so under a melancholy
foreboding, sufficiently warranted by the miserable condition of his army, of
what would be the result. " At this instant," he says, writing to lord Castle*
reagh on the receipt of his commission, "the army is without equipments of any
kind, either for the carriage of the light baggage of regiments, military stores,
commissariat stores, or other appendages of an army, and not a magazine is
formed in any of the routes (for he had determined on the expedition by land)
by which we are to march." By a subsequent letter, written ten days after the
above, we find that the army was also in a great measure destitute of money,
and, amongst other necessaries, particularly in want of shoes. On the 27th
of October, he left Lisbon, the greater part of the army being already on the
route for Burgos, which had been assigned by the Spanish government as the
point where the British forces were to be concentrated ; Madrid and Valladolid
were the places appointed for magazines : and Sir John Moore was ofHcialiy in-

SIR JOHN MOORE. 53

foriued, that he would find sixty or seventy thousand men, assembled under
Blake and Romana, in the Asturias and Galicia, ready to act along with him.
These were stated to be independent of the armies in the front and on the left
iiank of the Frencli position ; the latter of which, under the command of the
marquis De Castanos, was supposed to be numerous, and well appointed. The
enthusiasm of the Spaniards in defence of their national independence, was also
stated to be sucli, that it would be utterly impossible for a French army to enter
the defiles of the Asturias, without being cut ofi^by the armed peasants alone.

AH these flattering representations the British general soon found to be ut-
terly destitute of foundation. In marching through Portugal, he was hardly
treated with civility, and everything furnished to him by the authorities was
charged at a high price. Specie, in Britain, was at the time not to be ob-
tained, and not only government bills, but even promissory notes, were refused,
which subjected the army to great inconvenience, and much extra expense.
The ignorance, too, of the Portuguese, was so extreme, that the state of the
roads could not be ascertained, but by sending British officers, stage by stage,
a-head of the advancing columns. With all these disadvantages, however, the
general and a part of the army rea(;hed Almeida on tiie 8th of November.
The weatlier was exceedingly rainy, but the troops moved on, and hitherto had
conducted themselves with a propriety and moderation which surprised the in-
habitants. Here, however, it was found that some soldiers had committed sev-
eral serious crimes, and it being judged necessary that a signal example should
be made to prevent their recurrence, one of the most notorious offenders w3a
put to death. The general orders on this occasion, we lay before the reader,
as illustrative of the highly dignified and amiable character of Sir John Moore.

" Nothing could be more pleasing to the commander of the forces, than to
show mercy to a soldier of good character, who had been led inadvertently to
commit a crime ; but he should consider himself neglectful of his duty, if, from
ill-judged lenity, he pardoned deliberate villany.

** The crime committed by the prisoner now under sentence, is of this nature;
and there is nothing in his private character or conduct, which could give the
least hope of his amendment, were he pardoned. He must, therefore, suffer
the awful punishment to which he has been condemned. The commander of
the forces trusts that the troops he commands, will seldom oblige him to resort
to punishments of this kind ; and such is his opinion of British soldiers, that he
is convinced they will not, if the officers do their duty, and pay them proper
attention. He, however, takes this opportunity to declare to the army, that he
is determined to show no mercy to plunderers and marauders, or, in other words,
to thieves and villains. The army is sent by England to aid and support the
Spanish nation, not to plunder and rob its inhabitants ; and soldiers, who so
far forget wiiat is due to their own honour, and the honour of their country, as
to commit such acts, shall be delivered over to justice. Ihe military law must
take its course, and the punishment it awards shall be inflicted."

On the 1 1 th of November, the advanced guard crossed a rivulet, which divides
Portugal from Spain, and marched to Giudad Bodrigo, the governor of which
met the Britisii general two miles from the city. A salute was fired from the
ramparts, and the general was afterwards hospitably entertained in the principal
house in the town. The state of' the country, and the manners of the people,
they found here to be remarkably changed, and the change highly to the ad-
vantage of Spain. At Ciudad Kodrigo they were received by the people with
shouts of " Viva los Ingleses." On the 1 3th, Sir John 3Ioore arrived at Sala-
manca, where he halted to concentrate his fon;es ; Burgos, the place appointed
for that purpose, being already occupied by the French. On his arrival at

64 SIR JOHN MOORE.

Salamanca, Sir John Moore addressed a long letter to lord William Bentinck, a
few extracts from which will put tlie reader in possession of tiie knowledge of
Sir John's feelings and views, and of the state of the country at this period. " I
am sorry to say," he writes, " from Sir David Haird I hear nothing but com-
plaints of the Junta of Corunna, who offered hins no assistance. Tiiey promise
every thing, but give nothing; and, after waiting day after day for carts whidi
they had promised to procure for the carriage of stores, his conunissary was at
last obliged to contract for them at an exorbitant price, and tiien got them.
Tiiis is really a sort of conduct quite intolerable to troops that the Spanish
govenwiient have asked for, and for wliose advance they are daily pressing. —
On my arrival here, and telling colonel 0*Lowlar that I wished to have supplies
immediately provided on tlie road from Astorga to this place, for the march of
the troops from Corunna, he begun by telling me, that a power whidi he should
have got, and which it was promised should be sent after him from Madrid, had
not been sent ; that he had thus no authority, and had hitherto been acting
upon his own credit, &c. I run over all this to you, though perhaps it should
properly be addressed to Mr Frere, but to you I can state it Avith more ease ;
and I shall thank you to speak to Frere upon it, when I hope he will have some
serious counnunication with the Spanish ministers, and plainly tell them, if tiiey
expect the advance of the British army, they nmst pay somewhat more attention
to its wants. Proper officers must be sent to me, vested witli full powere to call
forth the resources of the country when they are wanted, and without delay, the
same as is done, I presume, for the Spanish armies. We shall pay, but they are
not to allow us to be imposed upon, but to tell us what is paid by the Spanish
government in such cases. We find no difficulty with the people ; they receive
us everywhere well, but the authorities are backward, and not liite those of
a country who wish our assistance. With respect to magazines, it is impossi-
ble for me to say where they ought to be made. Witli respect to those at
Madrid, it is very likely to be a proper place for Spain to collect a considerable
depot of various kinds. It is their capital, and they know best; but it does not
seem to me to be a place where the British could be called upon to make any
collection. We shall establish small magazines, for consumption, in the neigh-
bourhood where we are acting. Those great resources whicli a country makes for
general supply, should be made by Spain, that when we approach them, we may
draw from them, and pay for what we get : but Spain should make them, and be at
the expense and trouble of their conservation. As I believe we are giving money
to Spain, part of it may be applied by them in this manner ; but it is they that
should do it, not we. I have no objection to you or Mr Frere representing the
necessity of as many more British troops, as you tliink proper. It is ceiiain
that the agents which our government have hitherto employed, have deceived
them ; for aff^airs here are by no means in the flourishing state they are re-
presented and believed to be in England, and the sooner the truth is known
there, the better. But you must observe, my lord, that whatever is critical,
must now be decided by the troops which are here. The French, I suspect, are
ready, and will not wait I differ with you in one point, — when you say the
chief and great obstacle and resistance to the French, will be afforded by the
English army : if that be so, Spain is lost. The English army, I hope, will do
all whidi can be expected from their numbers; but the safety of Spain depends
upon the union of its inhabitants, their enthusiasm in their rause, and their firm
determination to die rather than submit to tlie French. Nothing short of this,
will enable them to resist the formidable attack about to be made upon them.
If they will adhere, our aid r^n be of the greatest use to them ; but if not, we
shall soon be out-numbered, were our force quadrupled. I am, therefore, much

SIR JOHN MOORE. 65

more anxious to see exertion and energy in the government, and enthusiasm in
their armies, than to have my force augmented. The moment is a critical one,
—my own situation is peculiarly so, — I have never seen it otherwise ; but I have
pushed into Spain at all hazards. This was the order of my government, and it
was the will of tlie people of England. I shall endeavour to do my best, hoping
that all the bad that may happen, will not happen, but that with a share of bad,
we shall also have a portion of good fortune."

The despondency here expressed by the general was not lessened by the in-
forniation he received in two days afterwards, that the French were not only in
possession of Burgos, but also of Valladolid, within twenty leagues of Salaman*
ca, where he now lay with only three brigades of infantry, and without a single
gun ; and, though the remainder of his army was coming up as fast as possible,
he was aware that the whole could not arrive in less than ten days. Instead of
the Spanish army of seventy thousand men that was to have joined him here,
there was not so much as a single Spanish piquet to cover his front, or to act
as guides in the country, of every portion of which the British army, both of-
ficers and men, were perfectly ignorant. Sir John Moore immediately commun-
icated the intelligence to the Junta of Salamanca ; telling them that he must
have the use of all the carts and mules in the country to transport his
magazines to Ciudad Rodrigo should it become requisite, and that the troops
with three days' provisions should be kept in readiness ; but he added, that as
he had not yet stopped the advance of the rest of the army from Portugal, he
was desirous of assembling it there, and would not retire without an absolute
necessity. All this was listened to with calm acquiescence. The general in the
mean time found, that though a patrol of horse had neared Valladolid, none of
the French infantry had yet passed Burgos, and he gave orders to generals
Baird and Hope, to advance upon Salamanca with all speed, but to be upon
their guard on the march. The junta of Ciudad Rodrigo about this time or-
dered twenty thousand dollars to be placed at his disposal, and a letter from
lord Castlereagh brought him intelligence that two millions of dollars had been
despatched for him on the 2nd of the month, and were already on the way to
Corunna. His lordship at the same time told him, that the scarcity of money
in England was such, that he must not look for any further supply for some
months, and recommended it to hira to procure as much money on the spot as
possible. Encouraged so far by these advices. Sir John Moore continued to
concentrat« his forces at Salamanca, though upon what principle does not ap-
pear; for he seems to have been filled with the most dismal anticipations.
" Every effort," he says, writing to lord Castlereagh on the 24th of November,
" shall be exerted on my part, and that of the officers with me, to unite the
army; but your lordship must be prepared to hear that we have failed; for,
situated as we are, success cannot be commanded by any efforts we can make, if
the enemy are prepared to oppose us." To add to all his other grounds of de-
spondency, he considered Portugal as utterly indefensible by any force England
could send thither. " If the French succeed in Spain, it will be in vain," he
says, in another letter to lord Castlereagh, " to attempt to resist them in Portugal.
The Portuguese are without a military force, and from the experience of their
conduct under Sir Arthur Wellesley, no dependence is to be placed on any aid they
can give. .The British must in that event, I conceive, immediately take steps
to evacuate the country. Lisbon is the only port, and therefore the only place
whence the army with its stores can embark. Elvas and Almeida are the only
fortresses on the frontiers. The first is, I am told, a respectable work. Al-
meida is defective, and could not hold out beyond ten days against a regular
attack. I have ordered a depot of provisions for a short consumption to be

5Q SIR JOHN MOORE.

formed there, in case tliis army should be obliged to fall back ; perhaps the
same should be done at Elvas. In this case, we might check the progress of
the enemy whilst the stores were embarking, and arrangements were made for
taking off the army. Beyond this, the defence of Lisbon, or of Portugal, should
not be thought of."

The news of Castanos being defeated having reached him on the 2Sth ot
November, he determined to fall back upon Portugal, and sent ordere for
general Hope to join him by forced marches, and for Sir David Baird to re-
treat upon Corunna ; desiring the latter, however, to send back his stores, and
keep his design, and the fact of his retreat, as much out of view as possible. He
wrote to lord Castlereagh on the 29th, that he had so done, and requesting that
transports might be sent to the Tagus to receive the troops, as he was still of
opinion that Portugal was not defensible by a British army. On the 5tli of
December, he wrote again to his lordship, that the junction of general Hope
had been secured, and that Bonaparte had directed his whole force upon
Madrid, in consequence of which he hoped to reach Portugal unmolested. The
idea of a retreat, however, was exceedingly disagreeable to the army, and in
this letter Sir John 3Ioore gives his reasons for adopting such a measure at con-
siderable length, and seems extremely anxious to justify it. He did not pro-
pose, however, wholly to desert the Spaniards ; but he thought they might be
aided upon some other point, and for this cause had otdered Sir David Baird to
sail with his troops to meet the remainder of the army at the mouth of the
Tagus, if he did not receive other orders from England. He had also written a
long letter of the same kind, on the 1st of December, to Sir Charles Stuart at
Madrid, in which he also requests that some money might be sent him from that
place. " Such," says he " is our want of it, tliat if it can be got at a hundred
per cent., we must have it; do, therefore, if possible, send me some at
any rate." To this letter Sir John Moore received an answer, soften-
ing down the defeat of Castanos, which was followed by a requisition
on the part of the Junta, military and civil, of all the united authorities
of the kingdom, that he would move forward to the defence of Madrid,
which was threatened by the enemy, and was preparing to make the most
determined defence. This was seconded by Mr Frere, the British resident,
and by another person who had been an eye-witness of the extraordinary effer-
vescence at Madrid. Sir John Moore, in consequence of this, on the 5th
of December, the same day that he had written to lord Castlereagh, ordered Sir
David Baird to suspend his march, and determined to wait in the position he
occupied till he should see further into the matter, and afterwards to be guided
by circumstances. Sir David luckily had proceeded but a little way back, so
that little time was lost. General Hope had brought up his division close to
Salamanca, which made the little army complete, having both cavalry and ar-
tillery ; and by a single movement to the left, Sir John Moore could make his
junction with Sir David Baird a matter of certainty. Madrid, however, had
capitulated on the third of the month, and was in the hands of the enemy two
days before Sir John Moore had resolved to countermand the retreat. The in-
telligence upon which he had acted, was in fact void of any real foundation
and the prince of Castelfranco, and his excellency, Don Thomas Morla, had al-
ready connnenced a treaty for delivering up Madrid to the French, when they
signed the pressing requisition of the Junta to him to hasten to its relief. Mr
Frere, too, the dupe of his own warm fancy, or of the interested representations
of the feeble but sanguine spirits who at this time held the government of
Spain, was weak enough to assist this imposture, and to take the most unwar-
rantable liberties. He sent to Sir John Moore a flippant Frenchman, named

SIR JOHN MOORE. 57

t/harniilly, with a demand, that before he commenced his proposed retreat, the
said Frencliman should be examined before a council of wnr. To mark the
opinion he entertained of Charniilly, Sir John Moore ordered the adjutant
of the army to give him a written order to retire, and he requested Mr Frere,
when he had such messages to deliver, to employ some other person, as he en-
tertained a strong prejudice against all such characters ; otherwise he treated
Mr Frere with the usual deference. Anxious to be useful to the cause of Spain,
the British general wrote to the marquis de la Romana, to suggest measures for
their acting in concert, that they might, if possible, support 31adrid. On the
7th, Sir John IMoore was favoured with a most patriotic address from the Junta
of Toledo, which declared that the members of the Junta were determined to
die in defence of their country. Pleased with this manifestation of public
spirit, though it was only on paper, Sir John sent one of his officers to form
with them a plan of defence for the city ; but, as the French approached, the
Junta prudently retired, and the duke of Belluno took peaceable possession of
the place. Nothing could be more hopeless than the condition of the Spaniards
at this time. Bessieres was driving the wretched remains of the centre army,
as it was called, on the road to Valencia ; Toledo was occupied by Belluno ; the
duke of Dantzic, with a strong division was on the road for Badajos, with the
design of seizing upon Lisbon or Cadiz. The duke of Treviso was proceeding
against Saragossa. The duke of Dalmatia was preparing to enter Leon, and
Bonaparte at Madrid was ready to second all their movements, together or
separately, as events should require. It was in circumstances of which he was
totally unaware, that Sir John 3Ioore found himself called upon to commence
active operations. He was necessarily prevented from advancing upon Madrid
by the knowledge that the passes of Somosierra and Guadarama were in the
hands of the French ; but, having ordered Sir David Baird to advance, he him-
self moved forward to Toro, intending to unite with Sir David Baird at Valla-
dolid. Ihe object of this movement was to favour Madrid and Saragossa, by
threatening to intercept the communication with France. On the 12th, lord
Paget, with the principal part of the cavalry, marched from Toro to fordesil-
las ; while brigadier-general Stuart, commanding the 18th and king's German
dragoons, was moving from Arevolo. In his march, general Stuart, with a
party of the 18th dragoons, surprised a party of French cavalry and infantry
in the village of Eeveda, and killed or made prisoners the whole detachment.
This was the first encounter of the French and British in Spain, an earnest of
what was yet to be there achieved by British skill and British valour. On the
14th, the head quarters of the army were at Aloejos, when, by an intercepted
despatch. Sir John Moore was put in possession of the real state of affairs, with
the objects which Bonaparte had in view, by despatching after him the duke of
Dalmatia, with whom he was already almost in contact Ihis intelligence de-
termined the general, instead of going on to Valladolid, as was intended, to
face about, and hasten to unite himself with the part of his army which was un-
der Sir David Baird, and, if possible, to surprise the duke of Dalmatia at Sal-
danha before he should be further reinforced. Writing of his intended junction
with Sir David Baird, to lord Castlereagh on the 16th, he adds, " If then mar-
shal Soult is so good as to approach us, we shall be much obliged to him ; but
if not we shall march towards him. It will be very agreeable to give a wipe to
such a corps, although, with respect to the cause generally, it will probably
have no effect, Spain being in the state described in Berthier's letter. She has
made no eflbrts for herself; ours came too late, and cannot, at any rate, be suf-
ficient."

The armies were now near one another. The patrols of the cavalry reached

58 SIR JOHN MOORE.

as far as "Valladolid, and had frequent and successful skirmishes with the enemy.
On the 20th, Sir John Moore formed a junction with Sir David Baird ; the
head-quarters of the army being at 31ajorga, but the cavalry and horse artillery
were at Monastero Milgar Abaxo, three leagues from Sahagun, where a division
of the enemy's cavalry were posted. The weather was extremely cold, and the
ground covered with snow, yet lord Paget set out at two o'clock of the morning
to surprise the French position. General Slade, with the 10th hussars, ap-
proached the town along the Cea, while his lordship, with the 1 5lh dragoons
and some horse artillery, approached from another direction. Reaching the
town by the dawn, they surprised a piquet; but one or two escaping, gave the
alarm, and enabled the enemy to form outside the town. The ground" was at
first unfavourable to the British, but the superior skill of lord Paget overcame
the difficulty. The French having wheeled into line, to receive the shock of
the British charge, were overthrown in a moment, and dispersed in all direc-
tions. The 1 5th hussars, only four hundred strong, encountered seven hundred
French, and completely routed them. Many of the French were killed, and
one hundred and fifty-seven, including two lieutenant-colonels, were taken
prisoners. Sir John Moore reached Sahagun on the 21st, where the troops
were halted for a day, to recover the fatigue of the forced marches tliey had
made. On the 23d, every arrangement was completed for attacking the duke of
Ualmatia, who, after the defeat of his cavalry at Sahagun, had concentrated his
troops, to the amount of eighteen thousand, behind the river Carrion ; seven
thousand being posted at Saldanha, and five thousand in the town of Carrion.
Detachments were also placed to guard the fords and the bridges. The corps
of Junot, Sir John Moore was aware, had also its advanced posts between Vit-
toria and Burgos. The spirit and the feeling under which he was now acting,
were not at all enviable. " The movement I am making," he writes, " is of
the most dangerous kind. I not only risk to be surrounded every moment by
superior forces, but to have my communication intercepted with the Galicias. I
wish it to be apparent to the whole world, as it is to every individual of the
army, that we have done everything in our power in support of the Spanisli
cause, and that we do not abandon it until long after the Spaniards had aban-
doned us." As already said, however, the preparations, for attacking the duke
of Dalmatia, were completed. The generals received their instructions, and the
army, burning with impatience, was to march to the attack at eight o'clock
in the evening. Unfavourable reports through the day, and a letter from
the marquis de la Romana, confirming these reports, led to an opposite
line of conducL The march to the Carrion waff countermanded, and immediate
steps taken for retreating upon Astorga. The duke of Dalmatia had been dai-
ly receiving strong reinforcements for some time, and his army was already
greatly superior to the British. The duke of Abrantes had advanced from
Burgos to Valencia, and threatened the right flank of the British. Bonaparte
himself had left Madrid on the 18th, with jhirty-two thousand infantry, and
eiglit thousand cavalry, part of which had reached Tordesillas on the 24th, and
before tlie British had begun to retreat from Sahagun, they were moving with
all haste upon the same point with the latter on Benevente. The duke of
Danuic, too, was recalled from his march towards Badajos, and ordered for
Salamanca ; and even the duke of Treviso, sent to take vengeance on Saragossa,
was ordered to join in the pursuit of the British. Every preparation having
been made, general Frazer, followed by general Hope, marched with their divi-
sions on the 24th of December to Valdinas and Majorga, and Sir David Baird
to Valencia. This movement was concealed by lord Paget, who pushed strong
patrols of cavalry up to the advanced posts of the enemy. The reserve followed

SIR JOHN MOORE. 69

from Sahagun on the morning of the 25th ; and lord Paget, in company with
Sir John Moore, with the cavah-y, followed in the evening. On the 24th of
December, the advanced guard of Bonaparte marched from Tordesillas, which is
a hundred and twenty miles from Madrid, and fifty from Benevente. Strong
detachments of artillery had been pushed forward on the road to Villalpaiido
and Majorga, one of which lord Paget encountered at the latter place, on the
26th. Colonel Leigh, with two squadrons of the 10th hussars, was ordered to
charge this corps, which he did, and completely routed it, taking more than one
hundred prisoners. Nothing could exceed the coolness and gallantry displayed
by the British cavalry on this occasion. The 10th dragoons had already sig-
nalized their valour, and been victors in six several attacks. At Valencia, cap-
tain Jones, with only twenty men, charged a hundred French dragoons, killed
fourteen of them, and made six prisoners. Generals Hope and Frazer reached
Benevente on the night of the 26th. On the 27th, the rear-guard crossed the
Eslar, blew up the bridge, and followed the same route. After resting a short
time at Benevente, and publishing general orders to the troops, whose conduct,
since the commencement of the retreat, had assumed a disgraceful character, the
army moved for Astorga on the 28th. Lord Paget, being left with the cavalry
to bring up the rear, observed some of the enemy's horse attempting a ford be-
low the bridge which had been blown up, and between five and six hundred of
Bonaparte's imperial guards dashed into the river, and passed over. The
piquets, who had been divided to watch the ford, amounting only to two hun-
dred and twenty men, retired slowly before such superior numbers, disputing
every inch of ground, till lord Paget, with the 10th hussars, coming up, they
wheeled round, and plunged into the Mater, leaving behind them fifty-five men
killed and wounded, and seventy prisoners, among whom was general Le Febvre
the commander of the imperial guard. Some doubt, it would appear, hung
upon the general's mind, whether Vigo or Corunna was the most eligible place
for the embarkation of the troops ; and wishing to have either of them still
in his choice, he sent general Crawford, with three thousand men, lightly
equipped, on the road to Orenge, so far on the way to Vigo. With the rest
of the troops he proceeded to Astorga. The marquis de la Romana had been left
to destroy the bridge of Mansilla ; and after having perfonned that duty, had
been desired to turn to Asturias, in the fortresses of which he might find safety,
and at the same time make some small diversion in favour of the British army :
but he had left the bridge in charge of a small guard, which delivered it up to
the cavalry of Soult; and he possessed himself here of a great part of the accom-
modations which were intended for the British troops. His half naked troops
carried away a part of the stores which had been collected at this place, a great
part of which had to be destroyed for want of means to remove the;n. At Astorga,
another general order was issued, respecting the moral conduct of the troops,
which had not improved since they left Benevente. The advanced guard, and
the main body of the British army, marched on the 30th for Villa Franca ; Sir
John Moore, with general Paget, and the reserve, followed on the 31sL The
cavalry reached Camberas at midnight, when the reserve proceeded, and arrived
next morning, January 1 , remaining at Bembilene, as the preceding divisions were
marching off to Villa Franca. Here an unparalleled scene of debauchery pre-
sented itself. The stragglers from the preceding divisions so crowded the houses,
that there was not accommodation for the reserve, while groups of the half naked
wretches belonging to the marquis of Romana, completed the confusion. The
French were following so close, that their patrols during the night fell in with
the cavalry piquets. When Sir John Moore, with the reserve and the cavalry,
marched for Villa Franca, on the 2d of January, he left colonel Ross, with the

60 SIR JOHN MOORE.

20th regiment, and a detachment of cavalry, to cover the town ; wliile parties
were sent to warn the stragglers, amounting to one thousand men, of their
danger, and to drive them, if possible, out of the houses. Some few were per-
suaded to move on, but the far greater number, in despite of threats, and re-
gardless of the approaching enemy, persisted in remaining, and were therefore
left to their fate. The cavalry, however, only quitted the town on the approach
of the enemy, and then, from the sense of immediate danger, was the road filled
with stragglers, armed and unarmed, mules, carts, women and children, in the
utmost confusion. The patrol of hussars wliich had remained to protect them,
was now closely pursued for several miles by five squadrons of French cavalry,
who, as they galloped through the long line of stragglers, slashed them with their
swords, right and left, without mercy, while, overcome with liquor, they could
neither make resistance, nor get out of the way. At Villa Franca, the general
heard, with deep regret, of the irregularities which had been committed by the
preceding divisions. Magazines had been plundered, stores of wine broken
open, and large quantities of forage and provisions destroyed. One man who
had been detected in these atrocities, was immediately shot; and a»number of the
stragglers, who liad been miserably wounded by the French cavalry, were car-
ried through the ranks, to show the melancholy consequences of inebriety, and
the imprudence of quitting their companions. Failing of his aim of intercept-
ing the British at Astorga, Bonaparte did not proceed farther, but he ordered
Souk, with an overwhelming force, to pursue, and drive them into the sea ; and
on the 3d of January, they pressed so hard upon the rear of the retreating
army, that Sir John Moore resolved upon a night march from Villa Franca to
Herrerias. From the latter place he proceeded to Lugo, where he determined
to offer the enemy battle ; and for this purpose he sent forward despatches to Sir
David Baird, who was in front, to halt. He also enclosed the same orders for
generals Hope and Frazer, who commanded the advanced divisions. These he
forwarded to Sir David Baird, by his aid-de-camp, captain Nnpier, accompanied
by an orderly dragoon. Sir David again forwarded them to the respective officers ;
but the orderly dragoon, having got intoxicated, lost them : in consequence of
which general Frazer marched on a day's journey on the road to Vigo, which he
had to countermarch next day, in dreadful weather, by which he lost a number
of his men. It was now determined to march upon Corunna, as being nearer
than Vigo; and an express was sent off to Sir Samuel Hood, to order the trans-
ports round to that place. On the road to Nagles, the reserve fell in with forty
waggons with stores, sent from England for the marquis of Romana's army. As
there were no means of carrying them back, shoes, and such things as could be
made use of, were distributed to the troops as they passed, and the rest destroy-
ed. On the Cth, the rifle corps, which covered the reserve, was engaged with
the enemy nearly the whole day, while everything that retarded the march
was destroyed. Two carts of dollars, amounting to twenty-five thousand pounds,
were rolled down a precipice on the side of the road, which the advanced guard
of the French passed in less than five minutes thereafter. It was afterwards
ascertained that this money fell into the hands of the Spanish peasants. At
Lugo, another severe general order was issued, and a position taken up for
battle. Tlie French made an attack on part of this position on the 7th, but
were repulsed with ejise. On the 8th, everything was disposed for a general
engagement ; Soult, however, did not think fit to make the attack, and the
British army not being now in a state to undergo a protracted warfare, it was
resolved to continue the retreat The different brigades accordingly quitted the
ground about ten o'clo<;k at nigl)^ leaving their fires burning to deceive the enemy.
Great disorders still reigned among the troops, who were suffering dreadfully

SIR JOHN MOORE. 61

from the severity of the weather, and from long marches on bad roads ; yet, at
Bitanzos, it was judged preferable to keep the troops exposed to the cold and
rain, rather than to the irresistible temptations of the wine houses in the town.
Here a new order was issued, and particular duties demanded to be performed
by the officers. The last day's march, on the 11th, Mas conducted with more
propriety than any that had preceded it ; yet eight or nine stragglers were de-
tected, who had preceded their column, and taken possession of a wine house,
and all that was in it. They were seized, and brought before the general, who
halted the army, and sent for the officers of the regiments to which they be-
longed. The culprits' haversacks were then searched, Avhen the general de-
clared tiiat, had he found any plunder in them, their owners would have been
hanged ; but that he would liave considered their guilt in a great measure attri-
butable to the negligence of their officers. On finishing this inquiry. Sir John
Moore rode on to Corunna, and examined every position in its neighbourhood.
The troops were quartered, partly in the town, and partly in the suburbs ;
General Paget, with the reserve, at El-Burgo, near the bridge of the Moro, and
in the villages on the St Jago road. Adverse winds had detained the transports,
otherwise the whole army would have been embarked before the enemy could
have come up. Only a few ships lay in the harbour, in which some sick men,
and some stragglers who had preceded the army, and represented themselves
sick, had embarked. The army, though much fatigued, arrived at its destined
position unbroken, and in good spirits. Bonaparte, with seventy thousand men,
had in vain attempted to impede its progress; and its rear-guard, though often
engaged, had never been thrown into confusion. But the greatest danger was still
to be incurred. The situation of Corunna was found to be unfavourable; the trans-
ports had not arrived ; the enemy was already appearing on the heights, and might
soon be expected in overwhelming force. Several of his officers, recollect-
ing, perhaps, the convention of Cintra, gave it as their advice, that Sir John
Moore should apply to the Duke of Dalmatia for permission to embark his troops
unmolested. Ihis, however, he positively rejected. The officers, in the first
place, were busied in attempting to restore some degree of discipline among the
troops, and in providing such refreshments for them as the place would afford.
The ground, in the mean time, was carefully examined, and the best dispositions
that could be thought of made for defence. On the 13th, Sir John Moore was
on horseback by the break of day, making arrangements for battle. He
returned about eleven, worn out with fatigue; sent for brigadier-general Stuart,
and desired him to proceed to England, to explain to ministers the situation of
the army. He was, he said, so tired, that he was incapable of writing ; but
that he (general Stuart) being a competent judge, did not require any letter.
After taking some refreshment, however, and resting two hours, the ship not
being quite ready, nor general Stuart gone, he called for paper, and wrote his
last despatch. On the 14th, the French connnenced a cannonade on the left,
Avhich the British returned with such effect, as to niake the enemy draw off. On
a hill outside the British posts, were found this day five thousand barrels of gun-
powder, which had been sent from England, and lay here neglected, though the
Spanish armies were in a great measure ineffective for want of ammunition. As
many barrels as conveyance could be found for, which was but very few, were
carried back to Corunna ; the remainder were blown up. The explosion shook
the town of Corunna like an earthquake. This evening the transports from
Vigo hove in sight. On the 15th, the enemy advanced to the height where the
magazine had been blown up : and colonel Mackenzie, of the 5th regiment, in at-
tempting to seize upon two of the enemy's guns, was killed. The artillery was
this day embarked, with the exception of seven six-pounders and one howit/er,

62 SIR JOHN MOORE.

which were employed in the lines of defence, and four Spanish guns, kept as a
reserve. On this and the preceding day, the sick, the dismounted cavalry,
horses, and artillery, Avere carried on board the ships, and every arrangement was
made for embarking the whole army on the following evening. Next morning
the enemy remained quiet, and the preparations being completed, it was finally
resolved that the embarkation should take place that evening, and all the neces-
sary orders were accordingly issued. About noon. Sir John Moore sent fin-
colonel Anderson, to whom the care of the embarkation was confided, and or-
dered him to have all the boats disengaged by four o'clock, as, if the enemy did
not move, he would embark the reserve at that hour, and would go out himself
.IS soon as it was dark, and send in the troops in the order he wished them to
be embarked. At one o'clock, his horse was brought, when he took leave of
Anderson, saying, " Remember I depend upon your paying particular attention
to everything that concerns the embarkation, and let there be as little confu-
sion as possible.' Mounting his horse, he set out to visit the outposts, and to
explain his designs to his officers. On his way, he was met by a report from
general Hope, that the enemy's line was getting under arms, at Avhich he ex-
pressed the liighest satisfaction ; but regretted that there would not be daylight
enough to reap all the advantages he anticipated. Galloping into the field, he
found the piquets already beginning to fire on the enemy's light troops, which
were pouring down the hill. Having carefully examined the position, and the
movements of the armies, he sent ofi" almost all his stafl^ officers with orders to
the different generals, and hastened himself to the right wing, the position of
which was bad, and which, if forced, would have ruined his whole army. This
dangerous post was held by the 4th, 42nd, and 50lh regiments. As the general
anticipated, a furious attack was made on this part of his line, which he saw
nobly repelled by the 50th and 42nd, whom he cheered on in person, calling
out to them to remember Egypt. Having ordered up a battalion of the guards,
captain Hardinge was pointing out to him their position, when he was beat to
the ground by a cannon ball, which struck him on the left shoulder, carrying
it entirely away, with part of the collar bone. Notwithstanding the severity or
the wound, he sat up, with an unaltered countenance, looking intently at the
Highlanders, who were warmly engaged ; and his countenance brightened,
when he was told that they were advancing. With the assistance of a soldier of
the 42nd, he was removed a few yards behind the shelter of a wall ; colonel
Graham of Balgowan and captain Woodford, coming up at the instant, rode
off for a surgeon. Captain Hardinge, in the mean time, attempted to stop the
blood, which was flowing in a torrent, with his sash ; but this, from the size of
the wound, was in vain. Having consented to be carried to the rear, he was
raised up to be laid in a blanket for that purpose. His sword hanging on the
wounded side seemed to annoy him, and captain Hardinge was unbuckling it
from his waist, when he said with a distinct voice, " It is as well as it is, I had
rather it should go out of the field with me." He was borne out of the
field by six soldiers of the 42nd. Captain Hardinge remarking, that he
trusted he would yet recover, he looked steadfastly at the wound, and said,
" No, Hardinge, I feel that to be impossible." When this officer expressed a
wish to accompany him, he said, " You need not go with nie. Report to
general Hope that I am wounded, and carried to the rear." A sergeant of the
42nd, and two spare files escorted the general to Corunna, while cap-
tain Hardinge hastened to ciirry his orders to general Hope. The following is
liis friend colonel Anderson's arxount of his last moments. " I met the general
in the evening of the IGth, bringing in, in a blanket and sashes ; he knew me
immediately, though it was almost dark ; squeezed my hand, and said, * Ander-

EGBERT MORISON. 63

son, don't leave nie.' He spoke to the surgeons while they were examining
his wound, but was in such pain, he could say little. After some time he seemed
very anxious to speak to me, and at intervals expressed himself as follows :
' Anderson, you know that I have always wished to die this way.' He then
asked, * Are the French beaten ?' a question which he repeated to every one
he knew as they came in. ' I hope the people of England will be satisfied.
I hope my counti-y will do me justice. Anderson, you will see my friends as
soon as you can. Tell them everything. My mother' — Here his voice quite
failed, and he was excessively agitated. ' Hope — Hope — I have much to say
to him — but — cannot get it out. Are colonel (Jraham, and all my aids-de-canip
well. [A private sign was made by colonel Anderson not to inform him that
captain Burrard, one of his aids-de-camp, was wounded.] I have made my will,
and remembered my servants. Colborne has my will, and all my papers."
Major Colborne then came into the room. He spoke most kindly to him,
and then said to me, * Andei-son, remember you go to * * * * and tell
him it is my request, and that I expect he will give major Colborne a lieutenant-
colonelcy. He has been long with me, and I know him most %vorthy of it.'
He then asked major Colborne if the French were beaten ; and on being told
that they were, on every point, he said, * It is a great satisfaction for me to
know we have beaten the French. Is Paget in the room ?' On my telling him
that he was not, he said, * Remember nie to him ; it's general Paget I mean. He
is a fine fellow. I feel myself so.strong, I fear I shall be long dying. It is
great uneasiness — it is great pain. Every thing Francois says is right. I have
the greatest confidence in him.' He thanked the surgeons for their trouble.
Captains Percy and Stanley, two of his aids-de-camp, then came into the room.
He spoke kindly to both, and asked if all his aids-de-camp were well. After
some interval, he said, ' Stanhope, remember me to your sister.' He pressed
my hand close to his body, and in a few minutes died without a struggle."

Thus died Sir John Moore in the forty-seventh year of his age, after having
conducted one of the most difficult retreats on i^cord, and secured the safety of
the army intrusted to him. Few deaths have excited a greater sensation at the
time they took place. The house of commons passed a vote of thanks to his
army, and ordered a monument to be erected for him in St Paul's Cathedral.
Glasgow, his native city, erected a bronze statue to his memory, at a cost of
upwards of three thousand pounds. The extent of his merits has not failed to
be a subject of controversy ; but it seems to be now generally allowed by all,
except those who are blinded by party zeal, that, in proportion to the means
intrusted to him, they were very great.

" Succeeding achievements of a more extensive and important nature," says
the author of the Pleasures of Hope lEdin. Encj/c. art. Sir John Moore],
" have eclipsed the reputation of this commander, but the intrepidity and man-
ly uprightness of his character, manifested at a time when the British army was
far from being distinguished in these respects, are qualities far more endearing
than military fame. They extorted admiration even from his enemies ; and
the monument erected by the French officers over his grave at Corunna, attests
the worth of both parties."

3I0RIS0N, RoBEKT, an eminent botanist of the seventeenth century, was born
at Aberdeen in the year 1620. He completed his education in the university of
that city, and in 1638 took the degree of Doctor in Philosophy. He was original-
ly designed by his parents for the church, but his own taste led him to the study
of botany and physic; and his attachment to those sciences finally prevailing
over every other consideration, he began to follow them as a profession. His
attachment to the royal cause, induced him to take an active part in the political

64 EGBERT MORISON.

disturbances of his times. He was present at the battle of the Bridge of Dee,
near Aberdeen, and was severely wounded in that engagemenU On his re-
covery, he went to Paris, where he obtained employment as a tutor to the
son of counsellor Brizet ; but at the same time he zealously devoted himself to
the study of botany, anatomy, and zoology.

In 1G48, he took a doctor's degree iu physic at Angers; and now became
so distinguished by his skill in botany, that, on the recommendation of Mr
Robins, king's botanist, he was taken into the patronage of the duke of Or-
leans, uncle to Louis XIV., and appointed, in 1650, intendant of the ducal
gardens at Blois, with a handsome salary. In this situation he remained till
the duke's death, which took place in 1G60. While employed in the capacity
of intendant, Morison discovered to his patron, the duke of Orleans, the method
of botany, which afterwards acquired him so much celebrity. The latter,
much pleased with its ingenuity, and the talent which it displayed, afforded its
discoverer every encouragement to prosecute it to completion ; and sent him, at
his own expense, through various provinces of France, to search for new plants,
and to acquire what other information such an excursion might aflbrd. On this
occasion, Morison travelled into Burgundy, Lyonnois, Languedoc, and Brittany,
carefully investigated their coasts and isles, and returned with many rare, and
some new plants, with which he enriched the garden of his patron.

On the death of the duke of Orleans, he was invited to England by Charles
II., who had known him while he was in the service of Orleans. His reputation,
however, as a botanist, now stood so high, that he was considered as a national
acquisition, and was earnestly solicited by Fouquet to remain in France, who,
to induce him to comply, made him an offer of a handsome settlement. But love
of country prevailed, and he returned to England. On his arrival, Charles be-
stowed on him the title of king's physician, and appointed him royal professoi
of botany, with a salary of £200 per annum, and a free house as superintendent
of botany. He was shortly afterwards elected Fellow of the Koyal College of
Physicians, and daily became more and more celebrated for his knowledge of
botany. In the situations to which he was appointed by the king, ho remained
till 1669, when he was elected, through the interest of the leading men of the
university of Oxford, botanic professor of that institution, on the 16th December
of the year above named ; and on the day following, was incorporated doctor of
physic. Here he read his first lecture in the physic school, in September, 1670,
and then removed to the physic garden, where he lectured three times a-week
to considerable audiences.

This appointment he held, occasionally employing himself besides on his
great work, Historia Plantarum Oxoniensis, till his death, which took place on
the 9th November, 1683, in consequence of an injury wliich he received from
the pole of a carriage, as he was crossing a street. He died on the day follow-
ing the accident, at his house in Green street, Leicester-fields, and was buried
in the church of St Martin's-in-the-fields, Westminster.

Morison's first publication was a work, entitled, " Hortus Regius Blesensis auc-
tus ; accessit Index Plantarum in Horto contentarum, nomine Scriptorum et Ob-
servationes generaliores, seu Praeludiorum pars prior, London, 1669," 12mo.
This work added greatly to his reputation, and was the means of recommending
him to the professorship at Oxford. His next publication was, " Plantarum Um-
belliferarutu Distributio Nova, per tabulas cognationis et aftinitatis, ex libro Na-
turae observata et delecta, Oxon, 1672," fol. This was given as a specimen of
his great work, " Historia Plantarum Universalis Oxoniensis." It attracted the
notice of the learned throughout all Europe, and added greatly to his reputa-
tion. Encouraged by its reception, he proceeded vigorously with the work

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR THOMAS MUNRO, BAR*, K.C.B.

65

which it was intended to typify, and produced the first volume, under tlie title
already quoted, in 1680. His death, however, prevented its completion, and
left him time to finisli nine only of the fifteen classes of his own system.

MUNRO, (Major-Gkneral, Sir) Thomas, Bart, and K. C. B., a celebrated
civil and military ofiicer in the service of the East India Company, was the son
of Mr Alexander 31unro, an eminent merchant in Glasgow, where the subject
of this memoir was born on the 27th 3Iay, 176 1. His mother, whose name was
Stark, was descended of the Starks of Killermont, and was sister to Dr William
Stark, the distinguished anatomist. After going through the usual routine of
juvenile education, including the established term of attendance at the grammar
school, young 3Iunro was entered a student in the university of his native city,
in the thirteenth year of his age. Here he studied mathematics under professor
Williamson, and chemistry with the celebrated Dr Irvine ; and in both sciences
made a progress which excited the admiration of his teachers.

While at scliool, he was distinguished for a singular openness of temper, a
mild and generous disposition, with great personal courage and presence of
mind. Being naturally of a robust frame of body, he excelled all his school-
fellows in athletic exercises, and was particularly eminent as a boxer; but, with
all that nobleness of nature which was peculiar to him, and which so much dis-
tinguished him in after-life, he never made an improper or unfair use of his
superior dexterity in the pugilistic art. He studiously avoided quarrels, and
never struck a blow, except under circumstances of great provocation. Neither
did he ever presume so far on the formidable talent which he possessed, as to
conduct himself with the slightest degree of insolence towards his companions,
although none of them could stand an instant before him in single combat
These qualities secured him at once the respect and esteem of his youthful
contemporaries, and on all expeditions and occasions of warfare, procured him
the honour of being their leader and military adviser.

Having remained three years at college, he was, at the expiry of that period,
placed by his father in the counting-house of Messrs Somerville and (jordon,
being designed for the mercantile profession. He was about this time also of-
fered a lieutenancy in a military corps, then raising by the city of Glasgow for
the public service ; but, though himself strongly disposed to accept this ofi«r,
his father objected to it, and, in compliance with the wish of his parent, he de-
clined it. Soon after this, his father's afl^aira became embarrassed, when, finding it
impossible to establish his son in business as he had originally proposed, he began
to think of putting him in a way of pushing his fortune in India ; and with this
view, procured him the appointment of midshipman on board the East India
Company's ship, Walpole, captain Abercrombie. With this vessel, young Munro
sailed from London on the 20th February, 1779. Previously to sailing, his
father, who happened to be accidentally in London at the time, procured him a
cadetship, through the influence of 31r Laurence Sullivan, one of the directors
of the Company.

Mr 3Iunro arrived at Madras, the place of his destination, on the I 5th Janu-
ai'y, 1780. Here he was kindly received by the numerous persons to whom he
brought letters of introduction ; but kindness of manner, and the hospitality
of the table, seem to have been the extent of their patronage. He was left to
push his own May, and this, on his first landing, with but very indifferent pros-
pects for the future, and but little present encouragement. Nor were these dis-
heartening circumstances at all ameliorated by the reception he met with from
his namesake, Sir Hector Munro, the commander-in-chief. That high funo-
tionary told him, " that he would be happy to serve him, but was sorry it was
not in his power to do any thing for him."

G6 MAJOR.T}ENERAL SIR THOMAS MUNRO, BART., K.C.B.

He VIM soon after his arrival, however, called into active service against the
forces of Hyder Ally, and continued thus employed, with scarcely any inter-
mission, for the next four years, when a definitive treaty of peace was entered
into with Tippoo Sultan. During this period of warfare, he was present at four
battles, and at more than double that number of sieges, assaults, and stormings ;
in all of which he evinced an intrepidity, presence of mind, and military genius,
which early attracted the notice of his superiors, by whom he began to be looked
upon as an officer of singular promise.

In February, 1786, he was promoted to a lieutenancy; bat no further change
took place in his fortunes, till August, 1788, when he was appointed assistant
in the intelligence department, under captain Alexander Read, and attached to
the head-quarters of the fore* destined to take possession of the province of
Guntow.

During the interval between the first and last periods just named, Mr Munro
assiduously employed himself in acquiring the Hindostanee and Pei-sian lan-
guages, in which he ultimately made a proficiency which has been attained by
but few Europeans. In this interval, too, occurred a correspondence with
his parents, in which are certain passages, strikingly illustrative of the gene-
rosity of his nature, and which it would be dc^ng an injustice, both to his
memory, and to the filial piety of his brother, to pass without notice. In
one of these letters, dated Tanjore, 10th November, 1785, addressed to his
mother, he says, " Alexander and I have agreed to remit my father £lOO
a-year between us. If the arrears which lord Macartney detained are paid,
I will send £200 in the course of the year 178G." When it is recollected
that Mr Munro was yet but a lieutenant, this proof of his benevolence will be
fully appreciated. It must also be added, that these remittances were made at
a time, too, when he had himself scarcely a chair to sit upon. " I was three
years in India," he writes to* his sister, " oefore I was master of any other
pillow than a book or a cartridge-pouch ; my bed was a piece of canvass,
stretched on four cross sticks, whose only ornament was tiie great coat that I
brought from England, which, by a lucky invention, I turned into a blanket in
the cold weather, by thrusting my legs into the sleeves, and drawing the skirts
over my head."

In the situation of assistant intelligencer, he remained till October, 1790,
when, Tippoo having resumed hostilities with the English, he returned to his
military duties, by joining the 21st battalion of native infantry, which formed
part of the army under the command of colonel Maxwell. Mr Munro remained
with the army, sharing in all its dangers and fatigues, and performing the vari-
o>is duties assigned to him with his usual diligence and activity, till the month of
April, 1792, when he was appointed to jusist Captain Read in the management
of the district of Barmhaul. In this employment he continued till March, 1799,
having, in the mean time, June 1796, attained the rank of captain ; when, on a
war with Tippoo again occurring, he joined the army under lieutenant-general
Harris, and served in it with his accustomed ability and zeal, until after the siege
of Seringapatam and death of Tippoo, when he was appointed to the charge of
the civil administration of Canara. This charge was an exceedingly laborious
one, and, in almost every respect, an exceedingly unpleasant one ; but the cir-
cumstance of his appointment to it, was, nevertheless, a very marked proof of
the high estimation in which his talents were held by the government, for it
was also a charge of g^at importance ; and the authorities did justice to his
merits, by believing that there was no individual in India so well qualified to
fill the situation as captain Munro. The principal duties of his new appoint-
ment were, to introduce and establish the authority of the goremment ; to

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR THOMAS MDNRO, BART.. K.C.B. 67

settle disputes amongst the natives ; to punish the refractory ; and to Svatch
over the revenues of the district: and from twelve to sixteen hours were daily
devoted to this oppressive and harassing routine of business.

Having accomplished all the purposes for which he was sent to Canara and
having established order and tranquillity, where he had found turbulence and vio-
lence, Major Munro (for to this rank he was promoted, May 7, 1800) solicited
the government to be intrusted with the superintendence of what were called the
Ceded Dislricts ; a certain extent of territory, yielded up in perpetuity to the
Company by Nizam, in lieu of a monthly subsidy which had been previously ex-
acted from him.

The request of major Munro was not complied with, without much reluctance
and hesitation, proceeding from the high value placed upon his services where
he was ; but it appearing that these would be equally desirable in the situation
which he sought, he was removed thither in October, 1 800. Here he performed
similar important services, both to the counti-y itself and to the Company, as he
had done at Canara. Within a few months after his arrival, he cleared the
province of numerous bands of marauders, which had previously kept it in a state
of constant terror and alarm, and filled it with robbery and murder. He every-
where established order and regularity, and finally succeeded in converting one
of the most disorderly provinces in India, into one of the most secure and tran-
quil districts in the possession of the Company. This, however, was not accom-
plished without much labour, and many personal privations. He repeatedly
traversed the whole extent of territory under his jurisdiction, and for the fii"st
four years of his residence in it, never dwelt in a house, being continually in
motion from place to place, and on these occasions making his tent his house.

During the time of his services in the Ceded Districts, Mr Munro was pro-
moted, 24th April, 1804, to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

With that filial affection which forms so remarkable and pleasing a feature in
the character of the subject of this memoir, he had regularly increased the al-
lowance to his parents, with the advance of his own fortunes. Indeed, this
seems to have been his first care on every occasion of an accession of income.
In a letter to his father, dated Kalwapilli, 3rd May, 1801, there occurs this
passage : " I have at last heard from Messrs Harington, Burnaby and Cock-
burn, on the subject of the remittance of a bill for £1000 sterling, to clear
your house in the Stockwell. In August, I shall remit the remaining sum
due upon the house ; and also £200 sterling, in order to augment my annual
remittance to £400 sterling. As my mother is so fond of the country, and as a
garden would probably contribute to her health, she ought certainly to be under
no concex'n about the trifling expense a country house may o<x;asion,in addition
to one in town. I therefore hope that you will draw on Colt for whatever it
may cost, and let me know the amount, that I may add it to tlie £400, which I
mean should go entirely to your town expenses ; and that you will likewise in-
form me what other debts you may have besides the mortgage on the house,
that I may discharge them, and relieve you at once from the vexation and
anxiety to which you have so long been exposed." In a very few years after-
wards, we find him making another munificent contribution to the comfort and
happiness of his parents, by remitting them £2000 for the purchase of a coun-
try house.

Colonel 3Iunro retained his appointment in the Ceded Districts till the year
1807, when he came to the resolution of paying a visit to his native country.
With this view, he applied for and obtained permission to resign his situation ;
and after a few days spent in preparation, embarked, in October in tiie year

68

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR THOMAS MTJNRO, BART., K.C.B.

above named, at Madras for England, leaving behind him, after a seryice of
seven and twenty years, a reputation for talent, diligence, and exemplary con-
duct, both as a civil and military officer, wliich few in the same service had at-
tained, and none surpassed. In the former capacity, he had undertaken and
accomplished more than any British functionary had ever done before him ; and
in the latter, he had displayed a talent for military affairs, which all acknow-
ledged to be of the very highest order.

After an agreeable passage of nearly six montlis, colonel Munro arrived at
Deal on the 5th April, 1808. From Deal he proceeded to London, where he
was detained by some pressing business, until the summer was far advanced. He
then set out for Scotland, but not Mithout some melancholy forebodings of the
changes which he knew so great a lapse of time as seven and twenty years must
!iave effected on the persons and things associated with his earliest and teiiderest
recollections. These anticipations he found, on his arrival, realized. That
mother to whom he was so tenderly attached, and whose couifort and welfare
iiad been a constant object of his solicitude, was no more. She had died about
a year previous to his arrival. Two of his brothers were dead also, and many
besides of the friends of his youth. The imbecility of age had moreover come
upon his only surviving parent, and had effected such a change, as to mar that
reciprocity of feeling, which their meeting, after so long a separation, would
otherwise have excited.

On his return to Glasgow, colonel Munro revisited all the haunts of bis youth,
and, particularly, North Woodside, then a romantic spot in the vicinity of the city,
where, in his early days, bis father bad a country residence, to which the family
resorted every summer. Here, with all that simple and amiable feeling,
peculiar to generous natures, he endeavoured to annihilate the space of time
which had elapsed since he had been there a boy, and to recall, with increased
force, the sensations of his youth, by bathing in the dam in which he had sported
when a boy, and by wandering through the woods where he had spent so many
of the careless hours of that happy season. 1 his feeling he even carried so far,
as to climb once more a favourite aged tree, which had enjoyed an especial
share of his youthful patronage and afl^ection. Every branch was familiar to
him ; for he had a thousand times nestled amongst them, to enjoy in solitude
and quietness the pages of some favourite author.

Colonel Munro now spent a good deal of his time in Edinburgh, where he
resumed his favourite study, chemistry, by attending the lectures of Dr Hope,
and by perusing such works on the subject as had appeared since he had left
Europe. During his residence in Britain, he took a lively interest in the Pen-
insular war, and was known to be in constant communication with the duke of
Wellington, who had become acquainted with him in the East, and who had
there learned to appreciate his eminent abilities. About this time, also, he ac-
companied Sir John Hope to the Scheldt as a volunteer, and was present at
the siege of Flushing.

The East India Company's charter now drawing to a close, and the
question of the propriety of its renewal having attracted an extraordinary share
of public attention ; a parliamentary committee was appointed to inquire into,
and hear evidence on the subject, to enable the house to come to a decision re-
garding it. 3Iany persons connected with India were in consequence examined
on the affairs of that country, and amongst the rest the subject of this memoir ;
and such was the clearness of his evidence, the importance of the information
which he gave, the comprehensiveness of his views, and the general talent and
judgment which characterized all his statements, that the court of directoi-s im-

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR THOMAS MTJNRO, BART., K.C.B. 69

mediately placed him at the head of a commission of inquiry which they
decided on sending out to India, to remedy those defects and abuses which the
evidence now placed before them had brought to ligliL

Previous to his returning to India, colonel Munro married, 30th March,

1814, Jane Campbell, daughter of Campbell, Esq. of Craigie House,

Ayrshire, a lady remarkable for her beauty and accomplishments. This con-
nexion added greatly to colonel Munro's happiness, and eventually opened up
to him a source of domestic felicity which his disposition and temper eminently
fitted him to enjoy.

His commission having now been duly made out, and all other preparations
for his voyage completed, he enibaiked, accompanied by his wife and sister-in-
law, in the month of 3Iay, 1814, at Portsmouth, and after a pleasant passage
of eighteen weeks, arrived at Madras on the 16th September.

On his arrival, colonel Munro immediately began to discharge the arduous
duties of his new appointment These embraced a total revision of the
internal administration of the Madras territories, and comprehended an amount
of labour, in going over reports and decisions, in investigating accounts, in
drawing up regulations, and in a thousand other details as numerous as they
were complicated, which would have appalled any man of less nerve than him
on whose shoulders it had fallen. In tiiis laborious employment he continued
till the month of July, 1817, when, a war with the 3Iahratta8 having broken
out, he solicited employment in tl>e line of his profession, and was appointed to
the command of the reserve of the army under lieutenant-general Sir Thomas
Hiblop, having been himself previously, 15th June, 1815, promoted to the rank
of colonel.

In the campaign which followed the resumption of his military duties,
colonel Munro performed a brilliant part. His militai-y reputation, formerly
amongst the highest, was now universally acknowledged to be unsurpassed.
Lord Hastings complimented him in strains of the warmest panegyric, as well in
his official comnmnications as in his private con-espondence. Mr Canning
passed an eloquent eulogium on his merits in the house of commons. Sir John
Malcolm contributed his unqualified commendations of his masterly operations,
and the public records of Calcutta were filled with his praise. His name was
now, in short, become famous throughout Europe, and he was everywhere
looked upon not only as one of the first soldiers of the day, but as a man who
possessed talents and abilities which fitted him for attaining eminence equally
in a civil as in a military life.

In the campaign which lasted till the beginning of August, 1818, general
Munro, (he Mas promoted to this rank, December 1817,) reduced all the Peish-
wah's territories between the Toombuddra and Kistna, and from the Eistna
northward to Akloos on the Neemah, and eastward to the Nizam's frontier.
On the conclusion of the campaign, finding his health greatly impaired by
the excessive fatigue Avhich he had undergone, he resolved to resign all his
commissions, both civil and military, and to retire into private life. In pur-
suance of this resolution, he tendered his resignations to the marquis of Hast-
ings, who received them with much reluctance ; and returned by way of Benga-
lore, where he met his family, to 31adras. Shortly after this, October 1618,
he was made a Companion of the Bath, as a testimony of the opinion which was
entertained at home of his merits.

General Munro now again turned his thoughts homewards, and, after
devoting two months to the arrangement of his affairs, embarked on board the
Warren Hastings, with hijs family, for En^^land, on the 24th January, 1819.
During the pnssage, Mrs Munro was delivered, 30th 31ay, of a boy, whr, being

70 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR THOMAS MUNRO, BART., K.C.B.

born when the ship was in the latitude of the Azores, was baptized by that
name. The Warren Hastings having arrived in the Downs, general and Mrs
Munro landed at Deal, and proceeded to London, where they remained for a
short time, and tliereafter set out for Scotland. The former, however, was only
a few weeks at hoyie when he received n formal communication from the
government, appointing him to the governorship of Madras, and he was soon af-
ter, October 1819, promoted to the rank of major-general, and invested, Novem-
ber, 1819, with the insignia of K. C. B.

Although extremely reluctant again to leJive his native country, Sir Thomas
did not think it advisable to decline the acceptance of the high and honour-
able appointment now proffered him. Having committed their boy to the
charge of lady Slunro's father. Sir Thomas and his lady proceeded to Deal,
where they once more embarked for India in December, 1819, and arrived
safely at Bombay in the beginning of May in the following year. Here they
remained for about a fortnight, when they again took shipping, and on the 8th
June reached Madras.

Sir Thomas, immediately on his arrival, entered on the discharge of the im-
portant duties of his new appointment with all the zeal and diligence which
marked every part of his preceding career. These duties were extremely
laborious. From sunrise till eight in the evening, with the exception of an
hour or two at dinner, comprising a little out-door recreation after that repast,
he was unremittingly employed in attending to, and despatching the public
business of his department. With this routine the morning meal was not at all
allowed to interfere. The breakfast table was daily spread for thirty persons,
lliat all who came on business at that hour should partake of it, and that the
various matters which occasioned their visits might he discussed during its pro-
gress without encroaching on the day.

By this rigid economy of time. Sir Thomas was enabled to get through an
amount of business which would appear wholly incredible to one who placed
less value on it than he did. He wrote almost every paper of any importance
connected with his government with his own hand. He read all communica-
tions and documents, and examined all plans and statements, with his own eyes,
and heard every complaint and representation which was made verbally, with
his own ears.

Although Sir Thomas had not thought it advisable to decline the governorship
of Madras, he yet came out with every intention of returning again to hia
native land as soon as circumstances would permit, and in 1823, he addressed
a memorial to the court of directors, earnestly requesting to be relieved
from his charge. From a difficulty, however, in finding a successor to Sir
Thomas, and from the extraordinary efficiency of his services, the court was ex-
tremely unwilling to entertain his request, and allowed many months to elapse
without making any reply to it. In the mean time the Burmese war took
place, and Sir Tliomas found that he could not, with honour or propriety, press
his suit on the directors. He therefore came to the reflielution of remaining
at his post to abide the issue of the struggle. In this war he distinguished him-
self, as he had so often done before, by singular bravery, talent, and intelli-
gence, and performed such important services as pi'ocured his elevation, June
1625, to the dignity of a baronet of Great Britain.

At the conclusion of the Burmese war. Sir Thomas again applied for liberty
to resign his appointment, and after much delay the Right Honourable S.
Lushington was nominated his successor, on the 4th April, 1827.

Sir Thomas now prepared to leave India for the last time, full of fond an-
ticipations of the happiness which auaited the closing years of his life in his

SIR WILLIAM MURE. 71

native land ; but It was otherwise ordained. His lady, with a favourite son,
had returned to England a year before, in consequence of an illness of the lat-
ter, which, it was thought, required this change of climate ; and thus while the
inducements to remain in India were greatly lessened, those to return to his
native land were increased. While awaiting the arrival of his successor. Sir
Thomas unfortunately came to the resolution of paying a farewell visit to his
old friends in the Ceded Districts, where the cholera was at that time raging
with great violence. Alarmed for his safety, his friends endeavoured to dis-
suade him from his intended excursion, but to no purpose. Towards the end
of May, he set out from Madras, attended by a small escort, and on the 6th of
July following, reached Putteecondah, where he was seized with the fatal dis-
temper about nine o'clock in the morning, and expired on the evening of tlie
same day at half past nine, in the 6Gth year of his age. In an hour and a half
after his death, his body was removed to Gooty, where it was interred with such
military honours as the remoteness of the situation, and the despatch which it is
necessary to observe on such occasions in India, could afford.

Few events ever occurred in India which excited so general a sensation, or
created so universal a feeling of regret, as the death of Sir Thomas Munro.
Natives as well as Europeans mourned his loss with unfeigned sorrow. His jus-
tice, humanity, benevolence, and eminent talents, had secured him the esteem
and respect of all who knew him, and he was known nearly throughout the
whole extent of the eastern world. No man perhaps, in short, ever descended
to the grave more beloved or more lamented, and none was ever more entitled
to these tributes of affection from his fellow men, or ever took such pains to
deserve them as Sir Thomas Munro.

With regard to his talents, had there been no other proof of their existence
than that which his letters aflbrd, these alone would have pointed him out as a
remarkable man ; and as one who, had he chosen it, might have become as emi-
nent in literature as he was in the profession of arms. Three volumes of these
compositions, strung upon a memoir of the writer, have been published under the
superintendence of the Rev. Mr Gleig, author of " The Subaltern."

MURE, (Sir) William, of Rowallan, a poet, was born about the year 1594.
He Avas the eldest son of Sir William Mure of Rowallan, by a sister of Mont-
gomery, the author of the " The Cherry and the Slae." The family was one of
the most ancient of the order of gentry in that part of the country, and through
Elizabeth Mure, the first wife of Robert II., had mingled its blood with the
royal line : it recently terminated in the mother of the late countess of
Loudoun and marchioness of Hastings. Of the poet's education no memorial
has been preserved, but it was undoubtedly the best that his country could af-
ford in that age, as, with a scholar-like enthusiasm, he had attempted a version of
the story of Dido and JEneas before his twentieth year. There is also a
specimen of Sir William's verses in pure English, dated so early as 1611, when
he could not be more than seventeen. In 1615, while still under age, and be-
fore he had succeeded to his paternal estate, he married Anna, daughter of
Dundas of Newliston, by whom he had five sons and six daughters. The eldest
son William, succeeded his father ; Alexander was killed in the Irish Rebellion,
1641 ; Robert, a major in the army, married the lady Newhall in Fife ; John
was designed of Fenwickhill ; and Patrick, probably the youngest, was created
a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1662. One of the daughters, Elizabeth, was mar-
ried to Uchter Knox of Ranfurly. Sir William Mure married, secondly, dame
Jane Hamilton, lady Duntreath ; -and of this marriage there were two sons and
two daughters ; James, Hugh, Jane, and Blarion.

The earliest of Sir William's compositions to be found in print is an

72 ALEXANDER MUERAY, D.D.

address to the king at Hamilton, on his progress through tiie country in
1617, which is embodied in the collection entitled, " The Muse's Welcome."
Such productions of his earlier years as have been preserved are chiefly amatory
poems in English, very much in the manner of the contemporary poets of the
neighbouring kingdom, and rivalling them in force and delicacy of sentiment.
Sir William seems to have afterwards addicted himself to serious poetry. In
1628, he published a translation, in English Sapphics, of Boyd of Trochrig's
beautiful Latin poem, " Hecatombe Christiana ;" and in the succeeding year
produced his " Ti-ve Crucifixe for Trve Catholickes," Edinburgh, 1 2mo. ; in-
tended as an exposure of the prime object of Romish idolatry. By far the
larger portion of his writings remain in manuscript

Like his contemporary, Drummond of Hawthornden, Mure seems to have de-
lighted in a quiet country life. A taste for building and rural embellishment
is discoverable in the family of* Rowallan at a period when decorations of this
nature were but little regarded in Scotland : and in these refinements Sir Wil-
liam fell nothing behind^ if he did not greatly surpass the slowly advancing
spirit of his time ; besides planting and other ameliorations, he made various
additions to the family mansion, and " reformed the whole house exceed-
ingly."

At the commencement of the religious troubles. Sir William Mure, though in
several of Jiis poems he appears as paying his court to royalty, took an interest
in the popular cause ; and, in the first army raised against the king, commanded
a company in the Ayrshire regiment. He was a member of the parliament, or
rather convention of 1643, by which the Solemn League and Covenant was
ratified with England ; and, in the beginning of the ensuing year, accompanied
the troops which, in terms of that famous treaty, were despatched to the aid of
the parliamentary cause. After a variety of services during the spring of
1644, he was present, and wounded, in the decisive battle of Long Marston-
moor, July 2nd. In the succeeding month, he was engaged at the storming of
Newcastle, where, for some time, in consequence of the superior officer's being
disabled, he had the command of the regiment. Whether this was the last
campaign of the poet, or whether he remained Avith the army till its return, af-
ter the rendition of the king, in 1647, is not known. No farther material
notice of him occurs, except that, on the revision of Roos's Psalms by the
General Assembly in 1650, a version by Mure of Rowallan is spoken of as em-
ployed by the committee for the improvement of the other. Sir William died
in 1657. Various specimens of his compositions may be found in a small
volume entitled, " Ancient Ballads and Songs, chiefly from tradition, manu-
scripts, and scarce works, with biographical and illustrative notices, including
original poetry, by Thomas Lyle : London," 1827 ; to which we have been in-
debted for the materials of this article.

MURRAY, Alexander, D. D., an eminent philologist, was born, October 22,
1775, at Dunkitterick, on the water of Palneur, in the Stewartry of Kirkcud-
bright He was the son of a shepherd, or pastoral farm-servant named Robert
Murray, who was in the seventieth year of his age at the time of the birth of
this distinguished member of his family. Young Murray was born in too hum-
ble circumstances, and reared in too secluded u district, to have the advantage of
early instruction at school. When he had attained his sixth year, his father pur-
chased for him a copy of the Shorter Catechism ; a work prefaced, in Scottish
editions, by the alphabet in its various forms, and a few exercises in monosyl-
lables. Tho good shepherd, however, thought this little volume (the cost of
which it only one penny) too valuable for common use : it was accordingly
locked carefully aside, and the father taught his child the letters, by scribbling

ALEXANDER MURRAY, D.D. 73

them on the back of an old wool-card with tlie end of a burnt heather-stem.
When the elements of language had been thus mastered, the catechism was
brought forth, and given to the young student as a book of exercises in read-
ing. He then got a psalm book, which he liked much better than the cate-
chism ; and at length a New Testament, which he liked better still ; and after-
wards he discovered an old loose bible, which he carried away piece-meal from
the place where it was deposited, and read with all the wonderment natural to a
capacious mind, on being first introduced to a kind of knowledge beyond the
limited scene in which it had originally been placed. He liked the mournful
narratives best, and greatly admired Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Lamentations.
In his eighth year, he had acquired so much local fame on account of his acquire-
ments in reading, tiiat a wish was generally entertained among his friends to see
him sent to some regular school. This would have been impossible — for his
father was a very poor man — if a brother of liis mother, by name William
Cochrane, had not possessed both the means and the inclination to provide the
requisite funds. He was placed, in 1784, at the school of New Galloway,
where, though he made a very awkward appearance at first, he soon distanced
the most of " the Bible class." He had been but six months at school, when he
was seized by an illness, which called him home ; nor did he again attend
school for the four ensuing years. During the most of this space of time, he ap-
pears to have been employed as a shepherd ; devoting all his leisure, however,
to the study of such books as fell in his way. In the winter of 1787-8, he was
so far advanced as to be able to teach the children of two neighbouring farmers.
Soon after, he began to give irregular attendance at the school of Minnigaff,
chiefly for the purpose of improving his arithmetic, as he had now formed a
wish to become a merchant's clerk. In 1790, he made his first adventure into
the region of languages, by studying French and Latin ; and such was his appli-
cation, that in the course of three or four months, he had learned as much as the
most of youths acquire in as many years. By extraordinary good fortune, he
obtained an old copy of the larger dictionary of Ainsworlh, at the low price of
eighteen pence, and soon read the volume quite through. Every part of this
large book he studied with minute attention, observing the Greek derivations oi
the words, and occasionally adverting to the Hebrew also ; and thus, about a
year after his first acquaintance with the rudiments, he was able to read Ovid,
CjBsar, and Livy, and to commence lessons in the Iliad. AH the books which
his school-fellows possessed, both in English and classical literature, were bor-
rowed by IMurray, and devoured with immense rapidity and eagerness. He
had at this time no taste in reading : the boundless field of knowledge was open
to him, and he cared not which part he first surveyed, for he was determined
apparently to survey it all. He only felt a kind of wild pleasure in whatever
Mas grand, or romantic, or mournful. In perusing the Iliad, he was greatly af-
fected by the fate of Hector and Sarpedon. " And no sensation," says he, in
his autobiography, "was ever more lively, than what I felt on first reading the
passage, which declares that Jupiter rained drops of blood upon the ground, in
honour of his son Sarpedon, who was to fall far from his country. My prac-
tice," he continues, " was to lay down a new and difiicult task, after it had
wearied me, — to take up another, — then a third, — and to resume this rotation
frequently and laboriously." Dr Murray used to consider himself fortunate in
his teacher, Simpson, in as far as the man was of a careless, easy character,
and had no scruple in permitting him to advance as fast as lie liked, and to
step into any class for which he appeared qualified. " Desultory study,"
says he, ** is a bad thing ; but a lad whose ambition never ceases, but stimulates
him incessantly, enlarges his mind and range of thought, by excursions beyond

74: ALEXANDER MURRAY, D.D

the limits of regular forms." We shall let Dr Murray narrate his further pro-
gress in his own words : —

" In 1792, I read portions of Homer, Liry, Sallust, and any other author
used in the school. In the winter, 1792-3, I engaged myself' with Thomas
Birkmyre, miller, of Minnigat!' mill, and taught his children during that season
till March, 1793. My wages were only thirty shillings, hut my object was to
get a residence near Newton Stewart, and to have liberty of going, in the winter
forenights, to a school taught by Mr Nathaniel Martin, in Brigend of Cree.
3Iartin had been at Edinburgh, and possessed many new books, such as the Bee,
Duncan's Cicero, some of the best English collections, and so forth. From a
companion, named John Mackilwraith, I got the loan of Bailie^s English Dic-
tionary, which I studied, and learnt from it a vast variety of useful matters. I
gained from it the Anglo-Saxon alphabet, the Anglo-Saxon paternoster, and
many words in that venerable dialect 1 his enabled me to read Hicke's Saxon
Grammar, without difficulty, after I went to Edinburgh, and led the way to the
Visi-Gothic and German. About the end of autumn, 1792, I had procured,
from one Jack Roberts, a small Welsh History of Christ and the Apostles. I
had seen a translation, or rather the original English, of this book in former
years, but I could not get access to it after I had the Welsh in my possession.
I mused, however, a good deal on the quotations from Scripture that abound in
it, and got acquainted with many Welsh words and sentences. If I had a copy
of the Bible in any language of which I knew the alphabet, I could make con-
siderable progress in learning it without granmiar or dictionary. This is done
by minute observation and comparison of words, terminations, and phrases. It
is the method dictated by necessity, in the absence of all assistance.

" In 1791, I had the loan of a stray volume of the Ancient Universal History
from my neighbour school-fellows, the Maclurgs, who lived in Glenhoash, below
Risque. It contained the history of the ancient Gauls, Germans, Abyssinians,
and others. It included a very incorrect copy of the Abyssinian alphabet, which,
however, I transcribed, and kept by me for future occasions. I was completely
master of the Arabic .alphabet, by help of Robertson's Hebrew Grammar, in the
end of which (first edition) it is given in the most accurate manner.

" In the autumn of 1792, about the time I went to the mill, I had, in the
hour of ignorance and ambition, believed myself capable of writing an epic
pnem. For two years before, or rather from the time that I had met with
Paradise Lost, sublime poetry was my favourite reading. Homer had encourag-
ed this taste, and my school-fellow, George Mure, had lent me, in 1791, an edi-
tion of Ossian's Fingal, which is, in many passages, a sublime and pathetic per.
formance. I copied Fingal, as the book was lent only for four days, and car«
ried the MS. about with me. I chose Arthur, general of the Britons, for my
hero, and during the winter 1792-3, wrote several thousands of blank verses about
his achievements. This was my first attempt in blank verse. In 1790, I had
purcliased ' The Grave,' a poem by Blair, and committed it almost entirely to
memory.

" I passed the summer of 1793 at home, and in long visits to my friends in
Newton Stewart, and other parts. During that time I destroyed Arthur and
his Britons, and began to translate, from Buchanan's poetical works, his Fratres
Franciscan!, I made an attempt to obtain Mochrum school ; but Mr Steven,
minister of that parish, who received me very kindly, told me that it was pro-
mised, and, that my youth would be objected to by tlie heritors and parish.

" Some time in tlie same summer, I formed an acquaintance with William
Hume, a young lad who intended to become an Antiburgher clergyman, and
who kept a private school in Newton Stewart. This friendship procured me

ALEXANDER MURRAY. D.D. 75

the loan of several new books. I paid a visit to the Rev. Mr Donnan, in Wig-
ton, an excellent man and scholar. He examined me on Homer, which I read
ad apertnram libri, in a very tolerable, though not very correct manner. He
gave me Cicero de Natura Deorum, which I studied with great ardour, though a
speculative treatise. I was enthusiastically fond of Cicero, as my dictionary
gave me a most affecting account of the merits and fate of that great man. In
1701, 1 bought for a trifle a MS. volume of the lectures of Arnold Drackenburg,
a Geiraan professor, on the lives and writings of the Roman authors, from
Livius Andronicus to Quintilian. This was a learned work, and I resolved to
translate and publish it. I remained at home during the winter of 1793-4, and
employed myself in that task. My translation was neither elegant nor correct.
My taste was improving ; but a knowledge of elegant phraseology and correct
diction cannot be acquired without some acquaintance with the world, and with
the human character in its polished state. The most obscure and uninteresting
parts of the Spectator, World, Guardian, and Pope's Works, were those that
described life and manners. The parts of those works which I then read with
rapture, were accounts of tragic occurrences, of great but unfortunate men, and
poetry that addressed the passions. In spring 1794, I got a reading of Blair's
Lectures. The book was lent by Mr Strang, a Relief clergyman, to William
Hume, and sublent to me. In 1793, I had seen a volume of an encyclopedia,
but found very considerable difficulties in making out the sense of obscure scien-
tific terms, with which those books abound.

" Early in 1794, I resolved to go to Dumfries, and present my translation to
the booksellers there. As I had doubts respecting the success of a ' History of
the Latin Writers,' I likewise composed a number of poems, chiefly in the
Scottish dialect, and most of them very indifTerent. I went to Dumfries in
June, 1794, and found that neither of the two booksellers there would under-
take to publish my translation ; but I got a number of subscription papers
printed, in order to promote the publication of the poems. I collected by my-
self and friends four or five hundred subscriptions. At (iatehouse, a merchant
there, an old friend, gave me a very curious and large printed copy of the Pen-
tateuch, which had belonged to the celebrated Andrew Melville, and the Hebrew
Dictionary of Pagninus, a huge folio. During the visit to Dumfries, I was in-
troduced to Robert Burns, who treated me with great kindness ; told me, that
if I could get out to college without publishing my poems, it would be better, as
my taste was young and not formed, and I would be ashamed of my productions
when I could write and judge better. I understood this, and resolved to make
publication my last resource. In Dumfries I bought six or seven plays of
Shaljspeare, and never read any thing except Milton, with more rapture and
enthusiasm."

The singular acquirements of this Galloway shepherd, had now made sonrie
impression in a circle beyond his own limited and remote sphere ; and, in
November, 1794, he was invited to Edinburgh, in order to make an exhibition
of his learning before several individuals, who were net only qualified to judge
of it, but were inclined to take an interest in the fate of iU possessor. He un-
derwent an examination before Drs Baird, Finlayson, and Moodie, clergymen of
the city; and so efTectually convinced these gentlemen of his qualifications, that
they took the means to procure for him a gratuitous education in the university.
Dr Baird proved, in particular, a zealous and steady friend, not only in the
exertion of his influence, but by contributions to the means of his subsistence
during the earlier part of his academic career. At the end of two years, he
obtained a bursary, or exhibition, from the city, and soon after was able to %\iy-
port himself, by private teaching. He now commenced the necessary studies lor

70

ALEXANDER MURRAY, D.D.

the church, at the same time that he devoted every liour he could spare to the
acquisition of general knowledge. In a very short space of time, he found him-
self master of the whole of the European languages, and began to make re<
searciies in the more recondite dialects of the east. His philological studies
were conducted with a careful regard to etymology, and the philosophy of gram-
mar ; and it would appear that the design of tracing up all existing languages
to one root, and thus penetrating back into the early and unchronicled history
of the human race, gradually expanded upon him.

While thus devoting his leisure to one grand pursuit, he did not neglect
the graces of the belles lettres. After having for some years contributed mis-
cellaneous pieces to the Scots Magazine, he was induced, about the beginning
of the present century, to become the editor of that respectable work, then the
property of Mr Archibald Constable. He also contributed several able articles
to tlie Edinburgh Review. Having made himself master of the Abyssinian
language, and also of the Geez and Amharic tongues, upon which tlie former is
founded, he appeared to Mr Constable as a fit person to superintend a now
edition of Bruce's Travels to discover the source of the Nile. For nearly three
years subsequent to September 1802, he was engaged with little intermission
upon this task, chiefly residing at Kinnaird House, where he had access to the
papers left by the illustrious traveller. To the work, which appeared in seven
large octavo volumes, he contributed a life of the author, and a mass of notes,
containing the most curious and learned discussions on philology, antiquities,
and a manifold variety of subjects illustrative of Bruce's narrative. The
" Life" he afterwards enlarged and published in a separate volume.

In 1806, Dr Murray for the first time obtained what might be considered a
permanent station by being appointed assistant cind successor to the Rev. Mr
Muirhead, minister of Urr, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright ; at whose death,
in 1808, he became the full stipendiary of the parish. In this situation, he
displayed, amidst his clerical duties, his usual application to philological pur-
suits. His fame as a linguist was now spread abroad by his edition of Bruce,
and in 1811, at the suggestion of Mr Salt, envoy to Abyssinia, he was applied
to, to use Mr Salt's own words, as *' the only person in the British dominions "
adequate to the task, to translate a letter written in Geez, from tlie governor of
Tigris to his Britannic majesty. Notwithstanding the obscurity of several pas-
sages in this rare document, he was able to acquit himself of his task in the most
satisfactory manner.

In 1812, on a vacancy occurring in the chair of Oriental languages in the
university of Edinburgh, Dr Murray stood a contest with two other candidates,
and gained the situation by a majority of two voices in the city council. He
was now for the first time in life placed in a situation suitable to his extraordi-
nary faculties ; and yet it was destined that, after all his preliminary labours,
his career was now on the point of being for ever closed. His constitution,
which had never been strong, broke down under the labours of the first session.
Before opening his class, he had published his " Outlines of Oriental Philology,"
a remarkably clear and intelligible epitome of the grammatical principles of the
Hebrew and its cognate dialects. During the winter, the fatigi:e he encoun-
tered in preparing his lectures was very great ; and in February, 1813, a pul-
monary ailment, which had previously given him great distress, became so violent
as to prevent his attendance in the class-room. To quote the afi'ccting account
of his latter days, given by Mr Murray,' *' he himself entertained hopes of his
recovery, and was flattering himself with the prospect of being able to remove
to the country ; but his complaints daily assumed a more alarming aspect. On
> Literary history of Galloway, second edition, p. 256.

PATRICK MURRAY. 7?

the day before his death, he was out of bed for twelve hours. He arranged
several of his papers, spoke freely, and appeared in good spirits. He alluded
to his approaching dissolution, which he now himself began to apprehend ; but
Mrs Murray was too agitated to admit of the subject being minutely adverted
to. He retired to bed at eleven o'clock ; he dozed a little ; and every moment
he was awake he spent in prayer. In the true spirit of genius, he said that he
had once expected to attain to old age, and that he woifld be enabled to per-
form something of a more eminent nature, and of greater consequence to^
society, than he had yet accomplished ; but rwt a murmur escaped his lipo ; he
was, at all times, perfectly resigned to the will of the Eternal. The following
vei-se of the hundred and eighteenth psalm he repeated a few hours before his
death : —

O set ye open unto me

The gates of righteousness;

Then I will enter into them,
And I the Lord will bless.

At the end of these lines he made a pause, and Mrs Murray having proceeded
with the subsequent verse, —

This is the gate of God ; by it

The just shall enter in ;
Thee will I praise, for thou me heard'st,

And hast my safety been, —

he looked wistfully and tenderly in her countenance, — he put his hand on his
breast, — and said it gave him relief and consolation. He now became sudden,
ly worse ; his speecli failed him; and having lingered in this state for a short
time, he breathed his last in the arms of his wife. This melancholy event took
place at six o'clock in the morning of- the 1 5th of April, 1813, in the thirty-
seventh year of his age. The last words he was heard to utter were, * Take
clear burial-ground,' meaning no doubt, to intimate his desire that his remains
might be placed in a grave which had not been previously occupied. He was
interred in the Greyfriars' church-yard, at the northwest corner of the
church."

So died this amiable and most accomplished scholar, after a life which might
rather be described as the preparation for something great, than as having ac-
tually produced any great fruits. He had written a philological work of pro-
found and varied learning, which appeared in 1813, under the auspices of Dr
Scot of Corstorphine, entitled " History of European languages ; or Researches
into the Affinities of the Teutonic, Greek, Celtic, Sclavonic, and Indian Na-
tions." He left, by his wife, whom he married while engaged in his pastoral
riuties at Urr, a son and a daughter, the latter of whom died of consumption
in 1821.

MURRAY, Patrick, fifth lord Elibank, a nobleman distinguished by erudi
tion and literary taste, was the eldest son of Alexander, the preceding lord, by
Elizabeth, daughter of George Stirling, surgeon in Edinburgh. He was borr
in February, 1703. For reasons with which we are unacquainted, he studied
for the Scottish bar, at which he entered in 1723, but in the same year adopted
the military profession, and soon rose to a considerable rank in the army. He
was, in 1740, a lieutenant-colonel under lord Cathcart, in the expedition to
Carthagena, of which he wrote an account, that ren»ains in manuscript in the
library of the Board of Trade. He had now succeeded to the family title, and
was distinguished for his wit and general ability. His miscellaneous reading
was extensive, and we have the authority of Dr Johnson, that it was improved

78 PATRICK MURRAY.

by his own observations of the world. He lived for many yeara at a curious
old house, belonging to the family of North, at Catnge in Cambridgeshire ; and
it has been recently ascertained that he kept up a correspondence with the
exiled house of Stuart In the latter part of liis life, he appears to have chiefly
resided in Edinburgh, mingling witii the distinguislicd literati of the city, who
were his contemporaries, and fully qualified by his talents and knowledge, to
adorn even that society.

In 1758, he published at Edinburgh, ** Thoughts on Money, Circulation,
and Paper Currency ;" and an " Inquiry into the Origin and Consequence of
the Public Debts" appeared afterwards. In 17G5, he issued " Queries relating
to the proposed Plan for altering Entails in Scotland," and, in 1773, a " Let-
ter to lord Hailes on his Eemarks on the History of Scotland." His lordship's
political life was entirely that of an opposition lord, and, among other subjects
which attracted his indignant attention, was the servile condition of his native
peerage. In the year 1774, he published a work under the title of " Consider-
ations on the Present State of the Peerage of Scotland," which attracted a con-
siderable degree of attention. " Never," says he " was there so humbling a
degradation as what the Scots peers of the first rank and pretensions suffer, by
the present mode of their admittance to the house of lords. For the truth of
this, one needs but to appeal to their own feelings, or to the common estima-
tion of mankind. A Scots peer of the first rank is considered as an instrument
singled out, and posted in the house of lords by the appointment of the minister
at the time, for the end of supporting his measures, whatever they are or may
be ; and who, in case of failure, nuist expect to be turned out at the expiration
of his term of seven years. He is supposed to be composed of such pliant
materials, that in the event of a change of administration, the next minister
makes no doubt of finding him equally obsequious, and ready to renounce his
former connexions." When Dr Johnson visited Scotland in 1773, lord ElU
bank addressed to him a courteous letter, which is to be found in Boswell's
Tour to the Hebrides, where are also the records of various conversations in
which both men flourished. The English philosopher declared that he never
met his lordship, without going away a " wiser man." Lord Elibank in early
life married the dowager lady North and Grey, who was by birth a Dutch-
woman, and of illustrious extraction. He died, without issue, August 3,
177 8, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.

Two younger brothers of this nobleman attracted considerable notice in their
lifetime. The elder, Mr Alexander Murray, was so enthusiastic a Jacobite, as
to propose leading an insurrection even after the close of all the just hopes of
the house of Stuart in 174(). He was confined for more than a year subsequent *
to May 1750, by order of the house of commons, for violent interference with
a W cstminster election ; and, as he refused to express contrition on his knees,
according to the order of the house, he might have been confined for a much
longer period, if the prorogation of parliament had not brought about his en-
largement James Murray, the fourth and youngest brother of lord Elibank,
distinguished himself as an officer in high command during the Canadian
war. Being in the next war constituted governor of Minorca, he defended that
important station in 1781 , against a greatly disproportioned force of the French ;
and, «hat was more to his credit, withstood the secret offer of a million
for its surrender. After a protracted siege, during which general Murray
lost three-fourths of his men, he was obliged by the scurvy to give up Fort St
Philip, to which he had retired, but raiher in the condition of an hospital than
a fortress. His conduct was warmly applauded by the British government and
nation.

SIR ROBERT MURRAY. 79

3HJRRAY, (Sir) Robert, a statesman and natural philosopher, appears to
have been born about the couimenceinent of the seventeenth century. He was
a son of Sir Robert 3Iurray of Craigie, by a daughter of George Halket of
Pitferran. According to his intimate friend, Burnet, he served in the Frencli
army, and having found great favour with the all-potent Richelieu, was early
promoted to a colonelcy/ When the difficulties of Charles I. assumed their
most alarming aspect, he returned to Scotland, and raised recruits for the royal
army. When the king was with the Scots army at Newcastle, he seems to have
attempted an escape, designed by Sir Robert. *' The design," says Burnet,
** was thus laid : Mr Murray had provided a vessel by Teignmouth, and Sir
Robert Murray was to have conveyed the king thither in disguise ; and it pro-
ceeded so far, that the king put himself in the disguise, and went down the
back staire with Sir Robert Murray. But his majesty, apprehending .it was
scarce possible to pass through all the guards without being discovered, and
judging it hugely indecent to be catched in such a condition, changed Iiis reso-
lution, and went back, as Sir Robert informed the writer."* About this period,
it is probable that he had not received his title, and that he may be identified
with "Jlr Robert 3Iun'ay, quarter-master general," who, on the occasion of the
town of Berwick (which was ordered to be dismantled at the tieaty of the two
kingdoms) petitioning to be permitted to keep three pieces of ordnance, and the
two gates of the bridge, was " sent to Berwick with his majesty's recommenda-
tion, to take notice what may be the importance of that petition, and report the
same to the house."^ After tiie fall of the royal cause, he appears to have been
recommended by the parliament of Scotland to the French government, and to
hare obtained from Mazarine a continuation of the favours extended to him by
Richelieu. On th 22nd May, 1650, two letters from France were read to the
parliament of Scotland, one from the young king,jhe other from the queen
regent, in answer to the letter of the parliament in favour of Sir Robert 31ur-
ray ; in which " both did promise, from their respect and love to the Scots
nation, they would see their desire performed, so far as possibly the convenience
of their afl'airs would permit, and that he should be paid od' his arrears.'^ We
afterwards find the parliament exhibiting their favour, by sending him a few
cargoes of prisoners, to serve in his ranks. Of two hundred and eighty-one
soldiers, taken at Kerbester, where the marquis of IMontrose ^»as finally defeated,
after some disposals to coal mines, &c,, the remainder ** are given to lord Angus
and Sir Robert 3Iurray to recruit their French troops with."^ It is probable that
he was an officer in the Scots guards. He continued in the confidence of Charles
II., and was connected with the obscure negotiations of Montreville with the in-
dependents and presbyterians, for the purpose of procuring their assistance at as
cheap a rate as possible to the conscience of the king, or under the form of pro-
mise which might admit the easiest and safest infraction on liis part. The mo-
deration of Sir Robert in matters connected with the church, evinced in this trans-
action, may have been the reason why Clarendon termed him " a cunning and a
dexterous man;" and accused him of attempting, under the pretext of bringing
the king to peace with the Scots, a coalition betwixt the Roman catholics and
presbyterians, to the destruction of the church of England.

On tile 21st May, 1651, while Charles was in command of the army in
Scotland, Sir Robert was appointed justice-clerk ; and, on the Gth of June, he
was chosen a lord of session, and nominated a privy councillor.^ But the sub-
version of the courts by Cromwell prevented him from sitting in judgment.
Burnet mentions that he was in great credit with tlie remains of the king's

• Burnet's O^vn Times, i. 59. » Mem. of D. of HamiUon, 307. ^ Balf. An., iii. 337.
♦ Balf. All., iv. 17. * lb. 18. 35, Act. Far., vii. 516. « lb.

80

SIR ROBERT MURRAY.

army surviving in Scotland, when " lord Glencairn took a strange course to
break it, and to ruin him." A letter written by him to William Murray, a low
minion, who had risen in the court of Charles I., by the performance of the
most despicable offices, was pretended to have been found at Antwerp. " This
ill-forged letter gave an account of a bargain Sir Robert had made with 3Ionk
for killing the king, which was to be executed by Mr Murray : so he
prayed him in his letter to make haste and despatch it. This was brought to
the earl of Glencairn : so Sir Robert was severely questioned upon it, and put
ill arrest : and it was spread about through a rude army that he intended to
kill the king, hoping, it seems, that some of these wild people, believing it,
would have fallen upon him, without using any forms. Upon this occasion. Sir
Robert practised, in a very eminent manner, his true Christian philosophy,
without showing so much as a cloud in his whole behaviour."''

At the discussion at Whitehall, on the question of the future established reli-
gion in Scotland, Sir Robert Murray, along with Hamilton and Lauderdale,
proposed to delay the establishment of episcopacy, until the temper of the people
should be ascertained.^ In the attempt, by means of ballot, to disqualify those
who had been favourable to the government of Cromwell from serving under
Charles, Sir Robert Mas one of those whose downfall, along with that of Lauder*
dale, was particularly aimed at^ This association with Lauderdale seems not
to have been called for by the previous conduct, the party opinions, or the
moral character of Sir Robert. Afterwards Lauderdale's aversion to so moderate
and honest a man, disturbed his councils, and was partly productive of his down-
fall. He joined the rising administration of Tweeddale ; and, having at the Re-
storation been re-appointed a lord of session, was promoted to be justice-clerk.
" The people were pleased and gratified," says Laing, " when a judicial office,
so important and dangerous, was conferred on the most upright and accom-
plished character which the nation produced."*" But Sir Robert was made jus-
tice-clerk, not to be a judge, but that the salary might induce him to be a par-
tizao. He never sat on the bo«ich, and was probably quite ignorant of law.
Meanwhile, in 1662, took place the most important event in his life, and one
of the most interesting transactions of the period. He was one of the leaders of
that body of naturalists and philosophers, who, with the assistance of lord
Brounker and Robert Boyle, procured for the Royal Society the sanction of a
charter. The society had existed as a small debating club previous to the re-
public, at the establishment of which, the members separated. At the Restora-
tion, they re-established themselves, and conducted their meetings and opera-
tions on a rather more extensive scale. On the 28th November, 1660, we find
Sir Robert present at, probably, the first meeting, where it was proposed " that
some course might be thought of to improve this meeting to a more regular way
of debating things ; and that, according to the manner in other countries,
where there were voluntary associations of men into academies for the advance-
ment of various parts of learning, they might do something answerable here for
the promoting of experimental philosophy."" Sir Robert undertook to com-
municate the views of the society to the court, and at next meeting returned an
answer, indicative of encouragement from that quarter.'^ After rules for hold-
ing meetings, and for the appointment of office-bearers, were established. Sir
Robert was successively chosen president during the first and second month of
the existence of the society.'^ He was a member of almost all committees and
councils, delivered several papers, prepared and exhibited experiments, and

» Own Times, i. 103. 8 lb. 132 9 ib. ISQ lo Hist. ii. 47.

" Kirch- HisU R. Soc., i. 3. « lb, 4. " lb. 21.

WILLIAM MURRAY.

81

gave information in natural history, chiefly relating to the geology of Scotland.
The charter was obtained on 15th July, 1662.

This useful and high-minded man died suddenly in June, 1673. Burnett
says of this event : "He was the wisest and worthiest man of the age, and was
as another father to me. I was sensible how much I lost on so critical a con-
juncture, being bereft of the truest and faithfullest friend I had ever known : and
so I saAv I was in danger of committing great errors for want of so kind a moni.
tor." But the same partial hand, on all occasions graphic and rich in de-
scription, has elsewhere excelled its usual power, in drawing the character of Sir
Robert Murray. " He was the most universally beloved and esteemed by men
of all sides and sorts of any man 1 have ever known in my whole life. He was
a pious man, and, in the midst of armies and courts, he spent many hours a-
day in devotion, which was in a most elevating strain. He had gone through
the easy parts of mathematics, and knew the history of nature beyond any man
I ever yet knew. He had a genius much like Peiriski, as he is described by
Gassandi. He was afterwards the first former of the Royal Society, and its first
president ; and while he lived, he was the life and soul of that body. He had
an equality of temper in him, which nothing could alter : and was in practice
the only stoic I ever knew. He had a great tincture of one of their principles:
for he was much for absolute decrees. He had a most diffused love to all man-
kind, and delighted in every occasion of doing good, which he managed with
great discretion and zeal. He had a superiority of genius and comprehension
to most men ; and had the plainest, but, withal, the softest way of reproving,
chiefly young people, for their faults, that I ever knew of.'"*

MURRAY, William, earl of Mansfield, and lord chief justice of the King's
Bench, the fourth son of Andrew, viscount Stormont, was born at Perth on the
2nd March, 1704.' In 1719, he was admitted a king's scholar at Westmin-
ster. On the 18th June, 1723, he entered Christ church, Oxford, having been
first in the list of those promoted to the university. In 1730, he visited the
continent, after having graduated as master of arts ; and, on his return, was
called to the bar at Michaelmas term 1731. As a schoolboy and student, he
gained prizes, and is said to have shown promise of literary distinction ; while,
even after having joined his profession, he did not appear to direct his powers
to the acquisition of legal knowledge. The ofiice of a special pleader frequent-
ly damps the energy of talents formed to cast honour on the bar or the bench ;
and Murray, along with many who have, and many who have not, been able to
overcome the rigid barrier to the pursuit in which their talents made them
capable of shining, was generally esteemed more fitted for a scholar than a law-
yer. It is probable that the success of his first attempts showed him how suc-
cessfully he might employ his energies in this direction. He was early engaged
in a few important appeals, his appearance in which brought so speedy an ac-
cumulation of business, that it is said to have been remarked by himself, that
he never knew the difference between absolute want of employment, and a pro-
fessional income of £3000 a-year. He soon threw the whole powers of his
mind into the most minute acquirements necessary to procure eminence as a
speaker, and is knoAvn to have been caught practising gesture before a mirror,
with his friend Pope at his side acting as teacher of elocution. The intimacy
with the illustrious poet probably commenced in similarity of pursuits (for Mur-
ray wrote poetry in his youth, which has fallen into probably merited oblivion),
and was fostered by the absence of rivalry in after life. Pope condescended
to turn his verses into compliments on his forensic friend, and the latter roust
" OwTi Times, i 356. " IWd 69.

' Hollidaj's Life of Mansfield, p. 1. Koscoe's Lives of Biitisb Lawyers, 171.

82 -WILLIAM MURRAY.

have felt what the Roman has so well described, " pulchrum est Inudari a
laudato." It would be difficult to conceive a greater incentive to tlie rising am-
bition of an aspiring mind than these concluding lines :

•' Graced as thou art with all the power of words,
So known, so honoured, in the house of lords —
Conspicuous scene 1 another yet is nigh,
More silent far, where kings and poets lie;
Where Murray (long enough his country's pride)
Shall be no more than Tully or than Hyde !"

Like lord Eldon, he made the first exhibition of his full power in commanding
a jury, from the accidental illness of his senior counsel ; a circumstance wiiich
happened in the action for criminal conversation brought by Theophilus Gibber
against Mr Sloper. He requested a postponement for an hour, and never being
void of self-possession except when personally attacked, he omitted nothing
which his opportunities enabled him to accomplish, and made an impressive
charge, which produced a decided effect in favour of his client. He was soon
after employed in a professional service which n)ay be said to have been in de-
fence of his native country. When, after the murder of Porteous, the lords pas-
sed and sent down to the commons a bill for disqualifying and imprisoning the
provost of Edinburgh, abolishing the city guard, and taking away the gates of
the Netherbow port, he, assisted by Barnard, Shippen, Ogellhorpe, and most
of the Scots members, pertinaciously resisted the insulting measure through a
stormy conference, and was partly the means of lopping away the portion most
offensive to the public; and the bill as returned and passed by the lords, merely
disqualified the provost, and imposed a fine of £2000 on the city, for the bene-
fit of the widow of Porteous. Murray's services on this occasion were re-
warded by the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, which was presented to him in
a gold box.*

In 1743, the attention of a ministry, not supported by extensive political
talent, and obliged to combat with strong adversaries, was directed towards the
commanding powers of Mr Murray. He was chosen solicitor-general, and
being thus initiated as a responsible legislator, was one of the few lawyers
whose genius proved as great in the senate as it had been at the bar. In 1742,
he took his seat in the house as member for Boroughbridge. In 1746, he was
ex officio one of the counsel against the rebel lords. It is said tliat he per-
formed an unwelcome duty. He certainly exhibited a disposition to act as a
high-minded public prosecutor ought always to do, by showing that he was
ratlier the instrument through which the law acted in doing justice, than a per-
son employed to procure the punishment of a fellow citizen. " Every gentle-
man," he observed, choosing the collective term as the least invidious mode of
expressing his own feelings, " who has spoken in this trial, has made it a rule to
himself to urge nothing against the prisoner but plain facts and positive evidence
without aggravation." Whether he acted from principle, or a secret leaning
towards the cause he ostensibly opposed, is not likely to be ever known ; but
those who brought the accusation against him should have founded it on differ-
ent evidence from the circumstance, that, as crown counsel, he was unwilling to
stretch the law against the accused. The humbled lord Lovat, the person on
whose trial he made the above remark, in a fit of liberality or national feeling,
made the following observations on the solicitor in his defence. " I am very
sorry I gave your lordships so much trouble on my trial, and I give you a niil-

» Coxe's Walpole, J. 495.

WILLIAM MURRAY. 83

lion of tlinnks for bemg so good in your patience and attention wiiile it lasted,
I thought myself very much loaded by one Mr Murray, who, your lordships
know, was the bitterest enemy there was against me. I have since suffered by
another Mr MuiTay, who, I must say with pleasure, is an honour to his country,
and whose eloquence and learning are much beyond what is to be expressed by
an ignorant man like me. I heard him with pleasure, though it was against
me. I have the honour to be his relation, though perhaps he neither knows it
nor values it. I wish that his being born in the north may not hinder him
from the preferment that his merit and learning deserve. Till that gentle-
man spoke, your lordehips were inclined to grant my earnest request, and to
allow me farther lime to bring up my witnesses to prove my innocence ; but it
seems that has been overruled."^ But one who was present, and who has
dipped his pen in gall, has given a less pleasing account than that generally
believed, of his conduct at these trials. Horace Walpole says, in a letter to
Horace Man, " While the lords were withdrawn, the solicitor-general Mur-
ray, (brother of the Pretender's minister) officiously and insolently went up to
lord Balmerino, and asked him, how he could give the lords so much trouble,
when his solicitor had informed him that his plea would be of no use to him ?
Balmerino asked the bystanders who this person ^^•as? and being told, he said,
'Oh Mr Murray! I am extremely glad to see you: I have been with several
of your relations : the good lady, your mother, was of great use to us at
Perth ;' are not you charmed with this speech : how just it was!" But Mur-
ray did not escape charges of disaffection more apparently serious. A dinner
had been given by the dean of Durham on occasion of the king's birthday,
when a conversation was commenced by an individual of the name of P\iwcett,
an old class-fellow of Murray, as to the probable preferment of Johnson, a mutual
friend, then bishop of Gloucester. On this occasion Fawcett observed, that " he
was glad Johnson was so well off, for he remembered him a Jacobite several
years ago, and that he used to be with a relation of his who was very disaffected,
one Vernon Mercer, where the Pretender's health was frequently drunk. On
a ministerial inquiry, the charge of drinking the Pretender's health was trans-
ferred to Murray, and the matter became the subject of an accusation before the
cabinet council. Murray was the intimate friend and companion of Vernon's
eldest son, and had so established himself as a virtual brother to the young man,
that the father, on his son's death, left to Murray a considerable fortune.* This
man was a Jacobite. The university of Oxford was at tiiat period a nest of
traitors; and, taking into view Murray's family connexions, his youth, his ar-
dour, and the circumstance that he must have been aware that almost every
noble family in Britain then conducted a correspondence with the exiled
Stuarts, no man was more likely to have drunk the Pretender's health in a
moment of conviviality. However, he denied the charge, stating his loyalty to-
wards the existing government, which, by the time he was made solicitor-general,
was probably sincere. Inquiry was stifled, and nothing was proved to the pub-
lic on either side. But the accusation was never entirely dropped by his op-
ponents ; every one knows the use made of it by Junius. Pitt would use it to
poison the sharpest darts of his eloquence, and on such occasions Murray is said
to have felt, but never to have dared to answer. Pitt had been detailing some
symptoms of Jacobitism which he had seen at Oxford. Horace Walpole says on this
occasion,* " colours, much less words, could not paint the confusion and agitation
that worked in Murray's face during this almost apostrophe. His countenance
spoke everything that Fawcett had been terrified to prevaricate away." On

' Stiite Tri.il, xvi. 877. * Holliday, 51.

* Memoir of the last ten years of George II., i. 358.

84 WILLIAM MURRAY.

another occasion, the scene is thus told : ** After Murray liad suffered for some
time, Pitt slopped, threw his eyes around, then fixing tlieir whole power on
Murray, said, ' 1 must now address a few words to Mr Solicitor : they shall be
few, but they shall be daggers.' Murray was agitated : the look was con-
tinued ; the agitation increased. * Judge Festus trembles,' exclaimed Pitt,
' he shall hear me some other day.' He sat down, Murray made no reply,
and a languid debate is said to have shown the paralysis of the house." * It
may be well here to give the picture which Walpole has furnished us of Mur-
ray and his two great rivals in oratory, Pitt and Fox. The picture is beautiful,
and though too glaringly coloured, must be to a certain extent founded on
truth. " Blurray, who at the beginning of the session was awed by Pitt, find-
ing himself supported by Fox, surmounted his fears, and convinced the house,
and Pitt too, of his superior abilities. He grew most uneasy to the latter, Pitt
could only attack, Murray only defend. Fox, the boldest and ablest champion,
was still more formed to worry, but the keenness of his sabie was blunted by the
difiiculty with which lie drew it from the scabbard : I mean the liesitation and
ungracefulness of his delivery took off from the force of his arguments. Mur-
ray, the brightest genius of the three, had too much, and too little of tlie law-
yer ; he refined too much, and could wrangle too little, for a popular assembly.
Pitt's figure was commanding ; Murray's engaging from a decent openness ;
Fox's dark and troubled ; yet the latter was the only agreeable man. Pitt could
not unbend; Murray in private was inelegant : Fox was cheerful, social, com-
municative. In conversation, none of them had wit: Murray never had: F^ox
had in his speeches, from clearness of head and asperity of argument. Pitt's
wit was genuine, not tortured into the service, like the quaintnesses of my lord
Chesterfield."' On the accession of the duke of Newcastle's ministry in 1754,
Mr Murray was advanced to the office of attorney-general, in place of Sir
Dudly Ryder, made chief justice of the court of King's Bench. It was at that
period whispered, that the highest honours to which a British statesman can be
presumed to aspire, were almost within the grasp of Murray, but that he
declined a contest for any distinction which was not professional. His
character presents a strange mixture of eager, unremitting ambition, with an un-
willingness to grasp the highest objects within his reach, probably from a mental
misgiving as to his ability to perform the part of leader. In pursuance of tliis
feeling, on the death of Sir Dudly Ryder, in 1756, he followed him as chief
justice of the King's Bench, the post to which he always looked as the most
desirable, and which he preferred to the labours and responsibilities of the
chancellorship or premiership. He probably had no wish to remain longer a
member of such a government as Newcastle's ; but that weak head of a cabinet
had sufficient wisdom to calculate the loss of such a man as Murray, and
extravagant offere are said to have been made to indue* him to remain for some
time a working partizan of the ministry. In his promotion, however, he does
not seem to liave wished to relinquish the honours of administration, while he
eschewed the responsibility. Contrary to custom, but not to precedent, he re-
mained a member of the cabinet, and changed his sphere of action for the
house of lords, with the title of baron Mansfield of Mansfield, in the county of
Nottingham. On his taking leave of the society of Lincoln's Inn, he received
the usual congratulatory address, which was presented by the honourable C.
York, son to Icrd Hardwicke.

Let us now cast a glance at lord Mansfield's character, and services to the
public, as a judge. It is in this capacity that we will find the only practical

• Butler's Remains. Roscoe, 181. 1 Walpole's Memoirs, i. 490-

"WILLIAM MURRAY. 85

memorial which he lias left for posterity ; but it is such a memorial as few, if
any other judges, have left The declaration of what the law is, is generally

thought sufficient duty for a judge, and he is praised if he does it well, the

eviis which his train of decisions may have produced to posterity, when their
principle was applied to other cases, are not to be attributed to him; he was not
prophetic, and could not foresee such events. But lord Mansfield, in more than
one branch of law, framed his decisions for the advantage of posterity ; and of the
law of marine insurance, which is now a vast system both in England and Scot-
land, he may be said to have been the framer. On this subject, the opinion of
one of the most ample writers on the English law of marine insurance, will best
explain what lord Mansfield accomplished. " Before the time of this venerable
judge, the legal proceedings, even on contracts of insurance, were subject to
great vexations and oppressions. If the underwriters refused payment, it was
usual for the insured to bring a separate action against each of the underwriters
on the policy, and to proceed to trial on all. The multiplicity of trials was
oppressive both to the insurers and insured ; and the insurers, if they had any
real point to try, were put to an enormous expense before they could obtain any
decision of the question which they wished to agitate. Some underwriters, who
thought they had a sound defence, and who were desirous of avoiding unneces-
sary cost or delay to themselves or the insured, applied to the court of King's
Bench, to stay the proceedings in all the actions but one, undertaking to pay
the amount of their subscriptions with costs, if the plaintiff should succeed in the
cause which was tried ; and offering to admit, on their part, everything which
might bring the true merits of the case before the court and jury. Reason-
able as this offer was, the plaintiff, either from perverseness of disposition, or
the illiberality or cunning of his advisers, refused his consent to the application.
The court did not think tiiemselves warranted to make such a rule without his
consent; but Mr Justice Denison intimated, that if the plaintiff persisted, against
his own interest, on his right to try all the causes, the court had the power of
granting imparlances in all but one, till there was an opportunity of granting
that one action. Lord Mansfield then stated the great advantages resulting to
each party, by consenting to the application which was made ; and added, that,
if the plaintiff consented to such a rule, the defendant should undertake not to
file any bill in equity for delay, nor to bring a writ of error, and should produce
all books and papers that were material to the point in issue. This rule was
afterwards consented to by the plaintiff, and was found so beneficial to all par-
ties, that it is now grown into general use, and is called the consolidiation rule.
Thus, on the one hand, defendants may have questions of real importance tried
at a small expense ; and plaintifft are not delayed in their suits by those arts
which have too frequently been resorted to, in order to evade the payment of a
just demand,^ Such is one out of the several judicial measures by which lord
Mansfield erected this great system. But it is said that he made the changes in
the law, by changing himself from the administrator of the law into the legisla-
tor ; that he did not adhere to the letter of the law, but gave it an equitable
interpretation, virtually altering it himself, in place of leaving to the legislature
the correction of bad laws, a system which, whatever good use he might himself
have made of it, was not to be intrusted to a chief justice, and never was so by
the law of England. The charge is not without foundation. Junius says to
him, in his celebrated letter of 14th November, 1770, " No learned man ever
among your own tribe, thinks you qualified to preside in a court of common
law. Yet it is confessed that, under Justinian, you might have made an incoin-
parable pretor," The Roman law was, in all its branches, the excess of equity,
8 Park on Insurance. Introduction, 12.

86 WILLIAM MURRAY.

even wlien compared to the equity court of England ; but the pretorian
brancli was the equity of the Roman law. It is prol>able that the institute was
at ail times a more pleasing study to the elegant mind of lord 31ansfield, thi^n
the rigid common and statute law of England. He frequently made reference
to it, and naay have been induced to study it, in capacitating himself for plead-
ing Scotch appeals; yet he is understood to have been the author of the chapter
in Blackstone's Commentary, which answers the arguments of lord Kanies in
favour of the extension of equity in England. His opinions on the rights ol
jury trials in cases of libel, have met with still more extensive censure. He
maintained " that the printing and sense of the paper were alone what the jury
had to consider of." The intent with which this was done, (as it is singularly
termed the law,) he retained for the consideration of the court In the cases of
Almon and of Woodfall, he so instructed the jury. In the latter case, the verdict
was " guilty of printing and publishing only." There was no charge, except
for printing and publishing, in the information, the intent being for the con-
sideration of the court. On the motion for arrest of judgment, it is clear from
lord Mansfield's opinion, that, had the verdict been " guilty of printing and
publishing," he would have given judgment on the opinion of the court as to
intent; but the word ** only" was a subject of doubt, and a new trial was ruled.^
The verdict, in this case, was '* not guilty." Lord 3Iansfield could not prevent
such a verdict, without unconstitutional coercion ; but he accommodated it to his
principles, by presuming that the meaning of such a verdict was a denial as to
the fact of printing and publishing, and that the juror who gave it, in considera-
tion of the intent, perjured himself. Yet Junius accomplished a signal triumph
over him, in making him virtually contradict his favourite principle, in a theory
too nice for practice, when he said, that " if, after all, they would take upon them-
selves to determine the law, t/iej/ mig/U do it ; but they must be very sure that
they determined according to law : for they touched their consciences, and they
acted at their periL" A declaratory act, introduced by Fox, has since put a
stop to the powers of a judge, to infringe in a similar manner the riglits of
juries.'" In only two instances has lord Mansfield been accused of wilfully
perverting his judicial authority. In the Douglas cause, it must be admitted
that his address to the house was more like the speech of an advocate, than of a
judge. It is believed to have swayed the house, although the decision was not,
as in the general case, unanimous in favour of the side taken by the law ofiicer
who gives his opinion. Mr Stuart, the agent for the losing party, wrote letters
to lord Alansfield, solemnly charging him with improper conduct as a judge.
Of these very beautiful specimens of composition, it is scai'cely possible to judge
of tile merit, without a knowledge of the elaborate cause witli which they are
connected ; but the reasoning is clear and accurate, and the <;alm solemnity of
the charges, with the want of that personal asperity, or dependence on satirical
or declamatory powers, which appear in Junius, nmst have made these letters
keenly felt, even by a judge conscious of rectitude. The other charge was
brought against him by Junius, for admitting to bail a thief caught in the man-
ner, or with the stolen property, contrary to law. The thief was a man of
large property, his theft tritling, and, probably, the consequence of a species
of mental disease of not unfrequent occurrence. The reason of granting bail
was, we believe, to enable him to dispose of his property to his family; and the
act probably one of those in which the lord chief justice stretched the law, to
what lie conceived a useful purpose.

A brief narrative of his political proceedings, while on the bench, will suffice,
as their meriu are matter of history. He attended the meetings of the council
» State Trials. x%. 919—21. » 82 Geo. III„ c. 60.

ROBERT MYLNB. 87

from 1760 to 1763, when he declined attending, from not agreeing with the
measures of the duke of Bedford. In 1765, he returned, but again retired
within the same year, on the formation of the Rockingham administration. On
the dismissal of Mr Pitt, the seals of the chancellorship of the exchequer, from
which Mr Legge had retired, were pro tempore placed in his hands. When
lord Waldegrave was directed to form a new administration, he was employed to
negotiate with the duke of Newcastle, and his opponent, Pitt; but the conclusion
of the treaty was intrusted to the earl of Hardwicke. On the resignation of lord
Hardwicke, several attempts were made to prevail on Mansfield to succeed him
as chancellor ; but the timidity before explained, or some principle not easily
defined, induced him to decline the preferment. He strongly resisted an at-
tempt to amend the application of Habeas Corpus, to cases not criminal,
suggested from the circumstance of a gentleman having remained for a consider-
able period in prison, on a commitment for contempt of court. On this occa-
sion, " he spoke," says Horace Walpole, " for two hours and a half: his voice
and manner, composed of harmonious solemnity, were the least graces of his
speech. I am not averse to own that I never heard so much sense and so much
oratory united." This was an occasion of which Junius made ample use. The
amendment was rejected, and a similar legislative measure was not passed until
1816. Lord Mansfield was not less eloquent in supporting the right of Britain
to tax America, without representation ; he maintained the plea, that there
was virtual, though not nominal, representation, and urged decisive measures.
" You may abdicate," he said, " your right over the colonies. Take care, my
lords, how you do so ; for such an act will be irrevocable. Proceed then, my
lords, with spirit and firmness ; and when you have established your authority,
it will then be time to show your lenity." But if his views in civil politics
were narrow and bigoted, he was liberal in religious matters ; and both as a
judge and a legislator, aflbrded toleration to all classes of dissenters, from
Homan catholics to methodists. He was indeed a greater enemy to liberal in-
stitutions, than to liberal acts. He could bear to see the people enjoying privileges,
provided they flowed from himself; but he did not wish them to be the cus-
todiers of their own freedom. In spiritual matters, the authority did not spring
from the chief justice. When he left Pitt behind him in the commons, he found
one to act his part in the house of lords. Lord Camden Avas his unceasing
opponent ; and Mansfield was often obliged to meet his attacks with silence.
He suffered severely in the riots of 1780; his house, with considerable other
property, being destroyed ; while he sufl^ered the far more lamentable loss of all
his books and manuscripts. In pui-suance of a vote of the house of commons,
the treasury made an application for the particulars and amount of his loss, for
the purpose of arranging a compensation ; but he declined making any claim.
In 1788, he retired from his judicial office, when the usual address from the
bar was presented to him by his countryman, Mr Erskine, and in July, 1792,
he was raised to the dignity of earl of Mansfield, with remainder to his
nephew, David viscount Stormont, whose grandson now enjoys the title. He died
on the 20th March, 1793, in the eighty-ninth year of his age.

MYLNE, Robert, a distinguished architect, was born in Edinburgh, January
4, 1734. He was the son of Thomas Mylne, a magistrate of the city, and an
architect, whose predecessors for several generations had been master-masons to
the king, and one of whom built the additions to Holyrood house in the reign
of Charles II., and is interred in the neighbourhood of that palace, with a high-
ly panegyri(;al epitaph. After receiving a general education in Edinburgh, the
subject of this article travelled on the continent for improvement in his here-
ditary science. At Rome, where he resided five years, he gained in 1758, the

88 JOHN NAPIER.

first prize of the academy of St Luke in tlie first class of architecture, and was
unanimously elected a member of that body. In the course of his travels, he
was able, by the minuteness of his research, to discover many points in ancient
architecture which no one ever before or ever after remarked, and to illustrate
by this means some obscure passages in Vitruvius. On returning to London, a
friendless adventurer, the superiority of a plan which he presented, among those
of twenty other candidates, for the contemplated Blackfriars' bridge, gained him
the employment of superintending that great public work, which was commenced
in 176 1. This plan and the duty of superintendence were rewarded, according
to agreement, by a salary of £300 a-year, and five per cent, upon all the
money expended. So well had he calculated the cost, that the bridge was com-
pleted (1765) for the exact sum specified in the estimate, £153,000. As a
specimen of bridge architecture, on a large scale, it was long held in the very
highest rank ; and a learned writer has even pronounced it the most perfect in
existence. The mode of centering employed by Mr 31ylne, has, in particular,
been the theme of much praise.

This eminent architect was afterwards appointed surveyor of St Paul's
cathedral ; and he it was who suggested the inscription in that building to the
memory of Wren—" Si monumentum quseris, circumspice," an idea so felicitous,
that it may safely be described as more generally known, and committed to
more memories, than almost any similar thing in existence. Among the buildings
erected or altered by him, may be mentioned — Rochester cathedral, Greenwicli
hospital, (of which he was clerk of the works for fifteen years,) King's Weston,
Ardincaple bouse, and Inverary Castle. He was a man of extensive knowledge
in his profession, both in regard to its theory and practice. After a long career
of distinguished employment, he died. May 5, 1811, in his seventy-eighth year,
at the New River Head, London, where he had long resided as engineer to that
company, and was interred in Westminster Abbey, near the tomb of Sir Chris-
topher Wren. By his wife. Miss Mary Home, whom he married in 1770, he had
nine children, five of wbom survived him.

NAPIER, John, of Merchiston, near Edinburgh, the celebrated inventor of
the logarithms, was born in the year 1550. He was descended from an ancient
race of land proprietors in Stirlingshire and Dumbartonshire. His father, Sir
Alexander Napier of Edinbellie, in the former county, and Merchiston, in the
county of Edinburgh, was master of the mint to James VI., and was only sixteen
years of age when the subject of this memoir was born. The mother of the
inventor of the logarithms was Janet, only daughter of Sir Francis Bothwell, a
lord of session, and sister of Adam, bishop of Orkney. There is a prevalent
notion that the inventor of the logarithms was a nobleman: tliis has arisen from
his styhng himself, in one of his title pages, Baro Merchistonii ; in reality,
this implied baron in the sense of a superior of a barony, or what in Enc^land
would be called lord of a manor. Napier was simply laird of M^chiston—
a class who m Scotland sat in parliament under the denominaUon of the Usser
barons.

Napier was educated at St Salvator's college, in the university of St Andrews
which he entered in 1562. He afterwards travelled on the continent, proba-
bly to improve himself by intcrcour«e with learned and scientific men. Nothing

Engrmcdljy S.BpeamKa.

• OP KEE.CHJSTON.
rN-V13]<rT OR OP THE LOGARITHMS.

FHO-M THR QRJOrNAL PAtNTmS 3N 'ITdT; OTIVERfllTy 01' EDINBURGH.

: ScBQN. CJASCm. 2DINBT1RG1I S-J.ONHOii.

JOHN NAPIER. 89

farther is ascertained respecting him, till after he had reached the fortieth year
of his age. He is then found settled at the family seats of Merchiston near
Edinburgh, and Gartness, in Stirlingshire, where he seems to have practised the
life of a recluse student, without the least desire to mingle actively in political
affairs. That his mind was alire, however, to the civil and religious interests of
his country, is proved by his publishing, in 1593, an exposition of the Revela-
tions, in tlie dedication of which to the king, he urged his majesty, in very
plain language, to attend better than he did to the enforcement of the laws,
and the protection of religion, beginning reformation in his own " house,
family, and court." From this it appears that Napier belonged to the strict
order of presbyterians in Scotland ; for such are exactly the sentiments chiefly
found prevalent among that class of men at this period of our history.

In the scantiness of authenticated materials for the biography of Napier, some
traditionary traits become interesting. It is said that, in his more secluded
residence at Gartness, he had both a waterfall and a mill in his immediate
neighbourhood, which considerably interrupted his studies. He was, however,
a great deal more tolerant of the waterfall than of the mill ; for while the one
produced an incessant and equable sound, the other was attended with an irre-
gular clack-clack , which marred the processes of his mind, and sometimes even
rendered it necessary for him, when engaged in an unusually abstruse calcula-
tion, to desire the miller to stop work. He often walked abroad in the even-
ing, in a long mantle, and attended by a large dog ; and these circumstances,
working upon minds totally unable to appreciate the real nature of his
researches, raised a popular rumour of his being addicted to the black art. It
is certain that, no more than other great men of his age, was he exempt from
a belief in several sciences now fully proved to have been full of imposture.
The practice of foraiing theories only from facts, however reasonable and un-
avoidable it may appear, was enforced only for the first time by a contempo-
rary of Napier — the celebrated Bacon ; and, as yet, the bounds between true
and false knowledge were hardly known. Napier, therefore, practised an art
which seems nearly akin to divination, as is proved by a contract entered into,
in 1594, between him and Logan of Fastcastle — afterwards so celebrated for
his supposed concern in the Gowry conspiracy. This document states it to have
been agreed upon, that, as there were old reports and appearances that a sum of
money was hid within Logan's house of Fastcastle, John Napier should do his
utmost diligence to search and seek out, and by all craft and ingine [a phrase
for mental power] to find out the same, or make it sure that no such thing has
been there. For his rewai'd he was to have the exact third of all that was
found, and to be safely guarded by Logan back to Edinburgh ; and in case he
should find nothing, after all trial and diligence taken, he was content to refer
the satisfaction of his travels and pains to the discretion of Logan. What was
the result of the attempt, or if the attempt itself was ever made, has not been
ascertained.

Besides dabbling in sciences which had no foundation in nature, Napier ad-
dicted himself to certain speculations which have always been considered as
just hovering ^tween the possible and the impossible, a number of which he
disclosed, in 1596, to Anthony Bacon, the brother of the more celebrated
philosopher of that name. One of these schemes was for a burning mirror,
similar to that of Archimedes, for setting fire to ships ; another was for a mir-
ror to produce the same effects by a material fire ; a third for an engine which
should send forth such quantities of shot in all directions as to clear everjthing
in its neighbourhood ; and so forth. In fact, Napier's seems to have been one
of those active and excursive minds, which are sometimes found to spend a

IV, M

90 JOHN NAPIER,

whole life in projects and speculations without producing a single article of real
utility, and in other instances hit upon one or two things, perhaps, of the high-
est order of usefulness. As he advanced in years, he seems to have gradually
forsaken wild and hopeless projects, and applied himself more and more to the
useful sciences. In 1596, he is found suggesting the use of salt in improving
land ; an idea probably passed over in his own time as chimerical, but revived
in the present age with good effect. No more is heard of him till, in 1614, he
astonished the world by the publication of his book of logarithms. He is un-
derstood to have devoted the intermediate time to the study of astronomy, a
science then reviving to a new life, under the auspices of Kepler and Galileo,
the former of whom dedicated his Epheraerides to Napier, considering him as
the greatest man of his age in the particular department to which he applied his
abilities.

. " The demonstrations, problems, and calculations of astronomy, most com-
monly involve some one or more of the cases of trigonometry, or that branch
of mathematics, which, from certain parts, whether sides or angles, of a tri-
angle being given, teaches how to find the others which are unknown. On
this account, trigonometry, both plane and spherical, engaged much of Napier's
thoughts ; and he spent a gpreat deal of his time in endeavouring to contrive
some methods by which the operations in both might be facilitated. Now, these
operations, the reader, who may be ignorant of mathematics, will observe, al-
waj-s proceed by geometrical ratios, or proportions. Thus, if certain lines be
described in or about a triangle, one of these lines will bear the same geometri-
cal proportion to another, as a certain side of the triangle does to a certain
other side. Of the four particulars thus arranged, three must be known, and
then the fourth will be found by multiplying together certain two of those
known, and dividing the product by the other. This rule is derived from the
very nature of geometrical proportion, but it is not necessary that we should
stop to demonstrate here how it is deduced. It will be perceived, however, that
it must give occasion, in solving the problems of trigonometry, to a great deal
of multiplying and dividing — operations which, as everybody knon-s, become
Tcry tedious whenever the numbers concerned are large; and they are generally
so in astronomical calculations. Hence such calculations used to exact immense
lime and labour, and it became most important to discover, if possible, a way of
shortening them. Napier, as we have said, applied himself assiduously to this
object; and he was, probably, not the only person of that age whose attention
it occupied. He was, however, undoubtedly the fii*st who succeeded in it, which
he did most completely by the admirable contrivance Avhich we are now about
to explain.

" When we say that I bears a certain proportion, ratio, ov relation to 2, we
may mean any one of two things ; either that 1 is the half of 2, or that it is
less tlian 2 by I. If the former be what we mean, we may say that the relation
in question is the same as that of 2 to 4, or of 4 to 8 ; if the latter, we may say
that it is the same as that of 2 to 3, or of 3 to 4. Now, in the former case, we
should be exemplifying what is called a geometrical^ in the latter, what is called
an arithmetical proportion : the former being that which regarSs the number of
times, or parts of times, the one quantity is contained in the other ; the latter
regarding only the difference between the two quantities. We have already
stated that the property of four quantities arranged in geometrical proportion,
is, that the product of the second and third, divided by the first, gives the
fourth. But when four quantities are in arithmetical proportion, the swn of the
second and third, diminished by the subtraction of the first, gives the fourtlu
Thus, in the geometrical proportion, 1 is to 2 as 2 is to 4 ; if 2 be umltiplied

JOHN NAPIEB, 91

by 3 it gives 4 ; wliich divided by 1 still remains 4 ; while, in the arithmetical
proportion, 1 is to 2 as 2 is to 3 ; if 2 be added to 2 it gives 4 ; from which if
1 be subtracted, there remains the fourth term 3. It is plain, therefore, that,
especially where large numbers are concerned, operations fay arithmetical must
be much more easily performed than operations by geometrical proportion ; for,
in the one case you have only to add and subtract, while in the other you have
to go through the greatly more laborious processes of multiplication and division.
" Now, it occurred to Napier, reflecting upon this important distinction, that
a method of abbreviating the calculation of a geometrical proportion might per-
haps be found, by substituting, upon certain fixed principles, for its known
terms, others in arithmetical proportion, and then finding, in the quantity
which should result from the addition and subtraction of these last, an indication
of that which should have resulted from the multiplication and division of the
original figures. It had been remarked before this, by more than one \mter,
that if the series of numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, &a, that proceed in geometrical pro-
gression, that is, by a continuation of geometrical i-atios, were placed under or
along side of the series 0, 1,2, 3, &c., which are in arithmetical progression,
the addition of any two terms of the latter series would give n sum, which would
stand opposite to a number in the former series indicating the product of the
two terms in that series, which coiTesponded in place to the two in the arith-
metical series first taken. Thus, in the two lines,

I, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256,
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

the first of whicli consists of numbers in geometrical, and the second of numbers
in arithmetical progression, if any two terms, such as 2 and 4, be taken from
the latter, their sum 6, in the same line, will stand opposite to 64 in the other,
which is the product of 4 multiplied by 16, the two terms of the geometrical
series which stand opposite to the 2 and 4 of the arithmetical. It is also true,
and follows directly from this, that if any three terms, as, for instance, 2, 4, 6,
be taken in the arithmetical series, the sum of the second and third, diminished
by the subtraction of the first, which makes 8, Avill stand opposite to a number
(256) in the geometrical series which is equal to the product of 16 and 64 (the
opposites of 4 and 6), divided by 4 (the opposite of 2).

** Here, then, is, to a certain extent, exactly such an arrangement or table as
Napier wanted. Having any geometrical proportion to calculate, the known
terras of which were to be found in the first line or its continuation, he could
substitute for them at once, by reference to such a table, the terms of an arith-
metical proportion, which, wrought in the usual simple manner, would give him
a result that would point out or indicate the unknown term of the geometrical
proportion. But, unfortunately, there were many numbers which did not occur
in the upper line at all, as it here appears. Thus, there were not to be found
in it either 3, or 5, or 6, or 7, or 9, or 10, or any other numbei-s, indeed, ex-
cept the few that happen to result from the multiplication of any of its terms by
two. Between 128 and 256, for example, there were 127 numbers wanting,
and between 235 and the next terra (512) there would be 255 not to be
found.

" We cannot here attempt to explain the methods by which Napier's ingenuity
succeeded in filling up these chasms, but must refer the reader, for full informa-
tion upon this subject, to the professedly scientific works which treat of the his-
tory and construction of logarithms. Suffice it to say, that he devised a mode
by which he could calculate the proper number to be placed in the table over
against any number whatever, whetl-.er integral or fractional. The new numeri-
cal expressions thus found, he called Logaritftms, a term of Greek etymology,

92 EEV. ALEXANDER NICOLL, D.C.L,

which signifies the ratios or proportions of numbers. He afterwards fixed upon
the pro^-ession, 1, 10, 100, 1000, &c,, or that which resulu from continued
multiplication by 10, and which is the same according to which the present
tables are constructed. This iuiproveraent, whicli possesses many advantages,
had suggested itself about 'the same time to the learned Henry Briggs, then
professor of geometry in Gresham college, one of the persons who had the
merit of first appreciating the value of Napier's invention, and who certainly did
more than any other to spread the knowledge of it, and also to contribute to its
perfection."^

The invention was very soon known over all Europe, and was everywhere
hailed with admiration by men of science. Napier followed it up, in 1617, by
publishing a small treatise, giving an account of a method of performing the
operations of multiplication and division, by means of a number of small rods.
These materials for calculation have maintained their place in science, and are
known by the appellation of Napier's Bones.

In 1608, Napier succeeded his father, when he had a contest with his brothers
and sisters, on account of some settlements made to his prejudice by his father,
in breach of a promise made in 1586, in presence of some friends of the family,
not to sell, wadset, or dispose, from his son John, the lands of Over Merchiston,
or any part thereof. The family disputes were probably accommodated before
June 9, 1613, on which day John Napier was served and returned heir of liis
father in the lands of Over Merchiston.

This illustrious man did not long enjoy the inheritance which had fallen to
him 80 unusually late in life. He died, April 3, 1C17, at Merchiston castle,
and was buried in the church of St Giles, on the eastern side of its southern
entrance, where is still to be seen a stone tablet, exposed to the street, and
bearing the following inscription :— " Sep. farailiaa Naperoru. iuterius hie situm
est."

Napier was twice married; first, in 1571, to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir
James Stirling of Keir, by whom he had a son and a daughter ; secondly, to
Agnes, daughter of James Chisholm of Cromlix, by whom he had ten children.
His eldest son, Archibald, who succeeded him, was raised to the rank of a baron
by Charles I., in 1627, under the title of lord Napier, which is still borne by hia
dcgceudants. A very elaborate life of him was published in 1835, (Blackwood,
Edinburgh).

NICOLL, (The Rev.) Alexander, D. C. L., canon of Christchurch, and regias
professor of Hebrew in the university of Oxford, was the youngest son of John
Nicoll, at Monymusk, in Aberdeenshire, where he was born, April 3, 1793.
The subject of this memoir was carefully reared by his parent in the principles
of the Scottish episcopal church ; and, while little more than four years of age,
was placed at a private school, conducted by a Mr Sivewright, where he re-
ceived the first rudiments of learning. Two yeai-s afterwards, he was put to the
parish school, then and still taught by Mr DufT, who grounded him in classical
literature. His behaviour at school was that of a modest, assiduous student, and
nothing but a reprimand ever disturbed the composure Avhich was natural to
him. At this school, his attainments were such as to attract the notice of the
clergymen of the presbytery, in the course of their professional visitations. In
1805, he removed to the grammar school of Aberdeen, at which city, his elder
brother, Mr Lewis Nicoll, advocate, was able to take charge of his pereonal
conduct. At the commencement of the winter session of the same year, he
became a candidate for a bursary at the Marischal college, and obtained one of

' The above account of logarilhms, \«'h!ch has the advantage of being very simple and in-
telligible, is exlractwi from the Library of Entertaining Knowledge.

EEV. ALEXANDER NICOLL, D.C.L. 93

the smallest in the gift of that institution. He, therefore, attended the classes
of Latin and Greek during the session 1805-6, at the close of which he gained
the prize of the Silver Pen, always bestowed on the best scholar. This honour,
being, as usual, announced in the provincial newspapers, caused him to be
noticed by various eminent individuals, as a young man of peculiar promise.
Before the next session, he had studied mathematics at home, and pursued a
course of miscellaneous reading. Besides attending the classes formerly men*
tioned, he entered, in 1803, that of mathematics, then taught by Dr Hamilton,
the well-known expositor of the national debt ; and also attended the prelec-
tions of 3Ir Beattie, in natural and civil history. During the ensuing vacation,
he directed his attention to drawing, and produced several maps, sketched in a
very neat manner.

Soon after the commencement of his third year, in 1807, Bishop Skinner,
of Aberdeen, informed him, that there was a vacancy at Baliol college, in one
of the exhibitions upon Snell's foundation, which he thought might be obtained.
By the advice of his elder brother, he proceeded to Oxford, with a letter of re-
commendation from Bishop Skinner to Dr Parsons, the master of the college,
and was at once elected to the vacant exhibition. Having been put under the
charge of a tutor, (the ReT. Mr Jenkyns,) he commenced his studies with great
eagerness, particularly in the department of Greek, where his chief deficiency
lay, and where he founcj himself, with only seven months' study of that language
in a Scotch university, pitted against youths who had studied at the much
superior schools of Oxford for three years. His native capacity and unwearied
application soon placed him on a level with his companions, and a college life
then began to have great charms for him. At Baliol, he had the society of a little
knot of Scottish students, partners with himself in the enjoyment of Snell's
foundation, and among whom were several individuals now distinguished in
public life. For several years he prosecuted his studies with much diligence
and success ; and, in 1811, after the usual examination, obtained the degree of
bachelor of arts. It was not till 1813, that he directed his attention to the
Oriental languages, in which he was destined to become so noted a proficient In
a letter to his brother, dated in December that year, he says : " For the last year,
I have been chiefly engaged in the study of the Oriental languages, the Hebrew,
Arabic, and Persic, and occasionally the modern languages. I have latterly
obtained some knowledge of French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Ger-
man. Tliere is no place where there are finer opportunities for studying the
Oriental languages, than in Oxford. The Bodleian library, to which 1 have
had access for the last two years, is said to be richer in that department than
any other. I have lately been introduced to Dr .Winstanley, principal of Alban
Hall, one of the best linguists in Oxford. I also know Dr 3Iacbride, who has
lately been appointed principal of Magdalen Hall, and lecturer in Arabic,
who has already shown me gi-eat kindness." Soon after, on account of his
laiowledge of languages, particularly those of the East, he was appointed, with-
out solicitation, one of the sub -librarians of the Bodleian ; a situation which
greatly favoured the progress of his studies.

In 1817, Mr Nicoll received deacon's orders, and was appointed the curate
of one of the churches in Oxford, where he had part of the duty to perform.
This, however, did not in the least retard his studies, or his exertions in the
Bodleian. On considering various circumstances in the history of this institu-
tion, he had marked out for himself a line of duty, by which he greatly bene-
fited its interests, and elevated his own reputation. He perceived tliat the
enormous treasure of Oriental manuscripU, about thirty thousand inliumber,
was in a great measure useless, from being imperfectly catalogued ; and to re-

91 REV, ALEXANDER NICOLL, D.CJi.

medy this defect he forthwith applied himself. He first drew up a catalogue
of the manuscripts brought from the East by Dr E. D. Clarke, and, by publish-
ing it, at once established his fame as an Orientalist of the first class. He then
entered on the gigantic task of completing the general catalogue of the eastern
manuscripts, which had been begun about a hundred years before by Uri, tlie
celebrated Hungarian. The first fasciculus which he put forth of this Avork,
embracing manuscripts in nearly a dozen diHerent tongues, analyzing their con-
tents, and estimating their merits in clear, forcible, and elegant Latin, diffused
NicoU's reputation tliroughout Europe, and brought him into acquaintance and
coiTespondence with all the eminent Orientalists at home and abroad. Every
summer thereafter he visited the continent, in order to examine various cele-
brated collections ; and, ere he died, there was not one of any note whicli he
had not seen. His epistolary correspondence with the eminent foreign literati,
was conducted chiefly in Latin, which he wrote with perfect facility ; but his
knowledge of the modern European languages, was hardly less extraordinary
than Ills orientalism. He spoke and wrote, with ease and accuracy, French,
Italian, German, Danish, Swedish, and Romaic. In short, it was the common
saying of the Oxonian common-rooms, that NicoU could walk to the Avall of
China without need of an interpreter. In the midst of all the honours that
were paid to him, and though his intercourse with so many distinguished men
had given ease and elegance to his manners, he never lost the original modesty
and reserve of his nature. It was forcibly said of him by an eminent scholar,
after conversing with him, ** Sir, he is not modest, — he is modesty itself."

The time at length arrived when he was to receive a reward due to his great
merits and exertions. In June, 1S23, on the promotion of Dr Richard Lau-
rence to the archbishopric of Cashel, NicoU Avas, without solicitation, appointed
to the vacant chair of regius professor of Oriental languages ; tlie following
being the letter in which lord Liverpool announced the appointment : —

'• Fife House, \dtJi June, 1822.
" Sib, — In consequence of the promotion of Dr Laurence to the archbishopric
of Cashel, the regius professorship of HebreAV in the university of Oxford, to-
gether with the canonry of Christ Clmrcli attached to it, becomes vacanL The
high reputation which you have acquired as an Oriental scholar, and the value
attached to your labours, have induced his majesty to approve of you as Dr
Laurence's successor; and I can entertain no doubt that this mark of royal
favour, conferred upon you without solicitation, will be a strong inducement to
you to persevere in those studies by which you have acquired so much credit,
and to use your utmost endeavours to promote the study of Oriental literature
in the university of Oxford. — I have the honour to be, Sii-, your very obedient
hamble servant,

(Signed) " Liverpooi..**

NicoU was thus elevated from a salary of about £200 a-year, and the compara-
tively humble situation of a sub-librarian in the Bodleian, to the enjoyment of
£2000, and two of Uie highest dignities in the university. He soon after took
the degree of D. C L.

For some years, Dr NicoU performed the duties of his high station with tlw
greatest zeal and success, producing a considerable increase in the attendance of
his class, and not neglecting, at the same time, the important task which he
had undertaken at the Bodleian. He had nearly completed the catalogue,
when, on the 24th of September, 1 828, having previously Aveakcned his con-
sitution by intense study, he Avas cut of}" by an inflammation in tlie Avindpipe,*
in the thirty-sixth year of his age.

JOHN OGILVIE, D.D.JOHN OGILVY, 95

Di Nicoll was twice married; first, to a Danish lady, Avho died in 1825;
secondly, to Sophia, daughter of the reverend J. Parsons, the learned editor of
the Oxford Septuagint, and by whom a memoir of Dr Nicoll was prefixed to a
posthumous volume of his sermons. By his second wife, Dr Nicoll had three
daughters, who survived him. " This great scholar," said one of the journals,
in alluding to his death, " has left behind him a reputation which his family
may well consider as their dearest treasure. While his attainments were of the
first order, his personal character was without spot or blemish. He was virtu-
ous in every relation of life ; cheerful in poverty ; humble in prosperity : sin-
cere, kind, generous, and eminently pious."

OGILVIE, John, D. D.,a poet and miscelbneous writer, was bom in the year
1733. His father was one of the ministers of Aberdeen, and he received his
education in the Marischal college in that city. Having qualified himself as a
preacher, he was settled, in the year 1759, as minister of the parish of Mid-
mar, in Aberdeenshire, where he continued to exercise his useful duties till the
close of his life, in 1814. With the exception of the publication of a book,
and an occasional visit to London, the life of Dr Ogilvie was marked by hardly
any incident. The list of his works is as follows : " The Day of Judgment," a
poem, 1758 ; a second edition of the same, Avith additional poems, 1759
' Poems on several Subjects," 1762 ; " Providence, an Allegorical Poem,"
1763 ; " Solitude, or the Elysium of the Poets, a Vision," 1765 ; *' Paradise,"
a poem, and two volumes of poems on several subjects, 1760 ; " Philosophi-
cal and Critical Observations on the Nature, Character, and various Species of
Composition," 1774 ; " Rome," a poem, 1775 ; " An Inquiry into the Causes
of Infidelity and Scepticism in all Times," 1783; "The Theology of Plato
compared with the Principles of the Oriental and Grecian Philosophy," 1793 ;
" Britannia," an epic poem, in twenty books, 1801 ; and " An Examination of
the Evidence from Prophecy, in behalf of the Christian Religion," 1802.

The name of Ogilvie is certainly not unknown to fame; yet it cannot be said
that any of his numerous Avorks has maintained a place in the public eye. To
account for this, one of his biographers malces the following remarks : " Ogilvie,
Avith poAvers far above the common order, did not know hoAv to use them Avith
effect. He Avas an able man lost. His intellectual Avealth and industry Avere
Avasted in huge and unhappy speculations. Of all his books, there is not one
Avhich, as a Avhole, can be expected to please the general reader. Noble senti-
ments, brilliant conceptions, and poetic graces, may be culled in profusion from
the mass ; but there is no one production in Avhich they so predominate, (if Ave
except some of his minor pieces,) as to induce it to be selected for a happier
fate than the rest. Had the same talent Avhich Ogilvie threAV away on a number
of objects, been concentrated on one, and that one chosen Avith judgment and
taste, he might have rivalled in popularity the most renoAvned of his con-
temporaries."^

OGILVY, Jonx, a poet and geographer, was born in the year 1600, at or
near Edinburgh. While he was very young, his parents removed Avith him to
London, Avhere his father, some time after, fell into debt, and was confined in
the King's Bench prison. Notwithstanding family misfortunes, the subject of

» Lives of Eminent Scotsmen, ii. 137.

9(j JOHN OGILVY.

this memoir was able to pick up a slender knowledge of Latin grammar. What
is still more to his praise, he put himself apprentice to a teacher of dancing,
and with the first, money he procured from his master, freed his father from
confinement. A sprain which he got in dancing at a masque put a temporary
stop to his career in this profession, and made him slightly lame ever after,
yet he is found to have been retained by the celebrated carl of Strafford
as teacher of dancing in his lordship's family, at the same time that he accom-
panied the earl to Ireland, as one of his troop of guards. At this time
he wrote a humorous piece, entitled " The Character of a Trooper." Under
favour of the earl of Strafford, he became in time Master of Revels, and built a
theatre in Dublin. The civil war, however, which had made shipwreck of the
fortunes of his patron, seems to have also blasted the prospects of Ogilvy, who,
about the time of its conclusion, arrived in a necessitous condition in London,
and soon after applied himself at Cambridge to remedy the defects of his
original education. In the latter object he succeeded so far as to be able to
publish, in 1649, his translation of Virgil into English verse; which was fol-
lowed in 1660 by a similar version of Homer. In 1651 he produced " The Fables
of .^op, paraphrased in verse," in a quarto volume, with recommendatory verses
prefixed by Sir William Davenant, and James Shirley, the dramatic poet. Four
years afterwards he published another volume of translations from JEsop, with
some fables of his own. Ogilvy was a fertile writer of original verses. We are
fortunately saved the trouble of making an estimate of his literary character, by
Winstanly, whose panegyric, utterly preclusive of all rivalry, is as follows : —
"John Ogilvy was one who, from a late initiation into literature, made such
progress as might well style him the prodigy of his time ; sending into the world
so many large volumes ; his translations of Homer and Virgil, done to the life,
and with such excellent sculptures; and, what added great grace to his works,
he printed them all on special good paper, and of a very good letter.'" Miserable
as his translation of Homer is allowed to have been, it was a favourite of Popo
in his younger days, and it is impossible to say to what extent w-e may be indebted
for the beautiful versions of the latter writer to the early bias thus given to his
taste. It is also to be mentioned, to the honour of Ogilvy, that the elegance of
the typography of his translations was in a great measure owing to his own
exertions for the improvement of that art. The engravings, moreover, which he
caused to be executed for his Virgil were of such superior merit for their time,
as to be afterwards employed in illustrating an edition of the original poet, and
subsequently for the decoration of Dryden's translation. At the Restoration,
our author was replaced in his situation of Master of the Revels in Ireland, and
once more erected his theatre in the capital of that kingdom. His chief atten-
tion, however, seems to have been now devoted to the composition of an epic
poem, entitled the " Carolics," in honour of Charles I., the manuscript of which
was lost in the great fire of London, when his house was burnt down. He im-
mediately commenced I'cprinting all his former publications, and sold them, as
he had previously done, by means of a lottery, whereby he now raised £4210,
which enabled him to set up a printing office, for the purpose of producing
geographical works, he having received the appointment of cosmographer and
geographic printer to the king. In this capacity he projected a general Atlas
of the world, of which he only lived to complete tlie parts descriptive of Cliina,
Japan, Africa, Persia, Britain, &c. lie also produced several topographical
works, one of which, entitled, "The Traveller's Guide," describing the roads
of England from his own actual survey, was long a well-known and serviceable
book. Mr Ogilvy concluded an active, and, rpon the whole, useful life, in 1676.

DAVID PANTHER.— MUNGO PARK. 97

PANTHER, David, (whose name is diversely spelled Panter and Paniter,) a
learned diplomatic character of the sixteenth century, was descended from an
ancient family near Montrose. He successively held the ecclesiastical offices of
vicar of Carstairs, prior of St Mary's Isle, commendator of Cambuskenneth, and
bishop of Ross, and in the latter part of the reign of James V., and for some
years later, was principal secretary of state. In this latter character, he wrote
many official letters to foreign courts, which have been highly praised for the
extraordinary elegance of their Latinity. In 1722, Ruddiman published two
well-known volumes, entitled " Epistolas Jacobi Quarti, Quinti, et IMariae Regi-
nas Scotorum, eorumque Tutorum et Regni Gubernatorum, ad Imperatores,
Reges, Pontifices, Civitates et Alios, ab Anno 1505 ad Annum 1 545 ;" of which
the whole of the second is the composition of David Panther, while the first
contains letten written in a similar official character, by Patrick Panther, his
near relation.

Panther subsequently acted for seven years as ambassador of Scotland at the
French court. After a life distinguished by high services, but, it appears, by
no great purity of morals, he died at Stirling, October 1, 1558.

PARK, MuNGO, a distinguished, but unfortunate traveller, was bom at Fowl-
shiels, in Selkirkshire, September 10, 1771. His father, who rented the farm
of Fowlshiels from the duke of Buccleuch, had thirteen children, of whom
Mungo was the seventh. Notwithstanding his limited resources, he kept a pri-
vate tutor in his house, for the education of his family ; and of the advantage
of this arrangement, the subject of the present memoir largely partook. He
was afterwards sent to the grammar school of Selkirk, where he made astonish-
ing progress, not so much by his ready talents, as by his remarkable perse-
verance and application ; and, despite of many disadvantages, uniformly kept
the place of dtix, or head of his class. This early devotion to study and apti-
tude of acquirement, together with his thoughtful and reserved disposition,
seemed to his father to point out the church as his future profession, but upon
his son's expressing a decided preference for that of medicine, he at once
agreed, and bound him apprentice for three years to Mr Thomas Anderson,
surgeon in Selkirk. At the close of his indenture in 1789, being then eigh-
teen years of age, he went to Edinburgh, and attended the classes for three
successive sessions, continuing to exhibit the same thirst of knowledge, and un-
wearied application to all the studies connected with his profession, particularly
botany. In the latter, he is said to have been greatly assisted and encouraged
by a brother-in-law, Mr James Dickson, who, from an origin even more humble
and obscure than that of Park himself, subsequently raised himself to fame and
fortune, and became celebrated as one of the first botanists in the kingdom.
He had gone to London in search of employment as a journeyman gardener,
and procured an engagement, in that humble capacity, with a nurseryman at
Hammersmith, where he had the good fortune to attract the notice of Sir Jo-
seph Banks, to Avhose kind friendship and patronage he was mainly indebted
for his future success and celebrity.

After qualifying himself in his profession at Edinburgh, young Park went to
London in search of employment, and was very speedily appointed assistant-
surgeon on board the Worcester, Rist Indiaman, through the interest of Sir
Joseph Banks, to whom air Dicksdn had introduced him. Mr Park showed

98 MUNGO PARK.

himself everyway worthy of this appointment, and made an adequate return to
his distinguished patron, by the valuable observations and discoveries he made
in botany, and other branches of natural history, in a voyage to Bencoolen, in
the island of Sumatra. On his return in 1794, being then only twenty-three
years old, lie had the honour of reading a paper before the Linnasan Society in
London, giving a description of eight new species of fishes he had observed in
Sumatra, which was afterwards published in the Transactions of the Society.

After leaving the Worcester, Mr Park appears to have had no certain or fixed
views as to his future career, but his talents and genius had already distinguished
him too much to allow him to remain long unemployed. The wealthy and
scientific Association for the Promotion of Discovery through the Interior of
Africa, were at that time preparing to send out an expedition, with the view of
endeavouring to trace the course of the Niger, and procuring every information
relative to the great central city of Timbuctoo, of which little more than the
namti was then known. Sir Joseph Banks, one of the leading men of the As-
sociation, immediately pointed out Park as one peculiarly eligible for taking
the management of the expedition, and the offer being accordingly made to
him, was eagerly accepted. He immediately prepared himself, therefore, for
the task, being liberally supplied, according to his own statement, with the
means of furnishing himself with everything he reckoned necessary, and sailed
from Portsmouth on the 22nd of May, 1795, in the brig Endeavour. His in-
structions were, to proceed to the Niger by the nearest and most convenient
route, and endeavour to trace its course, from its rise to its termination ; as
also to visit, if possible, all the principal towns and cities on its banks, parti-
cularly Timbuctoo and Houssa, and afterwards return to Europe by the river
Gambia, or any other way he thought advisable. He aiTived at Jillifica, in the
kingdom of Barra, and lying on the northern bank of the Gambia, on the
Slst of June ; and after proceeding up the river as far as Jonkakonda, he
quitted the Endeavour, and proceeded by land to a small British factory, which
had been established at Pisania, in the king of Yam's territories, where he took
up his residence for a short time with Dr Laidley. He immediately applied
himself to the study of the Mandingo tongue, and to collect all the information
possible, relative to the various people and countries in the interior, preparatory
to his journey. In consequence, however, of exposure to the night dew, while
observing an eclipse of the moon, in the month of July, he was seized with
fever, attended with delirium, which brought him almost to the grave ; nor was
he sufficiently recovered to commence his journey till December. On the 2nd
of that month lie set out, having for his escort a negro servant, named Johnson,
who had resided many years in Great Britain, and understood both the English
and Mandingo languages, as a guide and interpreter ; a negro boy belonging
to Dr Laidley, and whom that gentleman promised to set free on his return, in
the event of his good conduct ; with four others, not immediately under his
control, but who were made to understand that their own safety depended upon
their fidelity to him. It may be interesting also to notice the nature and value
of his equipments for a journey of such length, peril, and importance. These
consisted of a horse for himself, two asses for his servants, provisions for two
days, a small assortment of beads, amber, and tobacco, a few changes of linen
and other apparel, an umbrella, a pocket sextant, a magnetic compass, a ther-
mometer, two fowling-pieces, two pairs of pistols, and a few other trifling ar-
ticles. Such were all the means of sustenance, comfort, and safety, with which
this intrepid man was provided for an expedition, the duration of which it was
out of his power to calculate, but whose route, he well knew, lay, in some
places, through pathless deserts, where neither tree grew, nor water ran, and

MTJNGO PARK. 99

beset with beasts of prey ; in others, through the territories of barbarous tribes,
from whose inhospitality or savage dispositions he had scarcely less to fear.

At the very outset, an event occurred which seemed to bode ill for the result
of his journey. Dr Laidley, and a few other of the Europeans at Pisania, hav-
ing escorted him during the first two days, bade him adieu, convinced that they
would never see him more ; and scarcely were they out of sight, when he was
suxTounded by a horde of native banditti, from whom he only got free by sur-
rendering the greater part of his small store of tobacco. Park, however, was
not a man to be depressed by evil auguries, and he accordingly pushed on to
Medina, the capital of Woolli, where the king, a benevolent old man, received
him with much kindness, and furnished him with a trusty guide to the frontiers of
his dominions. Our traveller then engaged three elephant hunters, as guides and
water-bearers, through the sandy desert which lay before him, where water was
frequently not to be found for several days together. He performed the jour-
ney in safety, but after much fatigue, and reached Fatteconda, the residence of
the king of Bondon, situated upon the very frontiers of his dominions, adjoining
the kingdom of Kajaaga. It was at Fatteconda, and at the hands of the same
chief, that Park's predecessor in enterprise, Major Houghton, had received such
ill usage, and was plundered of almost everything he possessed ; but the only
article he exacted from Park, and that not by force, but by such warm and ani-
mated expi-essions of admiration as left our traveller no alternative to choose,
was his new blue coat, with gilt buttons, in return for which he presented him
with five drachms of gold. From Fatteconda he proceeded to Joag, the fron-
tier town of Kajaaga, travelling in the night-time for fear of robbers, and
through thickets abounding with wolves and hyenas, which glided across their
silent path in the clear moonshine, and hung round the small party with yells
and bowlings, as if watching an opportunity to spring upon them. At Joag,
and whilst preparing to proceed on his journey, he was honoured by a visit
from the king's son, who plundered him of the half of his little stores, on pre-
tence of his having forfeited all his property by entering the kingdom without
leave. As a sort of consolation for this disaster, and Avhilst appeasing his
hunger with a few ground nuls which a poor negro slave had given him in
charity, he was waited upon by the nephew of the king of Kasson, who had
been at Kajaaga on an embassy, and who, taking pity on him, offered to escort
him to his uncle's capital, to which he was now returning, and which lay in the
line of our traveller's route. After crossing the river Senegal, however, which
was the boundary of Kasson, his royal guide left him, having firet taken from
him the half of the little property he had left. A few days after this. Park,
for the first time, had an opportunity of observing the manners of the barbarous
and untutored natives of Africa in all their primitive simplicity and unchecked
ardour. They came to a village which was the birth-place of one of his faith-
ful escort, a blacksmith that had accompanied him from Pisania, and who was
now about to leave him, having amassed a considerable deal of money in his
profession on the coast, and resolving to spend the rest of his days in ease and
independence amongst his family and friends. The meeting which ensued was
characterized by the most extravagant demonstrations of joy and triumph, and
Park was convinced, that " whatever dift'ei'ence there is between the negro and
European, in the conformation of tlie nose, and the colour of the skin, there is
none in the genuine sympathies and characteristic feelings of our common na-
ture." With these warm-hearted villagers, our traveller rested for a day or
two, and then proceeded to Kooniakary, where the king, a worthy old man, who
was greatly beloved by his subjects, received him with much kindness. Prom
this point new perils beset Mr Park's further progress, in consequence of war

100 MUNGO PARK.

; I breaking out between the people of Bambarra, to which kingdom his course
I was directed, and other tribes, through Avhosc temtories he had to pau on his
{ way thither. He nerertheless perserered, although even his faithful negro
i Johnson, who was aware of the dangers he was running into, refused to accom-

'• I pany him farther. They parted accordingly at Jarra, in the kingdom of Ludi-

I j mar (the people of which, as well as of the neighbouring nations, were found to be
j Mahoniedans), and 3Ir Park, having intrusted Johnson with a copy of his jour-
nal to carry back with him to Pisania, set out for the camp of Ali at Benowm,

\ accompanied only by Dr Laidley's slave boy, and a messenger who had arrived

' ! from Ali to conduct him thither. On the way he suf)*ercd great privations, and

\\ was repeatedly beaten and robbed by the fanatical Moors, to whom he was an

object of peculiar detestation as a Christian. All the sufferings and insults

j which he had yet undergone, however, were nothing to what he was doomed to

II endure while in the power of the tyrant Ali. His appearance at Benowm
I ' excited the greatest astonishment and consternation amongst the inhabitants,

I i scarcely one of whom had ever seen a white man before. When taken before
jl Ali, the latter was engaged in the dignified occupation of clipping his benrd
' I with a pair of scissors, and paid little regard to him; but the ladies of the court
i! fully maintained the character of their sex for inquisitiveness, searched his

pockets, opened his >raistcoat to examine his white skin, and even counted his

toes and fingers to make sure of his being human. It would occupy far more

j ; space than the limits of this memoir will allow, to detail the innumerable and

I I unremitting sufTerings of our unfortunate countryman during his detention at
this place. The unfeeling tyrant would neither permit liim to depart, nor
g^nt him any protection from the persecution of the fanatical itibble. He was
beat, reviled, compelled to perform the meanest ofUces, frequently on the point
of starvation, and was often necessitated to sleep in the open air. All his bag-
gage was taken from him to deter him from running away, with the exception
of a pocket compass, which was supposed to be the work of magic, from the
needle always pointing in the same direction, and was therefore returned to
him. At last it began to be debated how he was to be disposed of — some ad-
rising that he should be put to death, others, that Iiis riglit hand should be cut
off, and another party, that his eyes should be put out. Park's health at length
gave way under the accumulated horrors of his situation, and he was seized with
a fever and delirium, which brought him to the brink of the grave. Yet even
in this extremity, his persecutors never desisted from their cruelties, and tor-
mented him like some obnoxious animal, for their amusement. Peshaps the
strongest proof that can be given of the extent of his sufferings at this time,
and of the deep and lasting impression they made on his mind, is the fact, that
years afterwards, subsequent to his return to Scotland, and while residing with
his family on the peaceful banks of the Tweed, he frequently started up in hor-
ror from his sleep, imagining himself still in the camp of Ali at Benowm. But
perhaps nothing gave our traveller so much permanent grief as the fate of his
faithful slave boy Demba, whom Ali impressed into his service as a soldier, and
who had conceived a great affection for Mr Park, who describes their parting
as very aflecting. After a month's residence at Benowm, Ali removed to Jarra,
back to which place, of course, i>Ir Park was obliged to accompany him. Here
all was alarm and terror, from the approach and apprehended attack of the king
of Kaarta ; and amid the bustle and confusion of the inhabitants flying from
their homes, the preparations for war, &c., 3Ir Park at last, after great difli-
culty, and amid many perils, found an opportunity of escaping, and struck into
the woods back towards Bambarra. Being under the necessity of avoiding all
intercourse with the natives, in order to avoid being recaptui-ed by the emissa-

J\rUNGO PARK. 101

ries of Ali, who were in pursuit of him, he was at one time nearly famished in
the wilderness, and we will take his own account of his sensations at this awful
crisis. Thirst, intense and burning thirst, Avas the first and direst of his suffer-
ings ; his mouth and throat became parched and inflamed, and a sudden dim-
ness frequently came over his eyes, accompanied with symptoms of fainting.
The leaves of the few shrubs that grew around were all too bitter for chewing.
After climbing up a tree in the hopes of discovering some signs of a human ha-
bitation, but without success, he again descended in despair. " As I was now,"
gays he, " too faint to attempt walking, and my horse too fatigued to carry me,
I thought it but an act of humanity, and perhaps the last I should ever have it
in my power to perform, to take off his bridle, and let him shift for him-
self; in doing which, I Mas affected with sickness and giddiness, and, fal-
ling upon the sand, felt as if the hour of death was fast approaching. Here,
then, thought I, after a short but ineffectual struggle, terminate all my hopes
of being useful in my day and generation ; here must the short span of my
life come to an end. I cast, as I believed, a last look on the surrounding
scene ; and whilst I reflected on the awful change that was about to take
place, this world and its enjoyments seemed to vanish from my recollection.
Nature, however, at length resumed her functions ; and, on recovering my
senses, I found myself stretched upon the sand, with the bridle still in my
hand, and the sun just sinking behind the trees. I now summoned all my
resolution, and determined to make another effort to prolong my existence :
and as the evening was somewhat cool, I resolved to travel as far as my limbs
would carry me, in hopes of reaching (my only resource) a watering place.
With this view, I put the bridle upon my horse, and driving him before me,
went slowly along for about an hour, when I perceived some lightning from
the northeast ; a most delightful sight, for it promised rain. The darkness
and lightning increased very rapidly, and, in less than an hour, I heard the
wind roaring behind the bushes. I had already opened my mouth to receivd
the refreshing drops which I expected, but I was instantly covered witli
a cloud of sand, driven with such force by the wind, as to give a very disa-
greeable sensation to my face and arms ; and I was obliged to mount my horse,
and stop under a bush, to avoid being suffocated. The sand continued to
fly for nearly an hour in amazing quantities, after which I again set forwards,
and travelled with difficulty until ten o'clock. At this time, I was agreeably
surprised by some very vivid flashes of lightning, followed by a few heavy
drops of rain. I alighted, and spread out all my clean clothes to collect the
rain, which at length I saw would certainly fall. For more than an hour it
rained plentifully, and I quenched my thirst by wringing and sucking my
clothes," Park at length entered the kingdom of Bamban-a, where he found
the people hospitable, and was astonished at the opulence and extent of culti-
vation he everywhere found. The country, he says, was beautiful, intei-sected
on all sides by rivulets, which, after a rain-storm, were swelled into rapid
streams. He was, however, such an object of amusement and ridicule to the
inhabitants, from his own tattered condition, together with the appearance of
his horse, which was a perfect skeleton, and which he drove before him, that
the very slaves, he says, were ashamed to be seen in his company. Notwith-
standing all this, however, he held on his way, and at last, on the 21st of
July (1796), had the inexpressible gratification of coming in sight of Sego,
the capital of Bambarra, situated on the Niger, which the natives denominated
Joliba, or the " Great Water." " As we approached the town," says Pai'k,
** I was fortunate enough to overtake the fugitive Kaartans, and we rode to-
gether through some marshy ground, where, as I anxiously looked around for

102 MUNGO PARK.

the river, one of them called out Geo affilli (see the water). Looking foiv
wards, I saw, with infinite pleasure, the great object of my mission — the long
sought for majestic Niger, glittering to the morning sun, as broad as the
Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly to the eastward. I hastened to
the brink, and baring drunk of tlie water, lifted up my fervent thanks in
prayer to the Great Kuler of all things, for having thus far crowned my en-
deavours Avith success.*' Sego consisted of four distinct towns, two on the nor-
thern, and two on the southern bank of the Niger ; " and the view of this
extensive capital," says our traveller, " the numerous canoes on the river, the
crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding country, formed
altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence which I little expected to
find in the bosom of Africa." The king, Mansong, however, refused to see 3Ir
Park, for fear of exciting the envy and jealousy of the Moorish inhabitants,
and ordered him to remove to a village in the vicinity. He liad no alterna*
tive but to comply ; and it was here that one of those fine traits of female
compassion, and of the kind interposition of Providence in his favour when at
the last extremity, which he has frequently borne testimony to witli thankful-
ness and gratitude, occurred ; and this truly affecting incident we cannot
avoid giving in his own simple language. On arriving at the village, he was
inhospitably driven from every door, with marks of fear and astonishment. He
passed the day without victuals, and was preparing to spend the night under
a tree, exposed to the rain and the fury of the wild beasts, which there great-
ly abounded, " when a woman, returning from the labours of the field,
stopped to observe me, and perceiving me weary and dejected, inquired into
my situation, which I briefly explained to her; whereupon, with looks of
great compassion, she took up my saddle and bridle, and told me to follow
her. Having conducted me into her hut, she lighted up a lamp, spread a mat
upon the floor, and told me I might remain there for tiie night. Finding that
I was very hungry, she said she would procure me something to eat ; she ac-
cordingly went out, and returned in a short time with a very fine fish, which
having caused to be broiled upon some embers, she gave me fur supper. The
rites of hospitality being thus performed towards a stranger in distress, my
worthy benefactress (pointing to the mat, and telling me I might sleep there
without apprehension), called to the female part of her family, who had stood
gazing on me all the while in fixed astonishment, to resume their task of
spinning cotton, in which they continued to employ themselves great part of
the night. They lightened tlieir labour with songs, one of which was composed
extempore, for I was myself tlie subject of it; it was sung by one of tlie young
women ; the rest joining in a chorus. The air was sweet and plaintive, and
the words, literally translated, were these : * The winds roared, and the rains

fell. The poor white man, faint and weary, came and sat under our tree

he has no mother to bring him milk, no wife to grind his corn.' Chorus

' Let us pity the white man ; no motlier has he !' &c., && Trifling as this re-
cital may appear to the reader, to a person in my situation the circumstance
was affecting in the highest degree. 1 was so oppressed by such unexpected
kindness, that sleep fled before ray eyes. In the morning I presented ray
compassionate landlady witli two of the four brass buttons that reiuained on my
waistcoat, the only recompense I could make her." IMansong, the king,
liaving ordered Park to leave the neighbourhood, (sending him, however,
a guide, and a present of 5000 cowries, as some recompense for his involun-
tary inhospitality,) our traveller proceeded down the Niger, along the northern
bank. On one occasion, while passing through the woods, he narrowly es-
caped being devoured by a large red lion, whicli he suddenly came upon.

MUNGO PARK.

103

crouching in a bush, but which did not attack him. He proceeded first to
Sansanding, thence to Moodiboo, Moorzan, and finally to Silla. Here worn
out by fatigue and suffering of mind and body, destitute of all means, either oi
subsistence or of prosecuting his journey — for even his horse had dropped down
by the way — his resolution and energy, of which no man ever possessed a
greater share, began to fail him. The rainy season had set in, and he could
only travel in a canoe, which he had no money to hire ; and he was advancing
farther and farther into the territories of the fanatical Moors, who looked upon
him with loathing and detestation, and whose compassion he had no gifts to
propitiate. It was with great anguish of mind that he was at last brought to
the conviction of the necessity of returning ; but no one who has read his own
simple and manly statement of his actual situation, and of the prospect before
him, together with his poignant sensations at his disappointment, can for a
moment blame him for turning back. Preparatory to doing so, he collected all
the information in his power respecting the future course of the Niger, and tlie
various kingdoms througli which it flowed ; but subsequent discoveries have
since proved how little credit could be attached to the accounts of the natives,
either from their positive ignorance or their suspicious jealousy of strangers.
Later and more fortunate travellers, have solved the great problem, the honour
of explaining whicli was denied to Park ; and we now know that this great
river, after flowing to a considerable distance eastward of Timbuctoo, makes a
bend or elbow, like the Burampooter, and, after pursuing a south-westerly
course, falls into the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Benin. The narrative
of IVIr Park's return from the interior of Africa would be little else than a
repetition of the various sufferings, adventures, and dangers he experienced on
his way there, but only in a more aggravated form, in consequence both of his
utterly destitute condition, and from the inundation of the level country, which
compelled him to seek his way over chasms and precipices, without a guide, or
any other means of shaping his course. He frequently waded for miles breast-
deep in water. Once he was beset by banditti, who stripped him of everything
but two shirts, his hat, and a pair of trousers ; and on arriving at Sibidooloo,
he was attacked by fever, which stretched him on his back for many weeks.
Here, however, he was fortunate enough to meet with a slave merchant, named
Karfa Taura, who treated him with great kindness and humanity — took him
into his own house — nursed him until he was well — kept him as his guest for
seven months, without asking the smallest recompense — and finally conducted
him in safety to Pisania, with a cargo of his living merchandise. Our traveller
immediately took his passage in an American vessel, bound for the West Indies,
whence he had no difiiculty in getting to Britain, and landed at Falmouth
on the 2 2d of December, 1797, after an absence of two years and seven
months.

Mr Park was received with distinguished honour by the African Association,
and almost all the other scientific bodies and eminent literary characters of the
metropolis, and was for some time, what is familiarly termed, the lion of the
town. Having made arrangements in London for the publication of his travels,
he proceeded to Scotland in June 1798, and spent the succeeding summer
and autumn at his native place, Fowlshiels, among his relations and friends,
his mother being the only parent then alive. His time, however, was far from
being passed in idleness, or merely in social meetings with old friends and ac-
quaintance, much as his company, as may readily be imagined, was sought
after. He applied himself indefatigably to the compilation and composition ot
his travels, which he finished and carried back with him to London in the end
of the year. In the following spring they were published, and it is needless to

104 MUNGO PARK.

say how universally, or with what aridity, not to mention incredulity by
many, they were read. For the latter contingency, Mr Park himself was pre-
pared, and with a judicious caution, which few of his rivals in discovery, either
before or since, have had the prudence or self-denial, as it may aptly be termed,
to adopt, omitted the relation of many real incidents and adventures, which he
feared might shake the probability of his narrative in the public estimation.
This fact has been proved beyond doubt, by the testimony of many of his inti-
mate friends and relatives, to whom, although by no means of a communicative
disposition, he freely mentioned many singular anecdotes and particulars, which
he scrupled to submit to the jealous eye of the critical public. Amongst those
friends to whom Mr Park frequently communicated in a colloquial way many
most interesting and remarkable circumstances which did not appear in his
printed travels, was Sir AValter Scott, between whom and Mr Park a strong
intimacy was contracted subsequent to the return of the latter from Africa,
and ^ho tells us> that having once noticed to his friend the omissions in
question (which appeared to one of his romantic temperament and ardent
imagination to be unaccountable), and asked an explanation, Mr Park re-
plied, " that in all cases where he had information to communicate, which he
thought of importance to the public, he had stated the facts boldly, leaving it
to his readers to give such credit to his statements as they might appear justly
to deserve ; but that he would not shock their credulity, or render his travels
more marvellous, by introducing circumstances, which, however true, were of
little or no moment, as they related solely to his own personal adventures and
esca|)e8." If this scrupulousness on the part of the traveller is to be regretted in
one sense, as consigning to oblivion many curious and interesting facts, it cer-
tainly raises him as a man and an author incalculably in our estimation, and be-
speaks the most implicit belief and confidence in ^rliat he lias promulgated to
the world.

After the publication of his travels, he returned to Scotland, and in August
the same year married Miss Anderson, the eldest daughter of his old master at
Selkirk. For some time after his marriage, and before he set out on his second
expedition, Mr Park appears to have been quite undecided as to his pros-
pects in life ; and perhaps the comparative independence of his circumstances,
from the profits of his publication, and the remuneration he obtained from the
African Association, rendered him somewhat indifferent to any immediate per-
manent situation. But it was likewise strongly suspected by his intimate
friends, that he entertained hopes of being soon called upon to undertake
another mission to the Niger, although he kept perfectly silent on the subject.

As time continued to elapse, without any such proposition from the expected
quarter being made, Mr Park perceived the impi-udence of remaining in idle-
ness, and in 1801, removed to Peebles, where he commenced practice as a sur-
geon. But it would appear he was not very successful in this speculation ; and
this fact, together with the natural restlessness of his disposition, seems to have
rendered his situation peculiarly irksome to him. In answer to a friend, who
suspected his design of again proceeding abroad, and earnestly remonstrated
with him against it, he MTites, " that a few inglorious winters of practice at
Peebles was a risk as great, and would tend as effectually to shorten life, as tlie
ioumey he was about to undertake." In the mean time, his ennui, or im-
patience, was much relieved by the enjoyment of the best society in the neigh-
bourhood, and by being honoured with the friendship of many of the most dis-
tinguished characters in Scotland at that time. Amongst these were the
renei-able Dr Adam Ferguson, then resident at Hallyards, rear Peebles;
colonel Murray of Cringletie ; and professor Dugald Stewart. As before men-

MUNGO PARK. 105

tioned, too, a strong intimacy sprung up between our traveller and Sir
Walter Scott, then but little known in the literary \vorld, and who resided
with his family at Ashiestiel, on the banks of the Tweed. This friendship
commenced in 1804, after Mr Park had removed from Peebles to Fowl-
shiels, and was preparing for his second expedition to Africa, of which
he had then got intimation. It is pleasing to know the cordiality and
affectionate familiarity which subsisted between ^these celebrated men, and
also that it arose from a marked congeniality in their tastes and habits.*
Park was an enthusiastic lover of poetry, especially the minstrelsy with which
his native district was rife ; and although he made no pretensions to tlie
laurel crown himself, he occasionally gave expression to his feelings and
thoughts in verse, even from his earliest years. It was little wonder, then,
that he should own a particular predilection for the society of one whose heart
and memory were so richly stored with the ancient ballad lore of his country,
although his reserve towards strangers in general, which was carried even to a
repulsive degree, was notorious. In particular. Sir Walter Scott has noticed
the strong aversion of his friend to being questioned in a promiscuous company
on the subject of his adventures, of which grievance, as may be imagined, he
had frequent cause to complain.

The new mission to Africa, which Avas now sanctioned and pi'omoted by
government, Jiad been projected so far back as 1801 ; but owing to changes
in the ministry, and other causes of delay, the preparations for it were
not completed till 1805. Mr Park parted from his family, and proceeded
to London Avith his brother-in-law, Olr James Andei-son, who, as well as Mr
Scott, an artist, had resolved to accompany him in his expedition. On this
occasion, Mr Park received the brevet commission of captain in Africa, and
a similar commission of lieutenant to his relative Mr Anderson, Mr Scott
also was employed by government to accompany the expedition as draughts-
man. Mr Park was, at the same time, empowered to enlist soldiera from the
garrison of the island of Goree, to the number of forty-five, to accompany him
in his journey ; and the sum of ^5000 was placed at his disposal, together with
directions as to his route, &c. The expedition sailed from Portsmouth on the
30th January, 1806, and arrived at Pisania on the 28th of April, where pre-
parations were immediately made for the inland journey. The party consisted
of forty men, two lieutenants, a draughtsman (3Ir Scott), and Park himself;
they had liorses for themselves, and asses for carrying the provisions and mer-
chandise. Mr Park wrote to several friends at home, previously to setting out,
in the highest spirits, and seemingly perfectly confident of success. In his letter
to Mr Dickson, he says, " this day six weeks, I expect to drink all your healths
in the Niger ;" and again, " I have little doubt but that I shall be able, with
presents and fair words, to pass through the country to the Niger ; and if once
we are fairly afloat, the day is won.'''' Alas ! how sadly these sanguine expres-
sions contrast with the melancholy issue of the expedition. Pai-k's chance of
reaching the Niger in safety depended mainly upon his doing so previously to the
commencement of the rainy season, which is always most fatal to Europeans ;
but scarcely had they got half way when the rain set in, and the effect on the
health of the men was as speedy as disastrous. They were seized with vomit-
ing, sickness, dysentery, and delirium ; some died on the road, others were
drowned in the rivers, and several Avere left in the precarious charge of the
natives in the villages. Some, still more unfortunate, were lost in the woods,
where they would inevitably be devoured by wild beasts ; while the native ban-
ditti, who imagined the caravan to contain immense wealth, hung upon their
1 It chanced that Ihey were born within a month of each other.

lOG MUXGO PARK.

march, and plundered them at every opportunity. In crossing the Wondu, tliey
nearly lost their guide Isaaco, by a krge crocodile, which pulled liiiu below the
water several times, but from which he at last got free, much lacerated. At an-
other time they were encountered by three large lions, but which took to flight
at the sound of Mr Park's musket. At last the miserable remnant of the party
— only nine out of forty-four, and these nine all siclt, and some in a state of
mental derangement — reached Bambakoo, on the Niger. Here Mr Scott was
left behind on account of sickness, of which he shortly died ; while the rest pro-
ceeded to Sego, the capital of Banibarra, whicli they reached on the 19th of
September. Mansong was still king, and was so highly gratified with the pre-
sents brought to him, that he gave them permission to build a boat, and prc«
mised to protect them as far as lay in his power. Mr Park fortinvith opened a
shop for the sale of his European goods, which immediately obtained such de>
mand, tliat his shop was crowded with customers from morning till night, and
one day he turned over no less than 25,75G cowries. Here, however, he lost
his brother-in-law Mr Anderaon, a circumstance which afflicted him greatly, and
made him feel, as he himself expressed it, " as if left a second time lonely and
friendless amidst the wilds of Africa." But not all the sufferings he had under-
gone, the loss of his companions, or the dismal condition of the remainder, and
the perilousness of his situation — nothing could damp the native ardour of his
mind. Having got a sort of schooner constructed and rigged out, ho prepared
for setting out on his formidable journey, previously to which, however, he took
care to bring his journal up to the latest hour, and wrote several lettei-s to his
friends and relatives in Britain. These Avere intrusted to his faithful guide
Isaaco, to carry back to the Gambia, whence they were transmitted to England.
His letter to Mrs Park, excepting that part of it which mentions the death of
her brother and Mr Scott, was written in a cheering and hopeful strain ; speaks
with confidence of his reaching the ocean in safety, and of the probability of his
being in England before the letter itself! His companions Mere now reduced
to four, viz., lieutenant Martyn and three soldiers, one of whom was deranged
in his mind ; and with this miserable remnant, and a guide named Amadi Fa-
touma, he set sail, as near as could be ascertained, on the I9th of November,
180(3. The progress of the unfortunate travellers after this period, and their
ultimate fate, so long a mystery, are now familiarly known, although there are
many circumstances attending the unhappy closing scene which are yet shrouded
in doubt and uncertainty.

Vague rumoure of the death of Park and his companions were brought by
some of the natives to the British settlements on the coast, even so early as the
end of 1806 ; but no information could be got for several years of a nature to
be at all relied on, during which time the suspense of his friends and of the
public at lai^e, but more particularly of his afflicted family, was of the most
painful nature. At length, in 1810, colonel Maxwell, governor of Senegal,
despatched Isaaco, Park's fomier'guide, into the interior, in order to ascertain
the truth or falsehood of the reports which prevailed. After an absence of a
year and eight months, this individual returned, and the many facts of the nar-
rative, which he gave as the result of his labours, are not only but too probable
in themselves, but seem to have been thoroughly confirmed by the investigations
of subsequent travellers. Isaaco stated, that he had fallen in Avith 3Ir Park's
guide, Amadi Fatouma, at Medina, near Sansanding, who, on seeing Isaaco, and
hearing the name of Park, began to Aveep, saying, " they are all dead j" and
Avas AAith great difficulty induced to detail the melancholy circumstances of the
catastrophe. The account Avhich he gave is too long to be introduced entire here,
but the substance of it Avas as folloAvs: — After leaving Sansanding, IMr Park navi-

MUNGO PASK. 107

gated his way down the Niger, as far as Boossa, in the kingdom of Yaour, which
was more than two-thirds of the distance between the ocean, or Gulf of Guinea
and where the river is termed by the natives Quorra. They had frequent skir-
mishes witli the natives, particularly in passing Timbuctoo, where several of the
natives were killed. On reaching Yaour, Mr Park sent Araadi Fatouma ashore
with various presents, some of ^vhich were to the chief or governor of the place,
but the most valuable portion for the king, to whom the chief Mas requested to
send them. A short while after, the latter sent to inquire if Mr Park intended
to come back ; and on being answered that he could return no more, tha
treacherous chief appropriated the presents intended for the king to his own
use. This piece of knavery proved fatal to the unfortunate travellers. The
king, indignant at the supposed slight cast on him, assembled a large army at
the above mentioned village of Boussa, where a large high rock stretches across
the whole breadth of the river, the only passage for the river being through an
opening in the rock in the form of a door. The army posted themselves on the
top of the rock, and on Mr Park's attempting to pass, assailed him with lances,
pikes, arrows, stones, and missiles of every description. The beleaguered tra-
vellers defended themselves for a long time, till all wci-e either killed or severe-
ly wounded; when, seeing the uselessness of further resistance, Mr Park, lieu-
tenant Mart) n, and one or two more, jumped out of the boat, and were drowned
in attempting to get ashore. Only one slave was left alive. Such Mas the nar-
rative of Amadi Fatouma, who had left IMr Park at Yaour, where his engage*
ment with him terminated, and where he was for many months afterwards con-
fined in irons on suspicion of having purloined the presents intended for the
king, Avhich had been made away with by the treacherous chief. Amadi had
obtained the accounts of the fatal scene from those who had taken a part in it.
The natives afterwards endeavoured to account for the disappearance of Park,
to the inquiries of subsequent travellers, by saying that his vessel had foundered
against the I'ock, and that he and his companions were drowned by accident.
But there is now not the shadow of a doubt that the above narrative of Amadi
is substantially true.

So perished 3Iungo Park, in the thirty-fifth year of his age — a man whose
natural enthusiasm, scientific acquirements, undaunted intrepidity, patience of
suffering, and inflexible perseverance, in short, every quality requisite for a
traveller in the path he adopted, have never been surpassed, and who, had he
survived, would no doubt have reaped those laurels which more fortunate suc-
cessors in the same career have won. To these qualities in his public character,
it is pleasing to be able to add those of amiable simplicity of manners, constancy
of affection, and sterling integrity in private life.

Mr Park's papers were, ivilh the exception of a few scraps,'^ unfortunately all
lost with him, and this is much to be regretted, as, notwithstanding the important
discoveries of the Landers, who subsequently traced the course of the Quorra or
Niger from Boussa, where Park fell, down to the Gulf of Guinea, they were un-

2 These were, nn old nautical publication (of which the title-page was amissing, and its
contents chietly tables of logarithms), with a few loose memoranda of no importance between
the leaves. One of these papers, however, was curious enough, from the situation and cir-
cumstances in which it was found. It was a card of invitation to dinner, and was in the fol-
lowing terms: —

" Mr and Mrs Watson would be happy to have the pleasure of Mr Park's company at
dinner on Tuesday next, at hiilf-past five o'clock. An answer is requested.

" Strand, 9th Nov., 1804."

These were the only written documents belonging to Park which the Messrs Landers,
after the most anxious inquiries and investigations, were able to discover. They succeeded,
liowfcver, in rtcoveriiig his double-barrelled gun, and the tobe, or short cloak, which he woro
when he was drowned.

108 WILLIAM PATERSON.

able to explore a great part of that immense portion of it which flou3 between
Boussa and Tiinbuctoo, and which Park must of necessity have navigated. Their
united labours have, however, solved the grand problem which has engaged the
attention of all civilized nations from the earliest ages to whicli history leads us
back ; and there seems little cause for doubt, tliat, in a short time, tlie still
broken links in the great chain of communication with the centre of Africa will
be united.

PATERSON, William, the original projector of the banks of England and
of Scotland, and of the celebrated settlement of Darien, was born, it is supposed,
in the year 1660 at Skipmyre, in the parish of Tinwald, Dumfries-shire. It
is deeply to be regretted that no satisfactory memorials have been preserved of
this remarkable man. Of his education nothing is known, but it is stated in
one memoir that he was bred to the church. He is also said to have repre-
sented the burgh of Dumfries more than once in the Scottish parliament ; to
have gone out to the West Indies, in the character of a Christian missionary,
for the purpose of converting the negroes; and to have, while in tliat quarter,
joined the buccaneers, a gang of desperadoes who infested the shores of
America and the West Indian islands, making prizes indiscriminately of the
ships of all nations ; and it is in this character he is snid to have acquired that
intimate knowledge of the seas and coasts of America which led him to form the
splendid idea of a settlement at Darien, by which he meant to connect the seas
on the opposite sides of the globe, and to form a grand emporium of the produc-
tions of all the quarters of the earth. That Mr Paterson, however, was either
a churchman or a buccaneer at any period of his life appears a gratuitous as-
sumption, unsupported by any direct evidence, and at variance with the known
course of his after life. It is certain, however, that he was in the West Indies,
but it is much more likely that his pursuits there were commercial than either
clerical or piratical. In whatever capacity he may have acquired his commercial
and geographical knowledge, he returned to Europe with a scheme of trade wholly
different from the methods and principles of any of the then trading companies
of England, and which he was desirous of establishing under the protection and
patronage of some European power, which might give greater privileges and
immunities than were consistent with the laws of England then in force. This
scheme he seems to have laid first before the merchants of Hamburg, afterwards
before the Dutch, and then before the elector of Brandenburg, Avho all, how-
ever, received his proposals coldly. Paterson next applied to the merchants of
London, and with them concerted the plan of the bank of England, of Avhich
there seenu no reason to doubt that he gave the first hint. As it has very
frequently happened, however, in similar cases, though he was admitted one
of the original directors, his richer associates no sooner became fully possessed
of his ideas, than they found out pretexts for quarrelling with him, and finally
expelled him from all share in conducting that business of which he had been
the author. Under these circumstances, he became acquainted in London
with some of his countrymen, particularly with Fletcher of Salton, who had
penetration enough to see and to appreciate the simple splendour of his project
with regard to Darien, and patriotism enough to desire to secure the benefits of
it to his own country. Paterson had all the patriotism of Fletcher, without any
of that national partiality which, in the former, somewhat dimmed its lustre and
lessened its effect ; but he was yet, from the manner in which lie had already
been treated by all to whom he had communicated his plans, easily persuaded
to give the benefit of his conceptions to the country to wliich he owed his birtli,
and where he had as yet suflered none of that painful mortification, of which ha
had experienced less or more in all the places he had yet visited. He accord-

V.ILLIAM PATERSON. 109

ingly came to Scotland along with Fletcher, who introduced him to the Scottish
administration, at the time greatly embarrassed by the affair of (ilencoe, and who
easily persuaded king William, that a little more freedom, and some new facili*
ties of trade would have a happy effect in diverting the public attention from
the investigation of that unfortunate affair, in which his majesty's ere lit was al-
most as deeply implicated as their own. The earl of Stair, in particular, gave
the project of 3Ir Paterson the support of his powerful eloquence.

Tlie result of all this was, that an act was passed by the Scottish parlia-
ment on the 26lh of June, 1G95, " constituting John, lord Bellmven, Adam
Cockburn of Ormiston, lord justice-clerk, Francis Montgomery of Giffen, Sir
John Maxwell of Pollock, Sir Robert Chiesly, present provost of Edinburgh,
John Swinton of that ilk, George Clark, late baillie of Edinburgh, Robert
Blackwood, and James Balfour, merchants in Edinburgh, John Corse, merchant
in Glasgow ; William Paterson, Esq., James Fowlis, David Nairn, Esqrs., I'homas
Deans, Esq., James Chiesly, John Smith, Thomas Coutes, Hugh Frazer, Joseph
Cohaine, Daves Ovedo, and Walter Stuart, merchants in London, with such
othera as shall join with them within the space of twelve months after the first
day of August next, and all others whom the foresaid persons, and those joined,
or^ major part of them, being assembled, shall admit, and join into their joint-
stock and trade, who shall all be repute as if herein originally insert, to be one
body incorporate, and a free incorporation, with perpetual succession, by the
name of the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies. Providing
always, like as it is hereby in the first place provided, that of the fund or capital
stock that shall be agreed to be advanced, and employed by the said under-
takers, and their copartners, the half at least shall be appointed and allotted for
Scottishmen within this kingdom, who shall enter and subscribe to the said com-
pany before the first day of August, 1696. And if it shall happen, that Scots-
men living within the kingdom, shall not, betwixt and the foresaid term, sub-
scri!je for, and make up the equal half of the said fund or capital stock, then,
and in that case allenarly, it shall be, and is hereby allowed to Scotsmen resid-
ing abroad, or to foreigners, to come in, subscribe, and be assumed for the
superplus of the said half, and no otherwise." By the same act the lowest
subscription was fixed at one hundred pounds sterling, and the highest at three
thousand. The shares of Scotsmen, too, it was provided could be sold, and
alienated only to Scotsmen. The company was also vested with full powers to
hold parliaments, make laws, and administer justice, &c., in any colonies they
might plant ; enter into treaties of peace and commerce with sovereigns,
princes, estates, rulers, governors, or proprietore of lands in Asia, Africa, and
America ; all their ships being bound, under penalty of confiscation, to return
with their cargoes in the first instance to this country, without breaking bulk by
the way. They had also the exclusive privilege of trading to Asia, Africa, and
America, for the period of thirty-one years ; together with the free and absolute
right of property to all lands, islands, colonies, cities, towns, ports, and plantations
they might come to establish or possess ; paying yearly to his majesty, and his suc-
cessors in sovereignty, one hogshead of tobacoo in name of blench duty, if required.
They had also the power of purchasing, fer the enlargement of their trade and
navigation, from foreign potentates, such exceptions, liberties, privileges, &a, as
they might find convenient. Their ships were also exempted from all customs,
cesses, and supplies, and their stock in trade from all taxes for the space of
twenty-one years. All persons concerned in the company were declared deni-
zens of the kingdom, and all persons settling in any of their colonies, cities,
&a, were to be reputed natives of the kingdom, and enjoy privileges accordingly.
This act, of which the above are some of the outlines, was drawn up under the

110 -WILLIAai PATERSON.

eye of Mr Paterson, and was certainly liighly favourable for his purposes. The
isthmus of Darien, where there was a larj^e tract of land bordering on both seas
the Indian and tlie Atlantic, which had never been in possession of any Euro-
pean nation, was the spot he had fixed upon for the scene of his operations, and
the advantages of which he thus graphically pointed out: "The time and ex-
pense of navigation to China, Japan, the Spice Islands, and the far greater part
of the East Indies, will be lessened more than half, and the consumption of
European commodities and manufactures, will soon be more than doubled.
Trade will increase trade, and money will beget money, and the trading world
shall need no more want work for their hands, but will rather want hands for
their work. Thus, this door of the seas, and key of the universe, with any
thing of a reasonable management, will, of course, enable its proprietors to give
laws to both oceans, without being liable to the fatigues, expenses, and dangers,
or contracting the guilt and blood, of Alexander and CiBsnr. In all our empires
that have been any thing universal, the conquerors have been obliged to seek
out and court their conquests from afar, but the univeraal force and influence of
this attractive magnet is such as can much more effectually bring empire home to
the proprietors' doors. But from what hath been said, you may easily perceive,
that the nature of these discoveries are such as not to be engrossed by any one
nation or people with exclusion to othei-s; nor can it be tlius attempted ^vith-
out evident hazard and ruin, as we may see in the case of Spain and Poi'tugal,
who, by their prohibiting any other people to trade, or so much as to go to or
dwell in the Indies, have not only lost that trade they were not able to maintain,
but have depopulated and ruined their countries therewith, so that the Indies
have rather conquered Spain and Portugal than they have conquered the
Indies ; for by their permitting all to go out, and none to come in, they have
not only lost the people which are gone to the remote and luxuriant regions, but
such as remain are become wholly unprofitable, and good for nothing. Thus,
not unlike the case of the dog in the fable, they have lost their own countries,
and not gotten the Indies. People, and their industry, are the true riches of a
prince or nation, and in respect to them all other things are but imaginary. This
was well understood by the people of Rome, who, contrary to the maxims of
Sparta and Spain, by general naturalizations, liberty of conscience, and immuni-
ties of government, far more effectually and advantageously conquered and kept
the world than ever they did or possibly could have done by the sword." Seeing
clearly his way, Mr Paterson seems not to have had the smallest suspicion but that
others would see it also, and *' he makes no doubt, but that the affection we owe
to our sister nation will incline the company to be zealous in using all becoming
endeavoui-s for bringing our fellow subjects to be jointly concerned in this great,
extensive, and advantageous undertaking. That a proposal of this kind from
the company will be other than acceptable ought not to be supposed, since by
this means the consumption and demand of English manufactures, and conse-
quently the employment of their people, will soon be more than doubled.
England will be hereby enabled to become the long desired sea port, and yet
its public revenues, instead of being diminished, will thereby be greatly increased.
By this their nation will at once be eased of its laws of restraint and prohibi.
tions, which, instead of being encouragements, always have, and still continue to
be, the greatest lets to its trade and happiness." These liberal views seem to have
made a greater impression on the public mind than at that time could liave been
anticipated. In the month of (Mober, 1695, lord Belhaven, Mr Robert
Blackwood, and 3Ir James Balfour, went on a deputation to London, accompanied
by Mr Paterson, where the subscription books were firet opened, and in the
course of nine days three hundred thousand pounds were subscribed ; one-fourth

WILLIAM PATERSON. Ill

of all subscriptions being paid in cash. This promising state of thing:s, how-
ever, was by the jealousy of the English monopolists suddenly reversed. The
East India company were the first to take the alarm, and they communicated
their terrors to the house of lords. The latter requested a conference with the
commons on the alarming oircumstance, and a committee was appointed to in-
quire by what methods such an act had been obtained, who were the promoters,
and who had become subscribers to the company. This was followed by an
address to the king from both houses of parliament, stating, " That by reason
of the superior advantages granted to the Scottish East India company, and the
duties imposed upon the Indian trade in England, a great part of the stock and
shipping of this nation would be carried thither, by which means Scotland
would be rendered a free port, and Europe from thence supplied with the pro-
ducts of the East much cheaper than through them, and thus a great article in
the balance of foreign commerce would be lost to England, to the prejudice of
the national navigation and the royal revenue." The address went on to state,
" that when the Scots should have established themselves in plantations in
America, the western branch of traffic would also be lost. The privileges
granted their company would render their country the general storehouse for
tobacco, sugar, cotton, hides, and timber ; the low rates at which they would be
enabled to carry on their manufactures, Avould render it impossible for the Eng-
lish to compete with them, while, in a:!dition, his majesty stood engaged to
protect, by the naval strength of England, a company whose success was incom-
patible with its existence." This address his majesty received graciously, ob-
serving, " that he had been ill-«erved in Scotland, but he hoped some remedy
might yet be found to prevent the inconvenience that might arise from the act.''
To satisfy his English parliament that he was in earnest, William dismissed his
Scottish ministers, and among the rest the earl of Stair.

The English parliament, with a spirit worthy of the darkest ages, and the
most barbarous nations, proceeded to declare lord Belhaven, William Pater-
son, and the other members of the deputation guilty of a high crime and mis-
demeanour, for administering in that kingdom the oath de fideli to a foreign as-
sociation. Those of their own people who had become partners in the company
were threatened with an impeachment, and were by this means compelled to
withdraw their subscriptions. Upwards of two hundred thousand pounds
sterling had been subscribed to the scheme by the merchants of Holland and
Hamburg, and the English resident at the latter city, Sir Paul Rycault, was
instructed to present a remonstrance on tlie part of tV.e king, to the magistrates,
complaining of the countenance they had given to the commissioners of the
Darien company, who had formed, and were prosecuting a plan fraught with
many evils ; a plan which his majesty did not intend to support, and from
which, if the Hamburgers did not withdraw their aid, they might be prepared
for an interruption of that kindly feeling, and those good offices, that it was
the wish of his majesty to cultivate and to exercise towards them. The answer
of the city was worthy of itself in its best days, " They considered it strange,
that the king of England should dictate to them, a free people, how, or with
whom they were to engage in the arrangements of commerce, and still more so,
that they should be blamed for offering to connect themselves in this way with
a body of his own subjects incorporated under a special act of parliament."
From this interference, however, the Haniburgei-s, aware that the company was
to be thwarted in all its proceedings by tlie superior power of England, lost
confidence in the scheme, and finally withdrew their subscriptions. The Dutch,
too, equally jealous of commercial rivalry with the English, and influenced per-
haps by the same motives with the Hamburgera, withdrc\v their subscriptions

112 "WILLIAM PATERSON.

also, and the company was left to the unassisted resources of their ovm poor and
depressed country. The e.ngerness with which the scheme had been patronized
abroad by wealthy individuals, and the bitterness of tlie opposition directed
against it by the government of England equally tended to give it importance in
the eyes of Scotsmen, and they determined to go on with such means as they
could command, secure of abundant support when the practicability of the plan
should be demonstrated. The books for subscription were not opened in Glas-
gow and Edinburgh till the month of Februsiry, J 6 96, and they were not filled
up till the month of August, when, owing to the interference of the English, and
the consequent withdrawal of the foreign partners, anotlier hundred thousand
pounds sterling was shared in Scotland fourteen months after the passing of the
act. Nothing could exceed the eagerness with which all classes of the Scottish
people hastened to enroll themselves in the magnificent copartnery now form-
ing. Every burgh, every city, and almost every family of any consequence be-
came shareholders. Four hundred thousand pounds were subscribed ; an aston-
ishing sum when it is known, that at that time the circulating capital of the
kingdom did not exceed eight hundi-ed thousand pounds sterling. To this
enthusiasm a variety of causes contributed. The scheme of Patereon was politi-
cally good. It was drawn up with great ability, and promised important results
in a moral and religious, as well as in a commercial point of view. Many of the
subscribers, indeed, were influenced solely by religious motives, as tliey con-
sidered the setting up of a church, regularly constituted, on that continent, tlio
most likely means for spreading the gospel among the natives, and as aflx)rding
facilities for that purpose which could not in any other way be obtained. But
it must also be admitted, that the scheme, having become a national mania, mhs
not left to work its way by its own intrinsic merits. The scene of the intended
operations became the subject of numberless pamphlets, wherein fancy was much
more largely employed than fact. The soil was represented as rich, and teem-
ing with the most luxuriant fertility ; the rivers, as full of fish, and their sands
sparkling with gold ; the woods smiling in perpetual verdure, at all times
ringing with the melody of spring, and loading every breeze that swept over
them with the most delightful odours.

Having completed their preparations, and the public authorities having as-
sured them of protection and encouragement, the colony, in presence of the
whole city of Edinburgh, which poured out its inhabitants to witness the scene,
embarked ; Mr Faterson going first on board at Leith, from the roads of
Avhich they sailed on the 26th of July, 1698. The fleet consisted of five
ships purchased at Hamburg or Holland — for they were refused even the
trifling accommodation of a sliip of war which Avas laid up at Bruntisland — and
were named the Caledonia, St Andrew, Unicorn, Dolphin, and Endeavour; the
two last being yachts laden with provisions and military stores. The colony
consisted of twelve hundred men ; three hundred of them being young men of
the best Scottish families. Among them were also sixty oflicers who had been
thrown out cf employment by the peace which had just been concluded, and who
can-ied along with them the troops they had commanded ; all of whom were
men who had been raised on their own estates, or on those of their relations.
Many soldiers and sailors, whose services had been refused — for many more
than could be employed had offered themselves — were found hid in the ships, and
when ordered ashore, clung to the ropes imploring to be allowed to go with
their countrymen Avithout fee or reward. The whole sailed amidst the praises,
the prayers, and the tears of relations, friends, and countrymen ; " and neigh-
bouring nations," says Dalrymple, '* saw with a mixture of surprise ar.d respect
the poorest nation of Europe sending forth the most gallant colony which had ever

\nLLIAM PATERSON. 113

gone from the old to the new world." The parliament of Scotland met in the
same week that the expedition for Darien sailed, and on the 5th of August
they presented a unanimous address to the king, requesting that he would be
pleased to support the company. The lord president, Sir Hugh Dalrymple,
and Sir James Stuart, lord advocate, also drew out memorials to the king in
behalf of the company, in which they proved their rights to be irrefragable on
the principles both of constitutional and public law. AH this, however, did not
prevent orders being sent out by the English ministry to all the English gover-
nors in America and the West Indies, to withhold all supplies -from the Scottish
colony at Darien, and to have no manner of communication with it either in one
shape or another. Meanwhile, the colony proceeded on its voyage without any
thing remarkable occurring, and on the 3d of November landed between
Portobella and Carthagena at a place called Acta, Avhere there was an excellent
harbour, about four miles fi'om Golden island. Having obtained the sanction of
the natives to settle among them, they proceeded to cut through a peninsula, by
which they obtained what they conceived to be a favourable site for a city, and
they accordingly began to build one under the name of New Edinburgh. They
also constructed a fort in a commanding situation for the protection of the town
and the harbour, which they named St Andrew ; and on the country itself they
imposed the name of Caledonia. The first care of the council, which had been
appointed by^the company, and of which Mr Paterson was one of the chief, was
to establish a friendly correspondence with the native chiefs, which they found
no difficulty in doing. To the Spanish authorities at Carthagena and Panama,
they also sent friendly deputations, stating their desire to live with them upon
terms of amity and reciprocal intercourse. On the 2Sth of December,
1698, the council issued a proclamation dated at New Edinburgh, to the follow-
ing effect: — " We do hereby'publish and declare. That all manner of persons, of
what nation or people soever, are and shall from hence forward be equally free,
and alike capable of the said properties, privileges, protections, immunities, and
rights of government, granted unto us ; and the merchants and merchant ships
of all nations may freely come to and trade with us without being liable in their
persons or goods to any manner of capture, confiscation, seizure, forfeiture, at-
tachment, arrest, restraint, or prohibition for, or by reason of any embargo, breach
of the peace, letters of marque, or reprisals, declaration of war with any foreign
prince, potentate, or state, or upon any other account or pretence whatsoever.
And Ave do hereby not only grant, concede, and declare, a generjri and equal
freedom of government and trade to those of all nations who shall hereafter be
of or concerned with us ; but also, a full and free liberty of conscience in mat-
ters of religion, so as the same be not understood to allow, connive at, or in-
dulge, the blaspheming of God's holy name, or any of his divine attributes, cr of
the unhallowing or profaning the Sabbath day ; and, finally, as the best and
surest means to render any government successful, durable, and happy, it shall,
by the help of Almighty God, be ever our constant and chiefest care, that all
our further constitutions, laws, and ordinances be consonant and agreeable to
the holy Scriptures, right reason, and the examples of the wisest and justest na-
tions ; that from the righteousness thereof we may reasonably hope for and ex-
pect the blessings of prosperity and increase." So far all was well, but the want
of a leading spirit, of one who could overawe the refractory, and of sunmiary
laws for their punishment, soon began to be felt ; 3Ii: Paterson was too modest
a man himself to assume such a position, and the event showed that he had
trusted too much to the constancy and good sense of others. After all his ex-
pense of time and trouble of contrivance, he seems to have reserved nothing for
himself above the meanest councillor upon the list. In the original articles of

114 ^VILLIAM PATERSON.

Uie company it hod been agreed, tliat he sliould be allowed two per cent, on the
stock, and three per cent on the profits, but he had giren up both these claims
long before leaving Scotland. " It was not," he said, *' suspicion of the justice
or gratitude of the company, nor a consciousness that Iiis services could ever be-
come useless to tliem, but the ingratitude of some individuals experienced in
life, which made it a matter of common prudence in him to ask a retribution for
six years of his time, and ten thousand pounds spent in promoting the establish-
ment of the company. But now," he continues, "that I see it standing upon
the authority of parliament, and supported by so many great and good men, I
release all claim to that retribution ; happy in the noble concession made to me,
but happier in the return which I now make for it." With the same simplicity
and generosity of character which led him to relinquish the pecuniary advan-
tages he had secured for himself, he relinquished all claim to any superiority in
the direction of the colony, which was intrusted to men evidently but of ordinary
capacity, and under regulations which supposed the persons composing it to be
men of better tempers, and greater self-command, than they really were. The
whole management was vested in a council of seven, under regulations, the fifth
of which ran thus — "^ That after their landing and settlement as aforesaid, they,
the council, shall class and divide the whole freemen inhabitants of the said
colony into districts, each district to contain at least fifty, and not exceeding
sixty freemen inhabitants, who shall elect yearly any one freeman inhabitant
ivhoni they shall think fit to represent them in a parliament or council general
of the said colony, which parliament shall be called or adjourned by the said
council as they see cause : and being so constitute, may, with consent of the
said council, make and enact such rules, ordinances, and constitutions, and im-
pose such taxes as they think fit and needful for the good of the establishment, im-
provement and support of the said colony ; providing alway, that they lay no fur-
ther duties or impositions of trade than what is after stated." This parliament was
accordingly called, and held at least two sessions. During the first session, in
the month of April, 1699, it enacted thirty-four statutes for the regulation of
civil and criminal justice in the colony. This is a curious document, and in
several items bears strong marks of the liberal spirit and philosophic mind of
I'aterson. It discovers a marked regard to personal liberty, and great jealousy
of its infraction. Violation of women is declared a crime to be punislied with
death, though the women should belong to an enemy ; and to plunder Indians
is rated as cbmmon theft. No man was to be confined more than three months
before being brought to trial, and in all criminal cases no judgment was to pass
without the consent and concurrence of a jury of fifteen persons. No freeman
could be subjected to any restraint for debt unless there should be fraud, or the
design thereof, or wilful or apparent breach of trust, misapplication, or con-
cealment first proved upon him. One of the councillors, writing at this time to
the directors at home, says, " we found the inconvenience of calling a parlia-
ment, and of telling the inhabitants that they were freemen so soon. They had
not the true notion of liberty. The tlioughts of it made them insolent, and
ruined command. You know that it's expressly in the ' Encouragements,' that
they are to serve for three years, and at the three years' end to have a division
of land." It was the opinion of this director, that no parliament should have
been called till at least the three years of servitude had expired. Even then,
from the character of the settlers, who had not been selected with that care
which an experiment of such vast consequence demanded, there might have ex-
isted causes for delaying the escape. Among the better class, there were too
many young men of birth. These wei'e inexperienced and wholly unfit for ex-
ercising authority, and equally ill adapted for submitting to it. Among the

S3i4rj.

TVILLIAM PATERSON. 115

lower class were many who had been opposed to the Reyolution, and who had
resorted to the colony purely from dissatisfaction with the government at home.
These, instead of submitting with patience to the privations and labour necessary
in that state of society in which they were now placed, would gladly have laid
aside the mattock and the axe, and have employed themselves in plunderino' in-
cursions upon the Indians or the Spaniards. The subscribers to the scheme
were so numerous, that the idle, the unprincipled, and profligate had found but
too little difficulty in attaching themselves to the infant colony. Those
who were nominated to the council, too, had been selected without judg-
ment ; and it was not till after a violent struggle, that Paterson could pre-
vail on his colleagues to exercise their authority. " There was not," he writes
in a letter to 3Ir Shields, " one of the old council fitted for government, and
things were gone too far before the new took place."

3Ir Paterson, when he first established his colony, had taken the precaution
to land his people at the beginning of winter, the best season for Europeans
first encountering the climate of Uarien ; and the first letter from the council
to the directors thus expresses the satisfaction of the colonists with their new
destination : — " As to the country, we find it very healthful ; for, though we
arrived here in the rainy season, from which we had little or no shelter for
several weeks together, and many sick among us, yet we are so far recovered,
and in so good a state of health, as could hardly anywhere be expected among
such a number of men together. In fruitfulness, this country seems not to give
place to any in the world ; for we have seen several of the fruits, as cocoa nuts,
barillas, sugar cines, maize, oranges, &c, &c., all of them, in their kinds, the
best anywhere to be found. Nay, there is hardly a foot of ground but may be
cultivated ; for even upon the very tops and sides of the hills, there is commonly
three or four feet deep of rich earth, without so much as a stone to be found
tiierein. Here is good hunting, and fowling, and excellent fishing in the bays
and creeks of the coast ; so that, could -we improve the season of the year just
now begun, we should soon be able to subsist of ourselves ; but building and
fortifying will lose us a whole year's planting." This was, however, no more
than all of them must have foreseen ; and they never doubted of obtaining more
provisions than they could want, from the West India islands, or from the
American colonies. Orders, however, as has already been noticed, were sent
out after them to all the English governors, prohibiting all communication with
them. Tliese proclamations were rigidly adhered to, and the unfortunate Scot-
tish colonists were denied those supplies which had seldom been withheld from
lawless smugglers, buccaneers, and pirates. In addition to this, which was the
principal source of all their misfortunes, those who superintended the equipment
of the expedition, had, through carelessness or design, furnished them with pro-
visions, part of which were uneatable ; the consequence of which was, that the
colony had to be put on short allowance, when the sickly season was thinning
their numbers, and bringing additional duty on those who were in health. In
this emergency, their Indian friends exerted themselves on their behalf, putting
to shame their Christian brethren, who, from a mean jealousy, were attempting
to starve tiiem ; and they might still have done better, had not insubordination
broken out among themselves, and a conspiracy been formed, in which some of
the council were implicated, to seize one of the vessels, and to make their
escape from the colony. After matters had come this length, Paterson succeeded
in assuming new councillors ; a measure wliich had the effect of checking the
turbulence of the discontented. The new council also despatched one of their own
number to Britain, with an address to the king, and a pressing request to send
them out supplies of provisions, ammunition, and men. On receiving this des-

.J

IIG

WILLIAM PATERSON.

patch the directors lost no time in sending out the requisite supplies. They had
already sent despatches and provisions by a brig, uhich sailed fron. the Clyde in

On rA f '"«^' ^.'''; ^"' ^^'"'^ ""'"PP^'y "«^«^ '-^^^'^^d her destination.
On the arrival in Britain of another of their number, Mr Hamilton, who nas ao-
countant-genera to the colony, and whose absence was highly detrimental to i^
jntereste, the Olive Branch, captain Jamieson, and another'vessel, S three

fll ■? •T'"'''/"'^ 'T "^P-^^^i^O"'. «rms and ammunition, were despatched

from Le.th roads on the 12th of May, 1699. Matters in the colony were in

he mean time getting worse ; and on the 22nd of June, they came to the reso-

lution ot abandoning the place within eight months of the time they had taken

t^ uTn h-t. '^;'^«r/r""'^' P^^^J^^^"- '™^«'^ "- '' *he time on board
the Union, whither he had been conveyed some days before in a fever, brought
on by anxiety and grief for the weakness of his colleagues, and the fius-
had found '' 'T' "v'^'i ^' ^'^ '' ^"'="'"^^y cherislied and which he

fJlh "•",^7^^''^^ ^«ft h'"^; a"d while he was at Boston in tlie month of Sep!
ember following, one of his friends writes concerning him :_" Grief has
broke Mr Paterson's heart and turned his brain, and now he's a child; the^

h s mmd at New York, whence he returned to Scotland, to make his report to
the company, and give them his best advice regarding the further prosecution
of their undertaking Two of their captains, Samuel Veitch and Thomas Diim"
mond, remained at New York, to be ready to join the colony, should it be
again revived The Olive Branch, the vessel alluded to as having gone out ^
h« ^ "^ T '^""»^«^"^ provisions, was followed by a fleet of four ships

thirtf."'".^ a"'. "'P'' ^"^' ""™"^""' ""^ ««P« of Borrowstonness, wfth
thirteen hundred men. These ships all sailed from the Isle of Bute, ;n the
21 h of beptember, 1699, and reached Caledonia Bay on the 30th of November
follo^ving. With this fleet went out William Veitch, son of the reverend w5!
liam Ve.tch of Dumfries, and brother to Samuel already mentioned. This ner
son went out in the double capacity of a captain and a councillor. Individuals
were also sent out by various conveyances, with bills of credit for the use of the
colony. Everything now, however, went against them. The Olive Branch
and her consort having arrived in the harbour of New Edinburgh, the recruits
determined to land, and repossess themselves of the place, the huts of wMch
they found burnt down, and totally deserted. One of their ships, however tok
fire, and was burnt in the harbour, on which the others set sail for Jamais
TV hen the fleet which followed arrived in November, and, instead of a coW

It-ouL ?T^ 'aT' ^T^ '^' ^"'^ ^"^"^ '^«""' "'« ^''' dismantled, and the
pound which had been cleared, overgrown with shrubs and weeds, wi h all the
tools and implements of husbandry taken away, they were at a loss what to do A
general cry was raised in the ships to be conducted home, whicl, was encouraged
by Mr James Byres, one of the new councillors, who seems to have been himself
deeply impressed with that dejection of spirit which, as a councillor, it was his
duty to suppress. Veitch, however, assisted by captain Thomas Drummond
vho had come out in the Olive Branch, and had taken up his residence a^nong
he natives till the fleet which he expected should arrive, succeeded in persuad^nf
he men to land. As the Spaniards had already shown their hostility, and
having been defeated by a detachment of the colonists in the precedL Fe
bruary, were preparing for another attack ; encouraged, no doubt, by the treat-
ment which the colony had met with from the English govern.uent ; Drummond
proposed an immediate attack on Portobella, which they could easily have re-
duced, and where they might have been supplied with such things as they were

WILLIAM PATERSON. 117

most in want of. In this he was cordially seconded by Veitch, but waa pre-
vented by the timidity of his colleagues, and the intrigues of Byres, who at
length succeeded in ejecting him from the council. Two ministers, Messrs
James and Scott, went out with the first expedition, but the one died on the
passage, and the other shortly after landing in New Caledonia. The council
having written home to the directore, regretting the death of their ministers,
and begging that others might be sent to supply their place, the commission of
the General Assembly of the church of Scotland, at the particular desire of the
board of directors, sent out the reverend Messrs Alexander Shields, (the well-
known author of the " Hind let Loose," "Life of Ren wick," &a,) Borland, Stobo,
and Dalgliesh. These persons sailed in the last fleet. They were instructed,
on their ai-rival, Avith the advice and concurrence of the government, to set
apai't a day for solemn thanksgiving, to form themselves into a presbytery,
to ordain elders and deacons, and to divide the colony into parishes, that thus
each minister might have a particular charge. After which it was recommended
to them, " so soon as they should find the colony in case for it, to assemble the
whole Christian inhabitants, and keep a day together for solemn prayer and
fasting, and with the greatest solemnity and seriousness to avouch the Lord to
be their God, and dedicate themselves and the land to the Lord." The church
of Scotland took so deep an interest in the colony of Darien, that the commis-
sion sent a particular admonition by the ministers, of which the following may
be taken as a specimen : — " We shall, in the next place, particularly address
ourselves to you that are in military charge and have command over the sol-
diery, whether by land or sea. It is on you, honoured and worthy gentlemen,
that a great share of the burden of the public safety lies. You are, in some re-
spects, both the hands and the eyes of this infant colony. Many of you have
lately been engaged in a just and glorious war, for retrieving and defending the
protestant religion, the liberties and rights of your country, under the conduct
of a matchless prince. And, now, when, through the blessing of the Lord of
hosts, his and your arms have procured an honourable peace at home ; you, and
others with you, have, with much bravery, embarked yourselves in a great, gene-
rous, and just undertaking, in the remote parts of the earth, for advancing the
honour and interest of your native country. If in this you acquit yourselves like
men and Christians, your fame will be renowned both abroad and at home." The
ministers found the colony in circumstances very different from what the address
of the commission naturally supposed ; and it was but few of their instructions
they were able to carry into effect. Two of them, however, preached on land,
and one on board the Rising Sun, every Sabbath-day. But, in addition to the
unfavourable aspect of their affairs, the irreligion and licentiousness of the
colonists, oppressed their spirits and paralyzed their efforts. With the view of
forming an acquaintance with the natives, they undei'took a journey into the
interior, accompanied by a lieutenant Turnbull, who had some slight knowledge
of the Indian language. They spent several nights in the cabins of the natives,
by whom they were received with great kindness ; and on their return, brought
back to the colonists the first notice of the approach of the Spaniards. When
apprized of all the circumstances, the directors felt highly indignant at the
conduct of those who, upon such slight gi-ounds, had left the settlement deso-
late ; and whose glory, they said, it ought to have been to have perished there,
rather than to have abandoned it so shamefully. In their letters to their new
councillors and officers, they implored them to keep the example of their pre-
decessors before their eyes as a beacon, and to avoid those ruinous dissensions
and shameful vices, on which they had wrecked so hopeful an enterprise. " It
is a lasting disgrace," they add, " to the memories of those officers who went

118 WILLIAM PATERSON.

in the first expedition, that even the meanest planters were scandalized at the
licentiousness of their lives, many of them living very intemperately and vicionsly
for many months at the public charge, whilst the sober and industrious among
them were vigilant in doing their duty. Nor can Ave, upon serious reflection,
wonder if an enterprise of this nature has misgiven in the hands of such as, wo
have too much reason to believe, neither feared God nor regarded man."
They also blamed the old council heavily for deserting the place, without
ever calling a parliament, or general meeting of the colony, or in any Avay con-
sulting their inclinations, but commanding them to a blind and implicit obedi-
ence, which is more than they ever can be answerable for. " Wherefore,"
they continue, " we desire you would constitute a parliament, whose advice you
are to take in all important matters. And in the mean time you are to acquaint
the officers and planters with the constitutions, and the few additional ones sent
with Mr 3Tackay, that all and every person in the colony may know their duty,
advantages, and privileges." Alarmed by the accounts which they soon after re-
ceived from Darien, the council-general of the company despatched a proclama-
tion, declaring " that it shall be lawful to any person of whatever degree inhabit-
ing the colony, not only to protest against, but to disobey, and oppose any re-
solution to desert the colony ;" and, " that it shall be death, either publicly or
privately, to move, deliberate, or reason upon any such desertion or surrender,
without special order from the council- general for that effect. And they order
and require the council of Caledonia to proclaim this solemnly, as they shall be
answerable.'* Before this act was passed in Edinburgh, however, New Cale-
donia was once more evacuated. The men had set busily to the rebuilding the
huts, and repairing the fort ; but strenuous efforts were still made in the council
to discourage them, by those who wished to evacuate the settlement Veitch
was with difficulty allowed to protest against some of their resolutions ; and for
opposing them Avith warmth, captain Drummond was laid under arrest. Speak-
ing of Drummond, Mr Shields says, " Under God, it is owing to him, and the
prudence of captain Veitch, that we have staid here so long, which was no small
difficulty to accomplish." And again, " If we had not met with Drummond at
our arrival, we had never settled in this place, Byres and Lindsay being averse from
it, and designing to discourage it from the very first ; Gibson being indifferent,
if he got his pipe and dram ; only Veitch remained resolved to promote it, who
Avas all along Drummond's friend, and concurred with his proposal to send men
against the Spaniards at first, and took the patronizing as long as he could
conveniently, but with such caution and prudence, as to avoid and prevent ani-
mosity and faction, which he saw were unavoidable, threatening the speedier dis-
solution of this interest, if he should insist on the prosecution of that plea, and
in opposition to that spate that was running against Drummond. But now
Finab coming, who was Drummond's comrade and fellow officer in Lorne*8
regiment in Flanders, he is set at liberty." This was colonel Campbell of
Finab, who, with three hundred of his own men, had come out and joined this
last party about two months after their arrival. The Spanish troops meantiuie
from Panama and Santa Maria, conducted through the woods by negroes, were
approaching them. They bad advanced, to the number of sixteen hundred
men, as far as Tubucantee, in the immediate neighbourhood of the colony, when
Finab marched against tliem with two hundred men, and defeated them in a
slight skirmish, in which he was wounded. The victory, which at one time
would have been of signal service to the colony, was now unavailing ; a fleet of
eleven ships, under the command of the governor of Cr.rthagena, Don Juan
Pimienta, having blocked up the harbour, and landed a number of troops, who,
advancing along with the party Avhich had found their way through the woods.

^'A,Mi.>.

WILLIAM PATERSON. 119

in rested the fort. Cut off from water, reduced by sickness, and otherwise dis-
pirited, the garrison was loud in its demands for a capitulation, and the council
had no other alternatire but to comply with it. Finab being laid up at the
time with a fever, Veitch conducted the treaty, and was allowed honourable
terms. The inhabitants of the colony having gone on shipboard, with all that
belonged to them, they weighed anchor on the 11th of April, 1700, and
sailed for Jamaica, after having occupied New Caledonia somewhat more than
four months. The Hope, on board of which was captain Veitch, and the
greater part of the property, was wrecked on the rocks of Colorades, on the
western coast of Cuba. Veitch, however, was dead before this accident hap-
pened. The Rising Sun was wi'ecked on the bar of Carolina, and the captain
and crew, with the exception of sixteen persons who had previously landed,
were lost. Of the few survivors, some remained in the English settlements,
some died in Spanish pi-isons ; and of the three thousand men that at different
periods Avent out to the settlement, perhaps not above twenty ever regained their
native land.

In this melancholy manner terminated the only attempt at colonization ever
made by Scotland. That it was an attempt far beyond the means of the nation,
must be admitted. The conception, however, was splendid, the promise great,
and erei*y way worthy of the experiment ; and but for the jealousy of the Eng-
lish and the Dutch, more particularly the former, might possibly have succeeded.
The settlers, indeed, were not well selected ; tl>e principles attempted to be act-
ed on, were theoretic, and too refined for the elements upon which they were
to operate ; and, above all, the council were men of feeble minds, utterly un-
qualified to act in a situation of such difficulty as that in which they came to be
placed. Had the wants of the Scottish settlers been supplied by the English
colonies, which they could very well have been, even with advantage to the
colonies, the first and most fatal disunion, and abandonment of their station,
could not have happened; and had they been acknowledged by their sovereign,
the attack made upon them by the Spaniards, which put an end to the colony,
would never have been made. Time would have smoothed down the asperities
among the settlers themselves ; experience would have corrected their errors in
legislation ; and New Caledonia, which remains to this day a Avildemess, might
have become the emporium of half the commei'ce of the world.

Mr Paterson, not disheartened by the failure of his Darien project, instead of
repining, revived the scheme in a form that he supposed might be less startling-,
and which might induce England, Avhose hostility had hitherto thwarted all
his measures, to become the principals in the undertaking, reserving only one-
fifth part for Scotland. The controversy between the nations, however, was
now running too high, and the ill blood of both was too hot to admit of any
thing of the kind being listened to.

Mr Paterson, though he was pitied, and must have been respected, M-as almost
entirely neglected, and died at an advanced age in poor circumstances. After
the Union, he claimed upon the Equivalent Money for the losses he had sustained
at Darien, and none of the proprietors certainly had a fairer claim. But he
never received one farthing. Had*Paterson's scheme succeeded, and it was
no fault of his that it did not, his name had unquestionably been enrolled
among the most illustrious benefactors of his species ; and if we examine his
character in the light of true philosophy, we shall find it greatly heightened
by his failure. Though defrauded of the honour due to him in the forma-
tion of the Bank of England, by persons, as has been well said, " as inferior
to him in genius, as they were in generosity," we never hear from him a
single murmur. When disappointed or defeated, he did not give way to de-

120 SAINT PATRICE:.

spair, but set himself coolly and calmly to another and still greater under-
taking', for which he had no guarantee for the gratitude of mankind, more than
for the former. When this, too, failed, through the injustice of those who ought
to have been his protectors, and the imbecility of those whom he ought to have
commanded, he never seems for a moment to have thought of abating his morti-
fications, or of vindicating his fame by recrimination, though he might, with
the utmost truth and justice, have recriminated upon every one with whom lie
had been connected. So far from this, however, he only sought to improve his
plan, and enable them to correct their errors ; and even when this, the last
and bitterest insult that can be offered to an ingenuous mind, was neglected, he
modestly retired to the vale of private life, and seems to have closed his days
almost, if not altogether, without a murmur at the ingratitude of mankind.
There is one part of his character which, in a man of so much genius, ought
not to pass unnoticed : " He was void of passion ; and he was one of the very
few of his countrymen who never drank wine."

PATRICK, Saint, the celebrated Apostle of Ireland, was bom near the town
of Dumbarton, in the west of Scotland, about the year 372 of the Christian ei-a.
His father, Avhose name was Calpurnius, was in a respectable station in life, be-
ing municipal magistrate in the town in which he lived. What town this was,
however, is not certainly known," whether Kilpatrick, a small village on the
Clyde, five miles east 4)f Dumbarton, Duntochar, another small village about a
mile north of Kilpatrick, or Dumbarton itself. One of the three, however, it is
presumed, it must have been, as it is described as being situated in the north-
west part of the Roman province ; but though various biographers of the saint
have assigned each of these towns by turns as his birthplace, conjecture has de-
cided in favour of Kilpatrick. His father is supposed, (for nearly all that is re-
corded of the holy man is conjectural, or at best but inferential,) to have come
to Scotland in a civil capacity with the Roman troops, under Theodosius. His
mother, whose name was Cenevessa, was sister or niece of St Martin, bishop of
Tours ; and from this circumstance, it is presumed that his family were Chris-
tians.

The original name of St Patrick was Succat or Succach, supposed to have
some relation to Succoth, the name at this day of an estate not far distant from
his birthplace, the property of the late Sir Hay Campbell. The name of
Patricius, or Patrick, was not assumed by the saint until he became invested
with the clerical character.

In his sixteenth year, up to which time he had remained with his father, he
was taken prisoner, along with his two sisters, on the occasion of an incursion
of the Irish, and carried over a captive to Ireland. Here he was reduced to a
state of slavery, in which he remained for six or seven years with Milcho, a
petty king in the northern part of that country. The particular locality is said
to be Skerry, in the county of Antrim. At the end of this period, he effected
his escape ; on which occasion, it is recorded, he had warning that a ship was
ready for him, although she lay at a distance of 200 miles, and in a part of the
country where he never liad been, and where he was unacquainted with any
one. On making his escape, he proceeded with the vessel to France, and re-
paired to his uncle at Toure, who made him a canon regular of his church. St
Patrick had alreafly entertained the idea of converting the Irish, a design which
first occun-ed to him during his slavery, and he now seriously and assiduously
prepared himself for this important duty. But so impressed was he with the
difficulty and importance of the undertaking, and the extent of the qualifications
necessary to fit him for its accomplishment, that he did not adventure on it, until
he had attained his sixtieth year, employing the whole of this long interval in

ALEXANDER PENNECUIK, M.D. 121

travelling from place to place, in quest of religious instruction and information.
During this period he studied, also, for some time, under St Germanus, bishop
of Gaul. By this ecclesiastic he was sent to Rome with recommendations to
pope Celestine, who conferred upon him ordination as a bishop, and furnished
him with instructions and authority to proceed to Ireland to convert its natives.
On this mission he set out in the year 432, about the time that a similar attempt
by Palladius had been made, and abandoned as hopeless. St Patrick was, on
this occasion, accompanied by a train of upwards of twenty persons, among
Avhom was Germanus. He sailed for Ireland from Wales, having come first to
Britain from France, and attempted to land at Wicklow, but being here opposed
by the natives, he proceeded along the coast, till he came to Ulster, where, meet-
ing with a more favourable reception, he and his followers disembarked. He
soon afterwards obtained a gift of some land, and founded a monastery and a
church at Downc, or Downpatrick. From this establishment, he gradually ex-
tended his ministry to other parts of Ireland, devoting an equal portion of time
to its three provinces, Ulster, Munster, and Connaught, in each of which he is
said to have resided seven years, making altogether a period of one and twenty.
During this time, he paid frequent visits to the Western Isles, with the view of
disseminating there the doctrines which he taught. Being now far advanced in
years, he resigned his ecclesiastical duties in Ireland, and returned to his native
country, where he died. The place, hoAvever, at which this event occurred,
tlie year in wliich it occurred, the age which he attained, and the original place
of his interment, have all been disputed, and ditlerently stated by diffex'ent
authors. The most probable account is, that he died and was buried at Kil-
patrick — this, indeed, appears all but certain from many circumstances, not the
least remarkably coiToborative of which is, the name of the place itself, which
signifies, the word being a Gaelic compound, the burial place of Patrick — that
lie died about the year 458 ; and that he was about eighty-six years of age when
this event took place.

PENNEGUIK, Alexander, M.D., author of a "Description of the County of
Tweeddalc," and of vai'ious poems, was born in 1652, being the eldest son of
Alexander Pennecuik of Newhall, county of Edinburgh ; who had served as a
surgeon, first to general Bannier in the Thirty Years' war, and afterwards in the
army sent by the Scots into England, in 1G44, in terms of the Solemn League
and Covenant. The latter individual sold, in 1647, the original property of
his family, to the ancestor of the Clerks, baronets, who have since possessed it,
and purchased, instead, the smaller adjacent estate of Newhall, to which he
afterwards added by marriage, that of Romanno in Peeblesshire. The subject
of the present memoir, after being educated to the medical profession and
travelling, as would appear, on the continent, settled at no advanced period of
life on these patrimonial estates, where for some years he devoted himself with
warm filial affection to the care of his aged parent. The elder gentleman died
at an advanced age, after having seen five kings of Scotland, and been contem-
poraneous with four revolutions in the state religion ; which would seem to
indicate that he survived the year 1692, the date of the last establishment of
presbytery. The subject of this memoir then acceded to the possession of New-
hall and Romanno, continuing, however, to practise as a physician, in whicli
profession he seems to have enjoyed a high reputation. Dr Pennecuik was
one of a small knot of Scottish gentlemen who cultivated letters and science at a
time of comparative darkness in this country, the latter end of the seventeenth
and beginning of the eighteenth centuries. His literary eftbrts were chiefly
confined to facetious poetry, for which he seems to have found models in Butler

122 WILLIAM PERRY.

and Dryden, and in the homely strains of the native muse. His poems refer
mostly to local characters and affairs, and are now only to be valued for the
vestiges of contemporary manners which are to be traced in them, but which are
not always remarkable for their good taste and purity. The presbytery meet-
ings of a moderate district, with their convivial accompaniments, occasionally
provoked the satire of his pen. The following are almost the only verses de-
serving to be remembered:-—

INSCniPTION FOE MY CLOSET.

Are not the ravens fed, great God, by thee?
And wilt thou clothe the lilies, and not me?
I'll ne'er distrust my God for clothes nor breid.
Whilst lilies fljurish, and the rave.i's fed.

Dr Pennecuik has less credit for his poetry than for his devotion to botanical
pursuits, as science was then even more rare than literature. For this study ho
enjoyed some advantages in the periiiatetic nature of his life as a country physi-
cian, and in a correspondence which he carried on with Mr James Sutherland,
the superintendent of the first botanic garden in Edinburgh. In 1715, he was
induced to give the result of his literary and scientific labours to the world, in
a small quarto volume, containing a description of Tweeddale, and his miscellaneous
poems; the botany of the county being a prominent department of the volume.
About a century afterwai'ds this production was reprinted by the late Mr Con-
stable. Dr Pennecuik is not only meritorious as himself a cultivator of letters,
but as an encourager of the same pursuits in others. He was one of the literary
gentlemen to whom Ramsay so frequently expresses his obligations, and not im-
probably communicated the incidents upon which that poet founded his " Gentle
Shepherd," the scene of which pastoral is, almost beyond question, the estate of
Newhall, which, however, through the extravagance of a son-in-law of Dr Penne-
cuik, had then passed into a different family. The subject of this memoir died
in 1722.

Another writer of Scottish verses, named Alexander Pennecuik, flourished in
the earlier part of the eighteenth century. He was a burgess of Edinburgh ; the
author of " Streams from Helicon," published in 1720, and "Flowers from Par-
nassus," in 1726. He wrote also an historical account of " The Blue Blanket,
or Craftsman's Banner ;" and shortly before his death, commenced a periodical,
under the title of "Entertainment for the Curious." la his verses he imitated
Allan Ramsay. Several of his poems display considerable talent for humour.
His life was dissipated, and his death miserable.

PERRY, William, an eminent journalist, was born in Aberdeen, on the 30th
of October, 1756. He received the rudiments of his education at the school
of .Garioch, and was afterwards removed to the high school of Aberdeen.
Having gone through the usual course of learning at this seminary, with much
credit to himself and satisfaction to his tcachei-s, he entered Marischal college
in 1771, and was afterwards, on completing his curriculum at the university,
placed under Dr Arthur Dingwall Fordyce, to qualify him for the profession of
the law, a profession to which ho originally intended to devote himself. The
misfortunes of his father, however, who was an eminent house-builder in Aber-
deen, and who had about this period entered into some ruinous speculations,
compelled him suddenly to abandon his legal studies, and to resign all idea of
adopting the law as a profession. In these unfortunate circumstances, young
Perry went to Edinburgh, in 1774, with the humble hope of procuring em-

WILLIAM PERRY. 123

ployment as a clerk in some writer's chambers. Even this, hoHOTer, he could
not obtain ; and, after hanging about the city for many Aveeks, making daily,
but ineffectual efforts to get into a way of earning a subsistence, he came to
the resolution of trying his fortune in England. With this view, he proceeded
to Manchester, where he succeeded in obtaining a situation in the counting-
house of a 3Ir Dinwiddle, a respectable manufacturer, in which he remained
for two years. During his stay in 3Ianchester, JMr Perry, who was yet only
in the nineteenth year of his age, attracted the notice, and procured the friend-
ship and patronage, of several of the principal gentlemen in the town, by the
singular talents he displayed in a debating society, which they had eslablished
for the discussion of moral and philosophical subjects. This favourable opinion
of the youthful orator's abilities was still further increased, by his producing
several literary essays of gi-eat merit. ♦

Encouraged by this success, Mr Perry determined to seek a wider field for
the exercise of his talents ; and with this view set out for London, in the be-
ginning of the year 1777, carrying with him a number of letters of introduc-
tion and recommendations from his friends in 3Ianchester to influential in-
dividuals in the metropolis. For some time, however, these were unavail-
ing. He could find no employment ; and he seemed as hopelessly situated now
in the English, as he had been in the Scottish capital two years before. But
the occurrence of a circumstance, not uninteresting in the memoirs of a literary
man, who fought his way to fame and fortune by the mere force of his talents,
at length procured him at once the employment which he sought, and placed
him on the path to that eminence which he afterwards attained.

While waiting in London for some situation presenting itself, Mr Perry
amused himself by writing fugitive verses and short essays for a journal, called
the " General Advertiser." These he dropped into the letter-box of that paper,
as the casual contributions of an anonymous correspondent, and they were of such
merit as to procure immediate insertion. It happened that one of the parties
to whom he had a letter of recommendation, namely, Messrs Richardson and
Urquhart, were part proprietors of the Advertiser, and on these gentlemen Mv
Perry was in the habit of calling daily, to inquire Avhether any situation had yet
offered for him. On entering their shop one day to make the usual inquiry,
Mr Perry found Mr Urquhart earnestly engaged in reading an article in
the Advertiser, and evidently with great satisfaction. When he had finished,
the former put the now almost hopeless question. Whether any situation had
yet presented itself? and it was answered in the usual negative ; " but,'*
added Mr L'rquhart, " if you could write such articles as this," pointing to that
which he had just been reading, " you would find immediate employment." Mr
Perry glanced at the article which had so strongly attracted the attention of his
friend, and discovered that it Avas one of his own. He instantly communicated
the information to Mr Urquhart ; and at the same time pulled from his pocket
another article in manuscript, which he had intended to put into the box,
IS usual, before returning home. Pleased with the discovei*y, Mr Urquhart
immediately said tl]at he would propose him as a stipendiary writer for the
paper, at a meeting of the proprietors, which was to take place that very even-
ing. The result was, that on the next day he was employed at the rate of a
guinea a-week, with an additional half guinea for assistance to the " London
£vening Post," printed by the same person.

On receiving these appointments, Mr Perry devoted himself writh great assi-
duity to the discharge of their duties, and made efforts before unknown in the
newspaper establisluiients of London. On the memorable trials of admirals
Keppel and Palliser, he, by his own individual exertions, transmitted daily

124: JOHN PINKERTON.

from Portsmouth eight cohimns of a report of proceedings taken in court, an
achievement which had the effect of adding several thousands to the daily im-
pression of the paper. Even while thus laboriously engaged, Mr Perry wrote
and published several political pamphlets and poems on the leading topics of
the day, all possessed of much merit, though of only transient interest.

In 1782, Mr Perry commenced a periodical publication, entitled "The
European Magazine." This work, which was on a plan then new, comprising
a miscellany on popular subjects and reviews of new books, appeared monthly,
and from the ability with which it was conducted, added greatly to the reputa-
tion and popularity of its editor. Having conducted this journal for twelve
months, Mr Perry was, at the end of that period, chosen by the proprietors of
the Gazetteer to be editor of that paper, in which shares were held by some of
the principal booksellers in London, at a salary of four guineas per week ; but
under an express condition, made by himself, that he should be in no way
constrained in his political opinions and sentiments, which were those of Mr Fox,
of whom he was a devoted admirer. While acting as editor of the Gazetteer,
Mr Perry effected a great improvement in the reporting department, by em-
ploying a series of reporters who should relieve each other by turns, and thus
supply a constant and uninterrupted succession of matter. By this means ho
was enabled to give in the morning all the debates which had taken place on
the preceding night, a point on which his predecessor in the editorship of the
Gazetteer had frequently been in arrears for months, and in every case for
several weeks.

One of Mr Perry's favourite recreations was that of attending and taking
part in the discussions of debating societies. In these humble, but not
inefficient schools of oratory, he always took a warm and active interest, and
himself acquired a habit of speaking with singular fluency and force ; a talent
which procured him the notice of Pitt, who, then a very young man, was in the
practice of frequenting a society in which Mr Perry was a very frequent speaker,
and who is said to have been so, impressed with his abilities as an orator, as to
have had an offer of a seat in parliament conveyed to him, after he had himself
attained the dignity of chancellor of the exchequer. A similar offer was after-
wards made to Mr Perry by lord Shelburne; but his political principles, from
which no temptation could divert him, prevented his accepting either of these
flattering propositions.

3Ir Perry edited for several years Debrett's Parliamentary Debates, and af-
terwards, in conjunction with a Mr Gray, bought the Morning Chronicle from
Mr Woodfall, a paper which he continued to conduct with great ability and in-
dependence of spirit and principle till his death, which took place at Brighton,
after a painful and protracted illness, on the Gth December, 1821, in the sixty-
fifth year of his age.

PINKERTON, John-, a voluminous historian and critic, was born at Edinburgh
on the 17th February, 1758.' He was the youngest of three sons of James
Pinkerton, who had, in Somersetshire, acquired an independence as a dealer in
hair, and returned to his native country, Scotland, where he married a widow
whose maiden name was Heron. The opening of young Pinkerton's intellect,
fell to the charge of an old woman acting as schoolmistress of a village
near Edinburgh, and he was afterwards removed to the grammar school of
Lanark. At school he is said to have shown, in apathy and abstinence from the
usual boyish gratifications, the acidity of disposition for which he was afterwards
more particularly distinguished. Hypochondria, inherited from his father, is
believed to have been the primary cause of the characteristic. He is said to
' Nichols' Lit. Illustrations, v. 666.

JOHN PINKERTON. 125

have publicly distinguished himself at school by his early classical acquii-einents,
having, as an exercise, translated a portion of Livy, which his preceptor, on a
comparison, decided to be superior to the same passage as translated in Hooker's
Roman History. After having remained at school for six years, he returned to
Edinburgh. The dislike of his father to a university education seems to have
for some time after this period subjected him to a sort of half literary imprison-
ment, in which, by alternate fits, he devoted his whole time to French, the clas-
sics, and mathematics. Intended for the legal profession, he was ajiprenticed to
3Ir Aytoun, an eminent writer to the signet, under whose direction he remained
for the usual period of five years. Apparently during his apprenticeship, in
1776, he published an " Ode to Craigmillar Castle," dedicated to Dr Beattie.
The professor seems to have given the young poet as little encouragement as a
dedicatee could in politeness restrict himself to. " There are many good lines,"
he says, " in your poem ; but when you have kept it by ycu a week or two, I
fancy you will not think it correct enough as yet to appear in public."^ But
Pinkerton had a mind too roughly cast for poetry, and it was only when his
imitations were mistaken for the rudeness of antiquity that his verses were at all
admired. After 1780, when his father died, he visited London, and having
previously contracted a slight bibliomania, the extent and variety of the book-
sellers' catalogues are said to have proved a motive for his taking up his residence
in the metropolis as a literary man, and eschewing Scotch law. In 1781, he
published in octavo some trifles, which it pleased him in his independence of or-
thography to term " Rimes." This work contained a second part to Hardy-
knute, which he represented as " now first published complete." If Pinker-
ton thought that his imposition was to get currency by being added to a ballad
really ancient, the circumstance would show the extreme ignorance of the period
as to the literatui-e of our ancestors ; for it is now needless to remark how un-
like this composition is to the genuine productions of the elder muse. The
imposition in this case was not entirely successful. " I read over again,"
says 3Ir Porden the architect, " the second part of Hardyknute ; and I
must inform you that I have made up my mind with respect to the author of it
I know not whether you will value a compliment paid to your genius at the
expense of your imitative art, but certainly that genius sheds a splendour on some
passages which betrays you."^ In 1782 appeared a second edition of the
" Rimes," and at the same time he published two separate volumes of poetry
which have dropped into oblivion. In the ensuing year he published in two
volumes his " Select Scottish Ballads," a work rather more esteemed. At this
period he turned the current of his laborious intellect to numismatics. Early
in life a latent passion for the collection of antiquities had been accidentally (as
is generally the case with antiquaries,) called into action. He drew up a manual
and table of coins for his own use, which afterwards expanded itself into the
celebrated " Essay on Bledals," published in two volumes, 8vo, in 1784; and
published a third time in 180S. These volumes form a manual which is con-
tinually in the hands of numismatists. In 1785, he published, under the as-
sumed name of Robert Heron, a work termed " Letters of Literature ;" the sin-
gularity of this woi'k suggests that its author was guilty of affecting strangeness,
for the purpose of attracting notice. Among the most prominent subjects, was
a ne»v system of orthography, or, more properly, of grammar, which, by various
transmutations, such as classical terminations, (e. g. the use of a instead of « in
forming plurals,) was to reduce the hax'shness of the Englisli language. The at-
tempt on the public sense was not in all respects efiective, but the odium
occasioned very natui-ally fell on poor Robert Heron, who was just then strug-
spinkerton's Correspondence, i. 2. 3 Pinkerton's Corre=icndence i. 25.

126 JOHN PINKERTON.

gling into being as a literary man. The work, however, procured to Pinkerton aa
introduction to Horace Walpole, who made him acquainted with Gibbon. TI19
proud spirit of that great historian seems to have found something congenial in
the restless and acrid Pinkerton. He recommended him to the booksellers
as a person fit to translate tha " English Monkish Historians." In an address
which Gibbon had intended to prefix to the work, his protege was almost extra-
vagantly lauded : but the plan as then designed was never put in practice. Tlie
friendsliip of Walpole continued till his death ; and, light and versatile in his
own acquirements, he seems to have looked on the dogged perseverance, and
continually accumulating knowledge of Pinkerton with some respect. After
Walpole 's death, Pinkerton sold a collection of his " Ana" to the proprietors
of the Monthly Magazine, and they were afterwards published under the title
" Walpoliana." In 1786, Pinkerton published " Ancient Scottish Poems,
never before in print, but now published from the manuscript collections of Sir
Richard Maitland of Lethington, Knight, Lord Privy Seal of Scotland ; com-
prising pieces written from about 1420 till 1586 : with large Notes and a Glos-
sary." Pinkerton maintained that he had found the manuscript in the Pepysian
library at Cambridge, and in his correspondence he sometimes alludes to the
circumstances with very admirable coolness. The forgery was one of the most
audacious recorded in the annals of transcribing. Time, place, and circum-
stances were all minutely stated — there was no mystery. Among Pinkerton's
opinions as to character, that of literary impostor was of the most degraded or-
der. The whole force of his nature and power over the language were era-
ployed to describe his loathing and contempt. On Macpherson, who execute:!
the task with more genius, but certainly much less historical knowledge than
himself, he poured the choice of his denunciations. In 1787, he published
** The Treasury of Wit ; being a Methodical Selection of about Twelve Hundred
of the best Apothegms and Jests, from books in several languages." This work
is not one of those which may be presumed to have been consonant with Pink-
erton's pursuits, and it probably owed its existence to a favourable engagement
with a bookseller; but even in a book of anecdotes this author could not with-
stand the desire of being distinct from other men, and took the opportunity of
making four divisions of wit and humour, viz., " serious wit, comic wit ; serious
humour, and comic humour." During the same year, he produced " A Disserta-
tion on the Origin and Progress of the Scythians or Goths, being an Introduc-
tion to the Ancient and Modern History of Europe." In the compilation of this
small treatise, he boasts of having employed himself eight hours per day for one
year in the examination of classical authors : the period occupied in consulting
those of the Gothic period, which he found to bo " a mass of superfluity and
error," he does not venture to limit This production was suggested by his
reading for his celebrated account of the early " History of Scotland," and was
devised for the laudable purpose of proving that the Celtic race was more de-
graded than the Gothic, as a preparatory position to the ai'guments maintained
in that work. He accordingly shows the Greeks to have been a Gothic race, in
as far as they were descended from the Pelasgi, who were Scythians or Goths
— a theory which, by the way, in the secondary application, lias received the
sanction of late etymologists and ethnologists of eminence — and, by a similar
progress, he showed the Gothic origin of the Romans. Distinct from the general
account of the progress of the Goths, which is certainly full of information and
acutencss, he had a particular object to gain, in fixing on an island formed by
the influx of the Danube in the Euxine sea, fortunately termed by the ancient
geo<n^phers " Peuke," and inhabited by Peukini. From this little island, of
the importance of which he produces many highly respectable certificates, he

JOHN PINKEETON. 12/

brings the Peukiiii along the Danube, whence, passing to the Baltic, they after-
wards appear in Scotland ns the Plots or Pechts. At this period Pinkerton
appears to have been an unsuccessful candidate for a situation in the British
museum. Horace Walpole says to hiui in a letter of the iTth February, 1788,
" I wrote a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, soliciting his interest for you, should
there be a vacancy at the museum. He answers, (and I will show you his an-
swer when I see you,) that he is positively engaged to 3Ir Thorkelin, should
Mr Planta resign ; but that, the chancellor having refused to sign the permission
for the latter, who will not go abroad without that indulgence, no vacancy is
likely to happen from that event"' In 1789, he edited from early Morks,
printed and manuscript, " Vitae AntiquaB Sanctorum Scotorura." This work,
of which only one hundred copies were printed, is now scarce and expensive ;
but at its appearance it seems to have met little encouragement from the author's
countrymen. " Mr Cardonnel,'' he says in a letter to the earl of Buchan,
" some months since informed me that, upon calling at Creech's shop, he learned
there were about a dozen subscribers to the * Fita Sanctorum Scotics.^ Upon
desiring my factor, Mv Buchan, since to call on Mr Creech, and learn the names,
Creech informed him * there were about two or three; and the subscription
paper was lost, so he could not tell the names.'" During the same year,
Pinkerton published his edition of " Barbour's Bruce." Although the most
correct edition up to the pei'iod of Dr Jamieson's publication, it was far from
accurate, and gave the editor ample opportunity of vituperating those friends
who incautiously undertook to point out its mistakes. In 1790, appeared
" The Medallic History of England to the Revolution," in 4to, with forty plates ;
and, at the same time, the " Inquiry into the History of Scotland, preceding the
reign of Malcolm III,, or 1056 : including the authentic history of that period."
This work contained a sort of concentration of all his peculiarities. It may be
said to have been the first work which thoroughly sifted the great " Pictish ques-
tion ;" the question Avhether the Picts Avere Goths or Celts. In pui-suance of his
line of argument in the progress of the Goths, he takes up the latter position ;
and in the minds of those who have no opinions of their own, and have con-
sulted no other authorities, by means of his confidence and his hard terms, he may
be said to have taken the point by storm. But he went farther in his proofs.
It was an undoubted fact that the Scots were Celts, and all old authorities bore
that the Scots had subdued the Picts. This was something which Pinkerton could
not patiently contemplate ; but he found no readier means of overcoming it than
by proving that the Picts conquered the Scots ; a doctrine founded chiefly on
the natural falsehood of the Celtic race, which pi-ompted a man of sense, when-
ever he heard anything asserted by a Celt, to believe that the converse was the
truth. He amused himself with picking out terms of vituperation for the IMac-
phersons ; " of the doctor," he said, " his etymological nonsense he assists with
gross falsehoods, and pretends to skill in the Celtic without quoting a single
BIS. ; in short he deals wholly in assertion and opinion ; and it is clear that he
had not even an idea what learning and science are :""' of the translator he not
less politely observes, " He seems resolved to set every law of common science
and common understanding at defiance."®

His numberless observations on the Celts, are thus pithily brought to a focus :
" Being mere savages, but one degree above brutes, they remain still in much
the same state of society as in the days of Julius Caesar ; and he who travels
among the Scottish Highlanders, the old Welch, or wild Irish, may see at once
the ancient and modern state of women among the Celts, when he beholds these
savages stretched in their huts, and their poor women toiling like beasts of bur-
* Correspondence, i. 180. lb., 177. » Inquiry, Introd, 63. c ib., 64.

128 DR. ARCHIBALD PITCAIRNE.

den for their unmanly husbands."^ And he thus draws up a comparison betwixt
these unfortunates and his favourite Goths. ** The Lowlanders are acute, in-
dustrious, sensible, erect, free : the Highlanders, indolent, slavish, strangers to
industry. The former, in short, have every attribute of a civilized people : the
latter are absolute savages ; and, like Indians and negroes, avIU ever continue
to * * * * All we can do is to plant colonies among them, and, by
this and encouraging their emigration, try to get rid of the breed. "^ Pinker-
ton proved, indeed, a sore visitation to the Celts. Moderate men had no ob-
jections to a conflict which might, at least, bring amusement, and might serve
to humble the pride, by displaying the ignorance of a people, who seemed to
tike an unfortunate pride in the continuance of barbarism. Few took their
side ; and Pinkerton had many triumphs over their native champions, in the
recurrence of that ignorance of their own history, which he maintained to be
their characteristic. His knowledge of history effectually foiled any claim pui
in for Celtic merit He would call on the company to name a Celt of eminence.
" If one mentioned Burke," observes a late writer : " What," said he, " a de-
scendant of De Bourg? Class that high Norraan chivalry with the rif-raf of O's
and Blac's? Show me a gi-eat 0', and I am done." He delighted to prove
that the Scottish Highlanders had never had but a few great captains, such as
Montrose, Dundee, the first duke of Argyle, — and these were all Goths, — the
two first Lowlanders ; the last a Norman, a De Campo BelloJ'^^

In 1792, Pinkerton edited "Scottish Poems, reprinted from scarce edi-
tions," in three volumes octavo. In 1796, appeared his "History of Scot-
land, during the Reign of the Stuarts," in two volumes quarto, one of the
most unexceptionable of his historical works, and still the most laboured and
accurate complete history of the period. In 1798, he married Miss Burgess of
Odihara, Hants, sister to Thomas, bishop of Salisbury, The union was un-
happy, and the parties separated. In 1795 and 1797, he bestowed some pains
in preparing lives of Scotsmen, for the *' Iconographia Scotica," two volumes
octavo ; but the information in the work is very meagre, and the plates
are wretchedly engraved. In 1 802, he published, in two volumes quarto,
" Modern Geography, digested on a new Plan ;" a work somewhat hastily got
up, and deficient in some of its parts, but still one of the most compendious and
useful geographical works of the period. A second edition was published in
1806, in three volumes, and an abridgment, in one octavo, is well known. At
the commencement of the century, he visited Paris; and, in 1806, published
"Recollections of Paris in the Years 1802-3-4 and 6," two volumes octavo.
For some years after this period, he found employment in editing " A General
Collection of Voyages and Travels," extending to nineteen volumes quarto, and
a ** New Modern Atlas," in parts. For a short period, he also edited the
" Critical Review." His last work was on a subject foreign to his previous
studies, but which appears from his correspondence to have occupied much of
his attention during his old age : it was entitled, " Petralogy, or a Treatise on
Rocks," two volumes octavo, 1811. In his latter yeai-s, he resided in Paris,
wliere he died, in indigent circumstances, on the 10th March, 1825, at the age
of sixty-seven. He is described to have been " a very little and very thin
old man, with a very small, shai-p, yellow face, thickly pitted by the smallpox,
and decked with a pair of green spectacles."'"

PITCAIRNE, (Db) Archib.ild, an eminent physician of the seventeenth century,

was born at Edinburgh on the 25th December, 1652. His father, who was

descended of an ancient family in Fife, was an eminent merchant, and one of

the magistrates of the city. His mother, whose name was Sydserf, was a niem-

» lb. i. 268. 8 lb, i. 340, » Nichols' lUustralions, v. 669. " lb, 671.

DR. ARCHIBALD PITCAIRNE. 129

ber of a highly respectable family ia East Lothian. Dr Piteairne received the
earlier part of his education at Dalkeith. He was afterwards removed to the
university of Edinburgh, where he made great progress in classical learning,
and completed a regulai? course of philosophy. His subsequent education ranged
over the extensive field of the three professions pre-eminently styled learned.
At the request of his friends, who were desirous that he should devote himself
to the church, he first entered on the study of theology, but finding neither this
study, nor the profession to which it led, at all suitable to his temper, disposition,
or habits, he abandoned it, and turned his attention to law.

lo this pursuit, which he found more congenial than the other, and in which
he became fired with an ambition to excel, he devoted himself Avith an ardour
and intensity of application, that induced symptoms of approaching consump-
tion. To arrest the progress of this malady, he was advised by his physicians
to repair to the south of France for the benefit of the milder climate of that
country. By the time, however, that Mr Piteairne reached Paris he found him-
self so much better, that he determined on remaining in that city, and resum-
ing his legal studies there ; but having formed an acquaintance, while in the
French capital, with some agreeable young men from Scotland, who were en-
gaged in the study of medicine, he Avas prevailed upon by them to abandon the
law, and to join in their pursuits. To these he applied accordingly for several
months, when he was recalled to Edinburgh by his father. This was now the
third profession which he had begun, and the indecision of his conduct with
regard to a permanent choice, naturally gave much uneasiness to his friends,
but this was allayed by his finally declaring for physic, and applying himself
with extraordinary diligence to the study of botany, pharmacy, and materia
medica. He afterwards went a second time to Paris to complete his studies,
and on that occasion acquired an entire and profound knowledge of medicine.
Thus prepared he returned to his native city, where he practised with singular
success till the year 1692, when his great reputation, which was now diffused
throughout Europe, and which had been not a little increased by his able
treatise regarding Hervey's discovery of the circulation of the blood, entitled,
" Solutio problemati de inventoribus," procured him an invitation from Leyden
to accept of the professorship of physic in the celebrated university of that city,
and so sensible were those who had the nomination of this appointment, of the
merits of Dr Piteairne, and of the value of his services, that the invitation was
accompanied by the offer of a much larger salary than had been usually at-
tached to the office. Dr Piteairne accepted the invitation, but remained in
Leyden only twelvemonths. At the end of that period he came over to Edin.
burgh to maiTy a daughter of Sir Archibald Stevenson, an eminent physician
in the latter city, to Avhom he had been betrothed before leaving Scotland, and
whom it was his intention to carry along with him to Leyden ; but the lady's
friends objected to her going abroad, and Dr Piteairne so far yielded to these
objections, as to resign his professorship, and reconcile himself to the resump-
tion of his practice as a physician in his native city. Nor had he any reason
to regret the change thus in a manner forced upon him, for he soon found him-
self in possession of a most extensive and lucrative business. During the short
time he was at Leyden, Dr Piteairne chose the texts of his medical lectures from
the writings of Bellini, who, in return for this flattering compliment, dedicated
to the doctor his " Opuscula."

Dr Pitcairne's reputation for skill in his profession now daily ina-eased. He
was consulted by patients in distant parts of Scotland, and frequently from
England and Wales, and was altogether looked upon as the most eminent phy-
Birian of his time. Nor was his fame as a scholar behind that which he enjoy-

i30 JOHN PIAYFAIR.

^

ed as a medical practitioner. His ** Solutio problemati," &c., published soon
after he had first commenced business in Edinburgh, had gained him mucli
reputation as a learned man, as well as a skilful physician, and he still more
strongly established his claims to the former character by a 4to work, entitled,
" Archibald! Pitcarnii Dissertationes Medicae," which was published at Rotter-
dam in 1701, and dedicated to his friend Bellini. Dr Pitcairne also wrote Latin
poetry with very considerable elegance and taste, although Wodrow, in his
Analecta, speaks of him in this capacity, as only " a sort of a poet." But he
was something more than this, and had not the subjects of his muse unfortu-
nately been all of but transitory interest, and therefore now nearly wholly un-
intelligible, his fame as a Latin poet would have been very far from contempt-
ible. Some of these poems were published in 1727, by Ruddiman, in order to
meet a charge which had been made upon Scotland, that it was deficient in this
department of literature.

Dr Pitcaime's chief work was published in 1718, under the title of "Elementa
Medicinse Pbysico-Mathematica," consisting of his lectures at Leyden. He was
considered to be the first physician of his time. His library is said to have been
one of the best private collections of that time ; it was purchased, after his
death, by the Czar of Russia. In addition to his Latin verses, he was the author
of a comedy called " The Assembly," which is a sarcastic and profane produc-
tion; also, "Babell, or the Assembly, a poem, 1692," both being intended to
turn the proceedings of the General Assembly into ridicule. Dr Pitcairne
was a Jacobite, and an Episcopalian ; and his talent for satire was often directed
against the Presbyterians, who accused him of being an atheist, and a scoffer
and reviler of religion. Wodrow even goes the length of retaliating upon him
by a serious charge as to his temperance. An atheistical pamphlet published
in 1688, entitled, " Epistola Archimedis ad regem Gelonera Alba9 Grajcse,
reperta anno verx Christianje," was ascribed to Pitcairne ; and when the Rev.
Thomas Haly burton entered upon the office of professor of divinity in the uni-
versity of St Andrews, in 1710, his inaugural discoui'se was a refutation of the
arguments of this performance, and was published in 1714, under the title of
"Natural Religion Insufficient, and Revealed Necessary to Man's Happiness."
His verses wi-itten on Christmas Day have been referred to as a proof of Dr
Pitcaime's orthodoxy, on which he had himself thrown a doubt, by his profane
jesting and his habitual scoffing at religious men ; and it is added, on the autho-
rity of Dr Drnmmond, that, during his last illness, he evinced just apprehensions
of God and religion, and experienced the tranquillity of mind which can arise
from no other source. As a man of science, he was far in advance of the age
in w^hich he lived ; and the zeal with which he propagated Hervey's beautiful
discovery of the circulation of the blood, is a proof of liberality of feeling which
was by no means common at that period among medical men, by whom the
doctrine of the circulation was long treated as a heresy in science, and its dis-
coverer nearly persecuted out of the profession. That his disposition was gene-
rous and friendly in a remarkable degree, is beyond doubt, and the reader may
finda striking instance of it in the life of Ruddiman.

Dr Pitcairne died in Edinburgh on the 20th of October, 1713, in the 6l8t
year of his age, and was interred in the Greyfriars' church-yard.

PLAYFAIR, JoiiN, an eminent natural philosopher and mathematician, was
the eldest son of James Playfair, minister of Benvie, in Forfarshire, where he
was born on the 10th of March, 1748. lie was educated at home until he
reached the age of fourteen, when he was sent to the university of St Andrews,
where it was intended that he should study for the Scottish church. The pre-
cocity of talent exhibited by great men, generally so ill authenticated, has been

JOHN PLAYFAIR. 131

strikingly rouched by two remarkable circumstances in the early history of
Playfair. While a student at St Andrews, professor Wilkie, the author of the
" Epigoniad," when in bad health, selected him to deliver lectures on natural
philosophy to the class; and in the year 176G,when only eighteen years, of
age, he felt himself qualified to compete as a candidate for the chair of mathe-
matics in the 3Iarisclial college of Aberdeen. In this, his confidence in his
powers was justified by the event. Of six candidates, two only excelled him,
— Dr Trail, who was appointed to tlie chair, and Dr Hamilton^ who afterwards
succeeded to it.^

In 1769, having finished his courses at the university, Mr Playfair lived for
some time in Edinburgh, in the enjoyment of the very select literai-y society of
the period- " It would appear," says his biographer,^ " from letters published
in the 'Life of the late Principal Hill,' that, during this time, Mr Playfair had
twice hopes of obtaining a permanent situation. The nature of the first, which
ofiered itself in 1769, is not there specified, and is not known to any of his own
family; the second, was the professorship of natural philosophy in the univereity
of St Andrews, vacant by the death of liis friend Dr Wilkie, which took place
in 1772. In this, which he earnestly desired, and for which he was eminently
qualified, he was disappointed." During the same year, his father died, and the
care of his mother, and of the education of his father's young family, rendered
the acquisition of some permanent means of livelihood more anxiously desirable.
He was immediately nominated by lord Gray to his father's livings of Liff and
Benvie ; but the right of presentation being disputed, he \vas unable to enter
on possession, until August, 1773. From that period, his time was occupied in
attending to the duties of his charge, superintending the education of his
brothers, and prosecuting his philosophical studies. In 1774, he made an ex-
cursion to Perthshire, to witness the experiments of Dr Maskelyne, the astrono-
mer royal, to illustrate the principles of gravitation, from the efiect of moun-
tains in disturbing the plumb line. A peiTnanent friendship was at that time
formed between the two philosophers. " I met," says Playfair, in his Journal
of a visit to London in 1782, " with a very cordial reception from him (Ur
IMaskelyne), and found that an acquaintance contracted among wilds and
mountains is much more likely to be durable than one made up in the bustle of
a great city : nor would I, by living in London for many years, have become so
well acquainted with this astronomer, as I did by partaking of his hardships
and labours on Schehallien for a few days."

In 1779, Playfair's first scientific effort was given to the public, in "An
Essay on the Arithmetic of Impossible Quantities," published in the sixty-eighth
volume of the Philosophical Ti-ansactions. In 1782, an advantageous offer
prompted him to give up his living, and become tutor to Mr Ferguson of Eaith
and his brother Sir Ronald Ferguson. It was at this period that he paid the
visit to London in which he met Dr Maskelyne. By that gentleman he was
introduced to some literary men, and to institutions of literary or philosophical
interest Some of these roused the calm enthusiasm for philosophical greatness
which was one of the principal features of his character. " This," he
says, " was the first time that I had seen the Observatory of Greenwich, and I
entered with profound reverence into that temple of science, where Flarastead,
and Halley, and Bradley, devoted their days and their nights to the contem-
plation of the Heavens. The shades of these ancient sages seemed still to

1 Vide Life of Robert Hamilton in this collection.

8 His nephew, by whom a Life of Mr Plajfair was prtfixed to an edition of his works,
published in 182^

132 JOHN PLAYFAIR,

hover round their former tnansions, inspiring their worthy successor with the
love of wisdom, and pointing out the road to immortality."

From his thirst after knowledge being untainted by political or local preju-
dices, Playfair had early turned himself to tho important discoveries of the
continental algebraists, and was the first man of eminence to introduce them to
British notice. He perceived the prejudices entertained on the subject in Eng-
land, and probably the discovery sharpened his appetite for a subject which he
found was almost untouched. Speaking of Dr Maskelyne, he says, " Ke is
much attached to the study of geometry, and I am not sure that he is very deep-
ly versed in the late discoveries of the foreign algebraists. Indeed, this seems
to be somewhat the case with all the English mathematicians : they despise their
brethren on the continent, and think that everything great in science must be
for ever confined to the country that produced Sir Isaac Newton." In the works
of an eminent natural philosopher one may search long before he will find any-
thing which shows in explicit terms the exact discipline of mind or system of
reasoning, by which he has made it to happen that all he has said, has so much
the appearance of being truth ; but a petty remark, disconnected with the ordi-
nary pursuits of the philosopher, may often strikingly illustrate the operation of
his mind, and the means by which he has disciplined himself to approach as
near as possible to truth ; and, such a passage occurring in this short diary, we
beg to insert it. " An anecdote of some Indians was told, that struck me very
much, as holding up but too exact a picture of many of our theories and rea-
sonings from analogy. Some American savages having experienced the eftecls
of gunpowder, and having also accidentally become masters of a small quantity
of it, set themselves to examine it, with a design of finding out what was its
nature, and how it was to be procured. The oldest and wisest of the tribe,
after considering it attentively, pronounced it to be a seed. A piece of ground
was accordingly prepared for it, and it was sown in the fullest confidence that
a great crop of it w.ns to be produced. We smile at the mistake of tlicse In-
dians, and we do not consider, that, for the extent of their experience, they
reasoned well, and drew as logical a conclusion as many of the philosophers of
Europe. Whenever we reason only from analogy and resemblance, and when-
over we attempt to measure the nature of things by our conceptions, we are
precisely in the situation of these poor Americans." In this Playfair exempli-
fied the propensity to reason from certiin qualities perceived to be identical,
when it is not known but that other qualities not perceived, may be at variance.
The wise American saw colour and form like those of a seed, and from these he
drew his conclusion. Had he been a botanist, he would have discovered that
the grain consisted of saltpetre and charcoal, instead of kernel ; and, whatever
else he could have made of it, he would have quickly perceived that it was not
a seed. In connexion with this it is to be held in mind, that Playfair was es-
sentially a reasoner, and that lie was more celebrated for separating the true
from the false in the writings of others, or for establishing and applying truths
accidentally stumbled upon by others, than for extensive discoveries of his
own.

In 1785, Dr Adam Ferguson exchanged the moral chair in the university for
that of mathematics, taught by professor Dugald Stewart, and, being in bad
health, chose Playfair as his assistant. He continued, however, to attend his
two pupils until 1787, when he took up his residence with his mother, who had
for some time lived in Edinburgh. He now commenced a series of papers
which appeared in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The
first of these was the life of Dr IMatthew Stewart, the late professor of mathe-

JOHN PLAYFAIR. 133

matics in the university of Edinburgh ; a paper -written in his usual flowing, sim-
ple, and expressive style. A second uas a paper on the causes which aftect the
accuracy of Barometrical 3Ieasurement3. A third was Remarks on the Astro-
nomy of the Brahmins. The early eastern astronomy was % subject to which he
was very partial, and to which some conceive he has paid more attention than
its importance warranted. He fought to a certain extent at disadvantage, from
ignox'ance of the language, and consequently of external evidence as to the au-
thenticity of the remarkable records containing the wisdom of the Brahmins; but
he calculated their authenticity from the circumstance, that none but a Euro-
pean acquainted with the refinements of modern science could have made the
calculations on which they might iiave been forged. The death of his brother
James, in 1793, interrupted his philosophical pui-suits, by forcing on his man-
agement some complicated business, along with the education of his brother's
son. In 1795, he published an edition of Euclid's elements for the use of his
class. In this work he adopted the plan of using algebraic signs instead of
words, to render the proportions more compact and apparent The plan has
been repeatedly practised since that period, and " Playfair's Euclid" is a book
well known to the boys in most mathematical schools, by whom, however, it is
not always so much admired as it is known. In 1797 he suffered a severe attack
of rheumatism, during which he sketched an essay on the accidental discoveries
which have been made by men of science whilst in pursuit of something else, or
when they had no determinate object in view ; and wrote the observations on
the trigonometrical tables of the Brahmins, and the theorems relating to
the figure of the earth, which were afterwards published in the Transactions of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh. About the same time, his friend Dr Hutton
died, and Playfair, who affectionately intended to have written his memoir,
found in the study of his works a vast field in which he afterwards distinguished
himself, by the preparation of the " Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the
Earth." Few observers of nature have possessed the power of describing what
they have seen, so as to make their facts and deductions perceivable to ordinary
thinkers. Playfair possessed the quality, however, to a rare extent ; and it was
probably its deficiency in the works of his friend Hutton, which prompted him
to prepare the elegant and logical " Analysis of the Volcanic Theory of the
Earth," which has been so much admired for its OAvn literary merits, and has
been the means of rendering popular an important theory which otherwise might
have remained in obscurity. It has been said, that the illustration of a theory
of the earth was but a profitless employment for so accurately thinking a philo-
sopher, and that the task might have been left to more imaginative minds, whose
speculations would have afforded equal pleasure to those who delight in forming
fabrics of theory on insufficient foundations. It is true, that even the lucid com-
mentary of Playfair does not establish the Huttonian as a general and undeviat-
ing theory, in an undoubted and indisputable situation ; he seems not to have
aimed so high ; and from the present state of science, no one can predicate
that the elementary formation of the earth, or even of its crust, will ever be
shown with chemical exactness. All that can be said is, that in as far as the re-
spective experiments and deductions of the theorists have proceeded, the Hut-
tonian Theory is not directly met by any fact produced on the part of the Nep-
tunians, and the phenomena produced in its favour strongly show — indeed show
to absolute certainty in some cases — the present formation of a great part of the
crust of the earth to have been the eilect of fire, how operating in respect to
the whole substance of the globe it is impossible to determine. The defence
of a theory of the earth had for some time been unpopular among many philo-
sophers, from the production of such majestic fabrics of theory as those of Whis-

134 JOHN PLAYFAIR.

ton and Burnet, which, without a sufficient number of ascertained facts for the
analysis of the component parts of any portion of the earth's surfaces, showed
in detail the method of its abstraction from the rest of the universe, and the
minutiae of its formation. But Playfair never went beyond rational deduction
on the facts which were known to him, limiting the extent of his theories to
reasonings on what he knew ; and it shows the accuracy of his logic, that, while
the experiments of Sir James Hall and others (which Avere in progress but not
complete while he wrote,) have tended to support his explication, especially in
justifying his opinion that the reason of calcination in bodies subjected to heat
was the necessity of the escape of the gases contained in them, we are aware of
none which have contradicted him.

The period between 1797 and 1803 was occupied by Mr Playfair in prepar-
ing his Illustrations, and in 1803 his biographical sketch of Hutton was pub-
lished in the Society Transactions. In 1805 he quitted the mathematical chair,
and succeeded professor John Robison in that of natural philosophy ; during
the same year his mother died at the age of eighty-five, and he retired along
with a younger brother, his youngest sister, and two nephews, to Burntisland,
that he might devote the summer to uninterrupted preparation for the duties of
his new class. In the controversy with the clergymen of Edinburgh, regarding
his successor to the chair of mathematics, he took an active part. A letter
which he addressed to the provost of Edinburgh, in favour of the election of a
scientific man, as opposed to a clergyman, was answered by Dr Inglis, and from
the nature of the remarks directed against himself, he considered it necessary
to reply. The pamphlet produced under these circumstances, showed that his
calm temper nn'ght be made dangerous by interference : it is written in con-
siderable asperity of spirit, but without vulgar raillery or much personality,
and the serious reproof, mixed with occasional sarcasm which it contains, shows
great power to wield the weapons of literary warfare. He next occupied him-
self in preparing papers on the solids of gi'eatest attraction, and on the pro-
gress of heat in spherical bodies, which appeared in the Transactions of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. He also presented to the London Royal Society,
of which he was admitted a member in 1807, an Account of the Survey of
Schehallien. In 1814, he published for the use of his students his well known
Outlines of Natural Philosophy, in two volumes octavo. The first volume of
this work treats of Dynamics, Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, Aerostatics,
and Pneumatics. The second is devoted to Astronomy. A third volume was
intended to have embraced Optics, Electricity, and Magnetism ; but the work
was never completed. In the following year he presented to the Royal Society
of Edinburgh a life of his predecessor, professor Robison. His labours for this
institution will be perceived to have been very extensive, and they show him
not to have been a mercenary man. He was long its chief support, arranging
and publishing the Transactions, and gratuitously acting as secretary. In
1816, he published, in the Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, a " Dis-
sertation on the Progress of Mathematical and Physical Science since the Re-
vival of Letters in Europe," a work of great erudition and research. This work
interrupted a new and much altered edition of his Illustrations of the Huttonian
Theory, which he had previously designed, but which unfortunately he was
never enabled to complete. " It was intended," says his biographer, " to com-
mence with a description of all the well authenticated facts in geology collected
during his extensive reading and personal observation, without any mixture ot
hypothesis whatever. To this followed the general inferences which may be
deduced from the facts, an examination of the various geological systems
hitherto offered to the world, and the exclusion of those which involved any

JOHN PLAYPAIR. 135

contradiction of the principles previously ascertained ; wliile the conclusion
would have presented the development of the system adopted by the author,
and the application of it to explain the phenomena of geology." Previously
to 1815, Mr Playfair had confined his geological observations to Britain and
Ireland ; nor was he able, from causes public or private, previously to that period,
to extend them to the continent. His nephew accompanied him on a tour
which he designed to extend as far as he could through Italy, Switzerland, and
Franco. He spent a short time in the philosophical circle of Paris, to which
his name could not fail to be an introduction. He then passed to Switzerland,
and commenced the most important of his geological notices at Mount Jura,
where he found blocks of granite, gneiss, and mica slate, lying loosely on the
surface of mountains whose solid substance was entirely calcareous. At Lucerne
and Chamouni, he was prevented by adverse weather, from making his intend-
ed searches among the interior valleys. Towards winter he was about to
return, when he received a letter from the provost of Edinburgh, intimating
that the patrons of tlie univei'sity permitted his absence during the ensuing ses<
sion — a circumstance which enabled him to prolong his tour a whole year.
After remaining for a month at Geneva, he entered Italy by the Simplon. In
the Academia del Cimento at Florence, his enthusiasm for philosophical history
was gratified by an inspection of the instruments made by Galileo, among which
was the original telescope, made of two pieces of wood, coarsely hollowed out,
and tied together with thread. On the 1 2th of November he set out for Rome,
which he reached on the 18th. There he remained during the winter, occu-
pying himself with researches in the Vatican library, such geological observa-
tions as the neighbourhood afforded, and the select English society always to
be found in the imperial city, among whom he found many of the friends he
had met in England. After the termination of the winter he went to Naples,
where a wider field for geological observation lay before him. The observa-
tions which he made on this part of his route, not so much connected with the
action of the volcano as with the state of the surrounding country, are imbodied
in some interesting notes, an abstract of which may be found in the memoir
above referred to ; but it is to be regretted that the amount of so much accurate
observation was not brought to bear on his Analysis of the Theory of tiie
Earth. Mr Playfair returned to Rome, whence, after a second visit to Florence,
he proceeded, by such gradations as enabled him accurately to observe the
mineralogy of the country, to Geneva. While travelling through Switzerland,
he visited, and prepared a short but curious account of the Slide of Alpuach,
by which trees are conveyed from the sides of Pilatus into the lake of Lucerne,
whence they proceed through the Aur to the Rhine. On his return, he passed
through Venice, Lyons, and Paris. In the ensuing summer he retired to
Burntisland, where he prepared a memoir on Naval Tactics, in illustration of
the discoveries of Clerk of Eldin, which was published after his death. He
had intended to publish in detached papers his observations on the remarkable
objects of his tour, and to have prepared his Illustrations of the Huttonian
Theory of the Earth, but he lived scarcely long enough to commence these la-
bours. For some years he had been afflicted with a strangury, which alarm-
ingly increased in the month of June, 1819, and he died on the ensuing 19th
of July. He was buried on the 26th, when the members of the Royal Medical
Society, and a numerous body of public and private friends, followed him to
the grave.

The literary and domestic character of this great and excellent man, have
been drawn by Francis Jeffrey, with whom, as the writer of many papers in tho
Edinburgh Review, Mr Playfair must have been on an intimate footiDg. The

136 -WILLIAM PLAYFAIR.

former part of the subject is open for the appi-eciation of the world, but as
the latter cau only be told by one acquainted with it, we beg to extract a
portion. " The same admirable taste which is conspicuous in his writings, or
rather the higher principles from which that taste was but an emanation, spread
a similar charm over his whole life and conversation, and gave to the most
learned philosopher of his day the manners and deportment of the most perfect
gentleman. Nor was this in him the result merely of good sense and good tem-
per, assisted by an early familiarity with good company, and a consequent
knowledge of his own place and that of all around him. His good-breeding
was of a higher descent ; and his powers of pleasing rested on something better
than mere companionable qualities. With the gi*eatest kindness and generosity
of nature, he united the most manly firmness, and the highest principles of
honour ; and the most cheerful and social dispositions, with the gentlest and
steadiest affections. Towards women, he had always the most chivalrous feel-
ings of regard and attention, and Mas, beyond almost all men, acceptable and
agreeable in their society, though without the least levity or pretension unbe-
coming his age or condition. And such, indeed, was the fascination of the
perfect simplicity and mildness of his manners, that the same tone and deport-
ment seemed equally appropriate in all societies, and enabled him to delight
the young and the gay with the same sort of conversation which instructed the
learned and the grave. There never, indeed, was a man of learning and
talent who appeared in society so perfectly free from all sorts of pretension,
or notion of his own importance, or so little solicitous to distinguish himself, or
so sincerely willing to give place to CA'ery one else. Even upon subjects which
he had thoroughly studied, he was never in the least impatient to speak, and
spoke at all times without any tone of authority ; while so far from wishing to
set off what he had to say by any brilliancy or emphasis of expression, it
seemed generally as if he had studied to disguise the weight and originality of
his thoughts under the plainest form of speech, and the most quiet and indif-
ferent manner ; so that the profoundest remarks and subtlest observations were
often dropped, not only without any solicitude that their value should be ob-
served, but without any apparent consciousness that they possessed any,"

PLAYFAIR, William, an ingenious mechanic and miscellaneous writer,
brother to the preceding, was born in the year 1759. The personal history
of this man when compared with that of his brother, shons in striking colours
the necessity, not only of industry, but of steadiness and consistency of plan,
as adjuncts of genius in raising its possessor to eminence. Being very young
when his father died, his education was superintended by his brother. His
early taste for mechanics prompted his friends to place him as apprentice to a
mill-wright of the name of Miekle. He afterwards went to England, and in
1780, was engaged as draughtsman in the service of Mr James Watt. How
long he remained in this situation we do not know, but the vast mass of
pamphlets which he was unceasingly producing must have speedily interfered
with his professional regularity, and he seems to have spent the remainder of his
days in alternately making mechanical discoveries of importance, and penning
literary or political pamphlets. Among the most useful of his mechanical ef-
forts, was the unrequited discovery of the French telegraph, gathered from a
few partial hints, and afterwards adapted by an alphabet of his own invention
to British use. At the period when he was most busy as a writer, he received
no less than five patents for new inventions ; one of these was for the manufac-
ture of sashes, constructed of a mixture of copper, zinc, and iron. These he
termed Eldorado sashes. Another was for a machine for completing the orna-
mental part of fretwork on small implements of silver and other metal ; such as

WILLTA^I PLAYTATR. 137

sugar tongs, buckles, &c., which had previously been executed by the hand.
For some time he occupied a silversmith's shop in London, but, tiring of the
business, or finding it unprofitable, he proceeded to Paris, where, among other
mechanical speculations, he procured an exclusive privilege for the manufacture
of a rolling mill on a new plan. While living in Paris, he was the means of
forming the colony of Scioto in America. Having formed an acquaintance with
Mr Joel Barlow, who had been sent to Paris to negotiate the disposal by lots
of three millions of acres which had been purchased by a company at New
York, on the banks of the Scioto, he undertook to procure for him the necessary
introductions, and to conduct the disposal. The breaking out of the French
revolution favoured the scheme. It was proposed that the lands should be dis-
posed of at 5s. per acre, one half to be paid at signing the act of sale, the
other to remain on mortgage to the United States, to be paid within two yeara
after taking possession. In less than two months 50,000 acres were sold,
and two vessels sailed from Havre de Grace, with the nucleus of the colony.
Soon after accomplishing this project, he made a narrow escape from being ar-
rested by the revolutionary government, a fate which his strongly expressed
objections to the French revolution rendered a very likely event. On his re-
turn to London he pi'ojected a bank termed the Security Bank ; its object was
the division of large securities so as to facilitate small loans ; — this bank unfor-
tunately belied its name, and became insolvent, too little attention having been
paid to the securities taken. On the restoration of the Bourbons, he returned
to France, and became editor of Galignani's 3Iessenger, but he was driven back
to England by a libel prosecution, and continued to gain his subsistence by
essay-writing and translating. His works being in general connected with the
passing politics of the day, need not be all named and characterized. In
books and pamphlets, his distinct works are said to amount to about a hundred.
Several were politico-economical in their subject, discussing the sinking fund,
the resources of France, the Asiatic establishments of Britain, the prospects of
the manufacturing interest, &c. His political remarks were generally for the
purpose of supporting and vindicating the conduct of Britain towards France,
and received the designation " patriotic." Among his principal publications
Avere a " History of Jacobinism," published in 1795 ; an edition of Smith's AVealth
of Nations, with Notes, in 1806 ; and " British Family Antiquities," in 9 vols. 4to,
published in 1809-11. This last work forms a Peerage and Baronetage of
Britain and Ireland. It contains a great mass of matter, and is splen-
didly illustrated, but it is not looked on by genealogists as a work of much au-
thority. He spent the last days of his laborious but irregular life without the
competence which well-directed talent generally acquires, and his death was
hurried on by anxiety of mind. He died in Covent Garden on the 11th
February, 1823, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. " In private life," says a
biographer, " Mr Playfair was inoffensive and amiable ; not prepossessing in his
appearance and address, but with a strong and decided physiognomy, like that
of his late brother. With a thoughtlessness which is too frequently allied to
genius, he neglected to secure that provision for his family, which from his
talents they were justified to expect ; and although he laboured ardently and
abundantly for his country, yet he found it ungrateful, and was left in age and
infirmity to regret that he had neglected his own interests to promote those of
the public" *

Annual Obituary, 1S24, 460.

138 ROBERT POLLOK,

POLLOK, EoBKRT, author of tlie '* Course of Time,*' a poem, Avaa born in
1799, of reBpeclabie parents, at Muirhouse, in the parish of Eaglesliaui, Ren«
freushire. After acquiring the rudiments of a literaiy education in the country,
be passed through a regular course of literary and philosophical study at the
university of Glasgow. Having sustained the ordinary previous prcsbyterial
examinations, he was admitted to the divinity hall, under the superintendence
of the late reverend Or Dick of Glasgow, who at that time was sole professor of
theology in the united secession church. On finishing his course of (ive years'
study under tliis accomplished tutor, he was, by the united associate presbytery
of Edinburgh, licensed to preach the gospel, in the spring of 1827. The only
time he ever preached was in the former chapel of Dr John Brown, in Rose
Street, Edinburgh.

A sliort time before receiving license to preach, he had prepared his poem,
the " Course of Time," which extends to ten books, in blank Terse, and
describes the mortal and immortal destiny of man, in language the nearest,
perhaps to that of Milton, which has ever been employed by a later bard. It
has rarely happened that one so young has completed any work so extensive
as this, much less one so successful; and we may be allowed to surmise, that
the man who could form and execute such a design, at such a period of
life, must have possessed not only an intellect of the first order of power, but
a character of the first order of strength. On the recommendation of the
late celebrated John Wilson, professor of moral philosophy in the university of
Edinburgh, the " Course of Time" was published by Mr Blackwood, early in
1S27. Of the earlier attempts of Mr Follok in prose and verse, little is known.
He wrote Uiree tales relative to the sufferings of the persecuted presbyterians of
the reign of Charles 11., which were published anonymously in his lifetime, and
have since been reprinted with his name. They are manifestly juvenile and
hasty productions ; but they are the juvenile and hasty productions of a man of
genius. The labour of preparing his poem for publication, and carrying it
through the press, appears to have fatally impaired a constitution originally
vigorous. Soon after his license, symptoms of pulmonary disease having be-
come distinctly apparent, he spent the greater part of the summer of that year
with the reverend Dr Belfrage of Slateford, under whose hospiLible roof he en-
joyed every advantage which medical skill, called forth into active exertion by
cordial friendship, could funiish.

As the disease seemed obviously gaining ground, it was suggested by Dr
Abercromby, and other eminent physicians, that a removal to a more genial
climate, during tlie approaching winter, was the only probable means of pro-
tracting a life so full of promise. It was therefore resolved on, that he should,
with as little delay as possible, set out for Italy ; and the means for prosecuting
such a journey were readily supplied by the admirers of his genius.

In the commencement of autumn he left Edinburgh, accompanied by a sister,
and travelled by a steam vessel to London. During the short time he remained
in that city, he resided at CambcrweD, with the late John Pirio, Esq., afterwards
Lord Mayor of London, to whom he had been introduced by a common friend,
and who, with characteristic generosity, made every exertion to contribute to
his comfort ; and ceased not to take a deep interest in his happines?, till he
was called on to commit his remains to the grave.

After arrangements had been made for his voyage to Italy, his medical ad-
visers in London, fearing that he would never reach that country, recommended
his immediate removal to the south-west of England, and the neiglibourhood of
Southampton was fixed on as a suitable situation. Having arrived there, he

ROBERT POLLOK. 139

took up his residence on Shirley-Common. His disease continued to make
progress, and in the course of a few weeks he fell a victim to its power, on the
15th of September, 1827. '* He died," says his biographer, "in the faith of the
gospel, and in the hope of eternal life."

He is buried in the church-yard of Millbrook, the parish in which Shirley-
Common lies. Those admirers of his genius who would fain have prolonged
his life, have perpetuated their regard for him, by erecting an obelisk of Peter-
head granite over his grave, bearing, with the dates of his birth and death, the
following simple inscription : —

THE GRAVE

OF

ROBERT POLLOK, A.M.

AUTHOR OF " THE COUBSE OF TIME."
HIS rMMORTAL FOEM IS HIS

MONUMENT.

Such is a " faithful chronicle " of the principal external events in the short
life of Robert Pollok. Of the most important inward revolution of which
man's little world is susceptible, that change, without which a man " cannot enter
the kingdom of God," he has given the following most impressive account in
the " Course of Time." It is one of the most interesting fragments of auto-
biography we have ever met with, and compensates, in some measure, for the
meagreness of the present sketch ; which, imperfect as it is, seems all that cir-
cumstances will permit to be gathered together respecting Pollok. The ex-
tract, though perhaps rather too long for such a purpose, will also serve as a
specimen of the poetry produced by the subject of our memoir. It will re-
mind many readers of some passages c^ a similar kind, of exquisite beauty, in
Cowper.

One of tliis mood I do remember weli

We name him not, what now are earthly names?

In humble dwelling bom, retired, remote ;

In rural quietude, 'mong hills, and streams,

And melancholy deserts, where the sun

Saw, as he passed, a shepherd only, here

And there, watching his little flock, or heard

The ploughman talking to his steers ; his hopes,

His moming hopes, awoke before him, smiling.

Among the dews and holy mountain airs;

And fanc)- coloured them with every hue

Of heavenly loveliness. But soon his dreams

Of childhood fled away, those rainbow dreams

So innocent and fair, that withered Age,

Even at the grave, cleared up his dusty eye.

And passing all between, looked fondly back

To see them once again, ere he departed :

These fled away, and anxious thought, that wished

To go, yet whither ! new not well to go,

Possessed his soul, and held it still awhile.

He listened, and heard from far the voice of time.

Heard and was cliarmed : and deep an 1 sudden vow

140 ROBERT POLLOK.

Of resolution made to be reno^vned ;

And deeper vowed agciin to keep his vow.

His parents saw, his parents whom God made

Of kindest heart, saw, and indulged his liope.

The ancient page he turned, read much, tliought much,

And witli old bards of honourable name

Measured his soul severely ; and looked up

To fame, ambitious of no second place.

Hope grew from inward faith, and promised fair.

And out before him opened many a path

Ascending, where the laurel highest waved

Her branch of endless green. He stood admiring;

But stood, admired, not long. The harp he seized.

The harp he loved, loved better than his life,

The harp which uttered deepest notes, and held

The ear of thought a captive to its song.

He searched and meditated much, and whiles,

With rapturous hand, in secret, touched the lyre,

Aiming at glorious stniins ; and searched again

For theme deserving of immortiil verse ;

Chose now, and now refused, unsatisfied ;

Pleased, tlien displeased, and hesitiiting still.

Thus stood his mind, when round him came a cloud.
Slowly and heavily it came, a cloud
Of ills we mention not : enough to say
'T«-as cold, and dead, impenetrable gloom.
He saw its dark approach, and saw his hopes.
One after one, put out, as nearer still
It drew his soul ; but fainted not at first,
Fainted not soon. He knew the lot of man
Was trouble, and prepared to bear the worst;
Endure whate'er should come, without a sigh;
Endure, and drink, even to the very dregs.
The bitterest cup that time could measure out:
And, having done, look up, and ask for more.

He called philosophy, and with his heart
Reasoned. He called religion too, but called
Reluctantly, and therefore was not heard.
Ashamed to be o'crmatched by earthly woes.
He sought, and sought with eye that dimmed apace.
To find some avenue to light, some place
On which to rest a hope ; but sought in vain.
Darker and darker still the darkness grew.
At length he sunk, and Disiippointment stood
His only comforter, and mournfully
Told all was past. His interest in life.
In being, ceased : and now he seemed to feel,
And shuddered as he felt, his powers of mind
Decaying in the spring-lime of his day.
The vigorous, weak became; the clear, obscure;
Memor) gave up her charge ; Decision reeled ;
And from her flight. Fancy returned ; returned
Because she found no nourishment abroiid.
The blue heavens withered ; and the moon, and sun,

KOBERT PONT. 141

And all the stars, and the green earth, and mom
And evening, withered ; and the eyes, and smiles,
And faces of all men and women, withered,
Withered to him; and all the universe.
Like something which had been, appeared, but now
Was dead and mouldering fast away. He tried
* No more to hope ; wished to forget his vow.

Wished to forget his harp ; then ceased to wish.
That ^vas his last; enjo} nient now was done.
He had no hope ; no wish, and scarce a fear
Of being sensible, and sensible
Of loss, he as some atom seemed, which God
Had made superfluouslj*, and needed not
To build creation wth ; but back again
To nothing tlirew, and left it in the void.
With everlasting sense that once it was.

Oh 1 who can tell what da) s, what nights he spent.
Of tideless, waveless, sailless, shoreless woe ?
And who can tell how man}-, glorious once.
To others and themselves of promise full.
Conducted to this pass of human thought,
This wilderness of intellectual death,
Wasted and pined, and vanished from the earth,
Leaving no vestige of memorial there.

It was not so with him. When thus he lay.
Forlorn of heart ; withered and desolate.
As leaf of Autumn, which the wolfish winds.
Selecting from its falling sisters, chase.
Far from its native grove, to lifeless wastes.
And leave it there alone, to be forgotten
Eternally, God passed in merc) by —
His praise be ever new! — and on him breathed.
And bade him live, and put into his hands
A holy harp, into his lips a song.
That rolled its numbers dowTi the tide of Time,
Ambitiou"? now but little to be praised,
Of men alone; ambitious most to be
Approved of God, the Judge of all ; and have
His name recorded in the book of life.

The " Course of Time" was only beginning to attract attention at the time
when its author's ear was about to be closed, alike to the voice of censure and
praise. Almost immediately after his death, it became extensively read
throughout the British empire, especially among the numerous and respectable
classes of dissenters. It has, accordingly, passed through a considerable num-
ber of editions, and now appears likely to keep its place among the standard
poems in our language. A portrait of the author was obtained by the reverend
Dr John Brown, of Edinburgh, before his departure for London, and has been
engraved. It conveys the impression of deep and grave intelligence, such as
might have been expected from the author of the " Course of Time."^

PONT, Robert, a churchman, judge of the court of session, and political
and scientific writer of some eminence, was bom at Culross, cir. 1524—30,

ic mT^'^^^!:'*^^® '^ copied, (by permission,) with a fe«v slight additions, from the preface to
lilies of the Covenanters, by Robert Pollok, A. M." Edinburgh, W. Olipliant, 1833.

142 EGBERT PONT.

of honourable, if not noble' parentage. After receiving his elementary edu-
cation at the school of his native place, he «a«, in 1543, incorporated a student
of St Leonard's college in St Andrews, where he prosecuted the study of phi-
losophy and divinity with great success. From the period of his leaving the
university, no notice of him has been discovered, till 1559, when he is men-
tioned as an elder in the k'rk session record of St Andrews. His intimate know-
ledge of law, renders the supposition probable, that the interval was employed
in that branch of study at some of the continental universities. He seems to
have early embraced the protestant party. He was an elder of St Andrews
from a very early period, and attended, as one of the commissioners from that
place, the first General Assembly, by which he was declared qualified for minister-
in" and teaching. In the year 1563, he competed for the office of superintendent
of the diocese of Galloway. He appears to have failed in the attempt, but was
shortly after appointed commissioner of the diocese of Moray. In 1566, he
published, with the sanction and command of the General Assembly, a " Transla-
tion and Interpretation of the Helretian Confession." In January, 1571, he was,
through the same influence, appointed to the provostry of Trinity college, Edin-
burgh, and afterwards to the vicarage of St Cuthbert's church. At the same period
he followed the directions of his party by excommunicating the bishop of Orkney,
who had performed the marriage ceremony to 3Iary and Both well. Policy at
this time dictated that the judicial dignities which had been conferred on the
Roman catholic churchmen should be extended to the new church, of which the
members, while their general principles were rather averse to the system, pos-
sessed some share of personal ambition, and in 1571, the regent proposed that
Pont should be appointed a senator of the College of Justice. The zealous
churchman declined acceptance without the sanction of the assembly, and on the
12th January, 1572, that body gave license " to the said Mr Robert to accept
and use the said place of a senator in the said College of Justice, what tyme he
shall be required thereto, providing all wayes, that he leave not the office of the
niinistrie, but that he exercise the same as he sould be appoynted be the kirke, and
this their license to the said Mr Robert to be no preparative to no uther minis-
ter to procure sic promotione, unless the kirke's advyse be had of before, and
license obtained thereunti." The natural consequence of such an appointment
seems to have taken place, and in the following year, he was charged with
neglect of duty in non-residence, and not sufficiently visiting the churches in
Moray, an accusation to which he very naturally ple.tded want of leisure from
the pressure of his new duties. In 1574, 3Ir Pont was appointed colleague to
William Harlaw, minister of St Cuthbert's church, lulinburgli. He was now-
employed in all the more important business of the church : he was appointed,
in 1574, to revise all books that were printed and published; about the same
period he drew up the calendar, and rules for understanding it, for Arbuthnot
end Bassandyne's edition of the Bible ; and he was engaged in the preparation
of the Second Book of Discipline. In 15S2, he was invited to become minister
of St Andrews, and seems to have accepted the appointment, but he was soon
obliged to abandon it; for at the General Assembly, held in April, 1533, he
declared that, *' with losse of his heritage and warldlie comniodilie, he had pro-
ponit to sit down in St Andrews, and had served athisawin charges ane haill ^eir,

> Mr Crichton (Life of Mr J. Blackader, p. 15, note) saj-s, that his father, John du Pon%
or da Ponte, was a noble Venetian ; that he was tKiiii^hed his country for profussing the re-
formed religion, and came over to Scotland in the tr.iin of Mary of Guise, queen of James
V. This statement seems irreconcilable with his son having been born at Culross at the
time above mentioned. (Bucbaiian de lllust. ScoU Script or. MS. Adv. Lib.) It must
also be remarked, that the name was common in ScotLmd long before this time.

TDIOTHY PONT. 143

and culd not haif any equall condition of leving-, na not tlie least provision."
He accordingly returced to his charge at the West church. In 1584, when
James struck a blow at the church, by rendering it criminal to decline the juris-
diction of the privy council, and to hold assemblies without the royal permission,
Pont added his name to the list of the gallant defenders of the church, by solemn-
ly protesting against the acts as they were published at the cross of Edinburgh,
on the grotaid that they liad been passed without the knowledge or consent of
the church Two days before, (23rd May, 1534,) he had been deprived
of his seat in the College cf Justice, by an act prohibiting ecclesiastics to
hold civil appointments, and he now, with many of the clergy, who were
alarmed at so bold an inroad, fled to England. He returned to Scotland
with the earl of Angus and his party, a few montlis afterwards, and re-
sumed his ministerial duties. In 15S7, he was nominated to the bishopric
of Caithness ; but the assembly refused to ratify the appointment. In
1591, the assembly appointed him to write against sacrilege; his Three
Sermons on that subject were approved of, and ordered to be printed by the
Presbytery of Edinburgh, November 12, 1594 (See Records), but from some un-
known cause, were not published till 1599. In 1594, he published " A New
Treatise on the right reckoning of Yeares and Ages of the World," for the
purpose of showing that the year 1600 was not, as his countrymen supposed,
the proper year of the jubilee. In 1601, he was appointed by the General
Assembly to revise the Psalms. In 1596 and 1602, he was chosen com-
missioner of Orkney, and his name was first in the list of those who were
intended for the qualified prelacies. In 1604, he published a tract on
tiie union of the kingdoms, " De Unione Britanniae, seu de Regnorum Anglice
et Scotiae omniumque adjacentiuui insularum in unam Monarchiam consolidatione,
deque multiplici ejus Unionis utilitate Dialogus." Mr Eraser Tytler, who ap-
pears to Iiave perused it, says,'^ " This politii^al treatise, which is written in La-
tin, in the form of a dialogue between three fictitious speakers, Irenaeus, Poly-
histor, and Hospes, is chiefly valuable from its furnishing us with some curious
pictures of the political state of the country, and the rude mannera of the times.
* * * The picture he presents of the intolerable tyranny of the nobles in
their strong and remote fortresses, of the impotency of the arm of the law, and
the personal terrore of Uie judges, who trembled before these petty princes, very
completely proves that there was no poetical exaggeration in the verses of Sir
Richard IMaitland." Pont died on the 8th May, 1606, and was interred, it is
said, in the church of St Cuthbert's, where a monument was erected to his memory,
with an epitaph, partly in English, partly in very questionable Latin. He had
prepared a more ample edition of his work on the Jubilee Year, which was pub-
lished in quarto, in 1619.^ Besides these works Pont wTote Chronologia de
Sabbatis, published at London in 1626. His Aureum Seculum, his Transla-
tion of Pindar's Olympic Odes, his Dissertation on the Greek Lyric Metres, his
Lexicon of Three Languages, and Collection of Homilies, all of which David
Buchanan says he saw in MS. are now nowhere to be found.

PONT, Timothy, the celebrated geographer who prepared the *' Theatrum
ScotiaB," in " Bleau's Atlas," was the eldest son of the preceding, apparently
by his first wife, Catharine Masterton, daughter of Masterton of Grange.

2 Life of Sir Thomas Craig, 213.

3 Sibbaldi Bibliotheca Scoiica (MS. Adv. Lib.) 224, 225. In the second part oft his work,
there is put down to the name of Kobertus Pontanus, " Parvus Catechismus quo examinari
possunt qui ad sacram coenam admittitntur." Ancirean. 1573. For a more full account of
Pont, see Historj- of the Church and Parish of St Cuthbeits, Edinburgh, 1629, pp. 20 — 41,
and Wodrow's Biog. Coll. vol. i.

Hi SIR JOHN PRTKGLF.

Scarcely anything of his personal history appears to be known. He seems to
hare become a minister of the Scottish church, and is mentioned in the Book of
Assignations, 1601-8, as "minister of DHnet.""; Sir Robert Sibbald (De Histor.
Scot. MS. Ad. Lib. p. 2.) mentions a pedestrian expedition undertaken by him,
in 1608, to explore the more barbarous parts of the country. " He was,"
says bishop Nicholson," by nature and education a complete mathematician, and
the first projector of a Scotch Atlas. To that great purpose, he personally survey-
ed all the several counties and isles of the kingdom ; took draughts of 'em upon
the spot, and added such cursory observations on the monuments of antiquity, and
other curiosities as were proper for the furnishing out of future descriptions. He
was unhappily surprised by death, to the inestimable loss of his countrey, when
he had well nigh finished his papei-s, most of which were fortunately retrieved
by Sir John Scott, and disposed of in such a manner as has been already re-
ported. There are some other remains of this learned and good man, on the
• History of Agricola's Vallum, or Graham's Dilce,' as are well worth the pro-
serving."' The originals of the maps so drawn up are preserved in good or-
der in the Advocates' library. They are minutely and elegantly penned, and
have the air of such laborious correctness, as the science of the period ena-
bled the geographer to attain. Font appears to have penetrated to those wild
and remote portions of the island, the surfaces of which have scarcely yet
been accurately delineated. Sir Robert Sibbald mentions (De Histor. Scot, ut
supra), that after Font's death, his maps were so carelessly kept by his heirs,
that they were in great danger of destruction from moths and vermin. King
James ordered that they should be purchased and given to the world ; but
amidst the cares of government they were jigain consigned for a season to oblivion.
At length Sir John Scott of Scotstarvet, to whose enlightened patronage we owe
much of what is preserved of the literature of his times, prevailed with Sir Robert
Gordon of Straloch to revise and correct them for the press. The task was
continued by Sir Robert's son, Mr James Gordon, parson of Rothemay, and with
his amendments they appeared in Bleau's celebrated Atlas.

PRINGLE, (Sir) John, a distinguished physician and cultivator of science,
was born at Stitchel house, in Roxburghshire, April 10, 1707. He was the
youngest son of Sir John Fringle of Stitchel, BarL, by 3Iagdalen Elliot, sister
of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobs. His education was commenced at home under a
private tutor, and advanced at the university of St Andrews, where he had the
advantage of living with liis relation, Mr Francis Fringle, professor of Greek.
Having determined on physic as a profession, he spent the winter of 1727-8 at
the medical classes in Edinburgh, and afterwards proceeded to Leyden, where,
in 1730, he received his diploma, which was signed by the distinguished names
of Boerhaave, Albinus, and Gravesande, under whom he had studied. He then
settled as a physician in Edinburgh, and in a few years had so much distin-
guished himself as to be, in 1734, appointed assistant and successor to the pro-
fessor of pneumatics and moral philosophy in the university. He continued in
this situation till 1742, when, chiefly by the influence of Dr Stevenson, (an
eminent whig physician, and the patron of Dr Blacklock,) he was appointed
physician to the earl of Stair, then in command of the British army in Flanders.
By the interest of this nobleman, he was, in the same year, constituted physi-
cian to the military hospital in Flanders. An extensive field of observation
was thus opened to Dr Fringle ; and that he cultivated it with advantage, is suf-
ficiently shown by his " Treatise on the Diseases of the Army," subsequently
published. At the battle of Dettingen, he was in a coach with the minister,
» M'Crie's Melville, 2nd edition, ii. 428. « Scottish Historical Library, 24

SIR JOHN PRINGLE. 145

lox'd Carteret, and, at one particular crisis of the action, was involved in coa-
siderable danger. On the resignation of the earl of Stair, he also proposed re-
signing, but was prevented by his lordship, whom he accompanied, however,
forty miles on his way to England, as a mark of his respect. Having gained
equal favour with the duke of Cumberland, Dr Pringle was, in March, 1745,
appointed physician-general to the forces in the Low Countries, and physician
to the royal hospitals in the same countries. He now resigned his Edinburgh
professorship, the duties of which had been performed by deputy in his absence.
In tlie latter part of the year 1745, he returned to Britain, in attendance upon
the forces which were brought over to suppress the rebellion. In passing
through London in October, he was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Early in t!ie ensuing year, he accompanied the duke of Cumberland to Scot-
land, and remained with the army, after the battle of CuUoden, till its return
to England, in the middle of August. In 1747 and 1748, he again attended
the array abroad.

After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in the latter year, he settled as a physi-
cian in London, under the patronage of the duke of Cumbex'land, who, in
April, 1749, appointed him his physician in ordinary, In 1750, Dv Pringle
published his fust work, a pamphlet on the Jail and Hospital Fever, hastily
prepared, to meet the exigency of the breaking out of that distemper in Lon-
don. It was afterwards revised, and included in the work on the diseases of
the army.

About this time, Dr Pringle commenced his scientific career, by reading a
series of papers to the Iloyal Society, on septic and antiseptic substances, and
Iheir use in the theory of medicine; whicli procured for their author the honour
of Sir Godfrey Copley's gold medal, and not only gave him reputation as an
experimental philosopher, but helped to stimulate the spirit of physical inquiry,
then rising into force in Britain. A great variety of other papers by Dr Pringle
are found in the Transactions of the Society, during the four ensuing years.
In 1752, he married Charlotte, the second daughter of Dr Oliver, an emineiit
physician in Bath ; who died a few years after, leaving him no children. In
the same year, he published his great work on the diseases of the army, which
instantly placed the author in the first rank of medical writers. In 1761, he
was appointed physician to the household of the young queen Charlotte ; an
honour which was followed, in rapid succession, by the appointments of physi-
cian extraordinary, and physician in ordinary, to her majesty. He now be-
came an intimate and confidential person in the family of the king, who, in
1766, raised him to the dignity of a baronet of Great Britain. In 1768, he
was appointed physician in ordinary to the king's mother, the princess of
Wales, with a salary of one hundred pounds a-year.

After having for many years acted as a member of the council in the Royal
Society, he was, in November, 1772, elected president of that distinguished
body ; by far the highest mark of honour he ever received. It has always, on
the other hand, been acknowledged, that the zeal and assiduity displayed by Sir
John in this situation, communicated an impulse to the exertions of the society,
of which the most sensible proofs are to be found in its Transactions, published
during the years of his presidency. The last medical honour conferred on Sir
John Pringle was his appointment, in 1774, as physician extraordinary to tlie
king.

It would be wearisome to repeat the list of honours showered upon him by
foreign learned bodies ; we shall only allude to his succeeding Linnaeus, in
1778, as one of the eight foreign members of the French Academy.

Long ere this period. Sir John had acquired a considerable fortune by his

146 SIR HENRY RAEBURN.

practice and from other sources, and lived in a style of dignified hospitality^
suitable to his high character. He was in the habit of holding conversations
on the Sunday evenings, whicli were attended by men of literature and science
from all countries. After passing his seventieth year, feeling liis health de-
clining, he resigned the presidency of the Hoyal Society, in «hich he was
succeeded (1778) by 3Ir (afterwards Sir) Joseph Banks, and formed tlie
resolution of retiring to spend the remainder of his days in his native
country. Having passed the summer of 1780 very pleasantly in Scotland,
he purchased a house in Edinburgh, sold off" that in which he had long re-
sided in London, and in the spring of 1781 made a decided remove to the
Scottish capital. It seems to have been the hope of the declining veteran,
that lie might more agreeably sink to rest amidst tlie friends and the scenes
of his youth, than amongst strangers ; and he also contemplated much plea-
sure in the regular evening convereations, for which he intended to throw
open his liouse. It is painful to relate, that he was disappointed in his view^.
Tlie friends of his youth had almost all passed away ; the scenes were changed
to such a degree, that they failed to suggest the associations he expected. The
society of Edinburgh he found to be of too limited a nature, to keep up a sys-
tem of weekly conversations with the necessary degree of novelty and spirit.
He also suffered considerably from the keen winds, to which Edinburgh is so
remarkably exposed. These evils were exaggerated by his increasing infirmi-
ties, and perhaps by that restlessness of mind, which, in the midst of bodily
complaints, is still hoping to derive some benefit from a change of place. He
<'etermined, therefore, to return to London, wiiere he arrived in the beginning
of September.

Sir John Pringle did not long survive this change of residence. On the
evening of the 14th of January, 1782, while attending a stated meeting of
scientific friends in the house of a Mr Watson, a grocer in the Strand, he was
seized with a fit, from which he never i-ecovered. He expired on the 18th, in
the seventy-fifth year of his age, and was interred in St James's church. Sir
John left the bulk of his fortune to his nephew, Sir James Pringle of Stitchel,
who also inherited from him the British baronetcy, in addition to that of Nova
Scotia, ^»hich the family had previously possessed. As a physician and a philo-
sophical inquirer, his character was of the first order ; nor were his private
virtues less eminent He never grudged his professional assistance to those who
could not afford to remunerate him ; and he was a sincere, though liberal and
rational, professor of the truths of religion. His conduct, in every relation of
life, was upright and honourable. He informed Mr Boswell — and few gentle-
men of that period could make such a boast — that he had never in his life been
intoxicated with liquor. There is a monument to Sir Joiin, by Nollekins, in
Westminster Abbey.

R

RAEBURN, (Sir) Hexhy, a celebrated portrait-painter, was the younger
son of Mr William Raeburn, a respectable manufacturer at Stockbridge, near
Edinburgh, where he was born, 4th 3Iarch, 1756. While very young he had
ihe misfortune to lose both his parents ; but this want was supplied to Iiim, as
much as it could be by his elder brother William, who succeeded to the busi-
ness, and acted always to him the part of a father. It has been represented
by some of Sir Henry's biographers (perhaps with a view of making the after

Sr ELiUjaVtnn,

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..i-GOir, r-;:f,r-'.:fn; -t.-,i-,:;i7I'V(-:7T*T,:TK!)cm.

SIR HENRY RAEBURN, 147

acquirements of the subject of the biography more remarkable), that he received
his education at Heriot's Hospital, a well known and benevolent institution in
Edinburgh ; but this is not the fact, his brother William having with heart-
felt satisfaction given him the scanty, but usual education of that period. In
the usual routine of education he was not remarked to display any superiority to
his class fellows, but when they were drawing figures on their slates or copy
books, those of Raeburn surpassed all the rest ; but this did not lead any fur-
ther. In other respects he was distinguished by the affection of his compan-
ions, and formed at that early period intimacies with some of those distinguished
friends whose regard accompanied him through life. The circumstances of
young liaeburn rendering it necessary that he should, cs early as possible,
be enabled to provide for his own support, he was at the age of fifteen
apprenticed to a goldsmith, who kept his shop in a dark alley, leading be»
tween the Parliament Square and the front of the Old Tolbooth. Here, with-
out receiving any lessons, he began to amuse himself by sketching figures, and
ultimately by painting miniatures.^ His master,at first incensed by his apparentin-
attention to business, was afterwards astonished by the merit of his performances,
and, with a liberality hardly to have been expected, conducted him to a place
where he might gather the means of improvement in his self-assumed art, namely,
the studio of Mr David Martin, the principal portrait-painter in Edinburgh. He
was delighted with the works there presented to his eye ; and Martin, on the
other hand, spoke encouragingly to the young artist. His miniatures soon be-
came so famous, that commissions came rapidly in, and he generally painted
two in the week. As this employment, of course, withdrew his time almost en-
tirely from trade, he made an arrangement with his master, by which the latter
was compensated for the loss he incurred on that account. While still an ap-
prentice, he began to paint in oil, and on a large scale. To aid him in this
task, he obtained from Martin the loan of several pictures to copy ; but that
painter did not contribute advice or assistance in any other shape ; and having
once unjustly accused the young student of selling one of the copies, Baeburn
indignantly refused any farther accommodation of this nature. Having begun,
however, to paint large oil pictures, he soon adopted them in preference to
miniatures, a style which he gradually gave up ; nor did his manner in later
life retain any trace of that mode of painting : all was broad, massy, and
vigorous.

He had thus become a painter almost by intuition ; for there is no ascertain'
ing that he ever received any direct instructions in the mysteries, or even in •
the manual operations, of his art. It was in his twenty-second year, and when

1 " It was in this situation," says the late Dr A. Duncan, senior, " that my first acquaintance
with him commenced, and that, too, on a melancholy occasion. Mr Charles Darwin, son of
the justly celebrated Dr Erasmus Darwin, author of that much esteemed poem, ' The Bo-
tanic Garden,' and of other works demonstrating great genius, died during the course of his
medicd studies at Edinburgh. At that time I had the honour, though a very young medi-
cal Itdurer, of ranking Danvin among the number of my pupils. And I need hardly add,
that he was a favourite pupil : for, duiing his studies, he exhibited sucli uncommon proofs of
genius and industrj', as could not fail to gain the esteem and aiiection of every disceniing
teacher.

" On the death of }oung Darwin, I was anxious to retain some slight token in remem-
brance of my highly esteemed \oung friend; and, for that purpose, I obtained a small portion
of his hair. I applied to Mr Gilliland, at that time an eminent jeweller in Edinburgh, to
have it preserved in a mourning ring. He told me, that one of his present apprenticts was a
young man of great genius, and could prepare for me in hair, a memorial that would demon-
strate both taste and art. -Young Raeburn was immediately called, ana proposed to execute,
on a small trinket, which might be hung at a watch, a muse weeping over an urn, marked
with the inilitJs of Charles Darwin. I'his trinket was finished by Raeburn in a manner
wliich, to me, aflbrdcd manifest proof of very superior genius, and I still preserve it, as a me-
morial of the singular and early merit, both of D.irwin and of Raeburn.'

148 SIR HENRY RAEBURN.

practising regularly as a rival of his old friend Martin, that he became ac-
quainted, under extraordinary circumstances, with tlie lady who became his
wife. " One day," says his most animated biographer,' " a young lady pre-
sented herself at his studio, and desired to sit for her portrait. He instantly
remembered having seen her in some of his excursions, when, with liis sketclw
book in his hand, he was noting down some fine snatches of scenery ; and, ns the
appearance of any thing living and lovely gives an additional charm to a land-
scape, the painter, like Gainsborough, in similar circumstances, had readily
admitted her into his drawing. This circumstance, he said, had liad its influ-
ence. On further acquainUince, he found that, besides personal cliarnis, slie
had sensibility and wit. His respect for her did not affect his skill of hand,
but rather inspired it, and he succeeded in making a fine portrait. The lady,
Ann Edgar, the daughter of Peter Edgar, esquire, of Bridgelands, was mucli
pleased witli the skill, and likewise with the manners of the artist ; and about a
month or so after tlie adventure of the studio, she gave him her hand in mar-
riage ; bestowing at once an afl^ectionate wife, and a handsome fortune."

Having now the means of improving in his art, he set out for London, and
was introduced to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who treated him with distinguished
liberality and kindness, even to the extent of offering him money to prosecute
his studies in Home, which he was not aware that Raeburn did not need. Fur-
nished with introductions by this eminent person, he set out for the capital of
the arts, accompanied by his wife. At Rome, he w.-»s considerably indebted
for advice to 3Ir Gavin Hamilton, and likewise to IMr Byers, who gave him the
excellent counsel never to copy any object from memory, but, from the principal
figure to the minutest accessory, to have it placed before him. To the observ-
ance of this rule, Raeburn imputed in a great measure, the improvement
which was observed in his subsequent pictures.

His powers now fully matured, he returned in 1787 to his native city, and
set up his easel in a fashionable house in George Street. The works of Mar-
tin— though certainly better than the biographers of Raeburn delight to repre-
sent them — were so much eclipsed by the junior artist, that the whole tide of
employment left the one painter for the other. In vain did the veteran pro-
phesy that this fever of approbation could not last, and tliat " the lad in George
Street " painted better before he went to Rome. The nation persisted in be-
ing of another opinion, and Blartin was at last obliged to retire from the field
in despair. Raeburn at once assumed that pre-eminent rank in his profession,
which, notwithstanding the multitude of rivals who afterwards rose around him,
he bore to the day of his death.

The subsequent history of this artist, is chiefly that of his pictures. For
thirty-six years he was constantly employed in his professional duties, and
painted the most of the eminent persons who lived in Scotland during that
lime. Unfortunately no record has been preserved of his various works ; but
they are to be found in almost every distinguished mansion in the country.^

2 Mr Allan Cunningham, in his Lives of Bdtish Pnintcrs.

3 The following pictures by Sir Henry Katbum, besides others, have been engraved : —
[Full lenglh.\ First viscount Melville, in peer's robes. General Sir David Haird, with
horse. Sir Walter Scott, Bart. Macdonnell of Glengarrj'. Lord chief commissioner Adam.
Henry Mackcniie. General the earl of Hopetoun, with horse. — [Three quarters length.}
Captain G. Duff, of the Mars, who fell at Trafalgar. Neil Gow, with his ficicile. Dr Alex-
antlcr Adam. James Pillaiis, professor of humanity, Edinburgh. John Gleik, of Eldin.
Charles Hope, president of the court of session. Uobert Macqucen of Biaxfield, in justiciary
robes. Hon. Htrry Erekine. Dugald Stewart, professor of "moral philosophy. James
Gregory, M. D. Robert Ulair, president of the court of session. Gioige the Fourth.
RobertDiindas, president of the court of si-ssion. John Elder, provost of Etlinburgh, in his
robes. VViiram Creech, bookseller. Professor Thomas Hope. Dr Hugh Blair. James

SIR HENRY RAEBURN.

149

Having stored his mind ^¥ith ideas drawn from the purest school of tnodern art,
he was indebted for his subsequent improvement solely to his own reflections,
and the study of nature. He was never in the habit of repairing to London ;
and, indeed, he did not visit that metropolis above three times, nor did he re-
side in it altogether more than four months. He v.as thus neither in the habit
of seeing the works of his contemporaries, nor the English collections of old
pictures. Whatever disadvantage might attend this, it never stopped the career
of his improvement. Probably, indeed, it had the effect of preserving that ori-
ginality which formed always the decided chai-acter of his productions, and kept
him free from being trammelled by the style of any class of artists. Perhaps,
also, the elevation and dignity of style which he always maintained might be
greatly owing to his exclusive acquaintance with the works of the Italian mas-
ters. In English collections, the Dutch specimens are necessarily so pi-ominent,
both as to number and choice, that a familiar acquaintance with them must be
apt to beget a tiste for that homely truth, and minute finishing, in which their
merit consists.

The first excellence of a portrait, and for the absence of which nothing can
atone, must evidently be its resemblance. In this respect, Sir Henry's eminence
was universally acknowledged. In the hands of the best artists, there must, in
this part of their task, be something precarious ; but, in a vast majority of in-
stances, his resemblances were most striking. They were also happily distin-
guished, by being always the most favourable that could be taken of the indi-
vidual, and were usually expressive, as well of the character as of the features.
This desirable object was effected, not by the introduction of any ideal touches,
or any departure from the strictest truth, but by selecting and drawing out
those aspects under which the features appeared most dignified and pleasing.
He made it his peculiar study to bring out the mind of his subjects. His pene-
tration quickly empowered him to discover their favourite pursuits and topics of
conversation. Sir Henry's varied knowledge and agreeable manners then easily
enabled him, in the course of the sitting, to lead them into an animated discus-
sion on those ascertained subjects. As they spoke, he caught their features,
enlivened by the strongest expression of which they were susceptible. While
he thus made the portrait much more correct and animated, his sitters had a much
more agi-eeable task than those who were pinned up for hours in a constrained
and inanimate posture, and in a state of mental vacuity. So agreeable, indeed,
did many of the most distinguished and intelligent among them find his society,
that they courted it ever after, and studiously converted the artist into a friend
and acquaintance.

Besides his excellence in this essential quality of portrait. Sir Henry possess-
ed also, in an eminent degree, those secondary merits, which are requisite to
constitute a fine painting. His drawing was correct, his colouring rich and
deep, and his lights well disposed. There was something bold, free, and open

Balfour Esq., golfer. — [Half lenglh.'\ Rev. Dr Andrew Hunter, professor of divinity.
George Jarduie, professor of logic, Glasgow. Justice clerk IMacqueen. Lord chief baron
Dundas. Hay, lord Newton. Rev. Dr David Johnston, minister of North Leith. Rev.
Dr John Erskine. Dr James Hamilton. John Graj-, Esq., golfer. Professor Playfair.
Sir Walter Scott, when young; Ditto, when older.' Sir John Sinclair of Ulbsier, Bart.
Tytler of Woodhouselee. Harry David Inglis advocate. Sir Henry Raebum. Dr George
Hill, principal of St Andrews. Uev. Archibfdd Alison. Mr Francis Jeffrey. Henry
Cockburn. liord Meadowbaiik. — The following are portniits which, with many others, have
not been engraved : Sir Henry Stewart of Allanton. Mr Benjamin Bell, surgeon. I\Ir
Leonard Homer. Mr Henry Raebum, the painter's son. 'I'he duke of Hamilton. Lord
Frederick Campbell. The laird of Macnab, in highland costume. Earl of Breadalbane.
Sir John Douglas. Marquis of Huntl}'. Sir John Hay. Archibald Constable. Rev. F.
Thomson. Sir John and Lady Clerk. Mr Hennie, engineer. Dr Lindsay, Finkieburn.
Dr Alexander Duncan.

150 SIR HENRY RAEBURN.

in the whole style of his execution. ITie accessories, whether of drapery, fur-
niture, or landscapes, were treated with elegance and spirit ; yet without that
elaborate and brilliant finishing, which makes them become principals. These
parts were always kept in due subordination to the human figure ; while of it,
the head came always out as the prominent part. Animals, particularly that
noble species the horso, were introduced with peculiar felicity ; and Sir
Henry's equestrian portraits are perhaps his very best performances. The
able manner in which the animal itself was drawn, and in which it was com-
bined with the human figure, were equally conspicuous.

In private life, Kaeburn was remarkable for his courteous and amiable man-
ners, and his great domestic worth. While his painting-rooms were in George
Street, and latterly in York Place, he resided in a sequestered villa called St
Bernard's, near the village where he drew his first breath, then distant from,
but now engrossed in, the extending city, — where he amused his leisure hours
by the society of his children and grand-children, the cultivation of his garden,
and the study of ship-building, and some other mechanical pursuits, fur which
he had a liking. The hours between nine and four he almost invariably spent
in his studio. He latterly found another kind of employment for his leisure,
in planning out the environs of his little villa, which consisted of about ten acres,
in lots for building, and in designing the architectural elevations of a little
group of streets with which the ground was to be occupied. It may
readily be supposed that in this task he manifested a superiority of taste,
corresponding in seme measure with his supremacy in another branch cf
art The suburb which has arisen upon his property, and which was only com-
menced in his own lifetime, is accordingly conspicuous for the elegance dis-
played both in its general arrangement and in its details ; and has become a
favourite residence with such individuals as do not find it necessary for profes-
sional reasons to live nearer the centre of the city.

In I8li, Kaeburn was made an associate of the Royal Academy, and in the
subsequent year he became an Academician. He afterwards obtained, from
foreign countries, many honours of the same kind. In 1822, when George IV.
visited Scotland, the long-established fame of llaeburn, together with his for-
tune and gentlemanly manners, pointed him out as an individual in whom the
king might signify his respect for Scottish art, and he was accordingly knighted
at Hopetoun House, on the last day of his majesty's residence in the country.
Some weeks afterwards, his brethren in art, noAV increased to a large and re-
spectable body, gave him a dinner, as a token of their admiration of his talents
and character. In his speech on this occasion, he said modestly that he was
glad of their approbation, and had tried to merit it ; for he had never indulged
in a mean or selfish spirit towards any brother artists, nor had at any time
withheld the praise which was due to them, when their works happened to be
mentioned.

Sir Henry received afterwards the appointment of portrait-painter to his
majesty for Scotland; a nomination, however, which was not announced to
him till the very day when he was seized with his last illness. The king, when
conferring the dignity of knighthood, had expressed a wish to have a portrait
of himself painted by this great artist ; but Sir Henry's numerous engagements
prevented him from visiting the metropolis for that purpose. It reflects great
honour on tlie subject of this memoir, that he never gave way to those secure
and indolent habits, which advanced age and established reputation are so apt
to engender. He continued, with all the enthusiasm of a student, to seek and
to attain farther improvement. The pictures of his two or three last years are
unquestionably the best that he ever painted. But perhaps the most interesting

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BI^AnKIE *: SOK, GIiASGOff, ZHHiBORG-l * JiOSDON .

ALLAN RAMSAY. 151

part of his recent works consists in a series of lialf-length portraits of eininer.t
Scotsmen, wliich, during this period, he executed for his private gratification.

Tliis amiable and excellent man was suddenly affected with a general decay
and debility, not accompanied by any visible complaint. This state of illness,
after continuing for about a week to baffle all the e/lbrls of medical skill, ter-
minated fatally on the Sth July, IS23, when he had reached the age of 67,

Few men were better calculated to command respect in society, than Sir
Henry Raeburn. His varied knowledge, his gentlemanly and agreeable man-
ners, an extensive command of anecdote, always well told and happily intro-
duced, the general correctness and propriety of his whole deportment, made him be
highly valued by many of the most distinguished individuals in Edinburgh,
both as a companion and as a friend. His conversation might be said in some
degree to resemble his style of painting, — there was the same ease and simpli-
city, the same total absence of affectation of every kind, and the same manly
turn of sense and genius. But we are not aware, that the humorous gayety and
sense of the ludicrous, which often enlivened his conversation, ever guided his
pencil.

Sir Henry Raeburn, like Raphael, Michael Angelo, and some other masters
of the art, possessed the advantages of a tall and commanding person, and a
noble and expressive countenance. He excelled in archery, golf, and other
Scottish exercises; and it may be added, that, while engaged in painting, his
step and attitudes were at once stately and graceful.

By his lady, who survived him ten years. Sir Henry had two sons ; Peter,
a youth of great promise, who died at nineteen; and Henry, who, with his
wife and family, lived under the same roof with his father during the whole of
their joint lives, and was his most familiar friend and companion. To the
children of this gentleman, the illustrious painter left the bulk of his fortune,
chiefly consisting of Iiouses and ground- rents in the suburb of St Bernard's.

RAMSAY, Allan, the celebrated poet, was born at the village of Leadhills,
in Lanarkshire, October 15, 1686. His parentage was highly respectable, and
his ancestry even dignified. His father, Robert Ramsay, was manager of the lead
mines in Crawfordmuir, belonging to the earl of Hopetoun ; and his mother,
Alice Bower, was tlie daughter of a gentleman who had been brought from
Derbyshire, to introduce and oversee some improvements in the management of
the mines. His grandfather, Robert Ramsay, writer or notary in Edinburgh,
was the son of captain .Tohn Ramsay, a son of Ramsay of Cockpen, whose
family was a branch of the Ramsays of Dalhousie, afterwards ennobled.* A
grandmother of the poet, moreover, was Janet Douglas, daughter of Douglas of
Muthil. Though thus well descended, he was reared in the midst of poverty.
He had the misfortune to lose his father while he was yet an infant ; and his
mother seems almost immediately to have married a Mr Crighton, a small
landholder in tlie neighbourhood. Whether this last circumstance was an addi-
tional misfortune, as has been generally assumed by his biographers, we think
may reasonably be questioned. It is not at all probable that his father, dying
at tlie age of twenty-five, could have inuch property ; and the use and wont of
even a small landholder's house, is not likely to have been beneath that of a
poor widow's. His mother had a number of children to Mr Crighton ; but the
subject of this memoir seems to have been cared for in the same way as those
were, and to have enjoyed all the advantages appi-opriate to the same station

* The laird of Cockpen here mentioned, is usually represented as a brother of Ramsay of
Dalhousie; but the branch seems to hava left the main stock at a much earlier period than
thai would imply. The first Ramsay of Cockpen was a son of Sir Alexander Ramsay, who
was knighted at 'the coronation of James I., in li24.

152 ALLAN RAMSAY.

in life. He had the benefit of the parish school till he was in his nfteenth
year ; an extent of education not yet common in Scotland, except Mhen at-
tendance on the university is included. Of the progi-ess he had made in his
studies, we have unfortunately no particular account ; it certainly made him ac-
quainted with Horace, as is abundantly evident in his poems.

In the year 1700, Ramsay lost his mother; and in the following year his
step-father carried him into Edinburgh, and apprenticed him to a periwig-maker,
which appears to have been at that time a flourishing profession. Kainsay him-
self, it is said, wished to have been a painter ; and his stepfather has been re-
flected on as acting with niggardly sharp-sightedness, in refusing to comply with
his wishes. There is not, however, in the numerous writings of Ramsay, one
single hint that any violence was, on this occasion, done to his feelings ; and
we think the reflection might well have been spared. Those who have borne
the burden of rearing a family upon limited means, know the impossibility of
indulging either their own wishes, or those of their children in this respect,
being often obliged to rest satisfied, not with what they would have wished, but
with what they have been able to attain. There can be no doubt that
Allan Kainsay served out his apprenticeship honourably, and afteruards for a
number of years practised his trade as a master successfully ; circumstances that,
in cur opinion, justify the discretion and good sense of his step-father, more
powerfully than any reasoning could do. It is to be regTetted that of this
period of his life, no accounts have been handed down to us ; and the more so,
that we liave no doubt they would show his general good sense, and the steady
character of his genius, more powerfully than even the latter and more flourish-
ing periods of his history. Unlike the greater number of men of poetical
talent, Ramsay had the most perfect command over himself; and the blind
gropings of the cyclops of ambition within, led hira to no premature attempts to
attain distinction. Tliough he must have entertained day-dreams of immortality,
he enjoyed them with moderation ; and, without indulging either despondency
or dejection, he waited with patience for their realization. Prosecuting his
bujiness with diligence, he possessed independence ; and, while, in the com-
pany of respectable fellow citizens, he indulged and improved his social quali-
ties, he, by faking to wife an excellent woman, Christian Ross, the daughter of
a writer in Edinburgh, laid the foundation of a lifetime of domestic felicity.

It was in the year 1712, and in the twenty-sixth year of his age, tliat ho
entered into the state of matrimony; and the earliest of his productions that
can now be traced, is an epistle to the most happy members of the Easy Club,
dated the same year. This club originated, as he himself, who was one of its
members, informs us, " in the antipathy we all seemed to have at the ill humour
and contradiction which arise from trifles, especially those that constitute Whig
and Tory, without having the grand reason for it.''^ This club was in fact
formed of Jacobites, and the restoration of the Pretender was the "grand
reason" here alluded to. In the club every member assumed a fictitious name,
generally that of some celebrated writer. Ramsay, probably from the Tatler,
which must hare been a book much to his taste, pitched upon that of Isaac
Bickerstaf}', bat afterwards exchanged it for that of Gawin Douglas. In the
presence of this club, Ramsay was in the liabit of reading his first productions,
which, it would ai)pear, were published by or under the patronage of the
fraternity, probably in notices of its sittings, which would tend to give it cele-
brity and add to its influence. The elegy on Maggy Johnston seems to have
been one of the earliest of liis productions, and is highly characteristic of his
genius. An Elegy on the death of Dr Pitcairne in 1715, was likewise read be-
fore, and publislied by, the club ; but being at once political and personal, it

ALLAN RAMSAY. 153

was rejected by the author, when he republished his pueius. Allan had thkj
year been elected Poet Laureate of the club. But the rising of Mar put an
end to its meetings : and Ramsay, though still a keen Jacobite, felt it to be for
his interest to be so in secret. It was now, however, that lie commenced in
earnest his poetical career, ar.d speedily rose to a degree of popularity, which
had been attained by no poet in Scotland since the days of Sir David Lindsay.
For more than a century, indeed, Scottish poetry had been under an eclipse,
Avhile such poetical genius as the age afforded chose Latin as the medium of
communication. Semple, however, and Hamilton of Gilbertfield had of late
years revived the notes of the Doric reed ; and it seems to have been some of
their compositions, as published in Watson's Collection in 1706, that first in-
ipired Ramsay. Maggy Johnston's Elegy was speedily followed by that on John
Cowper, quite in the same strain of broad humour. The publication of
king James's " Christ's Kirk on the Green," from an old manuscript, speed-
ily followed, with an additional canto by the editor, which, possessing the same
broad humour, in a dialect perfectly level to the comprehension of the vulgar,
while its precursor could not be read even by them without the aid of explanatory
notes, met with a most coi'dial reception. Commentators have since that period
puzzled themselves not a little to explain the language of the supposed royal
bard. Eamsay, however, saved himself the trouble, leaving every one to find
it out the best way he might, for he gave no explanations ; and at the same
time, to impress his readei-s with admiration of his great learning, he printed
his motto, taken from Gavvin Douglas, in Greek characters. A second edition
of this work Avas published in the year 1718, with the addition of a third canto,
Avhich increased its popularity so much, that, in the course of the four following
years, it ran through five editions. It was previously to the publication of this
work in its extended form, that Allan Ramsay had commenced the bookselling
business, for it was " printed for the author, at the Mercury, opposite to Nid-
dry's Wynd ;" but the exact time when or the manner how he changed his
profession has not been recorded. At the Mercury, opposite to the head
of Niddry's Wynd, Ramsay seems to have prosecuted his business as an original
author, editor, and bookseller, with great diligence for a considerable number
of years. His own poems he continued to print as they were written, in single
sheets or half sheets, in which shape they are reported to have found a ready
sale, the citizens being in the habit of sending their children with a penny for
" Allan Ramsay's last piece." In this form were first published, besides those
we have already mentioned, '* The City of Edinburgh's address to the Country,"
" The City of Edinburgh's Salutation to the marquis of Caernarvon," *' Elegy on
Lucky Wood," "Familiar Epistles," &c. &c., which had been so well received
by the public that in the year 1720, he issued proposals for republishing them,
with additional poems, in one volume quarto. The estimation in which the
poet was now held was clearly demonstrated by the rapid filling up of a list of
subscribers, containing the names of all that Avere eminent for talents, learning,
or dignity in Scotland. The volume, handsomely printed by Ruddiman, and
ornamented by a portrait of the author, from the pencil of his friend Smibert,
was published in the succeeding year, and the fortunate poet realized four hun-
dred guineas by the speculation. This volume was, according to the fashion of
the times, prefaced with several copies of recommendatory verses ; and it contained
the first scene of the Gentle Shepherd, under the title of " Patie and Roger,"
and apparently intended as a mere pastoral dialogue. Incited by his brilliant
success, Ramsay redoubled his diligence, and in the year 1722, produced a
volume of Fables and Tales ; in 1723, the Fair Assembly ; and, in 1724, Health,
a poem, inscribed to the earl of Stair. In the year 1719, he had published a

154 ALLAN KAMSAT.

rolume of Scottish Son»i, which had a'ready run through two edition*, by which
he was encouraged to publish in January 1724, the first volume of ** The Tea
Table Miicellany,'» a collection of Songs, Scottish and English. Ihis w^s soon
followed by a second; in 1727, by a third; and some years afterwards by a
fourth. The demand for this work was so great that, in the course of a few
years, it ran through twelve editions. In later times Rarasay has been con-
demned for what he seems to have looked upon as a meritorious piece of
labour. He had refitted about sixty of the old airs with new verses, partly by
himself, and partly by others ; which was perhans absolutely necessary on ac-
count of the rudeness and indecency of the elder ditties. Modern antiquaries,
however, finding that he has thus been the means of banishing the latter order
of songs oat of existence, declaim against him for a result which he perhaps never
contemplated, and which, to say the least of it, could never have occurred, if
the lost poems had possessed the least merit That Ramsay, in publishing a
work for the immediate use of his contemporaries, did not consult the taste o;
wishes of an age a century later, was certainly very natural ; and though we
may regret that the songs are lost, we cannot well see liow the blame lies with
him. Ramsay, let us also recollect, was at this very time evincing his desire to
bring forward the really valuable productions of the elder rouse. In the year
1724, he published the "Ever-Green, being a Collection of Scots Poems,
wrote by the Ingenious before 1600." Ramsay, however, was neit)ier a faith-
ful, nor a well informed editor. He introduced into this collection, as ancient
compositions, two pieces of his own, entitled, ** The Vision," and " The Eagle
and Robin Redbreast,** the former being a political allegory with a reference
to the Pretender.

Ramsay had already written and published, in his first volume of original
poetry, " Patie and Roger," which he had followed up the following year with
" Jenny and Maggy," a pastoral, being a sequel to " Patie and Roger."
These sketches were so happily executed, as to excite in every reader a desire
to see them extended. He therefore proceeded with additional colloquies in
connexion with the former, so as to form in the end a dramatic pastoral in five
acts. In the following letter, published here for the first time, it will be seen
that he was engaged on this task in spring 1724, at a time when the duties of
life were confining him to the centre of a busy city, and when, by his own
confession, he had almost forgot the appearance of those natural scenes which
he has nevertheless so admirably described : —

ALLAN RAMSAT TO WILLIAM RAMSAY. OF TEMPLEHALL, Esq.

" Edinburgh, April 8th, 1 724.

*' Sir, — ^These come to bear yoa my very heartyest and grateful wishes. May
you long enjoy your Marlefield, see many a returning spring pregnant with
new beautys ; may every thing that^s excellent in its kind continue to fill
your extended soul with pleasure. Hejoyce in the beneficence of heaven, and
let all about ye rejoyce — whilst we, alake, the laborious insects of a snioaky city,
hurry about from ]>1ace to place in one eternal maze of fatiguing cares, to se-
cure this day our daylie bread — and something till't. For me, I have almost
forgot how springs gush from the earth. Once, I had a notion how fragrant
the fields were after a soft shower; and often, time out of mind! the glowing
blushes of the rooming have fired my breast with raptures. Then it was that
the mixture of rural music echoM agreeable from the sorrounding bills, and all
nature appeared in gnyety.

"However, what is wanting to me of rural sweets I endeavour to make up b;

ALLAN RAMSAY. 155

being continually at tlie acting of some new farce, for I'm grown, I know not
how, so very wise, or at least think so (which is much about one), that the mob
of mankind aflurd me a continual diversion ; and this place, tho' little, is
crowded with raerry-andrews, fools, and fops, of all sizes, [who] intermix'd with
a few that can think, compose the comical medley of actors.

" Receive a sang made on the marriage of my young chief — I am, this vaca-
tion, going through with a Dramatick Pastoral, which I design to carry the
length of five acts, in vei-se a' the gate, and if I succeed according to my plan,
I hope to tope with the authors of JPastor Fido and Arainta.

" God take care of you and yours, is the constant prayer of, sir, your faith-
ful humble servant,

*' Allan Eamsat."

The poem was published in 1725, under the title of the Gentle Shepherd,
and met with instant and triumphant success. A second edition was printed by
Ruddiman for the author, who still resided at his shop opposite Niddry's \yynd ;
but the same year he removed from this his original dwelling to a house in the
east end of the Luckenbooths, which had formerly been ti:e London Coffee
house. Here, in place of Mercury, he adopted the heads of Ben Jonson and
Drummond of Hawthornden, and in addition to his business as a booksel-
ler, he commenced that of a circulating library. Ramsay was the fii'st to es-
tablish such a business in Scotland, and it appears that he did so, not without
some opposition from the more serious part cf the community, who found fault
with him for lending the loose plays of that age to persons whose morals were
liable to be tainted by them. In this siiop the wits of Edinburgh continued
daily to meet for information and amusement during the days of Ramsay and
his successors in trade. In the year 1728, he published by subscription
the second volume of his poems in quarto, (including the Gentle Shepherd,)
which Avas equally successful with the first Of this volume a second edition
was printed in octavo in the succeeding year. In 1730, Ramsay published
a collection of thirty fables, after which, tbough he wrote several copies
of verses for the amusement of his friends, he gave nothing more to the public.
His fame was now at the full, and though he had continued to issue a number
of volumes every year, all equally good as those that preceded them, it
could have received no real addition. Over all the three kingdoms, and over
all their dependencies, the works of Ramsay were widely diffused, and warmly
admired. The whole were republished by the London booksellers in the year
1731, and by the Dublin booksellers in 1733, all sterling proofs of extended
popularity, to Avhich the poet himself failed not on proper occasions to allude.

Ramsay had now risen to wealth and to high respectability, numbering
among his familiar friends the best and the wisest men in the nation. By the
greater part of the Scottish nobility he wns caressed, and at the houses of some
of the most distinguished of them, Hamilton palace, Loudoun castle, &a, was a
frequent visitor. With Duncan Forbes, lord advocate, afterwards loi-d president,
and the first of Scottish patriots, Sir John Clerk, Sir William Bennet, and Sir
Alexander Dick, he lived in the habit of daily and familiar, and friendly inter-
course. With contemporary poets his intercourse was extensive and of the most
friendly kind. The two Hamiltons, of Bangour and Gilbertfield, were his most
intimate friends. He addressed verses to Pope, to Gay, and to Somerville,
the last of whom returned his poetical salutations in kind. Mitchell and
Mallet shared also in his friendly greetings. ^leston addressed to him verses
highly complimentary, and William Scott of Thirlstane wrote Latin hexametera
to his praise. Lender so much good fortune he could not escape the malignant

156 ALLAN KAMSAY.

glances of enrious and disappointed poetasters, and of morose and stern
moralists. By tlie first he was annoyed with a " Block for Allan Ramsay's wig,
or the Poet fallen in a trance;" by the latter, " Allan Ramsay metamorphosed
to a Heather-bloter poet, in a pastoral between Algon and i\Ielibcea,"\vith " The
flight of religious piety from Scotland upon the account of Ramsay's lewd books
and the hell-bred playhouse comedians, who debauch all the faculties of the
souls of the rising generation," '* A Looking-glass for Allan Rams.ny," " The
Dying Words of Allan Ramsay," &c. The three last of these pieces were
occasioned by a speculation which he entered into for the encourage-
ment of the drama, to which he appears to have been strongly attached.
For this purpose, about the year 1736, he built a playhouse in Carrubber's close
at vast expense, which, if it was ever opened, was immediately shut up by the
act for licensing the stage, which was passed in the year 1737. Ramsay on
this occasion addressed a rhyming complaint to the court of session, which
was first printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, and since in all the editions
tiiat have been given of his works. It does not, however, appear that he ob-
tiined any redress, and the pecuniary loss which he must have suft'ered proba-
bly aflected him more than the lampoons to which we have alluded. He had
previously to this publislied his " Reasons for not answering the Hackney
Scribblers," which are sufliciently biting, and with which he seems to have re-
mained satisfied through life. He has described himself in one of his epis-
tles as a

" Little man that lo'ed his ease,

And never lliol'd these passions laiig

That rudely meant to do him wrang ;"

which we think the following letter to his old friend Smibert, the painter, wlio
had by this time emigrated to the western world, will abundantly confirm : — " My
dear old friend, your health and happiness are ever ane addition to my satis-
faction. God make your life easy and pleasant. Half a century of years have
now rowed o'er my pow, that begins to be lyart ; yet thanks to my author I
eat, drink, and sleep as sound as I did twenty years syne, yea I laugh,
heartily too, and find as many subjects to employ that faculty upon as ever ; fools,
fops, and knaves grow as rank as formerly, yet here and there are to be found
good and worthy men who are ane honour to human life. We have small hopes
of seeing you again in our old world ; then let us be virtuous and hope to meet in
heaven. My good auld wife is still my bedfellow. My son Allan has been
pursuing your science since he was a dozen years auld ; was with Mr Hyfiidg
at London for some time about two years ago ; has been since at home, paint-
ing here like a Raphael ; sets out for the seat of the beast beyond
the Alps within a month hence, to be away about two years. I'm sweer to part
with him, but canna stem the current which flows from the advice of his patrons
and his own inclination. I have three daughters, one of seventeen, one of
sixteen, and one of twelve years old, and no ae wally dragle among them — all
fine girls. These six or seven years past I have not written a line of poetry ; I
can give over in good time, before the coolness of fancy that attends ad-
vanced years should make me risk the reputation I had acquired.

*• Free twenty-five to five and fortj',
My muse was neither s^veer nor dorty,
My Pegasus would break liis tether,
E'en at the shaking of a feather;
And through ideas scour like drift,
Streking his wings up to the lift ;

ALLAN RAMSAY. 157

Then, then my soul was in a low,
That gart my numbers safely row;
But eUd and judgment gin to say,
Let be }our sangs, and learn to pray."

It is scarcely possible to conceive a more pleasing picture of ease and satisfac-
tion than is exhibited in the above sketch ; and, the aft'air of the theatre in
Carrubber's close excepted, Ramsay seems to have filled it up to the last. He
lost his wife. Christian Ross, in the year 1743 ; but his three daughters, grown
up to womanhood, in some measure supplied the want of her society, and much
of his time in his latter years seems to have been spent with his friends in the
country. It appears to have been about this period, and with the view of relin-
quishing his shop, the business of which still went on prosperously, that he erected
a house on the north side of the Castle Hill, where he might spend the remain-
der of his days in dignified retirement. The site of this house was selected
with the taste of a poet and the judgment of a painter. It commanded a reach
of scenery probably not surpassed in Europe, extending from the mouth of the
Forth on the east to the Grampians on the west, and stretching far across the
green hills of Fife to the north ; embracing in the including space every variety
of beauty, of elegance, and of grandeur. The design for tlie building, how-
ever, which the poet adopted, was paltry in the extreme, and by the wags of
the city was compared to a goose pye, of which complaining one day to lord
Elibank, his lordship gayly remarked, that now seeing him in it he thought it
an exceedingly apt comparison. Fantastic though the house was, Ramsay spent
the last twelve years of his life in it, except when he was abroad with his
friends, in a state of philosophic ease, which few literaiy men are able to
attain. In the year 1755, he is supposed to have relinquished business. An
Epistle which he wrote this year to James Clerk, Esq. of Pennycuick, " full of
wise saws and modern instances," gives his determination on the subject, and a
picture of himself more graphic than could be drawn by any other person *.

•' Tho'born to no ae inch of ground,
I keep my conscience white and sound ;
And though I ne'er was a rich keeper.
To make tliat up I live the cheaper;
By this ae knack I've made a shift
To drive ambitious care adrift ;
And now in years and sense grown auld,
In ease I like my limbs to fauld.
Debts I abhor, and plan to be
From shackling trade and dangers free •,
That I may, loosed frae care and strife.
With calmness view the edge of life;
And when a full ripe age shall crave
Slide easily into my grave ;
Now seventy years are o'er my head,
And thirty more may lay me dead."

While he was thus planning schemes of ease and security, Ramsay seems to
have forgotten the bitter irony of a line in one of his elegies,

•' The wily carl, he gathered gear.
But ah! he's dead."

At the very time he was thus writing, he was deeply afflicted with the scurvy
in his gums, by which he eventually lost all his teeth, and even a portion of

158 ALLAN RAMSAY.

one of his jaw bones. Ho died at Edinburgh on the 7th of January, 1757, in
tiie 73rd year of his age. He was buried on the 9th of the month, without
any particular honours, and with him for a time was buried Scottish poetry,
there not being so much as one poet found in Scotland to sing a requiem over
his grave. His wife, Christian Ross, seems to have brought him seven children,
three sons and four daughters ; of these Allan, the eldest, and two daughters
survived him. Of the character of Ramsay, the outlines we presume may be
drawn from the comprehensive sketch which we have exhibited of the events of
his life. Prudent self-control seems to have been his leading characteristic,
and the acquisition of a competency the great object of his life. He was one
of the few poets to whom, in a pecuniary point of view, poetry has been really
a blessing, and who could combine poetic pursuits with those of ordinary
business.

RAMSAY, Allan, an eminent portrait-painter, was the eldest son of the
subject of the preceding article, and was born in Edinburgh in the year 1713.
He received a liberal education, and displayed in boyhood a taste for the art
whicfi he afterwards successfully cultivated. His father, writing to his friend
Smibert in 1736, says: " My son Allan has been pursuing your science since he
was a dozen years auld ; was with Mr Hyffidg in London for some time, about
two years ago; has since been painting here like a Raphael : sets out for the
seat of the beast beyond the Alps within a month hence, to be away two years.
I'm sweer [loath] to part with him, but canna stem the current which flows from
the advice of his patrons and his own inclination.'^ It is to be supposed that
the father would be the less inclined to control his son in this matter, as he
was himself, in early life, anxious to be brought up as a painter. In Italy
young Ramsay studied three years under Solimano and Imperiali, two artists of
celebrity. He then returned to his native country, and commenced business,
painting, amongst others, his father's friend, president Forbes, and his own sis*
ter, Janet Ramsay, whose portraits are preserved in Newhall house, and
an excellent full-length of Archibald duke of Argyle, in his robes as an
extraordinary lord of session, now in the Town Hall, Glasgow. The
name of Allan Ramsay junior, is found in the list of the members of the
Academy of St Luke, an association of painters and lovers ot painting, insti-
tuted at Edinburgh in 1729, but which does not appear to have done anything
worthy of record.' It would also appear that he employed part of his time in
giving private instructions in drawing, for it was while thus engaged in the
family of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Evelick, that he gained the heart and hand

of the baronet's eldest daughter, Margaret — a niece of the illustrious Mansfield

by whom he had three children. In 1754, he became the founder of the Select
Society, which comprised all the eminent learned characters then living in the
Scottish capital, and which he was well qualified to adorn, as he was an excel-
lent classical scholar, knew French and Italian perfectly, and had all the polish
and liberal feeling of a highly instructed man.

Previously to this period he had made London his habitual residence, though
he occasionally visited both Rome and Edinburgh. In Bouquet's pamphlet on
"the Present State of the Fine ArU in England," published in 1755, he is
spoken of as " an able painter, who, acknowledging no other guide than nature,
brought a rational taste of resemblance with him from Italy. Even in his por-
traits," says this writer, " he shows that just steady spirit, which he so agree-
ably displays in his conversation." He found in the earl of Bridgewater, one of

> The rules of this obscure institution, with the signatures, were published by ISIr Patrick
Gibson, in his " View of the Arts of Design in BriUin," in the Edinburgh Annual Hecis-
ter for 1810. * '

ALLAN RAMSAY. 159

his earliest English patrons. He was also introduced by the earl of Bute to the
prince of Wales, afterwards George III., of whom he painted portraits, both in
full length and in profile, which were engraved, the one by Ryland, the other
by Woollett, He practised portrait-painting for several years with distinguished
success, being deficient, according to VValpole, rather in subjects than in genius.
His portraits are distinguished by a calm unaffected representation of nature ;
and he is universally allowed to have contributed, with Reynolds, to raise this
branch of art in Britain. He had not long been in practice before he acquired
considerable wealth, which, it appears, he used in a liberal spirit. When his
father died in 1757, in somewhat embarrassed circumstances, he paid his debts,
settling, at the same time, a pension on his unmarried sister, Janet Ramsay, who
survived till ISOi.

In 1767, Ramsay was appointed portrait-painter to the king and queen,
which brought him an immense increase of employment, as portraits of their
majesties were perpetually in demand for foreign courts, ambassadors, and public
bodies at home. He was, therefore, obliged to engage no fewer than five
assistants to forward his pictures, among whom was David Martin, the predeces-
sor of Raeburn. In consequence of his enlightened and amusing conversation,
he became a great favourite with their majesties, the queen being particularly
pleased with him on account of his ability to converse in German, in which he
had not a rival at court, save amongst her own domestics. The state nobles, and
other public leaders of that time, were also fond of the conversation of Ramsay,
who is said to have taken more pleasure in politics and literature than in hi*
art, and wrote many pieces on controverted subjects, with the signature, " In-
vestigator," which were ultimately collected into a volume. He corresponded,
too, with Voltaire and Rousseau, both of whom he visited when abroad; and his
letters are said to have been elegant and witty, " Ramsay, in short," says Mr
A. Cunningham, " led the life of an elegant accomplished man of the world,
and public favourite." He was frequently of Dr Johnson's parties, who said of
him, " You will not find a man in whose conversation there is more instruction,
more information, and elegance, than in Ramsay's." He was noted in his
own country for having, after the battle of Prestonpans, written an imitation of
the song of Deborah in scripture, which he put into the mouth of a Jacobite
young lady of family, and which displayed considerable powers of satire ; and
in the Edinburgh Annual Register foi^l813, will be found a burlesque on Ho-
race's " Integer Vitae," which shows such a dexterous union of the Latin rhythm
with the English rhyme, as none but a man of a singular kind of genius could
have effected.^

In consequence of an accident Avhich injured his arm, Ramsay retired from
business about the year 1775. He then lived several years in Italy, amusing
himself chiefly with literary pursuits. His health gradually sinking, he formed
the wish to return to his native land ; but the motion of the carriage brought on
a slow fever by tlie way, and he died at Dover, August 10, 17 8 i, in the seven-
ty-first year of his age.

John Ramsay, the son of the painter, entered the array, and r(Ke to the rank
of raajor-generaL His two daughters, Amelia and Charlotte, were respectively
married to Sir Archibald Campbell of Inverness, and colonel Malcolm o.'
Ford farm, Surrey.

> The following portraits, by Mr Kamsay, Lave, amongst others, been engraved : — King
George III. Queen Charlotte. Frederick, prince of Wales. Lord chancellor Hardwicke.
The earl of Bute. John, duke of Argyk. The earl of Bath. Sir Charles Pratt (lord
Cambden). Thomas Burnet, judge of common pleas. Hugh Dalrymple (lord Drummore).
Dr Alexander ]\Ionro, primus. David Hume. Archibald, duke of Argyle. PresidenJ
Forbes. Provost Coutts. Lady George Lennox. Lady Ei-skine. Alan Kamsay, the poet.

160 ANDREW MICHAEL RAMSAY.

RAMSAY, Andre^t Michael, better known by the name of the Chevalier de
Ramsay, was born in Ayr, 9th June, 1G86. He was the son of a baker, who
had acquired some property, and was able to give him a good education. From
the scljool of his native burgh, he was removed to the university of Edinburgh,
where he became distinguished for his abilities and diligence. In consequence
of the high reputation he had acquired he was intrusted with the tuition of James,
afterwards fourth earl of Wemyss, and his brother David, lord Elcho, the for-
mer of whom he attended at the university of St Andrews. Of these youths the
chevalier has left a pleasing notice, dated Isleworth, February 25, 1709 : " I
have nothing to interrupt nie but an hour or two's attendance at night upon two
of the most innocent, sweet, sprightly little boys I ever knew." Besides
this notice of his pupils, we have in the same d^jcument a remarkable
revelation respecting himself. That he was a young man full of literary en-
thusiasm, and haunted with day-dreams of immortality, the history of his after
life abundantly testifies; yet he professes here that all his ** ambition was to be
forgotten." Such a profession may reasonably be suspected in any man, for
no one, in ordinary circumstances, can have the least reason to fear that ho will
be forgotten. In young men it may always be interpreted as meaning the very
reverse of the expression, being neither more nor less than the extorted
bitterness of a proud or a vain spirit, sickening and sinking under the
prospect of accumulating difficulties or ultimate disappointment Before this
time, Ramsay had become unsettled in his religious principles. He now
visited Holland, and took up his residence at Leyden, the university of which
was at that time the common resort of the literary youth of Scotland. Here
he fell into the company of Poiret, one of the most distinguished advocates of
the mystic theology, then so prevalent on the continent, from whom he learned
the leading dogmas of that system. Having heard of the fame of Fenelon,
archbishop of Cambray, and that he had long advocated mysticism, Ramsay
determined to pay him a visit, and take his advice on the subject. He accord-
ingly, in 1710, repaired to Cambray, where he met with the most cordial recep-
tion. He was at this time in his twenty-fourth year, polite and engaging in
his manners, and of a gentle and easy temper, every way calculated to win upon
the affections of a man like Fenelon. Having received him into his house as
an inmate of the family, the good archbishop listened to the disjointed history
of his religious opinions with patience, discussed with him at large his objec-
tions, his doubts, and his difficulties, and in less than six months had the satis-
faction to find that he had succeeded in making his guest a true catholic, at
least as far as he could believe himself such, for Ramsay had most cordially im-
bibed all his opinions, philosophical, moral, and religious. This strange ad-
venture gave colour and consistence to the whole subsequent life of the cheva-
lier. Having been preceptor to the duke of Burgundy, heir-apparent to the
throne of France, Fenelon had considerable influence at the French
court, and he procured for his disciple and protege the preceptorship to tlie
duke de Chateau-Thiery and the prince de Turenne. In this situation Ram-
say acquitted himself so well that he was made a knight of the order of St
Lazarus, and from the commendations he received was selected by the person
called the Pretender, to superintend the education of his two sons, prince
Charles Edward, and Henry, afterwards cardinal de York. For this purpose he
left France, and repaired to Rome in the year 1 724. The retirement that he had
previously courted and enjoyed, was now interrupted. His literary status hin-
dered him from keeping altogether aloof from the kindred spirits around him.
Moreover, he perceived that the political and religious intrigues that were cai'-
ried on at the apostolic court, but ill suited the prosecution of those literary

ANDREW MICHAEL RAMSAY. 161

labours in which he had embarked. He therefore, after a short residence in
Italy, requested of his employer permission to return to France, uhich
was readily granted. Literary leisure was what he now desired. In the capi-
tal of France, however, it was unlikely he could obtain this, as the same intol-
erant spirit prevailed that had hastened his departure from Rome. He there-
fore resolved on visiting his native country. On reaching Britain, he was re-
ceived into the family of the duke of Argyle. That repose so congenial to one
of his studious habits was now aflbrded him, and he immediately set about the
preparation of those works which he had long meditated, and through which
he has become known to posterity. His largest work, ** On the Principles of
Natural and Revealed Religion," contains a luminous and detailed statement of
the various steps which the Divine Being, in the one of these grand divisions,
has made demonstrable by human reason, and an ingenious exhibition of the
other, as made known to man by revelation. The forcible process of deduc-
tion, which, throughout the work, is brought to bear upon the mind of the reader,
can hardly fail in accomplishing what the author intended — an elevation of the
heart of the creature to the Creatoi-. The work has passed severail times through
the press. Ramsay next published " The Travels of Cyrus." The best criterion
of judging of this publication is to be found in the great number of editions
that have from time to time been laid before the public. Although the fame of
the chevalier, as a writer, rests chiefly upon the *' Travels of Cyrus," yet on its
first appearance it met with severe criticism. That a desire to be hypercritical
might sway some of his literary judges is possible ; at any rate, it has outlived
their censorship. It secured for its author an honourable niche among the
standard authoi-s of Britain. It displays an intimate acquaintance with the
customs, laws, learning, and antiquities of the period of which it treats,
and exhibits a beautiful delineation of human character, together with
the soundest principles of true philosophical discrimination. Soon after these
works appeared, he was honoured by the university of Oxford with the degree
of doctor of laws, which was conferred on him by Dr King, principal of St Mary's
Hall. It ought to have been previously stated, that, before receiving this
honourable distinction, he had been admitted to St Mary's Hall in 1730. He
afterwards returned to France, and resided several years at Pontoise, a seat of
the prince de Turenne, duke de Bouillion. While here, he published the life
of his benefactor, the archbishop of Cambray ; a biographical sketch, chiefly re-
markable as containing a detailed account of the persecution to which the wor-
thy prelate was subjected by his brother divines, for his suspected connivance
at the doctrines of mysticism, and the arguments adduced on both sides on his
own conversion to the catholic faith. It was reprinted in this country in a
small duodecimo volume. Soon afterwards, he published, in two volumes,
" The History of Viscount Turenne, marshal of France," which was also trans-
lated and published in England. He resided in the prince's family in the
situation of intendant till the period of his death, which happened at St Germain
en Laye, on the 6th of 3Iay, 1743, having nearly completed his fifty-seventh
year. His remains were interred at the place where he died, but some time af-
terwai-ds his heart was removed to the nunnery of St Sacrament at Paris.

It is supposed that when in England he did not visit the place of his birth.
Perhaps his renunciation of the faith of his forefathers, and blighting the hopes
of a doting parent, prevented his doing so. That he did not, however, neglect
his relations is evident from the fact of his wishing to settle upon them an an-
nuity, which they refused to accept. From France he remitted a considerable
sum of money to his father; but on its being presented, the staunch presby-
terian indignantly replied, " It cam' by the beast, and let it gang to the

162 DR. THOMAS REID.

l>east;" and it is not supposed that he ever profited in miy mannei' by his son's
iibilities.

llie principal works of the chevalier Ramsay not yet allmled to^ are • A Dla-
Ctjurse on the Epic Poem," in French, generally prefixed to the later editions
of Telemachus, "An Essay on Civil Government;" "Remarks on lord Sliaftes-
bur^'s Characteristics " (French) ; a few English poems of no value ; and two
letters in French to Racine the younger, upon the true sentiments of I'ope in
the Essny on Man.

REID, (Dr) Thomas, an eminent metaphysician and moral philosopher, and pro-
fessor of the latter science in the universities of Aberdeen and Glasgow successive-
ly, was born at Strachan, in Kincardineshii-e, in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, on
the 26th of April, 1710, as shown by the minute researches of professor Dugald
Stewart, who afibclionately wrote the life of his eminent friend. The family of
Reid had been ornamented by producing difl^erent authors of considerable en)i-
nence in their age.* One of his ancestors, James Reid, was the first minister
of Banchory-Ternan (a parish in the neighbourhood of Strachan) after the Re-
formation. His son Thomas has been commemorated by Dempster, (whose
praises of a protestant clergyman's son mny be deemed worthy of credit,) as a
man of great eminence. He collected in a volume the Theses lie had defended
at foreign univei-sities ; and some of his Latin poems were inserted in the
Delitice Poetarum Scotorum. He wns Greek and Latin secretary to James L,
and bequeathed to Marischal college a sum for the support of a librarian, which
lias since disappeared, or been directed to other purposes. Alexander, a
brother of Thomas, was physician to king Charles L, and published some for-
gotten works on medicine and surgery.- Another brother translated Buchanan's
History of Scotland into English. The father of the subject of our memoir
Mus the reverend Lewis Reid, for fifty years minister of the parish of Strachan ;
and his mother was daughter to David (Gregory of Kinnairdie, elder brother of
James Gregory, the inventor of the reflecting telescope.

After spending two years at the parish school of Kincardine O'Neil, Thomas
Keid was sent, for the farther prosecution of his studies, to Aberdeen, where, at
the age of twelve or thirteen, he was entered as a student of 3Iarischal college.
Little is known of his early studies or qualifications, with the exception of the
not very flattering remark of his master, ** That he would turn out to be a man
of good and well-wearing parts." In a letter to a friend, written late in life,
lie has stated some circumstances connected with his habits of body in youth,
Mhich he appears to have recollected merely as the data of some of his philo-^
Eophical speculations. They are perhaps not the least interesting, as showing
that the physical state of the body produces eff*ects in the procedure of the
mind, different fi*om what might be presumed as tlie mental characteristics of
the individual, as derivable from his opinions. " About the age of fourteen,"
he says, " I was almost every night unhappy in my sleep from frightful dreams;
sometimes hanging over a dreadful precipice, and just ready to drop down ;
sometimes pursued for my life, and stopped by a wall, or by a sudden loss of
all strength ; sometimes ready to be devoured by a wild beasL How long I
was plagued with such dreams, I do not recollect. 1 believe it wns for a year
or two at least; and I think they had quite left me before I was sixteen. In
those days, I was much given to what Mr Addison, in one of his Spectators,
calls castle-building: and in my evening solitary walk, which was generally all
the exercise I took, my thoughts would huiTy me into some active scene, where
I generally acquitted myself much to my own satisfaction ; and in these scenes
of imagination, 1 performed many a gallant exploit. At the same time, in my
J SU-warl's Biographiail IMemoirs, p. 400.

DK. THOMAS REID. 163

dreams I found nvyself the most arrant coward thitt ever was. Not only my
courage, but my strength failed nie in every danger ; and I often rose from my
bed in the morning in such a panic, that it took some time to get the better rf
it I wished very much to get free of these uneasy drennis, whidi not only
nuide me unhappy in sleep, but often left a disagreeable impression in my
mind for some part of the following day. I thought it was worth trying
whether it nns possible to recollect that it w&a all a dream, and that I was in
no real danger, and that every fright I had was a dream. After many fruitless
attempts to recollect this A\hen the danger appeared, I effected it at last, and
have often, when I was sliding over a precipice into the abyss, recollected thr.t
it was all a dream, and boldly jumped down. The effect of this commonly was,
that I immediately awoke. But I awoke calm and intrepid, which I thought a
great acquisition. After this, my dreams were never very uneasy ; and, in a
short time, I dreamed not at all." Ihat a mind such as Reid's should have
been subject to " castle-building,"' and to singular dreams, must be accounted
for from the state of his .bcdy ; while the strong active powers of his mind are
shown in the mastership which he at length acquired over the propensity.

While he remained at Marischal college, Reid was appointed to the librarian-
ship, which his ancestor had founded. During this period, he formed an inti-
macy with John Stewart, al'terwards professor of mathematics in Marischal col-
lege. In 173t3, lie accompanied this gentleman to England, and they together
visited London, Oxford, and Cambridge, enjoying an intercourse with Dr
David Gregory, Martin, Folkes, and Dr Bentley. In 1737, the King's college,
as patrons, presented Dr Reid with tlie living of New Machar, in Aberdeenshire.
An avei'sion to the law of patronage, which then strongly characterized many
districts of Scotland, excited hostile feelings against a man, who, if the parish-
ioners could have shown their will as well in making a choice as in vituperating
the person chosen, would have been the very roan after their heart. In enter-
ing on his cure, he Avas even exposed to personal danger. " His unwearied
attention, however," «ays professor Stewart, " to the duties of his office ; the
mildness tind forbearance of his temper, and the active spirit of his humanity,
soon overcame all these prejudices : and, not many years afterwards, when he
was called to a different situation, the same persons who had suffered themselves
to be so far misled, as to take a share in tiie outrages against him, followed him,
on his departure, with their blessings and teais." On his departure, some old-
men are said to have observed, " We fought against Dr Reid when he came,
and would have fought for him when he went away." It is said that, for at
least a considerable portion of the time which he spent at New Machar, he was
accustomed to preach the sermons of Dr Tillotson and Dr Evans, instead of hh
own ; a circumstance which his biographer attributes to modesty and self-diffi-
dence. In 1740, he married Elizabeth, the daughter of his uncle, Dr George
Reid, physician in London. About this period, he is said to have spent his
time in intensely studying moral philosophy, and in making these observations
on the oi'gans of sense, and their operation on the external world, which
formed the broad basis of his philosophy. Reid was not a precocious genius;
and wliatever he wrote in early life, is said to have been defective in style : but
he busied himself in planting good seed, which, in the autumn of his days, pro-
duced to himself and to the world a rich and abundant harvest. His first
public literary attempt was an ** Esscy on Quantity, occasioned by reading a
Treatise, in which Simple and Compound Ratios are applied to Virtue and
Merit," published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, in 17'Ji8. This
paper is levelled at the " Inquiry into the Origin of our ideas of Beauty and Vir-
tue," by Dr Hutcheson, who had committed the venial philosophical sin, of

164 DR. THOMAS KEID.

making use of a science, wliich can only be brought to bear on moral science ns
a means of illustrating it, and abbreviating the method of reasoning, as affording
grounds for reasoning by analogy. Perhaps, on a fair consideration, Hutcheson
may not have intended to carry his system to the extent presumed in this valu-
able little treatise, most of the arguments of which are made to meet the appli-
cation of the mathematics, not only as forming a regular series of analogies fit
to be used in moral science, but likewise as so accurately corresponding, that, as
it is all mensurable itself, it serves the purpose of a measurer in moral science.
The following sentence contains the essence of his argument on this last point,
and it is conclusive. " It is not easy to say how many kinds of improper quan-
tity may, in time, be introduced into the mathematics, or to what new subjects
measures may be applied : but this, I think, we may conclude, that there is no
foundation in nature for, nor can any valuable end be served by, applying
measure to any thing but what has these two properties : First, it must admit
of degrees of greater and less ; secondly, it must be associated with or related
to something that has proper quantity, so as that when one is increased, the
other is increased ; when one is diminished, the other is diminished also ; and
every degree of the one must have a determinate magnitude or quantity of the
other corresponding to iu"' Reid seems not to have been very certain whether
the person whom he opposes, (styled by him Dr M.,) did actually maintain
mathematics as being a proper measure in the moral sciences, or that it merely
afforded useful analogies ; and perhaps some who are disposed to agree with Reid
as to the former alternative, may not be prepared to join him in attacking the
latter. He continues : " Though attempts have been made to apply mathema-
tical reasoning to some of these things, and the quantity of virtue and merit in
actions has been measured by simple and compound ratios ; yet Dr 31. does not
think that any real knowledge has been struck out this way : it may, perhaps,
if discreetly used, be a help to discourse on these subjects, by pleasing the
imagination, and illustrating what is already known ; but till our affections and
appetites shall themselves be reduced to quantity, and exact measures of their
various degrees be assigned, in vain shall we essay to measure virtue and merit
by them. This is only to ring changes on words, and to make a show of ma-
thematical reasoning, without advancing one step in real knowledge."^

In 1752, the professors of King's college in Aberdeen, elected Dr Reid pro-
fessor of moral philosophy, " in testimony of the high opinion they had formed
of his learning and abilities." After having taken up his residence in Aber-
deen, he became one of the projectors of that select society of philosophers,
which then dignified the northern city. It is perhaps partly to the influence
of this association, that, among many other works, we owe the " Inquiry into
the Human Mind upon the Principles of Common Sense," which Dr Reid pub-
lished in 1764. As this work developed an argument against the sceptical
philosophy of Mr Hume, the author, with more magnanimity than some mem-
bers of his profession displayed at the time, procured, by the interposition of
Dr Blair, a perusal of the manuscript by Hume, in order that any of those dis-
putes, from mere misunderstanding of words, so pernicious to philosophical
discussion, might be avoided. Hume at first displayed some disinclination,
founded on previous experience of others, to encourage this new assailant.
'* I wish," he said, " that the parsons would confine themselves to their old
occupation of worrying one another, and leave philosophers to argue with tera-

2 Reid's Essays, (1820,) vi.

3 Essays, viii. Stewart, who praises the principles of this Essay, (Life ut sup. 510,) was
more than niosl philosophers of his eminence, addicted to the vice detected in one of its
forms, viz., comparison between menbil and physical nature, not merely to the extent of
illustration, but oi analogy/.

DR. THOMAS REID. 165

per, moderation, and good manners." But his liberal mind did rot permit
him, on seeing the manuscript, and knowing the worth of its author, to yield to
his iuisty anticipations. Writing personally to Eeid, he said, " By Dr Blair's
means I have been favoured with the perusal of your performance, which I have
read with great pleasure and attention. It is certainly very rare, that a piece
so deeply philosophical, is wrote with so much spirit, and affords so much en-
tertainment to the reader, though I must still regret the disadvantages under
which I read it, as I never had the whole performance at once before me, and
could not be able fully to compare one part with another. To this reason
chiefly I attribute some obscurities, which, in spite of your short analysis or ab-
stract, still seem to hang over your system. For I must do you the justice to
own, that, when I enter into your ideas, no man appeal's to express himself with
greater perspicuity than you do ; a talent Avliich, above all others, is requisite
in that species of literature which you have cultivated. There are some objec«
tions, which I would willingly propose, to the chapter Of Sight, did I not sus-
pect that they proceed from my rot sufficiently understanding it ; and I am the
more confirmed in this suspicion, as Dr Black tells me that the former objec-
tions I had made, had been derived chiefly from that cause. I shall, therefore,
forbear till the whole can be before me, and shall not at present propose any
farther difficulties to your reasonings. I shall only say, that if you have been
able to clear up these abstruse and important subjects, instead of being morti-
fied, I shall be so vain as to pretend to a share of the praise ; and shall think
that my errors, by having at least some coherence, had led you to make a more
strict review of my principles, which were the common ones, and to perceive
their futility."

It may be as well here to pass over the intervening events of Dr Reid's life,
and give a brief sketch of the principles of his philosophy, as developed in his
other works, to which, as Mr Stewart has properly remarked, the Inquirj' into
the Human Mind forms an introduction. In 1785, he published his " Essays
on the Intellectual Powers of Man," and in 1788, those on the " Active
Powers." These two have been generally republished together, under the
well known title, " Essays on the Powers of the Human Mind ;" a work which
has gradually gained ground in the estimation of intelligent thinkers, and is
now used as a text book by many eminent teachers of philosophy. When it is
said that Dr Reid's pliilosophy is entirely, or intended to be entirely syntheti-
cal, and that it adopts no theory, except as an induction from experiment, it
will readily be understood, that a view of its general principles and tendency
cannot be given ; but it is not on this account very difficult to describe the
method by which he reasoned, and came to the different conclusions he has
adopted. Eeid has generally received, and probably with justice, the praise of
having been the firet to extend, by a general system, the process of reasoning
from experiment, so strongly recommended by Bacon in natural science, to the
operations of the mind. In this he Avas, to a certain extent, anticipated by
Hume, who, especially in his arguments on cause and effect, and his essay on
miracles, proceeded on analyses of our experience : but the two philosophers
followed a difl^erent method ; the sceptic using his experience to show the futi-
lity of any systems of philosophy which had been raised; wliile Reid made use
of them to redeem, as it were, mental science, by eschewing these systems, and
founding one of his own on that experience which he saw had enabled the scep-
tic to demolish the systems, destitute of such a support. But to accomplish his
purpose — and this is what distinguishes his philosophy from all other systems —
Reid found it necessary to set bounds to his inquiries, which other philosophers
had passed. He abstained from that speculation concerning the nature and

166 DR. TIIOMAS REID.

essetice of tiie mind itself, whicli, as followed by others, had funned the most
convenient object of demolition to the sceptic, and limited himself to observa-
tions on the operations of the mind, ns he saw them performed before him. In-
stead, therefore, of appealing to any theories of his own (wiiich he knew would
require to be founded on vague speculation, and independently of observation,) on
the essence of the mind, when lie tried the trutii of his observations, he appealed
to what he called " common sense," or that sense, however acquired, which
prompts us to believe one thing, and dit>believe another. Her.ce it might be
said, in common language, tliat, instead of making his inquiries by means of
subtly and metaphysical reasonings, he stated his views, trusting that his readers
would believe him ii'om their common sense, and, if they did not choose to do
so, knowing that tlie greater part of the world was on liis side, despite of any
fine-spun objections which might be produced by tlie sophist The following,
perhaps, more than most other passages in his worlu, bears a marked stamp of his
method of reasoning : " Perhaps Des Cartes meant not to assume his own exist-
ence in this enthymeme, but the existence of thought, and to infer from that the
existence of a mind, or subject of thought. But why did he not prove the exist-
ence of his thought? Consciousness, it may be said, vouches that. But who
is voucher of the consciousness ? Can any man prove that his consciousne»
may not deceive liim P No man can : nor can we give a belter reason for trust-
ing to it, than that every man, while his mind is sound, is determined, by the
constitution of his nature, to give implicit belief to it, and to laugh at, or to
pity, tlie man who doubts its testimony. And is not every man in his wits as
determined to take his existence upon trust, as his consciousness ?"^ It is easier
to find objections to, than to erect a system of metaphysical philosoijhy ; and
that of Keid affords ample room for controversy. Admitting that the only
ground on which we can ever place metaphysical truths is, the general belief
of men of sound mind, it must still, in every instance, be a very questionabls
matter, whetther these men of sound mind have come to the ri(//tt conclusion,
and whether it may not be possible, by a little more investigation and argu-
ment, even though conducted by a sceptical philosopher, to show reasons for
coming to a difierent conclusion, and to establish it upon the very same
grounds, viz., tlie general belief of men of sound mind. When Galileo dis-
covered that nature abhorred a vacuum, and was afterwards obliged to admit
that this abhorrence did jiot extend above thirty-three feet, many men of sound
mind probably felt themselves ** determined, by the constitution of their nature,
to give implicit belief" to both positions, until one discovered the effect of at-
mospheric pressure, and got men of common sense to admit that nature had no
greater horn r at a vacuum than at a plenum. It became a necessary conse-
quence of this method of reasoning, that Reid's first, or instinctive principles,
vere less simple and more numerous than tliose of other philosophers ; and his
opponents accused him of having by that means perplexed and complicated the
science of mind. In simplifying this science, there are two evils to be avoided ;
a propensity to refine every thing into first principles, unsupported by reason ;
and the lesser vice of producing confusion, by not extending speculation so far
towards the establishment of first principles, as there may be good reason for
proceeding. It was probably in his anxiety to avoid the former, that Reid in-
curred not unjust censure for sometimes embracing the latter alternative. The
" Principle of Credulity," and the " Principle of Veracity," are certainly ob-
jectionable. Reid has had many warm followers, and many who have looked
on his philosophy with great contempt. Those who conceive that all systems
of n:enlal philosophy are merely useful for the exercise they give the mirdj
* Inquir)., (1810,) 28.

DR. THOMAS KEID. 167

and tlie undoubted truths wliich they occasionally lay open, will perhaps make
the fairest appreciation of liis merit, and by such it may perhaps be allowed,
that the broad method he followed, has enabled him to Iny before the world a
gieater number of interesting circumstances connected with moial 8<:ience, than
most ether philosophers have been enabled t() display. Before leaving the sub-
ject of his \iorlis, it may be mentioned, that he composed, as a portion of loi"d
Karnes' Sketches of the Histoi'y of Man, *' A brief Account of Aristotle's
Logic ;" the chief defect of tiiis production is, its professed brevity'. It is very
clear and distinct, and leads one to regret, that so accurately thinking and un-
prejudiced a writer, had not enriched the world with a more extensive- view of
the Aristotelian and other systems.

In 1763, while he was, it may be presumed, preparing his Inquiry for tlie
press, a knowledge of what was expected to come from his pen, and his general
fame, prompted the university of Glasgow to invite him to fill the chair of na-
tural philosophy there. In this office, professor Stewart remarks, that " his
researches concerning the human mind, and the principles of morals, which had
occupied but an inconsiderable space in the wide circle of science, allotted to
liim by his former office, were extended and methodized in a course, which em-
ployed five hours every week, during six months of the year. Tlie example of
his illustrious predecessor, and the prevailing topics of conversation around him,
occasionally turned his thoughts to conmiercial politics, and pi-oduced some in-
genious essays on different questions connected with trade, which were com-
municated to a private society of his academical friends. His early passion for
the mathematical sciences was revived by the conversation of Simson, Moor, and
the Wilsons ; and at the age of fifty-five, he attended the lectures of Black
with a juvenile curiosity and enthusiasm." Dr Keid's constant desire for tlie
acquisition of facts on which to raise his deductions, kept him continually awake
to all new discoveries ; and he spent many, even of the latter days of his long
life, in observing the truths Avhich were developed by this illustrious chemist.
The biographer, after observing that the greater part of the course of lectures
delivered by Dr Reid at Glasgow, is to be found in his published works, pro-
ceeds : " Beside his speculations on the intellectual and active powers of man,
and a system of practical ethic«, his course comprehended some general views
with respect to natural jurisprudence, and the fundamental principles of poli-
tics. A few lectures on rhetoric, which were read at a separate hour, to a
more advanced class of students, formed a voluntary addition to the appropriate
functions of his office, to which, it is probable, he was prompted rather by a
wish to supply what was then a deficiency in the established couree of educa-
tion, than by any predilection for a branch of study so foreign to hisr ordinary
j)Ursuits." It may be right to quote, from the same authority, those observa-
tions as to his method of teaching, which none but an ear-witness can make.
" In his elocution and mode of instruction, there was nothing peculiarly attrac-
tive. He seldom, if ever, indulged himself in the warmth of extempore dis-
course ; nor was his manner of reading calculated to increase the effect of wliat
he had committed to memory. Such, however, Avas the simplicity and perspi-
cuity of his style ; such the gravity and authority of his character; and such the
general interest of his young hearere in the doctrines which he taught, that by the
numerous audiences to which his instructions were addressed, he was heard uni-
formly with the most silent and respectful attention. On this subject, I speak
from personal knowledge, having had the good fortune, during a considerable
part of winter 1772, to be one of Iiis pupils." In 1781, Dr Reid retired from
liie duties of his professorship; and while his labour and assiduity had earned for
him a full right to enjoy his old age in literary retirement, his mental faculties

1G8 JOHN RENNIE.

remained unimpaired. After this period, he communicated some essays to
the Philosophical So<:iety. Tlie most important were: "An Examination of
Priestley's Opinions concerning Matter and JMind ;" " Observations on tho
Utopia of Sir Thomas More ;'* and ** Physiological Reflections on Muscular
Motion." By this time Reid had suffered considerable domestic affliction ; four
of his children had died after reaching the age of maturity, leaving one daugh-
ter married to Patrick Carmichael, M. D. After his retirement, his wife died.
In a letter to professor Stewart, he thus affectingly describes his situation after
that event: " 13y the loss of my bosom friend, with whom I lived fifty-two
years, I am brought into a kind of new world, at a time of life when old liabits
are not easily forgot, or new ones acquired. But every world is God's world,
and I am thankful for the comforts he has left me. Mrs Carmichael has now
the care of two old deaf men, and does everything in her power to please
them ; and both are very sensible of her goodness. I have more health than
at my time of life I had any reason to expect. I walk about ; entertain myself
with reading what I soon forget ; can converse with one person, if he arti-
culates distinctly, and is within ten inches of my left ear; and go to church,
without hearing one word of what is said. You know I never had any preten-
sions to vivacity, but I am still free from languor and ennui." In the summer of
1796, he spent a few Aveeks in Edinburgh, and his biographer, who was then
his almost constant companion, mentions, that, with the exception of his memory,
his mental faculties appeared almost unimpaired, while his physical powers were
progressively sinking. On his return to Glasgow, apparently in his usual
health and spirits, a violent disorder attacked him about the end of September ;
and, after repeated strokes of palsy, he died on the 7th October following.
The affectionate biographer, in drawing a character of this eminent and excel-
lent man, may be said to sum up the particulars of it in the words with which
he commences. " Its most prominent features were — intrepid and inflexible
rectitude ; — a pure and devoted attachment to truth ; — and an entire command
(acquired by the unwearied exertions of a long life) over all his passions."

RENNIE, John, a celebrated civil engineer, was the youngest son of a re-
spectable farmer at Fhantassie, in East Lothian, Avhere he was born, June 7,
1761. Before he had attained his sixth year, he had the misfortune to lose
his father; his education, nevertheless, was carried on at the parish school
(Prestonkirk) by his surviving relatives. The peculiar talents of young Kennie
seem to have been called forth and fostered by his proximity to the workshop
of the celebrated mechanic, Andrew Meikle, the inventor or improver of the
thrashing-machine. He frequently visited that scene of mechanism, to admire
the complicated processes which he saw going forward, and amuse himself wilh
the tools of the workmen. In time, he began to imitate at home the models of
machinery which he saw there ; and at the early age of ten he had made the
model of a wind-mill, a steam-engine, and a pile-engine, the last of which is said
to have exhibited much practical dexterity.

At twelve, Rennie left school, and entered into the employment of Andrew
Meikle, with whom he continued two years. He then spent two years at Dun-
bar, for the purpose of improving his general education. So early as 1777,
when only sixteen years of age, his Dunbar master considered him fit to super-
intend the school in his absence, and, on being removed to the academy at
Perth, recommended Rennie as his successor. This, however, was not the oc-
cupation which the young mechanician desired, and he renewed his former la-
bours in the workshop of Andrew 3Ieikle, employing his leisure hours in model-
ling and drawing machinery. Before reaching the age of eighteen, he had
erected two or three corn-mills in his native parish ; but the first work which

JOHN RENNIE. 169

he undertook on his own account was the rebuilding of the flour-mills at InTcr-
gOAvrie, near Dundee.

Views of an ambitious kind gradually opened to him, and, by zealously
prosecuting liis professional labours in summer, he was enabled to spend the
winter ih iidinburgh, where he attended the lectures of professor Robison on
natural philosophy, and those of Dr Black on chemistry. Having thus fitted
himself in some measure for the profession of an engineer, he proceeded to
Soho, with a recommendation from Robison to Messrs Bolton and AVatt. On
the way, he examined the aqueduct bridge at Lancaster, the docks at Liver-
pool, and the interesting works on the Bridgewater canal. At Soho, he was
immediately taken into employment, and it was not long ere Mr Watt discov-
ered the extraordinary talents of his young assistant. In the erection of the
Albion mills in London, which was completed in 1789, 3Ir Rennie was in-
trusted by his employers with the construction of the mill-work and machinery,
which were admitted to be of superior excellence. These mills consisted of
two engines, eacli of fifty horse power, and twenty pairs of millstones, of which
twelve or more pairs, with the requisite machinery, were constantly kept at
work. In place of wooden wheels, so subject to frequent dei'angement, wheels
of cast-iron, with the teeth truly formed and finished, and properly proportioned to
the Avork, were here employed ; the other machinery, which used to be made of
wood, was made of cast-iron in improved forms. This splendid establishment,
which Mr Watt acknowledges to have formed the commencement of the modern
improved system of mill-work, was destroyed in 1791, by wilful fire, being ob-
noxious to popular prejudices, under the mistaken supposition of its being a
monopoly. The mechanism, however, established Mr Rennie's fame, and he
soon after began to obtain extensive employment on his own account.

The earlier years of his professional life were chiefly spent in mill-work ;
and his merks in this line may be briefly stated. One striking improvement
was in the bridge-tree. It was formerly customary to place the vertical axis of
the running mill-stone in the middle of the bridge-tree, which was supported
only at its two extremities. The effect of this was that the bridge-tree yielded
to the variations of pressure arising from the greater or less quantity of grain
admitted between the mill-stones, which was conceived to be an useful effect.
Mr Rennie, however, made the bridge-tree perfectly immovable, and thus
freed the machinery from that irregular play which sooner or later proves fatal
to every kind of mechanism. Another improvement by Mr Rennie has been
adverted to in the above account of the Albion mills; but the principal one
was in the comparative advantage which he took of the water power. He so
economized the power of water as to give an increase of energy, by its specific
gravity, to the natural fall of streams, and to make his mills equal to fourfold
the produce of those, which, before his time, depended solely on the impetus ot
the current.

Mr Rennie was gi-adually attracted from the profession of a mechanician to
that of an engineer. In the course of a few years after his first coming into
public notice, he was employed in a considerable number of bridges and other
public works, all of which he executed in a manner which proved his extraor-
dinary genius. His principal bridges are those of Kelso, Leeds, Musselburgh,
Newton-Stewart, Boston, and New Galloway. The first, which was erected be-
tween 1799 and 1803, has been greatly admired for its elegance, and its hap-
py adaptation to the beautiful scenery in its neighbourhood. It consists of a
level road-way, resting on five elliptical arches, each of which has a span of
seventy-three feet, and a rise of twenty-one. The bridge of Musselburgh is on
a smaller scale, but equally perfect in its construction. A remarkable testi-

170 JOHN RENNIE.

mony to its merits was paid in Mr Rennie's presence, by an untutored son of
nature. He was taking the work oft' tlie contractor's hands, when a magistrate
of the town, who was present, asked n countryman who was passing at the time
with his cart, how lie liked the new bridge. *' Brig,"' answered tlie man, " it's
nae brig ara; ye neither ken whan ye're on't, nor whan ye're art"!." It must
be remarked that this bridge superseded an old one in its immediate neigli-
bourhoood, wliich had a very precipitous road-way, and was in every respect
Uie opposite of the new one.

Mr Hennie was destined, however, to leave more splendid monuments of his
tilents in this particular department of his profession. The W aterloo bridge
across the Thames at London, of which he was the architect, would have been
sufficient in itself to stamp him as an engineer of the first order. This magni-
ficent public work was commenced in 1811, and finished in 1317, at the ex-
pense of rather more than a million of money. It may safely be described as
one of the noblest structures of the kind in the world, whether we regard the
simple and chaste grandeur of its architecture, the impression of indestructibili-
ty which it forces on the mind of the beholder, or its adaptation to the useful
purpose for which it was intended. It consists of nine equal arches, of 127
feet span ; the breadth between the parapets is 42 feet ; and the road-way is
perfectly flat. IMr Rennie also planned the Southwark bridge, which is of cast-
iron, and has proved very stable, notwithstanding many prophecies to the con-
trary. The plan of the new London bridge was likewise furnished by him ;
but of this public work he did not live to see even the commencement.

Among the public works of dift'erent kinds executed by iVIr Rennie may be
mentioned ; — of canals, the Aberdeen, the Great Western, the Kennet and Avon,
the Portsmouth, the Birmingham, and the Worcester ; — of docks, those at Hull,
Leith, Greenock, Liverpool, and Dublin, besides the West India docks in the
city of London ; — and of lurbours, those at Berwick, Dunleary, Howlh, New-
haven, and Queensferry. In addition to these naval works, he planned various
important improvements on the national dock-yards at Plymouth, Portsmouth,
Chatham, and Sheerness ; and the new naval arsenal at Pembroke was con-
structed from his designs. But by far the greatest of all his naval works was
the celebrated breakwater at Plymouth. It is calculated that he planned
Morks to the amount of fifty millions in all, of which nearly ttventy millions
were expended under his own superintendence.

Mr Rennie died, October 16, 1S21, of inliamniation iu the liver, which h<id
afHicted him for some years. By his wife, whom he married in 1789, he left
six children, of whom the eldest, Mr George Rennie, followed the same pro-
fession as his father. This eminent man was buried with great funeral honours,
in Si Paul's cathedral, near the grave of Sir Christopher Wren.

The grand merit of Mr Rennie as an engineer is allowed to have been h'u
almost intuitive perception of what was necessary for certain assigned purposes.
With little theoretical knowledge, he had so closely studied the actual forms of
the works of his predecessors, that he could at length trust in a great measure
to a kind of tact which he possessed iu his own mind, and which could hardly
have been communicated. He had the art of applying to every situation where
he was called to act professionally, the precise form of remedy that was want*
ing to the existing evil, — whetiier it was to stop the violence of the most bois-
terous sea— to make new harboui-s, or to render those safe which were before
dangerous or inaccessible — to redeem districts of fruitful land from en-
croachment by the ocean, or to deliver them from the pestilence of stagnant
marsh — to level hills or to tie them together by aqueducts or arches, or, by
embankment, to raise the valley between them — to make bridges that for

JAilES EENWICK. 171

beauty, surpass all others, and for strength seem destined to last to the latest
posterity — Kennie had no rival. Though he carried the desire of durability
almost to a fault, and thus occasioned more expense, perhaps, on some occa-
sions, than other engineers would have considered strictly necessary, he was
equally admired for his conscientiousness in the fulfilment of his labours, as for
his genius in their contrivance. He would sutler no subterfuge for real strenn-th
to be resorted to by the contractors who undertook to execute his plans.
Elevated by his genius above mean and immediate considerations, he felt in all
his proceedings, as if he were in tiie court of posterity : he sought not only to
satisfy his employers, but all future generations.

Although Kennie did not devote himself to the acquisition of theoretical
knowledge, excepting to that general extent which is required by every well-
informed engineer, he Mas fond of those investigations of a mixed character,
where the results of experiment are combined by mathematical rules, and a
train of inquiry directed and modified by the lights of theory. In his instru-
ment for ascertaining the strength of flowing water, he has made a contribu-
tion to science of no small importance.

In person, Mr Rennie was greatly above the usual size. His figure was
commanding, and his features massive and strong, but with a mild expression.
He was endeared to all who knew him by the gentleness of his temper ; and
the cheerfulness with whicli he communicated the riches of his mind, and for-
warded the views of those who made useful improvements or discoveries in
machinery, procured him universal respect.

RENWICK, Jamrs, a celebrated non-conforming clergyman, was born in tha
parish of Glencairn, Dumfries-shire, on the 15th of February, 1(562. His pa-
rents, who were in humble circumstances, and of whom he was the only surviv-
ing child, seem to have looked upon him with peculiar fondness — especially his
mother, who regarded him as a special gift, an answer to her prayers, and one
who was intended to be more than ordinarily useful in the world. His child-
hood was watched over with peculiar solicitude ; and their hopes were still fur-
ther excited, and their confidence strengthened, by the sweetness and docility
of his disposition. Piety marked his earliest years, and his attention to his
books was unwearied ; circumstances which induced his parents, amidst many
difficulties, to keep him at school, till he found the means of putting himself in
the way of attaining greater proficiency in the city of Edinburgh, where, by at-
tending upon, and assisting in their studies, the children of persons more
wealthy than himself, he was enabled to prosecute his own. After having at-
tended the university there, however, he was denied laureation, in consequence
of refusing to take the oath of allegiance, and was under the necessity of prose-
cuting his studies more privately, and in the best manner he could. In the
mean time, he was a diligent attendant on the secret meetings of the persecuted
presbyterians, and took a deep interest in the questions which at that time were
so keenly agitated among, and at length so widely divided, that unforlnmate
party. Of the unfaithfulness of the indulged ministers in general, he had
long had strong impressions, and these seem to have been confirmed, by hear-
ing the testimony, and witnessing the martyrdom, of Mr Donald Cargill, on
the 27th of July, IGSl ; an event which determined him to attach himself to
the small remnant which adhered to the principles of that sincere and excellent
Christian.

It was on the death of 3Ir Cargill, when, being deprived of public ordi-
nances, this portion of the sufferers formed themselves into particular societies,
united in one general correspondence, in which Blr Renwick was particularly
active. In the month of October, he held a conference with a number of the

172 JAifES RENWICK.

more influential of the party, concerning the testimonies of some of the martyrs
lately executed ; when, it is said, he refreshed them much, by showing them how
much he was grieved to hear these martyrs disdainfully spoken of; how much he
was oflended with some that attended the curates, pled for tlie paying of cess, and
for owning and defending the autliority of the tyrant, and how much he longed to
see a formal testimony lifted up against all those, with their attendant defec-
tions. On the 15th of December, in the same year in which 3Ir Cargill suflered.
Ills adherents held their first general meeting, at which was drawn up the paper,
known by the name of The Lanark Declaration, from the place where it was
proclaimed, on the r2th day of January, 1632. Mr Renwick was not the
writer of this document, some parts of which he always allowed to be " incon-
siderately worded ;" but he was one of the party who proclaimed it, and at tlie
eame time burnt tlie test, and the act of succession of the duke of York to the
crown.

The boldness of this declaration, which embraced both the Rutherglen and
Sanquhar declarations, emitted in the years 1679 and 1680, and declared the
whole actS'Of the government of Cliarles Stuart, from his restoration in 1660,
down to that day, to be utterly illegal, as emanating from a pure usurpation
upon the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and many of them, in their own na-
ture, tyrannical, and cruel in the highest degree, astonished their enemies, and
astounded not a few of their best friends, who, to correct the unfavourable re-
ports concerning them, which, through the malice of their enemies, were
circulated among the churches of the low countries, found it necessary to
commission Gordon of Earlston to the United Provinces, to state their case as
it actually stood, and to solicit that compassion and sympathy which was denied
them by their own countrymen. Earlston met with a very favourable recep-
tion ; and it was proposed, seeing the universities in Scotland were closed
against all such as were desirous of maintaining a clear conscience, to have
students educated under the eye of these churches at their universities, who
might be ordained to the work of the ministry, and that there should thus be
a succession of faithful labourers kept up for the benefit of the present and of
future generations. This proposal was at once embraced by the societies,
as the only probable method of being supplied with a dispensation of gos-
pel ordinances; and Mr Renwick, along with some othei-s, was accord-
ingly sent over, and admitted into the university of Groningen. After he
had attended six months, the progress he had made was such, together with
the urgency of the case, (for the societies had not so much as one preacher all
this time,) that it was thought proper he should be ordained, and sent back
to his native land. He was, accordingly, after no little trouble, through the
interest of Mr Robert Hamilton, who was well known there, ordained by
the classes of Groningen ; when, longing to employ any little talent he
possessed for the advancement of the cause of Christ, and the benefit of his suf-
fering people, he proceeded to Rotterdam, intending to avail himself of the
first opportunity of a ship going for Scotland. Finding a ship ready to sail, 3Ir
Renwick embarked at the Brill for his native country ; but, after being some
time on board, he was so much annoyed by some profane passengers, that he
left the vessel, and entered another that was going to Ireland. In consequence
of a violent storm, the vessel put into the harbour of Rye, in England, where he
was in no small danger from the noise and disturbance created at the time by
the Rye-house plot He, however, got safely oft", and, after a tedious and stormy
passage, was landed at Dublin. In a short time he embarked for Scotland, and
with no little difficulty and danger, succeeded in lauding on the west coast of
that kingdom, where he commenced those weary wanderings which were to

JAMES RENWICK. 173

close only with his capture and death. His first public sermon was delivered
in the moss of Darniead, in the month of September, 1683, where he was cor-
dially and kindly received by a poor and persecuted people, wlio had lost, for
the gospel's sake, whatever they possessed of temporal enjoyments, and wero
ready for that consideration to peril their lives. On this occasion, for his own
vindication, and for the satisfaction of his hearers, he gave an account of his
call to the ministry, and declared his adherence to the doctrine, worship, dis-
cipline, and government of the church of Scotland. He, at the same time, gave
them Ills opinion upon the particular questions which were agitating the minds
of men at tiie time ; stating particularly what class of ministers and professors
he was willing to hold fellowship with, and also that with which he could not.
In this statement, as he studied to be plain and particular, he mentioned several
names, which gave great offence to some, and was employed with much assiduity
to excite prejudices, and create slanders, against both his peraon and ministry ;
and, with all the other hardships of his lot, he was pursued everywhere by
misrepresentation and calumny.

Amidst so much clamour of friends and of enemies, he soon attracted the no-
tice of the council, to whom nothing was so terrible ais field-preaching. He
was speedily denounced as a traitor, and all who followed him were pursued as
abettors of rebellion. No house that he entered, if it was known, escaped pil-
lage ; and no one who heard him, if he could be found, escaped punishment.
Nothing can be conceived more desperate than his situation ; not daring to ven-
ture abroad, yet finding no place of rest, except in the most remote and inac-
cessible retreats. Called upon nightly to confer, to preach, to pray, to baptize,
and to catechise, with no better accommodation than the cavern of the roclt, an
excavation in the moss, or, at the best, a ruined and deserted shepiierd's shiel,
where a fire of sticks or heath, and a scanty morsel brought from afar by the
hands of children, were his greatest luxuries ; yet he prosecuted his labours
with remarkable success, greatly increasing the number of his followers in the
course of a few months.

In the succeeding year, 16 84, his difliculties and discouragements were consider-
ably increased. The revilings of those who should have been his helpers, becaiue
more bitter, and the vigilance of his persecutors more unremitting. Often was
he pursued for days and nights together, and to all appearance left without
the possibility of escape ; yet he still escaped as if by miracle. Enraged be-
yond measure at the increase of his followers, and their want of success in so
many attempts to apprehend him, the council, in the month of September in
this year, issued out letters of intercommuning against him ; which, reducing
the whole body of the sufferers to the most incredible hardships, drove them,
between madness and despair, to publish, in the month of October following,
their apologetical declaration ; wherein, after stating their abhorrence of the
idea of taking the lives of such as differ from them in opinion, they declared
their firm persuasion of their right, from the word of God, and fundamental
laws of the kingdom, to defend themselves in the exercise of their religion :
and, after naming the persons Avhom they supposed to be their chief persecutors,
and whom they threatened with immediate and full retaliation, they add, "Now,
let not any think, our God assisting us, we will be so slack-handed in time
coming, to put matters in execution as heretofore we have been, seeing we are
bound faithfully and valiantly to maintain our covenants and the cause of
Christ Therefore, let all these foresaid persons be admonished of their hazard.
And particularly all ye intelligencers, who, by your voluntary informations, en-
deavour to render us up to the enemies' hands, that our blood may be shed —
for by such courses ye both endanger your immortal souls, if repentance prevent

174 JAMES REN WICK.

not, seeing God will make inquisition for shedding tlie precious blood of his
saints, wliatever be the thoughts of men ; and also your bodieii, seeing ye render
yourselves actually and maliciously guilty of our blood, uhose innooency the
Lord knowelh. However, we are sorry at our very hearts, that any of you
should choose such courses, either with bloody L)oeg, to shed our blood, or with
the flattering Ziphites, to inform persecutors where we are to be found. So wo
say again, we desire you to take warning of the hazard that ye incur by follow-
ing such courses; for the sinless necessity of self-preservation, accompanied «ilh
holy zeal for Christ's reigning in our land, and suppressing of profanity, will
move us not to let you pass unpunished. Call to your remembrance, all that is
in peril, is not lost; and all that is delayed, is not forgiven. Therefore, ex-
pect to be dealt with, as ye deal with us, so far as our power can reach ; not
because we are incited by a sinful spirit of revenge for private and personal in-
juries; but, mainly, because by our fall, reformation suffers damage, yea, the
power of godliness, through ensnaring flatteries, and terrible threatening will
thereby be brouglit to a very low ebb, the consciences of many more dreadfully
surrendered, and profanity more established and propagated. And as upon the
one hand, we have here declared our purposes anent malicious injurere of us;
so, upon the other hand, we do hereby beseech and obtest all you who wish
well to Zion, to show your good-will towards us, by acting with us, and in your
places and stations, according to your abilities, counselling, encouraging, and
»trengthening our hands, for this great work of holding up the standard of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Think not that in anywise you are called to lie by neutral
and inditferent, especially in such a day ; for we are a people, by holy covenants
dedicated unto the Lord, in our persons, lives, liberties, and fortunes, for de-
fending and promoting this glorious work of reformation, notwithstanding all
opposition that is or may be made thereunto, yea and sworn against all neutrality
and indifferency in the Lord's matters. And, moreover, we are fully persuaded
that the Lord, who now hideth his face from the house of Jacob, will suddenly
appear, and bring light out of darkness, and perfect strength out of weakness,
and cause judgment return again unto righteousness.^'

When this declaration was first proposed, Mr Renwick was averse to it, fear-
ing that it might be followed by bad eiTects : nor were his fears disappointed.
A reward of five hundred merks was offered for every person who owned the
declaration, or rather who would not disown it upon oath. No person was al-
lowed to travel without a pass, who was above the age of sixteen ; many were
shot instantly in the fields, if they refused to take, even at the hands of a
common trooper, the oatli of abjtu-ation ; others, refusing the oath, were
brought in, sentenced, and executed. On all which accounts, Mv Benwick
was often heard to say, he wished from his heart that that declaration had
never been published. The year 1665 did not at all better his situation ; he
was still persecuted with the utmost fury, yet he ventured, in the month of May
that year, to Uie market cross of Sanquhar, accompanied by two hundred men,
where he published a declaration against the succession of James, duke of York,
called from that circunutance, the Sanquliar Declaration. Refusing to con-
cur with Argyle, who this year made an unsuccessful attempt from Hol-
land, a division arose among his followei's, several of whom withdrew from the
societies, and became, both by word and pen, his bitter traducers ; and in ad-
dition to all his other afflictions, when he had put his life in his hand, as it
were, to dis}>ense the ordinances of tl)e gospel to the bereaved people, he was
met even by tliose who Irad been his friends, with protestations against him,
taken in tlie name of large districts of the countrj-. Even Mr Peden was, by
the multiplied slanders of his enemies, spirited up against him, and was not re-

JAMES REjrWICK.

175

coiiciled, till after a conversation with him, when he was upon his deatli-bc<],
and unable to repair the injury. In the midst of these multiplied discourage-
ments, he was cheered by tlie assistance and fellowship of Mr David Hunston,
a minister from Ireland, and Mr Alexander Shields, a prea<;her who had made
his escape from London, both of whom espoused the same testimony, and periled
their lives along with him. It was but a short time, however, that ho en-
joyed the aid of these intrepid men ; Mr Hunston being necessitated to go
to Ireland, and 3Ir Shields going over to Holland, to superintend the printing
of the informatory vindication. It was in this year tliat James VII,, for the
encouragement of the catholics, set aside the penal statutes, and gave out
his indulgences, allowing all to worship in their own way, except in barns or
in fields; which, to the disgrace of the Scottish church, was embraced with abun-
dance of gratulatory addresses by her whole body, ministers, and members,
3Ir Renwick and his followers excepted. This was a new addition to his
troubles, and opened the mouths of complying professors still more against
him. About this time, too, he became intirm in body, could neither walk
afoot nor ride, and was carried to his preaching places in the fields with great
ditliculty ; though, in the time of preaching, he felt nothing of his weakness. The
pursuit after him was now doubly hot, and an hundred pounds sterling was offered
for him, either dead or alive. Coming to Edinburgh in the beginning of the
year 163S, to give in a testimony to the synod of tolerated ministers, against the
toleration which they had accepted, and having delivered it into the hands of Mr
Kennedy, their moderator, he passed over to Fife, where he continued preach-
ing at dilFerent places, till the end of January, when he returned to Edinburgh,
and took up his lodgings in the house of a friend on the Castle hill, a dealer in
uncustomed goods. A party coming to search for these, discoveied Mr
Renwick, and apprehended him. He did not, however, surrender himself
into the hands of his enemies without resistance. He drew out and fired
a pocket pistol, and having thus made an opening among his assailants,
escaped into the Castle wynd, and ran towards the head of the Cowgate ; but,
one of the party having hit him a violent stroke on the breast with a long
staff as he passed out, he was staggered, and fell several times, and having lost
his hat, was laid hold of by a person in the street, who probably knew nothing
of the man, or the crimes laid against him. Being taken to the guard-house,
he was there kept for a considerable time, and suffered much from the inso-
lence of some that came to see him. The captain of the guard seeing him of
little stature, and of a comely countenance, exclaimed, *' Is this the boy which
the whole nation has been troubled about ?" After undergoing examination
before the council, he was committed close prisoner, and put in irons.
Before he received his indictment he was carried before the lord chancellor,
Tarbet, and examined upon his owning the authority of James VH., the paying
of cess, carrying arms at field meetings, &c. ; upon all of which he delivered his
mind with such faithfulness, freedom, and composure of mind as astonished all
that were present. He was examined upon the paying of cess, in consequence
of the notes of two sermons on the subject being found upon him when he was
taken. Among these notes were also some memorandums of names, some in
full, and some with merely the initials ; all these, to avoid threatened torture,
he explained with the utmost freedom, knowing that the persons were already
as obnoxious as anything he could say would make them. This ingenuousness on
his part had a wonderful effect in calming their rage against him, and Tarbet
mildly asked him, what persuasion he was of; to which he replied, of the pro-
testant presbyterian. He was then asked how he differed from other presby-
terians who had accepted his majesty's toleration, owned his authority, &c., &a ?

170 WILLIAM mCHARDSON.

to which he answered, that he adhered to the old presbyterian principles
Cwhich all were obliged by the covenants to maintain) as generally professed by
the church and nation, from the year J 640 to 1660, fuom which some had
apostatized for a little liberty (they knew not how short) as they themselves Iiad
done for a little honour. Tarbet admitted that these were tlie presbyterian
principles, and that all presbyterians would own them as well as he, if they had
but the courage. Mr Kenwick was tried, February 8, before the high court
of justiciary, upon an indictment which charged him with denying the king's
authority, owning the covenants, refusing to pay cess, and maintaining the
lawfulness of defensive arms ; and, upon his confession, was condemned to die.
The day fixed for his execution was the 1 1th, but it was postponed to the 17th,
in the hope that he would gratify the court by petitioning for a pardon, which,
it has never been doubted, would have been gladly extended to him. With
the constancy which had marked his whole life, he refused to do so, and was
accordingly executed, being the last person who suffered a judicial death for
religion's sake in Scotland.

RICHARDSON, William, an elegant miscellaneous writer, and professor of
humanity in the university of Glasgow, was born, October 1, 1743, at Aber-
foyle, of which parish his father, James Richardson, was minister. After a
course of Latin and Greek under the parish schoolmaster, he was placed in his
fourteenth year at the university of Glasgow, where he pursued his studies un-
der professors Muirhead and Moor, and distinguished himself by his extraordi-
nary diligence and capacity. Even at this early period of his life, he was noted
for the composition of verses, which, if not of any high positive merit, were
at least thought to display an uncommon degree of taste for so boyish a writer.
He thus recommended himself to the friendship of the professors, and at the
same time formed an intimacy with Messrs Foulis, the eminent printers, whoso
notice he is said to have first attracted by the eagerness with which he bade, at
one of their sales, for a copy of Marcus Antoninus. When he had finished the
usual course of languages and philosophy, and had taken the degree of master
of arts, he began the study of theology, with the intention of becoming a
clergyman. He had attended nearly three sessions, when the design was laiil
aside, in consequence of his being appointed tutor to the late Lord Cathcart
and his brother, then about to go to Eton. At the latter place ho spent two
years, after which ho accompanied his pupils, with their father Lord Cathcart,
to St Petersburg, whither his lordship was sent as ambassador extraordinary
and plenipotentiary. He remained in the Russian capital from 17G8 till 1772,
during which time he acted also as secretary to Lord Cathcart. In the latter
3'ear, he returned with his only surviving pupil to the university of Glasgow,
and before the commencement of the ensuing session, by the interest of Lord
Cathcart, who was Lord Rector of the college, was chosen to succeed professor
Muirhead in the chair of humanity, the duties of which he performed without
any intermission till his death in 1814.

The remaining history of Mr Richardson is the history of his works. His
first publication was a small volume, entitled, " Poems, chiefly rural," which
appeared in 1774; the next was his "Philosophical Analysis and Illustra-
tion of some of Shakspearo's Remarkable Characters," which appeared early
in the succeeding year. The latter volume, containing analyses of the cha-
racters of Macbeth, Hamlet, Jacques, and Imogen, was followed up, in 1784,
by a sequel, containing Essays on the characters of Richard HI,, King Lear,
and Tiraon of Athens ; and some time after by a third volume, adverting to
Sir John Falstaff, and containing various other critical speculations upon the
writings of Shakspcare. Tho whole were united ia one volume in 1797, and

ALEXANDER ROBERTSON. 177

have been frequently reprinted. The chief other works of professor Richard-
son are — " Anecdotes of the Russian Empire ;" " The Indians, a Tragedy ;"
" The Maid of Loclilin, a lyrical Drama, with other Poems;" " The Philan-
thrope," a periodical essayist, which appeared in London in 1797. He also
contributed to Gilbert Stuart's Edinburgh Magazine and Review, and to the
Mirror and Lounger. He wrote the life of professor Arthur, prefixed to that
gentleman's works, and " An Essay on Celtic Superstitions," appended to the
Rev. Dr Graham's inquiry into the authenticity of the poems of Ossian. An
Essay on Figurative Language, and other works, were left at his death in
manuscript.

The genius of professor Richardson was more elegant than strong : he was
rather fitted to produce a tasteful dissertation or an ingenious inquiry, than a
work of nervous and original character. Hence his works are now put aside
in a great measure by those of succeeding writers. In his professional charac-
ter he enjoyed a high degree of reputation, and, in private life, his character
was singularly amiable. He shone in conversation, at a time when conversa-
tion was more an art than it now is. From his earliest years to the period of
his death, he chei-ished the best principles of religion and morality.

After a short but severe illness, he died on the 3rd of November, 1814, in
the seventy-second year of his age.

ROBERTSON, Alexander, of Strowan, a distinguished Highland chief and
poet, was the second son of the preceding laird of Strowan, who bore the same
name, by Marion, daughter of general Baillie of Letham, and was born about
the year 1670. He was educated, with the design of his becoming a clergy-
man, under John Menzies, regent in the university of St Andrews, who aided
the influence of hereditary associations in inspiring him with a zealous attach-
ment to the persons and principles of the Stuarts. His father died in 1688,
after having enjoined upon him, with his latest breath, that he should never
forget the loyal example of his ancestors ; and as his elder brother only sur-
vived his father a few months, he fell into the family inheritance at a very early
age, immediately before the Revolution. When Dundee raised the clans in the
ensuing year, on behalf of the exiled king James, young Strowan joined him
with his men, but does not appear to have been present at the battle of Eilli-
cranky. He was taken prisoner in September, and put under honourable con-
finement at Perth ; but was soon after liberated, in exchange for the laird of
Pollock.

Being now attainted and deprived of his estate, he joined the court of the
expatriated monarch at St Germain's, where he lived for several years, chiefly
supported by remittances from his friends in Scotland. He also served one or
two campaigns in the French army. In 1703, queen Anne having pi-omised
him a remission of his attainder and forfeiture, he returned to Scotland ; and
though, from some unexplained cause, the remission never passed the seals, he
does not appear to have found any ditRculty in obtaining possession of his
estates, or any danger to his person in a residence within the seas of Britain.
Unwarned by the misfortunes which had flowed from his first military enter-
prise, he joined the earl of Mar in 1715, with between four and five hundred
men, and took a very active part in the whole enterprise. He seized the castle
of Weem, belonging to a whig gentleman, Menzies of Weem ; was pi-esent at
the battle of Sherift'muir, where he was taken prisoner, but rescued ; and with
great reluctance yielded to the order for the dispersion of his clan, which was
issued to him, in common with the other chiefs, at the departure of the unfor-
tunate chevalier and his generalissimo from the country. Strowan was soon
after taken prisoner in the Highlands, but making his escape from a party of

178 WILLIAM ROBERTSON.

sol«iiers who ^vere escorting him to Edinburgh ensile, again proceeded to
France, to spend another period of poverty and exile. Long ere this time,
he had gained the esteem of his p.irty both at home and abroad, by his poeti(vil
elusions, which were chieHy of the class of political pascjuils, and also by his
pleasing and facetious manners. Having received an excellent eduration, and
seen much of tlie world, he exhibits in his writings no trace of tiie rudeness
which prevailed in his native land. He shows notliing of even that kind of
homeliness which then existed in Lowland Scotland. His language is pure
English ; and his ideas, tliough abundantly licentious in some instances, bear
a general resemblance to those of the Dryilens, the lioscommons, and the
Priors, of the southern part of the island. Ker of Kersland, who saw him at
Rotterdam in 1716, speaks of him " as a considerable man among the High-
landers, a man of excellent sense, and every way a complete gentleman." He
seems to have also been held in great esteem by both James 11. and his unfor«
tunate son, whom he had served in succession. By the intercessions of his sis-
ter with tlie reigning sovereign, he was permitted to return home in 1726, and
in 1731, had his attainder reversed. The estates had in the mean time been
restored to the sister in life-rent, and to his own heirs male in fee, but passing
over himself. He, nevertheless, entered upon possession ; and hence, in 1745,
WMS able, a third time, to lend his territorial and hereditary influence to the
aid of a Stuart. He met prince (Carles on his way through Pertlishire; and,
on being presented, said, " Sir, I devoted my youth to the service of yotnr
gramlfather, and my manhood to that of your father ; and now I am come to
devote my old age to your royal highness." Charles, well acquainted with his
liistory, folded the old man in his arms, and wept. The ancient chief was un-
able, on this occasion, to take a personal concern in the enterprise, and, as his
clan was led by other gentlemen, he escaped the vengeance of the government
He died in peace, at his house of Carle, in Kannoch, April 18, 1749, in the
eighty-first year of his age.

A volume of poe»ns, by Strowan, was subsequently published surreptitiously,
by means of a menial servant, who had possessed himself of his papers. It con-
tains many pieces, characterized by the licentious levity which then prevailed in
the discourse of gentlemen, and only designed by their author as another
kind of conversation with his friends. While he is chargeable, then, in com-
mon with his contemporaries, witli having given expression to impure ideas, he
stands clear of the fault of having disseminated them by means of the press.

ROBEiiTSON, WiLt-iAM, the historian of Scotland and Charles V., was
born in the manse of tlie parish of Eortliwick, Mid Lothian, in the year
1721. His father, also named William, was at first minister of that parish, and
finally of the Old Gray Eriars' church, Edinburgh ; his mother was Eleanor
Titcairne, daughter of David Pitcairne, Esq. of Ureghorn. By his father, he
was descended from the Robertsons of Gladney, in the county of Fife, a branch
of the ancient house of Strowan. Dr Robertson received the first rudiments of
his education at the school of Dalkeith, under the tuition of Mr Leslie, then a
celebrated teacher. In 1733, he removed with his father's family to Edin-
burgh, and, towards the end of that year, commencetl his course of academical
study. From this period till 1759, when he published his Scottish History,
there occurred nothing beyond the natural progress of events in the life of a
young man devoted to tlie Scottish church as a profession. During this lono-
•pace of time, he was silently pursuing his studies, and labouring in retirement
and obscurity on that work, wliicii was afterwards to bring both fame and for-
tune to his humble door. Yet, thougli he thus permitted so large a portion of
his life to pass without making any effort to distinguish himself, it was not bo-

"\riLLIAM ROBERTSON. 179

cause he was not desirous of an honourable distinction amongst men ; but be-
cause he had wisely determined to do something- worthy of a lasting reputation,
and to do it deliberately, to secure, in short, a firm footing, before he stretched
out his hand to seize the golden fruit of popular applause. That he was early
imbued with literary ambition, and that of the most ardent kind, is, notwith-
standing the long obscurity to which he was content to submit, sufficiently evi-
dent from the motto which he was in the habit of prefixing to his common-
place books, while only in the fourteenth or fifteenth year of his age. The
motto was, Vita sine Uteris mors est; a sentiment which adhered to liim
through life.

Having completed his studies at the university, he was licensed to preach by
the presbytery of Dalkeith in 1741, and in 1743 he was presented to the liv-
ing of Giadsmuir, in East Lothian, by the earl of Hopetoun. This ap-
pointment, came opportunely ; for soon after he obtained it, his father
and mother died witliin a few houi-s of each other, leaving a family of six
daugliters and a younger brother, almost wholly dependent upon him for sup-
port. With that generosity of disposition and warmth of affection, which are not de-
terred by personal considerations from discharging an imperative duty, he instant-
ly invited his father's family to his humble residence at Giadsmuir, where, we
are credibly informed, his professional income hardly exceeded £Q(i a-year. Nor
did his benevolence stop here. He undertook the education of his sisters,
and on their account delayed a matrimonial union which he had long desired,
but which he did not carry into effect until he saw them all i-espectably settled
in the world. This accomplished, he, in 1751, married his cousin, Miss Mary
Nisbet, daughter of the reverend 3Ir Nisbet, one of the ministers of Edinburgh.
Previously to this, a remarkable instance of the enthusiasm of his disposition,
and of the warmth of his patriotic feelings, occurred. When the capital of Scot'
land was threatened by the Highland army in 1745, Dr Robertson hastened
into the city, and joined the ranks of the volunteers, who had been called up
for its defence; and, when it was resolved to surrender the town without re-
sistance, he was one of a small band who proceeded to Haddington, where
general Cope tlien lay, and made offer of their services to that commander.
The general, fortunately for Ur Robertson and his party, declined to admit
them into his disciplined ranks, alleging that their want of tliat essential quali-
fication might throw his men into disorder; and they thus escaped the dangers
and disgrace which afterwards befell his army at Prestonpans, This rebuff^ tei*-
uiinated the historian's experience of military life. He returned to the discharge
of the sacred duties of his calling, and to the peaceful enjoyment of his literary
pursuits. In his parish he was exceedingly beloved. The amenity of his man-
ners, the purity and uprightness of his conduct, had secured him the esteem
and veneration of all; while the eloquence and elegant taste which he displayed
in his sermons, procured him a high degree of respect from the neighbouring
clergy. These qualifications as a preacher, he had been at much pains to ac-
quire, and he had early aimed at introducing a more refined taste, and a more
persuasive eloquence, into pulpit oratory, than were then generally to be found.
With this view he had, during the last two or three years of his attendance at
college, maintained a connexion with a society, whose objects were to cultivate
the arts of elocution, and to acquire the habit of extemporary debate, Dr
Robertson himself had the principal share in forming this society, and he was
fortunate in the selection of its members, the greater part of them having after-
wards arrived at distinction in the different walks of life which they pursued.

The first of Dr Robertson's publications was a sennon wliich he preached in
the year 1755, before the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge.

Ji

180 WILLIAM ROBERTSON.

This sci'mon possesses a singular degree of merit, and exhibits all the felicities
of composition and strength of reasoning, for which his after productions are so
remarkable. That he himself had a favourable opinion of this sermon, appears
from a letter written by him to his son-iu-law, Mr John Russell, on June 16, 1788,
along with which ho had sent him, "as a monument of his friendship and attach-
ment," a very handsomely bound copy of his works, as " I wish you to possess
them in their most perfect form, as I purpose they should be transmitted to
posterity ;" and he adds, "my solitary sermon, naked as it came into the world,
accompanies its well-drest brothers, but though the least of my works, I Avould
not have you esteem it the last in merit."

A few years afterwards, he made his appeai'ance in the debates of the General
Assembly, where his eloquence acquired for him the ascendancy which he long
maintained as a leader in the church courts. It is remarkable that one of the
first uses he made of his influence in the General Assembly, was to defend his
co-presbyter Homo from the censures of the church, for his having written the
tragedy of Douglas. Dr Robertson could, indeed, scarcely have done less, after
having himself taken part in the rehearsal of the piece, in common with Blair
and Carlyle, as has already been narrated in our memoir of Home. He exerted
l.imself warmly in behalf of his peccant brother; and it is allowed that his
arguments and eloquence had a great eflfect in softening the vengeance of the
General Assembly. As the play-going portion of the public sympathized but
little in the feelings of the clergy on this subject, and felt besides a strong pre-
judice in favour of Mr Home, these efforts of Dr Robertson were exceedingly
grateful to that party, amongst whom Lis defence had the effect of acquiring
for him an extensive popularity.

In the mean time, his " History of Scotland, during the Reigns of 3Iary and
James VI.," which, in the midst of all his other avocations, he had been noise-
lessly, but assiduously bringing forward, approached to a close, and he was
about to commit to the caprice of popular taste and opinion, the laboui's and the
liope of years. On the final completion of that work, he proceeded to London,
to make arrangements regarding its publication; and in February, 1759, it ap-
peared. The effect which it produced, was instantaneous and extraordinary.
Letters of congratulation, of admiration, and of pi-aise, poured in upon its
author from all quarters, and many of them from the most eminent men of the
time, all outvying each other in the language of panegyric and compliment.
Nor was it praise alone that attended his literary success ; tlie work cleared to
its author no less a sum than £600 ; preferment also immediately followed,
and changed at once the whole complexion of his fortunes. While his work
was going through the press, he had received a presentation to one of the
churches of Edinburgh, to which he removed with his family ; and in the same
year in which the work was published, lie was appointed chaplain of Stirling
castle ; in two years afterwards, he was nominated one of his majesty's chaplains
in ordinary for Scotland ; in the following year, he was elected principal of
the university of Edinburgh ; and in two years more, appointed by the king,
as liistoriographer for Scotland, with a salary of two hundred pounds a-year.
From being an obscure country clergyman, he was now become one of the most
conspicuous men in the kingdom. His sociiety and correspondence were courted
by the noble and the wealthy, and his self love was flattered by encomiums and
oulogiums from the dignified and learned.^

» His friend, Dr Carlyle, thus sarcastically remarks the rush of honours with which his
merits were rewarded, in a letter to the reverend Thomiis Hepburn, (author of a curious and
clever Jeu d' esprit, entitled " Mago-Pico,") diited Musselburgh, Sep. 5, 1763 :_" Robertson
has managed with great address. He is principal, chaplain, miuister, historiographer, and his-

WILLIAM ROBERTSON 181

Some of his advisers, iu the warmth of their zeal, thinking that the Scottish
clmrch was too limited a field for a man of his talents, pi-oposed to him to seek
in the English church for rewards befitting his high merits. Into this proposal,
however, Dr Robertson did not enter, but continued to abide by both the
country and the religion of his fathei-s ; a line of conduct consistent with the
purity and dignity of his character.

The success of his " History of Scotland," now urged him on to further ef-
forts, and he lost no time in looking out for another subject to work upon.
After some deliberation, and carefully weighing the merits of several, he at
length fixed upon a " History of the Reign of Charles V." This work, which
appeared in 1769, in three volumes quarto, still further increased the reputa-
tion of its author,'' and was received with equally flattering marks of approbation
as his Scottish history. Hume, his contemporary and intimate friend, and who,
superior to the low jealousy which would have seized upon a mean mind, on
witnessing the success of a rival historian, Iiad always been amongst the first to
come forward and acknowledge his merits, thus speaks of the work, as it passed
through his hands in sheets direct from the printing office : "They even excel,
and I think in a sensible degree, your History of Scotland. I propose to my-
self great pleasure, in being the only man in England, during some months, who
will be in the situation of doing you justice ; after which, you may certainly
expect that my voice will be drowned in that of the public" Mr Hume was not
mistaken in this anticipation. Congratulatory and complimentary letters ag^in
flowed in upon the historian from all quarters, and his fame not only spread
rapidly wherever the language in which he wrote Avas understood, but by a
lelicitous translation of his Charles V,, by M. Suard, he became equally well
known throughout all France.

Previously to his undertaking the Life of Charles V., Dr Robertson had been
urgently entreated by his friends, and had even the wishes of the monarch con-
veyed to him on the subject, to undertake a history of England. This, though
promised the support of government while he should be engaged in the work,
he declined, from motives of delicacy towards his friend Mr Hume, who was al-
ready employed on a history of that kingdom. He was afterwards, however,
prevailed upon to entertain the idea, from the consideration that his work would
not appear for many years after Blr Hume's, and that it would necessarily be
so diHerent as to have an entirely separate and distinct claim on public favour,
without any encroachment on the portion due to the merits of Mr Hume. T h3
work, however, was never undertaken, nor is it now knoAvn \\hat were the
causes which prevented it. His biographer, Mr Dugald Stewart, conjectures
that the resignation of lord Bute, who had always been a warm and steady

torian ; that is to say, he has £50 a-year, and a house certain, besides wliat he can make by
his books. It was taken for granted that he vras to resign his cliarge, on being appointed
historiographer with £200 salary ; but that he will do at his leisure. It is also supposed by
his patrons, that he is to wiite the history of Britain in ten volumes quarto. This also, I
presume (dreadful task!) he will execute at his leisure.

" Honest David Home [Hume], wth the heart of all others that rejoices most at the pros-
perity of his friends, was certainly a little hurt with this last honour conferred on Robertson.
A lucky accident has given him relie£ The earl of Hertford is appointed ambassador to
France; not very capable himself, they have loaded him with an insignificant secretary, one
Charles Bunbury, who, for the sake of pleasure, more than the tiiousand a-year, solicited for
the office. Hertford knew David, and some good genius prompted to ask him to go along
and manage the business. It is an honourable character — he will see his fi lends in France;
if he tires fie can return when he pleases. Bunbury will probably tire first, and Uien David
will become secretary !" — Thorjie's Catalogue of Autographs, 1833.

2 In consequence of the great success of his History of Scotland, Dr Robertson received for
Charles V. from the booksellers, no less than £4j50b, then supposed to be the largest sum
ever paid for the copyright of a single book.

183 WILLIAM EOBERTSON.

friend of Dr Robertson, might have contributed to alter hia views witli regard
to the writing a history of England ; but he acknowledges his inability to dis-
corer any certain or positive reason for the interruption of its execution.

Eight years after the publication of Charles V., (1777,) Dr Robertson pro-
duced the History of America, a work which fully maintained the author's high
reputation, and procured him a repetition of all those gratifying marks of both
public and private approbation which had attended his former works. One of
these was his election as an honorary member by the Royal Academy of His-
tory in Madrid. This learned body at the same time appointed one of its
members to translate the work into Spanish, and a considerable progress was
m.ade in the translation, when the jealousy of the Spanish government inter-
fered to prevent it from proceeding any further.

The reputation of Dr Robertson, however, did not rest alone upon liis
nritings. His {>owerfal and penuasive eloquence had gained him an influence
in the General Assembly, which intimately and conspicuously associated his
name with the ecclesiastical affairs of the kingdom. He introduced and es-
tablished a system of subordination throughout the various gradations of ec-
clesiastii^il judicatories, which liad not been before exerted, and the neglect of
which had giveu rise to many unbecoming scenes in the settling of ministers ;
scenes deemed at once highly derogatory to the dignity of the supreme court,
and subversive of all order in the church government of the kingdom.

Of his eloquence, a part of his fame, as his biographer remarks, which must
soon rest on tradition only, the latter thus spealts : " I shall not be accused of
exaggeration, when I say, that, in some of the most essential qualifications of a
speaker, he was entitled to rank with the first names which have in our times
adorned the British senate." This is high praise ; but when it is recollected
who he is that bestows it, there is little reason to doubt its justice.

In his preface to his History of America, Dr Robei'tson had mentioned his
int««tion of resuming the subject ; and it is known that, but for the colonial
war, which was now raging, he would have commenced a history of the
British empire in that continent. Having abandoned this design, he looked
out for some other subject worthy of his pen. Mr Gibbon recommended to
him a history of the Protestants in France, a subject which has since been il-
lustrated by Dr M'Crie, and several other persons suggested the History of
Great Britain, from the Revolution to the Accession of the House of Hanover.
It appears from a letter to Dr Waddilour, dean of Rippon, dated July, 1778,
that lie had n!ade up his mind to encounter the responsibilities of such a task :
but he very early abandoned it, in consequence of a correspondence with his
friend, Mr James Macpherson, who, three years before, had published a history
of the same reigns, and whose feelings, he found, must be severely injured by
his attempting a rival work. As he was now approaching his sixtieth year, it
is probable that he was by no means eager to commence a new subject of
study. His circumstances, too, were independent; he had acquired fame suf-
ficient to gratify his most ambitious hopes : and thus Avere removed two of the
greatest incentives to literary exertion. His constitution, besides, was consid-
erably impaired by a long, sedentary, and studious life ; and he probably con-
ceived that, after liaving devoted so large a portion of his existence to the
instruction and entertainment of others, he had a right to appropriate wliat re-
mained to himself.

In the year 1780, he retired from the business of the ecclesiastical court,
of which he Itad been so long an ornament, but still continued to dis-
charge the duties of his pastoral office, and that with a diligence, always exem-
plary, which increased rather than diminisiied with his growing infnmities.

^VILLIA.M EOBERTSON. 183

As long as Lis health permitted, he preached every Sunday, and continued to do
60 occasioually till within a few months of his death. In regard to his style of
preaching, his nephew, Lord Brougham, in his Life of the Principal, contained
in his "Lives of Men of Letters and Science who flourished in the time of
George IIL," gives a very iateresting account of it from his own personal know-
ledge; and in particular of a sermon whicli he heard Dr Robertson preach on
November 5, 1788, the celebration of the centenary of the Revolution.

Notwithstanding his resolution to write no more for the public, the Principal
was accidentally led to the composition of another work. In perusing mnjor Ren-
nel's "Memoirs of a Map of Hindoslan," he began to inquire into the know-
ledge which the ancients had of that country, solely for bis own amusement
and information. His ideas, as he himself remarks, gradually extended, and
became more interesting, till he at length imagioed that the result of his re-
searches might prove amusing and instructive to others. In this way he was
led to publish his " Historical Disquisition concerning the Knowledge which
the Ancients had of India, and the progress of Trade with that Country, prior
to the Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope," which appeared in 1791 in
quarto. He had in the meanwhile enjoyed several years of good health and
honoured leisure, dividing the time which he could spare from Ids clerical
duties between the amusement of reading and the enjoyment of the society of
his friends. Immediately, however, on the termination of the above self-im-
posed labour, his health became materially aliected. Strong symptoms of jaaa-
dice showed themselves, and laid the foundation of a lingering and fatal illness.
At an early stage of this disease, he was impressed with the belief that his death
Avaa not far distant ; but, like his great contemporary Hume, he contemplated its
approach, not only without terror, but with cheerfulness and complacency. In
the latter part of his illness he was removed to Grange House, in the neighbour-
hood of Edinburgh, in the vain hope that he might be benefited by the free
air of the country. He was still, however, able to enjoy the beauties of the
rural scenery around him, and that with all the relish of his better days. Early
in June, 1793, Ids increasing weakness confined 1dm to his couch; his articu-
lation began to fail, and on the 11th he died, in the seventy-first year of his
age.

Dr Robertson's talents were not precocious. The early part of his career was
wholly undistinguished by any remarkable pre-eminence over his contemporaries;
but his mind, though silently and unobtrusively, was yet gradually advancing
towards tliat high intellectual station in which it first attracted the attention of the
world. He did not, with that ill-judged precipitancy by which authors have often
seriously suffered in then* reputation and fortunes, come uiifl.edgcd before the world.
As already remarked, he wisely refrained from stepping into the arena of literary
competition until he was completely accoutred for the contest, and the success
he met with was one result of this prudence and forethought.

The friendship which subsisted between Dr Robertson and Mr Hume is, per-
haps, next to the genius of these great men, the circumstance connected witii
them most deserving of our admiration. Though both struggling forward in
the same path of historical composition, there were not only no mean jealousies
in the race, but each might be seen in turn helping forward the other, and a
more interesting sight than this cannot readily be conceived. The letters of
Mr Hume to Dr Robertson are full of amiable feeling, and of that light,
cheerful raillery, in which the historian of England so much delighted to in-
dulge, and which contrasted so pleasingly with the gravity and digniTy of his
writings. "Next week," he says, in one of these letters, "I am published,
and then I expect a constant con-parison will be made between Dr Robertson

184 DR. JOHN ROBISON.

and Mr Hume. I shall tell you in a few weeks which of these heroes is likely
to prevail. Meanwhile, I can inform both of them for their comforts, that their
combat is not likely to make half so much noise as that between Broughton and
the one-eyed coachman."

Dr Robertson in person was rather above the middle size, with an apparently
ordinary degree of physical strength. His eye was intelligent, and his features
regular and manly. " He appeared," says his biogi-apher, " to greatest ad-
vantage in his complete clerical dress, and was more remarkable for gravity and
dignity in discharging the functions of his public stations, than for ease or
grace in private society." His moral character was unimpeachable. His manners
were mild and conciliating, and all his dispositions amiable. " He was," says
Dr Erskiue, " temperate, without austerity ; condescending and affable, without
meanness ; and in expense, neither sordid nor prodigal. He could feel an injury,
yet bridle his passion; was grave, not sullen; steady, not obstinate; friendly, not
officious ; prudent and cautious, not timid."

He left behind him three sons and two daughters. The eldest son adopted
the profession of the law, and passed through its highest honours. His two
younger sous entered the army. His elder daughter was married to Mr Brydone,
author of the Tour in Sicily and Malta ; the youngest, to John Russell, Esq.,
clerk to the signet. His two younger sons rose to high rank in the army, and
the elder of the two especially distinguished himself in India under Lord Corn-
wallis,'

In the year 1781, Dr Robertson was elected one of the foreign members of
the Academy of Sciences at Padua, and, in 1783, one of the foreign members
of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg. The empress Catherine
was so much delighted with his works, that she presented him, through Dr
Rogerson, with a handsome gold enamelled snuff-box, richly set with diamonds.
He was the founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and exerted himself
with his iisual zeal, not only in forming the plan of that institution, but in car-
rying it on after it was established.

ROBISON, (Dr) John, an eminent mechanical philosopher, and professor of
natural philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, was the son of John Robison,
a merchant in Glasgow, and was born there in the year 1739.* The first part
of his education he received at the grammar school of Glasgow, whence he en-
tered as a student of the university of Glasgow so early as the year 1750, and
took the degree of master of arts in 1756. "What progress he made in his
early studies is not known, and in after life he used to speak lightly of his
early proficiency, and accuse himself of want of application. In the year fol-
lowing his graduation, he made a proposal to be appointed assistant to Mr Dick,
professor of natural philosophy, in place of the son of that gentleman, who had
just died ; but was considered too young for the important duty. At that time
hia friends had wished him to study for the church ; but, preferring some duty
in which his mechanical pursuits might be indulged, he turned his eyes towards
London. Professor Dick and Dr Simson sent along with him recommendations
to Dr Blair, Prebendary of Westminster, who might have had influence to
procure for him the situation of tutor in mathematics and navigation to the

• It may farther be mentioned, that his niece, Miss Eleanor Syme, the daughter of or.e
of his sisters, was the mother of one of the greatest men of the passing age, Lord L>rougham,
who wrote the life of his uncle above aUuded to; and that I\lr Brydone's eldest daughter
having married the present Earl of Minto, their second daughter became the wife of L< rd
John Russell, the eminent constitutional statesman, whose name stands honouraLly
associated with all the great political reforms of the present day.

' 3Iem: u- by Professor Flayfair : Trans. Boyal Society, Edinburgh, vii. 493.

DR. JOHN ROBISON. 185

duke of York, younger son of Frederick, prince of Wales, whom there was then
some intention of educating for the navy. The plan was given up, and Robison
received a severe disappointment, but the event served as his introduction to an
excellent friend, admiral Kiiowles, a gentleman whose son was to have at-
tended the duke on his voyage. Young Mr Knowles' nautical education was
not to be given up with that of the duke, and his father perceiving Robison's
knowledge of mechanical philosophy, employed him to take charge of the in.
struction of his son while at sea. Mr Robison sailed from Spithead in 1759,
with the fleet, which assisted the land forces in the taking of Quebec. His
pupil was a midshipman in the admiral's ship, in which he was himself rated of
the same rank. Two years of such active service as followed this expedition
enabled Robison to make many observations, and collect a fund of practical
knowledge, while he was sometimes usefully employed in making surveys. On
his return on the third of August, he was a sufferer from the sea scurvy, which
had disabled the greater part of the crew. At this time Mr Robison seems to
have had a surfeit of a sailor's life, one which, however pleasing for a limited
time, as serving to exemplify his favourite studies, possessed perhaps few charms
as a profession, to a man of studious habits. He intended to resume the dis-
carded study of theology ; but an invitation from admiral Knowles to live with
him in the country, and assist in his experiments, prevailed, " What these ex-
periments were," says 3Ir Robison's biographer, " is not mentioned ; but they
probably related to ship-building, a subject which the admiral had studied with
great attention." He had not been thus situated many months, when his young
friend and pupil lieutenant Knowles, was appointed to the command of the
Peregrine sloop of war of 20 guns, and probably from a passion for the sea
recurring after recovery from his disorder, and a residence in the country,
Robison accompanied him. At this period his ambition seems to have been
limited to the situation of purser to his friend's vessel. On his return from a
voyage, during which he visited Lisbon before the traces of the great earth-
quake had been effaced, he again took up his residence with admiral Knowles.
By his patron he was soon afterwards recommended to lord Anson, then first
lord of the admiralty, who conceived him a fit person to take charge of the
chronometer constructed, after many years of patient labour, by'^Mr Harrison,
on a trial voyage to the West Indies, in which its accuracy was to be tried, at
the suggestion of the Board of Longitude. On the return, which was hastened
by the dread of a Spanish invasion of St Domingo, Mr Robison suffered all the
hardships of the most adventurous voyage, from the rudder being broken in a
gale of wind to the ship's catching fire, and being with difficulty extinguished^
The result of the observation was satisfactory, the whole error from first setting
sail, on a comparison with observations at Portsmouth, being only 1' 53^", a
difference which would produce very little effect in calculations of longitude for
ordinary practical purposes. For the reward of his services Mr Robison had
made no stipulation, trusting to the consideration of government ; but he was
disappointed. Lord Anson was in his last illness, admiral Knowles was disgusted
with the admiralty and the ministry, and the personal applications unaided by
interest which he Avas obliged to make,' were met with a cold silence which ir-
ritated his mind. It appears that at this period the reward he sought was the
comparatively humble appointment of purser to a ship. In I7G3, such a situa-
tion was offered to him by lord Sandwich, then first lord of the admiralty, in a
vessel of 40 guns, which it is probable that a dawning of brighter prospects
prompted him, certainly not to the regret of his admirers, to decline. Not-
withstanding his having been connected with a branch of society not generally
esteemed propitious to clerical pursuits, he is said to have still felt a lingering

186 DE. JOHN ROBISON.

regard for the church, and to Iiare adhered to his friends in the navy, solely
from the better chance of advancement, because, as his biographer with unques-
tionable truth observes, " it lay more in the way of the Board of Longitude to
help one to promotion in the nuvy than in the clmrch." He returned to Glas-
gow, and renewing an acquaintance long since commenced with Dr Black,
entered with ardour on the new views in chemistry connected with the exist-
ence of latent heat, which his eminent friend was beginning to divulge to the
world. He at the same time commenced an intimacy with Blr IVatt, and was
so far acquainted with his proceeding-s, as to be able to certify the justice of his
claim to those vast improvements in tlie steam engine, which a singular accident
had been tlie means of suggesting to his genius. At. the recommendation of
Dr Blank, Robison was appointed his successor in the chemical chair of Glasgow,
which, in 1766, he had relinquished for that of Edinburgh. After continuing
four years in this situation, one of a novel and uncommon character presented
Itself for his acceptance. The empress of Bussia had mtide a request to
the government of Britain, for the service of some able and experienced naval
officers to superintend the reformation of her marine. With more liberality
than generally characterizes the intercourse of nations, the request was agreed
to, and Mr Robison's tried friend, admiral Knowles, was appointed president of
thfr Russian Board of Admiralty. It had been his intention to recommend
Robison. for the situation of official secretary to the Board, but finding such an
office incompatible with the constitution of the Russian Board, he contrived to
engage his sei vices to the public, in the capacity of his private secretaiy, and
in the end of December, 1770, both proceeded over land to St Petersburgh.
For a year after his arrival, he assisted the admiral in forcing on the attention
of the Russians such improvements in ship-building, rigging, and navigation,
aa their prejudices would allow them to be taught by foreigners, backed by the
influence of government. Meanwhile he had sedulously studied the Russian
language, and in the summer of 1772, the reputation of his accomplishments
induced the oHer of the vacant mathematical chair attached to the Sea cadet
corps of nobles at Cronstadt On his acceptance of the appointment, his pre-
decessor's salary was doubled, and he was raised to the rank of colonel, an ele-
vation to which he could not step with pi-oper Russian grace, w ithout producing
such documents as bore the appeai-anre of evidence to the nobility of his birth.
Besides his duties as mathematical professor, he acted in the room of general
PoL'tika, who had retired, as inspector-general of the corps ; a duty in which
he had to inspect the conduct and labours of about forty teachers. He did not
long remain in this situation.

In 1773, from the death of Dr Rusael, a vacancy occurred in the natural
philosephy chair of Edinburgh, which the patrons, at the instigation of principal
Robertson, invited Mr Robison to fill. On hearing of this invitation, prospects
of a still more brilliant nature were held out to him by the empress : he hesi-
tated for some time, but,, being apart from such society as even the more enlight'
ened parU of Russia afforded, he finally preferred the less brilliant, but more
pleasing o/Ter from his native country, and in June, 1777, he set sail from Cron-
stadt to Leith. The empress, on his departure, requested that he would under-
take the care of two or three of tlie cadets, who were to be elected in succession,
and promised him a pension of 400 rubles or £80 a-year. The pension was paid
for three years, and is supposed to have been discontinued because Robison had
not communicated to the Russian government the progressive improvements in
British marine education. In the winter of 1774, he commenced his lectures
in Edinburgh. " The sciences of mechanics, " says his biographer, " hydro-
dynamics, astronomy, and optics, together with electricity and magnetism, ware

BE. JOHN ROBISON. 137

the subjects ^vhich liis lectures embraced. These were given with great fluency
and precision of language, and with the introduction of a good deal of mathe-
matical demonstration. His manner was gi-ave and dignified. His views, al-
ways ingenious and comprehensive, were full of information, and never more
interesting and instructive than when they touched upon the history of science.
His lectures, however, were often complained of as difficult and hard to be fol-
lowed ; and this did not, in my opinion, arise from the depth of the mathemati-
cal demonstrations, as was sometimes said, but rather from the rapidity of his
discourse, wliich was geneially beyond the rate at which accurate reasoning
can be easily followed. The singular facility of his own appi'ehension, made
him judge too favourably of the same power in others. To understand his
Jectures completely, was, on account of the rapidity and the unifonn flow of
his discourse, not a very easy task, even for men tolerably familiar with the
subject. On this account, his lectures were less popular than might have been
«xpected from such a combination of rare talents as the author of them possess-
ed." Mr Kobison had exerted himself with zeal in the revival of that associa-
tion of philosophers, Avhich merged itself into the Royal Society of Edinburgh ;
and on its being incorporated by royal charter in 1783, he was appointed secre-
tary ; an office in which he signalized himself, by attention to the interests of
the society. In March, 1786, he read to the society a paper, entitled " Deter-
mination of the Orbit and Motion of the Georgium Sidus, directly from Obser-
vations." In this paper, he is generally understood by scientific men to have
with some haste drawn conclusions for which ttie limited time during which
Herschel's newly discovered planet had been observed by philosophers, did not
atTord data. His next paper to the society, •" On the Motion of Light, as af-
fected by Hefracting and lleflecting Substances, which are themselves in Mo-
tion," was of more utility to science. In December, 1765, he began to be at.
tacked by a chronic disease, which gradually undermined his health, but did
not for some time interrupt his ordinary labours. Twelve volumes of the third
and much enlarged edition of the Encyclopredia Britannica had been published,
when tlie editor turned his eyes on Mr Robison, as a person likely to give it lustre
from Jiis scientific knowledge. He commenced his contributions with the article
" Optics," in 1793, and contributed a variety of useful treatises, till the com-
pletion of the work in 1801. His biographer remarks, that ^* he was the first
contributor wlio was professedly a man of science ; and from that time the En-
cyclopedia Britannica ceased to be a mere compilation." The observation must
be received with limitations in both its branches. To the Supplement, he con-
tributed the ai'ticles ** Electricity " and *' Magnetism." At the period while he
was acquiring faiiie by his physical researches, he chose to stretch his studies
into a branch of kno^vledge, which he handled with scarcely so much effect.
Along with many people, among whom a philosopher is always to be found
with regret, a panic that the whole " system," as it was termed, of society, was
in progress of demolition by the French revolution, seized on his mind. He
strayed from more accordant subjects, to look for the causes of all the confusion,
and had tlie merit of attracting some of the maddened attention of the period,
by finding an untrodden path, which led him farther from the highway than
any other speculator had ventui'ed. In 1797, he published " Proofs of a Con-
spiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe." This work is
now forgotten ; and it will serve for little more than amusement to know, tliat the
crimes, so evidently prompted by forcibly carrying the usages and exclusions
of a dark age, when the people respected them, into an age when they were
not respected, were traced to the machinations of the illuminati and free masons.
Professor Robison had the merit of quoting authorities not much read, and in the

188 DR. JOHN ROBISON.

inlluuied feelings of the period, the secrecy of the sources, instead of proTing a
prima facie objection to the probability that a tissue of open national outrages^
prompted by passion, and unguided by pre-arranged motive, could be the con-
sequence of what was so carefully concealed, or rather overlooked, served to in- .
flame the spirit of mystery, which other branches of literature were then foster-
ing ; and the book was rapidly sold to the extent of four editions, and was
greedily read. In an age which has acquired the power of influencing masses
of men by public opinions, secret tenets or intentions do not acquire numerous
followers. That there were some grounds in opinion, and even in intention
for many of the statements of 3Ir Hobison, may be granted ; but a few German
enthusiasts, pleased with mysticism, were the only conspirators, and the appall-
ing statements in the works which he used as authorities, were from men
still more given to credulity, than the persons of whom they spoke were to
mystery.

In 1799, professor Robison was employed in the difficult task of preparing
fur the press the manuscript lectures and notes of Dr Black, who had just died.
** Dr Black," says Kobison's biographer, " had used to read his lectures from
notes, and these often but very imperfect, and ranged in order by marks and
signs only known to himself. The task of editing them was, therefore, diffi-
cult, and required a great deal both of time and labour ; but was at last accom-
plished in a manner to give great satisfaction." IMeanwhile, however, the dis-
coveries of Dr Black had produced many alterations in chemistry, and the
science had assumed a new aspect. Among other things, tlie new nomenclature
of Lavoisier, had been almost universally received, and rendered any work
which did not adopt it, antiquated, and comparatively useless. It was supposed
that Robison, with some labour, but without any injustice to the labours of his
friend, might have adopted it; but he preferred the system in the original : a
choice attributed by some to respect for the memory of his friend, and by
others to prejudice. He sent a copy of his publication to the emperor of
Russia, and received in return a box set in diamonds, and a letter of thanks.

Professor Robison had long intended to digest his researches into a work, to
be entitled " Elements of Mechanical Philosophy, being the Substance of a
Course of Lectures on that science." The first volume of this work, containing
Dynamics and Astronomy, he published in 1804 ; but he did not live to com-
plete it. In the end of January, 1805, he yielded to the lingering disorder,
which had long oppressed his body, before it enervated his mind. His bio-
grapher gives the following account of his character. " He possessed many
accomplishments rarely to be met with in a scholar, or a man of science. He
had great skill and taste in music, and was a performer on several instruments.
Ue was an excellent draughtsman, and could make his pencil a valuable instru-
ment, either of record or invention. When a young man, he was gay, con-
vivial, and facetious, and his vers de societe flowed, I iiave been told, easily
and with great effect. His appearance and manner were in a high degree
favourable and imposing : his figure handsome, and his face expi-essive of ta-
lent, thought, gentleness, and good temper. When 1 had first the pleasure to
become acquainted with him, the youthful turn of his countenance and manners
was beginning to give place to the grave and serious cast, which he early as-
sumed ; and certainly I have never met with any one whose appearance and
conversation were more impressive than his were at that period. Indeed, his
powers of conversation were very extraordinary, and, Avhen exerted, never failed
of producing a great efl«ct. An extensive and accurate information of parti-
cular facts, and a facility of combining them into general and original views,
were united in a degree, of which I am persuaded there have been few exam-

ROBERT ROLLOCK. 189

pies. Accordingly, he would go over the most difficult subjects, and bring out
the most profound remarks, with an ease and readiness which was quite singu-
lar. The depth of his observations seemed to cost him nothing : and when he
said any thing particularly striking, you never could discover any appearance
of the self-satisfaction so common on such occasions. He was disposed to pass
quite readily from one subject to another : the transition was a matter of
course, and he had perfectly, and apparently without seeking after it, that
light and easy turn of conversation, even on scientific and profound subjects, in
which we of this island are charged by our neighbours with being so extremely
deficient. The same facility, and the same general tone, Avere to be seen in his
lectures and his writings. He composed with singular facility and correctness,
but Avas sometimes, when he had leisure to be so, very fastidious about his owa
compositions. In the intercourse of his life, he was benevolent, disinterested,
and friendly, and of sincere and unaflected piety. In his interpretation of the
conduct of others, he was fair and liberal, while his mind retained its natural
tone, and had not yielded to the alarms of the French Revolution, and to the
bias which it produced."

Mr Robison's various Avorks, printed and unprinted, were, after his death,
put into the hands of professor Playfair ; but that gentleman finding that he
could not devote his time sufficiently to them, they were afterwards published,
with notes, by Dr Brewster, in four volumes octavo, 1822. This work consists
of some manuscript papei'S on Projectiles and Corpuscular Action, and the
papers which the author prepared for the Encyclopccdia Britannica, abridged of
some of their digressions.

ROLLOCK, Robert, an early and zealous promoter of Scottish literature,
was born in the year 1535. He was nearly related through his mother to the
noble family of Livingston. Discovering an early aptitude for letters, he was
sent by his father, Mr David RoUock, to the grammar school of Stirling, at that
time taught by Mr Thomas Buchanan, nephew to the author of the History of
Scotland. Under the care of this teacher he continued till he was fit for en-
tering the university, when he Avas sent to the college of St Salvador, St
AndreAvs. By his docility, modesty, and SAveetness of disposition, young Rol-
lock had already engaged the affections of his preceptor, and laid the founda-
tion of a friendship Avhich continued till his death. The possession of these
virtues also procured him, in a short time, the particular and favourable notice
of the Avhole university. Having gone through the regular course of four years'
study, Avhich Avas at that time the prescribed period in all the Scottish colleges,
and taken out his degree, he Avas immediately elected professor of philosophy,
being then only in the twenty-third year of his age. Here he continued for
four years, discharging the duties of his office Avith singular diligence, and Avith
a success almost Avithout example in Scottish colleges. It Avas at this time, and
long after this, the practice in the Scottish universities, for the same professor to
conduct the studies of the same set of students through the Avhole course ; and
the remarkable progress of his pupils, Avith the public applause he received at
their laureation, induced the magistrates of Edinburgh to fix upon Mr Rollock
as a fit person to open their univei-sity, for Avhich they had obtained a charter
from king James the previous year. This invitation Mr Rollock Avas persuaded
to accept, and in the beginning of Avinter 1583, he entered, Avith all his accus-
tomed zeal upon his laborious office, being the sole teacher, and in his own
person comprising the character of principal and professors to the infant estab-
lishment. The fame, however, of so celebrated a teacher as 3Ir Rollock
opening a class for philosophy in the ncAvly erected seminary, operated as a
charm, and multitudes from all corners of the kingdom hastened to the capital to

190 ROBERT ROLLOCK.

lake the benefit of his prelections. Having bo assistant, Mr Rollock joined
all his students at first into one class, which, from the want of preparation on
the part of the students, rendered his labours at :first of little utility. All the
books used, all the lectures delivered, and tbe whole business of the class was
transacted in Latin, -without some competent knowledge of which, the student
could not possibly make any progress. From a defective knowledge in this re-
spect among the students, Mr Rollock was soon under the necessity of dividing
his class into two, with one of which he found it the most profitable mode of
proceeding to begin them anew in the rudimental parts of humanity. At the
recommendation of Mr Rollock, however, the patrons of the college elected a
young man of the name of Duncan Nairn, a second master of the college, who
undertook the charge of this first class in the month of November, 1583. Mr
Nairn, who was the second professor in the college of Edinburgh, taught his
class Latin the first year, Greek the second, there being properly no humanity
professor in the university till a number of years after this. The emoluments
of office in the new university must have been very moderate, for the students
paid no fees, and any funds which had yet been provided were altogether
trifling. The town council, however, seem to have been careful of the comfort
of the new professors, as they allowed Mr Rollock on the 17 th of Sep-
tember, 1583, twenty pounds Scots for his expenses in coming from S^ An-
drews to Edinburgh at the commencement of his regency, and on the 25th
of the succeeding month of October, thirty pounds Scots for his services.
They also, in the month of November, ordered Robert Rollock, first regent,
and Duncan Nairn second, twenty pounds Scots each for boarding till Candle-
mas, and in the succeeding year a committee was appointed to confer with the
former " anent taking up house." It no doubt required all the patronage the^
city of Edinburgh could bestow, and all the exertions of Rollock and his as-
sociate to carry on the seminary successfully with so little means, and in an age
of so much ignorance and poverty. Circumstances, too, were greatly against it.
In the year 1585, the plague made its appearance in Edinburgh on the fourth
day of May, and raged till the succeeding month of January, during which
time the city was deserted by all who had the means of leaving it. The univer-
sity was thus wholly deserted at a time when the students were in the very
middle of their course, a circumstance which, considering that it was but the
third year of the establishment, must have been highly prejudicial to its interests.
The professors, however, returned about the middle of January, and the
students, by an order of council, were ordered to be in their places upon the
3d of February. In this same year the national covenant, or confession of
faith, was introduced into the college, and tendered to every student. Mr Rol-
lock was also created principal, though he still continued to teach his class.
His associate, Duncan Nairn, died the succeeding year, and the council having
resolved to have three classes taught, Messrs Adam Colt and Alexander Scrim-
ger were elected in his place.

Mr Rollock continued to teach his private class till the first laureation, which
was public, and attended by all the nobility in town.~ The number graduated,"
and who of course signed the covenant, was forty- eight. As soon as this cere-
mony was concluded. Mi- Rollock resigned his regency, retaining the princi-
palship, to which was now annexed the professorship of theology, for which,
and preaching regularly on the Sabbath, he was allowed four hundred merks
yearly. It was the practice of Mr Rollock to pray in public with the students
every morning, and on one day of the week to explain to them some passage
of Scripture, which he never failed to conclude with most pertinent and practi-
cal exhortations. With the more advanced students he was particularly careful

ROBERT ROLLOCK. 191

that they might enter upon the work of the ministry, not only in some measure
prepared for, but with a deep feeling of its important duties. With all this dili-
gence among his pupils, he was a faithful and acceptable minister of the gospeL
With literary ardour, however, almost boundless, and the warmest piety, Mr bol-
lock's simplicity of character degenei'ated into, or rather originally possessed a na-
tural imbecility, .not at all uncommon in minds of this description, which disquali-
fied him from acting a consistent, or a profitable part in the conduct of the public
afiairs of the church, which at this period were of paramount importance ; in-
volving at once the civil, and the religious rights of the community. Tliia
facile disposition was at once seen, and appreciated by Iting James, who, having
now matured his plans for reducing the church to an entire dependence upon
himself, was sedulously employed ia carrying them into effect. For ad-
vancing this purpose he had procured a meeting of the clergy at Perth in the
month of February, 1597, which by threatenings, flatteries, and bribes, and by
preventing some individuals from giving their opinion in the matter, he
managed to have set down for a general assembly, whose conclusions were to be
considered as binding upon the whole church. Naturally endowed, however,
with a more than ordinary share of cunning-, lie proceeded with the utmost
caution. Disclaiming all intention of introducing anything like change in any
part of either the worship, government, or discipline of the church, and profess-
ing the utmost reverence for religion, and respect for its ministers, he submit-
ted to this assembly only thirteen articles to be reasoned upon ; all of them
Avorded in a manner so gentle, and so ambiguous, as to conceal from all but
acute and narrow observers their real spirit and true meaning ; which was, in the
first place, to lay open the present established order of the church to be called
in question, though it was supposed to have been set at rest by the solemn
oaths of his majesty, his council, his household, and by all who had any concern
in the matter ; secondly, to circumscribe the liberty of the pulpit, so that no
warning might, through that medium, be given to the people of the designs of
the king and his courtiers, when they should come to be discovered ; and
thirdly, that a commission of a few of the most prudent and orderly of the
ministers should be appointed to confer with his majesty and council, upon all
these or other questions, as opportunity or necessity might call for, subject to
the after consideration of a general assembly, to be indicted only by his
majesty, which was in the above articles not unequivocally claimed as one of
the prerogatives of his crown. With all the diligence he exerted, however, he
carried his purpose no very great length ; some of his articles being answered
doubtfully, some of them disallowed, and some of them not answered at all.
Still greater diligence was therefore necessary to prepare matters for the assem-
bly that was to meet at Dundee in the month of iMay the same year, where
there was not only danger of gaining nothing further in his advances towards
episcopacy, but of all that had been gained in the last assembly being lost.
Care \ma taken to prevent the regular meeting of the assembly which should
have been held at St AndreiA-s in the month of April. Only a very few of the
commissioners ventured to appear, who, along with the moderator, made humble
confession of their sins, formed, or constituted the assembly, and took protes-
tations for the liberty of the kirk, continuing all summonses, references, and
appellations to the assembly follomng. In the following month, the assembly
met at Dundee, but it was in the new fashion ; the difference between which
and those that had been held previously to that at Perth, of which we have
spoken above, is thus stated by a writer of that period of the highest respecta-
bility. " Ist. Christ by his spiritual office having convocatcd and appointed
times andf places before ; now timss and places are appointed by the king.

192 • EGBERT ROLLOCK.

claiming this as his only due. 2nd. The moderator and brethren were
directed by the word of God, and his Spirit ; now and hereafter they are to be
directed by the king, his laws, and state policy. 3rd. Blatters were before
proposed simply, and the brethren sent to seek light out of the word by reason-
ing, conference, meditation, and prayer ; now means are devised before in
the king's cabinet, to bring his purposes to pass, and heed is taken in public
and private what may hinder his course. He tliat goeth his way is an honest
man, a good peaceable minister ; those that mean, or reason in the contrary,
are seditious, troublesome, cofied, factious! 4th. In reasoning, the word was
alleged, the reason weighed, and if of weight yielded unto willingly ; now
the word is passed by, or posted over and sliifted, and if the reason be insisted
upon, the reasoner is borne down and put to silence. 5th. The fear of God,
the care of the kirk, learning, the power of preaching, motion, and force of
prayer, and other gifts shining in those who were present, procured before esti-
mation, reverence, and good order ; now the person, presence, and regard to
tlie prince's favour and purpose swayeth all. If any had a gift, or measure of
learning, utterance, zeal, or power in exhortation beyond others, it was era-
ployed at these assemblies ; now plots are laid how none shall have place, but
such as serve for their purpose. 6th. The assemblies of old aimed at the
standing of Christ's kingdom in holiness and freedom ; now the aim is how the
kirk and religion may be framed conform to the political state of a monarch,
and to advance his supreme and absolute authority in all causes. In a word,
where Christ ruled before, the court now beginneth to govern. The king's man
may stand at the king's chair, use what countenance, gesture, or language he
pleaseth, but good men must be taunted, checked," &c. Such, according to
Calderwood, was the assembly held at Dundee, 1597. According to the same
authority, " After exhortation made by the last moderator, the assembly was
delayed, and the commissioners wearied till the coming of 3Ir Robert Rollock,
whom the king, and such as were to further his course, intended to have
moderator. He was a godly man, but simple in the matters of the church
government, credulous, easily led by counsel, and tutored in a manner by his
old master, Thomas Buchanan, who was now gained to the king's course. Many
means were used to have him chosen, and the king and his followers prepared
him for the purpose. Sir Patrick Blurray (brother to the laird of Balvaird, the
same who had been his majesty's agent for corrupting the assembly at Perth,)
and such ministers as were already won, travailled with others of chief note,
and brought them to be acquaint with the king, which was their exercise morn-
ing and evening." Mr Bollock having been appointed moderator, tlie assembly
proceeded to pass several acts strongly tending to support the whole superstruc-
ture of episcopacy. This was ejected chiefly by a representation of his
majesty " anent a solid order to be taken anent a constant, and perpetual pro-
vision for the sustentation of the whole ministry within this realme, to the end
that they be not, as in time bygone, forced to depend, and await upon the
commissioners appointed for modifying of their stipends, and so to absent them-
selves the most part of the year from their flocks, to the great disgrace of their
calling, dishaunting of the congregation, discontentment of his majesty, whose
care ever hath been, and earnest desire continueth as yet, that every congrega-
tion have a special pastor, honestly sustained for the better awaiting upon
his cure, and discharging his dutiful office in the same. Therefore, his
majesty desired the brethren to consider, whether it were expedient, that a
general commission should be granted to a certain number of the most wise,
and discreet of the brethren to convene Avith his majesty for effectuating of the
premises. This, his majesty's advice, the assembly judged to be necessary and

ROBERT ROLLOCK. 193

expedient, and therefore gave, and granted their full power and commission
to the brethren," &c., &c. These brethren, fourteen in number, seven of whom
with his majesty were to be a quorum, were unhappily, with the exception of
one or two that were named to save appearances, already captivated with
the hopes, some of them with the express promise, of preferment, and the
assembly was scarcely risen Avhen they began to display all the arrogancy of a
bench of bishops or a high commission court. In the month of June they con-
vened at Falkland, called before them the presbytery of St Andrews, upon a
complaint by Mr John Rutherford, who had been deposed from the ministry of
Kinnocher by that presbytery, and reduced the sentence. The culprit had
purchased the favour of the court by forging calumnies upon Mr David Black,
" who was a great eye-sore," says Calderwood, " to negligent, loose, and unfaith-
ful ministers, of which number this Mr John Rutherford was one, but he lived
in disgrace ever after, and was condemned by the bishops themselves, because
he could serve them to no further use." Proceeding to St Andrews, they cast
out Mr Wallace and Mr Black, who had but lately been restored ; banishing
the latter to Angus, whence they brought Mr George Gladstanes, soon after
created a bishop, to fill his place.

While they thus broke down the hedge of the church, by thrusting out two of
her most faithful ministers, and bringing in Mr Gladstanes without the con-
sent of either presbytery or people, they also interfered with the laws of the
university ; obliging Andrew Melville to demit his rectorship, and forbidding
all professors within the university, especially professors of divinity, to sit in
the presbytery upon any matter of discipline. Robert Rollock, moderator of
the last assembly, and consequently of the meetings of the commissioners with
the king, betrayed, according to Calderwood, " great weakness, which many that
loved him before construed to be simplicity." By the aid of Mr Rollock,
and his friends the commissioners, however, his majesty was enabled to restore
the popish earls of Huntly, Angus, and Errol, with whose assistance he carried
in parliament an act for ministers of the gospel to have a place and a vote in
that assembly. This act declared, ** that such pastors and ministers, within the
same, as at any time his majesty shall please to provide to the office, place,
title, and dignity of a bishop, abbot, or other prelate, shall at any time here-
after have vote in parliament, siclike and as freely as any other ecclesiastical
prelate had at any time bygone. It also declared, that all or whatsoever
bishoprics presently vaiking in his majesty's hands, which are yet undisponed
to any person, or which shall happen at any time hereafter to vaik, shall be
only disposed by his majesty to actual preachers and ministers in the kirk," &c.

Soon after this, Mr Rollock was seized with an illness, which confined him
to his house, and finally terminated his existence. While on his death-bed, he
requested two friends, who called upon him, to go from him, as a dying man,
to the king, and exhort him to cherish religion and the church, and to protect
and comfort its pastors, and to proceed with these good works with an unfalter-
ing step till the last hour of life ; and not allow himself to be drawn from it,
either by the hope of enlarging his authority, or by the evil advices of wicked
men. To the same persons he added, " You will remember that I was chosen
by the assembly at Dundee, to watch for the interest of this church. In this 1
had the glory of God, and the safety of the church, miserably tossed with tem-
pests and shaking, before mine eyes; and I can now declare, that my conscience
does not smite me with any wicked departure from duty, in doubling the number
of the ministers of Edinburgh ; and particulai'ly, in my activity to bring in two
(Messrs Robertson and Stewart) who studied under me, when I thought I saw in
them gifts suitable to such a trust, and hoped God would bless their labours. I

194 GEORGE ROSE.

am so far from repentinor any share I had in this, that to this hour it is satisfy-
ing to ine. I am persuaded Uie wise Maker of the world has tied the church
and state together witli a brotherly and adamantine chain ; and it hath been my
great cax-e to advance the good of both : and yet the love of peace hath not so
lar bewitched lue, that I coiUd not distinguish between genuine and adulterous
peace ; neither bath ray allection to my sovereign carried me tliat length, that
to please him I sliould submit to the least stain on ray conscience. I hope the
integrity and candour of my conduct shall appear when I am dead. In a word,
brethren, join together with the most intimate love and concord in the work of
the Lord. Let me put you in mind to pay every obedience to the king. You
lire in happy times, and enjoy a singular felicity. You are blessed with a
prince who drank in religion with his milk; who hath guarded your doctrine
witli a right discipline, and covers both the doctrine and discipline of religion
with his protection ; who hath taken the church so much into his care, as by
open and plain unanswerable documents, to make it evident, that he will never
desert her while he breathes. Therefore, what you may easily and pleasantly
eijoyi it will be folly to seek after by harsh methods. You will, then, take
particular care, that the church be not ruined by a fall from such high happi-
ness." Mr RoUock died on the 8th of January, 1598, in the forty-third year
of his age. His remains were attended to the place of interment by nearly the
whole population of Edinburgh, who considered him as their spiritual father,
and regarded his death as a public calamity. The town council had paid his
house rent for many years, and they allowed his widow the one half of his
salary for five years, and to his posthumous daughter they gave, from the city
funds, one thousand merks, by way of dowry. Pie published several works,
chiefly conunentaries on parts of Scripture, several of which were printed at
Genera, and obtained the warm approbation of the learned and judicious
Beza. These works are still to be met with, and, though tinged with the scholas-
tic theology of the times, discover great natural acuteness, a full acquaintance
with his subject, and very extensive learning. His whole life seems, indeed, to
bare been devoted to literature.

- ROSE, Georok, an eminent modern political character, was bora at Brechin,
June 11, 1744. He was the son of a poor non-jurant clergyman of the Scot-
tish episcopal communion, who, through the persecution which his order en-
dured from the government after the insurrection of 1745, seems to have lost
the means of supporting his fiimily. Under these uiifortunate circumstances,
George Rose was received by an uncle who kept an academy neai- Hanipstead,
by whom he was, at a vei'y early period of life, placed in a surgeon's shop.
Not liking this employment, he had the good fortune to attract the attention of
the earl of Marchmont, who, from sympathy for the cause of his father's dis-
tresses, and other considerations, procured him a situation on board a ship of
war. Here the ofRca of purser, to which George soon attained, enabled him to
display his qualities of activity, industry, and punctuality in so extraordinary a
manner, as to attract the notice of the earl of Sandwich, then at the head of
the admiralty. After occupying several subordinate situations in the public of-
fices, he was appointed keeper of the records, for which his qualifications were
entirely suited. The confused mass of papers wliich filled this office, were by
him arranged and classed in such a manner, that any one could be found im-
mediately when wanted. This achievement was attended with such extreme
convenience to the ministi-y, that it attracted the particular attention of lord
North, and established Mr Rose as the man whose services were to be resorted
to for aU such systematic and laboriotis worlt.

In 1767, he was appointed to complete the Journals of the House of Lords in

GEORGE ROSS. 195

thirty-one folio volumes ; a laborious and creditable duty, for which he
received a very handsome sum. IMr Rose from this time found regular employ-
ment in the public offices ; but it was not till the Pitt and Dundns administra-
tion, that he was raised to any eminent station in the public service. He was
then appointed joint-secretary to tlie treasury, and introduced into that depart-
ment his habits of order, of regularity, and of careful attention to details.
Mr Rose's qualifications Avere not of that order which make a great display;
but which, nevertheless, are so necessary, that the want of them soon becomes
conspicuous. In the business of every administration, there is a great deal of
laborious second-rate work, which cannot be conveniently executed by the
highest class of statesmen. The bold and comprehensive plans which they are
called iij>on to form, requirg talents and habits which are very seldom found
united with the power of minute calculation and patient inquiry. A laborious
raan, therefore, whose diligence and accuracy can be depended on, is an im-
portant acquisition to every administration. Such a one, who does not venture
into the high and uncertain ground of political contention, may survive many
ministerial shocks, and may recommend himself without discredit to cabinets
differing considerably in tlieir political aspect Such an assistant was found by
Sir Pitt in tiie subject of the present memoir, who, with the exception of two
short intervals, continued, during half a century, a sort of ministerial fixture,
carrying on the routine of public offices, with many useful plans and objects of
a subordinate nature. While superintending the business of the treasury, his
vigilance was unremitted in inspecting and keeping on the alert every depart-
ment of the widely ramified system. Trade also occupied a considerable share
of his attention ; and no man was more intimately acquainted with its facts and
details ; though he does not seem to have reached those sound and comprehen-
Bive views which were familiar to IMr Pitt. Amid a variety of delicate employ-
ments, no charge was ever made against his integrity, except one, which turned
out quite groundless.

On the accession of the Addington administration in 1301, and afterwards
on the formation of that of the Talents in 1806, Mr Rose retired along with
Mr Pitt, but resumed the public service in both cases on the restoration of the
Tories. On Mr Pitt's return to power, he was made^^vice-president, and soon
after, president of the Board of Trade, with a salary of £4000 a-year; in
which situation, excepting during the Talents administration, he continued till
his death. As a matter of course, Mr Rose was in parliament during the greater
part of his public career. His speeches in that assembly were generally on
subjects connected with trade, and were confined chiefly to details of facts,
which he stated in a manner that aimed at nothing like ornament. He de-
serves particular praise for the zeal with which he engaged in plans no way
connected with ministerial influence, and having for their sole object to im-
prove the condition of the indigent classes of society. He gave his full support
to friendly societies and savings' banks ; and introduced laws to encourage, and
secure the property of those establishments. In questions relating to the corn
laws, he usually took part with the people against the landed interest The
plans for taking a census of the population were conducted under his auspices.

Early in life, Mr Rose married a lady connected with the island of Dominica
by whom he had a large family. He purchased the estate of Cuftnells, in the
New Forest, which he spent a large sum in ornamenting. His regular and
temperate life was prolonged to a greater extent, than might have been ex-
pected from the laborious way in which he had spent it. He died at Cuftnells,
•January 13, 1818, in the 75th year of his age. It was the singular fortune of
Mr Rose, that he could declare in his last moments, in reference to his family.

196 ALEXANDER ROSS.

tliat " they had been a ble5»tng to him during a long series of years, and had
never caused him one hour's pain.^

Mr Hose was the author of a considerable number of fugitive political
tvritings, and of a respectable historical treatise, which he published with his
name, und^ tlie title of " Observations on the Historical Work of i\Ir Fox."
These "Observations" were prompted partly by a dissent from some of the
political views in the History of James II., and partly by a wish to clear some
diarges brought against Sir Patrick Hume, the ancestor of his patron and
friend, the earl of 3Iarchmont, whose executor he was. The political opinions
in^the work, though opposed in some points to those of Mr Fox, are considered
liberal, considering the general strain of the author's political life. 3Ir Bose
also superintended, under the direction of the House of Lords, the publication of
a superb engraved edition of Doomsday Book.

ROSS, Alexander, a very voluminous writer, but remembered less for his
numerous works, than for a celebrated couplet in Hudibras : —

" There was an ancient sage philosopher,
Who had read Alexander Ross over."

He was born in Aberdeen in the year 1590 ; but his parentage has not been
ascertained, nor have the circumstances of his early life been recorded. He
has been generally confounded with a contemporary of the same name, of whom
some account will be found in the next memoir. At what time he quitted Scot-
land is unknown ; but it is supposed that not long after his arrival in England,
he was appointed master of the grammar school of Southampton, and chaplain to
Charles I. These appointments were probably procured through the influence
of Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, to Avhora he expresses his obligations in the
dedication of his " Commentum de Terrae Motu Circulari Hefutatum." This
work appeared at London in 1634 ; and tiiough professedly written against
Lansbergius and Carpentarius, two advocates of the Copernican theory, con-
tains, in fact, an epitome of all the arguments that have been adduced against
that system. The Latinity is respectable, and the argument is managed with
considerable skill. During the struggles of the great civil war, Iloss espoused
the royal cause, and his writings are filled with praises of the king, and de-
nunciations of the parliament. It has been remarked by Echard, however, that
he " so managed his aflairs, that, in the midst of these storms, he died very
rich, as appears from th« several benefactions he made." His death took place
early in 1G54. We learn from the 3IS3. of Sir Robert Sibbald, that, by his
mil, dated 2l8t February, 1653, and probated 19th April, 1654, among
numerous other benefactions, he left £200 to the town council of Aberdeen, lor
the foundation of two bursaries ; £50 to the poor of Southampton ; £50 to the
poor of the parish of All-Saints ; and ^50 to the Bodleian library. There is
scarcely a subject in the wide range of literature, on which Ross hns not left a
work. His first publication appears to have been poetical : " Rerum Judai-
carum Libri Duo", London, 1617. To these he added a third book in 1619,
and a fourth in 1632. The rarest of his poetical effusions bears no date, but
is entitled " Three Decads of Divine IMeditations, whereof each one containeth
three parts. 1. History. 2. An Allegory. 3. A Prayer. With a Commen-
dation of a Private Country Life." This work has been priced so high as
£8 8s. " Four Books of Epigrams in Latin Elegiacs," also appeared without
a date; and in 1642 he published, " 3Iel Heliconium, or Poetical Honey
gathered out of the Weeds of Parnassus. The first book is divided into vii
chapters, according to the first vii lettei-s of the alphabet, containing 48 fictions,
out of which are extracted many hisloricall, naturall, morall, political!, and

ALEXANDER ROSS. 197

theologicall observations, both delightful and useful ; with 48 Meditations in
Verse." But his most celebrated work in the department of poetry, is hia
** Virgilii Evangelisantis Christiados Libri xiii.," which was published at Lon-
don in 1634, and again in 1638 and 1659. This is a cento from Virgil, giv-
ing a view of the leading features of sacred liistory, from the murder of Abel to
the ascension of Christ. It excited considerable notice in its day, and was
more lately brought before the public attention by Lauder, who accused Milton
of having plagiarized it. Lauder says, that by many Ross's Christiad is esteemed
equal with the Mneid, The opening lines may serve as a specimen : —

" Acta, Deumque cano, cceh' qui primus ab oris
Virginis in Itetse gremium descendit et orbem
Terrarum invisit profugus, Chananteaque vcnit
Littora, multum lUe et terra jactatus et alto
In superum, saevi memorem Plutonis ob iram."

His chief works in the department of history, are, " Animadversions and Ob-
servations upon Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World, wherein his Mis-
taltes are noted, and some doubtful Passages noted," London, 1653 ; and " The
History of the World, the Second Part, in six books, being a Continuation of
Sir Walter Raleigh's," London, 1652. " This," says Granger, (3d edit. vol.
iii. p. 32,) is like a piece of bad Gotliic taclied to a magnificent pile of Roman
architectui'e, which serves to heighten the effect of it, while it exposes its own
deficiency in strength and beauty." In 1652, was published, with a portrait of
the author, " Pansebia, or View of all the Religions in the AVorld, with the
Lives of certain notorious Hereticks." Afterwards reprinted in 1672, 1675,
1683, &c. Ross entered into controversy with Hobbes, Sir Tliomas Browne,
Hervey, and Sir Kenehn Digby ; and has left, among otliers, the following con-
troversial writings : " Observations upon Hobbes's Leviathan," 1653 ; " Arcana
Microcosmi, or the Hid Secrets of Man's Body discovered, in Anatomical Duel
between Aristotle and Galen ; with a Refutation of Thomas Browne's Vulgar
Errors, from Bacon's Natural History, and Hervey's book De Generatione,"
1651 ; the " Philosophical Touchstone, or Observations on Sir Kenelm Digby's
Discourse on the Nature of Bodies and of the Reasonable Soul, and Spinosa's
Opinion of the Mortality of the Soul, briefly confuted," 1645. This does not
exhaust the catalogue of Ross's writings. Besides many ascribed to him on
doubtful authority, there remain to be mentioned: "The New Planet, no
Planet, or the Earth no W'andering Star, against Galilseus and Copernicus,"
1640; ** Mystagogus Poeticus, or the Muses' Interpreter," 1647, Mhich
went througli six editions ;*** Enchiridium Oratoriura et Poeticum," 1650;
** Medicus Medicatus, or the Physician's Religion cured," 1645; ** Meliso-
machia ;" " Colloquia Plautina ;" " Chronology, in English ;" " Chymera Py»
thagorica," no date; " Tonsor ad cutem Rasus," 1629; " Questions and An-
swers on the First Six Chapters of Genesis," 1620; "The Picture of tho
Conscience," 1646 ; ''■ God's House, or the House of Prayer, vindicated from
Profaneness," 1642 ; " God's House made a Den of Thieyes," 1642. These
two last pieces are sermons.

ROSS, Alexander, frequently confounded with the former, was the son of
James Ross, minister at Strachan, in Kincardineshire, and afterwards at Aber-
deen. The date of his birth has not been ascertained, but it was probably be-
tween 1570 and 1580. He Avas for some time minister of the parish of Insch,
in 1631 he was appointed minister of Footdee, a catechetical charge in the
close vicinity of Aberdeen ; and in 1636, was chosen one of the ministers of St
Nicholas' church in that city. Ross, like his colleagues, supported the episcopal

19S ALEXANDER ROSS.

form of guvernmeiit, nnd subscribed the ** Generall Demands " propounded to
the coinniissioners, npi>ointed by the tables, to enforce tlie subscription of the
coreiiant in Aberdeen. The day before their arrival, he thundered from the
pulpit against their proceedings, and exhorted his hearers to resist their threats.
He appears also to lia^e been in correspondence with Laud. In 3Iarch, 1639,
the covenanting forces approached Aberdeen, and the chiefs of the episcopal
party fled. Ross was unable to cjuit the town from a sickness, from which he
seems never to have recovered : lie died on 11th August, 1639. His only
publication appears to be the following, which is extant in Bishop Foi'bes's
Funerals (p. 149 to 176) : "A Consolatorie Sermon, preached upon the Death
of the R. R. Father in God, Pati-ick Forbes, late Bisliop of Aberdene. By
Alexander Rosse, Doctour of Divinitie, and Minister of the Evangell in Aber-
dene, in Saynct Nicholas Churche there, anno 1635, the xv of Aprill."

ROSS, AxKXANDER, a poet of some eminence, was born in the parish of Kin-
cardine G'lN'eil, Aberdeenshire, on the 13th April, 1699. His father was An-
drew Ross, a farmer, in easy circumstances. Ross received the first elements
of his education at the parochial school, under a teacher of considerable local
celebrity ; and after four years' study of the Latin language, succeeded in
gaining a bursary at the competition in Marischal college, in November 1714.
Having gone through the usual curriculum of the university, he received the
degree of master of arts in 1718; and shortly after was engaged as a tutor to
the family of Sir William Forbes of Craigievar and Fintray ; a gentleman who
appears to have possessed considerable taste and learning. How long the poet
i-emained in this situation has not been ascertained ; but he seems to have
earned the good opinion of his patron, who recommended him to study divinity,
with the assurance that his interest should not be wanting to procure a comfort-
able settlement in the church. Favourable as this offer was, from a gentleman
who had no fewer than fourteen patronages in his gift, Ross declined it, on a
ground which evinces extraordinary modesty, — " that he could never entertain
such an opinion of his own goodness or capacity as to think himself worthy of
the office of a clergyman." On leaving the family of Sir William Forbes,
Ross for some time taught, apparently as an assistant, the parochial school of
Aboyne in his native county, and afterwards that of Laurencekirk, in Kincar-
dineshire. While in this last situation he became acquainted with the father of
Dr Beattie ; a man who, in our poet's opinion, " only wanted education to have
made him, perhaps, as much distinguished in the literary world as his son. He
knew something of natural philosophy, and particularly of astronomy, and used
to amuse himself in calculating eclipses. He was likewise a poetical genius,
and showed our author some rhymes of considerable merit.* ^ In 1726, Ross
married Jane Cattanach, the daughter of a farmer in Aberdeenshire, and de-
scended by the mother from the ancient family of Duguid of Auchinhove. In
1732, by the influence of his friend, Mr Garden of Tr-oup, he was appointed
schoolmaster of Lochlee, in Angus ; nnd the rest of his life was spent in the
discharge of the duties of this humble office. There are, perliaps, few pieces
of scenery in Scotland of a more wild and poetical character than that iu
^vhich Ross's lot was cast. Lochlee is a thinly peopled parish, lying in the
very centre of the Grampians, at the head of the valley of the North Esk.
The population is almost entirely confined to one solitary glen, the green
fields and smoking cottages of which are singularly refreshing to the eye
of the traveller, after the weary extent of bleak moor and mountain which
hem in the spot on nil sides. On a mound in the centre, stands the ruin of an

* Ufa of Ro98^ by his grandson, the Rev. Alexander Thomson of Lentrathcn.— prefixed
loan edition of the " Fortunate Shepherded," printed at Dundtc, 18 J 2.

ALEXANDER ROSS. 199

Ancient fortalice, built by the powerful family of the Lindsays of Edzel, as a
pJace of retreat, where they could defy those dangers which they could not cope
with in their Lowland domains, in the How of the Mearns. The loch, which
gives its name to the parish, is a very beautiful sheet of water, imbedded deep
among steep and craggy mountains. The Lee, the stream which feeds it, flows
through a very wild glen, and over a rocky channel, in several picturesque
waterfalls. On one of the tall precipices that form its sides, an eagle has
built its nest, secure from molestation, in the inaccessible nature of the
cliff. The remains of Ross's house still exist, situated near the eastern ex-
tremity of the loch, and only a few feet from the water's edge. Near al
hand, surrounded by a few aged trees, is the little burying ground of the
{tarish, the tombstones of which bear some epitaphs from Ross's pen, ard
there his own ashes are deposited." The poet's house is now occupied as
a sheepfold ; and the garden, on which it is said he bestowed much of his
time, can still be traced by the rank luxuriance of the weeds and grass, and the
fragments of a rude wall. It is impossible to look on tho ruins of this humble
hut, without interest: its dimensions are thirty feet in length, and twelve in
breadth ; and this narrow space ^vas all that was allotted to the schooUroom and
the residence of its master. The walls seem to have contained but two apartments,
eacli about twelve square feet in size, and the eastern was that occupied by Ross,
from whom one of the windows, now built up, is still named the Poet's win-
dow. He had trained to cluster around it honeysuckle and sweet-briar ; and
bex'e, looking forth on the waters of the loch, is said to have been his favourite
seat when engaged in composition. So deep and confined is the glen at this
spot, that, for thirty days of the winter, the sun never shines on the poet's
dwelling. The emoluments of Ross's office were small, but perhaps more lu-
crative than the majority of parochial schools in the same quarter, from his be-
ing entitled to a sort of glebe, and some other small perquisites. One of his
biographers has quoted some lines of the introduction to Helenore, as a proof of
Ross's poverty and want : —

" Pity anes mair, for I'm out-throw as dung—
'Twas tkit glim gossip, chandler-chafted vmat,
"Wr thread-bare claething, and aii ambry scant," 8x.

It Is consoling to be satisfied that these lines are not to be understood in a
literal sense. We are assured by his grandson, that " no person in liis staffon,
or perhaps in any station, enjoyed a greater share of personal and domestic
happin^s. His living was, indeed, but small, not exceeding twenty potmds a-
year, exclusive of the profits of his glebe ; but he had no desire beyond what
was necessary to support himself and family, in a Avay suitable to his station ;
and, considering the strict economy observed in his house, and the simple,
though neat mode of living, to which he was accustomed, the emolunjents of his
office, as well as the profits arising from his publications, rendered him in some
degree comfortable and independent" It was not until he had resided here
for thirty-six years, that, in the year 1763, Avhen he was nearly seventy, Ross
appeared before the public as an author. So early as his sixteenth year, he
had commenced writing- verse ; a translation from the Latin of Buchanan,
composed at that age, having been published by his grandson in the memoir we
have just quoted. From that time, he seems to have cultivated his poetical
talents with ceaseless assiduity: Dr Beattie, who appears to have advised

2 The only fact which a search of the kirk session register of Lochlee furnished with regaid
to Ross, is one of no very poetical nature, viz. , that for some years he rented the grass of
this (juiet cemetery, at the jeariy rent of £i sterling.

200 ALEXANDER ROSS.

him iu the selection of his works for publication, writes, in a letter te Dx
Blacklock, " He put into my hands a great number of manuscripts in verse,
chiefly on religious subjects : I believe Sir Richard Blackmore is not a more
voluminous autlior. He told me that he iiad never written a single line with a
view to publication : but only to amuse a solitary hour."^ The poems which
by Dr Beattie's advice were chosen for publication consisted of " Helenore, or
tlie Fortunate Shepherdess," and some songs, among which were, '* The Rock and
the Wee Pickle Tow," " To the Begging we will go," and " Woo'd and mar-
tied and a'." They appeared at Aberdeen in 1768,* in one volume 8vo, and
a considerable number of subscribers having been procured, the profits of the
publication amounted to about twenty pounds ; " a sum," says Beattie, " far
exceeding Ills most sanguine expectations, for I believe he would thankfully
have sold his whole works for five." To promote the sale, Beattie (whose in-
terest in Ross was excited by the latter*s acquaintance with tiie doctor's father)
addressed a letter to the editor of the Aberdeen Journal, together with some
verses inscribed to Ross, which are remarkable from being their author's only
composition in the Scottish dialect ; they have been prefixed to all the subse-
quent editions of Helenore, and possess much merit. The success of the volume
does not seem to have been very rapid, for ten years elapsed before the publi-
cation of the second edition. While this was going through the press, Dr Beattie
wrote to Ross from Gordon castle, with an invitation from the noble owners to
pay them a visit. Though now eighty years of age, the poet at once accepted
the invitation, and took that opportunity of presenting a copy of the second edition
of his work, dedicated to the duchess of Gordon. He remained at the castle for
some days, says his grandson, and " was honoured with much attention
and kindness both by the duke and duchees, and was presented by the
latter with an elegant pocket-book, containing a handsome present, when he
returned to Lochlee in good health, and with great satisfaction." The next
year he experienced the loss of his wife, who died at the advanced age
of eighty-two, and to whose memory he erected a tombstone with a poeti-
cal epitaph. He himself did not long survive : on the 20th of 3Iay , 1 7 84, " worn
out with age and infirmity, being in his eighty-sixth year, he breathed his last,
viith the composure, resignation, and hope becoming a Christian." Of Ross'h
uumerous family, two sons and a daughter died in early youth, and four daughters
survived him. Such are the few facts that constitute the biogi-aphy of Alexander
Rose. His character appears to have been marked by much cheerfulness and
simplicity ; lowly as was his lot, he found tranquillity and content in it, and
the picture of his household piety which has come down to us, is singularly nf«
fecting. Regrets have been expressed that a man of his merits should hare
been allowed to toil on in the humble situation of a parish schoolmaster ; but it
should be remembered that he was nearly seventy years old before he gave the
public proof of his talents, and it may be very doubtful if at that advanced age
he would have found in a higher sphere the same peace and happiness which
he had so long enjoyed in his Highland glen. It is also gratifying to think
that the profits of : his publications, trifling as they would now be viewed, were
still sufficient to afibrd him many additional luxuries ; and that the fame \>hich
his poems received from the world reached his retired home, and secured to him
honour from his neighbours, and marks of attention from the few strangers of

' Forb€S' Life of Beattie, i. 119. We may add Dr Beattie's description of Ross at this
date : •« He is a good humoured, social, happy old man: modest without cloAvrishiieas, and
lively without petulance."

* " The Fortunate Shepherdess, a pastoral tale in the Scottish dialect, by Alexander Ross,
Schoolmaster at Loci\lee, to which are added a few songs by the author. Aberdeen, printed
by and for P'raiicis Douglas — 1768.".— pp. 160.

ALEXANDER R0S3. 201

rank that found their way to Lochlee. Neither should it be forgotten that
his songs became, even in his own day, as they still continue, the favourite
ditties of his neighbourhood, and that the poet's ears were gratified by hearing
his own verses chanted on the hill-sides in summer, and by the cottage inglo
in winter. This is the incense to his genius prized by the poet beyond other
earthly rewards, and which cheers him even when stricken by the poverty which
is "the badge of all his tribe." Ross left eight volumes of unpublished works,
of which an account has been preserved in Campbell's Introduction to the
History of Poetry in Scotland, (p. 272 to 284.) The chief of these is a tnlo
in the same measure with the Fortunate Shepherdess, entitled, " The Fortunr.lo
Shepherd, or the Orphan." The specimens which are given are too unsatis-
factory to permit us to judge if we ought to regret its suppression, which we
are informed was owing to the advice of Dr Beattie. " A Dream, in imitation
of the Cherry and Slae," and composed in 1753, seems to possess some stanzas
of considerable merit. " Religious Dialogues," written in 1754, are charac-
terized by Beattie as unfit for publication; and Blr Campbell, certainly a
favourable critic, can find no word of commendation for the six pieces which
bear the following titles : " A Paraphrase on the Song of Solomon ;" " A View
of king David's Afflictions ;" " The Shunamite, from 2 Kings iv. ;" " Moses
exposed in the Ark of Bulrushes ;" " An incitement to Temperance, from
a thought of the nice construction of the Human Body ;" and " Moses'
story continued." This long catalogue seems to have been the origin of
Beattie's comparison of Boss with Sir Richard Blackmore. In addition to these
there are in the same strain, " The Book of Job I'endered into English verse,"
1751, and " A Description of the Flood of Noah." A translation of Andrew
Ramsay's beautiful poem on the creation seems to possess more merit ; and
from the specimens given is at least fully equal to that of the notorious Lauder,
whose attack on Milton had the effect of attracting attention to Ramsay's works.
The list of Ross's unpublished Avorks is closed by a dramatic piece, called
" The Shaver,'' founded on an incident which occurred in Montrose, and
by a prose composition, " A Dialogue of the Right of Government among
the Scots, the persons George Buchanan and Thomas Maitland." "There are
ninety sections in this tract," says Campbell, " and from the slight look
I have taken through it I am of opinion it might be rendered a very valuable
performance." The specimen given does not indicate the direction of Ross's
political sentiments, nor does Campbell supply that information ; his grandson
tells us that " he was best pleased with such religious discourses as were strictly
Calvinistic."

From the information thus preserved regarding Ross's unpublished writings,
there seems little reason to regret their loss. His reputation must be founded
on his Fortunate Shepherdess, and the songs which were published along with
it. With all its faults, this poem is possessed of a high degree of merit;
and, in addition to its local fame, will continue to be esteemed by the student
of Scottish poetry. Burns has written of him, " Our true brother, Ross of Loch-
lee, was a wild warlock ;" and " the celebrated Dr Blacklock," says Dr Irving,
" as I have learnt from one of his pupils, regarded it as equal to the pastoral
of Ramsay." This last opinion, it is to be feared, will be shared by few; nor
is it any strong evidence of its soundness, to say that it was adopted by John
Pinkerton, who writes: — " Some of the descriptions are exquisitely natural and
fine ; the language and thoughts are more truly pastoral, than any I have yet
found in any poet, save Theocritus." Ross, indeed, is far inferior to Ramsay
in delicacy of feeling, in taste, and in the management of his story. In read-
ing the Fortunate Shepherdess Ave constantly meet with expressions and allu-

i^02 ALEXANDER ROSS.

sions of the most unworthy nature. Dr Irving has quoted two lines of this
description, —

*- Aud now the priest to join the pair is come,
But first is welcom'd toith a glass o' rum."

And it were easy to fill a page with similar instances : —

" Xow, Mary was as modest as ajieuk.
And at their jeering wist na how to loolu"

Nor can the reader easily overlook Ross's absurd nomenclature. Thus the
hero is honoured with the female name of Rosalind, and Scottish glens are
clothed with the classic appellations of Flaviana and Soivitia ; which last name,
intended by the author to be expressive of fierceness, was, by a typographical
error in the first edition, converted into Scevilia. But the most forcible objec-
tion undoubtedly lies in the plot, than which it were difficult to conceive any
thing more unpoetical. The early part of the poem is devoted to the descrip-
tion of the love of the hero and heroine, which is beautifully painted in its
various stages, growing up from their infancy to their youth, and strengthened
by all the love-inspiring incidents and situations of a pastoral life. And at the
very moment when the poet has succeeded in completing this beautiful picture
of simple affection and guileless innocence, he sets himself to undo the charm,
weds the heroine to a richer lover, and sacrifices the hero to a marriage, which
his heart cannot approve, and of which the chief object is the recovery of certain
sheep and horned cattle. Ross seems to have been aAvare of tiie objections
which are chargeable against this denouement, and endeavours to obviate them
in the preface prefixed to the first edition, by pleading that it is productive of
a salutary moral : — ** This important lesson is inculcated, that when two young
jieople have come under engagements to one another, no consideration what-
ever should induce them to break faith, or to promise things incompatible with
keeping it entire." It is certainly difiicult to see the force of this apology ;
and Ross's error on this head is the more note-worthy from his taking objection
in his invocation to the plot of his model, the Gentle Shepherd : —

"Allan bears

The gree hlmsell, an' the green laurels wears;
We'el mat he brook them,ybr tho' ye had spair'd
The tadi to me, Pate might na been a laird."

It is singular how Ross could have overlooked the circumsiance, that Ramsay,
iu elevating bis hero, sacrifices no long-cherished feeling, or former afiection ,*
while not only is the Fortunate Shepherdess raised to a similar rank, but this
upon the very ruins of an affection, which had twined itself round her heart-
Bti'ings from her earliest years. We have, perhaps, dwelt too long upon the
ungracious task of fault-finding. Ross's chief talent lies, as was remarked by
Beattie, in his descriptions of scenery, and of the habits of a rude and pastoral
life. Mnay of these will cope with the best passages in the Gentle Shepherd,
or in any of our Scottish poets. We may refer to the description of a valley at
noon (at page 28 of the second edition) ; to the picture of Flaviana, which has
been quoted by Sir Walter Scott in the Heart of Mid Lothian ; and to the
numerous descriptions of morning, evening, and night, scattered through the
poem. It must not be concealed, however, that few of the delineations possesd
that consistency in their parts, completeness, and nice finish, which are to be
found in the Gentle Shepherd, Ross's songs, thougli certainly of a very high

JOHN EOW. 203

order of merit, have unfortunately been omitted in the more popular editions of
his works. This is to be regretted, as they are disfigured by none of the faults
of his larger work, and, notwithstanding their length, would be valuable
additions to the Scottish song book. It has been already mentioned, that
two editions of his work appeared in the author's lifetime ; a third was
printed at Aberdeen in 1787; a fourtli at Edinburgh in 1804, in the same
volume with Macneill's AVill and Jean, and some other poems: and a fifth ap-
peared at Dundee in 1812. This last has a life prefixed by his grandson ; and
it is to be regretted that the liberties taken with the text, the omission of the
preface, songs, and glossary, should have rendered it so defective.* Besides
these, tliere have appeared numerous editions, on coarse paper, and at a
low price, to be hawked through the north of Scotland, where they ever find a
ready sale. Of the number of these reprints, it is not easy to obtain an ac-
count; we believe the last is that published at Aberdeen in 1826. In Aberdeen-
shire and in Angus, the Mearns and Moray, there is no work more popular
than " The Fortunate Shepherdess." It disputes popularity with Burns and
the Pilgi-im's Progress ; is read, in his idle hours, by the shepherd in the glens,
and wiles away the weariness of tlie long winter night, at the crofter's fireside.
On its first appearance, Beattie predicted —

" And ilka Mearns and Angus baim,
Thy tales and sangs by heart shall learn."

The prediction has been amply verified, and a hope which Ross expressed in
one of his unpublished poems, has been realized : —

** Hence lang, perhaps, lang hence may quoted be,
My hamely proverbs lined wi' blythesome glee ;
Some reader then may saj-, ' Fair fa' ye, Ross,'
When, aiblins, I'll be lang, lang dead and gane.
An' few remember there was sick a ane.'*

EOW, John, a celebrated divine, was descended of a family of some note for
the part they had borne in the ecclesiastical history of their country. His
grandfather, John Row, had gone abroad in early youth, and the fame of his
talents and learning having reached the Vatican, he was in 1559, selected by
the Pope as an emissary to watch over the dawning reformation in Scotland.
But, in a short time after his return to his native country, he embraced tha
principles of tho reformed religion, and advocated them with much zeal and
ability. He was in 1550, appointed minister of Perth, and from that time en-
joyed considerable influence in the councils of the reformed clergy, sharing
the friendship of Knox, and other distinguished men of that age. His eldest
son was for fifty-two years minister of Carnock in Fife, and died at the advanced
age of seventy-eight. He was partly author of " The Historie of the Kirk of
Scotland from the year 1553, to August in Anno 1637, written by Mr John
Row, late minister at Carnock, in the province of Fife and presbyterie of Dun-
fermline." This is preserved in IMS. in the Advocates' library, and has been
pronounced by one well fitted to judge, " a very valuable but rather prolix
work." The date of the birth of John Row, his second son, the subject of the
present memoir has not been preserved, but it may be referred to the latter

* The liberties t;iken with the text, which we complain of, consist in attempts to translate
the more obsolete words into English, and infrequent omissions of couplets, without any dis-
cernible cause. ' We have 'shepherd,' for 'herding;' 'honest, ' for 'sackless;' 'Jiv'd,' for
• wonu'd -,' «a burning coal,' for * a clear brunt coal,' &c.

204 JOHN now.

years of the sixteenth, or more probably to the beginning of the seventeenth cen-
tury.' At a very early period of life he was appointed rector of llie grammar
school at Perth, and for many years discharged that office with much reputa-
tion. He was tlie first Hebrew scholar of that day, an accomplishment which
seems to have been hereditary in the family ; his father, it is reported, having
*' discovered some genius for Hebrew when he was only a child of four or five
years old,'' and his grandfather having been, it is said, the first who publicly
taught Hebrew in Scotland. While rector of the Perth school. Row composed
his " Hebreae Linguos Institutiones Compendiosissim^ et facilliuiae in Discipu-
lorum gratiam priraum concinnatae," which was published at Glasgow in 1644.
This work was dedicated to lord chancellor Hay of Kinnoul, to whom he ex-
presses himself obliged for benefits conferred on his father, and for having pro-
cured himself the situation he held. After the fashion of the day, the book wbs
prefaced by several commendatory verses ; and of these some are from the pen
of the celebrated Alexander Henderson, Samuel Rutherford, and John Adamson.
The work also bore the record of the unanimous approbation of the faculty of the
college of St Leonard in the university of St Andi-ews. Three years previous
to the publication of the ** Hebreae Linguas Institutiones," Row was by the
infiiuence of the famous Andrew Cant appointed one of the ministers of
Abei'deen. In 1643, he published a Vocabulary of the Hebrew language,
which he dedicated to his new patrons, the town council of Aberdeen. This
mark of respect was rewarded by the following ordinance of that body : " 20th
September, 1G43, the counsel! considering the panes taken be Mr John Row
in teaching the Hebrew tongue, and for setting forth ane Hebrew dictionar,
and dedicating the same to the counsell, ordanes the thosaurar to delivar to the
said Mr John Row for his paines four hundreth merk Scotts money."" In his
office of minister of Aberdeen, Row supported the principles of his coadjutor
Andrew Cant, and was with him highly obnoxious to the more moderate party
of the presbyterians, and to those who still favoured episcopacy. The amusing
annalist Spalding, who attended his prelections, loses no opportunity of hold-
ing him up to ridicule or detestation ; and language seems sometimes to fail
him for the expression of his horror at Row's innovations. " One of the
town's officers," he relates, " caused bring a bairn to the lecture lesson,
ivhere Mr John Row had taught, to be baptized ; but because this bairn was not
brought to him when he was baptizing some other bairns, he would not give
baptism; whereupon the simple man was forced to bring back this child un-
baptized. The wife lying in child-bed, hearing the child was not baptized, was
so angry, that she turned her face to the wall, and deceased immediately through
plain displeasure, and the bairn also ere tlie morn ; and the mother, and het
bairn in her oxter, were both buried together. lamentable to see," writes the
indignant chronicler, " how the people are thus abused !" In 1644, Row was
chosen moderator of the provincial assembly at Aberdeen ; and the next year,
on the approach of Montrose at the head of the royalist forces, he, with Cant
and other " prime covenanters," sought refuge with the earl Marisclial in the
castle of Dunottar. In 1G49, the Scottish parliament appointed a committee to
remonstrate against the contemplated murder of Charles I., and Row was one
of six clergymen nominated to act with the committee. In 1651, a commis-
sion, consisting of five colonels from the army of Monk, visited the king's col-
lege of Aberdeen, and, among other acts, deposed the principal, Dr Guild ;

' » The learned editor of " Memorials of the Family of Row," (a work to which we are in-
debted for much of the information given in the following memoir) erroneously calls John
Kow the eldest son of his father.
* (Jouiicil Register of Aberdeen, vol. lii. p. 771.

WILLIAM ROXBURGH. 205

and the next year, Row was chosen his successor. He seems to have filled the
princip.il's chair with much credit; he maintained strict discipline, and added to
the buildings of the college, while his own learning extended the reputation of the
university. On the Sth October, 1656, being a day appointed for a public thanks-
giving, he preached in Westminster abbey before the parliament, and his ser-
mon was afterwards printed by their orders, under the title of *' Man's Duty in
magnifying God's Work." On the Restoration, principal Row lost no time in
paying his court to the new authorities. In 1660, he published at Aberdeen,
" 'Evxa^iariot. BxaiT^ix.-/!, ad Carolum II. Carmen :" a Avork which was laudatory
of the king, and abusive of Cromwell, who is styled " Trux vilis vermes,'' being
the anagram of " O vile cmel worm" (Oliver Cromwell) latinized. This pane-
gyric, however, availed him little. Some of his works, which contained reflec-
tions on the royal family, were taken from the college, and burned at the cross
of Aberdeen by the hands of the hangman : and in 1661, Row resigned his of-
fice of principal. He soon after established a school at Aberdeen, and lived for
some years on the scanty emoluments derived from this source, eked out by
charitable donations. Thereafter he retired to the family of a son-in-law and
daughter in the parish of Kinellar, about eight miles from Aberdeen, where he
spent the remainder of his days. He was interred in the churchyard of the
parish, but no monument marks his grave. Besides the works we have men-
tioned, and some others which seem to be lost, principal Row wrote a continua-
tion of his father's History of the Church, which is extant in the Advocates'
library, under the title of " Supplement to the Historie of the Kirk of Scot
land, from August, anno 1637, and thenceforward to July, 1639; or ane Hand-
ful of Goates Haire for the furthering of the Building of the Tabernacle : a
Short Table of Principnll Things for the promoving of the most excellent His-
torie of this late blessed Work of Reformation, in the hands of such as are em-
ployed therein by the General Assemblie ; written by Mr John Row, Ministei
at Aberdene." BIr James Row, minister of Monivaird and Strowan, a younger
brother of principal Row, is well known to the curious in Scottish literature, as
the author of the celebrated " Pockmanty Sermon," preached in Saint Giles's, in
1638, and which has been lately reprinted under the titles of "The Red-
Shanke's Sermon;" and " A Cupp of Bon- Accord."

ROXBURGH, William, a physician and eminent botanist, was born at Un-
derwood in the parish of Craigie, en the 29th June, 1759. His family was
not in affluent circumstances, but they nevertheless contrived to give him a
liberal education. On acquiring all the learning which the place of his nativity
afforded, he was sent to Edinburgh to complete his studies, which were exclu-
sively directed to the medical profession. After attending for some time the
various classes at the university necessary to qualify hiin for this pursuit, he re-
eived, while yet but seventeen years of age, the appointment of surgeon's mate
jn board of an East Indiaman, and completed two voyages to the East in that
capacity before he had attained his twenty-first year. An offer having been
now made to him of an advantageous settlement at Madras, he accepted of it,
and accordingly established himself there. Shortly after taking up his resi-
dence at Madras, Mr Roxburgh turned his attention to botany, and particular-
ly to the study of the indigenous plants, and other vegetable productions of the
East, and in this he made such progress, and acquired so much reputation that
he was in a short time invited by the government of Bengal, to take charge of
the Botanical gardens established there. In this situation he rapidly extended
his fame as a botanist, and introduced to notice, and directed to useful purposes
many previously unknown and neglected vegetable productions of the country. I\Ir
Roxburgh now also became a member of the Asiatic Society, to whose Transactions

20u MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM ROY.

he contributed, from timo to time, many valuable papers, and amongst these
one of singular interest on tlie lacca insect, from which a colour called lac
lake, is made, uliich is largely used as a substitute for cochineal. This paper,
which was written in 178i), excited much attention at the time, at once from
tlie ability it displayed, and from the circumstance of its containing some
hints whicli led to a groat improvement on the coloui* yielded by the lacca
insecL

In 1797, Mr Roxburgh paid a risit to his native country, and returned
(having been in the mean time married,) to Bengal, in 1799, when he
resumed his botanical studies with increased ardour and increasing success. In
1805, he received the gold medal of the Society for the Promotion of Arts, for
a series of highly interesting and valuable communications on the subject of tiio
productions of the East, lie had again, in this year, returned to England,
and was now residing at Chelsea, but in very indirt'erent health ; he, howevcs',
once more proceeded to Bengal, and continued in his curatonhip of the Botani«
cal Gardens tliere till 1803, when, broken down in constitution, he finally re-
turned to his native country. In this year he received a second gold medal
for a communication on the growth of trees in India, and on tlie .Slst of May,
1814, was presented with a third, in the presenco of a largo assembly >Yhich he
personally attended, by the duke of Norfolk, who was then president of the
Society of Arts.

Soon after receiving this last honourable testimony of the high respect in
which his talents were held, Mr Roxburgh repaired to Edinburgh, where he
died, on the 10th of April in the following year, in the 57th year of his age,
leaving behind him a reputation of no ordinary character for ability, and for a
laudable ambition to confer benefits on mankind, by adding to their comforts
and conveniences ; which objects he effected to no inconsiderable extent by
many oiiginal and ingenious suggestions.

ROT (Major-General), "William, a distinguished practical matLenxaticiaa
and antiquary, was born in Carluke parish. May 4, 1706. John, the father, who
was born April 15, 1697, at Milton-head, must have been an active and intelli-
gent man, if we may judge from the many references made to him by the
heritors of the parish. He is variously designated as gardener, factor, &c., to
Sir William Gordon, and to Charles Hamilton Gordon, of Hallcraig. John, the
grandfather, seems to have been succeeded in office by his son John. The
earliest notice of the elder John Roy is in the " Roll of polleable persons in
Carluke parish, 1695," and the entry there is in these terms: — "Jo roy, servitor
to my Lord hallcraig, 00. 19 . 04." The general, and his brother James, after-
wards minister of Prestonpan.i, were educated partly at the school of their
native parish, and partly at the grammar-school of Lanark, the latter having
been a bursar in Glasgow college on tho foundation of the countess of Forfar,
from 1737 till 1751. A characteristic anecdote of Roy is still current. An old
woman, a native of Carluke, who had all her life been a servant at Lee, used to
rekte with pride that, in her young days, Roy came to Lee as attendant on great
men ; shortly afterwards he came agam, but in a higher office ; after the lapse
of years, he came a third time, and now he sat at the right hand of the laird !

The birthplace of general Roy is accidentally marked in a singular manner.
The bnildrngs of Milton-head have long been cleared away. An old willow
that grew near the end of the steading, no longer able to bear the weight of
its own arms, bent under the burden, and now represents an arch of fair pro-
portions. The tree in this position continues to grow, and is itself an object of
interest; but, mr.rking as it does the birthplace of an eminent man, it is doubly
worth/ of notice and preservation.

THOMAS RUDDIMAN. 207

No record has been discovered of the early career of general Roy. lie was
first brought into notice in 1746, when he was employed by government to
make an actual survey of Scotland. This arduous and difficult duty he per-
formed in a meritorious manner, and gave the world the result in what goes
under the name of the " Duke of Cumberland's IVIap." Upon this map, which
is a very large sheet, the sites of all ascertainable Koman camps or stations
were accurately and distinctly laid down. It was afterwards reduced by
the general to a smaller size, under the title of " Mappa Britannise Septentri-
oaalis," &c.

The first geodestic survey executed in England was undertaken with the imme-
diate object of establishing a trigonometrical connection between the observations
of Paris and Greenwich, in order to determine the difference of longitude.
This was executed by "general Koy, who began his operations by measuring a
base of 27,404 feet on Hounslow Heath, in the summer of 1784. Amongst the
numerous and valuable papers contributed to the Transactions of the Royal
Society by general Roy, was an account of these operations, which obtained
for him the Copley medal. To this paper was appended an account of the mode
proposed to be followed in determining the relative situations of the Greenwich
and Paris observatories, which led to the author's being employed by royal
command to ascertain this point by the method thus suggested, from actual
experiment. In obedience to his majesty's mandate, the general completed an
exceedingly curious, accurate, and elaborate set of trigonometrical experiments
and observations, to determine the true and exact latitude and longitude of the
two observatories, illustrated by tables computed from actual measurement ; to
enable him to accomplish which, he was furnished by the king with several
costly trigonometrical instruments. General Roy presented an account of these
interesting proceedings to the Royal Society, and was employed in superin-
tending its publication in the Society's Transactions, when he was seized with
an illness which carried him off in two hours. He died at his house, Argyle
Street, London, July 1, 1790. General Roy's investigations laid the ground-
work of the trigonometrical survey of the three kingdoms, which is still in
progress. In the History of the Royal Society by Weld (1848), it is expressly
stated that this survey was commenced by general Roy in 1784- It was sub-
sequently conducted, under the direction of the master-general of the ordnance,
by colonel Williams, and captain, afterwai'ds general Mudge, of the Royal
Engineers, and Mr Dalby, who had previously assisted general Roy. Three
years after his death, general Roy's elaborate antiquarian work was published
at the expense of the Antiquarian Society of Londoa, under the title of " Mili-
tary Antiquities of the Romans in Britain." General Roy was deputy quarter-
master-general of his majesty's forces; siu'veyor of the coasts and batteries;
colonel of the 30Lh Regiment of Foot; F.R.S., &c.

RUDDIMAN, Thomas, a celebrated philologist and Latin grammarian, was
born in the month of October, 1674, in the parish of Boyndie, county of
Banff. His father, James Ruddiman, was a respectable farmer, and was at the
period of bis son's birth tenant of the farm of Raggel, in Banffshire. He was
esteemed by his neighbours as a man profoundly skilled in agricultural matters,
and was besides greatly respected for the benevolence of his dbposition. He
was strongly attached to monarchy, an attachment which he evinced in a re-
narkable manner by bursting into tears on first hearing of the death of Charles
II. This ebullition of loyal feeling made a strong impression on liis son,
who witnessed it, and although he was then only in the tenth year of his age, it
is thought to have influenced the opinions of his after life on similar subjects.
Young Ruddiman commenced his initiatory course of learning at the parish

208 THOMAS RUDDIMAJf.

graminnr school of Boyndie, which was then taught by a 3Ir George ^lorrison,
of whose attention and skill in his profession his pupil ever after retained a
grateful and respectful recollection. In this seminary the subject of this me-
moir rapidly outstripped his fellows in classical learning. The Metamorphoses
of Ovid early struck his fancy, and had the effect of inducing such a degree cf
application to the acquisition of the language in which they are written, as
carried him far in advance of all the other scholars in the school. His master,
perceiving his ardour, allowed him to press on, abandoning all idea of restrain-
ing so forward a spirit to the slow march of those associated with him in the
study of classical learning.

'1 he consequence of this assiduity and enthusiastic devotion to Roman litera-
ture, was an early and singular proficiency in its language. Of this young
Ruddiman himself felt so conscious, that when only sixteen years of age he left
his father's house without giving any previous intimation of his departure, or
of its object, to any of the family excepting one sister, and proceeded to Aber-
deen to compete for the annual prize given at King's college of that city for
proficiency in classical learning. Previously to his setting out, his sister, to
whom he had confided his secret, slipped a guinea into his pocket ; but of
tliis, and of nearly all his apparel he was robbed by the way; having been
met, and assailed at a place called Starbrigs, by a band of gypsies who first
plundered and then stripped him. Tiiis mishap, however, did not deter the
young enthusiast from proceeding on his mission. He reached Aberdeen,
though in a miserable plight, competed for the prize, and carried it off.
Having obtained a bursary in the college by this success, he now took up his
residence in Aberdeen, and commenced his academical studies in November
1690, under profesior William Black. His father, in the mean time, having
heard whither his son had gone, and for what purpose, hastened tifter him, and
had the satisfaction, on meeting with him, to find him surrounded with friends,
whom his youth and singular acquirements had already procured for him.

At the college of Aberdeen Mr Ruddiman pursued his studies with an ardour
and devotion which daily increased, and which at the end of four years pro-
cured him the degree of master of arts. This honour, of which the young
scholar was extremely proud, was conferred on him on the 2ist June, 1694.
Amongst Mr Ruddiman's fellow students at this period was the well-known
lord Lovat, whose earthly career was terminated on Tower Jlill by the axe of
the executioner, at the distance of more than half a century afterwards. Of
this nobleman, the biographer of Ruddiman rem<irks, that, when at college,
" he was at the head of every mischief."

On completing his academical course, Mr Ruddiman was engaged by Mr
Robert Young of Auldbar, in the county of Forfar, to assist the studies of his
son. He was still under twenty years of age, but his acquirements in classical
literature were far in advance of this period of life, as compared with the ordi-
nary progress of proficiency in others. While advancing the knowledge of his
pupil, 3Ir Ruddiman did not pei-mit his own to remain stationary. He con-
tinued to study assiduously, and every day added to his acquirements in classic
lore.

During his residence at Auldbar, Mr Ruddiman heard of the death of the
incumbent schoolmaster of Lawrencekirk, in Kincardineshire, and thinking
this a favourable opportunity for advancing his fortunes, applied for, and ob-
tained the situation, partly through the interest of Mr Young, and part-
ly through the influence of his own reputation for extraordinary learning. In
this situation, a sufficiently obscure one, he remained, still applying himself
with unabated zeal to the study «.f the classics, till the year 1699, when a

THOMAS KUDDIMAK. 209

rather singular occurrence opened up a wider field to his ambition and hia
merits.

The celebrated Dr Pitcairne of Edinburgh, happening to be detained for a
day in the village of Laurencekirk, by the inclemency of the weather, asked
the hostess of the inn where he put up, whether she could not find him some
intelligent person who would partake of his dinner, and help, by his conversa-
tion, to divert the tedium of the evening. His landlady immediately suggested
the schoolmaster, Mr Ruddiroan. He was accordingly sent for, and in the
course of the conversation which followed made so favourable an impression on
the Doctor, by the extent of his acquirements, and t'.ie judiciousness of his re-
marks, that the latter, before tliey parted, invited him to come to Edinburgh,
and promised him his patronage.

Mr Ruddiman gratefully closed with the proposal, and repaired to the
metropolis in the beginning of the year 1700. On his arrival, his patron pro-
cured him employment in the Advocates' Iibrai*y as a sort of assistant librarian,
though for upwards of a year he had no regular or formal engagement in that
capacity. During this interval he employed himself in arranging books, copy-
ing papers, and making extracts from interesting works. In 1701, Mr Rud-
diman married Barbara ScoUay, the daughter of a gentleman of small estate in
Orkney, and in the year following, he was formally admitted, on the 2nd of
May, assistant librarian, with a salary of £8, 6s, 8d. sterling per annum. His
diligence, learning, and steadiness of character, had already attracted the
notice, and called forth the approbation of his employers, who, as a token of
their sense of these merits, presented him Avith an extra allowance of fifty
pounds Scots, at the end of the year succeeding that of his appointment.
Mr Ruddiman now set himself seriously and earnestly to the task of improving
his circumstances by literary industry and diligence, and the situation he was
in eminently favoured such a design. He copied chronicles and chartularies for
the Glasgow university, which gave him constant and regular employment in
this way. He formed connexions with booksellers, and revised, corrected, and
added to the works which they were publishing, particularly those of a learned
character, and to all this he added the expedient of keeping boarders, whom
he also instructed in classical learning. The first work to which he is known
to have lent his assistance was Sir Robert Sibbald's " Introductio ad Historiam
rerum a Romanis gestarum in ea Boreali Britannias parte quae ultra Murum
Picticum est." He was next employed to revise " The Practiques of the Laws
of Scotland," by Sir Robert Spottiswood, for which he received £5 sterling.
Mr Ruddiman's active mind, and laudable desire of independence, suggested to
him still another means of increasing his emoluments. This was to commence
book auctioneer, a calling for which his habits and pursuits peculiarly qualified
him, and he accordingly added it, in the year 1707, to his other avocations,
but confined himself, in the exercise of it, principally to learned works and
school books.

In the same year in which he commenced auctioneer, he published an edition
of Wilson's " Animi Tranquillitate Dialogus." To this Avork he added a new
preface, and subjoined a sketch of the life of Wilson, besides correcting
the numerous typographical errors of Gryphius of Leyden, by whom it was fij-st
published in 1543. His extraordinary and unwearying diligence enabled 3Ir
Ruddiman to present the world in 1709, with a new edition, with notes, of
another learned work. This was " Johnston! Cantici Solomonis Paraphrasis
Poetica," which he dedicated, in a copy of verses, to his patron Dr Pitcairne, a
compliment which the latter acknowledged by presenting the learned editor
with a silver cup, inscribed with the following couplet from Horace :

210 THOMAS RUDDIMAN.

Narratur et prisci Catonis,
Ssppe mero incaluisse virtus.

Mr Ruddim.in, however, was not permitted long to rejoice in the possession
of this elegant testimony of his patron's esteem for him. His house was short-
ly after broken into by robbers, and the silver cup, with many other articles
carried ofT,

The reputation which the learned and acute grammarian had acquired by the
new editions of the works just named, was still farther increased by that in which
he next engaged. This was an edition of Virgil's ^neid, as translated into
Scottish verse by the celebrated Gawin Douglas. To this work, which was pub-
lished by Freebairn of Edinburgh, besides superintending and correcting the
press, he contributed a Glossary, explaining dilHcult and obsolete words ; a
performance which bespeaks great depth of research, soundness of judgment,
and singular acuteness of perception. Mr Ruddiman's modesty, (for he was as
modest as learned,) prevented him from associating with the Glossary any kind of
notice which should point out to the public that he was the author of it ; but af-
ter some time this fact transpired, and compliments poured in upon him from
the most eminent and learned men of the day.

A vacancy happening to occur about this period in the grammar school of
Dundee, Mr Ruddiman, whose fame as a scholar was now rapidly spreading
abroad, was invited to become rector of that seminary ; but an advance of salary
having been tendered him by the faculty of advocates to induce him to remain,
he accepted it, and declined the offer of the magistrates of Dundee, although he
thereby sacrificed In's pecuniary interests to a considerable amount, for the ad-
ditional salary which was conferred upon him was still short of the amount of
emolument wliich the rectoi-ship of the Dundee grammar school would have pro-
duced to him.

Still pursuing his literary labours with unremitting industry, he, in 1711,
assisted in preparing a new edition of the works of Drumraond of Hawthornden,
printed by Watson of Edinburgh, and immediately after lent his aid to Aber-
cromby, to publish his '* Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation." Mr Rud-
diman next devoted himself to philological pursuits ; and in 1713, published a
new edition of the Latin Vocabulary of John Forrest, with improvements. In
the year following, he published that work which filled up the measure of hij
fame. This was his " Rudiments of the Latin Tongue;" a work which he lived
to see go through no less than fifteen editions. It is almost unnecessary to add,
that it immediately supplanted all those of a similar kind which had been pre-
viously in use, every one of which was sin^nlarly defective; and that it has
remained in extensive use throughout the grammar schools of Scotland ever
since.

Shortly after this, Mr Ruddiman was employed by Freebairn to edit *' Bucha-
nani Opera Omnia," now collected for the first time. To this work, which was
published in 1715, in two vols, folio, he contributed large annotations, in which
he treated freely both the character and political principles of the author; a pro-
cedure which raised him a host of enemies, and involved him in a litigated and
annoying controversy. This hostility assumed in one instance the formidable
shape of a " Society of the Scholars of Edinburgh, to vindicate that incom-
parably learned and pious Author (Buchanan) from the Calunmie of Mr Thomas
Ruddiman." This association, however, though it included no less than four
professors of the university, never made any progress in their proposed ** Vin-
dication," and finally dissolved, without accomplishing any thing, although they
frequently and confidently promised the world a new edition of Buchanan, with
a confutation of Ruddiman.

TJiOMAS EUDDIMAN. iJll

In 1715, 3Ir Ruddiman added to his other avocations that of printer, ad-
mitting a younger brother of his own, who had been bred to the business, as a
partner of tlie concern. Tlie first pi-oduction of his press, was the second volume
of Abercroniby's Martial Achievements. Amongst the learned works of note,
Avhich he printed subsequently, were, the first volume of " Epistola HegumSco-
torum," 1722, for whidi he wrote a preface ; " Ovidii Excerpta ex Metamor-
phoseon Libris," containing English Notes, by Willymot and himself, 1723 ;
Herodian, 1724 ; Pars Pi-ima of his own Grammaticas Latinae Institutiones,
1725, which brought him a great accession of fame and profit; and Pars Se-
cunda of the same worlv. He also printed, in 1733, " A Dissertation upon tlie
Way of Teaching the Latin Tongue."

In 1718, Mr liuddiman took an active part in forming a literary society — the
first, it is believed, which was established in Edinburgh. It was originally com-
posed of the masters of the high school, but was soon joined by many of the most
eminent persons in the city; amongst these was Mr Henry Home, afterwards
lord Ilames. Of the proceedings of this society, however, nothing is known,
as its records, if there ever were any, have all disa2)peared.

It had long been an object of Mr lluddiman's ambition, after he became a
printer, to obtain the appointment of printer to the university, and he was at
length gratified with the office. In 1728, he was nominated, conjunctly witli
James Davidson, printer to the college, during the lives of both, (so their patent
ran,) and during the life of the longest liver. Previously to this, viz., in 1724,
Mr liuddiman began to print tlie continuation of the Caledonian Mercury for
Holland, who was then its proprietor; but in 1729, he acquired the whole in-
terest in that paper, which was transferred to him in March of the year just
named, and continued in his family till 1772, when it was sold by the trustees
of his grandchildren.

Notwithstanding the variety and importance of his numerous avocations,
Mr Ruddiman still retained the appointment of asshtant-librarian in the Advo-
cates' library, and never allowed any of these avocations to interfere, in the
smallest degree, with the faithful and diligent discharge of the duties of that
office. He was still, however, up to the year 1730, but assistant-librarian, the
situation of principal keeper being in the possession of Mr John Spottiswood ;
but in the year named, his long and faithful sendees in the library were re-
warded by the chief appointment, on the death of Mr Spottiswood. In Mr
Ruddiman's case, however, this promotion was entirely honorary, for it was un-
accompanied by any additional salary.

Mr Ruddiman's reputation as a Latinist now stood so high, that he was era-
ployed to translate public papers. Amongst these, he translated the charter of
the Royal Bank from English into Latin, before the seals were affixed to it ;
and also the city of Edinburgh's " Charter of Admiralty." His wealth, in the
mean time, was improving apace. All his undertakings succeeded with him,
and his diligence and economy turned them to the best account. He was in
the habit of making periodical estimates of his riclies, which he entered in his
memorandum books. These show a gradual increase in his wealth, and discover
that it had amounted in 1736 to £1985 Gs. 3d.

Amongst the last of his literary labours, was an elaborate preface, or rather
introduction, to Anderson's " Selectus Diplomatum et Numismatum Scotias Thes-
aurus ;" an able and learned disquisition on various subjects of antiquity. Be-
ing now in the sixty-fifth year of his age, he ceased, for a time, after the comple-
tion of the work just spoken of, from every kind of literary employment ; and,
nearly at the same period, resigned his half of the printing concern to his son, al-
lowing, however, his name to remain in the firm, in order to continue its credit.

212 ALEXANDER RUNCIMAN.

During the summer of 1745, Mr Ruddimnn, to avoid the dangers of the re-
bellion, retired to the country, where he resided for several months, amusing
himself by literary pursuits. He afterwards prepared a Pars Tertia to his
GrammaticcB Latinas, &a, but did not adventure on its publication, as he feared
the sale would not pay the expense. He subsequently, however, published an
abstract of this work, subjoined to what is called his Shorter Grammar, of which
he received, in 1756, the royal privilege of being exclusive printer. In 1751,
the venerable grammarian's sight began to fail him, and, under this affliction,
finding that he could no longer conscientiously retain the appointment of keeper
of the Advocates' library, he resigned it early in the year 1752, after a faith-
ful discharge of the duties of librarian in that institution of nearly half a cen-
tury. The latter years of Mr lludd'man^s life were imbittered by a political
controversy, into which he was dragged by the vanity and pertinacity of Mr
George Logan, who persecuted him with unrelenting virulence in no less than
six different treatises, which he wrote against the political principles avowed in
Mr Ruddiman's Annotations on Buchanan, particularly that which asserted the
hereditary rights of the Scottish kings. Mr Ruddiman died at Edinburgh on the
19th of January, 1757, in the eighty-third year of his age ; and his remains
were interred in the Greyfriars' church-yard of that city. A handsome tablet
to the memory of Ruddiman, was erected in 1806, in the New Greyfriars'
church, at the expense of his relative, Dv William Ruddiman, late of India.
It exhibits the following inscription :—

SACKED TO THE MEMORY

OF THAT CELEBRATED SCHOLAR AND WORTHY MAN,

THOMAS RUDDIMAN, A. M.,

KEEPER OF THE AUVOCATES* LIBRARY CfEAR FIFTY TEARS.

Bom, October, 1674, within three miles of the town of Banff j

Died at Edinburgh, 19ih January, 1767,

In his eighty-third year.

Post obitum, benefacta manent, tetemaciae virtus,
Non metuit Stygiis ne rapiatur aquls.

RUNCIMAN, Alex&nokr, a painter of considerable note, was the son of a
builder in Edinburgh, where he was born in the year 1736. Having shown in
his earliest years a decided inclination for drawing, his father furnished him
with the proper materials ; and while a mere boy, he roved through the fields,
taking sketches of every interesting piece of landscape which fell in his way.
At fourteen, he was placed under the care of Messrs John and Robert Norrie,
house-painters ; the former of whom used to adorn the mantle-pieces of the
houses which he was employed to paint, with landscapes of his own, which were
then deemed respectable productions, and of which many a specimen is still pre-
served in the houses of the old town of Edinburgh. The youth devoted himself
entirely to his art " Other artists," said one who had been his companion,
" talked meat and drink ; but Runciman txilked landsixipe." About this time,
the academy for rearing young artists was commenced at Glasgow by the
brothers Foulis, and Runciman became one of its pupils. He soon acquired
considerable local fame for his landscapes, but failed entirely to make a liv-
ing by them. Despairing of success in this branch of art, he commenced
history-painting; and in 1766, visited Italy, where he met Fuseli, whose wild
and distempered character matched aptly with his own. He spent five years in
Rome, assiduously studying and copying the Italian masters ; and in 1771, re-

AT-EXANDER KUKCIMAJI. 213

turned to his native country, with powers considerably increased, while his
taste, formerly over-luxuriant and wild, had experienced a corresponding im-
provement. Just at that time a vacancy had occurred in the mastership of a
public institution, called the Trustees' academy ; and the place, to which was
attached a salary of j£l20, was ofiered to and accepted by Runciman. Being
thus secured in the means of bare subsistence, he applied his vacant time to his-
torical painting, and produced a considerable number of specimens, which,
though not destitute of faults, were regarded with much favour, not only in hi?
native country, where native talent of this kind was a novelty, but also in Eng-
land, where several of them were exhibited. Among the productions of Runci-
man may be mentioned, Macbeth and Banquo, in a landscape ; a Friar, in a
landscape; Job in Distress; Samson strangling the Lion;- Figure of Hope;
St Margaret landing in Scotland, and her Marriage to Malcolm Canmore in
Dunfermline abbey ; Christ talking to the Woman of Samaria ; Agrippina
landing with the Ashes of Germanicus ; the Princess Nausica surprised by
Ulysses ; Andromeda ; Sigismunda weeping over the Heart of Tancred ; the
Ascension (in the Cowgate episcopal chapel, Edinburgh) ; the Prodigal Son
(for which Ferguson the poet was the study) ; and the paintings in Ossian's
Hall at Pennycuik. The work last mentioned was the chef d'oeuvre of Run-
ciman, and is allowed to be one of no small merit, though not exempt from his
usual faults. The design was his own, but was only carried into effect through
the liberality of Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik, the representative of a family
which has been i-emai-kable throughout a century for talent, enlightened views,
and patronage of men of genius. The principal paintings are twelve in num-
ber, referring to the most striking passages in the work called Ossian's Poems.
The task was one of no small magnitude, but the painter dreamt of rivalling
the famed Sistine Chapel, and laboured at his work with only too much enthu-
siasm. In consequence of having to paint so much in a recumbent posture, and
perhaps denying himself that exercise which the physical powers demand, he
contracted a malady which carried him slowly to the grave. He died, October
21, 1785, dropping down suddenly on the street, when about to enter his
lodgings.

Runciman was remarkable for candour and simplicity of manners, and pos-
sessed a happy talent for conversation, which caused his company to be courted
by some of the most eminent literary men of his time. Hume, Roberlaon,
Kames, and Monboddo, were among the number of his frequent visitors. But
his real worth and goodness of heart were best known to his most intimate
friends, who had access to him at all times. Nor was he less remarkable for
his readiness in communicating information and advice to young artists, in or-
der to further their improvement in the arts. His pupil, John Brown, has
passed the following judgment upon his merits as a painter : — " His fancy was
fertile, his discernment of character keen, his taste truly elegant, and his con-
ceptions always great. Though his genius seems to be best suited to the grand
and serious, yet many of his works amply prove that he could move with equal
success in the less elevated line of the gay and the pleasing. His chief excel-
lence was composition, the noblest part of the art, in which it is doubtful
whether he had any living superior. With regard to the truth, the harmony,
the richness, and the gravity of colouring, — in that style, in short, which is the
peculiar characteristic of the ancient Venetian, and the direct contrast of the
modern English school, he was unrivalled. His worlis, it must be granted,
like all those of the pi-esent times, were far from being perfect ; but it was
Runciman's peculiar misfortune^ that his defects were of such a nature as to
be obvious to the most unskilful eye ; whilst his beauties were of a kind, which

2U ALEXANDER BUSSELL— WILLIAM RUSSELL.

few have sufficiest taste or knowledge of the art to discern, far less to u.p
preciate.

John Runclnian, a brother of the above, was also a painter of some note, and
produced, among other pieces, Judith with the Head of Holofernes ; Christ
with his Disciples going to Euunaus ; King Lear and Attendants in the Storm ;
and the Pulling down of the Netherbow Port, usually attributed to Alexander,
and which has the honour to be placed in the gallery of tlie duke of Suther-
land. Of most of the pictures of botli artists, engravings and etdiings liave
been executed, some of the latter by tlieuiselvea.

RUSSELL, Albxander, author of the History of Aleppo, was born in Edin.
burgh, and reared for the niidical profession. After finishing his studies in
the university of tlyit city, about the year 1734, he proceeded to London, and
Boon after \rent to Aleppo, where he settled as physician to the English factory
in 1740. The influence of a noble and sagacious character was here soon felt,
and Mr Russell became in time the most influential character in the place :
even the pasha hardly entered upon any proceeding of importance witlicut con-
sulting him. Afcer residing there for a considerable time, during which
he wrote his History of Aleppo, he returned to his native country, and, settling
in London, soon acquired an extensive and lucrative practice. His work was
published there in 1755. He also contributed several valuable papers to the
Royal and Medical societies. This excellent individual died in London,
November 25, 17G8.

Dr Russell was one of a family of seven sons, all of whom acquired the
respect of the woi'ld. His younger brotlier, Patrick, succeeded him as physi-
cian to the factory at Aleppo, and was the author of a Treatise on the Plague,
published in 1791, and Descriptions of Two Hundred Fishes collected on the
coast of Coromandel, which appeared in 1803, in two volumes folio. Dr
Patrick Russell died July 2, 1805, in his 79th year.

RUiSELL, William, a historical and miscellaneous writer, was the elder ion
of Alexander Russell and Christian Ballantyne, residing at Windydoors, in the
county of Selkirk, where he was born in the year 1741. At the neighbouring
school of Innerleithen, he acquired a slender knowledge of Latin and Greek,
and, having removed in 1755, to Edinburgh, he there studied writing and
arithmetic for about ten months. This completed the amount of bis sciiool
education. He now commenced an apprenticeship of five years, under Messrs
Martin and Wotherspoon, booksellers and printers, during which period he
added considerably to his stock of knowledge by private study. At the end of
his apprenticeship, he published a selection of modern poetry, which was
thought judicious, and helped to extend the reputation of Gray and Shenstone
in bis native country. In 1763, while working as a journeyman printer, be
became a member of a literary association styled the Miscellaneous Society, of
•which Mr Andrew Dalzell, afterwards professor of Greek in the EJinburgU
university, and Mr Robert Liston, afterwards Sir Robert, and ambassador at
Constantinople, were also members. To these two gentlemen he submitted a
translation of Crebillon's " Rhadamisthe ct Zenobie," which, after their revisal,
was presented to Garrick, but rejected. Not long after ho seems to hare
formed an intimacy with Patriek lord Elibank, who invited him to spend some
time at his seat in East Lothian, and encouraged him in the prosecution of
a literary career. He therefore relinquished his labours as a printer; and after
spending a considerable time in study at his father's house in the country,
Bet out, in May 1767, for London. Here he was disappointed in his best
hopes, and found it necessary to seek subsistence as corrector of the press to
Mr Strachao, the celebrated printer. While prosecuting this employment.

WILLIAM RUSSELL. 215

he published several essays in prose and verse, but without fixing the attention
of the world in any eminent degree. His " Sentimental Tales ' appeared in
1770; his "Fables, Sentimental and Moral," and translation of Thomas's
" Essay on the Character of Women,'' in 1772 ; and his " Julia," a poetical
Romance, in 1774. Other pieces were scattered throughout the periodical
works. His success \ras nevertheless such as to enable him to give up his office
at the press, ,ind depend upon his pen for subsistence. After an unsuccessful
History of America, he produced, in 1779, the first two volumes of tlie work
by which alone his name has been rescued from oblivion — ** The History of
Modern Europe :" the three remaining volumes appeared in 1784.

This has ever since been reckoned a useful and most convenient work on
the subject which it treats. " It possesses," says Dr Irving, with A\hose opinion
we entirely concur, " great merit, as a popular view of a very extensive period
of history. The author displays no inconsiderable judgment in the selection of
liis leading incidents, and in the general arrangement of his materials ; and he
seems to have studied the philosophy of history with assiduity and success. His
narrative is always free from languor ; and his liberal reflections are conveyed
in a lively and elegant style." Ur Irving states that, in the composition of each
volume of this book, the author spent twelve months. He closed the history
with the peace of Paris in 1763 ; and it has been continued to the close of the
reign of George IV., by Dr Coote and other writers.

Mr Russell's studies were interrupted for a while in 1780, by a voyage to
Jamaica, which he undertook for the purpose of recovering some money left
there by a deceased brother. In 1787, he married Miss Scott, and retired to
a farm called Knottyholm, near Langholm, where he spent the remainder of
his days in an elegant cottage on the banks of the Esk. In 1792, he received
the degree of doctor of laws from St Andrews, and in the ensuing year
published the first two volumes of a "History of Ancient Europe," which
is characterized by nearly the same qualities as the former work. He did
not live, however, to complete this undertaking, being cut off by a sudden
stroke of palsy, December 25, 1793. He was buried in the church -yard
of the parish of Westerkirk. This accomplished writer left a widow and a
daughter.

Dr Russell was a man of indefatigable industry. Before he had perfected
one scheme, another always presented itself to his mind. Besides two complete
tragedies, entitled " Pyrrhus," and " Zenobia," he left behind him an analysis
of Bryant's Mythology, and the following unfinished productions : 1. The earl
of Strafford, a tragedy. 2. Modern Life, a comedy. 3. The Love Marriage,
an opera. 4. Human Happiness, a poem intended to have been composed in
four books. 5. A Historical and Philosophical View of the Progress of man-
kind in the knowledge of the Terraqueous Globe. 6. The History of Modern
Europe, Part III. from the Peace of Paris in 1763, to the general pacification
in 1783. 7. The History of England from the beginning of the reign of
George III. to the conclusion of the American war. In the composition of the
last of these works he was engaged at the time of his death. It was to be com-
prised in three volumes 8vo, for the copyright of which Mr Cadell had stipu-
lated to pay seven hundred and fifty pounds.

" Dr Russell," says one who knew hini,^ " without exhibiting the graces of
polished life, was an agreeable companion, and possessed a considerable fund of
general knowledge, and a zeal for literature and genius which approached to

' Mr Alexander Chalmers, in his General Biographical Dictionarj- — Art. William
Russell.

216 JOHN RUTHERFORD.— SAMUEL RTJTHERrORD.

enthusiasm. In all iiis undertakings he was strictly honourable, and deserved
the confidence reposed in him by his employers."

RUTHERFORD, Johx, a learned physician of the eighteenth century, was
the son of the reverend 3Ir Rutherford, minister of the parish of Yarrow, in
Selkirkshire, and was born, August 1, 1695. After going through a classical
course at the school of Selkirk, and studying mathematics and natural philoso-
phy at the Edinburgh university, he engaged himself as apprentice to a surgeon
in that city, with whom he remained till 1716, when he went to London. He
there attended the hospitals, and the lectures of Dr Douglas on anatomy, Audre
on surgery, and Strother on materia medica. He afterwards studied at Leyden,
under Boerhaare, and at Paris and Rheims ; re<'eiving from the university of
the latter city his degree of M. D. in July, 1719.

Having, in 1721, settled as a physician in E linburgh, Dr Rutherford was
one of that fraternity of able and distinguished men, — consisting, besides, of
Monro, Sinclair, Pluramer, and Innes, — who established the medical school,
which still flourishes in the Scottish capital. 3Ionro ha 3 been lecturing on
anatomy for a few years, when, in 1725, the other gentlemen above mentioned
began to give lectures on the other departments of medical science. When the
professorships were finally adjusted on the death of Dr Innes, the chair of the
practice of medicine fell to the share of Dr Rutherford. He continued in that
honourable station till the year 1765, delivering his lectures always in Latin,
of which language it is said he had a greater command than of his own. About
the year 1748, he began the system of clinical lectures ; a most important im-
provement in the medical course of the university. After retiring, in 1765,
from his professional duties, Dr Rutherford lived, highly respected by all the
eminent physicians who had been his pupils, till 1779, when he died in the
eighty-fourth year of his age. This venerable person, by his daughter Anne
Rutherford, was the grandfather of that eminent ornament of modern litera-
ture. Sir Walter ScotL

RUTHERFORD, Samdel, a celebrated divine, was born about the year
1600, in the parish of Nisbet, (now annexed to Crailing,) in Roxburghshire,
where his parents seem to have been engaged in agi'icultural pursuits. The
locality and circumstances of his early education are unknown. He entered, in
1617, <is a student at the university of Edinburgh, where he took his degree of
master of arts in 1621. Nothing has been recorded of the rank he held, or the
appearances he made as a student, but they must have been at least respectable ;
for at the end of two years, we find him elected one of the regents of the col-
lege. Ou this occasion, he had three competitors ; one of them of the same
standing with himself, and two of them older. Of these, 3Ir Will, a master
of the high school, according to Crawford, in his history of the university,
•' pleased the judges best, for his experience and actual knowledge : yet the whole
regents, out of their particular knowledge of Mr Samuel Rutherford, demon-
strated to them his eminent abilities of mind and virtuous dispositions, where-
with the judges being satisfied, declared him successor in the profession of
humanity." How he acted in this situation, we have not been told ; nor
did he continue long enough to make his qualifications generally apparent, be-
ing forced to demit his cliarge, as asserted by Crawford, on account of some
scandal in his marriage, towards the end of the year 1G25, only two years after
he had entered upon it. What that scandal in his marriage was, has never
been explained ; but it is presumed to have been trifling, as it weighed so little
in the estimation of the town council of Edinburgh, the patrons of the univer-
sity, that they granted him " ane honest gratification at his demission ;" and at
a subsequent period, in conjunction with the presbytery, warmly solicited him

SAMUEL RUTHEREOKD. 217

to become one of the niinistei-s of the city, particularly with a view to his being
appointed to the divinity chair in the university, so soon as a vacancy should take
place ; and they were disappointed in their views with regard to hiui, only by
the voice of the general assembly of tiie church, which appointed him to St An-
drews. Kelieved from the duty of teaching others, Mr Rutherford seems now
to have devoted himself to the study of divinity under Mr Andrew Ramsay,
whose prelections, it is not improbable, he frequented during the time he acted
as a regent in teaching Iiumanity. Theology, indeed, in those days, was con-
joined with every part of education. This was particularly the case in the col-
lege of Edinburgh, where tlie principal, every Wednesday, at three o'clock, de-
livered a lecture upon a theological subject, to the whole of the students, assem-
bled in the common hall. The students were also regularly assembled every
Sunday morning in their several class-rooms, along with their regents, where
they were employed in reading the Scriptures ; after which they attended with
their regents the public services of religion ; returned again to the college, and
gave an analysis of the sermons they had heard, and of the portion of Scripture
they had read in the morning. By these means, their biblical knowledge kept
pace with their other acquirements, and they were insensibly trained to habits
of seriousness and devotion. In this manner were all our early reformers educat-
ed ,• and though they spent less time in the theological class, properly so called,
than is generally done in modern times, judging by the effects that followed their
administrations, as well as by the specimens of their works Uiat yet remain,
they were not less qualified for their work, than any of those who have suc-
ceeded them. When, or by Avhom Mr Rutherford was licensed to preach the
gospel, has not been recorded ; but in the year 1627, he was settled pastor of
the parish of Anwolh, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Anwolh, before
the Reformation, had been a dependency on the monastery of St Mary's Isle ;
but was united quoad sacra to Kirkdale and Kirkmabreck, and the three
parishes were under the ministry of one clergyman. In consequence of " this
most inconvenient union," the people of Anwoth had sermon only every alter-
nate Sabbath. It was now, however, disjoined from the other parishes, and
a place of worship had been newly built for their accommodation ; which,
though the parish has erected a modem and more elegant church, is still
preserved, and regarded, for the sake of the first occupant, the subject of
tliis memoir, with a kind of religious veneration. The disjunction of the
parishes had been principally effected by the exertions of John Gordon of Ken-
nmre, afterwards created viscount Kenmure, who had selected the celebrated Mr
John Livingstone to occupy it. Circumstances, however, prevented that ar-
rangement from taking effect; and " the Lord," says Livingstone in his me-
moirs, " provided a great deal better for them, for they got that worthy servant
of Christ, Mr Samuel Rutherford." Of the manner of his settlement, we know
no particulars; only that, by some means or other, he succeeded in being settled
Avithout acknowledging the bishops, which was no easy matter at that time.
Perhaps no man ever undertook a pastoral charge with a more thorough con-
viction of its importance than Rutherford ; and the way had been so well pre-
pared before him, that he entered upon it with great advantages, and his endea-
vours were followed by very singular effects. The powerful preaching of Mr
John Welsh, aided by his other labours of love, had diffused a spirit of religion
through air that district, which was still vigorous, though he had left Kirkcud-
bright seventeen years before.

Rutherford was accustomed to rise every morning at three o'clock. The
early part of ihe day he spent in prayer and meditation ; the remainder he de-
voted to the more public duties of his calling, visiting the sick, catechising his

218 SAMUEL RUTHERFORD.

flock, and instructing them, in a progress from house to house. " They were
the cause and objects," he informs us, " of his tears, care, fear, and daily
prayers. He laboured among them early and late ; and my witness," he de-
clares to them, " is above, that your heaven would be two heavens to me, and
the salvation of you all, as tno salvations to me." Nor were his labours con-
fined to Anwotb. *' He was," says Livingstone, " a great strengthener of all
the Christians in that country, who had been the fruits of the ministry of Mr
John Welsh, the time he had been at Kirkcudbright;" and the whole country,
we are told by Mr 31'Ward, accounted themselves his particular flock.

In the month of June, 1630, Mr Rutherford was bereaved of his wife, after
an illness of upwards of thirteen months, when they had been yet scarcely
five years married. Her disease seems to have been attended with severe pain,
and he appears to have been much affected by her sufferings. " My wife," he
observes in one of his letters, " is still in exceeding great torment, night and
day. Pray for us, for my life was never so wearisome to me. God hath filled
me with gall and wormwood ; but I believe (which holds up my head above the
water) it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." Her death
seems to have greatly distressed him, and, though he nowhere in his corres-
pondence ventures to introduce the subject directly, he frequently alludes to it in
terras of the deepest tenderness. He was himself afflicted, at the time of his wife's
death, with a fever which lasted for thirteen weeks, and which left him at last in
a state of such debility, that it was long before he could perform the duties of
his calling. At this period his widowed mother lived with him, and for a time
probably managed his family aff^airs. She too, however, died before he left
Anwoth in 1C36. In the month of September, 1634, Mr Rutherford lost his
great patron, John Gordon, who had been created in the previous year viscount
of Kenmure, and a storm was now brooding over him which was soon to drive
him from his station at Anwoth. He even went the length of allowing them
their own choice of any man, if they would avoid Rutherford, who intreated
them to try the Lord if they had warrant of him to seek no man in the world
but one only when there are choice of good men to be had. The see of Gal-
loway in the mean time became vacant by the death of Lamb, who was succeed-
ed by Sydserft", bishop of Brechin, anArminian, and a man of the most intoler-
ant disposition. This appointment gave a new turn to affairs in that quar-
ter. A person of sentiments altogether opposite to those of the people of
Kirkcudbright, was forced upon them, while their old and valuable pastor was
forbidden the exercise of any part of his ofiice. Nor did Rutherford escape.
He had been summoned before the high commissioners in the year 1630, at the
instance of a profligate person in his parish. Sydserff", bishop of Galloway,
had erected a high commission court within his own diocese, before which
Rutherford was called, and deprived of his office in 1636. This sentence was
immediately confirmed by the high commission at Edinburgh, and he was sen-
tenced before the 20th of August to confine himself within the town of Aber-
deen till it should be the king's pleasure to relieve him. The crimes charged
against him were, preaching against the Articles of Perth, and writing against the
Arminians. The time allowed him did not permit of his visiting his friends or
his flock at Anwoth ; but he paid a visit to David Dickson at Irvine, whence
he wrote, " being on his journey to Christ's palace at Aberdeen." He arrived
at his place of confinement within the time specified ; being accompanied by a
deputation from his parish of Anwoth. His reception in this great stronghold
of Scottish episcopacy was not very gratifying. The learned doctors, as the
clergy of Aberdeen were called par excellence, hastened to let him feel their
superiority, and to display the loyally of their faith by confuting the principles

SAMUEL RL'TIIERFORD. 219

lield by tho pex-secuted stranger. The pulpits were everywhere made to ring
against liini, and Dr Barron, their principal leader, did not scruple to attack
him personally for his antipathy to the doctrines of Anninius and the cere-
monies ; " but three yokings," Rutherford afterwards wrote, " laid him by, and
I have not been since troubled with him," Notwithstanding the coolness of
his first reception, he soon became popular in Aberdeen, and his sentiments be-
ginning to gain ground, the doctors were induced to petition the court that
he might be removed still farther north, or banished from the kingdom. This
last seems to have been determined on, and a warrant by the king forwarded
to Scotland to that elTect ; the execution of which was only prevented by the
establishment of tiie Tables at Edinburgh, and the consequent downfall of epis-
copacy. In consequence of these movements, Rutherford ventured to leave
Aberdeen, and to return to his beloved people at Anwoth, in the month of
February, 1638, having been absent from them rather more than a year and a
half. His flock had, in the mean time, successfully resisted all the efibrts of
Sydserif to impose upon them a minister of his own cho(»ing. It is not proba-
ble, however, that after this period, they enjoyed much of the ministrations
of Rutherford, as we soon after find him actively employed in the metropolis
in forwarding, by his powerful and impressive eloquence, the great work of re-
formation which was then going so successfully forward. On the renewal of
the Covenant, he was deputed, along with Mr Andrew Cant, to prepare the
people of Glasgow for a concurrence in that celebrated instrument. He was also
a delegate from the presbytery of Kirkcudbright to the general assembly, which
met in that city in November, 1638, and was by tliat court honourably assoilzied
from the charges preferred against him by the bishops and the high commission.
To the commission of this assembly applications were made by the corporation
of Edinburgh to have Mr Rutherford transported from Anwoth, to be one of
the ministers of that city, and by the university of St Andrews to have him
nominated professor of divinity to the new college there. To the latter situa-
tion he was appointed by the commission, greatly against his own mind, and to
the no small grief of the people of Anwotli, who omitted no efibrt to retain
him. The petitions of the parish of Anwoth, and of the county of Galloway
on this occasion are both preserved, and never were more honourable testimonies
borne to the worth of an individual, or stronger evidence afforded of the high
estimation in which his services were held. The public necessities of the
church, however, were supposed to be such as to set aside all private considera-
tions, and Rutherford proceeded to the scene of his new duties la October,
1639. On the 19th of that month, having previously entered upon his labours
in the college, he was inducted by the presbytery as colleague to Mr Robert
Blair in the church of St Andrews, which seems at this time to have been no very
pleasing situation. In the days of Melville and Buclianan the university was
the most flourishing in the kingdom ; now it was become, under tiie care of the
bishops, the very nursery of superstition in worship, and error in doctrine :
" but God," says one of Ruthertbrd's pupils, "did so singularly second his in-
defatigable pains, both in teaching and preaching, tliat the university forthwith
became a Lebanon, out of which were taken cedars for building the house of
God throughout the land." In the Assembly of 1640, Rutherford was in-
volved in a dispute respecliiig private society meetings, which he defended
along with 3Iessrs Robert Blair and David Dickson, against the greater part of
his brethren, who, under the terrors of independency, which in a short time
overspread the land, condemned them. It was probably owing to this dispute,
that two years afterwards he published his " Teaceable Plea for Paul's Presby-
tery," an excellent and temperate treatise ; equally remote from anarchy on

220 SAMUEL RUTHEEFORB.

the one hand, and that unbending tymnny Mhich presbytery has too often as-
sumed on tlie other. In 1642, he received a call to the parish of West
Calder, which he was not perniiited to accept, though he seems to have been
desirous of doing so. He was one of the commissioners from the general as-
sembly of the church of Scotland to the Westminster assembly, where his ser-
vices were acknowledged by all parties to have been of great importance. The
other commissioners from the general assembly of the church of Scotland, were
permiUed to visit their native country by turns, and to report the progress
which was made in the great work ; but Rutherford never quitted liis post till
his mission was accomplished. His wife (for he married the second time after
entering upon his charge at St Andrews,) and all his family, seem to have ac-
companied him. Two of his children, apparently all that he then had, died
while he was in London. He had also along with him as his amanuensis, Mr
Robert M'Ward, afterwards minister of the Tron church, Glasgow, and who was
banished for nonconformity at the Restoration. Mr Rutherford exerted himself
to promote the common cause, not only in the assembly, but by means of the
press, in a variety of publications, bearing the impress of great learning and
research, combined with clear and comprehensive views of the subjects of which
they treated. The first of these was the " Due right of Presbytery, or a
Peaceable Plea for the Government of the Church of Scotland," a work of great
erudition, and which called forth a reply from Mr Mather of New England ;
one of the best books that has yet been produced on that side of the question.
The same year he published " Lex Rex," a most rational reply to a piece of
insane loyalty emitted by John 3Iaxwell, the exconmiunicated bishop of Ross.
Next year, 1G45, he published " The Trial and Triumph of Faith," an admir-
able treatise of practical divinity ; and, in 1646, " The Divine Right of Church
Government, in opposition to the Erastians." In 1647, he published another
excellent piece of practical theology, " Christ dying and drawing Sinners,"
which was followed next year, though he had then returned to Scotland, by a
" Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist," written against Saltmarsh, Dee, Town,
Crisp, Eaton, and the other Antinomians of that day. In 1649, he published
at London a " Free Disputation against pretended Liberty of Conscience," par-
ticularly directed against the Independents. All of these productions are high-
ly Iionourable to the talents of the author, and place his industry and fertility
of mind in a singularly favourable point of view. Rutherford, in returning to
the former scene of his professorial and pastoral labours, must have felt agree-
ably relieved from the business and the bustle of a popular assembly, and hoped,
probably, that now he might rest in his lot. Far otherwise, liowever, was the
case. He was, in January, 1649, at the recommendation of the commission of
the general assembly, appointed principal of the New college, of which he was
already professor of divinity ; and not long after, he was elevated to the rec-
torship of the university. An attempt had also been made, in the general as-
sembly of 1649, to have him removed to the university of Edinburgh, which,
Baillie says, ** was thought to be absurd, and so was laid aside." He had an
invitation at the same time to the chair of divinity and Hebrew in the university
of Hardewyrk in Holland, which he declined ; and on the 20th of May, 1661,
he was elected to fill the divinity chair in the university of Utrecht. This ap-
pointment was immediately transmitted to him by his brother, Mr James
Rutherford, then an officer in the Dutch service, who, by the way fell into the
power of an English cruiser, and was stripped of everything, and confined
a prisoner in Leith, till he was, through the intervention of the States, set at
liberty. As he had, in consequence of this disaster, nothing but a verbal invi-
tation to offer, Rutherford refused to accept it. James Rutherford returned

SAMUEL RUTHERrORD. 221

directly to Holland, and the magistrates of Utrecht, still hoping to succeed,
sent him back with a formal invitation in the end of the same year. Rutherford
seems now to have been in some degree of hesitation, and requested six months
to advise upon the subject. At the end of this period, he wrote to the patrons
of the college, thanking them for the liigh honour they had done him, but
informing them, that lie could not tliink of abandoning his own church in the
perilous circumstances in which it then stood.

The whole of the subsequent life of Samuel Rutherford was one con-
tinued struggle with tlie open and concealed enemies of the church of Scot-
land. After the Restoration, when, though infirm in body, his spirit was
still alive to the cause of religion, he recommended that some of the Pro-
testers should be sent to the king, to give a true representation of the
state of matters in the church, which he well knew would never be done by
Sharpe, whom the Resolution party had employed, and in whom they had the
most perfect confidence. When the Protesters applied to the Resolution party
to join them in su<;h a necessary duty, they refused to have any thing to do
with their more zealous brethren ; and when these met at Edinburgh to consult
on the matter, they were dispersed by authority, their papers seized, and the
principal persons among them imprisoned. This was the first act of the
committee of estates after the Restoration ; and it was composed of the same
persons Avho had sworn to the covenant along with Charles ten years be-
fore. The next act of the committee, was an order for burning " Lex Rex,''
and punishing all who should afterwards be found in possession of a copy. The
book was accordingly burnt, with every mark of indignity, at the cross of
Edinburgh ; a ceremony which Sharpe repeated in front of the new college, be-
neath Mr Rutherford's windows, in St Andrews. Rutherford was at the same
time deprived of his situation in the college, his stipend confiscated, himself con-
fined to his own house, and cited to appear before the ensuing parliament, on a
charge of high treason. Before the meeting of parliament, however, he was
beyond the reach of all his enemie;. He had long been in bad health, and
now the utter ruin that he saw coming on the church entirely broke his spirit.
Sensible that he was dying, he published, on the 26th of February, 1661, a
testimony to the Reformation in Great Britain and Ireland. This testimony oc-
cupies ten octavo pages, and is remarkably clear and particular. Of his Inst
moments we can afford space only for a very brief account. He seemed to en-
joy a singular rapture and elevation of spirit. " I shall shine," he said ; ** I
shall see him as he is : I shall see him reign, and all his fair company with
him, and I shall have my share. Mine eyes shall see my Redeemer ; these
very eyes of mine, and none for rae. I disclaim," he remarked at the same
time, " all that ever God made me will or do, and I look upon it as defiled or
imperfect, as coming from me. But Christ is to me wisdom, righteousness,
sanclification, and redemption. Of the schisms that had rent the church," he re-
marked, " those whom ye call Protesters are the witnesses of Jesus Christ. I
hope never to depart from that cause, nor side with those of the opposite party,
who have broken their covenant oftener than once or twice. But I helieve the
Lord will build Zion, and repair the waste places of Jacob. Oh to obtain
mercy to wrestle with God, for their salvation !" To his only surviving child (a
daughter) he said, " I have left you upon the Lord; it may be you will tell
this to others, that the lines are fallen to nie in pleasant places. I have got a
goodly heritage. I bless the Lord that he gave me counsel." His last words
were, " Glory, glory dwelleth in luimanuel's land ;" and he expired on the
morning of the 20th of March, 1G61, in the sixty-first year of his age.

Mr Rutherford was unquestionably one . of the most able, learned, and con-

222 THOMAS RYMER.

sisteot presbyterians of his age ; while in his Familiar Letters, published posthtu
niously, he evinces a fervour of feeling and fancy, that, in other circumstances,
and otherwise exerted, would have ranked him among the most successful culti*
vators of literature. Wodrow has observed, that those who knew him best,
were at a loss which to admire, his sublime genius in the school, or his
familiar condescensions in the pulpit, where he was one of the most moving and
afiectionate preachera in his time, or perhaps in any age of the church.

RYMER, Thosias, of Ercildon, commonly called Thomas the Rhymer, and
otherwise styled Thomas Learmont, was a distinguished person of the thirteenth
century. So little is known respecting him, that even his name has become a
matter of controversy. How the name of Learmont came to be given him, is not
known ; but in none of the early authorities do we find it ; and although it has
long been received as the bard's patronymic, it is now, by inquiring antiqna-
ries, considered a misnomer. In a charter granted by his son and heir to the
convent of Soltra, he is called Thomas Rymer de Erceldun. Robert de
Brunne, Fordun, Barbour, and Winton, call him simply Thomas of Erceldoun,
while Henry the minstrel calls him Thomas Rymer.

Erceldoune, cr, according to the modern corruption, Earlstown, is a small
village on the right bank of the Leader water, in Berwickshire. At the
western extremity of this village, stand, after a lapse of seven centuries, the
ruins of the liouse which Thomas inhabited, called Rhymer's Tower ; and in
the front wall of the village church, there is a stone with this inscription on
it: —

Auld Rymer's race
Lies in this place.

The poet must have lived during nearly the whole of the thirteenth century.
His romance of ** Sir Tristram" is quoted by Gottfried of Strasburg, who
flourished about 1230; and it is known he was alive, and in the zenith of
his prophetic reputation, in 1286, at the death of Alexander III. He must
have been dead, however, before 1299, as that is tlie date of the charter, in
which his son calls himself Filius et hmres Thomas Rymour de Erceldon.
Henry the minstrel makes him take a part in the adventures of Wallace, in
1296 ; so, if this authority is to be credited, he must have died between that
year and 1299.

To this day, the name of Thomas the Rhymer is popularly known in Scotland
as a prophet ; and it is only by a late discovery of the MS. of a metrical romance
called " Sir Tristram," that he has acquired a less exceptionable claim to re-
membrance. " The Prophecies of Thomas the Rhymer," were published, in
Latin and English, at Edinburgh, in 1615, and have been repeatedly reprinted,
copies of them being still to be found among the country people of Scotland.
He is mentioned in his prophetic capacity by many of our early writers. Among
the most noted of his predictions, is the following, regarding the death of

Alexander III., which is thus narrated by Boece, as translated by Ballenden :

" It is said, the day afore the kingis dethe, the erle of 3Lirche demandit ane
prophet namit Thomas Rhymour, otherwayis namit Ersiltoun, quliat wcdder
suld be on the morow. To quhonie answerit this Thomas, that on the morow
afore none, sail blow the gretist wynd that ever was hard afore in Scotland.
On the morow, quhen it was neir noon the lift appering loane, but ony din or
tempest, the erle send for this propheit, and reprevit hym that he prognosticat
sic wynd to be, and nae apperance thairof. This Thomas maid litel answer,
bot said, noun is not yet gane. And incontinent ane man came to the yet,
schawing the king was slain. Than said the prophet, yone is the wynd tlut

THOMAS RYMER. 223

sail blaw to the gret calamity and truble of all Scotland. Thomas wes ane
man of gret admiration to the peple, and schaw sundry thingis as thay fell"
The common sense translation of this story is, that Tliomas presaged to the earl
of March that the next day would be windy ; the weather proved calm ; but
news arrived of the death of Alexander III., which gave an allegorical turn to
the prediction, and saved the credit of the prophet.

Barbour, Winton, Henry the Minstrel, and others, all refer to the prophetic
character of Thomas. In Barbour's Bruce, written about 1370, the bishop of
St Andrews is introduced as saying, after Bruce had slain the Red Cumin : —

I hop Thomas' prophecy

Off Hersildo^vne, werefyd be

In him ; for swa our Lord halp me,

I haiff gret hop he schall be king,

And haifT this land all in leding.

Bruce, ii. 86.

Wintouii's words are these : —

Of this sycht quhilum spak Thomas

Of Erceldoune, that sajd hi deme,

Thare suld meet stalvrarty, stark, and stenie.

He sayd it in his propliecie,

But how he wist, it was ferly.

Henry the Minstrel represents him as saying, on being falsely told that Wallace
was dead : —

" Forsuth, or he decess,
Mony thousand on feild sail mak Ihar end.
And Scotland thriss he sail bring to the pess ;
So gud of hand agajne sail nevir be kend."

Wallace, B. ii. eh. 3.

How far Rymer himself made pretensions to the character of a prophet, and
how far the reputation has been conferred upon him by the people in his own
time and since, it is impossible to determine. It is cei'tain, however, that in
almost every subseq'ient age, metrical productions came under public notice,
and were attributed to him, though, it might be supposed, they were in general
the mere coin of contemporary wits, applied to passing- events. There are,
nevertheless, a considerable number of rhymes and proverbial expressions, of an
antique and primitive character, attributed to Thomas the Rhymer, and appli-
cable to general circumstances : of some of these we deem it by no meang un-
likely that they sprung from the source to which they are ascribed, being in
some instances only such exertions of foresight, as a man of cultivated under-
standing might naturally rtake ; and in others, dreamy vaticinations of evil.
Avhich never have been, and perhaps never will, be realized. Many of these
may be found in the Border Minstrelsy, and in " Popular Rhymes of Scotland,"
and the " Picture of Scotland," compilations by the editor of the present dic-
tionary. It may also be mentioned, as illustrative of the forceful character of
this early and obscure genius, that he and his predictions are as well known in
the Highlands and Hebrides as in our southern counties. The Cambrian and
Caledonian Magazine, 1833, gives the two following Gaelic predictions, as
imputed to him by the Highlanders : —

224 THOMAS RYMER.

•* Cuiridh fiacail nan caoraich an crann air an sparr,"
I'he teeih of the sheep will lay the plough on the shelf,

" Bithidh muileann air gach alt,agus nth air gach cnoc; tombac aig na buachaillean, a.'i
grungaichean gun iiaire. " i. e. There shHll be a mill on every brook, a kiln on every height;
herds shall use tobacco, and young women shall be wiihout shame.

In the introduction to Robert de Brunne's Annals, written about 1238,
Thomas of Erceldoune is coniinemorated as the author of tha incomparable
romance of Sir Tristrem. Gottfried of Strasburg, also, a German minstrel of
the 13th century, already alluded to, says, that many of his piofession told the
tale of Sir Tristrem imperfectly and incorrectly ; but that he derived his au-
thority from " Thomas of Britannia, [evidently our Thomas,] master of the
art of romance, who had read the history in British books, and knew the lives
of all the lords of tiie land, and made them known to us." This work,
of our poet was considered to be lost, till a copy of it was discovered
among the Auchinleck MSS. belonging to the library of the faculty of advocates,
Edinburgh, and published, with introduction and notes, by Sir Walter Scott.

From the opening lines of this copy, viz.

I was at Erceldoune ;

With Tomas spak y thare ;
Ther herd y rede in roune,

Who Tristrem gat and bare, &c

a doubt has arisen whether it be the identical romance composed by Thomas of
Erceldoune, which was preferred by his contemporaries to every minstrel tale
of the time. But the celebrated editcr very satisfactorily demonstrated, from
the specific marks by which Robert de Brunne, a contemporary of Thomas, de-
scribes the work, that this must be the genuine Sir Tristrem, taken, probably,
from the recitation of a minstrel who had heard and retained in his memory
the words of Thomas. The date of the MS. does not seem to be much later
tlian 1330, which makes an interval of about forty years between it and the
author's time, a period in which some corruptions may have been introduced,
but no material change in the formation of tiie language. Accordingly, the
structure of the poem bears a peculiar character. The words are chiefly those
of the fourteenth century ; but the turn of phrase is, either from antiquity or
the aB'ectation of the time when it was written, close, nervous, and concise, even
to obscurity. The stanza is very complicated, consisting of eleven lines, of
which the 1st, 3d, 5tli, and 7th rhyme together, as do the 2d, 4th, 6th, 8th,
and lOth. A single stanza will serve to show its intricate and difficult struc-
ture. This one speaks of the education of Tristrem by Roland :

Fiflene yere he gan him fede,

Sir Rohant the trewe ;
He taught him ich alede.

Of ich maner of glewe;
And everich plajing thede.

Old lawes and newe ;
On hunting oft he yede,

To swiche alawe he drewe,
Al thus;

More he coiithe of venerf,
Than couthe Manerious.

EIGHT REVEREND JOHN SAGE. 225

It may be remarked that a complicated verse has been a favourite among the
Scottish poets do^vn to the present time. Burns, for instance, has injured some
of his best pieces by adopting the jingling stanza of the " Cherry and the
Slae."

By the recovery of this work, Scotland can lay claim to a poem more
ancient than England ; and, indeed, it uould appear from what is said
by Robert de Brunne, and other circumstances, tliat the gests of the northern
minstrels uere uritten in an ambitious and ornate style which the southern
harpers marred in repeating, and which plebeian audiences were unable to com-
prehend ; in other words, that the English language received its first rudiments
of improvement in this corner of the island, where it is now supposed to be most
corrupted.

SAGE, (the Right Reverend) John, was born in 1G52, in the parish of
Creich, in the north-east part of the county of Fife, where his ancestors had
lived with much respect, but little property, for sev^n generations ; his father
was a captain in lord DufTus's regiment, whirh was engaged in the defence of
Dundee, when it was stormed and taken by the parliamentary general, 3Ionk,
on the 30th August, 1G51. Captain Sage's property was diminished in pro-
portion to his loyalty, and all the fortune he had to bestow on his son was a
liberal education and his own principles of loyalty and virtue. Young Sage
received the rudiments of his education at the school of his native parish, and
at a proper age was removed to the university of St Andrews, «here he remained
during the usual course, performing the exercises required by the statutes of
the Scottish universities, and where he took the degree of master of arts in the
year 1672. He made letters his profession; but, his means being narrow, he
was compelled to accept the office of parochial schoolmaster of Bingry in Fife,
from which parish he was soon afterwards removed to the same office in Tipper-
muir, near Perth. Though, in these humble stations, he wanted many of the
necessaries, and all the comforts of life, he prosecuted his studies with unwear-
ied diligence ; unfortunately, however, in increasing his stock of learning, he
imbibed the seeds of several diseases, which afflicted him through the whole of
his life, and, notwithstanding the native vigour of his constitution, tended ulti-
mately to sliorten his days. To the cultivated mind of such a man as Sage,
the drudgery of a parish school must have been an almost intolerable slavery ;
he therefore readily accepted the offer from Mr Drummond of Cultmalundie,
of a situation in his family, to superintend the education of his sons. He ac-
companied these young persons to the grammar school of Perth, and afterwards
attended them in the same capacity of tutor to the university of St Andrews.
At Perth, he acquired the esteem of Dr Rose, who was afterwards bishop of
Edinburgh, and one of the most distinguished men of his age ; and at St An-
drews, he obtained the friendship and countenance of all the great literary
characters of the period.

In 1684, the education of his pupils was completed, and he was again
thrown on the world without employment, without prospects, and without any
means of subsistence. His friend, Dr Rose, however, having been promoted
from the station of parish minister at Perth to the chair of divinity at St
Andrews, did not forget young Sage at this moment of indecision and helpless-

226 RIGHT REVEREND JOHN SAGE.

ness, but recommended him so effectually to bis uncle, Dr Hose, then archbishop
of Glasgow, that he was by that prelate admitted into priest's orders, and pre-
sented to one of the city churches. At the period of his advancement in the
church he was about thirty-four years of age : his knowledge of the Scriptures
was very great ; and he had studied ecclesiastical history, with the writings of
all the early fathers of the church : he was thorough master of school divinity,
and had entered deeply into the modern controversies, especially those between
the Romish and the Protestant churches, and also into the disputes among the
rival churches of the Reformation. He was in consequence vei-y highly esteemed
by his brethren, and was soon after appointed clerk of the diocesan synod of
Glasgow, an office of great responsibility.

During the establishment of episcopacy in Scotland, from the Restoration of
Charles II. till the year 1690, the authority of the bishops in the government
of the church was exceedingly limited; they possessed indeed the sole power
of ordination, but their government was shared by presbyteries and diocesan
synods, in which they presided as perpetual niodeiators, having only the insig-
nificant prerogative of a negative voice over the deliberation of th^se assemblies.
The bishop delivered also a charge to the presbyters at the opening of these
meetings, which, with the acta of the synodal or presbyterial meetings,
was registered by the clerk, who was always one of the most eminent of the
diocesan clergy. In all this period there were neither liturgy, nor forms, nor
ceremonies, nor surplices, nor black gowns, nor any mark whatever by which
a stranger, on entering a parish church, could discover that any difference in
worship or external appearance existed between the established episcopal
church and the tolerated presbyterian chapel ; and we believe it is an established
fact, that so much were the minds of the moderate presbyterians reconciled to
episcopacy, tliat almost all the indulged ministers, with their congregations,
took the communion at the parish churches with the episcopal clergy, towards
the latter end of the reign of Charles II.

Mr Sage continued to officiate as clerk of the diocese, and as a parish
minister in Glasgow, till the Revolution in 1688. In executing the duties of his
pastoral office, he gained the esteem and affection not only of his own parishion-
ers, but even of the presbyterians ; so much so, that when the common people
took the reformation of the church into their own hands, and, with no gentle
means, turned the episcopal clergy of the western shires out of their churches
and livings, he was treated in a manner which was considered as comparatively
lenient and humane, being warned privately " to shake off the dust from his
feet and withdraw from Glasgow, and never venture to appear there again."
Many of his brethren were trimmers both in ecclesiastical as well as political
aHairs ; they had been presbyterians and republicans in the days of the Cove-
nant, and when, from the signs of the times in the short reign of the infatuated
and ill-advised James, a change in the establishment seemed to be approaching,
these over-zealous converts to episcopacy suddenly became all gentleness and
condescension to the presbyterians, whom they now courted and caressed.
Sage's conduct was the reverse of this ; he was heartily and from conviction an
episcopalian and a royalist ; and in all his discourses in public and private he
laboured to instil those principles into tho minds of others. To the persecu-
tion of others for difference of opinion he was always steadily opposed, not from
any indifference to all opinions, but from a spirit of perfect charity, for he
never tamely betrayed through fear what he knew it was his duty to maintain,
notwithstanding his indulgence to the prejudices of others.

Thus expelled from Glasgow, he sought shelter in Edinburgh, carrying with
him the synodical books, which, it would appear, he liad delivered to bislu^)

EIGHT REVEREND JOHN SAGE. 227

Rose, for, after the death of tliat venerable ecclesiaslic, they were found in his
possession, and delivered by his nephew to the presbytery of Glasgow. These
books had been repeatedly demanded by the new presbytery, but had always
been refused from a hope still lingering in Sage's mind that a second
restoration should take place ; but as the captivity of the Jews alwa>8 increased
in duration, in proportion to their number, so has that of the episcopal church
of Scotland. Partly to contribute towards that restoration for which he ardent-
ly longed, and partly to support himself under that destitution to which he was
now reduced, he commenced as polemical writer, to the infinite annoyance of
his adversaries : the following is a list of his Avcrks, which are now scarce, and
chiefly to be found in the libraries of those who are curious in such things :

1. The second and third letters concerning the persecution of the episcopal
clergy in Scotland, printed in London in 1G89. The first letter was written-
by the Rev. Thomas Morer, and the fourth by professor Monro.

2. An Account of the late establishment of presbyterian government by the
parliament of Scotland in 1690. London, 1693.

3. The Fundamental Charter of Presbytery. London, 1695.

4. The Principles of the Cyprianic age, with regard to episcopal power
and jurisdiction. London, 1695.

5. A Vindication of the Principles of the Cyprianic Age. London, 1701.

6. Some Remarks on a letter from a gentleman in the city to a minister in
the country, on Mr David Williamson's sermon before the General Assembly.
Edinburgh, 1703.

7. A brief examination of some things in Mr Meldrum's sermon preached
on the 6th 3Iay, 1703, against a toleration to those of the episcopal per-
suasion. Edinburgh, 1703.

8. The reasonableness of a toleration of those of the episcopal perguasicn, in.
quired into purely on church principles, 170i.

9. The Life of Gawin Douglas, 1710.

10. An introduction to Drumraond's History of the Five Jameses, Edinburgh,
1711.

He left, besides, several manuscripts on various subjects that are men-
tioned in his life by bishop Gillan, and which were published at London in
1714.

On his retirement to the metropolis, he began to officiate to a small body who
still adhered to the displaced church ; but, peremptorily refusing to take the
oaths to the revolution government, such was then the rigour of the officers of state,
and the violence of the populace, that he was ere long compelled at once to
demit his charge, and to leave the city, his person being no longer deemed safe.
In this extremity, he was received into the family, and enjoyed the protec-
tion and friendship of Sir William Bruce, then sheriff of Kinross, who approved
of his principles, and admired his virtues. Here he remained till 1696. On
the imprisonment of his patron. Sir William, who was suspected of disaffection
to the government, he ventured in a clandestine manner to visit him in Edinburgh
castle ; but his persecutors would give him no respite ; he was obliged again to
flee for his life to the Grampian hills, where he lived destitute and penny-
less under the assumed name of Jackson.

After he had wandered in a destitute state for some time among the Braes of
Angus, the countess of Callander oflered him an asylum, and the appointment of
domestic chaplain for her family, and tutor for her sons. Here he continued
for some time, and when the young gentlemen intrusted to his charge were no
longer in want of his instructions, he accepted an invitation from Sir John
Stewart of GrantuUy, who desired the assistance of a chaplain, and the conver-

228 MICHAEL SCOTT.

sation of a man of letters. In this situation he remained till the necessities of
the church required the episcopal order to be preserved by new consecrations.
The mildness of his manners, the extent of his learning, and his experience re-
commended him as a lit person on uhom to bestow the episcopal character.
He was accordingly consecrated a bishop, on the 25th January, 1705, uhen no
temporal motives could have induced him to accept an oftice at all times of
great responsibility, but at that time of peculiar personal danger. His conse-
crators were John Paterson, the deprived archbishop of Glasgow, Dr Alexander
Rose, deprived bishop of Edinburgh, and liobert Douglas^ deprived bishop of
Dumblane.

Soon after his promotion, this illustrious man was seized with that illness, tlie
seeds of which had been sown in the difficulties and privations of his youth.
After patiently lingering a considerable time in Scotland without improvement,
the persecutions to which he was subjected increasing his malady, iie was in-
duced to try the efficacy of the waters at Bath, in 1709. But this also failed
him: the seat of his disease lay deeper than medical skill could reach. He re-
mained a year at Bath and London, where the great recognized, and the
learned caressed and courted him, and where it was the wish of many distin-
guished persons that he should spend the remainder of his life. The love of
his country and of his native church, overcame all entreaties, and he returned
to Scotland in 1710, with a debilitated body, but a mind as vigorous as ever.
Immediately on his arrival, he engaged with undiminished ardour in the pub-
lication of Urummond's Works, to which Ruddiman, whose friendship he had
for many years enjoyed, lent his assistance. Worn out with disease and men-
til anguish, bishop Sage died at Edinburgh, on 7th June, 1711, lamented by
his friends, and feared by his adversaries. His friend Ruddiman always spoke
of him as a companion whom he esteemed for his worth, and as a scholar whom
he admired for his learning. Sage was unquestionably a man of great ability, and
even genius. It is to be lamented, however, that his life and intellect were alto-
gether expended in a wrong position, and on a thankless subject All the sophisti-
cal ingenuity that ever was exerted, would have been unable to convince the great
majority of the Scottish people, that the order of bishops was of scriptural institu-
tion, or that the government of the two last niale Stuarts, in which a specimen
of that order had so notable a share, Avas a humane or just government. He was
a man labouring against the great tide of circumstances and public feeling ; and,
accordingly, those talents, which otherwise might have been exerted for the im-
provement of his fellow creatures, and the fulfilment of the grand designs of
providence, were thrown away, without producing either immediate or remote
good. How long have men contended about trifles — what ages have been per-
mitted to elapse uselessly — how many bright minds have been lighted up, and
quenched — before even a fair portion of reason has been introduced into the
habits of thinking, and the domestic practice of the race.

SCOTT, Michael, a learned pei-son of the thirteenth century, known to tho
better informed as a philosopher, and to the illiterate, especially of Scotland, as
a wizard, or magician, was born about the year 1214. The precise locality of
his birthplace is unknown, although that lionour has been awarded to Bal-
wearie, in F'ife, but on insufficient authority. Neither is there any thing
known of his parents, nor of their rank in life ; but, judging of the education
he received, one of the most liberal and expensive of the times, it may be pre-
sumed that they were of some note.

Scott early betook himself to the study of the sciences ; but, soon exhausting
all the information which his native country afforded in those imlettered times,
he repaired to the uniAersity of Oxford, then enjoying a very high reputation.

MICHAEL SCOTT. 229

and devoted himself, with great eagerness and assiduity, to philosophical pur-
suits, particularly astronomy and chemistry; in both of which, and in the acqui-
sition of the Latin and Arabic languages, he attained a singular proficiency.
At this period, astronomy, if it did not assume entirely the shape of judicial
astrology, was yet largely and intimately blended witli that fantastic but not
unimpressive science ; and chemistry was similarly affected by the not less ab-
surd and illusive mysteries of alchymy : and hence arose the imaginary skill
and real reputation of Scott as a wizard, or foreteller of events ; as, in propor-
tion to his knowledge of the true sciences, was his imputed acquaintance with
the false.

On completing his studies at Oxford, he repaired, agreeably to the practice
of the times, to the university of Paris. Here he applied himself with such
diligence and success to the study of mathematics, that he acquired the academic
surname of Michael the 3Iathematician ; but neither his attention nor reputa-
tion were confined to this science alone. He made equal progress, and attained
equal distinction in sacred letters and divinity ; his acquirements in the latter
studies being acknowledged, by his having the degree of doctor in theology
conferred upon him.

While in Paris, he resumed, in the midst of his other academical avocations,
the study of that science on which his popular fame now rests, namely, judicial
astrology, and devoted also a farther portion of his time to chemistry and me-
dicine. Having possessed himself of all that he could acquire in his particu-
lar pursuits in the French capital, he determined to continue his travels, with
the view at once of instructing and of being instructed. In the execution of
this project, he visited several foreign countries and learned universities ; and
amongst the latter, that of the celebrated college at Padua, where he eminently
distinguished himself by his essays on judicial astrology. From this period, his
fame gradually spread abroad, and the reverence with which his name now began
to be associated, was not a little increased by his predictions, which he, for the
first time, now began to publish, and which were as firmly believed in, and con-
templated with as much awe in Italy, where they were first promulgated, as
they were ever at any after period in Scotland.

From Italy he proceeded to Spain, taking up his residence in Toledo, whose
university was celebrated for its cultivation of the occult sciences. Here, be-
sides taking an active part, and making a conspicuous figure in the discussions
on these sciences, he began and concluded a translation, from the Arabic into
Latin, of Aristotle's nineteen books on the History of Animals. This work
procured him the notice, and subsequently the patronage of Frederick II., who
invited him to his court, and bestowed on him the office of royal astrologer.
While filling this situation, he translated, at the emperor's desire, the greater
part of the works of Aristotle. He A\rote, also, at the royal request, an original
work, entitled ** Liber Introductorius sive Indicia Quaestionum," for the use of
young students ; and a treatise on physiognomy, entitled " Physiognomia et de
Hominis Procreatione ;" besides several other works, of >vhich one was on the
/* Opinions of Astrologers."

After a residence of some years at the court of Frederick, Michael resigned his
situation, and betook himself to the study of medicine as a profession, and soon
acquired great reputation in this art. Before parting with the emperor, with
whom he seems to have lived on a more intimate and familiar footing, than
the haughty and warlike disposition of that prince might have been expect-
ed to permit, he predicted to him the time, place, and manner of his death ;
and the prophecy is said to have been exactly fulfilled in every parti-
cular. After a residence of some years in Germany, he came over to Eng-

230

SIR T\-ALTER SCOTT, BART.

land, with the view of returning to his native country. On Ills arrival in
tlie latter kingdom, he was kindly received and patronized by Edward I.;
and, after being retained for some time at his court, was permitted to pass
to Scotland, where he arrived shortly after the death of Alexander IIL
That event rendering it necessary to send ambassadors to Norway, to bring
over the young queen, 3Iargaret, or, as she is more poetically called, the
Maid of Norway, grand-daugiiter of the deceased monarch, Michael Scott, now
styled Sir Michael, although we have no account either of the time or oc-
casion of his being elevated to this dignity, was appointed, with Sir David
Weems, to proceed on this important mission, a proof that his reputation as .1
wizard had not artected his moral respectability. With this last circumstance,
the veritable history of Sir Michael terminates ; for his name does not again
appear in connexion with any public event, nor is there any thing known of
his subsequent life. He died in the year 1292, at an advanced age, and was
buried, according to some authorities, at Holme Coltrame, in Cumberland*, and,
according to others, in Melrose abbey.

Although, however, all the principal authenticated incidents in the life of Sir
Michael which are known, are compi-ehended in this brief sketch, it would take
volumes to contain all that is told, and to this hour believed, by the peasantry
of Scotland, of the terrible necromancer, auld Michael. For some curious spe-
cimens of the traditional character of the great magician of other days, the
reader may be referred to the notes appended to the " Lay of the Last 31 in-
strel," by the still greater magician of modern times. He will there learn,
how Sir Michael, on one occasion, rode through the air to France on a huge
black horse ; how the devil made an unsuccessful attempt to entrap him by the
way ; how, on another occasion, wlien

Maister Michael Scoti's man,
Sought meat, and gut nune,

from a niggardly farmer, he threw down a bonnet which his master had previ-
ously enchanted, and which, becoming suddenly inflated, began to spin round
the house with supernatural speed, and drew, by its magical influence, the whole
household after it, man, maid, and mistress, who all continued the goblin chase,
until they were worn out with fatigue. It may not, perhaps, be unnecessary to
add, that all these cantrips, and a thousand more, were performed by the agency
of a "mighty book" of necromancy, which no man, but on peril of soul and
body, might open, or peruse, and which Avas at last buried in the same grave
with its tremendous owner.

SCOTT, (Sir) Walter, baronet, a distinguished poet and novelist, was bora
in Edinburgh, August 15, 1771. He was a younger son of Mr Walter Scott,
writer to the signet, by Anne, daughter of Dr John Rutherford, professor of the
practice of medicine in the university of Edinburgh. Sir Walter's father was
grandson to a younger son of Scott of Raeburn, a branch of the ancient baronial
house of Harden ; and his mother was grand-daughter to Sir John Swinton, ol'
Swinton, in Berwickshire. Being an ailing child, he was sent at a very early
period of life to Sandyknow, a farm near the bottom of Leader water, in Rox-
burghshire, occupied by his paternal grandfather, where he had ample opportuni-
ties of storing his mind with border tradition. The first school he attended is said
to have been one in Kelso, taught by a Mr Whale, where he had for school-
fellows James and John Ballantyne, who subsequently became intimately con-
nected with him in public life. He entered the high school of Edinburgh in
1779, when the class with which he was ranked (that of Mr Luke Fraser) was
commencing its third season. Under this master he continued during two

Sir J.^6t»<m Gor^orL.

ii- Sobcifics .

SUM Wi6\LTEE SCOTT.

IBCatTffE OBIGBNALIHKCSISSiniraFTEEPDBEISHSHS.

mMnsm fcsoN, aijvaew, xuiKBmipr stiOBDOir.

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 2'6i

years, after which he entered the rector's class, then taught by Mr Alexander
Adam. In October, 17 S3, having completed the usual classical course, he was
matriculated at the university of Edinburgh, studying huvmnity, or Latin, un-
der professor Hill, and Greek under professor Dalzell. Another year under
Dalzell, and a third in the logic class, taught by professor Bruce, appear to
have formed the sum of his unprofessional studies at college. He was much de-
roled at this period to reading ; and an illness, which interrupted his studies in
his sixteenth year, afforded him an unusually ample* opportunity of gratifying
this taste. He read, by his own confession, all the old romances, old plays,
and epic poems, contained in tlie extensive circulating library of Blr Sibbald
(founded by Allan Ramsay) ; and soon after extended his studies to histories,
memoirs, voyages, and travels. On the restoration of his health, he commenced,
in his father's office, an apprenticeship to legal business, which was completed
in July, 1792, by his entering at the Scottish bar.

The literary character of Scott is to be traced to the traditionary lore which
he imbibed in the country, and the vast amount of miscellaneous reading above
referred to, in conjunction with the study of the modern German poets and ro-
mancers, which he entered upon at a subsequent period. The earlier years of
his life, as an advocate, were devoted rather to the last mentioned study, than
to business ; and the result was, a translation of " Burger's Lenore," and " Der
Wilde Jager," which he published in a small quarto volume in 1796. The
success of this attempt was by no means encouraging; yet he persevered in his
German studies, and, in 1799, gave to the world a translation of Gothe's
" Goetz of Berlichengen." Previously to the latter event, namely, on the 24th
December, 1797, he had married 3Iiss Carpenter, a young Frenchwoman of
good parentage, whom he accidentally met at Gilsland wells, in Cumberland,
and who possessed a small animity. It is also worthy of notice, that, in 1799,
he was appointed sheriff of Selkirkshire, a respectable situation, to which an in-
come of ^300 was attached.

The success of Burger in ballad-wTiting, operating upon his predilection for
that part of our own national poetry, induced him, about this time, to make se-
veral attempts in that line of composition, and soon after to commence the col-
lection of those ancient original ballads, which in 1802 were publislied in two vo-
lumes octavo, as the 3Iinstrelsy of the Scottish Border. On the reprinting of
this work, in the ensuing year, he added a third volume, consisting chiefly of ori-
ginal ballads, by himself and others. The work was, upon the whole, a pleas-
ing melange of history, poetry, and tradition ; and it gained the author a con-
siderable reputation, though certainly not that of an original poet in any emi-
nent degree. In the annotations to the ancient romance of Sir Tristrem, which
he published in 1804, he gave still more striking proof of the extent of his ac-
quirements in metrical antiquities.

It was not till the year 1805, when Scott had reached the age of thirty-
four, and had a family rising around him, that he attracted decided attention as
an original poet. He published in that year his " Lay of the Last ]Minstrel,"
an extended specimen of the ballad style, and one which fell upon the public
mind as something entirely new in poetry. The caution which he may be said
to have observed in coming before the world, arose from prudential considera-
tions. He hesitated to come to a breach with his professional hopes, which
a decided attempt in literature would have implied, before he should have
attained something to assure him of a competency in the worst resort. This he
had in some measure secured by his patrimony, his wife's annuity, and his
salary as sheriff'; but it was not till 1S06, when he received the appointment of
a principal clerk of session, that he considered himself at perlect liberty to

232 SIR "WALTER SCOTT, BART.

pursue a literary career. For this latter appointment, he was indebted to the
interest of the liuccleuch and 3Ielville families, uiiich he had conciliated, partly
by his talents, and partly by the zeal with which he entered into the volunteer
system at the close of the past century. He succeeded 31r George Home, upon
an arrangement, by which that gentleman was to enjoy tiie salary for life ; so
that it was not till 1811 that the poet reaped any actual benefit from it. The
appointment was given by iMr Pilt, but was formally completed under the en-
suing administration of Lord Grenvilie.

In 1808, Mr Scott published his second poem of magnitude, *' Marmion,"
which displayed his metrical genius in greater perfection than the Lay of the
Last Minstrel, and greatly increased his reputation. \VhiIe the latter work
had produced him ^GOO, the present secured one thousand guineas. Previously
to 1825, no fewer than thirty-six thousand copies of 31armion were sold.
In the same ycir, Mr Scott published an edition of Dryden's works, with notes,
and a life of that poet In 1809, he edited tiie State Papers and Letters of
Sir Ralph Sadler ; and soon after he became a contributor to the Edinburgh
Annual Register, started by Mr Southey.

" Tlie Lady of the Lake," in which his poetical genius seems to have reached
the acme of its powers, was published in 1810. His earlier edbrts were less
matured and refined ; and the later are all, in various degrees, less spirited and
effective. In 1811 appeared " Don Roderick," a dreamy vaticination of mo-
dern Spanish history; in 1813 he published " Rokeby," in which he attempt-
ed, but without success, to invest English scenery and a tale of the civil war
with the charm which he had already thrown over the Scottish Highlands and
Borders, and their romantic inhabitants. Rokeby met with a decidedly unfavour-
able reception; and, it cannot be denied, the public enjoyed to a greater extent
a burlesque, which appeared upon it, under the title of " Jokeby." The evil
success of this poem induced him to make a desperate adventure to retrieve his
laurels; and in 1814 he published " The Lord of the Isles." Even the name
of Bruce, however, could not compensate the want of what had been tlie most
captivating charm of his earlier productions — the development of new powers
and styles of poesy. The public was now acquainted witli his whole " fence,"
and could, therefore, take no longer the same interest in his exhibitions. As
if to try how far his name now operated in promoting the sale of his writings, he
produced, anonymously, two small poems in succession, " Harold the Dauntless,"
and "The Bridal of Triermain." Neither made any considerable impression
upon the public ; and he, therefore, seems to have concluded that poetry was
no longer a line in which he ought to exercise his talents.

Many years before, while as yet unknown as a poet, he had commenced a
prose tale upon the legendary story of Thomas the Rymer, which never went
beyond the first chapter. Subsequently, he contemplated a prose romance, re-
lating to an age much nearer our own time. " IMy early i-ecollections," says
he,' " of the Highland scenery and customs made so favourable an impression
in the poem called the * Lady of the Lake,' that 1 was induced to think of at-
tempting something of the same kind in pruse. I had been a good deal in the
Highlands at a time when they were much less accessible, and much less visited,
than they have been of late years, and was acquainted with many of the old
warriors of 1745, who were, like most veterans, easily induced to fight their
battles over again, for the benefit of a willin<> listener like myself. It naturally
occurred to me that the ancient traditions and high spirit of people, who, living
in a civilized age and country, retained so strong a tincture of manners belong-
ing to an early period of society, must afford a subject favourable for romance,
if it should not prove a curious tale marred in the telling.

• In tlie auto- biographical introduction to the revised ediiions of his works.

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 233

" It was with some idea of this kind, tliat, about the year 1805, I threw to-
gether about one-third part of the first volume of Waverley. It was advertised
to be published by the late 3Ir John Ballantyne, bookseller in Kdinburgh, un-
iler tlie name of * \Yaverley.' # * * Having proceeded as far, I think, as
the seventh chapter, I showed my work to a critical friend, whose opinion was
unfavourable ; and having some poetical reputation, I was unwilling to risk the
loss of it by attempting a new style of composition. I therefore threw aside
the work I had commenced, without either reluctance or remonstrance. * * *
This portion of the manuscript was laid aside in the drawers of an old writ-
ing-desk, which, on my first coming to reside at Abbotsford in 18 II, was
placed in a lumber garret, and entirely forgotten. Thus, though I sometimes,
among other literary avocations, turned my thoughts to the continuation of the
romance which I had commenced, yet, as I could not find what I had already
written, after searching such repositories as were within my reach, and was too
indolent to attempt to write it anew from memory, I as often laid aside all
thoughts of that nature."

The author then adverts to two circumstances, which particularly fixed in his
mind the wish to continue this work to a close — namely, the success of Miss
Edgeworth's delineations of Irish life, and his happening to be employed iu
1808, in finishing the romance of Queen- Hoo-Hall, left imperfect by Mr
Strutt. *' Accident," he continues, " at length threw the lost sheets in my
way."

'* I happened to want some fishing-tackle for the use of a guest, when it oc-
curred to me to search the old writing-desk already mentioned, in which I used
to keep articles of that nature. I got access to it with some difiiculty ; and in
looking for lines and Hies, the long-lost manuscript presented itself. I imme-
diately set to work to complete it, according to my original purpose. * * *
Among other unfounded reports, it has been said that the copyright was, dur-
ing the book's progress through the press, offered for sale to v.irious booksellers
in London at a very inconsiderable price. This was not the case. Messrs
Constable and Cadell, who published the work, were the only persons acquaint-
ed with the contents of the publication, and they offered a large sum for it,
while in the course of printing, which, however, was declined, the author not
choosing to part with the copyright.

" Waverley was published in 1814, and as the title-page was without the
name of the author, the work was left to win its way in the world without any
of the usual recommendations. Its progress was for some time slow ; but after
the first two or three months, its popularity had increased in a degree which
must have satisfied the expectations of the <^uthor, bad these been far more san-
guine than he ever entertained.

" Great anxiety was expressed to learn the name of the author, but on this
no authentic information could be attained. My original motive for publishing
the work anonymously, was the consciousness that it was an experiment on the
public taste, which might very probably fail, and therefoie there was no occa-
sion to take on myself the personal risk of discomfiture. For this purpose,
considerable prec^autions were used to preserve secrecy. My old friend and
schoolfellow, Mr James Ballantyne, who printed these novels, had the ex-
clusive task of corresponding with the author, who thus had not only the ad»
vantage of his professional talents, but of his critical abilities. The original
manuscript, or, as it is technically called, copy, was transcribed under Mr Bal-
lantyne's eye, by confidential ],ersons ; nor was there an instance of treachery
during tlie many years in which these precautions were resorted to, although
various individuals were employed at different limes. Double proof-sheets were
regularly printed off. One was forwarded to the author by Mr Ballantyne,

234 SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.

and tlie alterations which it rcceired were, by his own hand, copied upon the
other proof-sheet for the use of the printers, so tliat even the corrected proofs
cf the author were never seen in the printing ofRce; and tlius the curiosity of
such eager inquirers aa made the most minute inrestigation, was entirely at
fault."

To this account of the publication of Waverley it is only to be added, that
the popularity of the work became decided rather more quickly, and was, when
decided, much higher, than the author has given to be understood. It was
read and admired universally, both in Scotland and England, so that, in a very
short time about twelve thousand copies were disposed of.

Previously to 1811, Mr Scott had been in the habit of residing, during the
summer months, at a villa called Ashicstiel on the banks of the Tweed, near
Selkirk, belonging to his kinsman colonel Russell. He now employed part of
his literary gains in purchasing a farm a few miles farther down the Tweed,
and within three miles of Melrose. Here he erected a small house, Avhich he
gradually enlarged, as his emoluments permitted, till it eventually became a
(lothic castellated mansion of considerable size. He also continued for some
years to make considerable purchases of the adjacent gi'ounds, generally paying
much more for them than their value. The desire of becoming an extensive
land-proprietor was a passion which glowed more warmly in his bosom than any
appetite which he ever entertained for literary fame. The whole cast of his
mind, from the very beginning, was essentially aristocratic ; and it is probable
that he looked with more reverence upon an old title to a good estate, than
upon the most ennobled title-page in the whole catalogue of contemporary
genius. Thus it was a matter of astonishment to many, that, while totally in-
sensible to flattery on the score of his works, and perfectly destitute of all the
airs of a professed or practised author, he could not so well conceal his pride
in the possession of a small patch of territory, or his sense of importance as a
local dispenser of justice. As seen through the medium of his works, he rather
appears like an old baron or chivalrous knight, displaying his own character
and feelings, and surrounded by the ideal creatures which such an individual
would have mixed with in actual life, than as an author of the modern world,
writing partly for fame, and partly for subsistence, and glad to woi-k at that
which he thinks he can best execute. It was unquestionably owing to the same
principle that he kept the Waverley secret with such pertinacious closeness —
being unwilling to be considered as an author writing for fortune, which he must
have thought somewhat degrading to the baronet of Abbotsford. It was now
the principal spring of hia actions to add as much as possible to the little realm
of Abbotsford, in order that he might take his place — not among the great
literary names which posterity is to revere, but among the country gentlemen of
Roxburghshire !'

Under the influence of this passion — for such it must be considered —
Mr Scott produced a rapid succession of novels, of which it Avill be suflicient
hereto state the names and dates. To Waverley succeeded, in 1815, Guy
Mannering ; in 1816, the Antiquary, and the First Series of the Tales of my
Landlord, containing the Black Dwarf and Old Mortality ; in 1818, Rob Roy,
and the Second Series of the Tales cf my Landlord, containing the Heart of
Mid Lothian ; and in 1819, the Third Series of the Tales of my Landlord, con-
taining the Bride of Lammermoor, and a Legend of IMontrose.

It is to be observed, that the series, called ** Tales of my Landlord," were

* Lest these speculations may appear somewhat paradoxical, the editor may mention
tliat they were pronounced, by the late Mr James Ballant^ue, in wriliiig, to be "admim-
bly truc.^'

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 235

professedly by a diirerent author from him of Waverley : an expedient
which the real author had thought conducive to the maintenance of the pubh'c
interest Having now drawn upon public curiosity to the extent of twelve
Tolunics in each of his two incognitos, he seems to have thought it necessary to
adopt a third, and accordingly lie intended Ivanhoe, which appeared in the be-
ginning of 1820, to come forth as the first work of a new candidate for public
favour. From this design he was diverted by a circumstance of trivial impor-
tance, the publication of a novel at London, pretending to be a fourth series of
the Tales of my Landlord. It was therefore judged necessary that Ivanhoe
should appear as a veritable production of the author of Waverley. To it suc-
ceeded, in the course of the same year, the Monastery and the Abbot,
which were judged as the least meritorious of all his prose tales. In the be-
ginning of the year 1 82 L, appeared Kenilworth ; making twelve volumes, if not
written, at least published, in as many months. In 1822 he produced the
Pirate and the Fortunes of Nigel ; in 1S23, Peveril of the Pe.ik (four volumes)
and Quentin Durward ; in 1824, St Ronan's Well and Redgauntlet; in 1825,
Tales of the Crusaders (four volumes); in 1826, Woodstock; in 1827, Chro.
nicies of the Canongate, first series (tsvo volumes) ; in 1823, Chronicles of the
Canongate, second series ; in 1 829, Anne of Geierstein ; and in 1831, a fourth
ieries of Tales of my Landlord, in four volumes, containing two tales, respec-
tively entitled Count Robert of Paris, and Castle Dangerous. The whole of
these novels, except where otherwise specified, consisted of three volumes, and,
with those formerly enumerated, make up the amount of liis fictitious prose
compositions to the enormous sum of seventy-four volumes.

Throughout the whole of his career, both as a poet and novelist. Sir Walter
was in the liabit of turning aside occaaionally to less important avocations of a
literary character. He was a contributor to the Edinburgh Review during the
first few years of its existence. To the Quarterly Review, he was a consider-
able contributor, especially for the last five or six years of his life, during
which the work was conducted by his son-in-law, Mr Lockhart. To the Sup-
plement of the sixth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, he contributed
the articles Chivalry, Romance, and the Drama. In 1818, he wrote one or
two small prose articles for a periodical, after the manner of the Spectator,
which was started by his friend Mr John Ballantyne, under the title of " The
Saleroom," and was soon after dropped for want of encouragement In 1814,
he edited the Works of Swift, in nineteen volumes, with a life of the author.
In 1814, Sir Walter gave his name and an elaborate introductory essay to a
work, entitled '* Border Antiquities," (two volumes, quarto,) which consisted of
engravings of the principal antique objects on both sides of the Border, accom-
panied by descriptive letter-press. In 1815, he made a tour of France and
Belgium, visiting the scene of the recent victory over Napoleon. The result
was a lively traveller's volume, under the title of " Paul's Letters to his Kins-
folk,"' and a poem, styled " The Field of Waterloo." In the same year he
joined with Mr Robert Jamieson and Mr Henry Weber, in composing a quarto
on Icelandic Antiquities. In 1819, he published ** An Account of the Regalia
of Scotland," and undertook to furnish the letter-press to a second collection of
engravings, under the title of " Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery
of Scotland," one of the most elegant books which has ever been published re-
specting the native country of the editor.

In the year 1820, the agitated state of the country was much regretted by Sir
Walter Scott ; and he endeavoured to prove the absurdity of the popular excite-
ment in favour of a more extended kind of parliamentary representation, by
three papers, which he inserted in the Edinburgh Weekly Journal newspaper,

23G SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.

under the title of " The Visionary." However well intended, these were not
by any means happy specimens of political disquisition. Some months after-
wards, it was deemed necessary by a few Tory gentlemen and lawyers, to
establish a newspaper, in which the more violent of the radical prints should be
met upon their own grounds. To tiiis association 3Ir Scott subscribed, and, by
means partly furnished upon his credit, a weekly journal was commenced, under
llie title of " The Beacon." As the scurrilities of this print inflicted much pain
in very respectable quarters, it sank, after an existence of a few months, amidst
the general execrations of the community. Mr Scott, though he probably never
contemplated, and perhaps was hardly aware of the guilt of the Beacon, was
loudly blamed for his connexion with it.

In 18-22, Sir Walter published " Trivial Poems and Triolets, by P. Carey,
with a Preface;" and, in 1822, appeared his dramatic poem of" Halidon Hill."
In the succeeding year, he contributed a smaller dramatic poem, under the title
of " Macduff's Cross," to a collection of Miss Joanna Baillie. The sum of his
remaining poetical works may here be made up, by adding " The Doom of
Devorgoil," and " The Auchindrane Tragedy," which appeared in one volume
in 1830. It cannot be said of any of these compositions, that they have made
the least impression upon the public.

The great success of the earlier novels of Sir Walter Scott had encouraged
his publishers, Messrs Archibald Constable and Company, to give large turns for
those works: and, previous to 1824, it was understood that the author had
spent from fifty to a hundred thousand pounds, thus acquired, upon his house
and estate of Abbotsford. During the months which his official duties permitted
liim to spend in the country — that is, the whole of the nmre genial part of tiie
year, from March till November, excepting the months of 3Iay and June — he
kept state, like a wealthy country gentleman, at this delightful seal, where ho
was visited by many distinguished pei-sons from England, and from the conti-
nent As he scarcely ever spent any other hours than those between seven and
eleven, a.m., in composition, he was able to devote the greater part of the morn-
ing to country exercise, and the superintendence of his planting and agricul-
tural operations ; while the evenings were, in a great measure, devoted to his
guests. Almost every day, he used to ride a considerable distance — sometimes
not less than twenty miles — on horeeback. He also waiited a great deal ; and,
lame as he was, would sometimes tire the stoutest of his companions.

Among the eminent persons to whom he had been recommended by his
genius, and its productions, tiie late king George IV. was one, and not the
least warm in his admiration. The poet of Marmion had been honoured with
many interviews by his sovereign, when prince of Wales and prince regent ;
and his majesty was pleased, in 3Iarch, 1820, to create him a baronet of the
United Kingdom, being the first to whom he had extended tliat honour after
his accession to the crown.

In 1822, when his majesty visited Scotland, Sib \Valter found the duty im-
posed upon him, as in some measure the most prominent man in the country, of
acting as a kind of master of ceremonies, as well as a sort of dragoman, or me-
diator, between the sovereign and his people. It was an occasion for the re-
vival of all kinds of historical and family reminiscences; and Sir Walter^s ac-
quaintance with national antiquities, not less than his universally honoured cha-
racter, caused him to be resorted to by innumerable individuals, and many
respectable public bodies, for information and advice. On the evening of the
14th of August, when his majesty cast anchor in Lcith Iloads, Sir Walter Scott
went out in a boat, com.missioned by the Ladies of Scotland, to weleome the king,
and to present his majesty with an elegant jewelled cross of St Andrew, to be

SIR WALTER SCOTT. BART. 237

worn on his breast, as a national emblem. When the king was informed of
Sir Walter's approach, he exclaimed, " What! Sir Walter Scott? The man in
Scotland I most wish to see! Let him come up." Sir Walter accordingly
ascended the ship, and was presented to the king on the quarter-deck, where
he met witii a most gracious reception. After an appropriate speech, Sir AVal-
ter presented his gift, and then knelt and kissed the king's hand. He had
afterwards the honour of dining with liis majesty, being placed on his right
hand. Throughout the whole proceedings connected with the reception and re-
sidence of the king in Scotland, Sir Walter Scott bore a very conspicuous part.

Sir Walter Scott had now apparently attained a degree of human greatness,
Buch as rarely falls to the lot of literary men ; and he was generally considered
as having, by prudence, fairly negatived the evils to which the whole class are al-
most proverbially subject. It was now to appear, that, though he had exceeded
his brethren in many points of wisdom, and really earned an unusually large
sum of money, he had not altogether secured himself against calamity. The
bookselling house with which he had all along been chiefly connected, Avas one
in which tlie principal partner was 3Ir Archibald Constable, a man who will
long be remembered in Scotland for the impulse which he gave by his liberality
to the literature of the country, but at the same time for a want of calculation
and prudence, whicii in a great measure neutralized his best qualities. It is
diflicult to arrive at exact infoi'mation respecting the connexion of the author
with his publisher, or to assign to each the exact degree of blame incidental to
him, for the production of their common ruin. It appears, however, to be as-
certained, that Sir Walter Scott, in his eagerness for the purchase of land, and
at the same time to maintain the style of a considerable country gentleman,
incurred obligations to iMessrs Constable and Company, for money or accep-
tances, upon the prospect of works in the course of being written, or which the
author only designed to write, and was thus led, by a principle of gratitude, to
grant counter-acceptances to the bookselling house, to aid in its relief from
those embarrassments, of which he was himself partly the cause. It is impossi-
ble otherwise to account for Sir Walter Scott having incurred liabilities to the
creditors of that house, to the amount of no less than £72,000, while of its pro-
fits he had not the prospect of a single farthing.

On the failure of Messrs Constable and Company, in January, 1826, Messrs
Ballantyne and Company, printers, of which firm Sir Walter Scott was a part-
ner, became insolvent, with debts to the amount of j£l02,000, for the whole
of Avhich Sir Walter was, of course, liable, in addition to his liabilities for
the bookselling house. It thus appeared that the most splendid literary re-
venue that ever man made for himself, had been compromised by a connexion,
partly for profit, and partly otherwise, with the two mechanical individuals con-
cerned in the mere bringing of his writings before the world. A per-centage
was all that these individuals were fairly entitled to for their trouble in putting
the works of Sir Walter into shape ; but tiiey had absorbed tlie whole, and
more than the whole, leaving both him and themselves poorer than they were at
the beginning of their career.

The blow was endured with a magnanimity worthy of the greatest writer of
the age. On the very day after the calamity had been made known to him, a
friend accosted him as he was issuing from his house, and presented tlie con>
dolences proper to such a melancholy occasion.

" It is very hard," said he, in his usual slow and thoughtful voice, " thus to
lose all the labours of a lifetime, and be made a poor man at last, when I ought
to have been otherwise. But if God grant me health and strength for a few
years longer, I have no doubt that I shall redeem it all."

233 SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.

The principal assets wliich he could present against the large claims now
made upon him, were the mansion and grounds of Abbotsford, which he had
entailed upon his son, at the marriage of that young gentleman to Miss Jobson
of Lochore, but in a manner now found invalid, and which were burdened by a
bond for £10,000. He had also his house in Edinburgh, and the furniture of
both mansions. His creditors proposed a composition ; but his honourable na-
ture, and perhaps a sense of reputation, prevented him from listening to any
such scheme. " No, gentlemen," said he, quoting a favourite Spanish proverb,
" Time and I against any two. Allow me time, and I will endeavour to pay
all." A trust-deed was, accordingly, executed in favour of certain gentlemen,
whose duties were to receive the funds realized by our author's labours, and
gradually pay off the debts, with interest, by instalments. He likewise insured
his life, .with the sanction of his trustees, for the sum of £22,000, by which a
post-obit interest to that amount was secured to his creditors. He was the bet-
ter enabled to carry into execution the schemes of retrenchment which he had
resolved on, by the death of lady Scott, in May, 182G. Her ladyship had
born to him two sons and two daughters ; of the latter of whom, the elder liad
been married, in 1820, to Mr J. G. Lockhart, advocate.

Sir Walter was engaged, at the time of his bankruptcy, in the composition of
a Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, which was originally designed to fill only four
volumes, but eventually extended to nine. In the autumn of 1826, he paid a
visit to Paris, in company with his youngest and only unmarried daughter, in or-
der to acquaint himself with several historical and local details, requisite for the
work upon which he was engaged. On this occasion, he was received with
distinguished kindness by the reigning monarch, Charles X. The " Life of
Napoleon" appeared in summer, 1827 ; and, though too bulky to be very po-
pular, and perhaps too hastily written to bear the test of rigid criticism, it was
understood to produce to its author a sum little short of £12,000. This, with
other ejirnings and accessory resources, enabled him to pay a dividend of six
shillings and eightpence to his creditors.

Till tliis period, Sir Walter Scott had made no avowal to the public of his
being the author of that long series of prose fictions, which had for some years
engaged so much of public attention. It being no longer possible to presen'e
his incognito, he permitted himself, at a dinner for the benefit of the Edinburgh
Theatrical Fund, February 23, 1827, to be drawn into a disclosure of the
secret. On his health being proposed by lord Meadow bank, as the " Great
Unknown," now unknown no longer, he acknowledged the compliment in suit-
able terms, and declared himself, unequivocally, to be tl;e sole author of what
were called the Waverley Novels.

About the same time, the copyright of all his past novels was brought to the
hammer, as part of the bankrupt stock of Messrs Constable and Company. It
was bought by IMr Ilobert Cadell, of the late firm of Archibald Constable and
Company, and who was now once more engaged in the bookselling business, at
£8,400, for the purpose of republishing the whole of these delightful works in
a cheap uniform series of volumes, illustrated by notes and prefaces, and
amended in many parts by the finishing touches of the author. Sir Walter or
his creditors were to have 'half the profiu, in consideration of his lite-
rary aid.

This was a most fortunate design. The new edition began to appear in
June, 1829; and such was its adaptation to the public convenience, and the
eagerness of all ranks of people to contribute in a way convenient to themselves
towards the reconstruction of the author's fortunes, that the sale soon reached
an average of twenty-three thousand copies. To give the reader an idea of the

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 239

niagiiitude of this concern — speaking coinmerdaliy — it may be stated that, in
tlie mere production of the work, not to speak of its sale, about a thousand
persons, or nearly a hundredili part of the population of Edinburgh, were sup-
ported. The author was now cliiefly employed in preparing these narratives
for the new impression ; but he nevertheless found time occasionally to produce
original works. In November, 1828, he published the first part of a juvenile
History of Scotland, under the title of " Tales of a Grandfather," being ad-
dressed to his grandchild, John Hugh Lockhart, whom he typified under the
appellation of Hugh Littlejohn, Esf;. In 1829, appeared the second, and in
1830, the third and concluding series of this charming book, which fairly ful-
filled a half-sportive expression that had escaped him many years before, in
the company of his children — that " he would yet make the history of Scotland
as familiar in the nurseries of England as lullaby ihymes." In 1830, he also
contributed a graver History of Scotland, in two volumes, to the periodical woik
called " Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopasdia." In the same year, appeared
his Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, as a volume of Mr Murray's " Fami-
ly Library;" and, in 1831, he added to his Tales of a Grandfather, a uniform
series on French history. In the same year, two sermons which he had writ-
ten a considerable time before, for a young clerical friend, were published by
that individual in London, and, as specimens of so great an author in an extra-
ordinary line of composition, met with an extensive sale.

The profits of these various publications, but especially his share of the
profits of the new edition of his novels, enabled him, towards the end of the
year 1830, to pay a dividend of three shillings in the pound, which, but for
the accumulation of interest, would have reduced his debts to nearly one-half.
Of £54,000 which had now been paid, all except six or seven thousand had
been produced by his own literary labours ; a fact which fixes the revenue of
his intellect for the last four or five years at nearly £10,000 a-year. Besides
this sum. Sir Walter had also paid up the premium of the policy upon his life,
which, as already mentioned, secured a post obit interest of £22,000 to his
creditors. On this occasion, it was suggested by one of these gentlemen, (Sir
James Gibson Craig,) and immediately assented to, that they should present to
Sir Walter personally the library, manuscripts, curiosities, and plate, which had
once been his own, as an acknowledgment of the sense they entertained of his
honourable conduct.

In November, 1830, he oetired from his office of principal clerk of session,
with the superannuation allowance usually given after twenty-three years' ser-
vice. Earl Grey offered to make up the allowance to the full salary ; but, from
motives of delicacy. Sir Walter firmly declined to accept of such a faTOur from
one to whom he was opposed in politics.

His health, from his sixteenth year, had been very good, except during the
years 1818 and 1819, when he suffered under an illness of such severity as to
turn his hair quite grey, and send him out again to the world apparently ten
years older than before. It may be mentioned, however, that this illness,
though accompanied by very severe pain, did not materially interrupt or retard
his intellectual labours. He was only reduced to the necessity of employing an
amanuensis, to whom he dictated from his bed. The humorous character,
Dugald Dalgetty, in the third series of the Tales of my Landlord, and the splen-
did scene of the Siege of Torquilston in Ivanhoe, were created under these cir-
cumstances. iMr William Laidlaw, his factor, who at one time performed the
task of amanuensis, has described how he would sometimes be stopped in the
midst of some of the most amusing or most elevated scenes, by an attack of
pain — which being past, he would recommence in the same tone at the point

240 Sill WALTER SCOTT, BART.

where lie bad left oft*, and so on for day after day, till the novel wna
finished.

It happened very unfortunately, that the serere task uhich he imposed upon
himself, for the purpose of discharging his obligations, cnme at a period of life
^lien he was least able to accomplish it. It uill hardly be believed that, even
nhen so far occupied with his official duties in town, he seldom permitted a day
to pass over his head without writing as much .is to fill a sheet of print, or six-
teen pages; and this, whether it was cf an historical nature, with of course the
duty of consulting documents, or of fictitious matter spun from the loom of his
fancy. Although this labour was alleviated in the country by considerable
exercise, it nevertheless must have pressed severely upon the powers of a man
nearly sixty bt/ years, and fully seventy by constitution. The reader may
judge how strong must have been that principle of integrity, which could com-
mand such a degree of exertion and self-denial, not so much to pay debts con-
tracted by himself, as to discharge obligations in which he was involved by
others. He can only be likened, indeed, to the generous elephant, which,
being set to a task above its powers, performed it at the expense of life, and
then fell dead at the feet of its master.

His retirement from official duty might have been expected to relieve in
some measure the pains of intense mental application. It was now too late,
however, to redeem the health tliat had fled. During the succeeding winter,
symptoms of gradual paralysis, a disease hereditary in his family, began to be
manifested. His contracted limb be<"ame gradually weaker and more painful,
and his tongue less readily obeyed the impulse of the will. In March, 1831,
he attended a meeting of the freeholders of the county of Koxburgh, to aid in
the expression of disapprobation, with which a majority of those gentlemen de-
signed to visit the contemplated reform bills. Sir Walter was, as already
liinted, a zealous Tory, though more from sentiment, perhaps, than opinion,
and he regarded those regenerating measures as only the commencement of the
ruin of his country. Having avowed this conviction in very warm language, a
few of the individuals present by courtesy, expressed their dissent in the usual
vulgar manner ; whereupon lie turned, with anger flashing in Iiis eye — with
him a most unwonted passion — and said, that he cared no more for such ex-
pressions of disapproval than he did for the hissing of geese or the braying of
asses. He was evidently, however, much chagrined at the reception his
opinions had met with, and in returning home was observed to shed tears.

During the summer of 1831, the symptoms of his dis'rder became gradually
more violent; and to add to the distress of those around him, his temper, for-
merly so benevolent, so imperturbable, became peevish and testy, insomuch
that his most familiar relatives could hardly venture, on some occasions, to ad-
dress him. At this period, in writing to the editor of the present work, he
thus expressed himself: —

** Although it is said in the newspapers, I am actually far from well,
and instead of being exercising {sic), on a brother novelist, Chateaubriand,
my influence to decide him to raise an insurrection in France, which is the
very probable employment allotted to me by some of the papers, I am keeping
my head as cool as I can, and speaking with some difficulty.

" I have owed you a letter longer than I intended, but write with pain, and
in general use the hand of a friend. I sign with my initials, as enough to ex-
press the poor half of me that is left. But I am still much yours,

" W. S."

Since the early part of the year, he had, in a great measure, abandoned the
pen fur the purposes of authorship. This, however, he did with some difficulty,

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 241

and it is to be feared that he resumed it more frequently than he ought to have
done. " Dr Abercroniby,'' says he, in a letter dated March 7, " threatens me
with deatii if I write so much ; and die, I suppose, I must, if I give it up sud-
denly. I must assist Lockhart a little, for you are aware of our connexion,
and he has always showed me the duties of a son ; but, except that, and my
own necessary work at tiie edition of the Waverley Novels, as they call them,
I can hardly pretend to put pen to paper ; for after all this same dying is a
ceremony one would put off as long as possible."

In the autumn, his physicians recommended a residence in Italy, as a means
of delaying the approaches of his illness. To this scheme he felt the strongest
repugnance, as he feared he should die on a foreign soil, far from the moun-
tain-land which Avas so endeared to himself, and which he had done so much to
endear to others ; but by the intervention of some friends, whose advice he had
been accustomed to respect from his earliest years, he was prevailed upon to
comply. By the kind offices of captain Basil Hall, liberty was obtained for
him to sail in his majesty's ship the Barham, which was then fitting out for
Malta.

He sailed in this vessel from Portsmouth, on the 27th of October, and on
the 27th of December landed at Naples, where he was received by the king
and his court with a feeling approaching to homage. In April, he proceeded
to Rome, and was there received in the same manner. He inspected the re-
mains of Roman grandeur with some show of interest, but was observed to mark
with a keener feeling, and more minute care, the relics of the more barbarous
middle ages ; a circumstance, in our opinion, to have been predicated from the
whole strain of his writings. He paid visits to Tivoli, Albani, and Frescati.
If any thing could have been effectual in re-illuming that lamp, which was now
beginning to pale its mighty lustres, it might have been expected that tJiis
Avould have been the ground on which the miracle was to take place. But he
was himself conscious, even amidst the flatteries of his friends, that all hopes of
this kind were at an end. P'eeling that his strength was rapidly decaying, he
determined upon returning with all possible speed to his native country, in or-
der that his bones might not be laid (to use the language of his own favourite
minstrelsy) " far from the Tweed." His journey was performed too rapidly
for his strength. For six days he travelled seventeen hours a-day. The con-
sequence was, that in passing down the Rhine he experienced a severe attack
of his malady, which produced complete insensibility, and would have inevitably
carried him off, but for the presence of mind of his servant, who bled him pro-
fusely. On his arrival in London, he was conveyed to the St James's Hotel,
Jermyn Street, and immediately attended by Sir Henry Halford and Dr Hol-
land, as well as by his son-in-law and daughter. All help was now, however,
useless. The disease had reached nearly its most virulent stage, producing a
total insensibility to the presence of even his most beloved relatives —

-" omni

Membrorum damno major, dementia, quae nee
Nomina servorum, nee vultum agnoscit amici."

After residing for some weeks in London, in the receipt of every attention
which filial piety and medical skill could bestow, the expiring poet desired that,
if possible, he might be removed to his native land — to his own home. As
the case was reckoned quite desperate, it was resolved to gratify him in his dying
wish, even at the hazard of accelerating his dissolution by the voyage. He
accordingly left London on the 7th of July, and, arriving at Ne\\haven on the
evening of the 9th, was conveyed with all possible care to a hotel in his na-

242 SIS WALTER SCOTT, BART.

live city. After spending two nights and a day in Edinburgh, he was removed^
on the morning of the 1 1th, to Abbotsford.

That intense love of home and of country, which had urged his return from
the continent, here seemed to dispel for a moment the clouds of the mental at-
mosphere. In descending the vale of Gala, at the bottom of whidi the view of
Abbotsford first opens, it was found difficult to keep him quiet in his carriage,
so anxious was he to rear himself up, in order to catcli an early glimpse of the
beloved scene. On arriving at his house, lie hardly recognized any body or any
thing. He looked vacantly on all the objects that met his gaze, except the well-
remembered visage of his friend Laidlaw, whose hand he atlectionately pressed,
munnuring, " that ndw he knew that he was at Abbotsford." He was here at-
tended by most of the members of iiis family, including Mr Lockhart, while the
general superintendence of his death-bed (now too certainly such) was committed
to Dr Clarkson of IMelrose. He was now arrived at that melancholy state, when
the friends of the patient can form no more affectionate wish than that death
may step in to claim his own. Yet day after day did the remnants of a robust
constitution continue to hold out against the gloomy foe of life, until, notwith-
standing every eflbrt to the contrary, mortification commenced at several parts
of the body. This was about twelve days before his demise, which at length
took place on the 21st of September, (1832,) the principles of life having been
by that time so thorouglily worn out, that nothing remained by which pain
could be either experienced or expressed. On the 2Gth, the illustrious deceased
was buried in an aisle in Dryburgh abbey, which had belonged to one of his an-
cestors, and which had been given to him by the late earl of Euchan.

Sir Walter Scott was in stature above six feet ; but, having been lame from
an early period of life in the right limb, he sank a little on that side in walk-
ing. His person was, in latter life, bulky, but not corpulent, and made a grace-
ful appearance on horseback. Of his features, it is needless to give any parti-
cular description, as they must be familiar to every reader through the medium
of the innumerable portraits, busts, and medallions, by wliich they have been
commemorated. His complexion was fair, and the natural colour of his hair
sandy. The portrait, by Kaeburn, of which an engraving was prefixed to the
Lady of the Lake, gives the best representation of the poet, as he appeared in
the prime of life. The bust of Cliantry, taken in 1820, affords the most faith-
ful delineation of his features as he was advancing into age. And his aspect, in
his sixtieth year, when age and reflection had more deeply marked his coun-
tenance, is most admirably preserved in Mr Watson Gordon's portrait, of which
an engraving is prefixed to the new edition of his novels. There is, likewise, a
very faithful portrait by Mr Leslie, an American artist.

Sir \\ alter Scott possessed, in an eminent degree, the power of imagination,
with the gift of memory. If to this be added his strong tendency to venerate
past things, we at once have the most obvious features of his intellectual charac-
ter. A desultory course of reading liad brougiit him into acquaintance with
almost all the fictitious literature that existed before his own day, as well as the
minutest points of British, and more particularly Scottish history. His easy
and familiar habits had also introduced him to an extensive observation of the
varieties of liuman character. His immense memory retained the ideas thus
acquired, and his splendid imagination gave them new shape and colour. Thus,
his literary character rests almost exclusively upon his power of combining and
embellishing past events, and his skill in delineating natural character. In
early life, accident threw his ons into the shape of verse — in later life,

into prose ; but, in whatever form they appear, the powers are not much diffe-
rent. The same magician is still at work, re-awaking the figures and events of

HENRY SCOUGAL. 243

hifltory, or sketcliing the characters Avhich we CTery day see around us, and in-
vesting the A\hole with the light of a most extraordinary fancy.

It is by far the greatest glory of Sir Walter Scott, that he shone equally as a
good and virtuous man, as he did in his capacity of the first fictitious writer of
the age. His behaviour through life was marked by undeviating integrity and
purity. His character as a husband and father is altogether irreproachable.
Indeed, in no single relation of life does he appear liable to blame, except in the
facility with which he yielded his fortunes into the power of others, of whom he
ought to have stood quite independent. Laying this imprudence out of view, his
good sense, and good feeling united, appear to have guided him aright through
all the ditliculiies and temptations of life. Along with the most perfect upright-
ness of conduct, he was characterized by extraordinary simplicity of manners.
He was invariably gracious and kind, and it was impossible ever to detect in
his conversation a symptom of his grounding the slightest title to consideration
upon his literary fame, or of his even being conscious of it.

By dint of almost incredible exertions. Sir Walter Scott had reduced the
amount of his debts, at the time of his decease, to about £20,000, exclusive of
the accumulated interest. On the 29th of October, a meeting of his creditors
was called, when an offer was made by his family of that sum against the ensu-
ing February, on condition of their obtaining a complete discharge. The
meeting was very numerously attended, and the proposal was accepted without a
dissentient voice. In addition to the resolution accepting the offer, and directing
the trustees to see tlie acceptance carried into effect, the following resolution
was moved and carried with a like unanimity : —

" And while the meeting state their anxious wish that every creditor, who is
not present, may adopt the same resolution, they think it a tribute justly due to
the memory of Sir Walter Scott, to express, in the strongest manner, their deef
sense of his most honourable conduct, and of the unparalleled benefits which
they have derived from the extraordinary exertion of his unrivalled talents, un-
der misfortunes and difficulties, which would have paralyzed the exertions of
any one else, but in him only proved the greatness of mind which enabled him
to rise superior to them."

SCOUGAL, Henry, a theological writer of considerable eminence, was
born in the end of June, 1G50. He was descended of the family of the Scou-
gals of that ilk, and was the son of Patrick Scougal, bishop of Aberdeen,
from 1664 to 1682 ; a man whose piety and learning have been comme-
morated by bishop Burnet. His son Henry is said to have early displayed
symptoms of those talents for which he was afterwards distinguished. We are
told by Dr George Garden, that " he was not taken up with the plays and lit-
tle diversions of those of his age ; but, upon such occasions, did usually retire
from them, and that not out of sullenness of humour or dulness of spirit, (the
sweetness and serenity of whose temper did even then appear,) but out of a stayed-
oess of mind, going to some privacy, and employing his time in reading, prayer,
rnd such serious thoughts, as that age was capable of."^ Tradition has asserted
that Scougnl was led to the study of theology, in the hope of finding in it a
balm for disappointed affections; and this is in so far countenanced by the
tenor of several passages of his Avritings, Another cause, however, has been
assigned, and apparently on better authority. " Being once in a serious reflec-
tion what course of life he should take, he takes up the Bible, to read a portion
of it ; and though he was always averse to the making a lottery of the Scrip-
tures, yet he could not but take notice of the first words which he cast his eyes

I A Sermon preached al the Funeral of the reverend Henrj- Scougal, M. A. ByG. G.
[George Garden], D. D,, p. 285.

244 HENRY SCOUGAL.

upon, and which made no small impression on his spirit : * By what means
shall a young man learn to purify his way ? By taking heed thereto according
to thy word.' " On his father's election to the see of Aberdeen, Scougal en-
tered as a student at King's college there, of which university his father was chan-
cellor, lie seems to have taken the lead of iiis fellow students in almost every
department of science ; and, in addition to the usual branches of knowledge
pursued in the univeraity, to have acquired a knowledge of some of the Orien-
tal tongues. Immediately on taking his degree, he was selected to assist one of
the regents in the instruction of his class; and the next year, 1669, he was, at the
early age of nineteen, appointed a professor. His immature age was probably
incapable to preserve order in his class ; at all events, tumults and insubordina-
tion broke forth among his students, of whom so many were expelled from the
college, that he scarce had a class to teach. His office of regent, which was
thus inauspiciously commenced, he held but for four years, having at tlie end of
that time accepted the pastoral charge of the parish of Auchterless, in Aberdeen-
shire. He retained this charge no longer than a twelvemonth, and, in 1674,
Avas appointed professor of divinity in the King's college ; a chair which had
shortly before been filled by the celebrated John Forbes of Corse, and more
lately by William Douglas, the learned author of the " Academiarum Vindiciae,"
and other works. As was customary in that age, Scougal printed a thesis on
his accession to the divinity chair : this tract, which is still preserved and highly
prized, is entitled, " De Objecto cultus Religiosi."

In 1677, appeared " The Life of God in the Soul of Man, or the Nature and
Excellency of the Christian religion." This work, to which Scougal's modesty
would not permit him to prefix his name, was edited by bishop Burnet, who
appended to it a tract called " An account of the Spiritual Life," supposed to
be written by himself. In the prefatory notice, Burnet states of the author,
" that the book is a transcript of those divine impressions that were upon his
own heart, and that he has written nothing in it but what he himself did well
feel and know." The work passed at once into that extensive popularity and
high reputation it has ever since enjoyed. Before 1727, it had gone through
five editions, the last under the superintendence of the Society for promoting
Christian knowledge. In 1735, it was again reprinted with the addition of
" Nine Discourses on Important Subjects," and Dr Garden's funeral sermon ; and
in 1740, another edition appeared, with some " Occasional Meditations," not
previously published. Since that period editions have nmltiplied very rapidly.
In 1722, it was translated into French, and published at the Hague. Scougal
survived the publication of his work for no longer than a twelvemonth. At the
early age of twenty-eiglit, he died on the 13th of June, in the year 1678, and
was interred on the north side of the chapel of King's college, where a tablet
of black marble, bearing a simple Latin inscription was erected to his memory.
He bequeathed a sum of five thousand merks to augment the salary of the pro-
fessor of divinity in the university, and left his books to the college library.
A portrait of Scougal is preserved in the college hall, and the countenance
breathes all that serene composure, benevolence, purity, and kindness which so
strikingly mark his writings. Besides the works which have been mentioned,
Scougal left behind him in manuscript various juvenile essays, and some Latin
tracts, among which are " A short System of Ethics or Moral Philosophy ;'*
** A Preservative against the Artifices of the Romish missionaries," and a frag-
ment " On the Pastoral Cure." This last work was designed for the use of
students in divinity and candidates for holy orders. None of the least beautiful
or remarkable of his works is ** The Morning and Evening Service," which he
composed for the Cathedral of Aberdeen, and which is characterized by a spirit

HENRY SCRIMGER. 245

of fervid devotion, and a deep and singular elevation of thought, and solemnitj
of diction.

SCRIMGER, Henry, a learned person of the sixteenth century, was the son
of Walter Scrimger of Glasswell, wiio traced his descent from the Scrimgers or
Scrinizeors of Dudhojje, constables of Dundee, and hereditary standard-bearers
of Scotland. The subject of this memoir was born at Dundee in 150G, and re-
ceived the rudiments of his education in the grammar school of that town, where
he made singular proficiency both in the Latin and Greek languages. He af-
terwards went through a course of philosophy in the university of St Andreu»
with great applause. From thence he proceeded to Paris to study civil law.
He next removed to Bourges, where he studied for some time under Baro and
Duaren, who were considered the two greatest lawyers of the age in which they
lived. Here he formed an acquaintance with the celebrated Amiot, who at
that time filled the Greek chaii at Bourges, and through his recommendation was
appointed tutor to the children of secretary Boucherel. In this situation, whid*
he filled to the entire satisfaction of his employers, Scrimger became acquainted
with Bernard Bcpnetel, bishop of Rennes, who, on being appointed ambassadoi
from the court of France to some of the states of Italy, made choice of him for
his private secretary With this dignitary he travelled through the greater
part of that interesting country, and was introduced to a great many of its most
eminent and learned men. While on a visit to Padua, he had an opportunity
of seeing the notorious apostate Francis Spira, of whose extraordinary case he
wrote a narrative, which was published along with an account of the same case-
by Petrus Paulus Virgerus, Mattheus Gribaldus, and Sigismundus Gelous, under
the following title " The history of Franciscus Spira, who fell into a dreadful
state of despair because, having once assumed a profession of evangelical truili,
he had afterwards recanted and condemned the same, most faithfully written by
four most excellent men, together with prefaces by these illustrious men Caeliirs
S.C. and John Calvin, and an .apology by Petrus Paulus Virgerus, in aH.
which, many subjects worthy of examination in these times are most gravely
handled. To which is added the judgment of Martinus Borrhaus on the im»-
provement which may be made of Spira's example and doctrine, 2 Pet. 2. ' It
had been better for them not to have known the way of life,'" &c. The book
is written in Latin, but has neither the name of printer, nor the place, or date
of printing. It was, however, probably printed at Basil in the year 1550 or-
1551. Deeply affected with the case of Spira, Scrimger determined to sacri-
fice all the prospects, great as they were, which his present situation held out to
him, and to retire into Switzerland, where he could profess the reformed religion
without danger. It appears that he shortly after this entertained the idea of
returning to Scotland ; but, on his arrival in Geneva, he was invited by the
syndics and magistrates of the city to set up a profession of philosophy for the
instruction of youth, for which they made a suitable provision. Here he con-
tinued to teach philosophy for some time. A fire, however, happening in the
city, his house was burnt to the ground with all that was in it, and he was in
consequence reduced to great straits, though his two noble pupils, the Bucherels,
no sooner heard of his misfortune than they sent him a considerable supply of
money. It was at this time tluit Ulrich Fugger, a gentleman possessed
of a princely fortune, and distinguished alike for his learning and for his vir-
tues, invited him to come and live with him at Augsburg till his affairs could
be put in order. This generous invitation Scrimger accepted, and he lived with
his benefactor at Augsburg for a number of years, during which he employed
himself chiefly in collecting books and manuscripts, many of them exceedingly
curious and valuable. Under the patronage of this amiable person he ap

2-46 HENRY SCRIMGER.

pears also to have composed several of his treatises, which he returned to Geneva
to have printed. On his arrival, the magistrates of that city importuned him to
resume his class for teaching philosophy. With this request he complied, and
continued again in Geneva for two years, 1563 and ISGl. In the year 1565,
he opened a school for teaching civil law, of which he had the honour of being
the first professor and founder in Geneva. This class he continued to teach till
his death. In the year 1572, Alexander Young, his nephew, was sent to him
to Geneva, with letters from the regent IMarr, and George Buchanan, with the
latter of whom he had been long in terms of intimacy ; requesting him to re-
turn to his native country, and promising him every encouragement.

Buchanan had before repeatedly written to him, pressing his return to his
native country, in a manner that sufficiently evinced the high esteem he enter-
tained for him. The venerable old scholar, however, could not be prevailed
on to leave the peaceful retreat of Geneva, for the stormy scenes which were
now exhibiting in his native country ; pleading, as an apology, his years and
growing infirmities. The letters of Buchanan, however, were the means of
awakening the ardour of Andrew 3Ielville, (who was at that time in Geneva,
and in the habit of visiting Scrimger, whose sister was married to Melville's
elder brother,) and turning his attention to the state of learning in Scotland, of
which, previously to this period, he does not seem to have taken any particular
notice.

Though his life had not passed without some vicissitudes, the latter days of
Scjimger appear to have been sufficiently easy as to circumstances. Besides the
house which he possessed in the city, he had also a neat villa, which he called
the Violet, about a league from the town. At this latter place he spent the
-most of his time, in his latter years, in the company of his wife and an only
daughter. The period of his death seems to be somewhat uncertain. Thuanus
says he died at Geneva in the year 1571 ; but an edition of his novels in the
Advocates' library, with an inscription to his friend, Edward llerrison, dated

1572, is sufficient evidence that this is a mistake. George Buchanan, however,
in a letter to Christopher Plaintain, dated at Stirling in the month of November,

1573, speaks of him as certainly dead ; so that his death must have happened
either in the end of 1572, or the beginning of 1573.

The only work which Scrimger appears to have published, besides the ac-
count of Spira, which we have already noticed, was an edition cf the "Sovella
Constitutiones of Justinian, in Greek ; a work which was highly prized by the
fii-st lawyers of the time. lie also enriched the editions of several of the clas-
sics, published by Henry Stephens, with various readings and remarks. From
his preface to the Greek text of the Novelise, it is evident that Scrimger in-
tended to publish a Latin translation of tliat work, accompanied with annota-
tions ; but, from some unknown cause, that design was never accomplished.
Mackenzie informs us, that, though he came with the highest recommendations
from Ulrich Fugger to Stephens, who was, lilic Scrimger, one of Fugger's pen-
sioners, yet, from an apprehension on the part of Stephens, that Scrimger in-
tended to commence printer himself, there arose such a difference between them,
that the republic of letters was deprived of Scriniger's notes upon Athenaeus,
Strabo, Diogenes Laertius, the Basilics, Phornulhus, and Palcephatus ; all of
which he designed that Stephens should have printed for him. The most of
these, according to Stephens, after Scriniger's death, fell into the hands of Isaac
Casaubon, who published many of them as his own. Casaubon, it would ap-
pear, obtained the use of his notes on Strabo, and applied for those on Polybius,
when he published his editions of these writers. In his letters to Peter Young,
who was Scriniger's nephew, and through whom he appears to have obtained the

Sfc B L%.

ARCHBISHOP OF SvilN'P ANDREVi'S

SiACEQ; & SON , GliAS GOlf. EBINSURKl&iOllDriK .

JAMES SHARP. 247

use of these papers, he speaks in high terms of their great merit; but he haa
not been candid enough in his printed works, to own the extent of his obliga-
tions. Buclianan, in a letter to Christopher Plaintain, informs him, that Scrim-
ger had left notes and observations upon Demostlienes, Eusebius's Ecclesiastical
History, and many other Greek authors ; as likewise upon the philosophical
iv'orks of Cicero : all which, he informs his correspondent, were in the hands of
Scrimger's nephew, the learned Mr Peter Young ; and being well worth the
printing, should be sent liim, if he would undertake the publication. Plaintain
seems to have declined the offer ; so that the Novelise and the Account of Spira,
are all that remain of tlie learned labours of Scrimger, of whom it has been
said, that no man of his age had a more acute knowledge, not only of the La-
tin and Greek, but also of the Oriental languages. His library, which was one
of the most valuable in Europe, he left by testament to his nephew, Peter
Young, who was Buchanan's assistant in the education of James VI., and it was
brought over to Scotland by the testator's brother, Alexander Scrimger, in the
year 1573. Besides many valuable books, tliis library contained 31SS. of great
value ; but Young was not a very enthusiastic scholar ; and as he was more in-
tent upon advancing his personal interests in the world, and aggrandizing his
family, than forwarding the progress of knowledge, they probably came to but
Email account.

The testimonies to Scrimger's wortli and merits, by his contemporaries, are
numerous. Thuanus, Casaubon, and Stephens, with many others, mention his
name with the highest encomiums. Dempster says he was a man indefatigable
in his reading, of a most exquisite judgment, and without the smallest particle
of vain-glory. And the great Cujanus was accustomed to say, tli»t he never
parted from the company of Henry Scrimger, without having learned' something
that he never knew before.

SHARP, James, archbishop of St Andrews, was the son of William Sharp,
sherift-clerk of the shire of Banff, by his wife, Isobel Lesly, daughter of Les-
ly of Kininvey, and was born in the castle of Banff, in the month of May,
1613. His parents seem to have been industrious and respectable in the class
of society to which they belonged; his father following his calling with dili-
gence, and his mother, though a gentlewoman by birth, assisting his means by
setting up a respectable brewery at Dun, which she appears to have conducted
creditably and profitably to the day of her death. The subject of this memoir,
probably with a view to the church, where, through the patronage of the earl
of Findlater, which the family had long enjoyed, a good benefice might be
supposed attainable, was sent to the university of Aberdeen. But the disputes
betueen Charles I. and his parliament having commenced, and the prelaiic form
of the church being totally overthrown in Scotland, he took a journey into
England ; in the course of which he visited both the universities, where he was
introduced to several persons of distinction. He had, however, no ofl'ers of
preferment ; but, finding the church of England ready to follow that of Scot-
land, he addressed himself to the celebrated Mr Alexander Henderson, then in
England as a commissioner from the Scottish church, and enjoying a very high
degree of popularity, from whom he obtained a recommendation for a regent's
place in the university of St Andrews, to which he was accordingly admitted.
3Ir James Guthrie was at this time also a regent in the college of St
Andrews, but whether suspecting the sincerity, or undenaluing the talents
of Mr Sharp, he gave his whole favour to Mr John Sinclair, an unsuccessful
candidate for the regent's place which Sharp had obtained, and to whom,
when called to the ministry, he afterwards deuiilted his professional chair. It
was with this circumstance, not improbably, that the opposition began which

248 JAMES SHARP.

continued between Mr Guthrie and Sharp throughout the whole of their after
lives. With Mr Sinclair, now his co-regent, Mr Sharp seems also for some time
to have lived on very bad terms, and even to have gone the length of striking
him at the college table on the evening of a Lord's day in the presence of the
principal and the other regents. For this outrage, however, he appears to
have made a most ample acknowledgment, and to have been sincerely repent-
ant. Mr Sharp's contrition attracted the notice and procured him the good
graces of several of the most highly gifted and respected ministers of the Scot-
tish church, particularly Mr Robert Blair. Mr Samuel Rutherford, an eminent
Christian, and a person of the highest attainments in practical religion, uas so
much struck with what had been related by some of the brethren respecting
Mr Sharp's exercises of soul, that, on his coming in to see him on his return from
a disLmt mission, he embraced him most aflectionately, saying, " he saw that out of
the most rough and knotty timber Christ could make a vessel of mercy." With
the brethren in general IMr Sharp also stood on high ground, and at tlie request
of 3Ir James Bruce, minister of Kingsbarns, he was, by the earl of Crawford,
presented to the church and parisli of Ci-ail. On his appointment to this charge
Mr Sharp began to take a decided part in the management of the external
affairs of the church, in which he displayed singular ability. His rapidly in-
creasing popularity in a short time procured him a call to be one of the minis-
ters of Edinburgh, but his transportation was refused, both by the presbytery of
St Andrews and the synod of Fife. It Avas at length ordered, however, by an
act of the General Assembly ; but the invasion of the English under Cromwell
prevented its being any further insisted in. In the disputes that agitated tlis
Scottish church after the unfortunate battle of Dunbar, the subject of this
juemoir, who was a stanch resolutioner, was the maiii instrument, according to
Mr Robert Baillie, of carrying the question against the Protesters. His conduct
on this occasion highly enhanced his talents and his piety, and was not impro-
bably the foundation upon which his whole after fortune was built. In the
troubles which so speedily followed this event, Sharp, along with several other
ministers and some of the nobility, was surprised at Elliot in Fife by a party
of the English, and sent up a prisoner to London. In IG57, he was deputed
by the Resolutioners to proceed to London to plead their cause with Cromwell
in opposition to the Protesters who had sent up Messrs James Guthrie, Patrick
Gillespie', and others, to represent the distressed state of the Scottish church,
and to request, that an Assembly niiglit be indicted for determining tlie contro-
versies in question, and composing the national disorders. From the state ol
parties both in Scotland and England, and from the conduct wliich Cromwell
Lad now adopted, he could not comply with this request, but he seems to have
set a high value upon the commissioners ; to have appreciated tlieir good sense
and fervent piety, and to have done everything but grant their petition to
evince his good-will towards them. They, on tlie other hand, seem not to have
been insensible either to his personal merits, though inimical to his govern-
ment, or to that of some of the eminent men that were about him. litis was
terrifying to the Resolutioners, who saw in it nothing less than a coincidence
of views and a union of purposes on the part of the whole protesting body with
the abhorred and dreaded sectaries. "Their [the leading protesters'] piety and
zeal," says Baillie, " is very susceptible of schism and error. I am oft afraid of
their apostasy;" and, after mentioning with a kind of instinctive horror their
praying both in public and private with Owen and Caryl, he adds with exulta-
tion, "the great instrument of God to cross their evil designs has been that very
worthy, pious, wise, and diligent young man, Mr James Sharp." It was part of
the energetic policy of Cromwell, while he was not dependent on the party

JAMES SHARP. 2iO

whom he favoured, not to offend the other, and the mission had little effect ex-
cept that of preparing the way for Sharp to assume one which he made more
advantageous to liimself.

After the death of Oliver Cromwell, and while Monk was making his
memorable march to England, the presbyterians sent to him David Dickson and
Robert Douglas, accompanied by a letter, in which, expressing their confidence
in whatever measures he should propose regarding Scotland, they suggested the
propriety of his having some one near his person to remind him of such mat-
ters as were necessary for their interest, and requested a pass for Sharp, as a
person qualified for the duty. IMonk, who had in the mean time requested
Siiarp to come to him, wrote an answer, addressed to Messrs Dickson and
Douglas from Ferry-bridge, to the following effect :■ — " I do assure you, the well-
fare of your church shall be a great part of my care, and that you shall not be
more ready to propound than I shall be to promote any reasonable thing that
may be for the advantage thereof, and to that end 1 have herewith sent you ac-
cording to your desire a pass for I\Ir Sharp, who the sooner he comes to me
the more welcome he shall be, because he will give me an opportunity to show
him how much I am a well-wislier to your church and to yourselves," &:c. This
was dated January 10th, 1660, and by the 6th of February, Sharp was
despatched with the following instructions: " Ist. You are to use your utmost
endeavours that the kirk of Scotland may, without interruption or encroachment,
enjoy the freedom and privilege of her established judicatories ratified by the
laws of the land. 2nd. Whereas by the lax tolei-ation that is established, a
door is opened to a very many gross errors and loose practices in this church,
you shall therefore use all lawful and prudent means to represent the sinfulness
and oflensiveness thereof, that it may be timeously remedied. 3rd. You are
to represent the prejudice this church doth suffer by the interverting of the
vaking stipends, which by law were dedicated to pious uses, and seriously en-
deavour that hereafter vaking stipends may be intermitted with by presbyteries
and such as shall be warranted by them, and no others, to be disposed of and.
applied to pious uses by presbyteries according to the twentieth act o£
the parliament 1644, 4th. You are to endeavour that ministers lawfully called
and admiited by presbyteries to the ministry may have the benefit of the thirty-
ninth act of the pailiament, intituled act anent abolishing patronages for
obtaining summarily upon the act of their admission, decreet, and letters con-
form, and other executorial to the eflect they may get the right and possession
of their stipends and other benefits without any other address or trouble. If
you find that there will be any commission appointed in this nation for settling
and augmenting stipends, then you are to use your utmost endeavours to have
faithful men, well affected to the interests of Christ in this church employed
therein." As the judicatures of the church were not at this time allowed to sit,
these instructions were signed by David Dickson, Robert Douglas, James Wood,
John Smith, George Hutchison, and Andrew Ker, all leading men and
all Resolutioners. He was at the same time furnished with a letter of recom-
mendation to IMonk, another to colonel Witham, and a third to Messrs Ash and
Calamy, to be shown to Messrs Manton and Cowper, and all others with whom
they might think it proper to communicate, requesting them to afford him every
assistance that miglit be in their power for procuring relief to the 'enthralled
and afflicted' church of Scotland. Sharp arrived at London on the 13th of the
month, and next day wrote his constituents a very favourable account of his
reception by Monk, who had already introduced him to two parliament men,
Mr Weaver, and the afterwards celebrated Anthony Ashley Cowper, earl of
Shaftesbury. Monk himself also wrote the reverend gentlemen two days after, the
IV. 2 1

250 JAMES SHARP.

16th, in the most saintly style imaginable. Mr Sharp, he says, is dear to
him as his good friend, but much more having their recommendation, and he
cannot but receive him as a minister of Christ and a messenger of liis church ;
and he assures them that he will improve his interest to tlie utmost for the
preservation of the rights of the church of Scotland, and their afflicted country,
which he professed to love as his own gospel ordinances, and the privileges of
God's people he assured tliem it should be his care ta establish ; and he im-
plores their prayers for God's blessing on their counsels and undertakings, en-
treating them to promote the peace and settlement of the nations, and do what
in them lies to compose men's spirits, that with patience the fruit of hopes and
prayei-s may be reaped, &c. This language answered the purpose for which it
was uttered, and Robert Douglas in a few days acquainted Sharp with the re-
ceipt of his own and the general's letter, desiring him to encourage the general
in his great work for the good of religion and peace of the three nations. *' For
yourself," he adds, " you know what have been my thoughts of this undertaking
from the beginning, which I have signified to the general himself, though I was
sparing to venture my opinion in ticklish matters, yet I looked upon him as
called of God in a strait to put a check to those who would have run down all
our interests." Not satisfied with expressing his feelings to Sharp, Mr Douglas
wrote Monk, thanking him for his kind reception of Sharp, and encouraging
him to go on with the great work he had in hand, adding, in the simplicity of
his heart, " I have been very much satisfied from time to time to hear what good
opinion your lordship entertained of presbyterial government, and I am confi-
dent you shall never have just cause to think otherwise of it," — an expression sug-
gested by the information of Sharp, who had represented 3Ionk as favourable
to a liberal presbyterian government.

Sharp had, previously to all this, settled with Glencairn, and others of the
Scottish nobility, Avho hated the severity of the presbyterian discipline, to over-
throw that form of government, and to introduce episcopacy in its place ; in
other words, he was disposed to assist whatever religious party oflered the great-
est bribe to his ambition. It was natural that he sliould conceal his intentions
from his employers. Accordingly, in a- series of letters to BIr Douglas, and the
others from whom he derived his commission, written in the months of Feb-
ruary, March, and April, he occasionally regrets, in suitable terms, the peril of
the suffering church : at other times holds forth glimpses of hope ; and at all
times explains the utility and absolute necessity of his own interference in its
behalf. During the course of this correspondence, he declines becoming
minister of Edinburgh, (a situation to which there seem to have again been
intentions of calling him,) having perhaps previously secured a charge of
more dignity. On the twenty-seventh of the month, he again writes to Mr
Douglas, wishing to be recalled ; and informing him, that his sermon on the
coronation of Charles II. at Scone, with the account of that ceremony, had been
reprinted at London ; and that it gave great offence to the episcopal party,
which, he says, does not much matter; but the declaration at Dunfermline, bear-
ing the king's acknowledgment of the blood shed by his father's house, is what
he knows not how to excuse. He and Lauderdale, however, are represented as
endeavouring to vindicate Scotland, for treating with the king upon the terms
of the covenant, from the necessity which England now finds of treating with him
upon terms before his return ; and he says he is reported, both here and at Brus-
sels, to be a rigid Scottish presbyterian, making it his work to have presbytery
settled in England. He adds, with matchless eflrontery, *' they sent to desire
me to move nothing in prejudice of the church of England ; and they would do
nothing in prejudice of our church. I bid tell them, it was not my employ-

JAMES SHAKP. 251

ment to move to the projadice of any party ; and I thought, did they really
mind the peace of those churches, they would not start such propositions : but
all who pretend to be for civil settlement, would contribute their endeavours to
restore it, and not meddle unseasonably with those remote causes. The fear of
rigid presbytery is talked much of here by all parties ; but, for my part, I ap-
prehend no ground for it. I am afraid that something else is like to take place
in the church, than rigid presbytery. This nation is not fitted to bear that
yoke of Christ; and for religion, I suspect it is made a stalking horse still."
In a letter, previous to this, Mr Douglas had informed him, that those in Scot-
land,who loved religion and liberty, had their fears, that, if the king came not
in upon the terms of the solemn league and covenant, his coming in would be
disadvantageous to religion and the liberties of the three nations ; and he ex-
horted Crawford, Lauderdale, and Sharp, to deal, with all earnestness, that the
league and covenant be settled, as the only basis of the security and happiness
of these nations. On the reception of the last we have quoted from Sharp, we
find Douglas again addressing his treacherous messenger, and, in the purest sim-
plicity, providing him with some of those arguments in defence of presbytery,
which it is probable Sharp well knew. The deceiver answered, that he found
It at that time utterly impossible to return, as the general would communicate
on Scottish affairs with no one but himself; and ihe Scots had nothing to do but
be quiet, and their affairs would be done to their hand ; he and Lauderdale
having agreed, with ten presbyterian ministers, on the necessity of bringing in
the king upon covenant terms, and taking off the prejudices that lie upon some
presbyterians against them. Two days afterwards, he says, " The Lord having
opened a fair door of hope, we may look for a settlement upon the grounds of
the covenant, and thereby a foundation laid for security against the prelaticand
fanatic assaults : but I am dubious if this shall be the result of the agitations
now on foot." " We intend," he adds, " to publish some letters from the
French protestant ministers, vindicating the king from popery, and giving him
a large character. The sectaries will not be able to do anything to prevent
the king's coming in. Our honest presbyterian brethren are cordial for him, I
have been dealing with some of them, to send some testimony of their affection
for him ; and, yesternight, five of them promised, within a week, to make a
shift to send a thousand pieces of gold to him. I continue in my opinion, that
Scotland should make no applications till the king come in. I have received
letters from Mr Bruce at the Hague, and the king is satisfied that Scotland keep
quiet." " No notice," he writes in another letter, " is taken of Scotland in
the treaty : we shall be left to the king, which is best for us. God save us
from divisions and self seeking. I have acquainted Mr Bruce how it is with
you, and what you are doing ; and advised him to gJiard against 3Iiddleton's
designs, and those who sent that Murray over to the king. If our noblemen,
or others, fall upon factious ways, and grasp after places, they will cast reproach
upon their country, and fall short of their ends. I fear the interest of the so-
lemn league and covenant shall be neglected ; and, for religion, I smell that
moderate episcopacy is the fairest accommodation which moderate men, who
wish well to religion, expect. Let our noble friends know what you think of
it." This first decided breathing of his intentions Avas answered by Douglas
with moderation and good sense. He wishes 3Ionk might grant permission for
him to go over to the king, to give a true representation of the state of matters.
" I fear,'' says he, " 3Ir Bruce hath not sufficient credit for us. If the solemn
league and covenant be neglected, it seems to me that the judgment on these
nations is not yet at an end. The greatest security for the king and these na-
tions, were to come in upon that bottom." Before this could reach Sliarp,

252

JAMES SHARP.

however, it had been concerted, as he writes to Mr Douglas, between him and
Monk, that he should go over to the king, " to deal with him, that he may
write a letter to Mr Calamy, to be communicated to the presbyterian ministers,
showing his resolution to own the godly sober party, and to stand for the true
protestant religion, in the power of it : and, withal, he [Monk] thinks it fit I
were there, were it but to acquaint the king with the passages of his undertfik*
ing, known to Mr Douglas and to me, and to tell him of matters in Scotland. He
spoke to me three several times this week; and now I am determined to go; I hope
I sliall do some service to the honest party here, and, indeed, to ours at home.
If you think fit to write to the king, the sooner the belter.'' On the 4lh of May
he Avrites, that he could not go ofl' to Breda till that day. " The presbyterian
ministers of the city," he adds, " after several meetings, have resolved to send
over next week some ministers from the city, Oxford and Cambridge, to congra-
tulate the king; and I am desired to acquaint the king with their purpose, and
dispose for their reception: or, if it be practicable that he would write lo both
houses, by way of prevention, that they Avould secure religion, in regard to
some points. Some particulars of secresy the general [Monk] iiath recommend-
ed to me, and given orders to transport me in a frigate. I have got a large
letter to the king, and another to his prime minister. Providence hath ordered
it Avell, that my going carries the face of some concernment in i-eference to
England ; but I shall have hereby the better access and opportunity, to speak
what the Lord shall direct as to our matters, and give a true information of the
carriage of business. I think I need not stay ten days. It will be best to ad-
dress the king by a letter. Presbyterians here are few, and all are English-
men ; and these will not endure us to do anything that may carry a resem-
blance to pressing uniformity. For my part, I shall not be accessory to anything
prejudicial to the presbyterian government ; but to appear for it in any other
way than is Avithin my sphere, is inconvenient, and may do harm, and not good."
Mr Douglas lost no time in preparing instructions for Sliarp, and a letter to the
king, which he forwarded on the 8th of the month, witli the following letter: —
" I perceive by all that you write, that no respect will be had to the covenant
in this great transaction, which, if neglected altogether, it fears me that the
Lord will be greatly provoked to wratli. It will be the presbyterians' fault, if
they get not as much settled, at least, as was agreed upon by the synod of
divines, and ratified by parliament: for I perceive that the king will be most
condescending to the desires oflered by the parliament : but I leave that.
However our desires may be for uniformity in doctrine, worship, discipline,
and government, if they will not press it themselves, we are free. Your great
eiTand will be for this kirk. I am confident the king will not wrong our
liberties, whereunto himself is engaged. He needs not declare any liberty to
any tender consciences here, because the generality of the people, and whole
ministry, have embraced the established religion by law, with his majesty's con-
sent It is known that in all the times of the prevailing of the late party in
England, none petitioned here for a toleration, except some inconsiderable,
naughty men. Whatever indulgence the king intends to persons who have
failed under the late revolutions, yet he would be careful to do it so, as they
shall be in no capacity to trouble the peace of the land, as formerly they did.
1 doubt not but you will inform the king of the circumstances and condition of
our kirk. It is left wholly upon you to do what you can, for the benefit of
this poor distracted kirk, that the king's coming may be refreshful to the lionest
party here, since no directions from us can well reach you before you come back
to London." This letter enclosed a set of instructions for Sharp, similar to those
he had already received, equally formal, though extending to some tilings less

JAMES SHAKP. 253

particularly slated in the former ; and was accompanied by a letter to tha
king, which, after the usual formalities of congratulation, continued in these
terms : — " But now since it hath pleased God to open a door (which we have
long desired) for our brother, Mr Sharp, to come and wait upon your majesty,
we could not any longer forbear to present, by him, this our humble address,
in testimony of our loyal aflection to your majesty, and our humble acknowledg-
ment of the Lord's goodness to these your dominions in this comfortable revo-
lution of allairs, making way for your majesty's reinstalment. If it had been
expedient in this juncture of affairs, your majesty might have expected an ad-
dress from the generality of the ministei-s of this church, who, we assure your ma-
jesty, have continued, and will continue in their loyalty to authority, and the
maintenance of your just rights, in their stations, according to those principles
by which your majesty left them, walking in opposition both to enemies from
without and disturbers from within ; but doubting that such an application is
not yet seasonable, we have desired IMr Sharp to inform your majesty more
fully of the true state of this church, whereby we trust your majesty will per-
ceive our painfulness and fidelity in these trying times ; and that the principles
of the church of Scotland are such, and so fixed for the preservation and main-
tenance of lawful authority, as your majesty needs never repent that you have
entered into a covenant for maintaining thereof. So that we nothing doubt of
your majesty's constant resolution to protect this church in her established pri-
vileges ; and are no less confident, (though we presume not to meddle without
our sphere,) that your majesty will not only hearken to the humble advices of
those who are concerned, but will also, of your own royal inclination, appear
to settle the house of God, according to his word, in all your dominions. Now,
the Lord himself bless your majesty ; let his right hand settle and establish you
upon the throne of your dominions, and replenish your royal heart with all
those graces and endowments necessary for repairing the breaches of these so long
distracted kingdoms, that religion and righteousness may flourish in your reign,
the present generation may bless God for the mercies received by you, and the
generations to come may reap the fruits of your royal pains. So pray, &c.,
Robert Douglas, David Dickson, James Hamilton, John Smith, and George
Hutcheson." This letter was dated May the 8th, the same day Avith Sharp's
instructions, and a double of it was enclosed for himself; but he kept this, and
a similar one sent him by tiie earl of Rothes, on the lOlh, till after the king's
arrival in England, when everything was settled, and Sharp assured of being
archbishop of St Andrews. This indeed was the sole object of his journey to
Breda, where he was recommended to the king by a letter from Monk, as a fit
person for establishing episcopal government in Scotland; and by a letter from
lord Glencairn, he was recommended in a similar manner to Hyde, afterwards
earl of Clarendon.

It is almost unnecessary to mention that, in the whole transaction, it does not
fall to our lot to record any occasion in which Sharp performed the instructions
of his mission, or the duty for which he was paid by those whose simple zeal
exceeded either their means or their discernment. On the 2nd of June, Sharp
writes 3Ir Douglas, that he had presented their letter ; that the king, having
read some part of it, and looked at the subscriptions, told him he was glad to
see a letter under their hands ; and that he would consider it, and return an
answer at an after period. In this letter, which is long and desultory, he seems
frequently to think, without absolutely deciding, that it is time to terminate liia
connexion with his employers, by extinguishing their hopes. " I shall never,"
he tells them, " espouse the interest of any person or party ; 'tis our common
interest to keep an equal way with all who mind the good of kirk and country.

254: JAMES SHARP.

Cementing and prising Avill be our mercy, and dividing more our reproach
than we are aware of. The king hath allowed the noblemen who are here, to
meet and consult what is proper to be offered for the good of the nation. They
meet on 3Ionday. It is in his heart to restore to us our liberties and privi.
leges, if our folly do not mar it" " The intiuencing men of the presbyterian
judgment,'* he adds, " are content with episcopacy of bishop Usher's model,
and a liturgy somewhat corrected. A knowing minister told me this day, that
if a synod should be called, by a plurality of incumbents, they would infallibly
carry episcopacy. There are many nominal, few real presbyterians. The
cassock men do swarm here ; and such who seemed before to be for presbytery,
would bo content of a moderate episcopacy. We must leave this in the Lord's
hand, who may be pleased to preserve to us, what he hath wrought for us. I
see not what use I can be any longer here. I wish my neck were out of the
collar. Some of our countrymen go to the common prayer. All matters are
devolved into the hands of the king, in whose power it is to do absolutely what
he pleases in church and state. His heart is in his hand, upon whom are our
eyes." The very same day he writes a letter to Mr Douglas, upon whom thero
was a design at court, to draw over by the bribe of a bishopric, that it were
well if he would come up to London, where his presence might be of great uti-
lity ; at the same time he forbids any other ; and assures them, that if they
come, they will be discountenanced, and give suspicion of driving a disobliging
design. " I find our presbyterian friends quite taken off their feet; and what
they talk of us, and our help, is merely for their own ends. They stick not to
say that, had it not been for the vehemency of the Scots, Qlessrs Henderson,
Gillespie, &c., set forms had been continued; and they were never against
them. The king and grandees are wholly for episcopacy. The episcopal men
are very high. I beseech you. Sir, decline not to come up. It will be necesi
sary for you to come and speak with his majesty, for preventing of ill, and
keeping our noblemen here right."

The consequence of his communication, which must have been alarming, was a
more distinct direction as to his duties, which did not reach him at a time when he
was much disposed to attend to such suggestions. In his answer he reproves
his employers for their violence, and, still unwilling entirely to reveal himself,
continues, " I apprehend it will come to nothing. However, the high carriage
of the episcopal men gives great dissatisfaction, the Lord may permit them thus
to lift up themselves that thereby they may meet with a more effectual check.
I hear Leighton is here in town in private." The answer of Douglas was in
more distinct terms of suspicion, mentioning those circumstances of danger
gathering round the churcli, the existence of which he to whom he wrote knew
too well. Sharp still equivocated, and looked to episcopacy ns a thing to be
dreaded, but which he feared could not be avoided. In his return in August,
he brought the king's celebrated letter to Douglas and the presbytery of Edin-
burgh, which in conformity with the policy pursued by Slmrp and his friends,
bore, " We do also resolve to protect and preserve the government of the
church of Scotland, as it is settled by law, without violation, and to countenance
in the due exercise of their functions all such ministers who shall behave them-
selves dutifully and peaceably as becomes men of their calling. We will also
take care that the authority and acts of the General Assembly at St Andrews
and Dundee, 1651, be owned and stand in force until we shall call anothet
General Assembly (which we purpose to do as soon as our affairs will permit),
and we do intend to send for Mr llobert Douglas, and some other roinisterSj
that we may speak with them in what may further concern the aflairs of that
church. - And as we are very well satisfied with your resolution not to meddle

JAMES SHARP. 255

without your sphere, so we do expect that church judicatories in Scotland and
ministers there will keep within tiie compass of their station, meddling only
with matters ecclesiastic, and promoting our authority and interest with our
subjects against all opposers, and that they will take special notice of such who
by preachings or private conventicles, or any other way transgress the limits of
their calling by endeavouring to cormpt the people or sow seeds of disaffection
to us or our gov ernment." The simple enthusiasm with which this document
was received, by tiiose who were accustomed to give plain meanings to ordinary
words, is well known. In the synod of Fife, which met at Kirkaldy, Mr John
Macgill, IMr Alexander Wedderburn, and some others, contended for introduc-
ing the covenant into their letter of thanks, '' as the bond which, while it bound
both king and subjects to God, did also tie them to one another.^' This drew
from Sharp a long speech, in which he had many oblique reflections upon the
covenant, which he with some truth alleged could not be mentioned to his majasty
without exciting his displeasure. He further in justification of his majesty af-
firmed that " there was not a man in England would own that covenant save Mr
Ash, an old man, whose one foot was already in the grave," and so great was
his influence that he carried a plurality of the synod along with him, and the
covenant of duty was set aside for the conventional one of good manners. A
vote of thanks to 3Ir Sharp was also carried in this synod for his faithfulness
and painstaking in the aflairs of the church. At the dismissal of the synod, 3Ir
William Row coming in contact with i^harp at the door, laid hold of his
cloak, and inquired how he could afKrm in the face of the synod that no man
in England owned the covenant but Mr Ash, when 3Ir Crofton had just come
forth in print in belialf of its perpetual obligation, to which Sharp made no
other reply than that he knew Mr Crofton a little knuckity body, just like Mr
Henry Williams. Though eminently successful in his endeavours. Sharp still
kept the mantle of hypocrisy closely drawn around him, and was elected pro-
fessor of theology in the college of St Andrews, where he had formerly been
professor of philosophy. He was keenly opposed by the principal, Mr Samuel
Rutherford, who had made an early discovery of his true character, and could
never be brought to countenance hinu Mr Rutherford, however, Mas a Pro-
tester, his Lex Rex had been condemned to the flames by the committee of es-
tates, and he was confined to his own house by sickness, and Sharp had the
satisfaction of assisting at the burning of his book at the gate of his college.
He died soon after or he might have shared the fate of his book.

The committee of estates whicii sat down in August, 1660, and the parliament
which followed, commenced the wild work of tyranny, which so darkly character-
izes the period. When prelacy was established by royal proclamation in the month
of August, 1661, Mr Sharp, who had been the principal agent in this melan-
choly overturning, was now rewarded with the primacy of Scotland, and was
called up to London, along with Fairfoul, appointed to the see of Glasgow,
Hamilton to that of Galloway, and Leighton to that of Dunblane, to receive
episcopal ordination. Sharp made some objections against being re-ordained,
but yielded when he found it was to be insisted on, a circumstance which made
Sheldon, bishop of London, say, he followed the Scots' fashion, which was to
scruple at everything, and to swallow anything. The other three yielded at
once, and they were all four on the 16th day of December, 1661, before a
great concourse of Scottish and English nobility in the chapel of Westminster,
ordained preaching deacons, then presbyters, and lastly consecrated bishops.
In the month of April they returned in great state to Scotland, where in the
following month they proceeded to consecrate their ten brethren, the parlia-
ment having delayed to sit till they should be ready to take their seats. We

256 JAMES SHARP.

might have remarked, that on the parliament passing the act recissory, Sharp
affected concern sufficient to qualify him for a new uiission, which afforded him
an opportunity of perfecting what he had already so far advanced, and ended
in his now exalted situation of primate of all Scotland. Well might Burnet
say of the Scottish ministers, " poor men, they were so struck with the ill state
of their affairs that they had neither sense nor courage left them." Sharp,
when made archbishop of St Andrews, affirmed tiiat he had only accepted of it,
seeing the king would establish episcopacy, to keep it out of more violent
hands, and that he might be able so to moderate matters that good men might
be saved from a storm that otherwise could not have failed to break upon
tiiem. No sooner had he the reins of ecclesiastic government in his hands
than a proclamation was issued, forbidding any clergymen to meet in a presby-
terial capacity till such time as the bishops had settled the order of procedure
in them, and he was so very moderate in his measures, that of his co-presbyters
of St Andrews, he spared only three old men who were nonconformists, and
these were spared not without great difficulty. Nor did his elevation, which
he had attained Avith so much infamy, content him ; besides the dignity of the
church, he loved that of the state, and in the differences that fell out between
Lauderdale and Middleton he narrowly escaped a fall with the latter. He
had been prevailed on to write to the king that the standing or falling of 31id-
dleton would be the standing or falling of the church, and he went up to Lon-
don to support him personally. When he came to London, however, and saw
how much Middleton had fallen in the estimation of the king, he resolved to
make great concessions to Lauderdale, and when the latter reproached him
with his engagements with Middleton, he boldly averred that he had never
gone farther with him than what was decent, considering his post. That he had
ever written to the king in his behalf, he totally denied. But Charles had
given Lauderdale the prelate's letter. When it was shown to the writer he fell
a-weeping, and begged pardon in the most abject manner, saying " what could
a company of poor men refuse to the earl of Middleton, who had done so much
for them, and had them so entirely in his power." Lauderdale, upon this, said
he would forgive them all that was past ; and would serve them and the church
at another rate than Middleton was capable of doing ; and Sharp became wholly
Lauderdale's. In 1663, he went up to court to complain of the chancellor
Glencairn and the privy council, when he said there was so much remissness
and popularity on all occasions that, unless some more spirit was put into it, the
church could not be preserved. On this occasion he obtained an order
for establishing a kind of high commission court, a useful instrument of oppres-
sion, and procured a letter to the council directing that in future the primate
should take the place of the chancellor, which so mortified Glencairn that he is
said to have in consequence caught the fever of which he died. Sharp, who
now longed for the chancellorsliip, wrote immediately to Sheldon, bishop of
London, that upon the disposal of this place the very being of the church de-
pended, and begging that he would press the king to allow him to come up be-
fore he gave away the place. Tiie king, who by this time had conceived a
great dislike for Sharp, bade Sheldon assure him that he would take care the
place should be properly filled, but that there was no occasion for his coming
up. Sharp, however, could not restrain himself, but ventured up. The king
received him coldly, and asked if he had not had the bishop's letter. He ad-
mitted that he had, but he chose rather to venture on his majesty's displeasure
than see the church ruined through his caution or negligence. " In Scotland
tliey had but few and cold friends, and many violent enemies. His majesty's
protection and the execution of the law were all they had to depend on, and

JAMES SHARP. 257

these depended so much upon the chancellor, that he could not answer to God
and the church, if he did not bestir himself in that matter. He knew many
thought of him for that post^ but he was so far from that thougiu, that if his
majesty had any such intention he would rather choose to be sent to a planta-
tion. He desired that he should be a churchman in heart but not in habit,
that should be called to that trust." From the king he went straight to Shel-
don, and begged him to move the king to bestow it upon himself, furnishing
liim with many arguments in support of the proposal, one of which was that
the late king had raised his predecessor, Spottiswood, to that dignity. Sheldon
moved the king accordingly with more than ordinary fervour; and the king,
suspecting Sharp had set him on, charged him to tell the truth, which he did,
though not without a threat deal of hesitation. The king told him, in return,
the whole affair. Sheldon prayed him to remember the arciibisliop and the
church, whatever he might think of the man, which the king graciously assured
him he would do. Sheldon told Sharp he saw the motion for himself would be
ineffectual, and he nnist think of some one else. Sharp then nominated
liothes, who was appointed accordingly ; and with a commission to prepare
matters for a national synod, to settle a book of common prayer and a book of
canons, Sharp returned to Scotland, having assured the king that now, if all
went not well, either Rothes or Lauderdale nmst bear the blame.

In another visit to court, along with Rothes, he endeavoured to undermine
the influence of Lauderdale ; but that bold and unhesitating man did not flinch
from his averments, whether true or false, and compelled him publicly to re-
tract them. Nor was he more successful in an overture to join with Middleton,
in supplanting his rival. His terrors on the rising at Pentland, rendering him
anxious for an increase of troops, he recounnended the fines to be applied
that way, by which many of the cavaliers, who looked to that fund, were disap-
pointed in their expectcitions, and became his mortal enemies. Lauderdale,
too, to complete his disgrace, procured a number of letters, written to the pres-
byterians after he had negotiated for the introduction of episcopacy, and gave
them to the king, who looked on him ever after as the worst of men. Dur-
ing the rising at Pentland, Sharp was the principal administrator of the govern-
ment ; in which situation, the cruelty of nature, and insatiability in vengeance,
which he displayed, are well known. After this period, he was so much dis-
liked at court, (while he was a necessary instrument,) that, in 1667, he was or-
dered to confine himself to his own diocese, and come no more to Edinburgh.
With the indulgences, the comprehension, &c.. Sharp had little connexion,
except in narrowing their effect. In the month of July, 1668, as he was going
into his coacii in daylight, he was fired at with a pistol loaded with a brace of
bullets : but his life was saved by Honeyman, bishop of Orkney, who, lifting
up his hand to step into the coach after him at the time, received the shot in
his wrist, which caused his death a few years afterwards, the wound never hav-
ing healed. So universally was Sharp hated, that when the cry was made that
a man had been shot in the street, the reply was instantly made, that it wag
only a bishop, and not a single individual offered to lay hold on the perpetra-
tor of the deed. The court, however, took some compassion on him in this ex-
tremity, and he was repaid for his fears by a little gleam of favour. The person
who committed the daring act, Mr James 3Iitchel, was afterwards seized, and,
upon a promise of life, confessed, what it was impossible for his enemies to
prove, he having no associates in the affair. That promise, however, was vio-
lated,' and 31itchel suffered.

We now approach the violent end of this man, whose life was spent in vio-

' On this subject, vide the Mem. of Sir George Lockhart, Mitchel's counsel-
IV. 2K

253 JAMES SHORT.

lencc. It was characteristic of the excess of the iniquity of the period ; for, iu
the whole course of national discord which preceded, an action of political as-
sassination, without the colour of any human law, does not stand on record. A
few of the more zealous and uncompromising presbyterians, wandering on
Magus Moor, near St Andrews, on the 3rd of May, 1679, in search of tlie
fiheriri' of Fife, whose activity as a servant to the archbishop, had roused them
to violent intentions, fell in with tiie master, instead of the servant ; and their
passions dictating to them that they had what was termed a call from God to
put him to death, they followed the suggestion with circumstances of consider-
able barbarity. Having cut the traces of his carriage, they, in the most cool
and deliberate manner, commanded him to come out of his coach, or they would
do harm to his daughter. Mho was along with him ; and tknt his days were now
numbered, as they were to take vengeance upon him for a betrayed church, and
for so many of their murdered brethren, particularly for the life of Mr James
Mitchel, to whom he had sworn so perfidiously, and for keeping up the king's
pardon after Pentland. After repeatedly assuring him of their purpose, and
exhorting him to repentance and prayer, in which he could not be persuaded
to engage, they fired upon him, and afterwards slashed his head witli their
swords, leaving him a lifeless corpse on the king's highway. A particular ac-
count of this affair, exaggerated probably in its details, was speedily published,
and large rewards offered for the perpetrators ; not one of whom was ever
brought to trial, Hackston, of Raithelet, excepted, who was one of the party,
but who had refused to have any hand in the work of death, from the circum-
stance of his having had some personal quarrel with tlie bishop. Sharp was
buried with great pomp, and a splendid monument erected over him, at St An-^
drews, which, though it attracts little respect, is still to be seen aa one of the
curiosities of that city.

SHORT, Jajuis, an eminent optician and constructor of reflecting telescopes,
was the son of William Short, a joiner in Edinburgh, where he Avas born on the
10th of June, 1710. The Christian name, James, was conferred upon him, in
consequence of his having thus been ushered into the world on the birth-day of
the Pretender. Having lost his parents in early life, he was entered, at the
age of ten, on the foundation of George Heriot, where he rendered himself a
favourite among his companions, by his talent for fabricating little articles in
joinery. At twelve years old, he began to attend the High School for classical
literature, in which he distinguished himself so greatly, that a pious grand-
mother determined to devote him to the church. He actually commenced a
course of attendance>at the university for this purpose, in 1726, took his degree
of master of arts, attended the divinity hall, and in 1731 passed the usual trials
preparatory to his being licensed as a preacher of the gospel ; when his natural
taste for mechanics, receiving excitement from an attendance at Mr Maclaurin's
mathematical class, induced him to turn back from the very threshold of the
church, and apply himself to a different profession. He very quickly attracted
the favourable attention of the illustrious expositor of Newton, Avho invited him'
frequently to his house, in order to observe liis capacity more narrowly, and en-
couraged him to proceed in the new line of life which he had embraced. In
1732, Maclaurin permitted Short to use his rooms in the college for his appa-
ratus, and kindly superintended all his proceedings. Two yeara after, in a let-
ter to Dr Turin, he takes notice of the proficiency of Mr Sliort, in the casting
and polishing of the metallic specula of reflecting telescopes. The young
mathematician had already improved greatly upon the construction of the Gre-
gorian telescope. The figure which he gave to his great specula was parabolic ;
not, however, by any rule or canon, but by practice and mechanical devices,

JAMES SIBBALD.

259

joined to an exact knowledge of the principles of optics. The improvement
had been pointed out by Newton, as the most necessary attainment for the per-
fection of those instruments. In 1736, he had obtained so much distinction by
his acquirements, as to be called by queen Caroline to give instructions in
mathematics to her second son, the duke of Cumberland. On leaving Edin-
burgh for tiiis purpose, he deposited £500, which he had already saved from
his gains, in the bank of Scotland. In London, he was elected a fellow of the
Royal Society, and was much patronized by the earls of Morton and 3Iaccles-
field. Towards the end of tlie year, he returned to Edinburgh, and resumed
the usual course of his profession. Three years afterwards, he accompanied the
earl of Morton on a progress to his lordship's possessions in Orkney, for the
purpose of adjusting the geography of that remote archipelago; while the laird
of 3Iacfarlane accompanied the party, as a surveyor of antiquities. After that
business had been concluded, Mr Short accompanied the earl to London, where
he finally settled, and for some years carried on an extensive praciice in the
construction of telescopes and other optical instruments. One of the former,
containing a reflector of twelve feet focus, was made for lord Thomas Spencer,
at six hundred guineas ; another of still greater extent, and the largest which
had till then been constructed, was made for the king of Spain, at £1200.
3Ir Short died, June 15, 1768, of mortification in the bowels, leaving a fortune
of £20,000.

SIBBALD, Jam33, an ingenious inquirer into Scottish literary antiquities, was
the son of I\Ir John Sibbaid, farmer at Whitlaw, in Roxburghshire, where he
waa born in the year 1747, or early in 1748. He was educated at the gram-
mar school of Selkirk, from which Whitlaw is only a few miles distant. He
commenced life, by leasing the farm of Newton from Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobs.
Hei'e he pursued various studies, each of which, for tlie time, seemed to him the
most important in the world ; till another succeeded, and in its turn absorbed
his whole attention. One of his favourite pursuits was botany, then little stu-
died by any class of people in Scotland, and particularly by farmers. O wing-
to tlie depression which the American war produced in the value of farm stock,
Mr Sibbaid found his affairs by no means in a prosperous condition ; and, ac-
cordingly, in May, 1779, he disposed of tlie whole by auction, and, giving up
his lease to the landlord, repaired to Edinburgh, with about a hundred pounds
in his pocket, in order to commence a new line of life. A taste for literature,
and an acquaintance with 3Ir Charles Elliot, >\ho was a native of the same dis-
trict, induced him to enter as a kind of volunteer shopman into the employment
of that eminent publisher, with whom he continued about a year. He then
purchased the circulating library which had formerly belonged to Allan Ram-
say, and, in 1780 or 1781, commenced business as a bookseller in the Parlia-
ment Square. It is not unworthy of notice, that Mr Sibbaid conducted the
library at the time when Sir Walter Scott, then a boy, devoured its contents
with the ardour described in one of his autobiographical prefaces. Mr Sib-
baid cax-ried on business with a degree of spirit and enterprise, beyond the
most of his brethren. He was the first to introduce the belter order of engrav-
ings into Edinburgh, in which department of trade he was for a considerable
time eminently successful. Many of these prints were of the mezzotinto kind,
and were coloured to resemble paintings. Being viewed in the Scottish capital
as altogether the production of metropolitan genius, they were exceedingly well
received, and extensively purchased. At length, 3Ir Sibbaid was detected one
day in the act of colouring some of them himself; and from that time his trade
experienced an evident decline. He had not been long in business, when his
talents and acquired knowledge sought an appropriate field of display, in a

260

JAMES SIBBAU).

monthly literary miscellany, uhich lie established, (1783,) under the name of the
" Edinburgh Magazine." This was the first time that a rival to the ancient
Scots Magazine met with decided success. The Edinburgh Magazine was of a
somewhat more ambitious and attractive character than its predecessor ; con-
tained more original matter, and that of a livelier kind ; and was ornamented
by engraved frontispieces, representing mansions, castles, and other remarkable
objects. Mr Sibbald was himself the editor and chief contributor ; and it is
said that his articles, though not marked by any signature, were generally distin-
guished as superior to the ordinary papers then admitted into magazines. His
lucubrations on Scottish antiquities were of so much merit, as to secure to their
author the friendship of lord Hailes, and other eminent literary characters, who
became occasional contributors to his miscellany. Early in 1791, with the
view of devoting himself more to literary pursuits, Mr Sibbald made an arrange-
ment for giving up the management of his business to two young men, Messrs
Laurie and Symington, the property of the stock and of the magazine continu-
ing in his own hands, while those individuals paid him an allowance for both
out of the profits. From this period, till late in 1792, the magazine professes,
on the title-page, to be printed for him, but sold by Laurie and Symington.
At the date last mentioned, his name disappears entirely from the work, wliich,
however, Avas still carried on for his benefit, the sale being generally about six
or seven hundred copies.

In 1792, 3Ir Sibbald conducted a newspaper, which was then started, under
the name of the " Edinburgh Herald," and which did not continue long in
existence. It is worth mentioning that, in this paper, he counnenced the prac-
tice of giving an original leading article, similar to what was presented in the
London prints, though it has only been in recent times that such a plan became
general in Scotland. According to the notes of an agreement formed in July,
1793, between Mr Sibbald and Mr Laurie, the temporary direction and profits
of the Edinburgh circulating library, were conveyed to the latter for ten years,
from the ensuing January, in consideration of a rent of, it is believed, ^6200
per annum, to be paid quarterly to Mr Sibbald, but subject to a deduction for
the purchase of new books, to be added to the library. Mr Sibbald now went
to London^ where he resided for some years, in the enjoyment of literary so-
ciety, and the prosecution of various literary speculations, being supported by
the small independency which he had thus secured for himself. Here he com-
posed a work, entitled, " Record of the Public Ministry of Jesus Christ;
comprehending all that is related by the Four Evangelists, in one regular nar-
rative, without repetition or omission, arranged with strict attention to the
Chronology, and to their own Words, according to the most esteemed transla-
tion ; with Preliminary Observations." This work was published at Edinburgh
in 1798, and was chiefly remarkable for the view which it took respecting the
space of time occupied by the public ministrations of Christ, which former
writers liad supposed to be three or four years, but was represented by Mr
Sibbald as comprehended within twelve months. While in London, his Scot-
tish relations altogetlier lost sight of him ; they neither knew where he lived,
nor how he lived. At length liis brother William, a merchant in Leith, made
a particular inquiry into tliese circumstances, by a letter, which he sent through
such a channel as to be sure of reaching him. The answer was comprised in
the following words : — "My lodging is in Soho, and my business is so so."
Having subsequently returned to Edinburgh, he there edited, in 1797, a work,
entitled, " The Vocal 31agazine, a Selection of the most esteemed English,
Scots, and Irisli Airs, ancient and modern, adapted fur the Harpsichord or
Violin." For such an employment he was qualified by a general acquaintance

SIR ROBBET SIBBALD. 261

with music. In 1799, Mr Sibbald revised his agreement with Mr Laurie, who
undertook to lease the business for twenty-one years, after January, 1800, at
the rent of one hundred guineas, himself supplying the new books, which were
to remain his own property. Finding, however, that, even at this low rental^
he did not prosper in liis undertaking, Laurie soon after gave up the business
into the liands of Mr Sibbald, by whom it was carried on till his death.^

Tlie latter years of this ingenious man were chiefly spent in the compilation
of his well-known " Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, and Glossary of the Scottish
Language," four volumes, 1 2mo ; a Mork of taste and erudition, which will per-
pet'Jate his name among those wiio have illustrated our national literature.
The three first volumes exhibit a regular chronological series of extracts from
the writings of the Scottisii poets to the reign of James VI. ; illustrated by
biographical, critical, and archaeological notices : the fourth contains a voca-
bulary of the language, only inferior in amplitude and genei-al value to the
more voluminous work of Dr Jamieson. The " Chronicle" appeared in 1802.

This ingenious writer died, in April, 1803, at his lodgings in Leith Walk.
Two portraits of him have been given by Kay ; one representing him as he
daily walked up the centre of the High Street of Edinburgh, with his hand be-
hind his back, and an umbrella under his arm ; another places him amidst a
group of connoisseurs, who are inspecting a picture. He was a man of eccentric,
but benevolent and amiable character. The same exclusiveness which actuated
his studies, governed him in domestic life : even in food, he used to give his
whole favour for a time to one*object, and then change it for some other, to which
he was in turn as fondly devoted. He belonged to a great number of convivial
clubs, and was so much beloved by many of his associates in those fraternities,
that, for some yeais after his death, they celebrated his birth-day by a social
meeting.

SIBBALD, (Sir) Robert, an eminent physician, naturalist, and antiquary,
was descended of the ancient family of the Sibbalds of Balgonie in Fife. He
received the principal part of his education, particularly in philosophy and
languages, at the university of Edinburgh. Having completed himself in these
branches of learning, he Ment to Leyden to study medicine, and in 1661, he
obtained there a doctor's degree. On this occasion he published an inaugural
dissertation entitled, " De Variis Speciebus." Sir Robert immediately afterwards
returned to his native country, and took up his residence in Edinburgh, from
which, however, he occasionally retired to a rural retreat in the neighbour-
hood of the city, where he cultivated rare and exotic plants, and pursued, un-
disturbed, his favourite study of botany. The i-eputation which he soon after-
wards acquired procured him the honour of knighthood from Charles 11., who
also appointed him his physician, natural lustorian, and geographer-royal for
Scotland. In this capacity he received his majesty's commands to write
a general description of the whole kingdom, including a particular history of
the diflerent counties of Scotland. Of this undertaking, howerer, the only pait

1 T he history of the Edinburgh circulating h'brar)- may here be briefly narrated. Estab-
lished by Allan Ramsay in 1723, it was conducted by that eminini person till near the
period of his death, in 1757, when it was sold to a Mr Yair, whose widow carried it on till
1780, when it was sold to .Mr Sibbiild. A daughter of Mrs Yair was married to the late
Dr Bell, author of the " Madras System of Education.'' By Mr Sibbald, who greatly in-
crtastd the collection, it was conducted, under various circumstances, as above stated, till
1803, when his brother and executor. William Sibbald, merchant in Leith, endeavoured to
carr)' it on, under the supeiintendence of a Mr Stevenson. Finding it by no mi ans pros-
perous, and the laiter gentleman having died, .Mr Sibbald disposed of it, in 1806, to Mr
Alexander Mackay, who conducted it until a reCiiit period, when it was broken up, and sold
off by auction. It does not appear to have thriven in any remarkable dtgree, till the acces-
sion of Mr Mackay, who retired from it with a competency.

262 SIR ROBERT SIBBALD.

which he ever executed was the History of Fife, published in 1710, a work of
very considerable interest, and replete with curious antiquarian informBtion.
A new edition of this book, which had become exceedingly scarce, was pub-
lished at Cupar in Fife in 1803.

In 1681, Sir Robert became a member of the Royal College of Fhysicians,
then first incorporated, and in three years afterwards, he published a learned
and elaborate work, on which twenty years had been employed, entitled
" Scotia Illustrata, sive Prodromus Uistoriae Naturalis Scotise," folio. A second
edition of this valuable work, also in folio, was published in 1696. One
part of the Scotia Illustrata, is devoted to the indigenous plants of Scotland,
and amongst these there appear some rare species, one of which was subse-
quently called Sibbaldia, by Linnaeus, in honour of its discoverer. For some of
the opinions expressed in this work on the mathematicnl principles of physic.
Sir Robert was violently attacked by Dr Pitcairne, in a tract more remark-
able for the severity of its satire than the fairness or solidity of its arguments,
entitled, " De Legibus Historiae Naturalis," Edinburgh, 1696.

In 1694, this ingenious and versatile author published an interesting work
on Zoology, entitled " Phalainologia nova, or Observations on some Animals of
the Whale genus lately thrown on the Shores of Scotland." This was followed
by " The Liberty and Independency of the Kingdom and Church of Scotland as-
serted from Ancient Records," in 3 parts, 4to, 1704; and in the same year in
which his history of Fife appeared, he published another work, entitled ** Mis-
cellanea quasdam eruditas Antiquitatis."

Besides these wci-ks Sir Robert wrote a great number of learned and highly
ingenious treatises and essays for the Royal Society, chiefly on subjects con-
nected with the antiquities of his native country. These were collected and
published after his death under the title of '* A collection of several Treatises in
folio, concerning Scotland, as it was of old, and also in later times," by Sir
Robert Sibbald, ]VLD., Edinburgh, 1739. In his antiquarian researches he was
greatly assisted by Sir Robert Gordon of Straloch, the first native of Scotland
who turned his attention to the illustration of the antiquities of his native coun-
try. The subject of this memoir was the next. It is recorded of Sir Robert
Sibbald, and by himself, that when the earl of Perth was chancellor of Scot-
land, the latter pressed him with much urgency and great perseverance to come
over to the Roman catholic faith. For some time, Sir Robert says, he resisted
all his grace's arguments and entreaties, but at length found himself all at once
convinced by the reasoning of the chancellor. Under this sudden sense of er-
ror, and in the fulness of his new-born contrition, he ruslted, with tears in his
eyes, into the arms of his converter, and formally embraced his reh'gion. Soon
afterwards, remaining still steady in the faith, he accompanied his lordship to
London, and resided with him there for one winter. Tlie long and frequent
fastings, however, and extremely rigid discipline to which he was now subjected,
induced him to reconsider the points of controversy between Catholicism and pro-
testantism, and the result was tiiat lie discovered he liad done wrong in deserting
the latter, and with a heart once more filled with contrition, he returned to his
original faitlu It may not be without its effect on those who shall consider
this circumstance as an instance of weakness in Sir Robert Sibbald's character,
to learn, that Dr Johnson entertained a very different opinion of it. The great
moralist considered it as an honest picture of human nature, and exclaimed,
when the subject was discussed in his presence, " How often are the primary
motives of our greatest actions as small as Sibbald's for his re-conversion." Sir
Robert Sibbald wTote several other works, and promoted the establishment of a
botanical garden at Edinburglu He died about the year 1712.

GEORGE SINCLAIR. 263

SINCLAIR, Gkorqk, a well-known mathematical writer, was professor of
pliilosophy in the university of Glasgow in the latter part of the seventeenth
century. No particulars of his early life have been ascertained. He was ad-
mitted a professor of Glasgow university, April 18, 1651,^ and was ejected in
1662, for declining to comply with the episcopal form of church government,
then thrust upon the people of Scotland. He had, in the previous year, pub-
lished at Glasgow, his first known work, " Tyrocinia mathematica, in novem
tractatus, viz., mathematicum, sphericum, geographicum, et echometricum,
divisa," 12ino. After his ejection, he betook himself to the business of a
mineral surveyor and practical engineer, and was employed in that profession
by several proprietoi-s of mines in the southern parts of Scotland, and particu-
larly by Sir James Hope, who, having sat in Barebones' parliament, was proba-
bly nouise averae to his presbyterian principles. In 1(569, he published at
Rotterdam, " Ars Nova et Magna Gravitatis et Levitatis," 4to. He was employed
by the magistrates of Edinburgh, about 1670, to superintend the introduction
of water from Corraiston into the city ; a convenience with which the capital of
Scotland had not previously been furnished. Considerable attention seems to
have been paid by him to such branches of hydrostatics as were of a practical
nature ; and it has been said that he was the Rnt person who suggested the
proper method of draining the water from the numerous coal mines in the south-
west of Scotland. In 1G72, he published at Edinburgh a quarto entitled,
" Hydrostaticks ; or, the Force, Weight, and Pressure of Fluid Bodies, made evi-
dent by physical and sensible Experiments, together with some Miscellany
Observations, the last whereof is a short history of CoaL" And, in 1680, he
published at the same place, in 8vo, what appears to have been a modification
of the same work, " Hydrostatical Experiments, with Miscellany Observa-
tions, and a relation of an Evil Spirit ; also a Discourse concerning Coal."
Sinclair's writings, in the opinion of a very able judge, are not desti-
tute of ingenuity and research, though they may contain some erroneous and
eccentric views. The work last named contained a rather strange accompani-
ment to a scientific treatise, — an account of the witches of Glenluce, — which,
if there had been no other evidence of the fact, shows the author to have not
been elevated by his acquaintance with the exact sciences above the vulgar de-
lusions of his age. It must be recollected, however, that other learned men of
that age were guilty of like follies. The self-complacency of Sinclair, and his
presbyterian principles provoked the celebrated James Gregory, then a profes-
sor at St Andrews, to attack his Hydrostatics in a pamphlet published with the
quaint title of the " Art of Weighing Vanity," and under the thin disguise of
Patrick Mather, archbeadle of the university of St Andrews. It is curious to
observe that with all his eagerness to heap ridicule on his antagonist, Gregory
never once touches on what would now appear the most vulnerable point, the
episode about the witches. After a long interval, Sinclair wrote an answer to
Gregory, entitled, " Cacus pulled out of his den by the heels, or the pam-
phlet entitled, the New and Great Art of Weighing Vanity examined, and
found to be a New and Great Act of Vanity." But this production was never
published : it remains in manuscript in the university library at Glasgow, to
which the author appears, from an inscription, to have presented it in 16 'J 2.
Sinclair was among the first in Britain who attempted to measure the heights
of mountains by the barometer. It is said that Hartfell, near Moffat, was the
first hill in Scotland of which the height was thus ascertained. In the years
1668 and 1670, he observed the altitudes of Arthur's Seat, Leadhills, and
Tinto, above the adjacent plains. He followed the original mode of caiTving
1 Records of the University.

264 DR. ROBERT SDISON.

a sealed tube to the top of the mountain, where, filling it with quicksilver, and
inverting it in a basin, he marked the elevation of the suspended column, and

repeated the same experiment below; a very rude method, certainly, but no

better was practised in England for more than thirty yenrs afterwards. To the
instrument fitted up in a frame, Sinclair first gave the name baroscope, or in-
dicator of weight ; a term afterwards changed for barometer, or measurer of
weigJit. In these rude attempts at measuring weights by the mercurial column,
the atmosphere Avas regarded simply as an homogeneous fluid, and possessinn the
Bame density throughout its whole mass; a supposition, which, it is needless to
point out, must have led the observer wide of the truth, where the elevation
was considerable.

The work by which Sinclair is now best remembered is Ills " Satan's Invisi-
ble Works Discovered," which was published about the year 1685, and
has since been frequently reprinted. This is a treatise on witches, ghosts, and
diablerie, full of instances ancient and modern, and altogether forming a
curious record of the popular notions on those subjects at the period when it
appeared : it was for a long time a constituent part of every cottage library in
Scotland In Lee's Memorials for Bible Societies in Scotland, is given the fol-
lowing decree of the Privy Council, in favour of 3Ir Sinclair's copyright in this
precious production: " Apud Edinburgh, 2G Feb., 168.'^- The lords of his
majesties privy councill considered ane address made to them by Mr George Sin-
clair, late professor of philosophie at the colledge of Glasgow, and author of the
book entitled * Satan's Invisible Works Discovered,' &c, doe hereby prohibite
and discharge all persons Avhatsomever from printing, reprinting, or importing
into the kingdome any copy or copies of the said book during the space of
eleven zearis after the date hereof without licence of the author or his order,
under the pain of confiscation thereof to the said author, besydes what further
punishment we shall think fitt to inflict upon the contraveeners." The first
edition contains a very curious dedication to the e.nrl of Winton, not to be found
in the rest, but which has been lately republished in the " Hietorie of the
Hous and Name of Setoun," printed by the Maitland Club.

It is curious to find science and superstition so intimately mingled in the
life of this extraordinary person. In 1688, he published at Edinburgh, in
12mo, the " Principles of Astronomy and Navigation." The only other publi-
cation attributed to him is a translation of David Dickson's " Truth's Victory
over Error." It is hardly possible to censure delusions Avhich seem to have
been entertained with so much sincerity, and in company with such a zeal for
the propagation of real knowledge.

Mr Sinclair was recalled at the Revolution to the charge from which he was
expelled twenty-six years before. On the 3rd of March, 1691, the faculty of
the college revived the professorship of mathematics, which had been suppressed
for want of funds ; and at the same time appointed Mr Sinclair to that chair.
He died in 1696.

SIMSON, (Dr) Robert, a mathematician, was the eldest son of Mr John
Simson of Kirton-hall, in Ayrshire, and was born on the 14th October, 1687.
He was educated at the univei-sity of Glasgow, which he first entered as a
student in 1701. Being intended for the church, his studies were at first
directed chiefly to theological learning, in which, as well as in the classics, he
made great progress. He distinguished himself also by his historical know-
ledge, and was accounted one of the best botanists of his years. At this time
no mathematical lectures were given in the college ; but, having amused him-
self in his leisure hours by a few exercises in Euclid, a copy of Avhich he found
in the hands of a companion, he quickly found that llie bent of his taste and

DR. ROBERT SIMSON. 205

genius lay in that direction. The farther he advanced in the study of matiie-
inatics, the more engaging it appeared ; and as a prospect opened up to liim of
making it his profession for life, he at last gave himself up to it entirely.
While still very young, he conceived a strong predilection for the analysis of
the ancient geometers ; which increased as he proceeded, till it Avas at last car-
ried almost to devotion. While he, therefore, comparatively neglected the
works of the modern mathematicians, he exerted himself, through life, in an
uncommon manner, to restore the works of tlie ancient geometens. The noble
inventions effluxions and logarithms, by means of which so much progress has
been made in the inatliematics, attracted his notice ; but he was satisfied witli
demonstrating their truth, on the pure principles of the ancient geometry.
He was, however, well acquainted with all the modern discoveries ; and left,
among his papers, investigations according to tlio Cartesian method, which show
that he made himself completely master of it. While devoting himself chiefly
to geometry, he also acquired a vast fund of general information, which gave a
charm to his conversation throughout all the subsequent years of life. On
arriving at his twenty-second year, his reputation as a mathematician was
so high, as to induce the members of the college to offer him the nMthe-
matical chair, in which a vacancy was soon expected to take place. With all
that natural modesty which ever accompanies true genius, he x-espectfully
declined the high honour, feeling reluctant, at so early an age, to advance
abruptly from the state of student, to that of professor in the same college ; and
therefore requested permission to spend one year, at least, in London. Leave
being granted to him, without further delay he proceeded to the metropolis,
and there diligently employed himself in extending and improving his mathe-
matical knowledge. He now had the good fortune to be introduced to some of
the most illustrious mathematicians of the day, particularly Mr Jones, Mr
Caswell, Dr Jurin, and Mr Ditton. With the last, indeed, Avho was then
mathematical master of Christ's Hospital, and highly esteemed for his erudi-
tion, he was very intimately connected. It appears from Mr Simson's own
account, in a letter, dated London, 17th November, 1710, that he expected
to have an assistant in his studies, chosen by Mr Caswell ; but, from some mis-
lake, it was omitted, and Mr Simson liimself applied to Mr Ditton. " He went
to him, not as a scholar (his own words) ; but to have general information and
advice about his mathematical studies." Mr Caswell afterwards mentioned to Mr
Simson, that he meant to have procured Mr Jones's assistance, if he had not
been engaged.

In the following year, the vacancy in the professorship of mathematics at
Glasgow did occur, by the resignation of Dr Robert Sinclair or Sinclare ; and
Mr Simson, who was still in London, was appointed to the vacant chair. The
minute of election, which is dated March II, 1711, concluded with this very
nice condition : " That they will admit the said Mr Robert Simson, providing
always that he give satisfactory proof of his skill in matliematics previous to his
admission." Before the ensuing session at college, he returned to Glasgow ;
and having submitted to the mere form of a trial, by solving a geometrical
problem proposed to him, and also by giving " a satisfactory specimen of his
skill in mathematics, and dexterity in teaching geometry and algebra ;" having
produced also respectable certificates of his knowledge of the science from iMr Cas-
well and others, he was duly admitted professor of mathematics, on the 20th of No-
vember of that year. The first occupation of Mr Simson, was to arrange a proper
course of instruction for the students who attended his lectures, in two distinct
classes ; accordingly, he prepared elementary sketches of some branches, on
which there were not suitable treatises in general use. But from an innate love

2G0 DR, ROBERT SIMSON

for the science, and a deep sense of duty, he now devoted the whole of his at-
tention to the st!:dy of raalhematics ; and tliough he had a decided preference
for geometry, he did not confine himself to it, to the exclusion of the othei*
branches of mathematical study, in most of which there is abundant evidence of
his being well skilled. From 1711, he continued for nearly half a century to
teach mathen.atics to two separate classes, at dirterent hours, for five days in the
week, during a continued session of seven months. His lectures were given
with such perspicuity of method and language, and his demonstrations were so
clear and successful, that among his scholars several rose to distinction as mathe-
maticians ; among whom may be mentioned the celebrated names of Colin Mac-
Jaurin, Dr Matthew Stewart, professor of mathematics at Edinburgh ; the two
reverend doctors Williamson, one of whom succeeded Dr Simson at Glasgow ;
the reverend Dr Trail, formerly professor of mathematics at Aberdeen ; Dr
James Moor, Greek professor at Glasgow ; and professor Robison of Edin-
burgh, with many others of distinguished merit.

In 1758, Dr Simson having arrived at the advanced age of seventy-one years,
found it expedient to employ an assistant in teaching; and in 17Gl,on his
recommendation, the reverend Dr Williamson was made his assistant and suc-
cessor. For the last remaining ten years of his life, he enjoyed a share of good
health, and was chiefly occupied in correcting and arranging some of his mathe-
matical papers; and sometimes, for amusement, in the solution of problems and
demonstrations of theorems, which had occurred from his own studies, or from
the suggestions of others. Though to those most familiar with him, his conver-
Eation on every subject seemed clear and accurate, yet he frequently complained
of the decline of his memory, which no doubt protracted and eventually pre-
vented him from undertaking the publication of many of his works, which were
in an advanced state, and might with little exertion be made ready for the
press. So that his only publication, after resigning his office, was a new and
improved edition of Euclid's Data, which, in 1762, was annexed to the second
edition of the Elements. From that period, he firmly resisted all solicitations
to bring forward any of his other works on ancient geometry, though he was well
aware how much it was desired from the universal curiosity excited respecting
his discovery of Euclid's Forisms. It is a matter of regret, that out of the ex-
tensive correspondence ^\hich he carried on through life with many distin-
guished mathematicians, a very limited portion only is preserved. Through
Dr Jurin, then secretary to the Koyal Society, he had some intercourse with
Dr Halley and other celebrated men ; he had also frequent correspondence
with Mr Maclaurin, with ]\Ir James Stirling, Dr James Moor, Ur Matthew
Stewart, Dr William Trail, and Mr Williamson of Lisbon. In the latter part
of his life, his mathematical correspondence was chiefly with that eminent geo-
meter, the earl of Stanhope, and with George Lewis Scott, esquire.

A life like Dr Simson's, so uniform and regular, spent for the most part
within the walls of a college, affords but little that is entertaining for the bio-
grapher. His mathematical researches and inventions form the important part
of his hjutory; and, with reference to these, thtre are abundant materials to
be found in his printed works and MSS. ; which latter, by the direction of his
executor, arc deposited in the college of Glasgow.

Dr Simson never was married ; he devoted his life purely to scientific pur-
suits. His hours of study, of exercise, and amusement, were all regulated with
the most unerring precision. " The very walks in the squares or gardens of
the college were all measured by his steps ; and he took his exercises by the
hundred of paces, according to his time or inclination." His disposition was
by no means of a saturnine cast : when in company with his friends his con-

DR. ROBERT SIMSON. 267

versatioi) was remarkably aniiaateJ, enriched with much anecdote, and enlivened
also by a certain degree of natural humour ; even the sliglit fits of absence, to
which he was sometimes liable, contributed to the amusement of those around
him, without in the slightest degree diminishing their affection and reverence,
which his noble qualities were calculated to inspire. At a tavern in the neigh-
bourhood of his college, he established a club, the members of which were, for
the most part, selected by himself. They met once a-week (Friday) ; and the
first part of the evening was devoted to the game of whist, of which Dr Simson
was particularly fond ; but, tiiough he took some pains in estimating chances, it
was remarked that he was by no means fortunate in his play. The rest of the
evening was spent in social conversation ; and, as he had naturally a good taste
for music, he did not scruple to amuse his company with a song : and, it is said,
he was rather fond of singing some Greek odes, to which modern music had
been adapted. On Saturdays, he usually dined at the village of Anderstou,
then about a mile distant from Glasgow, with some of the members of his regu-
lar club, and with other respectable visitors, who wished to cultivate tlie acquaint-
ance, and enjoy the. society of so eminent a person. In the progress of time,
from his age and high character, the company respectfully wished that every
thing in these meetings should be directed by him; and although his au-
thority was somewhat absolute, yet the good humour and urbanity with which
it was administered, rendered it pleasing to every body. He had his own
chair and particular place at the table ; he ordered the entertainment ; ad-
justed the expense, and regulated the time for breaking up. Ihese happy
parties, in the years of his severe application to study, were useful relaxa-
tions to his mind, and they continued to amuse him till within a few months
of his death. A mind so richly endowed by nature and education, and a
life of strict integrity and pure moral Avorth, gave a correspondent dignity
to his character, that even in the gayest hours of social intercourse, the doc-
tor's presence was a sufficient guarantee for attention and decorum. He had
serious and just impressions of religion ; but he was uniformly reserved in ex-
pressing particular opinions about it : he never introduced that solemn subject
in mixed society ; and all attempts to do so in his clubs, were checked with
gravity and decision. His personal appearance was highly prepossessing ; tall
and erect in his carriage, with a countenance decidedly handsome, and convey-
ing a pleasing expression of the superior character of his mind. His manner
was somewhat tinged with the fashion which prevailed in the early part of his
life, but was exceedingly graceful He enjoyed a uniform state of good health,
and was only severely indisposed for a few weeks before his death, which took
place on the 1st of October, 176S, in his eighty-first year. He bequeathed a
small paternal estate in Ayrshire to the eldest son of his next brother, probably
liis brother Thomas, who was professor of medicine in the university of St An-
drews, and who was known by some works of reputation.

" The writings and publications of Dr Robert Simson, were almost exclusive-
ly of the pure geometrical kind, after the genuine manner of the ancients ; but
from his liberal education, he acquired a considerable knowledge of oilier
sciences, which he preserved through life, from occasional study, and a constant
intercourse with some of the most learned men of the age. In the Latin pre-
f^ices prefixed to his works, in which there are some history and discussion, the
purity of the language has been generally approved." And many scholars have
regretted that he had not an opportunity, ^vhile in the full vigour of his intel-
lect, and deeply conversant in Greek and mathematical learning, to favour the
world with an edition of Pappus in the original language. He has only two
pieces printed in the volumes of the Philosophical Transactions, viz. : — 1. Two

2GS REV. JOHN SKINNER.

General Propositions of Pappus, in Avliicli many of Euclid's Porisms are in-
cluded, vol. xxxii., anil. 1723. These tuo pi-opositions were afterwards incor-
porated into tlie autiior's posthumous works, published by earl Stanhope

2. On the Extraction of tlie Approximate Hoots of Numbere of Infinite Series,
vol. xlviii., ann. 1753. His separate publications in his lifetime, were: — 3.
" Conio Sections," 1735, 4to. 4. " Tiie Loci I'iani of Apollonius Restored,"
1749, 4to. 5. "Euclid's Elements," 1750, 4to, of which there have been
since many editions in 8vo, with the addition of Euclid's Data. In 1776, earl
Stanhope printed, at his own expense, several <rf Dr Simson's postlmmous
pieces. 1 . Apolloniiis's Determinate Section. 2. A Treatise on Porisms. 3.
A Tract on Logarithms. 4. On the Limits of Quantities and Ratios; and, 5.,
Some Geometrical Problems. Besides these, Dr Simson's BISS. contained a
great variety of geometrical propositions, and other interesting observations on
dirtcrent parts of mathematics ; but not in a state fit for publication. Among
other designs, was an edition of the Works of Pappus, in a state of considerable
advancement, and which, had he lived, he might perhaps have published.
What lie wrote is in the library of the college of Glasgow; and a transcript was
obtained by the delegates of the Clarendon press. To this university he left
his collection of mathematical books, supposed to be the most complete in the
kingdom, and which is kept apart from tlie rest of the library.

SKINNER, (Rev.) John, the well known autlior of several popular poems, and
of an ecclesiastical history of Scotland, was born at Balfour, in the parish of
Birse, Aberdeenshire, October 3, 1721. His father was schoolmaster of that
parisii, and his mother was the widow of Donald Farquharson, Esq. of Balfour.
Having in boyhood displayed many marks of talent, he was placed at thirteen
years of age in IMarisciial college, Aberdeen, where his superior scholarship ob-
tained for Iiim a considerable bursary. After completing iiis academical educa-
tion, he became assistant to the schoolmaster of Kenmay, and subsequently lo
the same official at Monymusk, where he was so fortunate as to gain the
friendship of the lady of Sir Archibald Grant. The library at Monymusk
house, consisting of several thousands of well-selected works, in every depart-
ment of literature, was placed by lady Grant at his command, and afl'orded him
better means of intellectual improvement, than he could have hoped for in any
other situation. He now found reason to forsake the presbyterian establish-
ment, in which he had been reared, and to adopt the principles of the Scoltish
episcopal church, of which he was destined to be so distinguished an orna-
ment. After spending a short time in Shetland, as tutor to the son of Mr Sin-
clair of Scolloway, and marrying the daughter of 3Ir Hunter, the only episcopal
clergyman in that remote region, he commenced his studies for the church ; and,
having been ordained by bishop Dunbar of Peterhead, was appointed, in No-
vember, 1743, to the charge of (he congregation at Longside, over which he
presided for sixty-five years, probably wiiliout a wish to " change his place."
Of the severities with which tiie episcopal clergy were visited after the rebellion
of 1745, Mr Skinner bore his full share. His chapel was one of those which
were burnt by the ruthless soldiers of Cumberland. After that period, in order
to evade an abominable statute, he officiated to his own family within his own
house, while the people stood without, and listened through the open windows.
Nevertheless, he fell under the ban of the government, for having officiated to
more than four persons, and was confined, for that oftence, in Aberdeen jail,
from May 2Gth, to November 26th, 1753. This was the more hard, as Mr
Skinner was by no means a parlizan of the Stuart family.

Mr Skinner's first publication Avas a pamphlet, entitled " A Preservative
against Presbytery," which he published in 1746, to re-assure the minds of his

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people, vinder the alarming apprehension of the total extirpation of Scottish
episcopacy. In 1757, he published at London, a *' Dissertation on Job's Fro-
pliecy," >vhich received the high approbation of bishop Sherlock. In 1767, he
published a pamphlet, vindicating his church against the aspersions of Mr Sieve-
wright, of Brechin. The life of this good and ingenious man passed on in
humble usefulness, cheered by study, and by the cultivatioil of the domestic af-
fections. His home was a small cottage at Linshart, near Longside, consisting
simply of a kitchen and parlour, the whole appearance of which was, in th3
highest degree, primitive. Here, upon an income resembling that of Gold-
smith's parson, he reared a large family, the eldest of whom he had the satisfac-
tion to see become his own bishop, long befoi"« his decease. His profound
biblical and theological knowledge is evinced by his various works, as collected
into two volumes, and published by his family. The livelier graces of his ge-
nius are shown in his familiar songs ; " TuUochgorum ;" " The Ewie wi' the
Crookit Horn ;" " O why should old age so much wound us, 0 ?" &c. In
1 788, he published his " Ecclesiastical History of Scotland;" in which an ample
account is given of the afiairs of the episcopal church, from the time of the Re-
formation, till its ministers at length consented, on the death of Charles Stuart,
to acknowledge the existing dynasty. This work, consisting of two volumes
octavo, is dedicated in elegant Latin, " Ad Filium et Episcopum," to his son
and bishop. It may be remarked, that he wxote Latin, both in prose and verse,
with remarkable purity.

In 1799, I\lr Skinner sustained a heavy loss in the death of Mrs Skinner,
who, for nearly fifty-eight years, had been his affectionate partner in the world's
warfare. On this occasion, he evinced the poignancy of his grief, and the depth
of the attachment with whicli he clung to the remembrance of her, in some beau-
tiful Latin lines, both tenderly descriptive of the qualities which she possessed,
and, at the same time, mournfully expressive of the desolation which her de-
parture had caused. Till the year 1 807, the even tenor of the old man's course
was unbroken by any other event of importance. In the spring of that year,
however, the scarcely healed wound in his heart was opened by the death of his
daughter-in-law, who expired at Aberdeen, after a very short, but severe illness.
Each by a widowed hearth, the father and son were now mutually anxious, that
what remained of the days of the former should be spent together. It was ac-
cordingly resolved, that he should remove from Linshart, and take up his abode
with the bishop, and his bereaved family. To meet him, his grandson, the Rev.
John Skinner, minister at Forfar, now dean of Dunblane, repaired, with all his
offspring, to Aberdeen. This was in unison with a wish which himself Iiad ex-
pressed. To use his own affecting language, it was his desire to see once more
his children's grand-cltildren, and peace upon Israel.

On the 4th of June, he bade adieu to Linshart for ever. We may easily con.
ceive the profound sorrow which, on either side, accompanied his separation
from a flock among whom he had ministered for sixty-five years. He had
baptized them all ; and there was not one among them who did not look up to
him as a father. After his arrival in Aberdeen, he was, for a week or ten days,
in the enjoyment of his usual health. Surrounded by his numerous friends,
he took a lively interest in the common topics of conversation ; sometimes amus-
ing them with old stories, and retailing to them anecdotes of men and things
belonging to a past generation. Twelve days after his airival, he was taken
ill at the dinner-table, and almost immediately expired. He was buried in tiie
church-yard of Longside, where his congregation have erected a monument to
his memory. On a handsome tablet of statuary marble, is to be seen the simple
but faithful record of his talents, his acquirements, and his virtues.

270 "WILLIAM SMELLIE.

SMELLIE, William, an eminent naturalist, and useful miscellaneous AmtM,
was born in Edinburgh, about the year 1740, being the son of Mr Alexander
Sme'lie, a builder, who belonged to the stricter order of presbyterians, and was
thj co;:structor of the n:artyr8' tomb in the Grey friars' cluirch-yard. William
Sniellie received the rudiments of his education at the parish school of Dudding-
8ton, and, though destined for a handicraft profession, was afterwards for some
time at the High School of Edinburgh. His father at first wished to apprentice
him to a stay-maker, but the business of a printer was ultimately preferred, and
he was indentured to Messrs Hamilton, Calfour, ar.d Neil, then eminent pro-
fessors of that art in the Scottish capital. While yet vei^ young, he had the
misfortune to lose his father ; but the exemplary conduct of the young printer
soon placed Iiim above the necessity of depending upon othere for his subsist-
ence. Every leisure moment was devoted to study, or literary pursuits ; and
only a few years of his apprenticeship had elapsed, when he was appointed
by his employers to the responsible office of corrector of the jiress, with a
weekly allowance of ten shillings, instead of his stipulated wages of three
shilUngs. Instead of wasting his earnings on frivolity or dissipation, young
Smellie took the opportunity of attending a regular course of the univer-
sity classes. The result of this was soon evidenced, by his producing an edi-
tion of Terence, in duodecimo, wholly set up and corrected by himself; which
Harwood, the philologist, declares to be " an immaculate edition ;" and which
gained to his masters an honorary prize, offered by the 1 dinburgh Philo-
sophical Society, for the best edition of a Latin classic Upon the expiry
of his indentures, Mr Smellie, then only nineteen years of age, accepted em-
ployment from Messre 3Iurray and Cochrane, printers in Edinburgli, as cor-
rector of their press, and conductor of the Scots Magazine, a work published
by tliem, and which kept a conspicuous station in the literary world, from
1739, up to a recent period. For these duties, besides setting types and
keeping accounts " in cases of hurry,*' Mr Smellie at first received the sum
of sixteen shillings per week. Notwithstanding, however, his severe professional
labours, he still prosecuted his classical studies with great ardour; and nothing,
perliaps, can better illustrate the self-tasking nature of Mr Smellie's mind, than
the fact, that he instructed himself in the Hebrew language, solely that he might
be thereby fitted for superintending the printing of a grammar of that tongue,
then about to be published by professor Kubertson. It appears that about this
time he was strongly disposed to renounce his mechanical employment, and adopt
one of the learned professions, having already almost fitted himself either for
that of medicine or theology. But prudential motives, induced by the certainty
of a fixed source of emolument, determined him to adhere to the business of a
printer, which he did throughout life. It is here worthy of notice, that, dur-
ing his engagement with Messrs Murray and Cochrane, a dispute having arisen
between the masters and journeymen printers of Edinburgh, respecting the pro-
per mode of calculating the value of manual labour by the latter; Mr Smellie
devised a plan for regulating the prices of setting up types, on fixed principles,
being in proportion to the number of letters, of differently sized types, in a
certain space. This useful plan has since been almost universally adopted
throughout the kingdom.

Mr Smellie continued in the employment of the above gentlemen for six
years; that is to say, until the year 1765, during which time we find him
steadily advancing himself in life, extending his acquaintance amongst the
literati of the day, and improving himself by every means within his reach.
One plan for the latter purpose which he adopted, was that of entering largely
into an epistolary correspondence with his acquaintances, with the view of

WILLIAM SMELLIB. 271

giviug him freedom and facility in committing his thoughts to paper. He like-
wise co-operated with a number of young men of similar habits and pursuits to
Iiis own, in establishing a weekly club, which they termed the Newtonian So-
CTETT, and which included the names of president Blair, Dr Hunter, Dr Black-
lock, Dr Buchan, (author of the Domestic Medicine,) Dr Adam, and many
others who afterwards became celebrated in their respective walks in life. Af-
ter the discontinuance of this society, another was instituted in 1778, called
the Newtonian Club, of which Mr Smellie was unanimously chosen secretary.
This latter institution comprised the names of Dr Duncan, Dr Gregory, Diigald
Stewart, professor Russell, Dr Wardrope, — in short the whole senatus of the
nnirersity, with many other illustrious individuals. Mr Smellie had a decided
preference to the study of natural history, especially of botany, and about the
year 1760, collected an extensive Hortus Siccus from the fields around £din-
burgh, which he afterwards presented to Dr Hope, professor of botany in the
university. He likewise in the same year, gained the honorai-y gold medal
given by the professor for the best botanical dissertation ; and scon af-
terwards wrote various other discourses on vegetation, generation, &c., all of
which were subsequently published in a large work solely written by himself,
entitled the " Philosophy of Natural History." He was besides no mean
chemist, at a time when chemistry had scarcely been reduced to a science, and
was generally held as alike visionary and vain. Upon the publication of the
Essays of the celebrated David Hume, printed by Mr Smellie, an extended cor-
respondence took place between them, in which the latter contested with great
logical force and acumen many of the heterodox doctrines advanced by the for-
mer ; particularly that respecting the credibility of miracles. Mr Smellie af-
terwards drew up, in a masterly manner, an abstract of the arguments for and
against that principle of our religious faith, for the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
and which was published in the iirst edition of that work.

Mr Smellie lived in terms of great intimacy with Dr William Buchan, au-
thor of the well-known " Domestic Medicine." That work passed through the
press in Messrs Murray and Cochrane's printing office, and entirely under Mr
Smellie's superintendence, Dr Buchan himself then residing in England. It is
well ascertained that JMr Smellie contributed materially, both by his medical
and philological knowledge, to the value and celebrity of the publication ; and
from the fact, indeed, of his having re-written the whole of it for the printers,
he was very generally considered at the time, in Edinburgh, to be the sole author of
it. The work has now naturally become almost obsolete from the rapid progress
in the medical and other sciences therewith connected, since its composition ;
but the fact of its having passed through between twenty and thirty editions,
ere superseded, fully establishes the claim of the author, or rather authors, to a
reputation of no mean note. It appears, by their correspondence, that Dr
Buchan was particularly anxious that Mr Smellie should qualify himself as
M.D., and share his fortunes in England, in the capacity of assistant ; but, with
his constitutional prudence, the latter declined the invitation. The corre-
spondence, however, induced him to give a marked attention to the practice and
theory of medicine^ as well as to stimulate him in his favourite study of
natural history ; thus qualifying himself for the excellent translation of Buffon,
which he subsequently executed.

In 1763, being then only twenty-three years of age, Mr Smellie married a
Miss Robertson, who was very respectably connected. By this marriage he
had thirteen children, many of whom he lost by death. In 1765, upon the
conclusion of his engagement with Messrs Murray and Cochrane, he commenced
business as a master-printer, in conjunction with a Mr Auld, Mr Smellie's pe-

272 WILLIAM SilELLIE.

ciiniary proportion of the copartnery being advanced for liiin by Dr Hope and
Dr f^ergusson, professors in the university. In 1767, a new copartnery was formed
by the introduction of Mr Balfour, bookseller, who brought along uith him the
properly of a newspaper called tlie Weekly Journal, which liad for a consider-
able time previously been est<iblished. Tiie management of the latter was sole-
ly intrusted to Mr Smellie ; but as it happened to be a losing concern, he
shortly afterwards insisted on its discontinuance. This led to disputes, which
finally terminated in a dissolution of the copartnery in 1771 ; when a new con-
tract was entered into between Mr Balfour and Mr Smellie only. About the
same time, he apjiears to have been on terms with the eminent Mr William
Strahan, to undertake the management of the vast printing concern carried on
by him in London ; but from some cause not clearly explained the treaty was
broken off. It is worthy of mention, as showing the respect in which Mr
Smellie was at this time held, that upon his entering on this new copartnery,
lord Karnes became security for a bank credit in favour of the younger printer,
to the amount of ^£300. His lordship appears to have had a particular regard
for 3Ir Smellie, and at his suggestion the latter coumienced the composition of
a series of lectures on the Philosophy of Natural History. About the same time
the professorship of natural history in the Edinburgh univei-sity fell vacant, and
great exertions were made to procure Mr Smellie^s appointment to it ; but
the politic.ll interest of his rival, Dr Walker, prevailed, and was even strong
enough to prevent him from delivering his lectures publicly, although the Anti-
quarian Society, of whose 31useum he was keeper, offered him the use of their hall
for that purpose.

Mr Smellie's acquaintance with lord Kames originated in his venturing to
send, anonymously however, some animadversions on his lordship's " Elements
of Criticism," whilst that work was going through the press of Messrs Murray
and Cochrane in 1764. Lord Kames replied by thanking the young critic,
and requesting him to reveal himself. The result was a strict and intimate
friendship during their lives ; lord Kames uniformly submitting all his subse-
quent works to the critical judgment of Mr Smellie, who, after the death of lord
Kames, wrote the life of his illustrious friend for the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
in the third edition of which it appeared in 1800.

Amongst Mr Smellie's many literary undertakings, one of the earliest was
the compilement and entire conducting of the first edition of the work just
named, which began to appear in numbers at Edinburgh in 1771, and was
completed in three volumes in quarto. The plan, and all the principal articles
were devised and written or compiled by him, and he prepared and superin-
tended the whole of that work, for which he only received the sum of 41200,
from its proprietors, Mr Andrew Bell, engraver, and Mr Colin 3Iacfarquhar,
printer. Had BIr Smellie adhered to this literary project, there is little
d( ubt that he would thereby ultimately have realized an ample fortune, as both
the proprietors died in great affluence, arising solely from the labours of
Mr Smellie in the original fabrication of the work. Unfortunately, however,
when applied to by the proprietors to undertake the second edition, he fastidi-
ously refused to meddle with it on account of their desiring to introduce a plan
of biography into it, which Mr Smellie imagined would detract from its dignity
as a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.

It will, we should think, be interesting to our readers to learn something of
the early history of a work which has latterly swelled out into such bulk and
importance. Of the original edition — the entire work, as we have said, of Mr
Smellie — it is not exactly known how many copies were thrown off. The
second edition, which consisted of 1500 copies, extended to ten volumes

WILLIAM SMELLIE. 273

quarto. A tliird edition, in eighteen volumes, nas commenced in 1786, and
extended to 10,000 copies. By this edition the proprietors nre said to have
netted £42,000 of clear profit, besides being paid for their respective work as

tradesmen. the one as printer, and the other as engraver. The fourth edition

extended to twenty quarto volumes, and 3,500 copies. In Uie fifth and sixth
editions, only part of the work was printed anew ; and to these a supplement in
six volumes was added by Mr Archibald Constable, after the property of the
work had fallen into his liands. An eighth edition, under the editorship of
professor Traill, is now in the course of publication.

In the year 1773, Mr Smellie, in conjunction with Dr Gilbert Stuart, com-
menced a new monthly publication. The Edinburgh Magazine and Review,
which was conducted for some years with great spirit and talent, but was
dropped in 177G, after the production of 47 numbera, forming five octavo
volumes. Its downfall was attributed to a continued series of harsh and wanton
attacks from the pen of Dr Stuart, on the writings of lord IMonboddo, which
disgusted the public mind. Edinburgh did not at that time afford such ample
scope for literary stricture as at the present day. Lord Monboddo, neverthe-
less, continued to be warmly attached to Mr Smellie, and they lived on terma
of the strictest intimacy till his lordship's death.

In the year 1780, on the suggestion of the late earl of Buchan, a society for
collecting and investigating the antiquities of Scotland, was instituted at Edin-
burgh. Of this society, Mr Smellie was personally invited by his lordship, to
become a member ; which he did, and was appointed printer of their journals
and transactions. Next year, he was elected keeper of their museum of natural
history; and in 1793, he was elected secretary, which ofiice he held till his
death.

It is not, we believe, generally known, that with Mr Smellie originated that
admirable scheme of a statistical account of all the parishes of Scotland, which
was afterwards brought to maturity by Sir John Sinclair. At the desire of the
Antiquarian Society, 3Ir Smellie, in 1781, drew up a regular plan of the un-
dertjiking, which was printed and circulated ; but the individuals to whom they
were addressed, do not seem to have understood the important nature of the
application, and only a very few complied with the directions given in it.

In 1780, Mr Smellie commenced the publication of his " Translation of Buf-
fon's Natural Histoi-y ;" a work which has ever stood deservedly high in the opinion
of naturalists, being illustrated with numerous notes and illustrations of the French
author, besides a considerable ^umber of new observations. It is worthy of no-
tice, that lAIr Smellie's knowledge of the French tongue, which is acknowledged
to have been profound, was entirely acquired by himself, without the aid of a
master: and it is a curious fact, that, of a language he so thorouglily understood,
he could scarcely pronounce one word. This fact gave unbounded surprise to
a friend of Buftbn, who came to Edinburgh on a visit, and waited on Mr Smel-
lie. The stranger noted it down as one of the greatest wonders of his travels,
intending, he said, to astonish the French naturalist, by relating it to him.
It is perhaps the best of all tests, as regards the merits of 3Ir Smellie's trans-
lation, that BufTon himself was highly pleased with it, and even requested him
to translate some of his other works ; but this, from prudential motives, Mr
Smellie declined.

In the year 1780, the partnership between Mr Smellie and 3Ir Balfour was

dissolved, when the former entered into partnersiiip with 3Ir William Creech,

bookseller. This connexion continued to the end of 1789, when 3Ir Smellie

commenced, and ever afterwards carried on business, entirely on his own

account.

ir. 2 M

274 THOMAS SMETON.

In 1790, Mr Sinellie published the first volume of his " Philosophy of Na-
tural History," the origin of which haa been already noticed. The copyright
was at the same time purchased by Mr Elliot, bookseller, Edinburgh, for one
thousand guineas. The second and concluding volume uas not published, un-
til four years after his deatli. Besides this and the other larger Morks, which
we have before adverted to, as the production of ^Ir Sinellie, we have seen
a list of upwards of forty miscellaneous essays, upon almost all subjects —
from politics to poetry, from optics to divinity — which he composed at dirterent
times, and under various circumstances ; and from his indefatigable industry, and
wonderful facility of writing, it is supposed that these are scarcely a moiety of
his literary effusions.

Mr Smellie^s acquaintance Avith Robert Burns, commenced in the year 1787,
upon the occasion of the poet's coming to Edinburgh to publish his poems,
which were printed by Mr Smellie. From their similarly social dispositions,
and mutual relish of each other's wit, an immediate and permanent intimacy
took place betwixt them. After Burns's departure from Edinburgh, they corre-
sponded frequently ; but the greater part of the communications were afterwards
destroyed by Mr Smellie, equally, perhaps, on the bard's account and his own.
Of the high opinion which the latter entertained, however, of his friend — and it
is well known how fastidious was his taste on the score of talent, honesty, and
real friendship amongst his fellow creatures — we have su^cient evidence in the
poetical sketch, published in the works of Burns, commencing —

— " To Ciochallan came

The old oodi'd hat, the brown sui tout, the same," Sir,.

Mr Smellie expired, afler a long illness, on the 24th June, 1795, in his
fifty-fifth year ; and we regret to add his name to the long list of men of
genius, who have terminated a career of labour, anxiety, and usefulness, amid
the pressure of pecuniary diffculties. Some years after his death, a small vo-
lume was published, under the care of his son, containing memoirs of three
distinguished men, with whom he had been acquainted; lord Karnes, Dr John
Gregory, and Mr David Hume: it formed part of a more extended design,
which Mr Smellie had sketched out, but found not time to execute. A memoir
of Mr Smellie himself w:^ published by Mr Robert Keir, in two volumes octavo;
a work, perhaps, disproportioned to the subject^ but containing many curious
anecdotes.

SMETON, Thomas, an eminent clergyman of the sixteenth century, was born
at the Jittle village of Gask, near Perth, about 1536. Nothing satisfactory
seems to be known respecting his parentage : Wodrow conjectures it to have
been mean, but upon no better ground than the fact of his having been born at
an obscure place. It is certain, however, that he enjoyed the advantages of the
best instructors that his country then afforded. He received his elementary
education at the celebrated school of Perth, then taught by Mr A. Simson, and
no less famous under some of its subsequent masters. Smeton is believed to
have had, as his schoolfellows, James Lawson and Alexander Arbuthnot, both of
whom afterwards acted a conspicuous part in the ecclesiastical transactions of
their country. The thorough knowledge of the Latin language displayed by
our author, leaves little room to doubt that he profited by the honourable emu-
lation, which viSJ doubtless excited among such scholars. At the age of seven-
teen, (1553,) he Avas incorporated a student in St Salvator's college, St An-
drews; and here he had the satisfaction of joining Arbuthnot, who had entered
St Mary's two years earlier.' Smeton is believed to have studied philosophy
» Records of the University of St Andrews.

THOMAS SMETON. 275

under the provost of his college, Mr William Cranstoun ; but how far he pro-
secuted his studies, none of his biographers mention. He ultimately became
one of the regents in the college, and continued in that situation, till the doc-
trines of the Reformation began to be warmly agitated in the university. When
the protestant party at length gained the ascendency, Smeton, still zealously
attached to the popish system, left his native country, and resided for many
years with his continental brethren. The history of his life, for about twenty
years, is most fortunately preserved, as related by himself, in the Diary of Mr
James 3Ielville; a work, as we have already mentioned, (see article James
Melville,) of so interesting a character, that we feel gratified by every oppor-
tunity of quoting from it. Luckily the narrative, while it is perfectly distinct,
is so much condensed, as to be completely suited to our limits ; and we, there-
/bre, make no apology for its introduction.

" At the reformation of religion, Mr Smeton, being put from the auld col-
lege of S. Andros, past to France, whare in Paris he thought mikle vpon the
trew way of saluation ; and be dealling of diwerss of his acquentance, namlie,
3Ir Thomas IMatteland, a young gentilman of guid literature and knawlage in
the treuthe of religion, was brought to ken and be inclynde to the best way:
whar also he was acquentit Avith my vncle, 3Ir Andro and Mr Gilbert Mon-
creifK Yit lothe to alter his mynd wherin he was brought vpe, and fand him-
selff sum tyme fullie perswadit in the mater of his fathe and saluation. Ho
thought he wfild leaue na thing vntryed and esseyit perteining therto ; and,
vnderstanding that the ordour of the jesuists was maist lerned, halie, and exqui-
sit in the papistrie, he resoluit to enter in thair ordour during the yeirs of pro-
bation ; at the end wharof, giff he fand himselft* satteled in his auld fathe, he
wald continow a jesuist ; and, giff he fand nocht amangs tham that might re-
moue all the douttes he was cast into, it was bot folie to seik fordar, he wald
yeild vnto that light that God be the emest delling of his lowing frinds and
companions haid enterit him into. And sa he enterit in the Jesuists collage at
Paris, whar he fand Mr Edmont Hay, a verie lowing frind, to whom he com-
municat all his mynd. Mr Edmont, seing him worthie to be win to thara, and
giffen to lerning and light, directes him to Rome ; and be the way he cam to
Geneu, whar Mr Andro Meluill and Mr Gilbert Moncreiff being for the tyme,
he communicat with tham his purpose, and cravit thair prayers. Of his pur-
pose they could gie na guid warand ; but thair prayers they promissit hartlie.
Sa making na stey ther, he past fordwart to Rome, whar he was receavit in the
Jesuist's collage gladlie. In the quhilk collage was a father, hauldin of best
lerning and prudence, wha was ordeanit to trauell with sic as wer deteinit in
pressone for religion, to convert tham : of him he cravit that he might accom-
panie him at sic tyraes when he went to deall with these presoners, quhilk was
granted to him. Be the way as they cam from the presoners to the collage,
quhilk was neir a myle, Mr Thomas wald tak the argument of the presoners,
and mentein it against the jesuist, for reasoning's cause, and indeid to be re-
soluit ; and the more he ensisted, he fand the treuthe the strangar, and the je-
suist's answers never to satisfie him. This way he continowit about a yeir and a
halff in Rome, till at last he becam suspitius, and therfor was remitted back to
Paris throw all the collages of the jesuists be the way, in all the quhilks he en-
deworit mair and mair to haiff his douttes resoluit, bot fand himsel/fay fordar
and fordar confirmed in the veritie. Coming to Paris again, he abaid ther a
space verie lowingly interleined be Mr Edmont;^ till at last he could nocht bot

2 According to Dempster, Smeton faught humanity in the university of Paris, and after-
tvards in the college of Clermont, with great applause. (See M'Crie's Melville, 2nd. edit.
3S0, note.)

L.

276 THOMAS SMETON.

discover himsellf to 3Ir Edtnont, to whom he says he was alsmikle behauldin as
to anie man in the warld ; for, noclwithslanding- that he peiceavit his myiid
turned away from thair ordour and relligion, yit he ceased noclit to counsall
hun frindlie and fatiierlie, and surtered him to want na thing^. And being a
Terie wyse man, lie thinks to keipe 31r Thomas quyet, and nocht to siifier iiira
to kythe an aduersar against them. Perceaving, tlierfor, the young man giften
to his buik, he giffes him this counsall, to go to a quyet collage, situat in a
wellhie and pleasant part in Lorain, whair he sould haitl' na thing to do, but
attend vpon his buiks; wiiair he sould haiti'all the antient doctors, and sic bulks
as yie [he] pleisit to rcid ; he sould leak na ner^ssai's ; thair he sould keip him
quyet, till (jrod wrought fordar with him, vtherwayes he wald cast himselfT in
grait danger. Thair was na tiling that could allure 3Ir Thomas mair nor this,
and therfor he resolued to follow his counsall ; and, taking iorney, went to-
wards Lorain, wluir be the way tlie Lord leyes his hand vpon him, and visites
him with an extream fever, casting him in vttermaist pean and perplexitie of
body and mynd. Thair he fought a maist Strang and ferfuU battelle in his con-
science : bot God at last prevealling, he determines to schaw himseltf, abandone
that damnable societie, and vtter, in plean proffesson, the treuthe of God, and
his enemies' falshods, hypocrisie, and craft. Sa coming bak to Paris again, he
takes his leiue of Mr Eduiont, wha yit, nochtwithstanding, kythes na thing bot
lowing frindschipe to him ; and at his parting, ghles thrie counsalles : — 1. To
reid and studie the antient doctors of the kirk, and nocht to trow the ministers.
S. To go ham to his awin countrey. ' And, thridly. To marie a wyfti — From that
he manifested hiiiiseUf amangs the professours of religion, till the tyme of the
massacre, quhilk scliorilie ensewit ; at the quhilk, being naiTowlie sought, he
cam to the Engliss ambassator, Mr Secretarie Walsingham, in whase house,
lyand at Paris for the tyme, as in a comoun girthe, he, with manic ma, war
seaif. With whome also he cam to Eingland sooiie efter, whar he remeaned
Bchoohuaister at Colchester, till his coming to Scotland.

" At his coming to Scotland, he was gladlie content to be in companie with my
mcle, Mr Andro [3Ielville], and sa agreit to be minister at Pasley, in place of
Mr Andro Pulwart, wha enterit to the subdeanrie of Glasgw, when IMr David
Cuninghame was bischopit in Aberdein. A litle efter his placing, 3Ir Andro,
principall of the collage, put in his hand Mr Archibald llamiltone's apostats'
buik, * De Confusione CaluiniancB SectCB apud Scotos ;' and efter conference
theranent, movit him to mak answer to the sam, quhilk was published in print
the yeir following, to the grit contentment of all the godlie and lernit. Mr
Thomas was verie wacryfT and peanfull, and skarslie tuk tyme to refreche
nature. I hai/f sein him oft find fault with lang denners and suppers at general
assemblies ; and when vthers wer therat, he wald abstein, and be about the
penning of things, (wherin he excellit, bathe in langage and form of letter,)
and yit was nocht rustic nur auster, bot sweit and aflable in companie, with a
modest and naiue grauitie ; rerie frugall in fude and reynient ; and walked
maist on fut, whom I was verie glad to acconipanie, whylis to Sterling, and
now and then to his kirk, for my instruction and comfort. He louit nie ex-
ceiding weill, and wald at parting thrust my head into his bosom, and kis me.

" He being weill acquented with the practizes of papists, namlie, jesuists,
and their deuyces for subuerting the kirk of Scotland, bathe publiclie and pri-
Tatlie, ceasit nocht to cry and warn ministers and schollars to be diligent vpon
ther charges and buiks, to studie the controuersies, and to tak head they ne-
glected nocht the tyme, for ther wald be a Strang vnseatt of papists. Also, ho
was carefull to know the religion and affection of noble men, insinuating him
in thair companie, in a wyse and graue maner' and warning tham to be war of

THOMAS SMETON. 277

euill companie, and nocht to send thair berns to dangerus partes. And,
finalie, Mr Audio and he marveloiislie conspyring in purposes and iudgments,
war the first niotioners of an anti-seminarie to be erected in St Andros to the
jesuist seminaries, for the course of theologie, and cessit never at assemblies and
court, till that wark was begun and sett fordwart."

There perhaps never was a period more calculated to bring forth the talents
of our countrymen, than that of the Reformation. Accordingly, Mr Smeton
was soon required by his brethren to take an active part in the more public
transactions of the church. In October, 1378, he was nominated one of the
assessors to the moderator of th^ General Assembly ; an appointment conferred
at that time upon the most learned and judicious of the members. But his ta-
lents were considered as fitting him for the performance of functions still more
important. He was chosen moderator of the next Assembly, which met in July,
1579, and which was called to the consideration of many important questions.
Among these may be mentioned, the finishing of the first Scottish edition of the
Bible. In 1580, he became the opponent of Nicol Burn, a professor of philo-
sophy in the university of St Andre\vs, who had turned papist.^ Of this contro-
versy, Dr Mackenzie promised an account in his Life of Burn, but his biogra-
phical work never reached that point.

James Melville has alluded in the passage we have quoted from his Diary,
to the anxiety of his uncle and Smeton that the young noblemen and gentle-
men of Scotland should be educated at home, and to tlie measures which they
proposed for the attainment of that object. They had at length the satisfac-
tion of seeing their new constitution of the university of St Andrews approved
by the church, and ratified by parliament Melville was chosen principal of
St Mary's, or the New college, and, after much opposition, arising, however,
from no other motive than a conviction of his usefulness as minister of Paisley,
Smeton was appointed his successor by letters under the Privy Seal, dated the
Srd of January, 1580. Most unfortunately the records of the university of
Glasgow are almost wholly lost for the period during which this excellent man
presided over it. His duties, however, are known to have been of no light
description ; he was the sole professor of divinity, and had also the charge of
the religious instruction of the parish of Govan. Besides the mere literary de-
partment, as it may be termed, of his duties, he had the general super-
intendence of the university, in which was included the by no means pleasant
office of inflicting corporal punishment on unruly boys. Almost equally little
has been preserved respecting Smeton's share in the ecclesiastical transactions
during the remainder of his life. He was chosen moderator of the General As-
sembly held in April, 1583. We have already alluded in the life of Mr Robert
Pont to the removal of that learned man for a short period to St Andrews, and
to the reasons which obliged him to relinquish that charge. Andrew Melville
was anxious that his place should be supplied by Smeton, and, it is not improb-
able, intended to adopt some measures for bringing the state of that town under
the notice of this Assembly. But it was the policy of the Prior and his de-
pendants to frustrate the settlement, whatever might be the merits of the in-
tended minister, that they might spend in extravagance or debauchery the funds
M'hich were destined for his support. The king, therefore, probably instigated
by that ecclesiastic (the earl of March) but under the specious pretext of a
fatherly care over the university of Glasgow, forbade the Assembly to " meddle
with the removing of any of the members thereof, and especially of the
Principal." Smeton's old schoolfellow, Arbuthnot, now principal of King's
3 Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, iii.

278 ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.S.

college, Aberdeen, was soon afterwards chosen by the Kirk Session of St An-
drews ; but this election produced no more favourable result.

Principal Smeton attended the following General Assembly (October 1583),
and was again employed in some of its most important business. But the
course of honour and usefulness on which he had now entered was destined to
be of Tery short duration. Soon after his return to Glasgow, he was seized
with a high fever, and died, after only eight days' illness, on the 13lh of De-
cember, 1583. About six weeks earlier, liis friend Arbuthnot, with whom he
had been so long and intimately connected, had been cut off in his 4Gth year,
and thus was the country at once bereaved of two of its greatest lights at a
period of no common difficulty. That was indeed " a dark and heavie wintar
to the kirk of Scotland.''

The habits and acquirements of Smeton must have peculiarly adapted him
for the charge of a literary, and, more particularly, of a theological seminary.
While the latter were unquestionably inferior to those of his predecessor in the
prinnipalship of Glasgow college, his manners were of a milder and more con-
ciliatory character. Yet even his learning was greatly beyond that of the mass
of his brethren. He wrote Latin with elegance and facility, and was a Greek
and Hebrew scholar. Nor had he, like many of our travelled countrymen, ne-
glected the study of his native tongue, in which he wrote with great propriety.
His knowledge of controversial divinity, derived most probably from the cir-
cumstances attending his conversion to the Protestant faith, is represented as
superior to that of almost any of his contemporaries. Of the works which he
has left behind him the best known is his reply to Hamilton, Avhich was pub-
lished at Edinburgh in 1579, with the following title : " Ad Virulentum Ar-
chibaldi Hamiltonii Apostatffi Dialogura de Confusione Calvinianae Sectas apud
Scotos impie conscriptum Orthodcxa Responsio, Thoma Smetonio Scoto auctore,
in qua Celebris ilia quaestio de Ecclesia, de Vniversalitate, Successione, et
Romani Episcopi Primatu breviter, dilucide, et accurate, tractatur : adjecta est
vera Historia extremae vitae et obitus eximii viri Joan : Knoxii Ecclesiae Scoti-
canae instauratoris fidelissimi," 8vo. The General Assembly held in April,
1581, ordered the method of preaching and prophecying by . . .
*' to be put in Scotish be their brother IMr Thomas Smetone ;" but if this
supposed translation of Hyperitis De formandis Concionibus was ever printed,
it has escaped the researches of all our bibliographers. The Dictates of princi-
pal Smeton, — that is, the notes which he dictated to his students, — were pre-
served in archbishop Spotswood's time, and are said by that author to have been
highly esteemed. Dempster also ascribes to Smeton " Epitaphium Metallani,
lib. i."

Principal Smeton adopted the advice of his excellent friend, Edmond Hay,
and " married a wyff," but at what time is uncertain. We are equally uncer-
tain whether he left any children behind him. The name of Smeton, and in
one or two instances that of Thomas Smeton, occur in the records of the uni-
versity of Glasgow in the early part of the seventeenth century, and, as the
name was by no means common, these persons were not improbably his
descendants.^

SMITH, Adam, LL.D. and F.R.S. both of London and Edinburgh, one of
the brightest ornaments of the literature of Scotland, was born on the 6th
of June, 1723, at the town of Kirkaldy, in the county of Fife. He was the
only child of Adam Smith, pomptroUer nf the customs at Kirkaldy, and Mar-

♦ Abridged from Wodrow's Life of Smet*i, apud MSS. in Bib). Acad. Glasg. vol. i.
See also James IVIelville's Diary, pp. 56 — 6, and M'Crie's Life of Melville, second edition, i.
158. ii. 379-383.

ADAM SMITH, LL.D^P.R.S. 279

garet Douglas, daughter of JMr Douglas of Strathenry. His father having died
some months before his birth, the duty of superintending his early education
devolved entirely upon his mother.

A singular accident happened to him when he was about three years of age.
As he was amusing himself one day at the door of his uncle, Mr Douglas's house
in Strathenry, he was carried off by a party of gypsies. The vagrants, how-
ever, being pui-sued by Mr Douglas, were overtaken in Leslie-wood, and liis
uncle, as Mr Stewart remarks, was thus the happy instrument of preserving to
the world a genius which was destined not only to extend the boundaries of
science, but to enlighten and reform the commercial policy of Europe.

The constitution of Dr Smith, during infancy, was infirm and sickly, and re-
quired all the delicate attentions of his surviving parent. 'I'hough she treated
him with the utmost indulgence, this did not produce any unfavourable effect
either on his dispositions or temper, and he repaid her atFectionate solicitude
by every attention tliat filial gratitude could dictate during the long period of
sixty years.

He received the first rudiments of his education at the grammar school of
Kirkaldy, which was then taught by Mr David Miller, a teachei', in his day, of
considerable reputation. He soon attracted notice by his passion for books,
and the extraordinary powers of his memory. Even at this early period, too,
he seems to have contracted those habits of speaking to himself, and of absence
in company, for which, through life, he was ao remarkable. The weakness of
Dr Smith's constitution prevented him from engaging in the sports and pastimes
of his school companions, yet he was much beloved by them on account of his
friendly and generous dispositions.

Having remained at Kirkaldy till he had completed his fourteenth year, he
ivas sent, in 1737, to the university of Glasgow, where he prosecuted his studies
during three years. Mr Stewart mentions on the authority of one of Mr
Smith's fellow students, Dr Maclaine of the Hague, that his favourite pursuits
while attending that university were mathematics and natural philosophy. He
attended, however, during his residence in Glasgow, the lectures of the cele-
brated Dr Hutcheson on moral philosophy ; and it is probable that they had
a considerable effect in afterwards directing his attention to those brandies of
science in Avhich he was to become so distinguished.

Dr Smith's friends having directed his views towards the English cliurch, he
went, in 1740, to Balliol college, Oxford, as an exhibitioner on Snell's founda-
tion, where he remained seven years. At this celebrated seat of classical
learning he cultivated with the greatest assiduity and success the study both of
the ancient and modern languages, and became intimately acquainted with
the works of the Roman, Greek, French, and Italian poets, as well as with
those of his own country. With the view of improving his style, he used fre-
quently to employ himself in the practice of translation, particularly from the
French, as he was of opinion that such exercises were extremely useful to those
who wished to cultivate the art of composition. But Dr Smith's obligations to
the university of Oxford seem to be confined to his proficiency in classical
learning, and a critical acquaintance with the niceties and delicacies of the
English tongue. Very little could be learned from the public lectures
on philosophy : the logic of Aristotle still maintaining its influence in both the
English universities. A circumstance, however, which, upon good authority, is
related to have occurred during his residence at Oxford, shows, that in his
private studies Dr Smith did not confine his reading in philosophy to the works
of Aristotle and the schoolmen. Something having excited the suspicion of his
superiors with regard to the nature of his studies in pi-ivate, the heads of his

t

280 ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.S.

college entered his apartment one day without any previous notice, and un-
luckily found the young pliilusoplier engaged in reading Hume's Treatise of
Human Nature. The ofl'ender was of course severely reprimanded, and the ob-
jectionable work seized and cxirried oft".

Dr Smith, having found that the ecclesiastical profession was not suitable to
his taste, resolved at last to renounce every prospect of rising to eminence by
church preferment He accordingly returned, in 1747, against the wishes of
his friends, to Kirkaldy, and without having determined on any fixed plan of
life, resided there nearly two yeai*s with his mother. In the end of the year
1748, Dr Smith fixed his residence in Edinburgh, and, under the patronage of
lord Kames, delivered lectures during three years on Rhetoric and Belles
Lettres. These lectures were never published, but it appears that the substance
of them was communicated to Dr Blair, who began itis celebrated course on the
same subject in 1755, and that that gentleman iiad a high opinion of their merits.
In a note to his eighteenth lecture, Dr Blair thus notices them : " On this head,
of the general character of style, particularly the plain and the simple, and
the characters of those English authoi-s wiio are classed under them in this and
the following lecture, several ideas have been taken from a manuscript treatise
on Rhetoric, part of which was shown to me many years ago, by the learned
and ingenious author, Dr Adam Smith ; and whicli, it is hoped, Avill be given
by him to the public."

It appears to have been during the residence of 3Ir Smith at this time in
Edinburgh that his acquaintance with 3Ir David Hume commenced, which
lasted without the slightest interruption till the death of the latter in 1776.
It was a friendship, 31r Stewart remarks, on both sides founded on the admira-
tion of genius, and the love of simplicity; and which forms an interesting cir-
cumstance in the history of each of these eminent men from the ambition which
both have shown to record it to postei'ity.

The literary reputation of Dr Smith being now well established, he
was elected, in 1751, professor of logic in the university of Glasgow, and in
the year following he was removed to the chair of moral philosophy in the
same university, vacant by the death of 3Ir Thomas Craigie, who was tlie im-
mediate succ«ssor of Dr Hutcheson. In this situation he remained during thir-
teen years, a period which he used to consider as the happiest of his life, the
studies and inquiries in which his academical duties led him to engage being
those which were most agreeable to his taste. It is highly probable that his
appointment to the professorship of moral philosophy was the means of inducing
him to mature his speculations in ethics and political economy, and to under-
take those great works which have immortalized his name in the literature of
Scotland.

No part of the lectures which Dr Smith delivered either as professor
of logic or of moral philosophy, has been preserved, except what has been
published in the "Theory of Moral Sentiments," and tiie "Wealth of Nations."
The following account of them, however, has been given by 3Ir 31i]ler, the cele-
brated author of the Historical View of the h'nglish Government, and professor
of law in the university of Glasgow, who had the advantage of being one of 3Ir
Smith's pupils.

" In the professorship of logic, to which Mr Smith was appointed on his first
introduction into this university, he soon saw the necessity of departing widely
from the plan that had been fullowed by his predecessoi-s, and of directing the
attention of his pupils to studies of a more interesting and useful nature than
the logic and metaphysics of the schools. Accordingly, after exhibiting a
general view of the powers of the mind, and explaining as nmcli of ihe ancient

ADAM SillTH, LL.D., F.R.S, 281

logic M was requisite to gratify curiosity with respect to an artificial method of
reasoning, which had once occupied the universal attention of the learned, he
dedicated all the rest of his time to the delivering of a system of rhetoric and
belles lettres. The best method of explaining and illustrating the various powers
of the human mind, the most useful part of metaphysics, arises from an
examination of tlie several ways of communicating our thoughts by speech, and
from an attention to the principles of those literary compositions which contri-
bute to persuasion or entertainment. By these arts everything that we per-
ceive or feel, every operation of our minds, is expressed and delineated in such
a manner, that it may be clearly distinguislied and remembered. There is at
the same time no branch of literature more suited to youth at their first en-
trance upon philosophy than this, \vhich lays hold of their taste and their
feelings.

** It is much to be regretted that the manuscript, containing Mr Smith's lec-
tures on this subject, was destroyed before his death. The first pai't, in point of
composition, was highly finished ; and the whole discovered strong marks of
taste and original genius. From the permission given to students of taking
notes, many observations and opinions contained in these lectures have either
been detailed in separate dissertations, or engrossed in general collections,
which have since been given to the public. But these, as might be expected,
have lost the air of originality, and the distinctive character which they
received from their first author, and are often obscured by that multiplicity of
common-place matter in which they are sunk and involved.

*' About a year after his appointment to the professorship of logic, Mr Smith
was elected to the chair of moral philosophy. His course of lectures on this
subject was divided into four parts. The first contained natural theology ; in
which he considered the proofs of the being and attributes of God, and those
principles of the human mind upon which religion is founded. The second
comprehended ethics, strictly so called, and consisted chiefly of the doctrines
which he afterwards published in his ' Theory of 3Ioral Sentiments.' In the
third part, he treated at more length of that branch of morality which relates
to justice, and which being susceptible of precise and accurate rules, is for that
reason capable of a full and particular explanation.

" Upon this subject he followed the plan that seems to bo suggested by
Montesquieu ; endeavouring to trace tlie gradual progress of jurisprudence,
both public and private, from the rudest to the most refined ages, and to point
out the efiects of those arts which contribute to subsistence, and to the accumu-
lation of property, in producing correspondent improvements, or alterations in
law and government. This important branch of his labours he also intended
to give to the public ; but this intention, which is mentioned in the conclusion
of the * Theory of Moral Sentiments,' he did not live to fulfill.

" In the last part of his lectures he examined those political regulations
which are founded, not upon the principle of justice, but that of expediency,
and which are calculated to increase the riches, the power, and the prosperity
of a state. Under this view, he considered the political institutions relating to
commerce, to finances, to ecclesiastical and military establishments. What he
delivei'ed on these subjects, contained the substance of the work he afterwards
published under the title of * An Inquiry into the Nature and Sources of the
Wealth of Nations.''

" There was no situation in which the abilities of Mr Smith appeared to
greater advantage than as a professor. In delivering his lectures, he trusted
almost entirely to extemporary elocution. His manner, though not graceful,
Avas plain and unaffected ; and, as he seemed to be always interested in the sub-

282 ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.3.

ject, lie never failed to interest his lie.irers. Each discourse consisted commonly
of several distinct propositions, which he successively endeavoured to prove and
illustrate. These propositions, when announced in general terms, had, from
their extent, not unfrequenlly something of the air of a paradox. In his at-
tempts to explain them, he ofton appeared at first not to be sufficiently possessed
of the subject, and spoke with some hesitation. As he advanced, however, the
matter seemed to crowd upon him ; his manner became warm and animated,
and his expression easy and fluent. In points susceptible of controversy, you
could easily discern, that he secretly conceived an opposition to his opinions,
and that he was led upon this account to support them with greater energy and
vehemence. By the fulness and variety of his illustrations, the subject grad-
ually swelled in his hands, and acquired a dimension, which, williout a tedious
repetition of the same views, was calculated to seize the attention of his audi-
ence, and to afford them pleasure as well as instruction, in following the same
subject through all the diversity of shades and aspects in which it was present-
ed, and afterwards in tracing it backwards to that original proposition, or
general truth, from which this beautiful train of speculation had proceeded.

'* His reputation as a professor was accordingly raised very high ; and a mul-
titude of students from a great distance resorted to the university merely upon his
account. Those branches of science which he taught became fashionable at
tliis place, and his opinions were the chief topics of discussion in clubs
and literary societies. Even the small peculiarities in his pronunciation or
manner of speaking became frequently the objects of imitation."

The first publications of Mr Smith, it is understood, were two articles which
he contributed anonymously to a work called the " Edinburgh Review," begtin
in 1755, by some literary gentlemen, but of which only two numbers ever
appeared. The first cf these articles was a Review of Dr Johnson's Dictionary
of the English Language, which displays considerable acuteness, and the other
contained some general observations on the state of literature in the different
countries of Europe.

In 1759, his great ethical work, entitled, " Theory of 3Toral Sentiments,
or an Essay towards an analysis of the Principles by which men naturally judge
concerning the Conduct and Character, first of their Neighbour, and afterwards of
Themselves," made its appearance. This work contributed greatly to extend
the fame and reputation of the author ; and is ur.questionably entitled
to a place in the very first rank in the science of morals. Dr Brown,
in his eighteenth lecture, thus speaks of it: " Profound in thought, it exhibits,
even when it is most profound, an example of the graces with vhich a
sage imagination knows how to adorn the simple and majestic form of science;
that it is severe and cold only to those who are themselves cold and severe, as
in these very graces it exhibits in like manner an example of the reciprocal
embellishment which imagination receives from the sober dignity of truth. In
its minor details and illustrations, indeed, it may be considered as presenting a
model of philosophic beauty of which all must acknowledge the power, mIio are
not disqualified by their very nature for the admiration and enjoyment of in-
tellectual excellence ; so dull of understanding as to shrink with a pain-
ful consciousness of incapacity at the very appearance of refined analysis, or so
dull and cold of heart, as to feel no charm in the delightful varieties of an elo-
quence, that, in the illustration and embellishment of the noblest truths, seems itself
to live and harmonize with those noble sentiments which it ailorns." But it is
chiefly in its minor analyses that the work of Dr Smith posse^es such excellence.
Its leading doctrine has been often shown to be erroneous, and by none with

ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.S.

283

more acuteness than by Di- Brown. We shall very shortly explain the nature
of that leading doctrine, and endeavour to show how it lias been refuted.

It is impossible for us to contemplate certain actions performed by others, or
to perfonn such actions ourselves, without an emotion of moral approbation or
disapprobation arising in our minds ; without being immediately impressed
witli a vivid feeling, that the agent is virtuous or vicious, worthy or unworthy
of esteem. An inquiry regarding such moral emotions, must form the most in-
teresting department of the philosophy of the mind, as it comprehends the
whole of our duty to God, our fellow creatures, and ourselves. This depart-
ment of science is termed Ethics, and is sometimes, tliough not very correctly,
divided into two parts ; the one comprehending the theory of morals, and the
other its practical doctrines. The most important question to be considered in
the theoretical part of ethics, is the following : — What is essential to virtue and
vice — that is to say — what is common, and invariably to be found in all those
actions of whicli we morally approve, and what is in the same way peculiar to
those which we morally condemn ? Philosophers have formed various opinions
upon this subject, Hobbes and his followers contended that all merit and de-
merit depends upon politicil regulations : that the only thing essential to a
virtuous or vicious action, is its being sanctioned or discountenanced by the
association of men, among whom it is performed. Mr Hume and others have
supported the more pbusible theory, that what is utility to the human race, un-
avoidably makes itself the mejisure of virtue: that actions are virtuous or vicious,
according as they are generally acknowledged to be, in their final effects, bene-
ficial or injurious to society in general. These, and many other theories of
morals, have been often shown to be erroneous ; and it would be out of place
here, to enter into any discussion regarding them. We pass on to notice the
theory of Dr Smith.

According to him, all moral feelings arise from sympathy. It is a mistake
to suppose that we approve or disapprove of an action immediately on becom-
ing acquainted with the intention of the agent, and the consequences of what
he has done. Before any moral emotion can arise in the mind, we must ima-
gine ourselves to be placed in the situation of the person who has acted, and of
those to whom his action related. If, on considering all the circumstances in
which the agent is placed, we feel a complete sympathy with the feelings that
occupied his mind, and with the gratitude of the person who was the object of
the action, we then approve of the action as right, and feel the merit of the
person who performed it, our sense of the propriety of the action depending on
our sympathy with the agent ; our sense of the merit of the agent on our sym-
pathy with the object of the action. If our sympathies be of an opposite kind,
we disapprove of the action, and ascribe demerit to the agent.

In eitimating the propriety or merit of our own actions, on the other hand,
we, in some measure, reverse this process, and consider ho v our conduct would
appear to an impartial spectator. We approve or disapprove of it, according
as we feel from the experience of our own former emotions, when we imagined
ourselves to be placed in similar circumstances, estimating the actions of others,
that it would excite his approval or disapprobation. Our moral judgments, with
respect to our own conduct are, in short, only applications to ourselves of deci-
sions, which we have already passed on the conduct of otiiers.

But in this tlieory of Dr Smith, the previous existence of those moral feel-
ings, which he supposes to flow i'rom sympathy, is in reality assumed ; for the
most exact accordance of sentiment between two individuals, is not sufficient to
give rise to any moral sentiment. In the very striking emotions of taste, for

284 ADAM SMITH, LL.D., r.R.S.

example, Dr Brown remarks, we may feel, on the perusal of the same poem,
the performance of the same musiaal air, the sight of the ^me picture or statue,
a rapture or disgust, accordant with the rapture or disgust expressed by ano-
ther reader, or listener, or spectator ; a sympathy far more complete than
takes place in our consideration of the circumstances in which he may have had
to regulate his conduct in any of the common aflairs of life. If mere accord-
ance of emotion, then, imply the feeling of moral excellence of any sort, we
should certainly feel a moral regard for all whose taste coincides with ours:
yet, however gratifying the sympathy in such a case may be, we do not feel, in
consequence of this sympathy, any morality in the taste that is most exactly ac-
cordant with our own. There is an agreement of emotions, but nothing more;
and if we had not a principle of moral approbation, by which, independently
of sympathy, and previously to it, we regard actions as right, the most exact
sympathy of passion would, in like manner, have been a proof to us of an
agreement of feelings, but of nothing more. It proves to us more ; because the
emotions Avhich we compare with our own, are recognized by us as moral feel-
ings, independently of tlie agreement.

But though the leading doctrine of Dr Smith's theory be considered by many,
apparently on just grounds, as erroneous, his work is still unquestionably oae of
the most interesting which have been produced on moral science. It abounds
in faithful delineations of characters and manners, and contains the purest
and most elevated maxims for the practical regulation of human life. The
style, though perhaps not sufficiently precise for the subject, is throughout elo-
quent, and serves, by the richness of-it« colouring, to relieve the dryness of
some of the more abstract discussions.

Dr Smitli's *' Dissertation on the Origin of Languages," which is now gene-
rally bound up with the *' Theory of Moral Sentiments," made its first appear-
ance with the second edition of that work. In this ingenious and beautiful tract,
the author gives a theoretical history of the formation of languages, in which
he endeavours to ascertain the different steps by which they would gradually
arrive at their present so artificial and complicated state.

As the " Theory of Moral Sentiments " contains the most important part of
Dr Smith's ethical doctrines, he was enabled, after the publication of tliat work,
to devote a larger part of his course of lectures, than he had previously done,
to the elucidation of the principles of jurisprudence and political economy.
From a statement which he drew up in 1755, in order to vindicate his claim to
certain political and literary opinions, it appears that, from the time when he
obtained a chair in the university of Glasgow, and even while he was delivering
private lectures in Edinburgh, he had been in the habit of teaching the same
liberal system of policy, with respect to the freedom of trade, which he after-
wards published in tiie " Wealth of Nations." His residence in one of the
largest commercial towns in the island, must have been of considerable advan-
tage to him, by enabling him to acquire coiTect practical information on many
points connected with the subject of his favourite studies ; and 3Ir Stewart
states, as a circumstance very honourable to the liberality of the merchants of
Glasgow, that, notwithstanding the reluctance so common among men of busi-
ness to listen to the conclusions of mere speculation, and the direct opposition
of Dr Smith's leading principles to all the old maxims of trade, he was able,
before leaving the university, to rank some of the most eminent merchants of
the city among the number of liis proselytes.

The publication of the '* Theory of Moral Sentiments," served greatly to in-
crease the reputation of its author. In 1762, the Senatus Academicus of tho
university of Glasgow unanimously confen-ed on him tlie honorary degree of

ADAM SMITH, LL.D.. F.R.S. 285

Doctor of Laws, in testimony, ns expressed in the minutes of the meeting, of
their respect for his universally acknowledged talents, and of the advantage
that had resulted to the university, from the ability with which he had, for many
years, expounded the principles of jurisprudence.

Toward* the end of 1763, an important event occurred in Dr Smith's life.
Having received an invitation from 3Ir Charles Townsend, husband of the
duchess of Buccleuch, to accompany the young duke, her grace's son, on his
travels, he was induced, from the liberal terms in which the proposal was made,
and the strong dosire he entertained of visiting the continent, to resign his
chair at Glasgow, and accept of the offer, " With the connection which he
was led to form, in consequence of this change in his situation," Mr Stewart
remarks, " he had reason to be satisfied in an uncommon degree ; and he al-
ways spoke of it with pleasure and gratitude. I'o the public, it was not, per-
haps, a change equally fortunate, as it interrupted that studious leisure for
which nature seems to have destined him, and in which alone he could have
hoped to accomplish those literary projects which liad flattered the ambition of
his youthful genius."

Dr Smith having joined the duke of Buccleuch at London, in the early part
of the year 1764, they set out for the continent in the month of March. After
remaining only ten or twelve days in the capital of France, they proceeded to
Toulouse, where they resided during eighteen months. Toulouse was at that
time the seat of a parliament ; and the intimacy in which he lived with some of
its principal members, afforded him an opportunity of acquiring the most cor-
rect information in regard to the internal policy of France.

After leaving Toulouse, they proceeded through the southern provinces to
Geneva ; and having spent two months in that city, returned to Paris about
Christmas, 1765, where they remained nearly a year. During their abode in
Paris, Dr Smith, through the recommendation of Mr Hume, and his own cele-
brity, lived on the most intimate terms Avith the best society in the city. Tur-
got, (afterwards comptroller-general of finance,) Quesnay, Necker, d'Alembert,
Helvetius, Marmontel, the due de la Rochefoucault, and flladame Riccaboni,
were among the number of his acquaintances ; and some of them he continued
ever afterwards to reckon among his friends. It is highly probable that he de-
rived considerable advantage from his intercourse with Quesnay, the celebrated
founder of the sect of Economists. Of this profound and ingenious man, Dr
Smith entertained the highest opinion ; and he has pronounced his work upon
Political Economy, with all its imperfections, to be the nearest approximation
to the truth, that had then been published, on the principles of tliat very im-
portant science. Dr Smith intended to have dedicated to Quesnay the " Wealth
of Nations," but was prevented by his death.

Although Dr Smith had made some very severe remarks in his " Theory of
Moral Sentiments," on the celebrated maxims of the duke of Rochefoucault, this
did not prevent him from receiving the utmost kindness and attention from the
author's grandson. A short time before Dr Smith left Paris, he received a flat-
tering letter from the duke of Rochefoucault, with a copy of a new edition
of the Maxims of his grandfather ; and informing Dr Smith, at the same time,
that he had been prevented from finishing a translation of his " Theory of
Morals" into French, only by the knowledge of having been anticipated in the
design.

Dr Smith returned with his pupil to London, in October, 1766 ; and soon
after took up his residence with his mother at Kirkaldy, where, with the ex-
ception of a few occasional visits to London and Edinburgh, he resided con-
stantly during the next ten years, engaged habitually in intense study. Mt

280 ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.S.

liuiue, who considered the town as tlie proper scene for a man of letters, made
ninny inerteotual attempts to prevail upon hira to leave his retirement. During
this residence of Dr Smitli at Kirkaldy, he was engaged chielly in maturing his
speculations upon Economical Science. At length, in 1776, the " Inquiry
into the Nature and Causes of the \\'calth of Nations," made its appearance : a
work whicl) holds nearly the same rank in political economy, that Locke's Es-
say on the Human Understanding does in tl>e philosophy of the mind, or the
Principia of Newton in astronomy.

Our limits prevent us from giving anything like a particular analysis of this
great work, but we shall endeavour to give some brief account of it. We shall
notice very shortly the state of the science at tiie time when Dr Smith wrote — the
(litierent leading principles which the illustrious author endeavours to establish,
and the principal merits and defects of the work.

The object of political economy is to point out the means by which the in-
dustry of man may be rendered most productive of the necessaries, conveni-
encies, and luxuries of life ; and to ascertain the laws which regulate the dis-
tribution cf the various products which constitute wealth among the different
classes of society. Though these inquiries be in the highest degree interesting
and important, the science of political economy is comparatively of recent ori-
gin. It was not to be expected that, among the Greeks and Romans, who con-
sidered it degrading to be engaged in manufactures or commerce, and among
whom such employments were left to slaves — where moralists considered the in-
dulgence of luxury to be an evil of the fii'st magnitude ; that the science which
treats of the best methods of acquiring wealth, should be much attended to. At
tiie revival of letters, these ancient prejudices still maintained a powerful influ-
ence, and, combined with other causes, long prevented philosophers from turn-
ing their attention to the subject

Ihe first inquirers in political economy were led away by a prejudice, which
is, perhaps, one of the most deeply rooted in the human mind ; namely, that
wealth consists solely in gold and silver. From this mistake grew up that sys-
tem of commercial policy, which has been denominated the mercantile system,
according to the principles laid down, in which the commerce of Europe was,
in a great measure, regulated at the time when Dr Smith's work appeared.
The leading doctrine of the connuercial system was, that the policy of a country
should be directed solely to the nmltiplication of the precious metals. Hence
the internal commerce of a nation came to be entirely overlooked, or viewed
only as subsidiary to the foreign: and the advantage derived from foreign trade
was estimated by the excess of the value of the goods exported, above that of
those which were imported ; it being supposed that the balance must be brought
to the country in specie. To tiie radiuil mistake upon which the mercantile
system was founded, may be traced those restrictions upon tite importation, and
the encouragement given to the exportation of manufactures, which, till lately,
distinguished the commercial policy of all the nations in Europe. It was ima-
gined that, by such regulations, the excess of the value of exports over imports,
to be paid in gold, would be increased.

During the seventeenth, and the earlier part of the eighteenth century, various
pamphlets had appeared, in which some of the fundamental principles of politi-
cal economy were distinctly enough laid down, and which had a tendency to
show tlie futility of the mercantile theory. For a particular account of these
publications, and their various merits, we must refer to Mr M'CulIoch's able
Introductory Discourse to the last edition of the " Wealth of Natioi.s." We
shall here only remark, that though several of these treatises contain the
germs of some of the truths to be found in tlie " ^^ calth of Nations ;" yet

ada:\i smith, ll.d., f.r.s. 287

the principles laid down in them are often stated only in a cursory and inci-
dental manner. Their authors frequently appear not to be aware of the im-
portance of the truths which they have discovered ; and in none of them is
anything like a connected view of political economy to be found.

The only work tliat was given to the world before the " Wealth of Nations,*'
in which an attempt was made to expound the principles of political economy
in a logical and systematic manner, was the Economical Table of the celebrated
Quesnay, a French physician, which was published in 1758: but the theory of
this distinguished economist is very erroneous. Having been educated in the
country, he was naturally inclined to regard agriculture with partiality; and he
had come to the conclusion, that it was the only species of industry which could
possibly contribute to increase the wealth of a nation. Everything which
ministers to the wants of man, must be originally derived from the earth ; and
the earth, therefore, Quesnay contended, must be the only source of wealth.
As manufacturers and merchants do not realize any surplus in the shape of rent,
he conceived that their operations, though highly useful, could not add any
greater value to commodities than the value of the capital consumed by them.
Into this erroneous theory he seems to have been led, from being unable to ex-
plain the nature of rent ; and from being unacquainted with that fundamental
principle in political economy, that labour is the cause of exchangeable value.

But, though Quesnay conceived agriculture to be the only source of wealth,
the principles of his system fortunately did not lead him to solicit for it any
exclusive protection. On the contrary, he contended that the interest of all the
different classes of society would be best promoted, by the establishment of a
system of perfect freedom. It must, he conceived, be advantvigeous to the
cultivators of the soil, that the industry of manufacturers and merchants should
not be fettered ; for the more liberty they enjoyed, the greater would be
their competition, and in consequence the cheaper would their services be
rendered to the agriculturists. On the other hand, it was the interest of the
manufacturers, that the cultivatoi-s of the soil should also have perfect freedom ;
for the greater liberty they enjoyed, the more would their industry increase
that surplus fund, from which, according to his theory, the whole national re-
venue was ultimately derived.

It was in the work of Dr Smith, that the sources of the wealth and prosperity
of nations, were first fully and correctly explored, and, in a systematic manner,
distinctly explained ; and that the advantages to be derived from commercial
freedom, were first satisfactorily established. In opposition to the principles of
the commercial system, Dr Smith showed that wealth does not consist in gold
and silver, but in the abundance of the various necessaries, conveniences, and
luxuries of life ; that labour is the only source of wealth ; and, in opposition to
the French economists, that labour is productive, when employed in manufac-
tures and commerce, as well as in agriculture. He has investigated the v-arious
causes by which labour may be rendered most productive ; and has shown how
immensely its powers are increased, by being divided among different indivi-
duals, or nations. He has proved, with great power of reasoning, that all re-
strictions upon either the internal or external commerce of a country, are in the
highest degree absurd and pernicious ; and that the progress of real opulence
will be most rapidly accelerated, Avhen the industry of every individual and na-
tion is employed in the production of those articles for which, either from na-
tural or artificial causes, they are best adapted, and when the most unlimited
freedom of making exchanges is everywhere allowed. "It is the maxim of every
prudent master of a family," he remarks, B. iv. c. 2, " never to attempt to
make at home, what it will cost him more te make than to buy. The tailor

28S ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.S.

does not attempt to make his own shoes, but buys them of the shoemaker ; the
shoemaker does not attempt to make his own clothes, but emphtys a tailor.
The farmer attempts to make neither the one nor the other, but employs those
different artificers ; all of them find it for their interest to employ their whole
industry, in a way in which they have some advantage over their neighbours,
and to purchase with a part of its produce, whatever else they have occasion for,"
** What is prudence in the conduct of any private family, can scarce be folly in
that of a great kingdom. If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity
cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of
the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some ad-
vantage." " The natural advantages which one country lias over another in pro-
ducing particular commodities, are sometimes so great, that it is acknowledged
by all the world, to be in vain to struggle with them. By means of glasses, hot-
beds, and hot-walls, very good grapes can be raised in Scotland, and very good
wine can be made of them, at about thirty times the expense for which at least
equally good can be brought fi-om foreign countries. Would it be a reasonable
law to prohibit the importation of all foreign wines, mei-ely to encourage the
making of claret and burgundy in Scotland? But if there would be a manifest
absurdity in turning towards any employment thirty times more of the capital
and industry of the country, than Avould be necessary to purchase from foreign
countries an equal quantity of the commodities wanted ; there must be an ab-
surdity, though not altogether so glaring, yet exactly of the same kind, in
turning towards any such employment a thirtieth, or even a three-hundredth
part more of either."

But though Dr Smith contended upon correct principles for unlimited free-
dom of trade and commerce, and conceived that all the dift'erent branches of
industry must be advantageous to society, he was of opinion that all were hot
equally advantageous. Agriculture he conceived to be the most productive em-
ployment in which capital could be engaged; the home trade to be more pro-
ductive than the foreign ; and the foreign than the carrying trade. But these
distinctions are evidently eiToneous. Tlie self-interest of individuals will al-
ways prevent them from employing their capital in manufactures, or in com-
merce, unless they yield as large profits as they would have done, if they had
been employed in agriculture : and a state being only a collection of indivi-
duals^ whatever is most beneficial to them, must also be most advantageous to
the society. Dr Smith has made another mistake in regard to the productive-
ness of labour. He divides all labourers into two classes, the productive and
the unproductive ; and he limits the class of productive labourers to those whose
labour is immediately fixed, and realized in some vendible commodity. But
certainly all labour ought to be reckoned productive, which, either directly or
indirectly, contributes to augment the wealth of a society. It is impossible to
hold that the labour of an Arkwright, or a Watt, was unproductive.

Few chapters in the "Wealth of Nations" are more valuable, than that in
which the illustrious author explains the causes of the apparent inequality in
the wages and profits derived from different craploymentp. He has shown, in
the fullest and most satisfactory manner, that when allowance is made for all the
advantages and disadvantages attending the different employments of labour
and stock, wages and profits must, in the same neighbourhood, be either perfect-
ly equal, or continually tending to equality. The circumstances which he
enumerates, .ns making up for a low state of wages in some employments, and
counterbalancing a high one in others, are five in number. First, the agree-
ableness or disagreeableness of the employments themselves; secondly, the easi-
ness and cheapness, or the difficulty and expense of learning them ; thirdly,

ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.S. 289

tiie constancy or inconstancy of employment in them ; fourthly, the small or
great trust which must be reposed in those who exercise them; and, fifthly, the
probability or improbability of success in them. Differences in the rate of pro-
fit seem to be occasioned, chiefly from the risk to which capital is exposed, be-
ing greater in some employments than in others.

One of the most important inquiries in political economy, is the investigation
of the laws which regulate the exchangeable value of the different productions
of industry ; and the disquisitions of Dr Smith on this subject, are extremely
valuable. He has shown, in opposition to the opinion commonly before enter-
tained on the subject, that the price of commodities, the quantity of Avhich may
be indefinitely increased, does not depend upon their scarcity or abundance,
but upon the cost of their production ; that although variations in the supply of
any article, or in the demand for it, may occasion temporary variations in its
exchangeable value, the market price is permanently regulated by the natural
price, and on an average cori-esponds with it. In estimating the elements,
however, which form the necessary price of commodities, he has fallen into
some very important errors, particularly with regai'd to rent, which, from being
unacquainted with the causes that produce it, he considered to be one of the
component parto of price. It was subsequently suggested by Dr Anderson,
and more specifically laid down by Ricardo and others, that rent is the differ-
ence between the product of the fruitful soil of a country, (in comparison with
the amount of labour and capital expended on it,) and the product of such less
fruitful soil, as the pressure of population renders it necessary to bring into
cultivation ; and that rent being the difference between returns from an equal
amount of capital applied to superior soils, and to tliat which is the most un-
productive, is the effect, and not tlie cause, of the dearness of agricultural pro-
ducts ; and cannot, therefore, form an element in their natural price.

The error which Dr Smith has fallen into, with regard to rent, is certainly
the most important mistake in the ** Wealth of Nations," and has vitiated a con-
siderable part of the work.' Among other mistakes, it has led him into error,
in regard to the ultimate incidence of different taxes, and the circumstances
which determine tlie rate of wages and profits. Had the illustrious author, too,
been acquainted with the true theory of rent, he woidd not have contended
that corn, upon an average, was the most invariable of all commodities in its
value.

Many other important subjects, besides those we have so briefly noticed, are
discussed by Dr Smith ; but we cannot farther extend our remarks. With all
its defects, the " Wealth of Nations " will ever remain a gieat standard work in
the science of political economy, and an illustrious monument of the genius and
talents of its author. The publication raised him to the highest rank in the
literary world ; and he enjoyed, during fifteen years, the fame which he had so
justly acquired. His work soon after being published, was translated into all
the languages of Europe ; his opinions were i-eferred to in the house of com-
mons, and he himself consulted by the minister. Before his death, too, he had
the satisfaction of seeing that the principles of commercial freedom, which he
had so ably advocated, were beginning to influence the councils of Great Bri-
tain, and other European states.

A few months after the publication of the " Wealth of Nations," Dr Smith
lost his highly esteemed friend, Mr Hume, whc^died upon the 25th of August,
1776. Dr Smith was most assiduous in his attentions during the last illness of
this illustrious man ; and gives an interesting account, in a letter to Mr Strahan

1 Dr Smith's theory of rent, however, is not without its defenders. See, in particular,
the ^^'^stminster Review.

JV. so

290 ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.S.

of London, of the circumstances attending his death, and a eulugjum upon his
character. To those who are acquainted with Mr Hume's religious opinions,
some parts of this eulogium must certainly appear too high ; and the author
uas, accordingly, attacked on the subject by Dr Home, bishop of Norwich, who'
rasiily ascribed to him, without any evidence, the same sceptical opinions which
liad been entertained by his illustrioiu friend.

Dr Smith resided cliiefly in London for about two years after his great work
had been given to the public, during which time his society was courted by the
most distinguished persons in tjie metropolis. In 1778, he was appointed one
of the commissioners of customs in Scotland, through the unsolicited applica«
tion of his friend and former pupil, the duke of Ruccleuch. Upon obtaining
this appointment, he removed to Edinburgh, where he spent the remaining years
of his life, enjoying comparative affluence, and the society of his earliest and
most esteemed friends. His mother, who was then in extreme old age, accom-
panied him to town ; and his cousin, Miss Jane Douglas, who had formerly
been a member of Iiis family in Glasgow, undertook tlie superintendence of his
domestic arrangements.

The accession to his income Avhich he had now obtained, enabled him to
gratify, to a much greater extent than formerly, the natural generosity of his
disposition. " The state of his funds at the time of his death," Mr Stewart re-
marks, " compared with his very moderate establishment, confirmed, beyond a
doubt, what his intimate acquaintances had often suspected, that a large pro-
portion of his savings was allotted to offices of secret charity."

In 1787, Dr Smith was elected lord rector of the university of Glasgow. A
letter addressed to the principal of the university on the occasion, shows the
high sense he felt of this honour. " No preferment," he writes, " could have
given me so much real satisfaction. No man can owe greater obligations to a
society, than I do to the university of Glasgow. They educated me : they sent
me to Oxford. Soon after my return to Scotland, they elected me one of their
own members ; and afterwards preferred me to another office, to which the
abilities and virtues of the never to be forgotten Dr Hutcheson, had given a
superior degree of illustration. The period of thirteen years, which I spent as
a member of that society, I remember as by far the most useful, and therefore
as by far the happiest and most honourable period of my life : and now, after
three and twenty years' absence, to be remembered in so very agreeable a man*
ner by my old friends and protectors, gives me a heartfelt joy, which I cannot
easily express to you."

During the last residence of Dr Smith in Edinburgh, his studies appear to
have been almost entirely suspended. The petty routine duties of his office,
though requiring little exertion of thought, were sufficient to occupy a consider-
able portion of his time and attention ; and it is deeply to be regretted, that,
in all probability, these duties alone prevented him from giving that " Account
of the general principles of Law and Government, and of the dillerent Revolu-
tions they have undergone in the diffiirent ages and periods of society," which
he had stated in the concluding paragraph of the " Theory of Moral Senti-
ments," it was his intention to do.

In 1784, Dr Smith lost his mother, to whom he had been most tenderly at-
tached ; and her death was followed, four years afterwards, by that of Miss
Douglas. These domestic afflictions contributed to hasten the decline of his
health. His constitution had never been robust, and began early to give way.
His last illness, which arose from a chronic obstruction of the bowels, was
liii^erjog and painful. He had the consolation, however, of receiving the ten-

ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.S.

291

derest sympathy of his friends ; and he bore his affliction with the most perfect
resignation. His death took place in July, 1790.

A few days before his death, when Dr Snifth found his end rapidly
approaching, he caused all his manuscripts to be destroyed excepting a
few essays, which he entrusted to the care of his executors, Dr Black and Dr
Hntton. The intention of destroying all those of his manuscripts which he
• did not think worthy of publication, he had long entertained, and seems to have
proceeded from a laudable anxiety in regard to his literary reputation. It is
not exactly known what were the contents of the manuscripts which were de-
stroyed, but there is every reason to beVieve that they consisted in part of the
lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres wiiich he had delivered at Edin-
burgh in 1748, and of the lectures on natural religion and jurisprudence, which
formed an important part of the course he had delivered at Glasgow. Of the
essays which were left to the care of his friends six were published a few years
after his death by his illustrious executors. Three of them are fragments of a
great work which he at one time intended to write on the principles which lead
and direct philosophical inquiries, but which he had long abandoned as far too
extensive. The first contains the history of astronomy, which seems to be the
most complete of tlie three ; the second contains the history of ancient
physics ; and the third gives the history of the ancient logics and metaphysics.
To these essays, which are all written upon the plan of his Essay on the forma-
tion of the Languages, are subjoined other three, which treat, 1st. Of the na-
ture of that imitation which takes place in what are called the Imitative Arts.
2nd. Of the affinity between certain English and Italian Verses ; and 3rd. Of
the External Senses. As to the merits of these essays the distinguished
editors express their hopes " that the reader would find in them that happy
connexion, that full and accurate expression, and that clear illustration whic'{
are conspicuous in the rest of the author's works, and that though it is difficult
to add much to the great fame he so justly acquired by his other writings, these
would be read witii satisfaction and pleasure." Tlie library which Dr Smith
had collected during his life though small was valuable. The books were well
selected, and he was particularly careful that the bijous which he admitted
into his collection should be in excellent order. Mr Smellie, in his life of
Dr Smith, says, " The first time I happened to be in his library, observing me
looking at the books with some degree of curiosity and perhaps surprise, for
most of the volumes were elegantly, and some of them superbly bound, — ' You
must have remarked,' said he, ' that I am a beau in nothing but ray books.'"
This valuable library, together with the rest of his property, Dr Smith
bequeathed to Mr David Douglas, advocate, his cousin.

We shall close this sketch of Dr Smith's life with a few observations on his
habits and private character, extracted from the valuable Account of his Life
and Writings given by Mr Stewart.

"To his private worth, the most certain of all testimonies may be found in
that confidence, respect, and attachment which followed him through all the
rarious relations of life ; the serenity and gayety he enjoyed under the pressure
of his growing infirmities, and the warm interest he felt to the last in every-
thing connected with the welfare of his friends, will be long remembered by a
small circle, with whom, as long as his strengtii permitted, he regularly spent
an evening in the week ; and to whom the recollection of his worth still forms
a pleasing, though melancholy bond of union.

" The more delicate and characteristical features of his mind, it is perhaps
impossible to trace. That there were many peculiarities both in his manners
and in his intellectual habits was manifest to the most superficial observer ; but

292 ADAM SMITH, LL.D., F.R.S.

•although, to those who knew him, tliese peculiarities detracted nothing from the
respect \\hich his abilities connnanded ; and, altiiougli to his intimate friends
they added an inexpressible charm to his conversation, uhile they displayed in
tlie most interesting light the artless simplicity of his heart ; yet it would re-
quire a very skilful pencil to present them to the public eye. He was certain-
ly not fitted for the general commerce of the world, or for the business of active
life. The comprehensive speculations with which he had been occupied from
his youth, and the variety of materials which his own invention continually sup-
plied to his tlioughts, rendered him habitually inattentive to familiar objects,
and to common occurrences ; and he- frequently exhibited instances of absence
which hare scarcely been surpassed by the fancy of La Bruyere. Even in com-
pany he was apt to be engrossed with his studies ; and appeared, at times, by
the motion of his lips, as well as by his looks and gestures, to be in the fervour
of composition. I have often, however, been struck, at the distance of years,
with his accurate memory of tiie most trifling particulars, and am inclined to
believe, from this and some other circumstances, that he possessed a power, not
perhaps uncommon among absent men, of recollecting, in consequence of subse-
quent efforts of reflection, many occurrences which at the time wlien they hap-
pened did not seem to have sensibly attracted his notice.

" To the defect now mentioned, it was probably owing that he did not fall
in easily with the common dialogue of conversation, and that lie was somewiiat
apt to convey his own ideas in the form of a lecture. When he did so, how-
ever, it never proceeded from .a wish to engross the discourse, or to gratify his
vanity. His own inclination disposed him so strongly to enjoy in silence the
gaycty of those around him, that his friends were often led to concert little
schemes in order to engage him in the discussions most likely to interest him.
Nor do I think I shall be accused of going too far when I say, that he was
scarcely ever known to start a new topic himself, or to appear unprepared upon
those topics that were introduced by others. Indeed, his conversation was
never more amusing than when he gave a loose to his genius upon the very few
branches of knowledge of which he only possessed the outlines.

** The opinions he formed of men upon a slight acquaintance were frequent-
ly erroneous ; but Uie tendency of his nature inclined him much more to blind
partiality, than to ill-founded prejudices. The enlarged views of human affairs
on which his mind habitually dwelt^ left him neither time nor inclination to
study in detail the uninteresting peculiarities of ordinary characters, and ac-
cordingly, though intimately acquainted with the capacities of the intellect and
the workings of the heart, .and accustomed in his theories to mark with the
most delicate hand the nicest shades both of genius and of the passions ; yet in
judging of individuals it sometimes happened that his estimates were in a sur«
prising degree wide of the truth.

** The opinions to which in the thoughtlessness and confidence of his social
hours, he was accustomed to hazard on books and on questions of speculation,
were not uniformly such as might have been expected from the superiority of
his understanding, and the singular consistency of his philosophical principles.
They were liable to be influenced by accidental circumstances, and by the
humour of the moment : and when retailed by those who only saw him occa-
sionally, suggested false and contradictory ideas of his real sentiments. On
these, however, as on most other occasions, tliere was always much truth, as
well as ingenuity in his remarks; and if the diflerent opinions which at
different times he pronounced upon the same subject had been all combined to-
gether, go as to modify and limit each other, they would probably have afforded
materials for a decision equally comprehensive and just. But, in the Bociety of

TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT. 293

his friends, he had no disposition to form those qualified conchisions that we
admire in his writings ; and he generally contented himself with a bold and
masterly sketch of the object from the first point of view in which his temper
or his fancy presented iL Something of the same kind might be remarked
when he attempted in the flow of his spirits to delineate those characters which
from long intimacy he might have been disposed to understand thoroughly.
The picture was always lively and expressive, and commonly bore a strong and
amusing resemblance to the original, when viewed under one particular aspect ;
but seldom, perhaps, conveyed a just and complete conception of it in all its
dimensions and proportions. In a word, ifvras the fault of his unpremeditated
judgments to be systematical, and too much in extremes.

" 13ut in whatever way these trifling peculiarities in his manners may
be explained, there can be no doubt that they were intimately connected with
the genuine artlessness of his mind. In this amiable quality he often recalled to
his friends the accounts that are given of good La Fontaine ; a quality which
in him derived a peculiar grace from the singularity of its combination with
those powers of reason and of eloquence which in his political and moral
writings have long engaged the admiration of Europe.

" In his external form and appearance there was nothing uncommon.
When perfectly at ease, and ivhen warmed with conversation, his gestures were
animated, and not ungraceful ; and in the society of those he loved, his
features were often brightened with a smile of inexpressible benignity. In the
company of strangers his tendency to absence, and perhaps, still more, his
consciousness of this tendency, rendered his manner somewhat embarrassed, —
an effect which was probably uot a little heightened by those speculative ideas
of propriety, which liis recluse habits tended at once to perfect in his concep-
tion, and to diminish his power of realizing. He never sat for his picture ;
but the medallion of Tassie conveys an exact idea of his profile, and of the
general expression of his countenance."

SMOLLETT, Tobias, or, to give him his full name, as it appears in the bap-
tismal record, Tobias Gkorge Smollett, a celebrated novelist, poet, and mis-
cellaneous writer, was born in the old house of Dalquhurn, near the modern
village of Renton, in the parish of Cardross, Dumbartonshire, in the year 1721.
His family had held considerable local rank for several centuries. His grand-
father. Sir James Smollett, of Bonhill, served as commissioner for Dumbarton,
in the Scottish parliaments, between the Revolution and the Union ; in the lat-
ter negotiation, he was chosen a commissioner on the Scottish side. Archibald,
the fourth son of this gentleman, by Jane, daughter of Sir Aulay IMacaulay, of
Ardincaple, received a liberal education, but was bred to no profession. With-
out previously consulting his father, he married Barbara Cunningham, daugh-
ter of 3Ir Cunningham, of Gilbertfield, near Glasgow; a woman of distinguished
understanding, taste, and elegance, but no fortune. Sir James, though dis-
pleased with the match, as having been entered into without his knowledge,
provided for his son, by giving him a liferent of his farm of Dalquhurn; which,
with an annuity, made his income about i*300 a-year.

Archibald Smollett had three children. Soon after the birth of the youngest,
the subject of this memoir, he died, leaving his family entirely dependent on
the bounty of his father. Tobias very early gave promising indications of a
lively wit and vigorous understanding, which were cultivated, not only by the
fond partiality of his mother, but by a frequent intercourse with his venerable
grandfather, whose long experience ** in courts and great afiairs," conspired
with his natural inclination, in directing his attention to the study of the con-
duct and characters of men, and the science of life. He received the rudi-

294 TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT.

meuts of education at the neighbouring scliool of Dunibaiton, which -nas then
taught by IVIr John Lore, a distinguished grauimaiian, well known for his con-
troversies with Ruddiinnn.

The scene of SmoUett^s childhood was the most favourable that could be con-
ceived for nursing an infant poet. Abounding in all the charms of natural
scenery, it hung on the very confines of that I'ude romantic land, where itill the
Highlander roamed in untamed pride, exhibiting nearly all the primitive fea-
tures of a nomadic tribe. Within a few miles of Smollett's residence, under the
roof of his courtly grandfather, the traveller would have lost himself iii the wild
domains of the JMacfarlanes and Mao^regors ; men who even still stood out in
tTims against the sway of civilization, and rarely appeared beyond the threshold
of the hills, except on some predatory excursion, or some wild crusade against
the existing political and religious settlements of the country. Far and wide over
the beautiful lowland region, inhabited by Smollett, were seen the lofty tops of
Ben Lomond, Ben More, and others of the kindred of hills, whose dim and
misty grandeur was calculated to awaken vivid associations, regarding the
character of the country and its inhabitants. On the other hand, he beheld,
rising from his native valley, the castles of Cardross and Dumbarton, in one of
which the heroic Robert Bruce had spent his latter years, and breathed his
last ; while, in the other, Wallace had often defied his country's foes, and was
nt length immured as a prisoner. It was probably under the influence of this
neighbourhood, that Smollett, like Burns, was, at a very early period, struck
with admiration of the character of Wallace, whose adventures, reduced from
the verse of Blind Harry, by Hamilton of Gilbertfield, were in every boy's
hand, and formed a constant theme of fire-side and nursery stories. To such a
degree arose Smollett's enthusiasm on this subject, that, ere he had quilted
Dumbarton school, he wrote verses to the memory of the Scottish champion.^

The romantic disposition of Tobias Smollett, thus nursed, made him wish to
be a soldier. He was thwarted, however, in this predilection, by his grand-
father, who, having already permitted the elder brother, James, to engage in a
military career, thought he could better advance the prospects of the younger
in a distinct course of life. Tobias was, therefore, sent to study at Glasgow
college, with a view to some of the learned professions. There he was led,
by the intimacy he formed with some of the medical students, to embrace
the profession of physic, which he forthwith studied, along with anatomy, under
the proper professors, at the same time that he sei-ved an apprenticeship in town,
I to a surgeon, named Gordon, whom he is supposed to have afterwards cari-
catured in " Roderick Random," under the title of Potion. His talent for
satire and poignant remark, was here gradually developed, in favour of such
specimens of affectation, hypocrisy, and meanness, as fell under his observation.
He was also given to what are called practical jokes. One winter evening,
when the streets were covered with snow, he was engaged in a snow-ball fight
with some boys of his own age, among whom was the apprentice of a surgeon,
whom he is supposed to have delineated under the name of Crab in " Roderick
Random." The master of this apprentice having entered his shop, while tho
youth was in the heat of the engagement, rebuked him very severely on his re-
turn, for having quitted the shop. The boy excused himself, by saying that, while
engaged in making up a prescription, a fellow had hit him with a snow-ball,
and he had gone in pursuit of the delinquent. " A mighty probable story, truly,"
said the master, in an ironical tone ; " I wonder how long I should stand here,
before it would enter into any mortal's head to throw a snow-ball at me." Just
as he pronounced these words, Smollett, who had overheard them at the door,
1 It isal£0 recorc'etl llial he wrote satires on his school-fellows.

TOBIAS GEORGE SilOLLETT. 295

gave him a most unexpected answer, by throwing a snow-ball, which hit him a
very severe blow on the face, and extricated his companion.

But the early years of Smollett were devoted to better pursuits than these.
While still studying medicine at the college, he composed a tragedy on the
death of James I. of Scotland, styled the " Regicide ;" and which, though not
calculated for the stage, certainly displayed considerable ability.

While in liis eighteentli year, he had the misfortune to lose his grandfather,
who died without making any provision for either him or any of the rest of his
father's family. He, therefore, resolved to seek his fortune in London ; while
his sister, having married Mr Telfer, a respectable and wealthy gentleman of
Lanarkshire, was able to afford an asylum to his mother. His elder brother,
James, who had before this entered the army, and reached the rank of cnptain,
was lost at sea, oft' the coast of America.

The stock with Avhich Smollett, at nineteen, entered upon London life, con-
sisted of a small sum of money, a large assortment of letters of introduction, a
mind stored with professional knowledge and general literature, a rich vein of
humour, and an engaging person and address. He tried, at first, to get his
tragedy brought upon the stage ; but the attempt only brought him disappoint-
ment and cliagrin. His friends, however, were able to procure him an ap-
pointment as surgeon's mate to a ship of the line; in which capacity he sailed,
in 1741, in the unfortunate expedition to Carthagena, under admiral Vernon
and general Wentworth. Of this blundering affair, he published a most faith-
ful and spirited account in his " Compendium of Voyages and Travels," seven
volumes, octavo, 1756 ; as also, Avhat may be styled a personal narrative, in
" Roderick Random." He was so much disgusted with his situation, that,
though he had the prospect of promotion, he quilted the service at Jamaica, where
he resided for some time. On his return to Britain, in 1746, he was met by
accounts of the barbarities exercised by the duke of Cumberland's army in the
north of Scotland; which, notwithstanding that his political principles were
whiggish, drew from him an indignant burst of patriotic eloquence, in the
well-known ode, beginning —

Mourn, hapless, Caledonia, mourn ;
Thy banished peace, thy laurels lorn !

He is said to have originally finished this production in six stanzas ; but some
individuals having represented to him, that such an expression of sentiment
niiglit give offence, and retard his progress in life, he sat down, in a fit of still
more vehement indignation, and, almost instantaneously, produced the seventh
stanza, beginning —

While the warm blood bedews my veins,
And unimpaired remembrance reigns,
Remembrance of my countr} 's fate
Within my filial breast shall beat

An anecdote, which shows that Smollett, like many other men of distinguished
genius, was

" Too fond of the right, to pui-sue the expedient."

The above anecdote is taken from Dr Anderson's accurate life of Smollett ;
but that the subject of our memoir was in London, between 1741 and 1746, is
abundantly clear from the following letter, which is here, for the first time,
committed to print : —

290 TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT.

" Dear Sir, — I am this minute happy in yours, which affords me all the satis-
faction of hearing from you, uitliout the anxiety naturally flowing from its me-
lancholy occasion ; for I was informed of the decease of our late friend by a
letter from Mr Gordon,* dated the day after his death.

** All those (as well as my dear Barclay) who knew the intimacy betwixt us,
must imagine that no stroke of fate could make a deeper impression on my soul
than that which severs me for ever from one I so entirely loved ! from one who
merited universal esteem; and who, had he not been cut ofl'in the very blossom
of his being, would have been an ornament to society, the pride and joy of his
parents, and a most inestimable jewel to such as were attached to him, as we
were, by the sacred ties of love and friendship. O my dear Ritchie, little did
I think, at our last parting, we should never meet again ! How many hours,
days, nay, years, of enjoyment, did I promise myself on the prospect of seeing
thee again ! How has my heart throbbed at 'thy imaginary presence ! And
how oft have I conversed with tliee by the indulgence of a dream ! Even when
I waked to my disappointment, I flew to pleasing hope for refuge, and reflected
on the probability of real gratification ! But now, alas, even that forsakes me.
Hope itself lies buried with its object, and remembrance strives to soothe itself
by recalling the delightful scenes of past intercourse ! Dear brother, this is a
theme I can scarce quit; my imagination broods o'er my melancholy, and teems
with endless sentiments of grief and tenderness. My weeping muse would fain
pay a tribute to his manes; and, were I vain enough to think my verse would
last, I would perpetuate his friendship and his virtue.

** As for the particulars you expect from me, you must wait until I shall bo
better informed myself: for, to tell you an extraordinary truth, I do not know,
as yet, whether you had better congratulate or condole with me. I wish I Avas
near you, that I might pour forth my heart before you, and make you judge of
its dictates, and the several steps I have lately taken ; in which case, I am
confident you and all honest men would acquit my principles, howsoever my pru-
dentials might be condemned. However, I have moved into tiie house wliere
the late John Douglas, surgeon, died, and you may henceforth direct for Mr
Smollett, surgeon, in Downing Street, West My respects wait on Mr John
Gordon and family ; and please let my condolence and best wishes be made ac-
ceptable to the parents of my much lamented friend. At the same time, receive
yourself the additional portion of affection he possessed in the heart of

*' Your own,

" T*. Smollett.'
« London, May 22nd, 1744.

*' Willy Wood, who is just now drinking a glass with mo, oflers you his
good wishes, and desires you to present his compliments to Miss Becky Bogle.

" T. S."

In 1746, Smollett published a satirical poem, in the manner of Juvenal, en-
titled " Advice," and aimed at some of the chief political characters of the day.
In the beginning of 1747, appeared a continuation of the same production,
under the title of " Reproof," which attacked all kinds of odious characters,
military cowards, army-con tractors, usurers, gamestera, poetasters, &c. The
keen and energetic expressions of those poems, caused the author to bo re-
spected, dreaded, and detested, the usual fate of satirists.

During his residence in Jamaica, Smollett had formed an attachment to Miss

Lascelles, an elegant and accomplished young lady, of respectable connexions

in that island, and who had the expectation of a fortune of ^£3000. He now

married Miss Lascelles, and, setting up an elegant domestic establishment in

2 Probably liis former master at Glasgow.

TOBIAS GEORGE SilOM^ETT. 297

London, indulged in a style of life suitable to his own generous disposition, and
the taste and education of his wife. Being disappointed, however, of the ex-
pected fortune of Mrs Smollett, wiiich cost him an expensive and vexatious la\v-
suit, without ever being realized, lie was obliged to have recourse to his pen for
subsistence, and produced liis novel of '* Roderick Random," in two volumes
(1748); a work founded partly upon the incidents of his own life, though in
no very decided manner. The singular humour of this work, its amazing truth
to nature, and the entertainment which it is calculated to afford to minds of
all orders, secured it a most extensive sale, and raised both the fortune and the
fame of the author. It was followed by the publication of the " Regicide,"
wiiich was also profitable ; and in 1750, Smollett paid a visit to Paris.

In 1751, when as yet only thirty years of age, he produced "Peregrine
Pickle," in four volumes ; a more regular, and perhaps more elaborate novel
than " Roderick Random," but hardly so entertaining, and certainly much
more obnoxious than its predecessor, to the charge of licentiousness and coarse-
ness, in some of its passages. It is somewhat remarkable, that neither in this
novel, nor in " Roderick Random," does he make his hero a perfect gentle-
man : in botli characters, the mixture of selfishness and want of principle, is very
great. It is further remarkable, that, while the humour of the two works is be-
yond all parallel in the English language, there is hardly a single dash of pathos,
or even of pure and virtuous feeling. It must be concluded, indeed, from these
and all the other productions of Smollett, that though himself an honourable and
generous man, he cherished no notions of high and abstract goodness: the fide-
lity and kindness of Strap and Bowling, though sometimes touching, are too
evidently referable to the simplicity of their respective classes, to countervail
against our observations. The fine passage, also, in Peregrine Pickle, where the
exiled Jacobites bewail from the quay of Boulogne, the land they can still see,
but must never again tread, is only an accidental narration of a real anecdote.
The chief person alluded to, was a Sir Hunter, of Burnside, whom Smollett
had met at Boulogne, under the circumstances described, when engaged in his
French tour.

After a vain attempt to get into practice as a physician — for which purpose
lie published a medical pamphlet, and obtained the degree of Doctor of
Physic — he assumed the character of an auttior by profession, and retired to a
small house at Chelsea, where he lived for some years. The unmerciful manner
in which he had lashed the ministry, precluded all court patronage, even if it
had been the fashion of the court of Ueorge II. to extend it. He depended
solely on the booksellers, for whom he wrought in the various departments of
compilations, translations, criticisms, and miscellaneous essays. In 1753, he
produced his novel, entitled " The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom;"
a work Avhich appears to be founded upon a mistake both in morals and meta-
physics. To exhibit the details of a life spent in one uninterrupted series of base
and fraudulent transactions, cannot be favourable to the morals of the world in
any case; but the greatest objection is that such a woi'k is a monstrosity, be-
cause no such chai'acter ever existed or can exist. In every view of the case
it were better for the literary and moral reputation of Siaollet, that this work
had never been written. In the beginning of 1755, he published his transla-
tion of Don Quixote, which, though esteemed less faithful than others
previously given to the English public, conveys more perfectly, because more
freely, the humour of tlie author. This work was very profitable to the
translator.

Smollett now revisited his native country for the first time since he had first
left it. On arriving at Scotston, in Peebleshire where his mother resided

IV. 2P

298 TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT.

with her daughter, Mrs Tolfer, it was arranged that he should be introduced to
the old lady as a gentleman from the West Indies, Avho was intimately
acquainted with her son. The better to support his assumed character, he en-
deavoured to preserve a very serious countenance, approaching to a frown ; but
while his mother's eyes were rivetted with the instinct of affection upon
his countenance, ho could not refrain from smiling: she inunediately sprang
from her chair, and, throwing her arms around his neck, exclaimed "Ah! my
son, my son I" She afterwards told him that, if he had kept his austere looks
and continued to gloom, she might have perhaps been deceived ; but ** your
old roguish smile," she added, " betrayed you at once."

After a little tour through the circle of his Scottish acquaintance, he returned
to London, and commenced in 1756, tlie " Critical Review," which professed
to maintain Tory principles against the Whig work called the Monthly Review.
His contributions to this periodical were numei'ous and excellent, though some-
times disgraced by intemperance of language. He soon after published hii
large collection of Voyages formerly alluded to.

Passing over a farce, entitled the " Reprisal," which was acted with
success in 1757, Smollett's next work was his " Complete History of England,"
deduced from the descent of Julius Caesar, to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelie,
1748, which appeared in 1758 in 4 vols., 4to. As only a part of Hume's His-
tory had hitherto jippeared, this work was the first of the kind, in which any
large share of ability or any considerable elegance of composition had been dis-
played. The judgments of the writer upon political characters and transactions
are by no means in the most popular strain, nor are they even consistent ;
but, nevertheless, the spirit and sprightliness of the narrative secured it appro-
bation. It met with so extensive a sale, that, with the continuation afterwards
published in two similar quarto volumes, it brought him two thousand pounds,
while half as much was made by the bookseller to whom he sold the Continua-
tion, from a mere transference of the copyright of that part of the work. It has
been declared, and never contradicted, that the four quarto volumes, embracing
a period of thirteen hundred years, were composed and finished for the press in
fotutecn months ; an eftbrt to which nothing but the greatest abilities, and the
most vigorous application, could have been equal. The shortness of time be-
stowed on the " Complete History of England," joined to the merit of the per-
formance, and the consideration of the infinite pains and perseverance it must
have cost him to form and digest a proper plan, compile materials, compare dif-
ferent accounts, collate authorities, and compose, polish, and finish the work,
will make it be regarded as one of the most striking instances of facility in
writing that is to be found in literary history. The work, in its entire shape,
has long been superseded ; but it has always been customary to supply the de-
fect of Hume's work with a continuation from Smollett, embracing the period
between the Revolution and the Accession of George HI.

The one grand defect of Smollett's character was his propensity to satire.
According to the report of an early companion, his conversation in company
was a continued string of epigrammatic sarcasms against one or other of tliose
present ; a practice so disagreeable that no degree of talent could excuse it.
When he wrote satirically, it was generally in reference to something mean,
cowardly, selfish, or otherwise odious to his own upright and generous feelings.
It did not occur to him — nor has it properly been considered either by
satirists or those who delight in satire — that for a pi'ivate individual to set him-
self up in judgment upon a fellow being, and, without examining any evidence
or hearing any defence, to condemn him at once and irremediably to the pillory
of the press, is an invasion of the rights of the subjects just as wicked, as it

TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT. 299

would be to take away from an ordinary culjirit the trial by jury, and the
privilege of being heard by counsel. Smollett was in the liabit of indulging hia
propensity very frequently in the Critical Review, and, as a natural result of
his warm and hasty temper, he often censured and ridiculed without a proper
cause. Hence, he was perpetually subject to counter assaults from provoked
authors, and occasionally to legal prosecutions, the effect of which was so severe
that he is found, September 2S, 1758, describing himself to Dr 3Ioore, as sick
of both praise and blame, and praying to his God that circumstances might per-
mit him to consign his pen to oblivion ! In the end of this year, in consequence
of some severe expressions he had used in the Review regarding admiral
Kaowles, a prosecution was raised against the printer ; chiefly for the purpose
of ascertaining the author of the offensive article, from whom, in the event of
his proving a gentleman, the complainant threatened to demand the usual satis-
faction. After every attempt to soften admiral Knowles had failed, Smollett
came boldly forward and screened the printer by avowing himself the author of
the article, and offering any satisfaction that might be required. Knowles, who
had sailed as a captain in the expedition toCarthagena, probably thought it beneatii
him to fight a man who had been a surgeon's mate in the same fleet, even though
that surgeon's mate boasted of some good Caledonian blood, and was besides
booked for immortality in the scrolls of fame. The penalty paid by Smollett
for his rashness was a fine of one hundred pounds and an imprisonment for
three months in the King's Bench prison. Yet, in this misfortune, he was not
without consolation. His conduct was generally pronounced very magnani-
mous, and his friends continued to visit him in prison the same as in his neat
villa at Chelsea.

To beguile the tedium of confinement, he wrote a fantastic novel, entitled
" The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves," which appeared in detached por-
tions through the successive numbers of the British 31agazine for 1760 ana
1761. This is deservedly ranked among the least happy of Smollett's perform-
ances. The drollery entirely lies in the adventures of a crazy English gentle-
man, who sets out armed cap-a-pie, in the character of a knight-errant, and
roams through modern England, to attack vice wherever it can be found, to
protect defenceless virtue, and remedy the evils which the law cannot reach.
While some amusement is afforded by the contrast of such a character with tho
modern common-place beings amongst whom he moves, it is only the imperfect
amusement yielded by the exhibition of natural madness : the adventures of an
imaginary sovereign broken loose from a mad house could hai'dly be less
drearily enterUiining. Smollett, in the haste with which he wrote his novel, has
evidently proceeded upon the idea of an English Don Quixote ; without recollect-
ing that the work of the illustrious Cervantes had a rational aim, in proposing
to counteract the rage of the Spanish people for tales of knightly adventure.
His own work, having no such object, labours under the imputation of being
an imitation, without any countervailing advantage. Yet, strange to say, such
was the prestige of Smollett's name and example, that the work not only sold
to a great extent as a separate work, but was followed by many sub-imitations,
such as the Spiritual Quixote, the Amicable Quixote, the Female Quixote,

In 1760, Smollett became engaged, with other literary adventurers, in a large
and important work, which was finished in I7G4, in 42 volumes, under the title
of" The Modern Part of an Universal History." He is supposed to have con-
tributed the histories of France, Italy, and Germany, to this work, and to have
received altogether, for his share of the labour, no less a sum than £1575.
Throughout the same period, he was engaged in his " Continuation of the Hia-

300 TOBTAS GEORGE SMOLLETT.

tory of England, from 1748 to 1765," which first appeared in five successive
octavo volumes, and finally in 2 vols., 4to, 176G. It has been already men-
tioned that, for this work, he is supposed to have received such a price
as enabled the pur-jiaser to sell it to a bookseller at a profit of one thousand
pounds.

Smollett had been originally a Whig, but he gradually became something very
like a Tory. A diffusive philanthropy, by wliich he was inspired, with perhaps
some impressions from early education, had made him the first ; a disgust at
the conduct of some of his party appears to have inclined him to the second.
The accession of a Scottish prime minister in the earl of Bute, as it excited much
opposition among the English, so it attracted a proportionate degree of support
from the Scotch, who now very generally became adherents of the government,
from a niotive of nationality, without regard to their former political sentiments.
Smollett went into this enthusiasm, and on tlie very day of the earl of ]3ute's
elevation, May 29th, 1762, he started a newspaper entitled ** The Briton,"
in which he laboured to break down tlie prejudices of the English against a
Scottish premier, and undertook the defence of tiie new administration upon its
own merits. Within a week after this event, an opposition journal was started
by Wilkes, with whom Smollett had previously lived on the most intimate terms
of friendship, but who now became his political antagonist. The North Briton,
(so was this paper called,) supported by the overpowering national feelings of
England, very soon proved too nmch for its rival; and on the 12th February,
1763, Smollett abandoned the publication. He did not shine as a party writer,
wanting that coolness which is necessary in forming replies and repartees to all
the paragraphs with which he was assailed J lilte the most of professed
satirists, he could endure nothing so ill as satire. Lord Bute, who resigned in
the April following, is said to have never sufficiently acknowledged the services
of Smollett

Among the publications with which Smollett was connected about this time,
were, a translation of the works of Voltaire in twenty-seven volumes, and a
work in eigiit volumes, entitled ** The Present State of all Nations." In the
first his name was associated with that of the Rev. T. Francklin, translator
of Sophocles ; but in neither is it probable that much was written by his own
hand.

He had now for many years prosecuted the sedentary and laborious employ-
ment of an author by profession. Though little more than forty years of age,
and possessed orioinally of a most robust frame, he began to sufier from
ill health. His life, which ought to have been rendered comfortable by the
large sums he procured for his works, was embittered by " the stings and ar-
rows" which his own satirical disposition had caused to be directed against him-
self, and by the loss of friends, which he was perpetually suffering, either from
that cause, or from political differences. To add to his other miseries, he had
the misfortune at this time to lose his daughter and only child, Elizabeth, a
girl of fifteen, whose amiable disposition and elegant accomplishments had be-
come the solace of his life, and promised to be in future a still more precious
blessing. Under this accumulation of distresses, he was prevailed upon by his
wife to seek consolation in travel; and accordingly, in June, 1763, he went
abroad, and continued in France about two years.

In the coui-se of his travels, Smollett seems to have laboured under a constant
fit of ill humour, the result of morbid feelings, and a distempered bodily
system. This is amply visible in the work which he published on his return,
entitled, " Travels through France and Italy," 2 vols. 8vo., of which two pas-
sages may be here extracted.

TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT. 301

*' With respect to the famous Venus Pontia, commonly called de Medicis, 1
believe I ought to be entirely silent, or at least conceal my real sentiments,
which will otherwise appear equally absurd and presumptuous. It must be
want of taste that prevents my feeling that enthusiastic admiration with which
othera are inspired at sight of this statue. I cannot help thinking there is no
beauty in the features of Venus, and that the attitude is awkward and out of
character."

" I was much disappointed at sight of the Pantheon, which, after all that has
been said of it, looks like a huge cock-pit, open at the top."

Ihese observations upon works of art that had been the subject of universal
admiration for centuries, could not be attributed to an original and native
want of taste in such a man as Smollett : they must therefore be ascribed al-
together to the distempered light which disease threw around, every object
that claimed his attention. The morose style of his "Travels" called forth
universal remark ; but nothing excited more surprise than what he liad said re-
garding Venus and the Pantheon, His observations upon these subjects drew
down upon him the following sarcastic notice from Sterne.

" The learned Smelfungus travelled from Boulogne to Paris — from Paris to
Rome — and so on ; but he set out with the spleen and the jaundice, and every
object he passed by was discoloured and distorted. He wrote an account of
them, but it was nothing but an account of his miserable feelings ; I met Smel-
fungus in the grand portico of the Pantheon ; he was just coming out of it ;

* It is nothing but a huge cock-pit,' said he : * I wish you had said nothing
worse of the Venus Medicis,' I replied ; for, in passing through Florence, I
had heard he had fallen foul upon the goddess, and used her worse than
a common strumpet, without the least provocation in nature. I popped
upon Smelfungus again at Turin, in his return home, and a sad and sorrowful
tale of adventures he had to tell, wherein he spoke of moving accidents by flood
and field, and of the cannibals which each other eat : the Anthropophagi. He
had been flayed alive, and bedeviled, and worse used than St Bartholomew, at
every stage he had come at, ' I'll tell it,' said Smelfungus, ' to the world.'

* You had better tell it,' said I, * to your physician.'"^

A continental tour having failed to restore health and spirits, he now re-
solved to try the effect of native air and native scenery. About the beginning
of June, I7G6, he arrived in Edinburgh, where he passed some time with his
mother, who retained, at an advanced age, a strong understanding, and an un-
common share of humour, and whom he loved with all the warmth of filial afieo-
tion.* He then proceeded with his sister, Mrs Telfer, and his nephew, a young
officer in the army, to Glasgow ; whence, after a brief stay, they went, accom-
panied by Dr Moore, to Cameron, the residence of his cousin, Mr Smollett, of
Bonhill, on the banks of Lochlomond. During the whole time of his stay, he
was afflicted with severe rheumatic pains, and with a neglected ulcer in his aim,
which almost unfitted him for enjoying society. He afterwards commemorated
the impressions, and some of the adventures which he experienced in this tour,
in his last and best novel, " Humphrey Clinker," which was published in 1771,
while he resided in Italy. In the account which he gives in this novel of some
branches of Edinburgh society, he had real characters and real customs in his

eye. The " IMr 31 ," at whose house his characters are represented as

having seen a ftaggis at table, was IMr Mitchelson, a writer to the signet, con-
nected with the family of Sir Walter Scott. The " beautiful Miss E

3 Sentimental Journey, vol. i. ...

* During his residence in Edinburgh, he lived in his mother's house, or rather his sister s,
at the head of St John Street, in the Canongiite.

302 TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT.

R ," wlioin Jerry Mclford signalizes at a ball, was Miss Elconora Reiiton,

daughter of John Rcnton, Esq. of Lamerton, by lady Susan, daughter of
Alexander, ninth earl of Eglintoun. Her eldest sister became the wife of
LIi' Telfer, nephew of Smollett, and communicated the name of Renton to a
large manufacturing village, now situated at Dalquhurn, the birth-place of
the novelist. The young lady whose elegant person attracted the notice of
Smollett in 1766, was the late dowager Mrs Sharpe of Hoddani, and mother of
the ingenious historical antiquary, the late Mr Charles Kilpatrick Sharpe.'

It may, perhaps, surprise those who have enjoyed the exquisite humour
of the Scottish scenes in Humphrey Clinker, that, during the whole tour which
he has couimemorated under tiiat fictitious shape, he suffered so much pain from
his arm, as to be, in some measure, mentally ajfected : he acknowledges liim«
self, that, from April till November, 17GG, he had a kind of coma viyil ; and
that his Scottish journey, therefore, which ended in August, " produced only
misery and disgust.''®

He spent tlie winter of 17GG-7 in Bath, where he was so fortunate as to get
quit of liis ulcer, and recover a considerable portion of his original liealih. In
17G0, he published his " Adventures of an Atom," two vols. 12mo; a political
romance, ov jeu d' esprit, exhibiting, under Japanese names, the characters and
conduct of the leaders of party, from tlie commencement of the French war, in
175G, to the dissolution of lord Chatham's administration, in 17G7-8. Soon
afterwards, his ailments having recurred with violence, he was recommended to
try once more the genial climate of Italy; but, his circumstances being inade-
quate to the expense of the journey, and of his remaining free from all care,
but what concerned his health, application was made to obtain for him the of-
fice of consul at Nice, Naples, or Leghorn. This application was unsuccessful ;
because the government, as usual, could not spare any patronage, except for its
friends. Smollett had, therefore, to set out for Italy, in 1770, under circum-
stances far from easy, and which must have, no doubt, materially increased his
personal distress. He cliose fur his residence a cottage near Leghorn, situated
on a mountain side, overlooking the sea, and suiTounded by some of the fairest
scenery in Tuscany. While residing here, he published, in 1771, " The
Adventures of Humphrey Clinker," in which his own character, as it ap-
peared in later life, under the pressure of bodily disease, is delineated in tho
person of Matthew Bramble. During the summer of 1774, he declined
very rapidly; and at length, on the 21st of October, death put a period to
his sufferings.

Smollett, who thus died prematurely in the fifty-first year of his age, and the
bloom of his mental faculties, was tall and iiandsome, with a most prepossessing
carriage and address, and all the marks and manners of a gentleman. His
character, laying aside the unhappy propensity to sarcasm and epigram, was of
an elevated and generous cast, humane and benevolent ; and he only practised
virtue too rigorously, and abhorred vice too vehemently, for his own comfort,
in a world of inferior morality. An in-itabie and impatient temper, and a
proud, improvident disposition, were his gi-eatest, and aluiosl his only failings.

* The adventures of Ltsmahago among the Indians, were perhaps suggested by the real
Storj' of a lieutenant Ktnnedy, wlio, in the seven years' war, nianitd an Indian squaw, and
was made a king by her tribe. " Genei-al Abercromby gave him a party of Higlilimders,"
says a newspaper of the day, "joined with a party of' Indians, to go a-scalping, in which
lie had some success. He had learned llie language; paints, and dresses like an huliun*
and it is thought will be of service by his new alliance. His wife gots witli him, and «ir-
ries his provisions on herbiick." Such was the enlightened warlare carried on in those times,
notwithstanding the eloquent denunaations of a Cliathaml

* Letter to Dr Moore.

DK. THOJIAS SOMERVILLE. 303

Of Lis genius, as a delineator of human character, his novels form an impemli-
able monument, though certainly not undcfornied by considerable impurity of
taste. So long as bis " Ode to Leven "Water," and Lis *' Ode to Independence,
exist, he can never fail to be admired as a poet.

Three years after Smollett's deatii, a round column, of the Tuscan order,
with an urn on its entablature, was erected to his memory, near the house in
which he was born, by his cousin, 3Ir Smollett, of Bonhill, who is said to have
never manifested any kindness towards him while he was alive. For this
memorial, an inscription was furnished by the united labours of professor George
Stuart of Edinburgh, Mr Ramsay of Ochtertyre, and Dr Samuel Johnson. Lord
Karnes also wrote an English epitaph, which was lost to the learned world, till
it appeared in the work, entitled " Ti-adiiions of Edinburgh." A plainer mo-
nument was erected over Smollett s grave at Leghorn, by his friend and
countryman, Dr Armstrong, who added a very elegant inscription.

The widow of Smollett — t!ie Narcissa of " Roderick Random" — was left, a
poor widow in a foreign land. The sn»all remains of lier husband's fortune
had been settled upon her, under the trust of Mr Graham of Gartmore, and Mr
Bontine, his tried and faiUiful friends. The sum, however, was so little, that
this elegant woman was soon involved in great distress. It must have added
not a little to the poignancy of Mrs Smollett's feelings, that, had her husband
lived a few years longer, he would have succeeded his cousin of Bonhill, as heir
of entail, in the possession of an estate of a thousand a-year, besides, perhaps,
the private wealth of that individual, worth as much more ; all of which de-
scended to his sister, IMrs Telfer. It is alleged by Dr Andei^son, that neither
Mr Smollett nor Mrs Telfer ever thought of extending any relief to the widow
of their distinguished relative, the man whose genius lias consecrated their
family name to all posterity. It is known, however, that Mr Smollett, almost
immediately after his cousin's death, gave a considerable sum to the widow, un-
der pretence of purchasing her husband's books, few of which ever reached the
purchaser. We certainly cannot but regret, that Mrs Telfer afterwards per-
mitted an act of public charity to be resorted to for the relief of her kins-
w-(9man. On the 3rd of March, 1784, probably through the exertions of Mr
Graham of Gartmore, a benefit was procured for her in the Theatre Royal,
Edinburgh ; on which occasion, the play of Venice Preserved was acted, ^vith
a prologue written by 3Ir Graham. The money, amounting, with private dona-
tions, to ^£366, was remitted to Italy ; and this was all that Scotland ever
sacrificed for the sake of one of the most illustrious of her sons.

SOMERVILLE, (Db) Thomas, an eminent historian, was born at Hawick,
in Roxburghshire, in the spring of 1741.' By the early death of his father,
who was minister of the parish of Hawick, he was left an orphan, along with
two sisters, his mother having predeceased her husband. His father left the
cnre of his early education to the reverend 3Ir Cranstoun of Ancrum, and another
member of the presbytery of Jedburgh, whose kindness and attention are evi-
denced by the affection afterwards exhibited towards them by their pupil.
Having obtained the education derivable from a provincial grammar school, he
became a student in the university of Edinburgh. He is said not to have exhi-
bited in Iiis acquirements the precocity of talent generally recorded of men who
have become eminent in any branch of literature ; and indeed the branch in
which he distinguished himself, when qualified by the manner in which he

1 Memoir in the Annual Obituary for 1S31. As this memoir is written by a pcrsoiiai
friend of Dr Somerviile, and is botli' better writtm, and more lilu ral in its views, than such
productions generally happen to be, we sliall Uike llie liberty of making some quotations
from it.

304 DR. THOMAS SOMERYILLE.

treated it, is more dependent on a general development of sound ordinary abi-
lities, tlian on the existence of tliat genius which shines before the judgment is
matured. Nothing seems to be known of his early habits, except liis having
fallen from a horse, and hurt his head ; a circumstance which, not unnaturally,
gave him a partiality for pedestrian exercises during the remainder of his life.
The accident happened in Edinburgli, close to the residence of the reverend
^Ir Bain, an eminent clergyman of the Relief church. "In his family the
patient \vas attended for several niontlis, uith a kindness and humanity whicli
made a lasting impression on his mind. Often has the present Avriter," con-
tinues the memoir above referred to, "Jjeard him express the pleasure and im-
provement he had reaped from the enlightened conversation of his Avorthy host,
during a long and tedious convalescence." Somerville was licensed as a
preacher, about the year 1762. He shortly after this event returned to Rox-
burghsliire, and became tutor to the son of Sir Gilbert Elliott, afterwards lord
iMinto, and governor-general of India. In 1 7(57, Sir (»ilbert presented him with
the living of Minto ; and in 1772, the same friend procured his promotion to the
more lucrative living of Jedburgh. At that period, opposition to the right of
patronage in Scotland was still warm in the feelings of the people, if it niiglit
not be said to have revived. Tliere is no doubt that the right was well exer-
cised, and in the midst of so much scrutiny and opposition, it Avould have been
singular had it not been so ; but the very circumstance which produced
the election of such men as 3Ir Somerville, was naturally the cause of objection
to the persons chosen : and the subject of our memoir entered on his charge in
direct opposition to a great majority of his parishioners. It may be predicated
of a nan of good feeling and sense, that he would hesitate to be the teacher of
the conscience of persons Avho contemned and disliked him ; but it was part of
Somerville's political opinion to think otherwise ; and biography affords many
instances in which persoiis so swayed have been excellent men, and might have
despised the action, had it been set before them divested of its political beai--
ings. The a}>pointment was followed by repeated protests, but its legality was
confirmed. " Wliatever," says the memoir, " might be the cause of the reverend
presentee's extreme unpopularity, — whatever objections were alleged agaitist
the orthodoxy of his creed, or his mode of public teaching, — his most strenuous
opponents were compelled to admit the correctness of his moral character ; and
several of the most discontented having seceded to the relief meeting, tranquil-
lity was gradually restored." Somerville commenced authorship by a pamphlet,
entitled " Candid thoughts on American Independence," which .nppearcd soon
after the commencement of the American war. Like Canij>bell, and other
members of the church of Scotland, he maintained those opinions against the
claims of the colonists, which w era so much opposed to tlie principles on which
the church of Scotland struggled into existence, however much they might ac-
cord with those of its pastoi-s after it was firmly established. In 1792, appeared
his " History of Political Transactions, and of Parties, from the Restoration of
Charles II. to the Death of King William." In his treatment of this subject,
he showed himself a member of that class of politicians, whose doctrines are
generally founded on either or both of two opinions, connected w ith the times.
1st, A dislike of popery, and all persons connected with it ; and, consequently,
a lore of all measures termed protestant : secondly, An affection for the state
of things existing at the period of writing, and such a respect for the persons,
who, by operating gi-eat changes, have brought about that existing state, as the
writer would have been the last person to feel, when the change was about to
be made. Hence Somerville is, on all occasions, not only the admirer, but the
vindicator of William, and a supporter of Avhat are called " the principles of the

DR. THOMAS SOMERVILLE. 305

Revolution," or tliose of the future permanency of the country, in the position
in uhich the ]ievohition left it. Owing to the other eminent iiistories of the
same period, this work is not so valuable as the author's History of Queen
Anne, uljich appeared in 1798, uith the title, ''* The History of Great
Britain, during the Reign of Queen Anne ; uith a Dissertation concerning the
Danger of tlie Protestant Succession : and an Appendix, containing Original
Papers." This work was a valuable accession to the literature of the period at
which it was published ; and it must still be allowed to be the most ample and
accurate, if not also the most impartial, history of the times of which it treats.
It is certainly above the average of historical works : there is nothing offensive
or affected in the style — vices very common among those who were secondary
to the three great historians of the last century — it is expressive and plain, and,
in many cases, elegant. The reflections, if not those of a profound philosopher,
show a well thinking mind ; and, although breathing party feeling, never show
violent pi-ejudice. That this, however, should be the best history of so remark-
able an age, is to be regretted, especially since the late discovery of many do-
cuments, illustrative of its dark transactions. A change more interesting
than that of a palpable revolution, in the gi-adual passage from prerogative to
influence, forms a subject for a writer more conversant with constitutional sub-
jects, and belter able to discuss them in all their bearings, than Dr Somerville,
who is in general a better narrator of the intrigues of individual politicians, and
the diplomatic intercourse of nations, than a student of laws and governments,
and their effects on society. In discussing the question of the danger of the
protestant succession, the author professes, as writing at a period when the sub-
ject is not looked on with party >iews, not to be actuated by them. It is very
doubtful whether he was correct in the supposition, either as it refers to his
own feelings, or to those of the period ; and, independently of the information
acquired since Somemlle wrote, it will perhaps hardly be denied, that there
was then enough known to show, from legitimate deduction, that what was
called " the protestant succession," actually was in danger, not only from the
machinations of Bolingbroke, and the zeal of the Jacobites, but from the per-
sonal feelings of the queen. In the interval between the production of his two
great historical works, (1793,) he wrote a pamphlet, " On the Constitution and
State of Gi'eat Britain." About the same time, he was chosen one of the chap-
lains in ordinary to his majesty for Scotland, and elected a member of the
Hoyal Society of Edinburgh. He also received the degree of doctor of divinity
from the university of Edinburgh, at what period of his life we are not aware.
At the period of the publication of his " History of Queen Anne,'' he visited
London, and presented a copy of his work to the king, at an introduction at
St James's. A whimsical circumstance happened to him during his visit, thus

told by his biographer: " On the day subsequent to his arrival, while in the

lobby of the house of commons, Dr Somerville was arrested, and taken to Bow
street, on a charge of felony. Thunderstruck, and utterly incapable of ac-
counting for the stranjve predicament in which he was placed, our bewildered
divine could scarcely avail himself of the polite advice of the magistrate, to ap-
prise his friends of the cii-cumstance. Meanwhile, the late lord Melville, then
Sir Henry Dundas, who had witnessed his seizure, entered the office, and having
satisfied the magistrate of the respectability of his countryman, indulged in a
hearty laugh at his expense. A notorious and specious swindler had been, it
should seem, a passenger on board the packet in which Dr Somerville came to
London; and being seen in the company of this man on their landing, led to his
arrest as an accomplice. This anecdote the writer has often heard Dr Somer-
ville relate with much pleasantry."

IV. Srj

308 JOHN SPOTSWOOD.

Besides liis political and liistorical works, Dr Sonierville wrote " Two Ser-
mons communicated to the Scotch Preacher ;" " A Collection of Sermons," pub-
lished in 1815 ; and a sermon " On the Nature and Obligation of an Oath,"
which appeared in the " Scottish Pulpit." lie died, after a few days' illness,
at Jedburgh, on the I6th May, 1830, at the good old age of ninety, and in the
sixty-fourth year of his ministry. His faculties were fresh to the last; and on
th^ Sunday previous to his death, he had preached, and administered the sacra-
ment. Of his opinions and domestic character, the following paragraphs from
the memoir above referred to, are descriptive. " Political science having long
been the favourite study of Dr Somerville, it may resdily be supposed tliat he
took a deep interest in all that concerned the French Revolution. But he was
not one of those who hailed the dawn of liberty in that enslaved and benighted
land ; on the contrary, he beheld it as the harbinger of evil to the whole of
civilized Europe ; while, from the dissensions to which this event gave rise in
his own country, he augured the downfall of that constitution, in church and
state, which he had so ably vindicated in his writings, and which he regarded
as the ne plus ultra of perfection. An alarmist on principle, he involved in
one sweeping condemnation, all who entertained views different from his own
on this subject; and the wild impracticable theorist — the temperate and piiilo-
sophical advocate for reform — were with him equally objects of reprobation.''
* # # « Devoted through a long life to the pursuits of literature, Ur
Somerville numbered among his friends many of the eminent scholars and
divines of his native Scotland; and, during his occasional visits to the British
metropolis, he was introduced to several of the distinguished literati of the
south. Superior to the mean jealousy and petty envy, which too often prevail
among the votaries of science and learning, Ur Somerville was at all times, and
on every occasion, eager to do justice to the talents and merits of his gifted
contemporaries. No man could be more enthusiastically alive to the transcen-
dant genius of Bums, or more feelingly deplore the moral aberrations of that
inspired bard. In the dark hour of John Logan's eventful life, he stretched
towards him the supporting hand of friendship, and shielded him, in some
measure, from the attacks of bigotry and illiberality, by the weight and in-
fluence of his own pure and unimpeachable character. A gold-headed cane,
the parting gift of the grateful poet, when he bade a lasting adieu to Scotland,
Dr Somerville highly prized, and always carried in his hand when walking."

SPOTSWOOD, John, superintendent of Lothian, was descended of the an-
cient Merse family of Spotswood of that ilk, and was born in the year 1510. His
father, William Spotswood, was killed at the battle of Flodden, leaving him an
orphan at little more than three years of age. The place at whicii he was edu-
cated, and the person who taught him in his early years, are equally unknown
to us. We have, indeed, discovered no further notice of him, till 1 534, (June
27.) when, at the very late age of four and twenty, he was entered a student in
the university of Glasgow. There was perhaps, however, some peculiarity in
his case, for he became bachelor in the very next year (February 8, 1535); a
circumstance which we can only account for, on the supposition that he had
either made very remarkable proficiency in his studies, or attended some of the
other universities previously. Spotswood, it is believed, intended to prosecute
tlie study of divinity ; but he became disgusted with the cruelty of the catholic
clergy, manifested most pi-obably in the condemnation of Russell and Kennedy,
who were burned for heresy at Glasgow, about 1538. In that year, he left his
native country, apparently horrified at the spectacle he had witnessed, and at
other instances of barbarity which he must have heard of, and retired into
England. At London, he became acquainted with archbishop Cranmer, to

yOHN SPOTSWOOD. 307

whose kindness and encouragement many of our countrymen were indebted; and
from whose eagerness in the dissemination of truth, the benefit derived by Scot-
land cannot be easily estimated. Mr Spotswood remained in the south for
nearly five years, that is, from 1533 till 1513, when Henry VIII. restored the
prisoners taken at the disgraceful rout of Solway Moss. He then returned to
Scotland, in company with the earl of Glencairn, a nobleman well known for
his attachment to protestant principles, and resided with him for several years.
Through that nobleman, he became acquainted with the earl of Lennox, and
was by him employed in a private negociation with the English court, in
I5i4. After residing there for some months, he returned to Scotland; but
little is known respecting him for some years following. In 1518, he was pre-
sented to the parsonage of Calder, by Sir James Sandelands ; and, as a con-
stant residence at his cure was not required, he lived for about ten years with
that gentleman, and with lord James Stewart, then prior of St Andrews, and
afterwards better known as The Regent 3Iurray. When commissioners were
appointed by parliament, in 1553, to be present at the marriSge of the
young queen of Scotland to the dauphin of France, lord James was included in
the number, and Spots-.vood accompanied him. Luckily, both returned in
safety from this expedition, so fatal to many of their companions.

On the establishment of the Reformation, the first care of the protestant
parly, was to distribute the very few ministers who held their sentiments, into
different parts of the country. The scarcity of qualified persons, gave rise to
some temporary arrangements, which were, however, afterwards abandoned,
when the circumstances which produced them ceased to exist. One of these
was, the establishment of superintendents over different districts, — an office
which has been brought forward, with but little justice, we think, by some
writers, to prove that the constitution of the Scottish church was originally
episcopalian. IMr Spotswood had the honour of being first elected, having
been appointed to the oversight of the district of Lothian, in 3Iarch, 1560-1.
Th3 proceedings on this occasion were conducted by John Knox; and the
pledges required by that zealous reformer must have impressed both the super-
intendent and the people, with a deep sense of the importance of his office,
while it could not fail to be favourably contrasted with the system which had
recently been abolished.

The proceedings of the church courts, after the stinmlus created by the
events immediately connected with the Reformation had somewhat subsided,
could not be supposed to excite much interest in the mind of a general reader,
unless we should enter into much more minute particulars than our limits per-
mit. If we cannot, therefore, excite very deeply our reader's sympathies, we
shall not tax his patience more than is necessary, to give a very brief outline of
the more important transactions with which ]Mr Spotswood's name is connected.

Mr Spotswood appears to have retained the charge of his flock at Calder
after he became superintendent of Lothian ; but it cannot be supposed that
the variety and extent of his duties peraiitted anything more than a very loose
and occasional attention to their interests. Of this tlie parishioners complained
more than once to the General Assembly, but without success ; tlie means of sup-
porting a superintendent being quite inadequate without the benefice of a parish.
The mere visitation of a district seems to have been but a part of the labours of a
superintendent : there were many occasions on which these officials were called
upon to expend their time in behalf of the general interests of the church.
Spotswood appears to have been frequently deputed by the General Assembly
to confer with Queen 31ary, with A\hom he was a favourite, upon the important
subject of an improvement in the provision for their maintenaiice. On the in-

,1

308 JOHN SPOTSWOOD.

teresting occasion of the birth of her son, in June, 15GS, the General Assembly
sent him " to testify their gladness for the prince's birth, and to desire ho
might be baptized according to the form used in the Reformed church." He
did not succeed in obtaining a favourable, or indeed any, reply to the latter
part of his commission, but the manner in which he conducted himself obtained
for him a most gracious reception. Deeply sensible how intinjately the
nation's welfare was connected Avilh the education of the child, he took him in
his arms, and falling on his knees, implored for him the Divine blessing and
protection. This exhibition of unaffected piety was well calculated to touch the
linest feelings of the soul. It was listened to with reverential attention by the
queen, and procured for him the respect and reverence of the prince in his nia-
turer years.

But JMr Spotswood's feelings towards the queen were soon to undergo
a most painful change. He was too conscientious to sacrifice his principles for
the favour of a queen, and too sensible of the tendencies of her subsequent
conduct, and that of her party, to neglect to warn the people over whom he
had the spiritual oversight. No sooner had IMary escaped from Lochleven castle,
and prepared for hostilities, than, under the liveliest convictions of the responsi<
bility of the watchman ** that seeth the sword coming and doth not blow th?
trumpet," he addressed a solemn admonition to the people within liis diocese,
warned the unsettled, — and exhorted those who had " communicated with her
odiouse impietys " to consider their fearful defection from God, and by public
confession of their guilt and folly, to testify their unfeigned repentance.

After this period there is hardly a single fact recorded respecting Mr Spots-
wood of general interest. His disposition, as well as his feeble state of healthy
disposed him to retirement, and he seems to have preferred attending to his
duties as a clergyman, and thus giving an example of the peaceful doctrines
which the Christian religion inculcates, to taking part with eitlier of the factions
in the struggle which succeeded. Yet, in the performance of these duties ho
did not come up to the expectations of some of the more zealous ministers
within his district. We find him accused of " slacknes in visitation of Kirks "
at the General Assemblies on several occasions. On some of these, the accusa>
tion, if it is merely intended to assert that he had not visited the whole
churches, does not seem to have been made without ground ; nor will his ap-
parent negligence be considered wonderful when we mention that the district
of Lothian comprehended the metropolis, Stirling, Berwick, Linlithgow, and
other considerable towns ; and that, of course, it contained a greater number of
churches than any other. Spotswood's health had also become impaired, and
we must add to this list of extenuating circumstances, that for at least nine
years previous to 1580, he had received no emolument in consideration of his
labours. In that year, however, he obtained (December 16th,) a pension for
himself and his second son for three years of £45, 9s. 6d., besides an allow-
ance of grain for " the thankfull seruice done to his hienes and his predeces-
souris," and this grant was renewed, November 26, 1583, for five years ; but he
did not live to enjoy its full benefit. He died, December 5, 1585, in the
seventy-sixth year of his age, leaving by his wife, Beatrix Crichton, two sons,
John and James, both of whom attained a high rank in the Episcopal church,
and one dailghter. ** He was a roan," says his son, " well esteemed for his
piety and wisdom, loving and beloved of all persons, charitable to the poor,
and careful above .nil things to give no man offence."

The same writer lias represented him as having in his last years changed his
sentiments respecting church government, and as having become an Episco-
palian ; but this assertion carries along with it the suspicion that the archbishop

JOHN SPOTSWOOD. 309

Mas more anxious to obtain for his own conduct a partial sanction in his father's
opinions than to represent them as they really stood.

We are not aware that 3Ir Spotswood is the author of any distinct or
individual work. Such papers as lie may have written, arising out of tiie busi-
ness of the churcli courts, certainly do not deserve that- name.*

SPOTSWOOD, John-, archbishop of St Andrews, and author of '* The His-
tory of the Church and State of Scotland," was one of the two sons of the sub-
ject of the preceding article. He was born in the year 1565, while his father,
besides serving as parish minister at Calder, acted as superintendent of Lothian,
Merse, and Teviotdale. Being a child of " pregnant wit, great spirit,
and good memory," he was early taught his letters, and sent to the university
of^Glasgow, of which Andrew IMelvilie was at that time principal. He studied
languages and philosophy under James 3Ielville, and divinity under his more
celebrated uncle ; but the opinions of these men respecting church government
seem to have made no impression on their pupil. At the early age of sixteen
he took his degrees, and when only about twenty, he was appointed to succeed
his father in the church of Calder. In the various agitating disputes between
king James and the majority of the Scottish clergy respecting the settlement of
the church, the gentle and courtly character of Spotswood induced him to lean
to the views espoused by the king, which were in favour of a moderate episco-
pacy, supposed to be more suitable than presbytery to the genius of a monarch-
ical government.

In 1601, the parson of Calder was selected by the court to accompany the
duke of Lennox as chaplain, on his embassy to Henry IV. ; and it is said by
the presbyterian historians, that he marked the looseness of his principles on
this occasion, by attending mass in France, along with his principal. In re-
turning through England, Spotswood had an interview with queen Elizabeth.
When James proceeded to London in 1603, Spotswood was one of five un-
titled clergymen whom he selected to accompany him. On reaching Burleigh
liouse, the king received intelligence of the decease of James Beaton, archbishop
of Glasgow, who had lived in France since the Reformation; and he im.
mediately nominated Spotswood to the vacant see. The new archbishop was at
the same time directed to return to Scotland, in order to accompany the queen
on her journey to London, and to act as her eleemosynar or almoner; an of-
fice, his biographer remarks, " which could not confidently be credited but to
clean hands and an uncorrupt heart, such as his really was."

Holding as he did the second episcopal dignity in the kingdom, Spotswood
naturally lent himself with great willingness to aid the policy of the king for
the gradual reconstruction of that system in the kingdom. The measures
adopted were cautious and prudent, but nevertheless highly unpopular ; and
for several years the archbisliop of Glasgow was obliged to appear obedient to
the ordinary church courts. At length, in 1610, the power of the bishops ex
jure postlimimi was restored ; and the subject of this memoir, with the bishops
of Brechin and Galloway, repaired to London, to receive the solemnities
of consecration, which were conferred upon them by the bishops of London,
Bath, and Ely. About the same time, Spotswood became the head of one of the
two courts of High Commission erected by James in Scotland for the trial of
offences against the church. He had previously, in 1609, been appointed an
extraordinary lord of session, in accordance with the policy adopted by the
king for giving influence and dignity to his ecclesiastical office, though it aiter-

» Abridged from a memoir of Mr John Spotswood, in AVodiow's Biographicil CoIIlc-
tlons, printed by the JVlaitland Club.

310 JOHN SPOTS WOOD.

wards was niauitest that the holding of lay othoes by tlie bishops injured the
interests of their church.

In the month of October, 1611, Spotswood .apprehended John Ogilvie, a
Jesuit, at GLisgow, where he had several times said mass, and converted several
young people of the better class. He was brought to trial about the end of
February, and denying the king and his council to be competent judges on some
points of his religious belief, he was condemned and executed. On the death
of archbisliop Gladstanes in l(jl5, Spotswood was removed from Glasgow to be
primate and metropolitan of all Scotland, and the same year the two courts of
high commission for Scotland, were, under him, united into one. In the year
1(516, he presided in <in assembly at Aberdeen, in virtue of his primacy, without
any election. There was much seeming zeal in this assembly against popery,
and the archbisliop of Glasgow, and Mr William Strulhers, minister at Edin-
burgh, were appointed to form a book of ecclesiastical canons for the purpose
of establishing uniformity of discipline throughout all the kirks of the kingdom.
A commission was also appointed to draw up a new liturgy, a new catechism,
and a new Confession of Faith. His majesty visited his native kingdom in tiie
succeeding year. On this occasion, twelve apostles, and four evangelists, curi-
ously wrought in wood, were prepared to be set up in his royal chapel, but
were not made use of. The English service, however, was introduced, with its
appurtenances of organs, cliorislers, and surplices. Tlie sacrament was also ad-
ministered upon >\ liitsunday, after the English fashion. 'Ihe consequence
was only more violent opposition to these innovations. Notiiing, however,
could deter James from pressing his own peculiar views of ecclesiastical
polity. At anotlier Assembly held at St Andrews in the montii of October,
1617, his five favourite articles were again brought forward, but could
not be carried, even Avith all the zeal of the bisliops to back his writteu
requests. Disappointed by this result, tlie king ordered Spotswood to convo-
cate the bishops, and the niinistera that were iji Edinburgh for the time,
and to procure their approval of them, and, if they refused, to suspend them
from their ministry. This also failed, and tlie articles were enjoined by a royal
proclamation, to which but little deference was paid. Another Assembly was
again suddenly and unexpectedly indicted, by royal proclamation, to be
held at Terth, August 25, 1618, where, by the aid of a long letter from 1 is
majesty, and the assistance of Dr Teter Young, >\ho was now dean of Winches-
ter, Spotswood at length carried the five articles; kneeling at the sacrament;
private communion ; private baptism ; confirmation of children ; and observa-
tion of festivals. All the archbishop's authority, however, could not command
obedience to them, though lie continued to enforce them before the high com-
mission court for a number of years. Among those of tiie clergy whom he de-
prived of their livings for non-compliance, were Mr Richard Dickson, Mr An-
drew Duncan, 3Ir John Scrimger, Mr Alexander Simpso:i, Rlr John Murray,
Mr George Dunbar, Mr David Dickson, and i\Ir George Johnston. For all
this severity lie liad certainly king James's warrant, and had he been even
more severe, would probably have raised himself still higher in his majesty's
favour. At the coronation of Charles I., which took place in Edinburgh on the
I8lh of June, 1633, Spotswood placed the crown upon his head, assisted by
the bishops of Koss, Murray, Dunkeld, Dumblane, and Brechin, arrayed in
robes of blue silk, richly embroidered, reaching down to their feet, over which
Uiey had white rockets with lawn sleeves, and loops of gold. The archbishop
of Glasgow and other bishops, having refused to appear in this costume,
were not allowed to take any active part in the ceremony. Laud, who accom-
panied the monarch, and was master of the ceremonies on the occasion, had in-

SIR ROBERT SPOTSWOOD. < 311

Jroducctl an altar ir.to the church, on which stood two blind books, two wax
candles lighted, and an empty bason. " Behind the altar there was ane rich
tapestry wherein the crucifix was curiously wrought, and, as thir bishops who
were on service past by this crucifix, they were seen to bow their knee and
beck, which with their habit was noted, and bred great fear of- inbringing of
popery." Charles by these means rendered his visit disagreeable to the people,
and he left them in a more dissatisfied state than even tliat in which he found
them. A copy of a protestation, or statement of grievances, which had been
drawn up to be presented to the parliament held by the king in IG33, but
which circumstances had prevented its fraraers from presenting, having been
shown in confidence by lord Balmerlno, was surreptitiously carried to Spots-
wood, who hastened with it to court, where it was represented as a crime of no
common kind. Balmerino was immediately brought to trial under the statute
of leasing making, and, chiefly through the influence^of the primate, who was
himself an extraordinary lord of session, of which his second son, Bobert,
was president, condemned to die. This measure gave so much ofTence that it
was found necessary to pardon Balmerino, a concession which did not at all
satisfy the peaple, or remove their aversion to the prelates, upon whom the
whole odium of these despotic proceedings was laid. That aversion was still
heightened by the zeal displayed by the primate in enlarging the revenues of
his see, which had, both in Glasgow and St Andrews, been a principal object
with him, and in prosecuting which, his biographer affirms he made not fewer
than fifty journeys between Scotland and the court of London. He had also
about this time, on the death of lord Kinnoul, obtained the first office of the
state, that of chancellor.. He was labouring to revive the order of mitred ab-
bots to be substituted in parliament in place of the lords of erection, whose im-
propriated livings and tithes he intended should go to their endowments. A
book of canons, and a liturgy imposed upon the church by the sole authority of
the king and the bishops in 1G37, filled up the measure of court imprudence.
Spotswood, whose gentle character probably revolted at the strong measures
adopted by the king, exclaimed, on hearing of the intention to meet these in-
novations with a renewal of the covenant, tliat the labours of an age had been
undone in a day. Scotland, in consequence of their own intolerant condacty
■was now no agreeable place for bishops and the upholders of a semi-popish
episcopacy; and Spotswood retired, with a depressed mind and a diseased frame
to Newcastle, where he was confined for some time by sickness. On recovering
a little, he proceeded to London, where he died, November 26, 1639, in the
seventy-fourth year of his age, just in time to escape witnessing the total over-
throw of his favourite church polity in Scotland. By his wife, Kachel Lindsay,
daughter of the bishop of Ross, he had a numerous family, though only three
of them survived him, two sons and a daughter. Spotswood was unquestionably
a man of excellent abilities, but, though a clergyman, he was also a man of
the world, and probably somewhat more ambitious than became his sacred
profession. He was, however, neither sanguinary nor cruel, but, on the con-
trary, seems to have been desirous of accomplishing all his purposes by the gen-
tlest means. As a historian he is entitled to very high piraise. He certainly
leans to the side of his own party, but his statements, like bis general character,
are, for the most part, marked by moderation. In richness and variety
of materials, his liistory, perhaps, is not equal to several contemporary, or per-
haps earlier productions of the same class, but in point of style and arrange-
ment it is inferior to none.

SPOTSWOOD, (Sir) Robert, president of the court of session, was the second
son of archbishop Spotswood, and Avas born in the jear 1596. He was edu-

312 SIR ROBERT SPOTS WOOD.

cnted at the grammar school of Glasgow, and, at the age of thirteau, was sent
to the university of that city, where, four yea»*s afterwards, he obtained the de-
gree of master of arts. From Glasgow he was removed to Exeter college, Ox-
ford, and studied under the celebrated Dr Pridcaux. Honourable mention is
niade of Sir Robert in the " Athenee Oxonienses." On the completion of his
studies, he made the tour of France, Italy, and Germany, studying the laws of
those countries, as well as the civil and canon law, and also theology, in «hicli
last he was deeply versed. When king James conmianded archbishop Spots-
wood to write the history of his native kingdom, he procured, through Sir
Robert's exertions, the ancient 3ISS. and records of the cliurch, but especially
the famous " Black Book of Paisley," which he recovered at Home. Sir Ro-
bert was also able to redeem a number of other manuscripts, which had been
carried abroad from Scottish monasteries at tlie Reformation ; but unfortunately
they were destroyed by the covenanters. On his return from the continent,
after an absence of nine yeai-s. Sir Robert was most graciously received at tlie
court of England by king James, to whom he gave such a good account of the
laws, customs, and manners of the countries where he had been travelling,
that the king appointed him one of the extraordinary judges of the court of
session. On his receiving this appointment, the archbishop purchased and be-
stowed on him the barony of New-Abbey, in Galloway, and he assumed the
title of Lord New-Abbey. He continued to be an extraordinary lord during
James's reign ; but, on the accession of Charles I., who deprived the judges of
their commissions, and re-appointed some of them. Sir Robert was nominated an
ordinary lord of session, or judge, on the 14th of February, 1626. On the
death of Sir James Skene, in November, 1633, he was chosen president of the
College of Justice. He disposed of the lands of New-Abbey to king Charles,
who bestowed it on the newly erected bishopric of Edinburgh, and assumed the
title of Lord Dunipace, from an estate he had purchased in Stirlingshire.

As the father now occupied the highest office in the state, and the primacy in
the church, while the son filled the first judicial station in the country, no
greatness under that of monarchy itself, could have npj>eared more enviable
than that which was enjoyed by the family of Spolswood. It was greatness,
however, dependent on mere court favour, and altogether Avanting the only
firm basis for official elevation, the concurrence and good-will of the nation.
On the contrary, the SpotSAVoods had risen in consequence of their address in
rendering up the liberties of their country into the hands of the king ; and,
however endeared to him, were detested by the great mass of their fellow
citizens. Hence, when the Scots came to the point of resistance in 1637, and
assumed the entire control of their own concerns, the Spotswoods vanished
from before the face of their indignant countrymen, leaving no trace of tiieir
greatness behind, except in the important offices which they had left vacant.

Sir Robert Spotswood now became a close adherent of the king's person ;
and, with other obnoxious individuals in the same situation, proved the means
of preventing that confidence in the sincerity of the monarch's concessions,
which operated so much to his disadvantage. When Charles was in Scotland,
in 1611, the estates presented him with an address, in which they beseeched
that the late president of the court of session might be moved from his person
and councils ; and with this request the king was obliged to comply. At a
late period in the civil war, (1645.) Charles recalled Sir Robert, and appointed
him secretary of state for Scotland, in place of the earl of Lanark. In this
character, Sir Robert signed the commission of the marquis of Montrose as com-
mander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland; and, being appointed to convey this
to the victorious general, he took shipping in the island of Anglesey, and,

SIR JAMES STEUART, BART. 313

landing iu Lochaber, joined the marquis in Atliole. He marched southward
with the army, maintaining, however, a strictly civil character, and was taken
pi-isoner at Philiphaiigh, where, it is said, he had only his walking cane in his
hand. He was carried, along with some other prisoners of distinction, to St
Andrews, and tried before the Parliament, on a charge of high treason. His
defence was allowed to have been masterly, but a conviction was inevitable.
He was condemned to be beheaded by the maiden, which was brought from
Dundee for the purpose. " In his railing discourse to the people on the scaffold
(says Row in his life of Robert Blair), among other things he said that the sad-
dest judgment of God upon people at this time was, that the Lord had sent out
a lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets, and that their ministers, that should
lead them to heaven, were leading them the highway to hell. Mr Blair stand-
ing by him, as he was appointed by the commission of the Kirk, ia answer to this,
only said, ' It's no wonder to hear the son of a false prophet speak so of tho
faithful and honest servants of Jesus Christ;' which did so enrage the proud
and impenitent spirit of Spotswood, that he died raging and railing against
Christ's honest and faithful ministers, and his covenanted people." It was ia
declining the offer of Blair to pray for his soul that Sir Robert used the lan-
guage which provoked the covenanter's stern rebuke, pointed with a sarcasm
which might certainly have been spared on such an occasion. But the reproach
and the retaliation illustrate the spirit of the times. Spotswood's biographer
says his last words were — " Merciful Jesu, gather my soul unto thy saints and
martyrs, who have run before me in this race." This writer accuses "the
fanatical minister of the place " of having incited the provost to prevent Sir
Robert from addressing the people on the scaffold. A similar story is repeated
in the Spottiswoode Miscellany, where, however, it is stated tliat Sir Robert
" inveighed much against the Parliament of England," which is not consistent
with the assertion that he was prevented from speaking to the spectators.
The execution took place at the cross of St Andrews, January 17, 1646. Other
two prisoners suffered along with Spotswood, namely, Nathaniel Gordon, who
recanted his episcopacy, and died as a member of the Kirk, and Andrew Guthrie,
" who died stupidly and impenitently." Of Spotswood and Guthrie, Row ob-
serves characteristically, "These two were bishops' sons j mali corvi maluin
ovum."

Sir Robert Spotswood was well skilled in the Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syriac, and
Arabic languages, besides his acquaintance with most of the modern European
tongues. He was a profound lawyer, and au upright judge. Piety was a con-
spicuous feature in his character ; though, according to the spirit of his age, it
was debased by the exclusive and bigoted feelings of a partizan. He was the
author of " The Practicks of the Law of Scotland j " a work which was only
superseded by the more elaborate work of Stair.

His remains were honourably interred in the parish church of St Andrews,
by Sir Robert Muri'ay of Melgun, and other friends, among whom was Hugh
Scrimgeour, a wealthy citizen of St Andrews, who had formerly been one of
archbishop Spotswood's servants, and who took the execution of his old master's
son so much to heart, that seeing the bloody scaffold still standing some days
afterwards, he fainted on tho spot; and, being carried home, died on tho
thi-eshold of his own door.

STEUART (Sir) James, of Coltness, Baronet, the father of political economy

in Britain, was born on the 10th of October, 1713. He was the son of Sir

James Steuart, bart., solicitor -general for Scotland, under queen Anne, and

George I* by Anne, daughter of Sir Hugh Dalryaiple, president of the court

of session. Tlie.fatlier of the 'solicitor-general was Sir James Steuart, lord ad-
iv. a a

314 SIR JAMES STEUART, BART.

vocate under AVilliam III., whose father >vas Sir James Steuart, provost of
Edinburgh from 1G18 to 1660, a descendant of the Bonhill branch of the
family of Stewart

Tiie subject of this article spent his earliest years at Goodtrees, now Moredun,
a seat of his father, near Edinburgh. At the school of North Berwick, he re-
ceived the elementary part of his education, and it was afterwai-ds completed at
the university of Edinburgh, whither he went at the age of fourteen. At that
institution, after going tlirough a complete course of languages and sciences, he
studied the civil law, with the occasional assistance of 31r Hercules Lindsay, an
eminent civilian, and subsequently professor of that department in the univer-
sity of Glasgow. From his earliest years, his abilities appeared rather of a
solid and permanent, than of a dazzling nature. At the early age just men-
tioned, he succeeded his father in the baronetcy and estates connected with it,
which were of moderate extent and value.

On the completion of his legal studies at the university of Edinburgh, Sir
James went to the bar, (1734,) but without any intention of prosecuting the
law as a profession. He soon after set out upon a tour of the continent, where
he formed an acquaintance with the duke of Ormond, the earl Blarischal, and
other exiled Jacobite chiefs. The family from which he descended had been
conspicuous for its attachment to the popular cause, for a century ; but Sir
James appears to have been converted by these nobles from his original Whig
principles. Having permitted himself to be introduced by them to prince
Charles Stuart at Rome, he received such civilities from that scion of expa-
triated royalty, as had a material effect upon the tenor of his future life. He
returned to his native country in 1740, with many accomplishments, which
added brilliancy to his character, but an unsettled tone of mind, which he af-
terwards greatly regretted.

Among the intimate friends of Sir James at this period of his life, was 3Ir
Alexander Trotter, the father of one of the present land-proprietors of Mid-
Lothian. Mr Trotter was cut off* in early life ; and, during his last illness, made
a promise to Sir James, that, if possible, he would come to him after his death, in
an enclosure near the house of Coltness, which in summer had been frequently
their place of study. It was agreed, in order to prevent mistake or misappre-
hension, that the hour of meeting should be noon ; that Mr Trotter should ap-
pear in the dress he usually wore, and that every other circumstance should be
exactly conformable to what had commonly happened when they met together.
Sir James laid greater stress on this engagement than sound reason will war-
rant. Both before and after his exile, he never failed, when it was in his
power, to attend at the place of appointment, even when the debility arising
from gout rendered him hardly able to walk. Every day at noon, while re-
siding at Coltness, he went to challenge the promise of Mr Trotter, and al-
ways returned extremely disappointed that his expectation of his friend's ap-
pearance had not been gratified. When i-allied on the subject, he always ob-
served seriously, that we do not know enough of " the other world " to entitle
us to assume that such an event as the reappearance of Mr Trotter was impos-
sible. We fear, however, that the most of those who peruse this n.iiTative will
be inclined to class this anecdote with the " follies of the wise."

In the course of his travels, Sir James had formed an intimacy with lord
Elcho, who, conceiving, in the warmth of youthful friendship, that the young
baronet would be able to gain the affections of his sister, lady Frances Wemyss,
carried him to Cedar Hall, in the north of Scotland, where that young lady
was residing with the countess of Sutherland. .As Elcho expected, Sir James
gained the heart of lady Frances ; and, after some scruples on the part of her

SIR JAMES STEUAET, BART. 315

relations had been overcome, they were married in October, 1743, at Dunrobin
castle, the lady bringing her husband what was then considered a very hand-
gome fortune, namely, six thousand pounds. A pair more elegant, more amiable,
and more accomplished, is rarely seen. Their union was blessed in August, 1744,
by the birth of their son, the late Sir James Steuart, who was for many years
the principal object of their care.

The subject of our memoir had joined the opposition party, and in the year
last named he had an unpleasant collision with the family of Dundas, which was
then beginning to take a leading part in Scottish politics. A claim preferred
by him to be enrolled amongst the freeholders of Mid-Lothian, was refused ;
and for this he raised an action against Dundas of Arniston, then one of the
senators of the college of justice. In the course of the judicial proceedings, Sir
James pled his own cause in so masterly a manner, that lord Arniston descended
from the bench, and defended himself at the bar. The cause was given
against the young advocate ; and this, no doubt, conspired, with other circum-
stances, to prepare him for the step he took in the subsequent year.

Sir James was residing in Edinburgh, in attendance upon lady Frances, who
was then in a state of ill health, when prince Charles, at the h^d of his High-
land army, took possession of the city. Among the principal adherents of the
young adventurer, was lord Elcho, the brollier-in-law and bosom friend of
Sir James Steuart. The lattei', with the earl of Buchan, who had married one
of his sisters, formed the wish of being introduced to prince Charles, but with-
out pledging themselves to join his standard. They, therefore, induced lord
Elcho to seize them at the cross of Edinburgh, and conduct them, apparently as
prisoners, into the presence of the prince. Being brought into an ante-
chamber in Holyroodhouse, tlieir friend proceeded to inform his royal highness
of their arrival, and of the circumstances under which they approached him ;
when Charles, with great dignity, refused to see them in any other character
than as avowed adherents of his cause. When Elcho returned with this in-
telligence, the earl of Buchan took his leave ; while Sir James, a man greatly
excelling that nobleman in intellect, proceeded to offer his services to the
young chevalier. He was fortunately saved from the ultimate perils of the
campaign, by being immediately despatclied on a mission to the French court,
where he was at tlie time of the battle of CuUoden. The penalty of his rash-
ness, was an exile of nearly twenty years, being, though not attainted, among
the exceptions from the act of indemnity.

Till the year 1763, vhen George III. permitted him to return home. Sir
James Steuart resided abroad with his family, employing his leisure in those
studies which he afterwards embodied in his works. He spent the greater part
of the period of his exile in the town of Angouleme, where he became inti-
mately acquainted with the French finance system, through a body of counsel-
lors of the parliament of Paris, Mho were banished to that toAvn for nearly the
space of two j ears. Sir James also spent some time at Frankfort, at Spa, at
Venice, and at Padua. AVhen in Germany, he and his lady were received
with extraordinary marks of favour at the courts of Wirtemberg, Baden-Dour-
lach, and Hohenzollern. At Venice, in 175S, he and lady Frances had the
good fortune to form a friendship with the celebrated lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, who, till the end of her life, corresponded frequently with both,
and gave them and their son many proofs of her affection : a series of her
ladyship's letters to Sir James and lady Frances ivere printed at Greenock,
under the care of the late Sir James, in 1818. Though exiled from Britain,
on account of disloyalty to the Hanover dynasty. Sir James Steuart never en-
tertained a disloyal feeling towards his country. Oa the contrary, the en-

316 DUGALD STEWAPcT.

thusiasm with which lie rejoiced in the successes of the IJritish rnns during the
seven years' war, led to his falling under the suspicion of the French court;
and, while residing at Spa, in a neutral temtory, a large body of troops was
sent to apprehend him, and convey him to prison in the duchy of Luxemburg.
It was not for many months that he succeeded in convincing the French
government of its error, or regained his liberty.

The first work published by Sir James, was a volume, which appeared at
Frankfort sur le Main, in 1758, under the title of " Apologie du Sentiment dc
Monsieur le Chevalier Newton, sur I'ancienne Chronologic des Grecs, con-
tenant des reponses a toutes les objections qui y ont ete faites jusqu' a presei;L"
In the same year, while settled at Tubingen, in Germany, he produced his
"Treatise on German Coins," in the Gemian language. It was followed, in
1761, by ** A Dissertation on the Doctrine and Principles of Money, as applied
to the German Coin ;" and in the same year, he so far made his peace with the
British government, as to obtain a cornetcy in the Royal, or 1st regiment of
dragoons. At the peace of Paris, in 1763, he was tacitly permitted to return
home, and resu^ie possession of his estates. It A\as in retirement at CoUness,
that he probably put the last hand to his " Inquiry into the Principles of Poli-
tical Economy," which was published in 1767, in two volumes, quarto, IMessrs
Miller and Cadell gave five hundred pounds for the copyright of this work, the
merits of which were at the time a subject of considerable dispute. It has at
least the merit of having been the first considerable work on this subject pub-
lished in Britain, being about nine years antecedent to the work of Dr Smith.
In 1709, Sir .Tames published, under the assumed name of Eobert Frame,
" Considerations on the Interests of the County of Lanark." By the interest
of "his friends, he now obtained a full pardon, which passed the great seal in
1771 ; and in the year following, he printed *' The Principles of Money ap-
plied to the present state of the Coin of Bengal." He also Avrote, ** A Plan
for introducing an uniformity of Weights and Measures," A\hich was published
after his death. He likewise published, " Observations on Bcattie's Essay
on Truth;" " Critical Remarks on the Atheistical Falsehoods of IMirabaud's
System of Nature ;" and ** A Dissertation concerning the IMotive of Obedience
to the Law of God.-' It is supposed that the ardour and assiduity with which
he pursued his studies, proved detrimental to his health. An inflammation,
commencing with a toe-nail too nearly cut, put an end to his valuable life, on
the 26th of November, 1780. His remains were interred in the family vault
at Cambusnethan church, and a monument has been erected to his memory in
Westminster abbey.

Sir James Steuart was a man of extensive and varied powers of mind;
cheerful and animated in conversation ; amiable in all the domestic relations of
life ; and, unlike several other eminent men of that age, was able to prosecute
philosophical inquiries, without abandoning the faith of a Christian. His
works were published, with a memoir, by his son, in 160G, occupying six
volumes.

STEWART, DuoALD, a celebrated metaphysical writer, was the only son who
survived the age of infancy, of Dr Matthew Stewart, professor of mathematics
in the university of Edinburgh, and of Marjory Stewart, daughter of Archibald
Stewart, Esq., writer to the signet. His father, of whom a biographical memoir
follows the present, is well known to the scientific world as a geometrician of
eminence and originality. His mother was a woman remarkable for her good
sense, and for great sweetness and kindliness of disposition, and was always re-
membered by her son with the warmest sentiments of filial affection.'

1 For the greater part of the present article we are indebted to tJie Annual Obituary; tha

Sir H Bsebnm ■

(S/^L© STlEW/\lRTc

p. R. S. l,C(RX)(XN"«:EDINBTm.GH>C.

BiACKIB 8, SOS, SLASOOW: EnUTBirRGE iluautto .

DUGALD STEWART. 317

The object of this brief notice was born in the college of Edinburgh, on
the 22nd of November, 1753, and his health, during the first period of his
life, was so feeble and precarious, that it was with more than the ordinary anxiety
and solicitude of parents that his infancy was reared. His early years were
spent partly in the house at that time attached to the mathemati(;al chair of the
university, and partly at Catrine, his father's property in Ayrshire, to which
the family regularly removed every summer, when the academical session was
concluded. At the age of seven, lie was sent to the High School, where he
distinguished himself by the quickness and accuracy of his apprehension, and
where the singular felicity and spirit with which he caught and transfused into
his own language the ideas of the classical writers, attracted the particular remark
of his instructors.

Having completed the cnstoniary course of education at this seminary, he
was entered as a student at the college of Edinburgh. Under the immediate
instruction of such a mathematician and teacher as his father, it may readily be
supposed that he made early proficiency in the exact sciences ; but the distin-
guishing bent of his philosophical genius recommended him in a still more par-
ticular manner to the notice of Dr Stevenson, then professor of login, and of
Dr Adam Ferguson, who filled the moral philosophy chair.

In order to prosecute his favourite studies under the most favourable circum-
stances, he proceeded, at the commencement of the session of'1771, to the uni-
versity of (ilasgow, to attend the lectures of Dr Ileid, who was then in
the zenith of his reputation. Tlie progress which he here made in his meta-
physical studies, was proportioned to the ardour with which he devoted himself
to the subject ; and, not content with listening merely to the instructions of his
master, or with the speculations of his leisure hours, he composed during the
session that admirable Essay on Dreaming, which he afterwards published in the
first volume of the " Philosophy of the Human Mind."

The declining state of his father's health compelled him, in the autumn of
the following year, before he had reached the age of nineteen, to undertake
the task of teaching the mathematical classes in the Edinburgh university.
With what success he was able to fulfill this duty, was sufficiently evinced by the
event ; for, witii all Dr 3Iatthew Stewart's well-merited celebrity, the number of
students considerably increased under his son. As soon as he had completed
his twenty-first year, he was appointed assistant and successor to his father, and
in this c«apacity he continued to conduct the mathematical studies in the uni-
versity till his father's death, in the year 1785, when he was nominated to the
vacant chair.

Although this continued, however, to be his ostensible situation in the
university, his avocations were more varied. In the year 1778, during which
Dr Adam Ferguson accompanied the commissioners to America, he undertook to
supply his place in the moral philosophy class ; a labour that was the more
overwhelming, as he had for the first time given notice, a short time before
his assistance was requested, of his intention to add a course of lectures on
astronomy to the two classes which he taught as professor of mathematics.
Such was the extraordinary fertility of his mind, and the facility with which it
adapted its powers to such inquiries, that, although the proposal was made to
him and accepted on Thursday, he commenced the course of metaphysics the
following Monday, and continued, during the whole of the season, to think out
and arrange in his head in the morning, (while walking backwards and for-
wards in a small garden attached to his fhther's house in the college,) the matter

source to which, on application to Mr Stewart's representatives, we were referred for authen-
tic information respecting their distinguished relative.

'18 DUGALD STEWART.

of the lecture of the day. The ideas with which he had thus stored his mind,
he poured forth extempore in the course of the forenoon, with an eloquence
and a felicity of illustration surpassing in energy and vivacity (as those who have
heard him have remarked) the more logical and better digested expositions of
his philosophical views, which he used to deliver in his maturer years. The
difficulty of speaking for an hour extempore every day on a new subject for five
or six months, is not small ; but, when superadded to the mental exertion of
teaching also daily, two classes of mathematics, and of delivering, for the first
time, a course of lectures on astronomy, it may justly be considered as a very
singular instance of intellectual vigour. To this season he always referred as
the most laborious of his life ; and such was the exhaustion of the body, from
the intense and continued stretch of the mind, that, on his departure for Lon-
don, at the close of the academical session, it was necessary to lift him into the
carriage.

In the year 17 SO, he began to receive some young noblemen and gentlemen
into his house as pupils, under his immediate superintendence, among whom were
to be numbered the late lord Belliaven, the late marquis of Lothian, Basil lord
Daer," the late lord Powerscourt, 3Ir Muir 3Iackenzie of Delvin, and the late
Mr Henry Glassford. In the summer of 17S3, he visited the continent for the
first time, having accompanied the late marquis of Lothian to Paris ; on his re-
turn from whence, in the autumn of the same year, he married Helen Banna-
tyne, daughter of Neil Bannatyne, Esq., a merchant in Glasgow.

In the year 1785, during which Ur Matthew Stewart's death occurred, the
health of Dr Ferguson rendered it expedient for him to discontinue his official
Labours in the university, and he accordingly elTected an exchange of offices
with IMr Stewart, who was transferred to the class of moral philosophy, while
Dr Ferguson retired on the salary of mathematical professor. In the year
1787, Mr Stewart was deprived of his wife by death ; and, the following sum-
mer, he again visited the continent, in company with the late IMr Ramsay of
Barnton.

These slight indications of the progress of the ordinary occurrences of
human life, must suffice to convey to the reader an idea of the connexion of
events, up to the period when Mr Stewart entered on that sphere of action in
which he laid the foundation of the great reputation which he acquired as a
moralist and a metaphysician. His writings are before the world, and from
them posterity may be safely left to form an estimate of the excellence of his
stylo of composition — of the extent and variety of his learning and scientific at-
tainments— of the singular cultivation and refinement of his mind — of the
purity and elegance of his taste — of his warm relish for moral and for natural
beauty — of liis enliglitened benevolence to all mankind, and of the generous
ardour with which he devoted himself to the improvement of the human
species — of all of which, while the English language endures, his works will
continue to preserve the indelible evidence. But of one part of his fame no
memorial will remain but in the recollection of those ^\ho have witnessed his
exertions. As a public speaker, he was justly entitled to rank among the very
first of his day; and, had an adequate sphere been afforded for the display of
his oratorical powers, his merit in this line alone would have sufficed to secure
him a lasting reputation. Among those who attracted the highest admiration

2 liams's first interview with I^Ir Stewart, in the presence of this amiable young no-
bleman, at Calrine, will be in every reader's remembrance, as well as the philosopher's
attentions to the poet during his subsequent residence in Eklinburgh. Tlie house oc-
cupied by Mr Stewart at Catrine still exists, a small narrow old £islnoned building, detached
from the village.

DUGALD STEWART. 319

in the senate and at the bar, there were not a few who could bear testimony
to his extraordinary eloqvience. The ease, the grace, and the dignity of his
action; the compass and harmony of his voice, its flexibility and variety of
intonation ; the truth with which its modulation i-esponded to the impulse of
his feelings, and the sympathetic emotions of his audience ; the clear and per-
spicuous arrangement of his matter; the swelling and uninteiTupted flow of
his periods, and the rich stores of ornament which he used to borrow from
the literature of Greece and of Rome, of France and of England, and to inter-
weave with his spoken thoughts with the most apposite application, were per-
fections not possessed in a superior degree by any of the most celebrated orators
of the age. His own opinions were maintained without any overweening
partiality ; his eloquence came so warm from the heart, was rendered so im-
pressive by the evidence which it bore of the love of truth, and was so free
from all controversial acrimony, that what has been remarked of the purity
of purpose which inspired the speeches of Brutus, might justly be applied to
all that he spoke and wrote; for he seemed only to wish, without further
reference to others than a candid discrimination of their errors rendered necessary,
simply and ingenuously to disclose to the world the conclusions to which his
reason had led him: "Non malignitate aut invidia, sed simpliciter et ingenue,
judicium animi sui detexisse."

In 1790, after being three years a widower, he married Helen D'Arcy
Cranstoun, a daughter of the honourable Mr George Cranstoun, a union to
which he owed much of the subsequent happiness of his life. About this time
it would appear to have been that he first began to arrange some of his
metaphysical papers with a view to publication. At what period he deliberate-
ly set himself to think systematically on these subjects is uncertain. That his
mind had been habituated to such reflections from a very early period is suf-
ficiently known. He frequently alluded to the speculations that occupied his
boyish, and even his infant thoughts, and the success of his logical and metaphy-
sical studies at Edinburgh, and the Essay on Dreaming, which forms the fifth
section of the first part of the fifth chapter of the first volume of the
Philosophy of the Human Mind, composed while a student at the college of
Glasgow in 1772, at the age of eighteen, are proofs of the strong natural bias
which he possessed for such pursuits. It is probable, however, that he did not
follow out the inquiry as a train of thought, or commit many of his ideas to
^vriting before his appointment in 1785, to the professorship of moral philoso-
phy, gave a necessary and steady direction to his investigation of ilietaphysical
truth. In the year 1792, he first appeared before the public as an author, at
which time the first volume of the Philosophy of the Human Mind was given
to the world. While engaged in this work he had contracted the obligation of
writing the life of Adam Smith, the author of the Wealth of Nations, and very
soon after he had disembarrassed himself of his own labours, he fulfilled the
task which he had undertaken ; the biographical memoir of this eminent man
having been read at two several meetings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
in the months of January and March, 1793. In the cpurse of this year also, he
published the Outlines of Moral Philosophy ; a work which he used as a text
book, and which contained brief notices, for the use of his students, of the sub-
jects which formed the matter of his academical prelections. In March, 1796,
he read before the Royal Society his account of the Life and Writings of Dr
Robertson, and in 1802, that of the Life and Writings of Dr Reid.

By these publications alone, which were subsequently combined in
one volume, quarto, he continued to be known as an author till the appear-
ance of his volume of Philosophical Essays in 1810; a work to Avhich a

320 DUGALD STEWART.

melancholy interest attaclies, in the estimation of his friends, from the know-
ledge that it was in the devotion of his mind to this occupation that he sought
a diversion to his thoughts, from the affliction he experienced in the death of
his second and youngest son. Although, however, the fruits of his studies were
not given to the world, the process of intellectual exertion was unremitted.
The leading branches of metaphysics had become so familiar to his mind, that
the lectures, which he delivered, very generally extempore, and ^\hich varied
more or less in the language and matter every year, seemed to cost him
little effort, and he was thus left in a great degi*ee at liberty to apply
the larger part of his day to the prosecution of his further speculations.
Although he had read more than most of those who are considered learned, his
life, as he has himself somewhere remarked, was spent much more in reflecting
than in reading; and so unceasing was the activity of his mind, and so strong
his disposition to trace all subjects of speculation, that were worthy to attract his
interest, up to their first principles, that all important objects and occurrences
furnished fresh matter to his thoughts. The public events of the time sug-
gested many of his inquiries into the principles of political economy ; his re-
flections on his occasional tours through the country, many of his speculations
on the picturesque, the beautiful, and the sublime ; and the study of the
characters of his friends and acquaintances, and of remarkable individuals with
whom he happened to be thrown into contact, many of his most profound ol>>
servations on the sources of the varieties and anomalies of human nature.

In the period which intervened between the publication of his first volume of
the Philosophy of the Human Mind, and the appearance of his Philosophical
Essays, he produced and prepared the matter of all his other writings, with the
exception of his Dissertation on the Progress of Metaphysical and Ethical Phi-
losophy, prefixed to the Supplement of the Encyclopasdia Britannica. Inde-
pendent of the prosecution of those metaphysical inquiries which constitute the
substance of his second and third volumes of the Philosophy of the Human
Mind, to this epoch of his life are to be referred the speculations in which he
engaged with respect to the science of political economy, the principles of whicli
he first embodied in a course of lectures, which, in the year 1800, he added as
a second course to the lectures which formed the immediate subject of the in-
struction previously delivered in the university from the moral philosophy chair.
So general and extensive was his acquaintance with almost every department of
literature, and so readily did he arrange his ideas on any subject, with a view
to their communication to others, that his colleagues frequently, in the event
of illness or absence, availed themselves of his assistance in the instruction of
their classes. In addition to his own academical duties, he repeatedly sujiplied
the place of Dr John Robison, professor of natural philosophy. He taught for
several months during one winter the Greek classes for the late Mr Dalzell :
he more than one season taught the mathematical classes for Mr Playfair : he
delivered some lectures on logic during an illness of Dr F"inlayson ; and, if we
mistake not, he one winter lectured for some time on belles lettres for the sue*
cpssor of Dr Blair.

In 1796, he was induced once more to open his house for the reception of
pupils ; and in this capacity, the late lord Ashburton, the son of the celebrated
Mr Dunning, the earl of Warwick, the earl of Dudley, the present lord Palmerston,
and his brother the honourable Mr Temple, were placed under his care. Tho
present marquis of Lansdowne, though not an inmate in his family, was resident
at this time in Edinburgh, and a frequent guest at his house, and for him he
contracted the highest esteem; and he lived to see him, along with ttvo of
Lis own pupils, cabinet miuisterB at the same time. Justly conceiving that tho

DUGALD STEWART. 321

formation of manners, and of taste in conversation, constituted a no less im-
portant part in the education of men destined to mix so largely in the world,
than their graver pursuits, he rendered his house at this time the resort of all
nho were most distinguished for genius, acquirement, or elegance in Edinburgh,
and of all the foreigners who were led to visit the capital of Scotland. So hap-
pily did he succeed in assorting his guests, so Avell did he combine the grave
and the gay, the cheerfulness of youth with the wisdom of age, and amusement
with the weightier topics that formed the subject of conversation to his more
learned visitors, that his evening parties possessed a charm which many who
frequented them have since confessed they have sought in vain in more splendid
and insipid entertainments. In the year 1806, he accompanied his friend the
earl of Lauderdale on his mission to Paris ; and he had thus an opportunity not
only of renewing many of the literary intimacies which he had formed in
France before the commencement of the Revolution, but of extending his ac-
quaintance with the eminent men of that country, with many of whom he con-
tinued to maintain a correspondence during his life.

While individuals of inferior talents, and of much inferior claims, (lad received
the most substantial rewards for their services, it had been long felt that a phi-
losopher like Stewart, who derived so small an income from his professional
occupations, was both unjustly and ungenerously overlooked by his country.
During the continuance of 3Ir Pitt's administration, when the government had so
much to do for those who were immediately attached to it, it was hardly per-
haps to be expected that an individual who owned no party affection to it,
should have participated of its favours. On the accession, however, of the
Whig administration, in 1806, the oversight was corrected, though not in tha
manner which was to have been Avished. A sinecure office, that of gazette-
writer for Scotland, was erected for the express purpose of rewarding 3Ir
Stewart, who enjoyed with it a salary of f 600 a-year for the remainder of his
life. The peculiar mode in which the reward was conveyed, excited much no-
tice at the time. It was agreed on all hands, that Mr Stewart merited the
highest recompense ; but it was felt by the independent men of all parties, that
a liberal pension from the crown would have expressed the national gratitude
in a more elegant manner, and placed Mr Stewart's name more conspicuously
in the list of those public servants, who are repaid, in the evening of life, for
the devotion of their early days to the honour and interest of their country.

The year after the death of his son, he relinquished the active duties of his
chair in the university, and removed to Kinneil House, a seat belonging to the
duke of Hamilton, on the banks of the Frith of Forth, about twenty miles from
Edinburgh, where he spent the remainder of his days in philosophical retire-
ment.^ From this place were dated, in succession, the Philosophical Essays in
1810; the second volume of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, in 1813 ;*

3 In 1812, Mr Stewart read, before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a highly interesting
memoir, entitled, " Some Account of a Boy bom Deaf and Blind ;" which was subsequently
published In the Transactions of that learned body. The boy was James Mitchell, the son
of a clergyman in the north of Scotland; and, owing to his unfortunate defects, his knowledge
of external objects was necessarily conveyed through the organs of touch, taste, and smell,
only. Mr Stewart entertained hopts of being iible to ascertain, from this case, the distiro-
(ioii between the original and acquired perceptions of sight; an expectation, however, which,
from various circumstances, was not realized.

* He retired from active life, upon an arrangement with the scarcely less celebrated Dr
Thomas Brown, who had been his own pupil, who now agreed, as joint professor with Mr
Stewart, to perform the whole duties of the chair. Mr Stewart's biographer in the Edin-
I>ur(rh Encyclopa;dia, gives the following paragraph, in reference to this connexion . — "Al-
though it w'as on Mr Stewart's recommendation that Dr Brown was raistd to the chair of
n'.oral philosophy, yet the appointment did not prove to him a source of unmixed satisfac-
tion. The fine poetical imagination of Dr Bnnvi), the quickness of his apprehension, and the
IV. £ 3

322 DUGALD STEWART.

the Preliminary Dissertation to the Encyclopaedia; the continuation of the
second part of the Philosophy, in 1827; and, finally, in 1828, the third
volume, containing the Philosophy of tlie Active and 31oral Powers of Man ; a
work which he completed only a few short weeks before his career was to close
for ever. Here he continued to be visited by his friends, and by most
foreigner who could procure an introduction to his acquaintance, till the
month of January, 1822, when a stroke of palsy, wliich nearly deprived him of
the power of uttemnce, in a great measure incapacitated him for the enjoy-
ment of any other society than that of a few intimate friends, in whose com-
pany he felt no constraint. This great calamity, which bereaved him of the
faculty of speech, of the power of exercise, of the use of his right hand, —
which reduced him to a state of almost infantile dependence on those around
him, and subjected him ever after to a most abstemious regimen, he bore with
the most dignified fortitude and tranquillity. The malady which broke liis
health and constitution for the rest of liis existence, happily impaired neither
any of the faculties of his mind, nor the characteristic vigour and activity of his
understanding, wliich enabled him to rise superior to the misfortune. As soon
as his strength was sufiiciently re-established, he continued to pursue his studies
with his wonted assiduity, to prepare his works for the press with the assistance
of his daughter as an amanuensis, and to avail himself with cheerful and una-
bated relish of all the sources of gratification which it was still within his power
to enjoy, exhibiting, among some of the heaviest infirmities incident to age, an
admirable example of the serene sunset of a well-spent life of classical elegance
and refinement, so beautifully imagined by Cicero: " Quiete, et pure, et ele-
ganter actae aetatis, placida ac lenis senectus."

In general company, his manner bordered on reserve ; but it was the C07ni~
late condita gravitas, and belonged more to the general weight and authority
of his character, than to any reluctance to take his share in the cheerful inter-
course of social life. He was ever ready to acknowledge with a smile the
happy sallies of wit, and no man had a keener sense of the ludicrous, or
laughed more heartily at genuine humour. His deportment and expression
were easy and unembarrassed, dignified, elegant, and graceful. His politeness
was equally free from all affectation, and from all premeditation. It was the
spontaneous result of the purity of his own taste, and of a heart warm with all
the benevolent affections, and was characterized by a truth and readiness of
tact that accommodated his conduct with undeviating propriety to the circum-
stances of the present moment, and to the relative situation of those to whom
he addressed himself. From an early period of life, he had frequented the
best society both in France and in this country, and lie had in a peculiar de-

acuteness and ingenuity of liis argument, were qualities but little suited to that patient and
continuous reseaicli, which the phenomena of the mind so peculiar) \ demand. IJe accordin<'ly
imposed his lectures with the same rapidity that he would have done a poem, and chit^fly
from the resources of his own highly gitied, but excited mind. Difficulties which had ap-
palled the stoutest hearts, }ieldcd to liis bold analysis; and, despising the formalities of a
siege, be entered the temple of pneiimatology by storm. Wlien Mr Ste\vart was apprized
that his own favourite and best founded opinions were controverted from the very chair
which he had srarccly quitted; that the doctrines of his revered friend and master, Dr Keid,
were assailed with severe, and not very respectful animadversions ; and that views even of a
doubtful tendency were freely expounded by his ingenious colleague, his feelings were
strongly roused ; and, though they were long repressed by the peculiar circumstances of his
situaUon, yet he has given them full expression, in a note in the third volume of his Ele-
menU, which is alike remarkable for the severity and delicacy of its reproof."

Jt is worthy of notice, that from 1810 to 1818, when Mr Adam Ferguson died, there were
ahve three professors of moral philosophy, who had been, or were connected with the Edin-
burgh unirersity. Upon the death of Dr Brown, in 1820, Mr Stewart resigned the chair in
favour of the late Mr Juhn Wilson, who succeeded.

DUGALD STEWART. 323

gree the air of good companjr. In the society of ladies he appeared to great
advantage, and to women of cultivated understanding his conversation was par-
ticularly acceptable and pleasing. The immense range of his erudition, the at-
tention he had bestowed on almost every branch of pliilosophy, his extensive
acquaintance with every department of elegant literature, ancient or modern,
and the fund of anecdote and information which he had collected in the course
of his intercoui-se witli the world, with respect to almost all tlie eminent men of
the day, either in tliis country or in France, enabled him to find suitable sub-
jects for the entertainment of the great variety of visitors of all descriptions,
who at one period frequented his house. In his domestic circle, his character
appeared in its most amiable light, and by his family he was beloved and vene-
rated almost to adoration. So uniform and sustained was the tone of his man-
ners, and so completely was it the result of the habitual influence of the natural
elegance and elevation of his mind on his external demeanour, that when alone
Viitli his wife and children, it hardly differed by a shade from that which he
maintained in the company of strangers; for, although his fondness, and fami-
liarity, and playfulness, were alike engaging and unrestrained, he never lost
anything either of liis grace or his dignity: " Nee vero ille in luce modo, atque
in oculis civium, magnus, sed intus domique praestantior." Asa writer of the
English language, — as a public speaker, — as an original, a profound, and a
cautious thinker, — as an expounder of truth, — as an instructor of youth, — as
an elegant scholar, — as an accomplished gentleman; — in the exemplary dis-
charge of the social duties, — in uncompromising consistency and rectitude of
principle, — in unbending independence, — in the warmth and tenderness of hi?
domestic affections, — in sincere and unostentatious piety, — in the purity and
innocence of his life, few have excelled him : and, take him for all in all, it
will be difficult to find a man, who, to so many of the perfections, has added so
few of the imperfections, of human nature. " Mihi quideni quanquam est
subito ereptus, vivit tamen, semperque vivet ; virtuteui enim amavi illius viri,
quae extincta non est ; nee mihi soli versatur ante oculos, qui illam semper in
manibus habui, sed etiam posteris erit clara et insignis."

3Ir Stewart's death occurred on the 11th of June, 1828, at No. 5, Ainslie
Place, Edinburgh, where he had been for a few days on a visit.

The remains of this distinguished philosopher were interred in the Canon-
gate churchyard, near the honoured remains of Dr Adam Smith. At a meeting
of his friends and admirers, which soon after took place, a subscription was en-
tered into for erecting a monument, in some conspicuous situation, to his me-
mory ; and a large sum being immediately collected, the work was soon after
commenced, under the superintendence of IMr Play fair, architect. Blr Stewart's
monument is an elegant Grecian temple, with a simple cinerary urn in the
centre, and occupies a most fortunate situation on the south-west shoulder of the
Calton hill, near the Observatory.

Mr Stewart left behind him a widow and two children, a son and daugh-
ter : the former of whom, lieutenant-colonel Matthew Stewart, has published
an able pamphlet on Indian affairs. With appropriate generosity, the govern-
ment allowed the sinecure enjoyed by IMr Stewart, to descend to his family.

The subject of this memoir was of the middle size, and particularly distin-
guished by an expression of benevolence and intelligence, which Sir Henry
liaeburn has well preserved in his portrait of him, painted for lord Woodhouse-
lee, before he had reached his 55lh year. IMr Stewart had the remarkable pecu-
liarity of vision, which made him insensible to tlie less refrangible colours of
the spectrum. This aff'ection of the eye was long unknown both to himself and
his friends, and was discovered from the accidental circumstance of one of his

324 DR. MATTHEW STEWART.

family directing his attention to the beauty of the fruit of the Siberian cvab,
when he found himself unable to distinguish the scarlet fruit from the green
leaves of the tree. One of the rules by which he guided himself in literary
matters, was never to publish anything anonymously : a rule which, if gene-
rally observed, would pi'obably save the world the reading of much inferior
and much vicious composition.

STEWART, (Dr) Matthew, an eminent geometrician, and professor of
mathematics in the university of Edinburgh, was born at Hotlisay, in the
island of Bute, — of which his father, the reverend Blr Diigald Stewart, was
minister, — in the year 1717.^ On finishing his course at the grammar school,
he was entered at the university of Glasgow in 1731. At college, he became
acquainted with Dr Hutcheson and Dr Simson. In the estimation of the lat-
ter, he rose, in after life, from the rank of a favourite pupil, to that of an es-
teemed friend. They were long intimate personal companions, admired the
same branches of their common science, and exhibited in their works symptoms
of mutual assistance. It is said, indeed, that we are indebted to the friendship
and acuteness of Simson, for the suggestion of mathematics as a study suited to
the genius of Stewart. At all events, there is every reason to sujjpose that the
love of the latter for the geometry of the ancients, was derived from his inter-
course with his instructor. While attending tlie lectures of Dr Gregory in
Edinburgh, in 1741, the attractions of the new analysis wei'e not sufficient to
make him neglect his favourite study ; and he conmiunicated to his friend his
discoveries in geometry, receiving similar communications in return. W'liile
Simson was conducting the laborious investigations, which enabled him to re-
vive the porisms of the ancients, Stewart received the progressive benefit of the
discoveries, long before they were communicated to the world ; and while he
probably assisted his friend in his investigations, he was enabled, by investi-
gating the subject in a new direction, to publish, in 1746, his celebrated series
of propositions, termed " General Theorems." ** They are," says the author's
biographer, " among the most beautiful, as well as most general propositions
known in the Avhole compass of geometry, .ind are perhaps only equalled by
the remarkable locus to the circle in the second book of ApoUonius, or by the
celebrated theorems of Mr Cotes. The first demonstration of any considerable
number of them, is that which was lately communicated to this society^ [the
Royal Society of Edinburgh]; though I believe there are few mathematicians,
into whose hands they have fallen, whose skill they have not often exercised.
The unity which prevails among them, is a proof that a single, though ex-
tensive view, guided Mr Stewart in the discovery of them all."

Meanwhile, Mr Stewart had become a licentiate of the church of Scotland ;
and through the joint influence of the earl of Bute and the duke of Argyle,
had obtained the living of Eoseneath. The ** General Theorems" made their
appearance at a time when they were calculated to have a considerable eflect on
the prospects of the author. In the summer of 174G, the mathematical chair
of Edinburgh became vacant, by the death of Mr Maclaurin. Stewart was
not at that period known to the learned world ; and Mr Stirling, a gentleman
of well known reputation, was requested to become the new professor. This
gentleman declined the situation ; and, towards the end of the year, when the
patrons of the university were looking for another candidate worthy of the im-
portant duty, Stewart's book was published. The author was readily offered
the situation, which he accepted. " The duties of this oflice," says his bio-
grapher, " gave a turn somewhat different to liis mathematical pursuits, and led

' Memoir by professor Plajfair, Trans. R. Soc. Edin. i. 57.
' Communicated by Dr Small.

ER. MATTHEW STEWART. 325

hhu to think of the most simple and elegant means of explaining those difficult
propositions, which were hitherto only accessible to men deeply versed in the
modern analysis. In doing this, he was pursuing the object which, of all
others, he most ardently wished to attain, viz., the application of geometry to
such problems as the algebraic calculus alone had been thought able to resolve.
His solution of Kepler's problem was the first specimen of tliis kind whicli he
gave to the world ; and it was impossible to have produced one more to the
credit of the method which he followed, or of the abilities with which he ap-
plied it." Tills solution appeared in the second volume of the Essays of the
Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, for the year 1756. To quote again the
words of the eminent biographer : " Whoever examines it, will be astonished
to find a problem brought down to the level of elementary geometry, which
had hitherto seemed to require the finding of fluents, and the revei'sion of
series ; he will acknowledge the reasonableness of whatever confidence Mr
Stewart may be hereafter found to place in those simple methods of investiga-
tion, which he could conduct with so much ingenuity and success ; and will be
convinced, that the solution of a problem, though the most elementary, may be
the least obvious ; and though the easiest to be understood, may be the most
difiicult to be discovered." In pursuance of his principle of introducing the
forms of ancient demonstration, as applicable to those more complicated parts
of the science, called the mixed mathematics, for which they had been con-
sidered unqualified, he published, in 1761, his " Tracts, Physical and Mathe-
matical, containing an Explanation of several important Points in Physical As-
tronomy ; and a New Method of ascertaining the Sun's distance from the
Earth, by the Theory of Gravitation." " In the first of these," says his bio-
grapher, " Mr Stewart lays down the doctrine of centripetal forces, in a series
of propositions, demonstrated, (if we admit the quadrature of curves,) with the
utmost rigour, and requiring no previous knowledge of the mathematics, except
the elements of plain geometry, and conic sections. The good order of these
propositions, added to the clearness and simplicity of the demonstrations, ren-
ders tills tract the best elementary treatise of physical astronomy that is any-
where to be found." It was the purpose of the three remaining tracts to deter-
mine the eftect of those forces which disturb the motions of a secondary planet ;
and, in particular, to determine the distance of the sun, from its eftect in dis-
turbing the motions of the moon. Owing to the geometrical metliod which he
adopted, and likewise to the extreme distance of the sun, which makes all the
disturbances he produces on the motion of the moon, very near to that point at
which increase of distance to infinity would not change their force, he could only
proceed on a system of approximation ; and in applying the principles of his plan
to a practical calculation of the sun's distance, which he published in 1763,
entitled, " Distance of the Sun from the Earth, determined by the Theory of
Gravitation, together with several other things relative to the same subject," he
was found to have made a very considerable error. He found the distance of the*
sun to be equal to 29,875 semi-diameters of the earth, or about 118,541,423
English miles. About five years- afterwards, there appeared a pamphlet from
the pen of Mr Dawson of Sudbury, cjilied " Four Propositions, intended to
point out certain Errors in Dr Stewart's Investigation, which had given a result
much greater than the truth." This was followed by a second attack from JMr
Lauden, who, like Price in arithmetic, accomplished the difficult task of be-
coming an enthusiast in mathematics, and, by means of exagg'erating errors,
and commenting on their atrocity, astonished the world with a specimen of con-
troversial mathematics. The biographer thus slates the sources of the mistakes
which called forth these animadversions: *' x\s in arithmetic, we neglect those

326 MAJOR-GENERAL DAVID STEWART.

Email fractions which, tiiougli of inconsiderable amount, would exceedingly em-
barrass our ccinpulations ; so, in geometry, it is sometimes necessary to reject
those small quantities, A\hich would add little to the accuracy, and much to
llie ditficulty of the investigation. In both cases, however, the same thing may
happen ; though each quantity thrown out may be inconsiderable in itself, yet
the amount of them altogether, and their effect on the last result, may be
greater than is apprehended, Tiiis was just what had happened in the present
case. The problem to be resolved, is, in its nature, so complex, and involves
the estimation of so many causes, that, to avoid inextricable difficulties, it is
necessary to reject some quantities, as being small in comparison of the rest,
and tc reason as if they had no existence." Soon after the publication of this
essay, Dr Stewart's health began to decline; and in 1772, he retired to the
country, leaving the care of his class to bis eminent son, Dugald Stewart, who
Avas elected joint professor with him in 1775. He died on the 23d January^
1785, at the age of sixty-eight. Besides the works above mentioned, he pub-
lished " Propositiones Geometricis more veterum Demonstrate ad Geometriara
Antiquam lUustrandani et Promovendam IdonetE," 1763.

STEWART, (JIajor-gk-neral,) Ua\id, author of the well-known " Sketches"
of the Highlanders and Highland Regiments, was tlie second sou of Robert
Stewart, Esq. of Garth, ia Perllishire, and was born in the year 1772. In the
seventeenth year of his age, he entered the 42nd regiment as an ensign, and
soon became distinguished for that steadiness and firmness of conduct, joined
to benignity of nature and amenity cf manners, which marked him through
life. He served in the campaigns of the duke of York in Flanders, and was
present at the siege of Nieuport and the defence of Nimeguen. In 1796, he
accompanied the regiment, which formed part of the expedition under
Sir Ralph Abercromby, to the West Indies, and was for several years actively
employed in a variety of operations against tlie enemy's settlements in that
quarter of the world ; particularly in the capture of St Lucia, and tlie hai-assing
and desperate contest which was carried on with the Caribbs in St Vincent and
other islands. In the landing near Pigeon hland, he was among the first who
jumped ashore, under a heavy fire of round and grape shot from a battery so
posted as almost to sweep the beach. " A cannon-ball," says he, in a letter
addressed to Sir John Sinclair, ** pnsscd lord Hopetoun's left shoulder, and over
my head. He observed that a miss was as good as a mile, to which I
cordially agreed; and added, that it was fortunate for me that I was only five
feet six inches ; as if 1 were, like him, six feet five inches, I would have been
a head shorter." In the year just mentioned, he was promoted to the rank of
captain-lieutenant, and, after serving in the West Indies for a year and a half,
lie returned to England, but not to enjoy repose, for he was almost immediately
ordered to join the head-quarters of the regiment at Gibraltar, and the follow-
ing year accompanied it, when ordered to assist in the expedition against the
jJand of ^Minorca. He was afterwards taken prisoner at sea, and detained for
five months in Spain, when he had the fortune to be exchanged.

At the close of 1800, he was promoted to the rank of captain ; a step which
like all others he subsequently obtained, was given him for his services alone ;
and, in 1601, his regiment received orders to join Sir Ralph Abercromby, iu
the memorable expedition to Egypt. At the landing effected in the bay
of Aboukir, in the face of the enemy, on the morning of the 8th of March,
1801, captain Stewart was one of the first to leap on shore from the boaU;
and when tiie four regiments destined for the attack of the enemy's position on
the fand hills — tlie 40lh, 23rd, 2Sth, and '12nd — had formed, and received or-
ders to charge up the hill and dislodge the enemy at the point of the bayonet,

Sor J. 'Wstson. Gord

OF GARTH.

BLACKTE & SON. GLASGOW; EDINBTJRGIi ffc LO'NDON

MAJOR-GENERAL DAVID STEWART. 32/

the subject of this memoir, by his gallant bearing, and knowledge of the
capabilities of liis countrymen, when properly commanded, contributed essen-
tially to the brilliant success -which almost immediately crowned this daring
operation. In the celebrated action of the 21st, when the British army over-
threw the French, but with the loss of their commander-in-chief, the services of
the 42nd were such as to secure for them undying fame. On this occasion,
captnin Stewart, whose personal exertions had been conspicuous in inspiring the
men with a determination to conquer or perish, received a severe wound, which
prevented his taking almost any part in the subsequent operations of the cam-
paign.

Few officei's have ever possessed so powerful a command over the energies of
their men as the subject of these pages. He had studied the Highland
character thoroughly ; had made himself the brother and confident of the men
under him ; and could, with an art approaching to that of the poet, awaken
those associations in their bosoms which were calculated to elevate and nerve
their minds for the perilous tasks imposed upon them. The Highland soldier
is not a mere mercenary : he acts under impulses of an abstract kind, which
none but one perfectly skilled in his character, and who has local and
family influences over him, can take full advantage of. Tiie usual principles
of military subordination fail in his case ; while he will more than obey, if that
be possible, the officer who possesses the influences alluded to, and will use them in
a kind and brotherly spirit. Captain Stewart appears to have enjoyed and used
these advantages in a remarkable degree, and to have possessed not only the af-
fections of his men, but of all connected with them in their own country.
Hence, when he had to recruit in 1 804, for a majority, the stated number of
men, one hundred and twenty-five, came to his quarters at Drumcharry House,
in less tlian three weeks, after which between thirty and forty arrived too late
for admission into the corps, whose disappointment and vexation at finding they
could not serve under captain Stewart, no language could describe. With this
contingent he entered the 78th, Avith the rank of major, and in 1805, trained
his men at Hythe, under the immediate direction of Sir John Moore. In June
that year, he was selected with four other officers to join the first battalion in
India ; but his parting with his men was accompanied Avith such poignant regret,
and so many marks of reluctance on their part, that general Moore reported
the case to the commander-in-chief, who, sensible of the ralue of a mutual
«8teem existing between men and officers, countermanded his removal.
In September, he accompanied his regiment to Gibraltar, where it continued
to perform gai-rison duty until the month of IMay, 1806, when it embarked for
Sicily, to join in the descent Avhich general Sir John Stuait was then
meditating on Calabria. ]Major Stewart accompanied the battalion on this oc-
casion, and was present at the battle of Maida, fought on the 4th of July, 1 806,
where he was again severely wounded. Being obliged to return to Britain for
his health, he was, in April, 1808, promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel,
with a regimental appointment to the 3rd West India Rangers, then iu
Trinidad. But the severity of the wounds he had received, and the effects of
the hard service he had encountered in various parts of the world, ren-
dered it impossible for him to avail himself of his good fortune, and he
was obliged to retire upon half-pay at a period wlien, had he been able to
keep the field, he would soon have found further promotion or a soldier's grave.
Notwithstanding this circumstance, he was, in 1814, promoted to the rank of
colonel.

Colonel Stewart now for several years employed his leisure in the composi-
tion of his work on the Highlanders, which appeared in tlie year 1822, in tAvo

328 EDMUND STONE.

volumes, 8vcl* The earlier part of this work, which enters minutely into the
character of the Highlanders, and embodies a great quantity of original aneo
dote and observation, is perhaps the most generally interesting, though it does
not aspire to the important quality of historical accuracy : the most truly valua-
ble part of the book is that which details the services of the regiments which
have been at various times raised in the Highlands ; a body of soldiers gene-
rally allowed to have surpassed every other part of the British army, of the same
extent in numbers, at once in steady moral conduct and in military glory.
The work attained a popularity proportioned to its high merits, and will ever re-
main as a memorial of its author, endearing his name to tlie bosoms of his
countrymen.

A few months after the publication of his book, colonel Stewart succeeded
to his paternal estate, in consequence of the deaths of his father and elder
brother, which occurred in rapid succession. He is understood to liave
employed part of the year 1823, in collecting materials for a history of the
Rebellion of 1745, a desideratum in our literature which no hand was so well
qualified to supply ; but, finding insuperable difficulties in the execution of the
task, he was reluctantly obliged to abandon it. In 1825, he was promoted to
the rank of major general, and he was soon after appointed governor of the
island of St Lucia. He proceeded to undertake this duty, with high hopes on
his own part, but the regrets and fears of his friends. Unfortunately, their
anticipations proved true. General Stewart died of fever, on the 18th of
December, 1829, in the midst of many improvements which his active mind had
originated in the island, and which, had he lived to complete them, would have
probably redounded to his honour as much as any transaction in his useful and
well-spent life.

General Stewart was of the middle stature, but originally of a robust frame,
which was latterly shattered considerably by wounds. His features, which
spoke his character, have been commemorated in a spirited engi-aving, represent-
ing him in the Highland dress. Few individuals in recent times have secured
so large a share of the aflections of all classes of the people of Scotland, as
David Stewart of Garth.

STONE, Edmund, an ingenious self-taught mathematician, of whom nothing
is known, except from a letter written by the chevalier Eamsay to father Castel,
published in the Memoirs de Irevoux. It there appears that Stone was the
son of a gardener in the employment of John, duke of Argyle, at Inverary, in
the early part of the eighteenth century. ** He attained the age of eight years
before he learnt to read ; but, a servant having t.iught him the letters of the
alphabet, he soon made a rapid progress with very little assistance. He ap-
plied to the mathematics ; and, notwithstanding the peculiar difficulties of his
situation, attained a knowledge of the most sublime geometry and analysis,
without a master, and without any other guide, it is said, than his own genius.
At the age of eighteen, he had advanced thus far, when his abilities and the ex-
tent of his acquirements were discovered by the following accident. The duke
of Argyle, who to his military talents united a general knowledge of every
science that can adorn the mind of a great man, walking one day in his gar-
den, saw lying upon the grass a Latin copy of Newton's Principia. Having
called some one to carry it back to his library, the young gardener told him
that it belonged to himself. The duke was surprised, and asked him Avhether
he were sufficiently acquainted with Latin and geometry to understand New-
ton. Stone replied, with an air of simplicity, that he knew a little of both.

1 It was entitled "Sketches of the Cliarncter, Manners, and Present State of the High-
landers of Scotland, with details of the Militaiy services of the Highland ilegimenU."

•^'ILLTAM STRAHAN. 329

Tlie duke then entered into conversation with the young mathematician,
asked him several questions, and was astonished at the force and accuracy of
his answers. The duke's curiosity being redoubled, he sat down on a bank,
and requested to know by what means he acquired such knowledge. * I first
learnt to read,' said Stone : * the masons were then at work upon your house :
I went near tliem one day, and I saw that the architect used a rule and com-
pass, and tliat lie made calculations. I inquired what might be the meaning
and use of these things ; and I was informed that there was a science named
Arithmetic. I purchased a book of arithmetic, and I learnt it I was told
that there was another science, called Geometry : I bought books, and learnt
geometry also. By reading, I found that there were good books on these two
sciences in Latin : I bought a dictionary, and learnt Latin. I understood also
that there were good books of the same kind in French: I bought a dictionary,
and I learnt French. And this, my lord, is what I have done. It seems to me
that we may learn anything, when we know the twenty-four letters of the al-
phabet.' With this account the duke was delighted. He drew this wonderful
young man from his obscurity, and provided him with an employment, which
left him plenty of time to apply to his favourite pursuits. He discovered in
him also the same genius for music, for painting, for architecture, and for all
the sciences that depend upon calculations and proportions."

Stone is said to have been a man of great simplicity; and, though sensible of
his own acquirements, neither vain nor conceited. It is to be regretted that
no particulars are accessible, respecting the latter part of his career : we are
not even informed, whether he spent the remainder of his life in Argyleshire
or in London ; though it seems probable that the latter was the scene of his chief
scientific labours. His works, pai-tly original and partly translations, are as
follows : " A New Mathematical Dictionary," first printed in 1726, 8vo ; " A
Treatise on Fluxions," 1730, 8vo: in this work, the direct method is a transla-
Cion from the French of the Marquis de 1* Hopital's " Analysis des Infiniments
Petits," and the concise method was supplied by Stone himself: "The Ele-
ments of Euclid," 1731, 2 vols. 8vo; a neat and useful edition, with an ac-
count of tlie Life and Writings of Euclid, and a defence of his elements against
modern objectors ; besides some smaller Avorks. Stone was a fellow of the
Royal Society, and communicated to it an " Account of two species of Lines of
the Third Order, not mentioned by Sir Isaac Newton or Mr Sterling," which
was printed in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. xli.

STRAHAN, William, an eminent printer and patron of literature, was born
at Edinburgh in the year 1 7 1 5.^ His father, who held a situation connected
with the customs, was enabled to give him a respectable education at a grammar
school, after which he was apprenticed to a printer. Very early in life he re-
moved to the wide field of London, where he appears to have worked for
some time as a journeyman printer, and to have with much frugality, creditably
supported a wife and family on the small income so aflbrded him. His wife,
whom he early married, was sister to Mr James Elphinston, the translator of
Martial. It can be well supposed that he had for many years many
difiiculties to overcome ; but he was of a happy temper, looking forward to
prosperity as the reward of his toils, without being unduly sanguine. It is said
he used to remark, " that he never had a child born, that Providence did not
send some increase of income to provide for the increase of his household.''
After shaking himself free of his difiiculties, he gi-ew rapidly wealthy, and in 1770
was enabled to purchase a share of the patent for King's Printer of IMr Eyre.
Freiiously to this period, 3Ir Strahan had commenced a series of speculations
" Memoir in Lounger of August 20, 1785 Nichol's Lit. An. iii. 399.

IV. 2X

330 WILLIAM STRAHAN.

in the purchase of literary property, that species of inercliandise Avhich more
than any other depends for its success on the use of great shrewdness and
critical discernment. Strahan was eminently successful, and with the usual ef-
fect of good management, was enabled to be liberal to amhors, while he
enriched himself. With Dr Johnson he was for some time intimately connected,
and he took the charge of editing his prayers and meditations after the doctor's
death. Johnson, howerer, has been accused of speaking of him in a
manner which the world seldom admires, when used towards a person to whcm
the speaker owes obligations, whatever may be the intellectual disparity.
Boswell observes, " Dr Gerard told us, that an eminent printer was rei-y inti-
mate with Warburton. Johnson. * Why, sir, he has printed some of his works,
and perhaps, bought the property of some of them. The intimacy is such as
one of the professors here miglit have with one of the cai-penters, who is
repairing the college.' " In a letter to Sir William Forbes, Dr Beattie has made
the following reiflark on this passage, " I cannot but take notice of a very 11-
libei-al saying of Johnson with respect to the late Mr Stralian, (Mr Boswell has
politely concealed the name,) who was a man to whom Johnson had been much
obliged, and whom, on account of his abilities and virtues, as well as rank in
life, erery one who knew him, and Johnson as well as others, acknowledged to
be a most respectable character. I have seen the letter mentioned by Dr
Gerard, and I have seen many other letters from bishop Warburton to Mr
Strahan. They were very particularly acquainted : and Mr Stxahan's merit en-
titled him to be on a footing of intimacy with any bishop, or any British sub-
ject. He was eminently skilled in composition and the English language, ex-
celled ill tlie epistol.iry style, had corrected (as he told nie himself) the
phraseology of both Mr Hume and Dr Robertson ; he was a faithful friend, and
his great knowledge of the world, and of business, made him a very use-
ful one."^ The expression was probably one of a splenetic moment, for
Johnson was not on all occasions on good terms with Strahan. " In the course
cf this year," (1778,) says Boswell, "there was a diflerence between him
(Johnson) and his friend iMr Strahan : the particulars of which it is unnecessary
to relate." The doctor must have been signally in the wrong, for he deigned
to offer terms of accommodation. .** It would be very foolish for us," he says in a
letter to Strahan, " to continue strangers any longer. You can never by per-
sistency make wrong right. If I resented too acrimoniously, I resented only
to yourself. Nobody ever saw or heard what I wrote. You saw that my anger
was over, for in a day or two I came to your house. I have given you longer
lime ; and I hope you have made so good use of it as to be no longer on evil
tenus Avith, Sir, yours, &c., Sam. Johnson."^ Strahan, when he became influen-
tial with the ministry, proposed Johnson as a person well fitted to hold a seat
in parliament for their interest, but the recommendation was not adopted. So
soon as he found himself in easy circumstances, Mr Strahan became an active
politician, and corresponded with many eminent statesmen. In the year 17G9,
he wrote some Queries to Dr Franklin, respecting the discontents of the Ameri-
cans, which were afterwards published in the London Chronicle of 2Sth July,
1778. In 1775, he was elected member for the borough of Malmsbury, in
Wiltshire, with Fox as his colleague, and in the succeeding parliament he re-
presented Wotton Basset in the same county. He is said to have been
an active and useful legislator. On the resignation of his friends in 1784, he
declined, partly from bad health, to stand again for a seat. His health from
this period quickly declined, and he died on the 9th July, 1785, in the seven-

s Forbes' Life of Beattk, il. ISa^
8 L'oswfil, iii. 392.

DR. JOHN STRANG. 331

ly-first year of liis age. He provided munificently for his widow and children,
and among many other eleemosynary bequests, left .£1000 to the company of
Stationers, to be disposed of for charitable purposes.

The author of the memoir in the Lounger, gives the following account of his
diaracter: " Endued with much natural sagacity, and an attentive observation of
life,, he owed his rise to that station of opulence and respect which he attained,
rather to his own talents and exertion, than to any accidental occurrence of
faTOurable or fortunate circumstances. His mind, though not deeply tinctured
with learning, was not uninformed by letters. From a habit of attention to style,
he had acquired a considerable portion of critical acuteness in the discernment
of its beauties and defects. In one branch of writing himself excelled. I
mean the epistolary, in which he not only showed the precision and clearness
of business, but possessed a neatness, as well as fluency of expression, which I
hare known few letter-writers to surpass. Letter-writing was one of his
favourite amusements ; and among his correspondents were men of such
eminence and talents as well repaid his endeavours to entertain them. One of
these, as we have before mentioned, was the justly celebrated Dr Franklin,
originally a printer like Mr Strahan, whose friendship and coirespondence he
continued to enjoy, notwithstanding the difference of their sentiments in
political matters, which often afl^orded pleasantry, but never mixed anything
acrimonious in their letters. * * * In his elevation he neither triumphed
over the inferiority of those he had left below him, nor forgot the equality in
wliich they had formerly stood. Of their inferiority he did not even remind
them, by the ostentation of grandeur, or the parade of wealth. In his house
there was none of that saucy train, none of that state or finery, with \\liich the
illiberal delight to confound and to dazzle those who may have formerly seen
them in less enviable circumstances. No man was more mindful of, cr more
solicitous to oblige, the acquaintance or companions of his early days. The ad-
vice which his experience, or the assistance which his purse could afford, he
was ready to communicate : and at his table in London, every Scotchman found
an easy introduction, and every old acquaintance a cordial welcome."

STRANG, (Db) John, minister of Errol, and principal of the university of
Glasgow in the early part of the seventeenth century, was born at Irvine in
Ayrshire, (of which his father, Mr AVilliam Strang, was minister,) in 1584.
Like many other eminent men, he had the misfortune to lose his father at a
very early period, but the place of a parent was supplied to him in Mr Robert
Wilkie, minister of Kilmarnock, Avhora his mother maiTied soon after she be-
came a widow. Under the care of that gentleman, he was educated at the
public school of Kilmarnock, where he had as a schoolfellow Mr Zachary
Royd, renowned as a divine, as a poetical paraphrast of the Bible, and as a
munificent benefactor to the university of Glasgow. That singular person always
mentioned Strang as being from the earliest period remarkable for piety :
together with acuteness and its frequent concomitant, modesty. At the age
of twelve his step-father sent him to study Greek and philosophy at St
Leonard's college, St Andrews, then under the direction of his kinsman, princi-
pal Robert Wilkie. Nor did he disgrace the patronage of the principal : he
equalled or surpassed all his contemporaries, and was made master of arts in his
sixteenth year. Although still very young, he was then unanimously invited
by the master of the college to become one of the regents. That office he ac-
cepted, and continued to discharge with great fidelity and effect till about the
end of 1613, when he was with similar unanimity urged to become minister of
the parish of Errol, in the presbytery of Perth. Thither he accordingly re-
moved in the beginning of the following year, carrying with him the best wislies

DR. JOHN STRANG.

of his colleagues at St Andrews, and an ample testimonial from the presbytery.
Among the signatures attached to that document appear those of Alexander
Henderson, John Carniichael, Robert Howie, and John Dykes, — the first higli-
ly celebrated, and the others well known to those who have studied the history
of the period. The head of the family of Errol, who resided in the parish to
which Strang had been appointed, had as a sort of chaplain a Jesuit of the name of
Hay, whose subtilly and eloquence are said to have been the means of convert-
ing him and his family to the Roman catholic faith, and of spreading the doc-
trines of papistry through the country. These circumstances afforded Strang
an opportunity not to be omitted, and he is said to have so far counteracted the
efforts of the Jesuit, that, although he could never persuade lord Errol fully to
embrace the protestant doctrines, he was the means. of converting his family.
His son, Francis, a youth of great hopes, died in early life in that faith, and
his daughters, ladies Mar and Buccleugh, adhered to it. throughout their
lives.

Among the steps by which king James and the Scottish bishops were now at-
tempting gradually to introduce episcopacy and conformity to the Anglican
church, one was the restoration of academical degrees in divinity, which had
been discontinued in Scotland almost since the period of the Reformation, as
resembling too much some of the formalities of the system which had been
abolished. In the year IGIG, it was determined to invest several persons with
the honour of doctor of divinity at St Andrews, and, as it was considered good
policy to introduce a few popular names into the list, Mr Strang, though in no
way attached to the new system, was among others fixed upon. In the follow-
ing year the monarch revisited his native country, and, among the long train of
exhibitions which marked his progress, tlie public dispensations held in the royal
presence were not the least. One of thess was held at St Andrews by the mas-
ters of the university and doctors of divinity, and according to his biographer,
" by the universall consent of all present, Dr Strang excelled all the rest of the
speakers in discourse, which was pious, modest, but full of the greatest and
Eubtilest learning." Eut any favour which he might gain with the learned
monarch upon this occasion was more than counterbalanced in the following
year by his opposition to the famous articles of Perth : he was the only doctor
in divinity Avho voted against their adoption. Yet, notwithstanding this cir-
cumstance, when the archbishop of St Andrews got the court of High Commis-
sion remodelled with the view of compelling conformity to these articles,
Dr Strang's name was included among the members. It is greatly to his
honour that he did not attend its meetings or give his sanction to any of its
acts ; a circumstance which renders it at least doubtful whether he approved
of the principles of such an institution. In the year 1020, Dr Strang was
chosen one of the ministers of Edinburgh ; but he was too shrewd an observer
of the signs of those times, and too much attached to his flock to desire a more
public and a more dangerous field of ministration. Neither persuasion nor the
threat of violence could induce him to remove.

In 1626, Dr Strang received the king's patent, appointing him principal of
the university of Glasgow, in place of Dr John Cameron, who resigned tho
charge and returned to France. At the same time he received an unanimous
invitation from the masters of the university, but it was not till a second letter
arrived from court, and till he had received many urgent solicitations, both
from the university and the town, that he could be prevailed upon to accept tho
office. His modesty, as well as his prudence, seems to have inclined him to a
refusal; and although, perhaps, with such commands laid upon him, he could
not with a good grace resist, the subsequent part of liis history leads to a bo-

DK. JOHN STRANG, 333

lief that he must liave often looked back with regret. The duties incumbent
on the principal of a university were at that period considerable ; but his active
mind led him to take a voluntary interest in everything connected either with
the well-being of the university or of the town. Under his superintendence, the
revenues of the former were greatly augmented, — the buildings on the north
and east sides of the inner court, were begun and completed, — a large and
stately orchard was formed, — and it is supposed that to liis early and continued
intimacy with 3Ir Zachary Boyd, the society was indebted for tlie large endow-
ments which it received by his will. In the business of the presbytery, he also
took an active part; and when sickness, or other causes, prevented the minis-
ters of the town from occupying their pulpits, he willingly supplied their place.

Yet the performance of these duties, arduous as they unquestionably were,
and most perseveringly continued for many years, was not enough to screen Dr
Strang from the suspicion of belonging to that class which received the names
of 3Ialignant8 and Opposers of the work of reformation. A multiplicity of
concurrent circumstances compelled the king, in 1C38, to yield to a meeting of
the General Assembly ; and, from that period, the zeal of the presbyterians,
like a flame long concealed, and almost smothered by confinement, burst forth
into open air, as if in full consciousness of its strength and terrors. It may
be sufficient to remark here, that their suspicions respecting Dr Strang were
verified a few years afterwards, when, among the papere of the king, taken at
the battle of Naseby, were discovered, " nine letters of Mr William Wilkie's,^
one of Dr Strang's, and a treatise," all of which had been addressed to the
noted Dr Walter Bakanqual. These papers were for some time retained by the
commissioners, as an instrument "to keep the persons that wrote them in awe,
and as a mean to win them to a strict and circumspect carriage in their call-
ings." At length, however, they were sent down to Scotland, in 1646, with a
desire that they might still be kept private for the same reasons. But neither
the letter of Dr Strang, nor his treatise, so far as we can judge of its spirit
from the introduction, (which Wodrow has inserted at full length,) can excite
the smallest suspicion of the perfect integrity of his character. Like many
other excellent men, he objected to the conduct of the presbyterians, not from
any approbation of the measures of the king, of whose character, however, he
had perhaps too good an opinion, but because ** reason and philosophy re-
commendeth unto us a passing from our rights for peace sake." This, and the
possibility of obtaining " a perfect estate of God's church, or the government
thereof upon earth," are in amount the arguments upon which he builds his ob-
jections to the covenant. He concludes his introduction, by protesting that
his opinions were formed entirely upon information which was known to all ;
but, " if," says he, " there be any greater mysteries, which are only communi-
cat to few, as I am altogether ignorant therof, so 1 am unable to judge of the
same, but am alwise prone to judge charitably ; and protest in God's presence,
that I have no other end herein, but God's glory, and the conservation of truth
and peace within this kingdome." The treatise is entitled, " Reasons why all
his Majesty's orthodox Subjects, and namely those who subscribed the late
( ovenant, should thankfully acquiesce to his Majesty's late Declaration and
Proclamations ; and especially touching the subscription of the Confession of
Faith, and generall Band therin mentioned : with an Answer to the Reasons
objected in the late Protestation to the contrary."

But although the presbyterians might not be able to verify their suspicions
respecting principal Strang, while his correspondence with Balcanqual remained
unknown, there were points in his public conduct which were considered suf-
' !!\Iiiii;ter of Guvan, in the neighbourhood of Glasgow.

334 DK. JOHN STRANG.

ficient to justify proceedings to a certain extent against him. ** The spleen cf
many," writes Baillie, "against the principal in the Assembly [of 1638] was
great, for many passages of his carriage in this affair, especially the last two :
his subscribing that which we affirmed, and he denied, to be a protestation
against elders, and so [against] our Assembly, consisting of them and ministers
elected by their voices: also, his deserting the Assembly ever since the com-
missioner's dei)arture, upon pretence that his commission being once cast, be-
cause it was four, the elector would not meet again to give him, or any other,
a new commission. Every other day, some one or other, nobleman, gentleman,
or minister, was calling that Dr Strang should be summoned ; but by the dili-
gence of his good friends, it vms shifted, and at last, by this means, quite put
by."* The Assembly, however, appointed a commission to visit and determine
all matters respecting the university. ** This," continues the writer, " was a
terrible wand above their heads for a long time. Divers of them feared depo-
sition. . . , We had no other intention, but to admonish them to do duty."
From the account given by the same author of the proceedings of the Assem-
bly of 1643, it appears that, at that period, the principal was still very unpopular
with the more zealous noblemen and ministers ; and if the account there given
of the manner in which he managed the affairs of the college, and the strata-
gems by which he sometimes attempted to gain his ends, be correct, we have no
hesitation in pronouncing him deservedly so. According to that statement, the
chancellor, the rector, the vice-chancellor, dean of faculty, the rectors, assessors,
and three of the regents, were not only all " at his devotion," but most of them
" otherwise minded in the public affairs, than we did wish ;" and an attempt
was made to introduce a sj'stem, by which he should alwajs be appointed com-
missioner from the university to the Assembly. Baillie was at bottom friendly
to the principal, and his fears that any complaint made against him at the As-
sembly, might raise a storm which would not be easily allayed, induced him to
be silent. He contented himself with obtaining a renewal of the commission for
visiting the university. ** This I intend," he says, " for a wand to threat, but
to strike no man, if they will be pleased to live in any peaceable quietness, as it
fears me their disaffection to the country's cause will not permit some of them
to do."^ It must be confessed, however, that these statements of Baillie, written
to a private friend, and probably never intended to meet the eye of the public,
form a strange contrast to the general strain in which he has written the life of
Strang, prefixed to his work on the interpretation of Scripture. In the latter
it is declared, respecting this period of his life, that ** he fell under the ill-will
of some persons, without his doing anything to lay the ground of it. When
such made a most diligent search into his privat and publick management, that
they might have somwhat against him, he was found beyond reproach in his
personall carriage, and in the discharge of his office ; only in his dictats to his
schollars, some few things were taken notice of, Avherein he differed in his sen-
timents from Dr Twiss and Mr Kutherfurd in some scholastick speculations. He
was not so much as blamed for any depai-ture from the confession of any re-
formed church, . . . but, in a few questions, exceeding nice and diffi-
cult, as to God's providence about sin, he thought himself at liberty, modestly
to differ in his sentiments from so many privat men." Yet the clamour thus
raised against Dr Strang, however groundless in Baillie's estimation, was en-

2 Baillie's printed Letters and Journals, i. 145. That the reader may understand llie al-
lusion to his commission, it is neccssjiry to mention, that the university of Glasgow had no-
minated four commissioners to attend the Assembly ; but the Assembly would not recognize
their right to appoint more than one, and their commission was, therel'oro, annulled. J bid
i. 107.

' Printed Letters and Journals, i. 378.

DR. JOHN STRANG. '635

couraged by his adversaries, and became at length so great, that the General
Assembly, in 16 16, appointed commissioners to examine his dictates, which he
Avas required to produce, and to report. Their report accordingly appears in
the acts of the next Assembly, (August 1647,) and sets forth that the said dic-
tates contained some things, " so expressed, that scruples hare therefrom risen
to grave and learned men ; but after conference with the said doctor anent
those scruples, and (having) heard his elucidations, both by word and writ, given
to us, we were satisfyed as to his orthodoxy ; and, to remove all grounds of
doubting as to his dictates, the doctor himself offered to us the addition of
several words, for the further explication of his meaning, which also was ac-
ceptable to us."

But the peace which Dr Strang hoped to enjoy after the decision of this
question, was not destined to be gi-anted him. " Some turbulent persons en-
vyed his peace," and a new series of attacks, of which Baillie declines giving
any account, because, to use his own strong expression, he would not " rake
into a dunghill," followed. " The issue of these new attacks," he continues,
was, the doctor, outi'aged by their molestations, demitted his office, and the
rather that, in his old age, he inclined to have leisure, with a safe reputation,
to revise and give his last hand to his writings. . . . To this hig own
proposall, the visitors of the coUedge went in ; hut both the theologicall and
philosophy faculty of the university opposed this, and, with the greatest re-
luctance, were at length brought to part with a colleague they so much honoured
and loved." The visitors, by their demissory act, dated 19th April, 1650,
granted him " a testimoniall of his orthodoxie ;" and, as a proof of their affec-
tion, allowed him not only the whole of his salary for the year 1650, but an
annuity of one thousand nierks Scots from the funds of the university, and two
hundred pounds more as often as circumstances would permit;.

The remaining part of Dr Strang's life was spent in comparative quiet, al-
though an expression of Baillie's would lead to a supposition that the malice of
his enemies reached even to the withholding of the annuity just mentioned.
'* Having to do in Edinburgh with the lawyers, concerning the unjust trouble
he was put to for his stipend,'' says he, *' Dr Strang, after a few days' illness,
did die so sweetly and graciously, as was satisfactory to all, and much applauded
all over the city, his very persecutors giving him an ample testimony."* That
event took place on the 20th of June, 1654, when he was in the seventy-eighth
year of his age. Two days afterwards, his body, followed by a great assem-
blage of persons of all ranks, was carried to the grave, and buried next to
Robert Boyd of Trochrig, one of his predecessors in the professorship at
Glasgow college.

Among the last labours of Dr Strang's life, was the revisal of his treatise,
" De Voluntate et Actionibus Dei circa peccatum," which he enlarged, and
made ready for the press. In the author's lifetime, it had been sent to his
friend, 3Ir William Strang, minister of 3Iiddleburg, with a desire that the senti-
ments of the Dutch divines might be obtained respecting it. At his death, it
was left to the charge of Dr Baillie, who got the MS. transcribed, and sent it
to the same person. By Mr Strang it was sent to the famous Elzevirs at Amster-
dam ; and, having been carried through their press by tlie learned Mr Alex-
ander 3Ioi'e, was published at that place in 1657. The only other work of Dr
Strang which we are aware of having been published, is entitled, " De In-
terpretatione et Perfectione Scripturas," Rotterdam, 1663, 4to. To this work
is prefixed the life of tlie author, by Baillie, to which we have already re
ferred.

* Pi iiited Letters and Journal, ii. 3S2, 3.

33 G SIR EGBERT STRANGE, KNT.

Dr Slrang was thrice married, and had a numerous family, but few of his
children survived. William, the only son who lived to majority, and " a youth
of eminent piety and learning," was a regent in the university of Glasgow; but
died of a hectic fever, at the age of twenty-two, before his father. He had four
daughters, who survived him; all, according to Baillie, " eminent patterns of
piety, prudence, and other virtues."*

STRANGE, (Sm) Robert, Knight, the father of the line manner of engrav-
ing in Britain, waa born in the island of Pomona, in Orkney, July 14, 1721.
He was lineally descended from Sir David Strange, or Strang, a younger son
of the family of Strang of Balcaskie, in Fife, who had settled in Orkney at the
time of the Reformation. He received a classical education at Kirkwall, under
the care of Mr Murdoch Mackenzie, teacher there, and who rendered some es-
timable service to his country by accurate surveys of the Orkney islands, and
of the British and Irish coasts.

The subject of this niemoir successively applied himself to the law and to the
sea, before his talent for sketching pointed out the propriety of his making art
his profession. Some sketches shown by a friend to Mr Richard Cooper, an
engraver of some eminence in Edinburgh, and approved by him, led to Mr
Strange being placed under that individual as an apprentice; and the rapid
progress he made in his new profession soon showed that he had only now for the
first time fallen into the line of life for which he was destined by nature. He
Mas practising his art in Edinburgh on his own account, when, in September,
1745, the Highland anny took possession of the city. Mr Strange was not
only himself well-inclined to this cause, but he had formed an attachment to a
Bliss Lumisden,^ who had the same predilections. These circumstances, with
his local notoriety ns an engraver, pointed him out as a proper person to under*
take a print of the young chevalier. While employed on this work, his
lodgings in Stewart's Close were daily resorted to by the chief officei-s
and friends of the prince, together with nuiny of the most distinguished ladies
attached to his cause. The portrait, when completed, was looked upon as a
wonder of art; and it is still entitled to considerable praise. It ivas a
half length in an oval frame on a stone pedestal, on which is engraved,
" EvEnso MISSUS BuccuRnKim SECLO." As a reward for his services, he was of-
fered a place in the finance department of the prince's army, or, as another ac-
count slates, in the troop of Life Guards ; which, partly at the instigation of his
mistress, who otherwise threatened to withdraw her favour from him, he
accepted. He therefore served throughout the remainder of the campaign.
Soon after the battle of Falkirk, while riding along the shore, the sword which
he carried in his hand was bent by a ball from one of the king's vessels
stationed a little way out at sea. Having surmounted all the perils of the en-
terprise, he had to sculk for his life in the Highlands, where he endured many
hardships. On the restoration of quiet times, he ventured back to Edinburgh,
and supported himself for some time by drawing portraits of the favourite
Jacobite leaders, which were disposed of to the friends of the cause at a
guinea each. A few, also, which he had destined for his mistress, a/id on that
account adorned with the utmost of his skill, were sold about this period with a
heavy heart to the earl of Wemyss, from whom, in better times, he vainly en-
deavoured to purchase them back. In 1 747, he proceeded to London, but not be-

5 Abridged from Wodrow's Life of Strniiff, in his biographical INISS. in Bibl. Acid.
Ghisg., fol., vol. ii. See nlso, Life by Baillie, above mentioned. The extracts from the
latter are borrowed from Wodrow's translation, inserted in his life.

» Sister to Mr Andrew Luniisden, a Jacobite parlizan of tome note, and who afterwards
formed part of ihe household of prince Charks Stuart at Home, of the anliquities of which
city he published an account.

iOIK IK®©!£KTr STiAl?3©E.

FROM THE PRINT ENGRAVED BY HIMSELF

-riraTTREH ArlOHDOH.

fore he had been rewarded -for all his distresses by the fair hand of Miss
Luinisden. Without waiting long in the metropolis, he went to Rouen, whero
a number of his companions in the late unfortunate war were living in exile,
and where he obtained an honorary prize given by the academy. He after-
wards resided for some time at Paris, where he studied with great assiduity
under the celebrated Le Bas, who taught him the use of the dry needle. In
1751, he returned to London, and settled as an engraver, devoting him-
self chiedy to historical subjects, which he handled in so masterly a manner that
he eoon attiacted considerable notice. In 1759, when he had resolved to visit
Italy, for his further improvement, Mr Allan Ramsay intimated to him that it
would be agreeable to the prince of Wales and the earl of Bute, if he would
undertake the engraving of two portraits which he had just painted for those emi-
nent personages. Mr Strange refused, on the plea of his visit to Italy, which
Avould thus be put off for a considerable time, and he is said to have thus lost
tiie favour of the royal preceptor, which was afterwards of material disadvantage
to him, although the king ultimately approved of his conduct, on the ground
that the portraits were not worthy, as works of art, of being commemorated by
him.

Mr Strange set out for Italy in 1760, and in the course of his tour visited
Naples, Florence, and other distinguished seats of the arts. He was everywhere
treated with the utmost attention and respect by persons of every rank. He
was made a member of the academies of Rome, Florence, and Bologna, and
professor of the royal academy at Parma. His portrait was introduced by Rof-
fanelli, amongst those of other distinguished engravers, into a painting on the
ceiling of that room in the Vatican library where the engi-avings are kept.
He had also the distinguished honour of being permitted to erect a scaffold in
one of the rooms of that magnificent palace for the purpose of taking a drawing
of the Parnassus of Raphael ; a favour not previously granted for many years to
any petitioning artist. And an apartment was assigned for his own abode,
while engaged in this employment A similar honour was conferred upon him
at the palace of the king of Naples, where he wished to copy a celebrated
painting by Schidoni. Mr Strange's drawings were in coloured crayons ; an
invention of his own, and they were admired by all who saw them. He subse-
quently engraved prints on a splendid scale from about fifty of the paintings
which he had thus copied in Italy.''

The subsequent part of the life of Mr Strange was spent in London, where
he did not acquire the favour of the court till 1787, when he was knighted. A
letter by him to lord Bute, reflecting on some instances of persecution which
he thought he traced to that nobleman, appeared in 1775 and was subsequently

* The following are among the principal engravings bj- Sir Robert Strange : — Two heads
of himself, one an etching, the other a finished proof j The Retum from Market by Wouver-
mans ; Cupid by Vanloo ; Maiy Magdalen ; Cleopatra; the Madonna; the Angel Gabriel ;
the Virgin with the child asleep; Liberality and Modesty, by Guido; Apollo rewarding
merit and punishing arrogance, by Andrea Sacchi; the Finding of Romulus and Remus,
bj' Pietro de Cortona ; Csesar repudiating Pompeia, by the same ; Three children of Charles
1., by Vandyke ; Kelisarius, by Salvator Rosa ; St Agnes, by Domenichino ; the Judgment
cf Hercules, by Nicolas Poussin ; Venus attired by the Graces, by Guido; Justice »nd
]\Ietkness, by Raphael; the Offspring of Love, by Guido; Cupid Sleeping, by the same;
Abraham giving up the handmaid Hagar, by Guercino; Esther, a suppliant before
Ahasuerus, by the same; Joseph and Poiiphar's wife, by Guido; Venus, by the same;
Danae, by the same; Portrait of Charks L by Vandjke: the Madonna, by Corregio; St
Cecilia, by Raphael ; Mary Magdalen, by Guido; Our Saviour appearing to his Mother
after his resurrection, by Guercino; A Mother and Child, by Parmegiano; Cupid Medi-
tating, by Schidoni ; Laomedon, king of Troy, detected by Neptune and Apollo, by Salvator
Rosa. Sir Robert, near the close of his life', formed about eighty reserved proof copies of
his best prints into as many volumes, to which he added a general title-page, and an introduc-
tion on the progress of engraving.

IV. 2 tr

338 MARY STUART.

prefixed to an " Inquiry into the Rise and Establishment of the Royal
Academy at London," which was provoked from his pen by a law of that insti-
tution against the admission of engravings into the exhibitions. After a life
spent in the active exercise of his professional talents, he died of an asthmatical
complaint on the 5th of July, 1792, leaving, besides his lady, a daughter and
three «ons. Sir Robert has ieen described by his surviving friends, as one of
the most amiable and virtuous of men, as he was unquestionably among the most
able in his own peculiar walk. He was unassuming, benevolent, and liberal.
His industry was equally remarkable with his talent. In the coldest seasons,
when health permitted him, he went to work with the dawn, and the longest
day was too short to fatigue his hand. Even the most mechanical parts of his
labours he would generally perform himself, choosing rather to undergo
a drudgery so unsuitable to his talents flian trust to others. His remains were
interred in Covent Garden church-yard.

STUART, Mart, Queen of Scots, daughter of James V., and Mary of Guise,
was born in the palace of Linlithgow, December 7, 1 512. Her father was on
his death-bed at Falkland, when her birth was announced to him ; and in
seven days after that event, he expired, bitterly regretting, in his dying mo-
ments, tliat it was a female, and not a male child, that had been born to him.
The young queen having been i^moved to Stirling, was there solemnly crowned
by cardinal Beaton, on the 9th of September, 1 543, while she was yet only
nine months old. The two first years of the infant princess's life were spent
at Linlithgow, under the immediate charge of her mother, and, more remotely,
under that of commissioners appointed by parliament, on the part of the nation,
to watch over the tender years of their future sovereign. During her residence
here, she was attacked with small pox ; but the disease was of so mild a nature,
08 to leave no trace behind.

The three following years, she spent at Stirling, under the superintendence
of the lords Erskine and Livingstone. At the end of this periofl, she was re-
moved to Inchmahome, a small island in the lake of Menteith, in Perthshire.
The disturbed state of the country had rendered this measure necessary, as a
precaution against any attempts which might be made to get possession of her
person ; and it was thought, that the remote and sequestered isle to which she
was now sent, offered a greater degree of security than could be found, even
from the wards and defences of a fortress.

To divert the young princess in her solitary residence, four young ladles of
rank were chosen by her mother, the queen dowager, to accompany her.
These ladies were, Mary Beaton, niece of cai'dinal Beaton ; Mary Fleming,
daughter of lord Fleming ; Mary Livingstone, daughter of one of the young
queen's guardians ; and Mary Seaton, daughter of lord Seaton. Whether it
was by chance or by design, tliat Uiese four ladies bore the same surname with
the queen, is not now known ; but tliey have since been dislingui&lied by the
cofijuiictive &p{>ellation of the focb Majurs, and as such are cekbrated in
history.

In this islaad, 3Iary resided for upwards of four years; when, agreeably to
au intention which had been early entertained regarding her, site was sent to
France, to receive the refined education which that country then, above all
dbers, WAS capable of a^rding. The young queen, now in her uxtii year,
eatbarked at Dumbarton ©n board of a French ship, which, accompanied by
several other vessels of tliat nation, had been sent to the Clyde to receive her.

On her ai'rival at Brett, which she reached on the 14th of August, 1548, a£>
ter a tempestuous and tedious voyage of nearly three weeks' duration, she vzs
received, by the orders of the French monarch, Henry II., with all the marks

MARY STUART. 339

of respect due to her exalted station ; and was soon afterwards sent, with the
king's own daughters, to one of the most celebrated monasteries in France, to
receive such an education as should become the futu»-e queen.

Remarkable as was the beauty of Mary's person, it was not more worthy of
admiration than her intellectual superiority. In all the various and numerous
branches of education in which she was instructed, she made rapid progress,
and attained in all a proficiency that excited universal admiration. She rode
feax-lessly and gracefully, and in dancing was unrivalled, even at the gay and
refined court of Henry II.

Caressed and admired by all, and suiTOunded by every enjoyment within the
reach of humanity, the earlier part of Mary's life glided rapidly away, Avhile
she herself, in her person, gradually advanced towards that perfection of beauty,
which is to this hour matter of interesting speculation, and which she seems to
have possessed in the highest degree of which, perhaps, the human form is
susceptible.

A desire long entertained by Mary's mother, the queen dowager, and Henry
of France, to unite the interests of the two kingdoms, had early produced a
contract of marriage between Francis, the young dauphin, and the Scot-
tish queen. This contract, Henry now thought it full time to consummate, and
the youthful pair were accordingly united. The nuptials took place on the
24th of April, 1558. Mary was then in the sixteenth year of her age, and
her husband but little older. The ceremony, which was celebrated with great
pomp, was attended, amongst others, by the lord James, prior of St Andrews,
and other eight persons of distinction, from Scotland, who had been deputed
for that purpose by the parliament of that kingdom.

Blary, already queen of Scotland, and heir presumptive of England, was now,
by her marriage to the dauphin, queen consort apparent of France ; a concentra-
tion of dignities which perhaps never before occurred in one person. The last
of these honours was realized, but only for a short period. In 1559, a year af-
ter her marriage, her husband, the dauphin, succeeded to the throne, by the
death of his father; but in another year afterwards, in 1560, he died, while
yet only in the seventeenth year of his age.

Mary's husband was not, either in mental attainments, or personal appear-
ance, at all equal to his beautiful and accomplished wife ; he was, besides, of a
weakly and sickly habit of body, but he appears to have been of a mild and af-
fectionate disposition; and there is every reason to believe that he was sincerely
beloved by his royal consort.

On the death of her husband, Mary was invited to return to Scotland, in
order to undertake the government. Folitical motives seconding this invitation,
she complied with it, and, in August, 1561, sailed from the harbour of Calais,
and on tiie 2 1st of the same month, arrived safely at Leith. Her reception in
her native land, was warm and enthusiastic ; and although she soon discovered
many things to increase her respect for the country she had left, she yet fully
appreciated the sincerity with which she was welcomed.

The period of Mary's arrival in Scotland Avas singularly inauspicious for a -
sovereign educated as she had been in devoted attachment to the faith which her
Scottish subjects had just abjured. The reformed religion had gradually advanced,
from small beginnings, amidst great opposition, until it had now attained a parlia-
mentary establishment. Mary had been taught to regard the late proceedings of
her Scottish subjects in the light of rebellion against her lawful authority. Before
she left France her mind was filled with prejudices against the reformed faith and
its promoters. She came to Scotland prepared to subvert the reformation. Tho
reformers apprehended such an attempt oa the part of Mary and her French coui*-

340 MARY STUART.

tiers; and, amidst the enthusiastic loyalty expressed on the occasion of her arrival
by all ranks of the people, it is not surprising that every opportunity was taken to
impress the queen's mind with a sense of the value which her subjects attached to
their new-born liberties. Knox and the other leading reformers, who have been
censured for their uncompromising deportment towards their sovereign, were, ia
addition, influenced by a just regard for their personal safety, which could not
fail to be seriously compromised in the event of popery regaining its ascendency
in Scotland. The recent history of France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and Eng-
land, bore testimony to the perfidious and truculent foe with which they had to
contend in the Romish church. "The rage for conquest on the continent (remarks
Dr M'Crie) was now converted into a rage for prosely tism ; and st»ps had already
been taken towards forming that league among the popish princes, which had for
its object the universal extermination of protestants. The Scottish queen was
passionately addicted to the intoxicating cup of which so many of * the kings of
the earth had drunk.' Tlicre were numbers in the nation who were similarly
disposed. The liberty taken by the queen would soon be demanded for all who
declared themselves catholics. Many of those who had hitherto ranged under
the protestaut standard wei-e lukewarm in the cause; the zeal of others had
already suffered a sensible abatement since the arrival of their sovereign ; and
it was to be feared that the favours of tlie court, and the blandislimcnts of an
artful and accomplished princess, would make proselytes of some, and lull others
into security, while designs were carried on pregnant with ruin to the religion
and liberties of the nation." On the first Sunday after her arrival, Mary was
60 ill-advised as to have mass celebrated in the chapel at Holyrood, on which
occasion her attendants received some rough treatment at the hands of the
people. John Knox denounced the observance of mass as idolatry, in the pulpit
on the succeeding Sabbath. Two days afterwards, the queen sent for Knox to
the palace, and held a long conversation with him in the presence of her brother,
the prior of St Andrews, afterwards earl of Murray. She plied all her blandish-
ments to soften the reformer ; failing in which she resorted to threats, in the
hope of overawing him. The firmness of tho reformer was as immovable as
his faith was inflexible, and both were proof against the smiles and tears of the
youthful princess. On taking leave of her majesty, Knox said, " I pray God,
madam, that you may be as blessed within the commonwealth of Scotland as
ever Deborah was in the commonwealth of Israel."

Mary soon afterwards made her first public entry into Edinburgh. Mounted
on her palfrey, and suitably escorted, she proceeded up the High Street to the
castle, where a banquet was prepared for her. Tlie reception she met with
from the citizens was extremely gratifying, notwithstanding the somewhat
obtrusive manner in which many of them indicated their contempt for her re-
ligion, and their resolution to defend their own. In a subsequent progress
through Linlithgow, Stirling, Perth, St Andrews, and the neighbouring dis-
tricts, she was welcomed with hi^h-hearted loyalty, such as tlie Scottish nation
never withheld from Mary or her descendants so long as they respected the
religious principles and political liberties of the people. On one occasion, during
the royal tour, some public demonstration of the reformers moved the queen to
tears. On her return to Edinburgh she evinced a disposition to check the prac-
tice of publicly insulting her faith. Within a few days after her arrival, tho
civil authorities issued a proclamation, proscribing the " wicked rabble of the
antichrist of the pope," and ordering them to withdraw from the bounds of the
town, within four and twenty hours, under pain of carting through the streets,
burning on the cheek, and perpetual banisliment. Mary, however, did not
allow this invasion of her authority to pass with the same impunity which she

MARY STUART. Zil

had permitted in some other instances of a similar kind. She ordered tlie
town council to deprive the proTost and baillies instantly of their offices, and to
elect others in their stead.

All the French friends who had accompanied her to Scotland, excepting her
uncle, the marquis D'Elbeuf, disgusted with the treatment which they met witli
from the reformers, now returned to their own country ; and the young and
inexperienced queen was thus left nearly alone, to maintain the elevated and
dangerous position in which hereditary right had placed her, against the stormy
and conflicting interests and passions of those by whom she was surrounded.
She was now thrown upon her own resources, and, at a most critical period,
left to rely wholly upon the firmness and energy of her own character, to carry
her tlirough the arduous part which destiny had assigned her.

The fame of Clary's beauty and accomplishments, as was naturally to be ex-
pected, procured her many suitors, not only amongst her own nobility, but
amongst foreign princes. She, however, declined all addresses of this nature,
and resolved, in the mean time at least, to remain as she was : a resolution,
which it had been Avell for the unfortunate queen she had always adhered to.

In the month of August, 15G2, little of any interest having occurred in the
interval, IMary set out on a progress through the northern part of her dominions,
accompanied by her brother, the earl of Murray, and a numerous train of nobles
and attendants. On this expedition she spent three months, when she again
returned to Edinburgh. The two following years, viz,, 1563 and 1564, Avere
undistinguished by any public event of importance, and were, on that account,
probably the happiest that Mary ever spent in her native land.

Though no circumstance of national consequence, however, occurred during
this period, one of a singular and melancholy interest did take place. This
was the execution of the young French poet, Chatelard. This unfortunate
gentleman, who was attached to Mary's court, had fallen wildly and desperately
in love with his royal mistress. He wrote numerous verses to her; and, en-
couraged by the unreflecting approbation with which they were received, and
mistaking the good-natured courtesy of 3Iary for a return of his passion, he
madly intruded himself into her bed-room. Here he was discovered by her
maids of honour; but, after being severely reprimanded by the queen for his
audacity, was allowed, from a natural feeling of lenity, as it was his first of-
fence, to escape further punishment. Undeterred by the imminence of the
danger to which he had been exposed, and of which he must haA'o been fully
aware, Chatelard, in two nights afterwards, again entered the queen's bed-
chamber. On this occasion, it was at Dunfermline, where Mary had stopped for
on© night on her way to St Andrews. Highly incensed by the young man's
insolent pertinacity, Mary, after having in vain ordered him to quit her apart-
ment, called out for assistance, and was instantly attended by the earl of Mur-
ray, who happened to be within hearing. The unfortunate Chatelard was im-
mediately taken into custody, tried at St Andrews, condemned to death, and
executed on the 22nd of February, 1563. Before laying his head on the
block, which he did with the utmost composure, he turned towards the house in
which the queen lodged, and where he presumed her at the moment to be, and
exclaimed, "Farewell, loveliest and most cruel princess whom the world
contains!" ~ •

Mary, if she had not hitherto enjoyed positive happiness, had at least been
free from any very serious annoyances, since her accession to the throne. This
comparative quiet, however, was now about to be disturbed, and the long series
of miseries and misfortunes, which render her history so remarkable, were on
the eve of assailing her. These began with her unfortunate marriago to

342 MARY STUAET.

Darnley, an event which took place on the 29th of July, 1565. The cero-
mony was performed in the cliapel of Holyrood, on a Sunday, between the
hours of five and six in the morning.

Henry Stuart, lord Darnley, at the time of his marriage, was in the nine-
teenth year of his age ; Mary in her twenty-third. The former was the son
of Matthew, earl of Lennox, and of the lady 3Iargai-et Douglas, niece of
Henry VIII. Even at this early period of his life, Darnley was esteemed
one of the handsomest men of his time ; but, unfortunately, there was little
correspondence between the qualities of his person and his mind. He was
weak, obstinate, and wayward, possessing scarcely one redeeming trait, unless
it were a simplicity, or i-atlier imbecility, which rendered him an easy dupe to
the designing.

Amongst the first evil results which this unfortunate connexion produced to
Mary, was the hostility of her brother, the earl of 3Iurray, who foresaw that
the new character of a king consort would greatly lessen, if not entirely put an
end to, the almost regal power and influence which he enjoyed whilst his sister
remained single. Impressed with this feeling, he had, at an early period, not
only expressed his displeasure at the proposed marriage, but, in concert with
some other nobles, whom he had won over to his interest, had taken measures
for seizing on the queen's person, whilst she was ti-avelling between Perth and
Edinburgh. Being earlier on the road, however, and better guarded than the
conspirators expected, she reached the latter place without experiencing any
interruption ; and in a few days afterwards, her union with Darnley took
place.

On the 15th of August, 1565, seventeen days aflor the celebration of the
queen's marriage, Murray, who now stood forward as an open and de-
clared enemy, summoned his pnrtizans to meet him, attended by their followers,
armed, at Ayr, on the 24th of the same month. To oppose this rebel force,
Mary mustered an army of five thousand men, and, with a spirit Avorthy of her
high descent, placing herself in the midst of her troops, equipped in a suit of
light armour, with pistols at her saddle bow, she marched from Edinburgh to
the westward, in quest of the rebel forces.

Murray, who had been able to raise no more than twelve hundred men,
finding himself unable to cope with the queen, retired from place to place,
closely pursued by the royal forces. Being finally driven to Carlisle, whitlier
he was still followed by Mary, with an army now increased to eighteen thou-
sand men, his troops there dispei-sed, and he himself and his friends, abandon-
ing their cause as hopeless, fled to the English court.

This triumph of Mary's, however, in place of securing her the quiet which
might have been expected to result from it, seemed merely to have opened a
way for the admission of other miseries, not less afUicting than that which had
been removed. Murray, and the other lords who had joined him in his rebel-
lions attempt, though now at a distance, and under a sentence of expatriation,
still continued their machinations, and endeavoured to secure, by plot and con-
trivance, that which they had failed to obtain by force. In these attempts
they found a ready co-operator in the earl of Morton, who, though entertain-
ing every good-will to their cause, having taken no open part in their rebellious
measures, was now amongst the few counsellors whom Mary had left to her.
Working on the vanity and weakness of Darnley, Morton succeeded in inducing
him to join a conspiracy, which had for its object the restoration of the banished
lords, and the wresting from, or at least putting under such restraints as they
should think fit, the authority of the queen. Tempted by promises of undivided
sway, that imbecile prince, slighting the ties of natural afiection, and forgetting

MARY STUART. 343

all the kindnesses and lionours which his wife had heaped upon him, became an
active partizan in a plot devised against her interest, her dignity, and her hap-
piness. There was, however, one person whose fidelity to the queen niade him
sufficiently dangerous to render it necessary, for the safety of all, that he should
be removed out of the way. This was David Rizzio, Mary's secretarj'. Sin-
cerely interested in the safety and honour of hia royal mistress, he was known
to have exerted his influence with her, against those who had aimed at depriv-
ing her of her authority ; and he was also known to have exerted that influence
to prevent her yielding up too much of that authority to Darnley. Being thus
equally detested by both, and generally unpopular on account of his religion
and his country, and for the high estimation in which he was held by the queen,
his destruction was determined upon.

On the evening of the 9th of March, 15G5, the conspirators, headed by lord
Ruthven, entered the queen's chamber, whilst she was at supper with several of
her household, including Kizzio. On their entering, the queen indignantly de-
manded the meaning of this intrusion. This tliey soon explained; and im-
mediately proceeded to attack their victim, with their drawn weapons. Ilizzio,
by taking shelter behind the queen, for some time escaped the blows of the
assassins, but was at length stabbed in the side over the queen's shoulder,
and immediately after dragged into an adjoining apartment, and de-
spatched with no fewer than fifty-six wounds. Immediately after the as-
sassination, Darnley and Morton placed the queen in ward ; and, on the fol-
lowing morning, issued a proclamation, in the king's name, proroguing the par-
liament, which was then sitting, and which had discovered such a disposition
in &vour of the queen, as rendered it highly dangerous. In the evening of
the same day, Murray, with the other banished lords, returned from England.

At this critical period, the vacillating Darnley, unable to pursue any course,
whether for good or evil, steadily, began to repent of tlie part he was acting,
and allowed himself to be persuaded by Mary, not only to desert his accom-
plices, but to assist and accompany her in making her escape from Holyrood.
Attended only by tlte captain of the guard and two other persons, Mary and
her husband left the palace at midnight for Dunbar, to which they I'ode without
stopping. Here the queen found hei-self, in the course of a few days, sur-
rounded by the half of her nobility, and at the head of a powerful anny. With
these she returned, after an absence of only five days, in triumph to Edinburgh,
where she was again reinstated in full and uncontrolled authority. The con-
spirators, unable to offer the slightest resistance, fled in all directions ; while
their leaders, Morton, 3Iaitland, Ruthven, and Lindsay, sought safety in New-
castle. Mary had, a few days before, with not <in unwise policy, lessened the
number of her enemies, and increased that of her friends, by receiving Mun-ay,
and several others of those who had been associated with him, into favour; and,
therefore, now again enjoyed the benefit of the judicious counsel of her able,
but ambitious brother.

Soon after the occurrence of the events just related, Mary beccirae aware of
the near approach of the hour which was to make her a mother. In the antici-
pation of this event, she took up her abode, by the advice of her privy council,
in the castle of Edinburgh, where, on the lUlh of June, 1566, between the hours
of nine and ten in the morning, she was delivered of a son, afterwards James
VI. of Scotland, and I. of England.

The intelligence of 3Iary's accouchement was received with the utmost joy
throughout the whole kingdom. In Edinburgh, it amounted to enthusiasm
All the nobles in the city, accompanied by the greater part of the citizens,
went in solemn procession to the high church, and returned thanks to the Al-

341 MARY STUART.

mighty for bestowing a prince upon them, and for the mercy which had been
extended to their queen. This impressive ceremony was followed by three en-
tire days of continued revelry and triumph.

After her recovery, the queen proceeded on an excursion through various
parts of the country; and again returned to Edinburgh on the lllh or 12lh
of September, having previously placed the infant'prince in charge of the earl
and lady Mar.

From this period, the page of Mary's history rapidly darkens; and it is now
that her enemies assail her character, and that her friends find themselves called
upon to defend it. Each have written volumes, in their turn, to establish her
guilt or her innocence, but hitherto without approaching to anything like com-
plete success on either side.

At the suggestion of the earl of Bothwell, now one of the most active of
Mary's officers of stale, the privy council submitted to Mary, then (December,
15G6) residing at Craigmillar castle, the proposal that she should divorce her
husband Darnley, to whom slie had now been maiTied about a year and a half.
There were sufficient reasons, both of a public and personal nature, to make
such a proposal neither singular nor unwarrantable. Darnley's intellectual
incapacity rendered him wholly unfit for his situation; and his wayward temper
had wrecked the happiness of his wife. But the proposal originated in neither
of these considerations. It was the first step of tlie new ambition of Bothwell,
which aimed at the hand of his sovereign. Mary refused to accede to the pro-
posal, alleging, amongst other considerations, that such a proceeding might pre-
judice the interests of her son. This resolution, however, in place of diverting
Bothwell from his daring project, had the effect only of driving him to a more
desperate expedient to accomplish it. He now resolved that Darnley should
die. Attended by a band of accomplices, he pi-oceeded, at midnight, on Sun-
day, the 9th of February, 1567, to the Kirk of Field house, situated near to
where the college of Edinburgh now stands, and where Darnley, who was at
the time unwell, had taken up a temporary residence. The mode of his death
had been matter of some discussion previously, but it had been finally deter-
mined that it should be accomplished by the agency of gunpowder. A large
quantity of that material had been, therefore, secretly introduced into the
chamber beneath that in which Darnley slept. This, on the night spoken of,
was fired by a match applied by the assassins, but which burnt slowly enough
to allow of themselves escaping to a safe distance ; and in a few minutes, the
house, with all its inmates, including Darnley, was totally destroyed.

For some time after the murder, vague and contradictory surmises regarding
the assassins, filled the kingdom. Suspicion, however, at length became so
strong against the true perpetrator, that, at the instigation of Darnley's father,
the earl of Lennox, he was brought to a public trial. Bothwell, however, was
too powerful a man, and had too many friends amongst the nobility, to fear for
the result, lie had provided for such an occurrence. On the day of trial, no
one appeared to prosecute him, and he was acquitted. Thus far the dark and
daring projects of Bothwell had been successful, and he now hurried on to the
consummation of his guilty career.

On the 20th of April, little more than two months after the nssassination
of Darnley, Bothwell procured the signatures of a number of the nobility
to a document setting forth, first, his innocence of that crime ; secondly, the
necessity of the queen's immediately entering again into the married state ;
and, lastly, recommending James, earl of Bothwell, as a fit person to become
her liusband. In two or three days after this, Mary left Edinburgh for Stir-
ling, on a visit to her infant son ; and as she was returning from thence, she

MARY STUAKT. 34.5

vas waylaid by Bothuell, acccnpanied by a troop of a thousand men, all well
tuounted, at a bridge uhich crosses the river Ahnond, within a mile of Linlith-
gow. Mary, wlien she encountered Botliwell, was attended by but a slight re-
tinue, and by only tliree persons of note ; these were the earl of Huntly, secre-
tary Maitland, and Sir James Melville. Bothwell having dismissed all her
attendants, with the exception of the three last, seized the bridle of Mary's
horse, and immediately after the whole cavalcade proceeded with their ut-
most speed to Dunbar, one of Bothwell's castles. Here Mary was de-
tained for ten days, during which time Bothwell had succeeded in obtain-
ing her consent to espouse liim. At the end of this period, the queen and
her future husband returned to Edinburgh, and in a few weeks afterwards
Avere married, Bothwell having previously obtained a divorce from his wife,
the lady Jane Gordon, and a formal pardon, before the lords of tfession,
from I\Iary herself, for his liaving seized upon her person. With regard to
these transactions, thus briefly narrated, much has been said of the determined,
unprincipled, and ferocious charactei' of Bothwell, and much of the helplessness
of the condition to which 3Iary was reduced ; but it cannot be denied that they
present still a startling appearance, even after all that has been said to explain
away what part of them artects the character of Mary.

Botliwell, however, did not long enjoy the success of his villany : his own
ruin, and that of his unfortunate partner, speedily followed their unhappy con-
nexion.

Disgusted with the insolence of his manner, and not improbably disappointed
in the hopes which they had entertained fronf his elevation, a number of those
very lords Avho had assisted hiin to attain it, together with many others, took
up arms to displace him.

On learning the designs of his enemies, Bothwell hastily collected at Dunbar
a force of 2000 men, and with these marched towards Edinburgh on the I4tli
of June, 1567, The hostile lords, with an army somewhat less in number,
marched from the latter city to meet him, and on the 15lh, the two armies
came in sight of each other, Bothwell's troops occupying Carberry hill, a rising
ground to the east of Musselburgh. Neither army evincing much inclination
to come to blows, negotiations were entered into, and the final result of
these was, that 3Iary, who had accompanied Bothwell to the field, offered to
deliver herself up to the opposite party, on condition, that they would conduct
her safely to Edinburgh, and thereafter yield obedience to her authority. This
being agreed to, she prevailed upon her husband to quit the field, and, conducted
by Kirkaldy of Grange, presented herself before the hostile lords, and claimed
their protection. 3Iary was now conducted into Edinburgh, but with little respect
either to her rank, her sex, or her feelings. Insulted by the rabble as she
passed along, and dissolved in tears, she was taken to the house of the provost,
instead of the palace, a circumstance which added greatly to her dis-
tress. Dreading a re-action of the popular feeling towards the queen, which,
indeed, shortly afterwards took place, MaryV captors, for they now stood in
that position, conveyed her on the evening of the following day, to Holyrood,
and at midnight, hurried her away on horseback to the castle of Lochleven,
situated on a small island In a lake of that name in Fifeshire, and placed her
in charge of lady Douglas, mother of the earl of IMurray by James V., a woman
of haughty and austere manners and disposition.

This extreme proceeding towards the unhappy queeu was in little more than
a month afterwards followed by another still more decisive and humiliating.

On the 24th of July, 15G7, lord Lindsay and Sir Robert Lindsay, deputed
by the lords of Secret Council, proceeded to Lochleven, and by threats of per-

Si6

MARY STUAET.

sornl violence, compelled Mary to sign a deed of abdication, a proceeding
which was soon after followed by the election of Murray to the regency.

Bothwell, in the mean time, after some inetlectual attempts to regain hia lost
authority, retired to his estates in tlie north, but being pursued thitlier
by Grange and Tullibardine, he embarked for Denmark, Ruthless and desper-
ate in all his proceedings, he attempted, on his way tliither, to replenish his
exhausted finances by piracy. The intelligence of his robberies reaching Den-
mark, se.veral ships were despatched from that country in quest of him, and in
a very short time he was taken and carried a prisoner into a Danish port. On
his landing he was thrown into prison, where he remained for many years, and
finally ended his days in misery and neglect. Such was the fate of the proud
ambitious, and wicked Botlnvell, the husband of JMarv, queen of Scotland. '
Though Mary's fortunes were at this low ebb, and though her enemies were
both nunjcrous and powerful, she had still many friends, who waited anxiously
and impatiently for an opportunity of asserting her rights and avenging her
wrongs ; and for such an opportunity, although attended with an unsuccessful
result, they were not called upon to wait long.

On the 25th of March, 1568, about nine months after she had been
imprisoned in Lochleven castle, an attempt was made, by the assistance of
beorge Douglas, a relation of the family of Lochleven, who resided in the cas-
tle, to effect Mary's escape in the disguise of a laundress. She was, however
discovered by the boatmen, who had been employed to convey her to the shore'
and carried back to the castle. In about a month afterwards, the attempt was
again made, but now under the auspices of \Ailliam Douglas, a young man of
sixteen years of age, a relation of the Douglas family, and also a resident on
the island. Douglas, having purloined the keys of the fortress, liberated tl-e
captive princess. 3Iay 2nd, and, conducting her to a boat which was in readiness
o receive her, conveyed her to the shore. Here she was met, with the most
lively expressions of joy and loyal affection, by a number of her nobility
who, having been previously informed of the design, were anxiously awaiting
her arrival. Placing the queen on horseback, the whole party instantly set
off at full sp^ed for Hamilton, where they arrived on the following forenoon.

J he intelligence of Mary's escape, and of the place of her temporary abode
rapidly spread thi^ughout the whole kingdom, and nobles and troops instantW
poured in from all quarters to her assistance. In a few days Mary found her.
self at the head of a formidable army, and suiTouuded by the greater part of
her nobility She now solemnly and publicly protested that her abdication had
ihl" "•"'{»" ^•«^y'/"d ^''^f«re "ot valid, and called upon Murray, who was
hen at Glasgow, to surrender his regency. This he refused to do and both
parties prepared for hostilities.

l.n^" J!'r?tj '^'* ^^'^ ""^ ^^y* ^^""'^y' ^^>« ^™« «ti" at Glasgow, havi„«
ea ned that the queen, with her forces, were on their way to Dumbfrton, whe^
It w^s proposed by the friends of the former that she should be lodged, a bcin'
a place ot greater safety than Hamilton, he hastily assembled ^an a uiyo°f
4000 men and marched out to a place called Langside, about three mi 7dis.
tan from the city to intercept her. The hostile armies soon came in sight of
each other, and a batUe followed, fatal to the hopes of Mary. The main bodv
of Uie queen's army was led by the earl of Argyfe, the van by Claud Hmilto/
second son of the duke of Chatelherault, and the cavalry^y lord HerWes'

ilzZonZV:' '^^ ''' '^'" '-'' '' ''' ^^^-^^^ ^--i -<^ ^-s

Mary on perceiving that the day had gone against her, (for she hid
uunessed the contest from a neishbouring height,) inLntly took ioLZ,a.t

MARY STUART. 347

accompanied by lord Herrles and a few other trusty friends, rode off at full
speed, nor ever drew bridle until she had reached Dundrennan Abbey in Gal-
loway, sixty miles distant from the field of battle. Here she remained
for two days, uncertain whither to proceed. Resolving at lengtli to tlirow her-
self on the protection of Elizabeth, she embarked, with a train of eighteen or
twenty persons, on board a fisliing boat, and sailing along the shore until she
arrived at Workington, in Cumberland, was there landed with her suite. From
Workington she proceeded to Cockerraoutli, twenty-six miles distant from Car-
lisle, wliere she was met by the deputy of the warden of these frontiers and a
number of gentlemen of rank and respectability, and conducted with every mark
of respect to the castle of Carlisle. This honourable treatment, however, was
but of short duration. Mary was now in the hands of her bitterest and most
inveterate enemy, Elizabeth, and though not yet aware of it, the conviction of
its trutli was very soon forced upon her. From Carlisle Mary was, by Elizabeth's
orders, removed to Bolton, where she was strictly guarded, and forbidden to
hold any communication with her Scottish subjects. Elizabeth had previously
refused to admit Mary to a personal interview, alleging, that she was under a
suspicion of having been accessary to the murder of Darnley, and that, until
her innocence of that crime was established, she could not afford her any
countenance, or bestow upon her any mark of favour. Affecting an anxiety
for Clary's honour, Elizabeth now proposed that an examination of evidence
should be gone into, to prove either the truth or falsehood of the allegation.
Three sets of commissioners were accordingly appointed for this purpose, one
by Elizabeth, as umpires or judges, one by Murray and his party as defenders,
and one by Mary as plaintiff. These met at York on the 4th of October, 1 56 8,
bestowing upon their proceedings the gentle name of Conference.

From York the Conference, unattended yet with any decisive result, was re-
moved to W^estminster, where it was again resumed, and finally, after several
disingenuous proceedings on the part both of Elizabeth and Murray's commis-
sioners, was brought to a close without being terminated. Without any
conclusive or satisfactory evidence of her guilt, or any decision having been
pronounced on the evidence which had been led, Mary was, though not
formally, yet virtually condemned to perpetual imprisonment.

The unfortunate queen Avas now moved from castle to castle as notions
of caprice or fancied security dictated, and with diminished comforts and
enjoyments at each remove, until she was finally stripped, not only of all per-
sonal liberty, but of every consolation which could make life endurable. Her
letters of remonstrance to Elizabeth under this treatment are pathetic in the last
degree, but they liad no effect upon her to whom they were addressed. For
eighteen years the severities to which she was exposed were left not only
uninvestigated, but were gradually increased to the end of her unhappy career.

On the 25th of September, 1586, Mary was removed from Chantly to the
castle of Fotheringay, with a view to her being brought to trial before a com-
mission appointed by Elizabeth, on a charge of having abetted a conspiracy, in
vhich the chief actor was one Anthony Babington, and which had for its object
the assassination of Elizabeth and the liberation of the captive queen. The
trial commenced on the 15th of October, but was afterwards adjourned to the
Star Chamber at Westminster, where on the 25th of the same month it was
finally adjudged that " JMary, commonly called queen of Scots and dowager of
France, was accessary to Babington's conspiracy, and had compassed and
imagined divers matters within the realm of England, leading to the hurt,
death, and destruction of the royal person of Elizabeth, in opposition to the
statute formed for her protection." Mary had been charged with abetting a

343

MARY STUART.

number of minor ploU during the previous term of Iier captivity, and one
m especial set on foot by the duke of Norfolk, who had not only aimed
at restoring her to liberty, but had looked forward to the obtaining her
hand Norfolk's designs ^vere discovered, and he perished on the scaffold
Jilizabeth's parliament now, therefore, alleged, that their sovereign's security was
incompatible with Mary's life, and urged her to give effect to the sentence of the
Star Chamber, by ordering her immediate execution,

Elizabeth affected to feel the utmost reluctance to proceed to the extremity
recommended by the councillors, but at length gave way to their importunity
and signed the warrant for her unfortunate captive's execution, and a commis-
sion was given to the earls of Siirewsbury, Kent, Derby and others, to see it
lurried into effect. Aware of her approaching fate, for the sentence of
the commissioners had been early conveyed to her, with an intimation to pre-
pare for the result, Mary calmly awaited iU consummation, without stooping to
any meanness to avert it, or discovering the slightest dread in iis cont^em-
plation.

The fatal hour at length arrived. On the 7th of February, 15S7, the earls who
were appointed to superintend her execution arrived at Folherin.ray and
requesting an audience of Mary, informed her of the purpose for which they
came, and that her execution would take place on the following morning at eight
o clock. Mary heard the dreadful intelligence without discovering the slieht-
est trepidation. She said she had long been expecting the manner ot-
her death, and was not unprepared to die. Having, with the utmost composure
and self-possession, arranged all her worldly affairs, she retired to bed about two
in the morning ; but, though she lay for some hours, she slept none. At bre.ik
of day she arose, and surrounded by her weeping domestics, resumed her de-
votions. She was thus employed when a messenger knocked at the door to an-
nounce that all was ready, and in a short time afterwards, the sheriff, bearin-
in his hand the white wand of office, entered her apartment to conduct her to
the place of execution.

Mary was now led into the hall in which her trial had taken place, and
which had been previously fitted up for the dreadful scene about to be enacted.
A scaffold and block, covered with black cloth, rose at the upper end, and on
one side of the latter stood the earls of Shrewsbury and Kent, on the other, two
executioners. Having ascended the scaffold, which she did with a di-nity and
composure that rather increased than diminished as her fate approached
Mary prepared for the fatal stroke. After spending a short time in prayer, she
desired Jane Kennedy, one of two female attendants, for whom she had with
difficulty obtained the melancholy privilege of accompanying her to the scaffold,
to bind her eyes with a handkerchief which slie had brought with her for the
purpose. Tins done, she laid her head on the block, and the axe of the exe-
cutioner descended. The severed head was immediately held up by the hair
which was now observed to have become grey, by the executioner's assistant'
who cal^d out « God save Elizabeth, queen of England !' To this sentence tiie
earJ of Kent added, " Thus perish all her enemies'"

Mary's remains were embalmed and buried in the cathedral at Peterborough
but, twenty-five yearn afterwards, were removed by her son James VI. to
i iP 71 'r^^^^^^ '" Westminster Abbey. She was at the time of her death
in the fortj-.fifth year of her age, and the nineteenth of her captivity. Time
and grief had greatly impaired the symmetry and beauty of her person ;

1% JfT'Vr'"."' '^' ^'"'"" "^ ^" ^'''^'' """ «"« °f "'«t'^J'l«" elegance
Still mindful of her dignity, of her high birth, and of what she once had been

ET^S-awd ^ TV. Knight.

4i/;^^]Ks s'lriEWAB^'^ti'.

JJ\JU. 01' MUKKAY,- 10:GT>.

JAMES STUART. 349

tho unfortunate queen appeared upon the scaffoltl, arrayed in her best and raost
splendid attire, and her whole conduct throughout the trying scene was marked
with the noble bearing and unshaken fortitude of a heroine. 3Iary never for a
moment forgot that she was queen of Scotland, and she died with a magnani-
mity worthy of the title.

STUART, James, Earl of 3Iurray, celebrated in Scottish history by the title
of the " Good Regent," was an illegitimate son of James V., by Margaret Er-
skine, daughter of John, fourth lord Erskine. The precise year of his birth,
is not certainly known ; but there is good reason for believing that this event
took place in 1533. Agreeably to the policy which James V. pursued with
regard to all his sons, — that of providing them with benefices in the church,
while they were yet in infancy, that he might appropriate their revenues dur-
ing tlieir nonage, — the priory of St Andrews was assigned to the subject of
this memoir, when he was only in his third year.

Of the earlier years of his life, we have no particulars ; neither have we any
information on tlie subject of his education. The first remarkable notice of
him occurs in 1548, when Scotland was invaded by the lords Grey de Wilton
and Clinton, the one by land, and the other by sea. The latter having made
a descent on the coast of Fife, the young prior, who then lived at St Andrews,
placed himself at the head of a determined little band of patriots, waylaid tlie
invaders, and drove them back to their boats with great slaughter. Shortly af-
ter this, he accompanied his unfortunate sister, queen Mary, then a child, to
France, Avhither a party of the Scottish nobles sent her, at once for safety, and
for the benefits of the superior education which that country afforded.

Tlie prior, Jiowever, did not remain long in France on this occasion ; but he
seems to have been in the practice of I'epairing thither, from time to time, dur-
ing several years after. At this period he does not appear to have taken any
remarkable interest in national affairs, and none whatever in those of tho
church, to which he had always a decided aversion as a profession. He, how-
ever, did not object to the good things in its gift. In addition to the priory
of St Andrews, he acquired that of Pittenweeni, and did not hesitate, besides,
to accept that of 3Iascon in France, in commendam , with a dispensntion to
hold three benefices. For these favours of the French court, he took an oath
of fealty to pope Paul III. in 1544.

From the year 1548, Avhen the prior, as he was usually called, defeated the
English troops under Clinton, till 1557, there occurs nothing in his history,
with the exception of the circumstance of his accompanying Mary to France,
worthy of any particular notice. In the latter year, accompanied by his
brother, lord Robert Stuart, abbot of Holyrood, he made an incursion into
England at the head of a small force, but without effecting any vei-y important
service, or doing much injury to the enemy. In the same year, he proceeded
to Paris, to witness the ceremony of marriage between the young queen of Scot-
land and the dauphin of France, having been appointed one of the commission-
ers on the part of the former kingdom for that occasion. Soon after the cele-
bration of the marriage, the prior solicited from Mary the earldom of Murray ;
but this request, by the advice of ler mother, the queen regent, she refused;
and, although she qualified the refusal by an offer of a bishopric, either in
France or England, instead, it is said that from this circumstance proceeded, in
a great measure, his subsequent hostility to the regent's government.

During the struggles between the queen regent and the lords of the congre-
gation, the prior, who had at first taken part with the former, liow sincerely
may be questioned, but latterly with the lords, gradually acquired, by his

330 JAMES STUART.

judicious conduct and general abilities, a revy high degree of consiJei-ation in
the kingdom. He was by many degrees the most potent instrument, after
John Knox, in establishing ihe reformed religion.

Haying nov/ abandoned all appearance of the clerical character, he was,
soon after the death of the queen regent, which happened on the 11th of June,
15G0, appointed one of the lords of the Articles; and in the following year,
he was commissioned by a council of the nobility to proceed to FVance, to in-
vite 3Iary, whose husband was now dead, to return to Scotland. This commis-
sion he executed with much judgment, and with much tenderness towards his
ilJ-fated relative ; having, much against the inclination of those by whom he was
deputed, insisted on the young queen's being permitted the free exercise of her
own religion, after she should have ascended the throne of her ancestors.

On Mary's assuming the reins of government in her native land, the prior
took his place beside her throne, as her confidant, prime minister, and adviser ;
and, by his able and judicious conduct, carried her safely and triumphantly
through the first act of her stormy reign. He swept the borders of the numer-
ous bands of freebooters with which they were infested. He kept the enemies of
Slary's dynasty in abeyance, strengthened the attachment of her friends, and by
his vigilance, promptitude, and resolution, made those who did not love her go-
vernment, learn to fear its resentment. For these important services, Mary, whose
implicit confidence he enjoyed, first created him lieutenant of the borders, and
afterwai-ds earl of Mar. Soon after his creation, the earl married the lady
Agnes Keith, daughter of the earl 3Iai-ischal. The ceremony was publicly per-
formed in the church of St Giles, Edinburgh, with a pomp which greatly
oiFended the reformei's, who were highly scandalized by the profanities whicli
were practised on the occasion. The earldom, which the prior had just ob-
tained from the gratitude of the queen, having been claimed by lord Erskine as
his peculiar right, the claim was admitted, and the prior resigned both the title
and the property attached to it ; but was soon after gratified by the earldom of
Murray, which had long been the favourite object of his ambition. Immediately
after his promotion to this dignity, the earl of Huntly, a disappointed compe-
titor for the power and popularity which Murray had obtained, and for the
favour and confidence of the queen, having been proclaimed a rebel for various
overt acts of insubordination, originating in his hostility to the earl ; the latter,
equally prompt, vigorous, and efficient in the field as at the council board, led
a small army, hastily summoned for the occasion, against Huntly, whom he en-
countered at the head of his adherents, at a place called Corrichie. A battle
ensued, and the earl of Murray was victorious. In this engagement he displayed
singular prudence, skill, and intrepidity, and a military genius, which proved
liim to be as able a soldier, as he was a statesman. On the removal of Huntly,
— for this powerful enemy died suddenly and immediately after the battle, al-
though he had received no wound, and his eldest son perished on tlie scaffold at
Aberdeen, — Murray remained in undisputed possession of the chief authority in
the kingdom, next to that of the sovereign ; and the history of Scotland does
not present an instance, where a similar authority was more wisely or more
judiciously employed. The confidence, however, amounting even to affection,
Avhich had hitherto subsisted between Murray and his sovereign, was now about
to be interrupted, and finally annihilated. The first step towards this unhappy
change of sentiment, was occasioned by the queen's marriage with Darnley.
To this marriage, Murray was not at first averse ; nay, he rather promoted it :
but some personal insults, which the vanity and weakness of Darnley induced
him to offer to Murray, together with an offensive behaviour on the part of his
father, the earl of Lennox, produced in the haughty statesman that hostility to

JASIES STUART. 35 [

the connexion, which not only destroyed the good understanding between him
and the queen, but converted him into an open and undisguised enemy. His
irritation on this occasion was farther increased by Clary's imprudently evincing,
in several instances, a disposition to favour some of his most inveterate enemies;
and amongst these, the notorious earl of Bothwell, who had some time before
conspired against hia life. In this frame of mind, IMurray not only obstinately
refused his consent to the proposed marx'iage of Mary to Darnley, but ultimately
had recourse to arms to oppose it. In this attempt, however, to establish him-
self by force, he was unsuccessful. After raising an army, and being pursued
from place to place by iMary in person, at the head of a superior force, he fled
into England, together with a number of his followers and adherents, and re-
mained there for several months. During his expatriation, however, a total
change of affaix-s took place at the court of Holyrood. The vain and weak
Darnley, wrought upon by the friends of Murray, became jealous, not of the
virtue, but of the power of the queen, and impatiently sought for uncontrolled
authority. In this spirit he was prevailed upon, by the enemies of his consort,
to league himself with Murray and the banished lords who were with him.
The first step of the conspirators was the murder of Rizzio, the queen's secre-
tary ; the next, the recall, on their own responsibility, sanctioned by Darnley,
of the expatriated nobleman, who arrived in Edinburgh on the 9th of March,
15GG, twenty- four hours after the assassination of the unfortunate Italian.

Although Murray's return had taken place without the queen's consent, she
was yet very soon, not only reconciled to that event, but wns induced to receive
him again apparently into entire favour. Whatever sincerity, however, there
was in this seeming reconciliation on the part of the queen, there appears to be
good reason for believing that there was but little of that feeling on the side of
Murray ; for, from this period he'may be distinctly traced, notwithstanding of
occasional instances of apparent attachment to the interests of the queen, as the
prime mover, sometimes seccetly, and sometimes openly, of a faction opposed
to the government of Mary ; and whose object evidently was to overthrow her
power, and to establish their own in its stead. To this end, indeed, the aim
of Murray and his confederates would seem to have been long steadily directed ;
and the unguarded and imprudent, if not criminal, conduct of the queen, en-
abled them speedily to attain their object. The murder of Darnley, and the
subsequent marriage of Mary to Bothwell, had the twofold effect of adding to
the number of her enemies, and of increasing the hostility of those who already
entertained unfriendly sentiments towards her. The result was, that she «as
finally dethroned, and confined a prisoner in Lochleven castle, and the eail of
Murray was appointed regent of Scotland. With this dignity he was invested
on the 22nd of August, I5G7 ; but whatever objection may be urged against
his conduct previous and relative to his elevation, or the line of policy he pur-
sued when seeking the attainment of this object of his ambition, there can be
none urged against the system of government he adopted and acted upon,
when placed in power. He procured the enactment of many wise and salutary
laws, dispensed justice with a fearless and equal hand, kept down the turbulent
and factious, restored internal tranquillity and personal safety to the people ;
and, in every public act of his authority, discovered a sincere desire for the
Avelfare of his country. Still the regent was yet more feared and respected,
than loved. He had many and powerful enemies; while the queen, though a
captive, had still many and powerful friends. These, having succeeded in ef-
fecting her liberation from Lochleven, mustered in arms, and took the field in
great force, with the view of restoring her to her throne. With his usual pre-
sence of mind, fortitude, and energy, the regent calmly, but promptly, prepared

S53 JOHN STUART.

to meet the coming storm ; and, iu place of demitting the regency, as he had
been required to do by the queen, he determined on repelling force by force.
Having mustered an army of three thousand men, he encountered the forces of
the queen, which consisted of double that number, at Langside, and totally
routed them ; his cool, calculating judgment, calm intrepidity, and high mili-
tary titlenls, being more than a niatcii for their numerical superiority. This
victory the regent instantly followed up by tlie most decisive measures. He
attacked and destroyed all the castles and strongholds of the nobles and gentle-
men who had joined the queen; and infused a yet stronger, and more deter-
mined spirit into the administration of the laws : and thus lie eventually estab-
lished liis authority on a firmer basis than that on which it had rested before.

After the queen''8 flight to England, the regent, with some others, was sum-
moned to York, by Elizabeth, to bear witness against her, in a trial which had
been instituted by the latter, to ascertain Mary's guilt or innocence of the
crime of Darnley's murder. The regent obeyed the summons, and did not
hesitate to give the most unqualified testimony against his unhappy sister.
Having performed this ungenerous part, he left the unfortunate queen in the
hands of her enemies, and returned to the adntinistration of the aftairs of
that kingdom, of which he was now uncontrolled master. The proud career,
however, of this wily, but able politician, this stern, but just ruler, was now
soon to be darkly and suddenly closed. While passing on horseback through
the streets of Linlithgow, on the 23rd of January, 1570, lie was fired at, from
a window, by James Hamilton, of Botluvelhaugh, nephew to the archbishop of
St Andrews. The ball passed through his body, but did not instantly prove
fatal. Having recovered from the first shock of the wound, he walked to his
lodgings, but expired a little before midnight, being at the period of his death in
the thirty-eighth year of his age. Hamilton's hostility to the regent, proceeded
from some severities with Avhich the latter had visited him, for having fought
under the queen at Langside. The assassin escaped to France, where he died
a few years afterwards, deeply regretting the crime he had committed.

STUART, John, third earl of Bute, and prime minister of (ireat Britain,
was the eldest son of the second earl of Bute, by lady Anne Campbell, daughter
of Archibald, first duke of Argyle. He was born in the I'arliament Square,
Edinburgh, May 25, 1713, and succeeded to the title, on the death of his
father, in January, 1723. In April, 1737, on a vacancy occurring in the
representation of the Scottish peerage, the earl of Bute was chosen to fill it :
he was re-chosen at the general elections of 1761, 1768, and 1774. His
lordship married, August 24, 1736, Mary, only daughter of the celebrated
lady Mary Wortley Montagu, by whom he had a numerous family. On his first
introduction to court life, lord Bute had the good fortune to ingratiate himself
with the princess of Wales, mother of (ieorgo 111., who admitted him to that
close superintendence of the education of her son, which was the foundation of all
his historical importance. In 1750, he was appointed one of the lords of the
bed-chamber to Frederick, prince of Wales ; and on the settlement of the
household of the heir apparent, in 1756, the earl of Bute was appointed his
groom of the stole. His lordship acquired the full confidence and friendship of
the young prince; and is believed to have been chiefly instrumental in training
nnd informing his mind. Before the prince's accession to the throne in 1760,
Lord Bute was continued in his situation as groom of the stole ; and in March,
next year, on the dismissal of the Wl\ig ministry, was appointed one of the
principal secretaries of state. His lordship was in the same year appointed
keeper and ranger of liichmond park, on the resignation of the princess
Amelia ; and invested with the order of the garter, — au honour, as is well

JOHN STUART. 353

known, rarely bestowed, except upon persons who hare rendered important
services to the state.

The elevation of a nobleman, only known heretofore as the royal preceptor,
and who was also obnoxious to vulgar prejudices on account of his country, to
such higli place and honour, naturally excited much irritation in England.
This feeling «as greatly increased, when, in May, 1762, his lordship was con-
stituted first lord of the treasury. It reached its acme, on his lordship taking
measures for concluding a war with France, in which the British arms had been
singularly successful, and which the nation in general wished to see carried
on, till that country should be completely humbled. The great Whig oli-
garchy, Avhich, after swaying the state from the accession of the house of
Hanover, had now seen the last days of its dorainancy, was still powerful, and
it received an effective, though ignoble aid, from a popular party, headed by
the infamous Wilkes, and inflamed by other unprincipled demagogues, chiefly
through the medium of the press. A newspaper, called the Briton, had been
started for the purpose of defending the new administration. It was met by
one called the North Briton, conducted by Wilkes, and which, in scurrility
and party violence, exceeded all that went before it. Wilkes, it is said, might
at one time have been bribed to silence by lord Bute ; he now took up the pen
with the determined purpose, as he himself expressed it, of writing his lordship
out of office. Neither the personal character of the minister, nor his political
proceedings furnishing much matter for satire, this low-minded, though clever
and versatile man, set up his country and countrymen as a medium through
which to assail him. The earl, seeing it in vain to contend against prejudices
80 firndy rooted, lost no time, after concluding the peace of Paris, in resign-
ing ; he gave up office on the 16th of April, 1763, to the great surprise of his
enemies, who, calculating his motives by their own, expected him, under all
circumstances, to adhere to the so-called good things which were in his
grasp.

The Bute administration, brief as it was, is memorable for the patronage
which it extended to literature. The minister, himself a man of letters and
of science, wished that the new reign should be the commencement of an
Augustan era ; and he accordingly was the means of directing the attention of
the young monarch to a number of objects, which had hitherto languished for
want of the crown patronage. One of the most remarkable effects of the spirit
infused by his lordship into the royal mind w<is, the rescuing of the majestic
mind of Johnson from the distresses of a dependence on letters for subsistence ;
a transaction, for which many bosoms, yet to be animated with tiie breatli of
life, will expand in gratitude at the mention of the name of George III.

The ministerial character of ford Bute has been thus drawn by an impartial
writer : " Few ministers have been more hated than lord Bute was by the Eng-
lish nation ; yet, if we estimate his conduct from facts, Avithout being
influenced by local or temporary prejudices, we can by no means find just
grounds for the odium which he incurred. As a war minister, though his plans
disrx)vered little of original genius, and naturally proceeded from the measures
of his predecessor, the general state of our resources, the conquests achieved,
and the dispositions of our fleets and armies, yet they were judicious ; the agents
appointed to carry them on were selected with discernment, and the whole re-
sult was successful. His desire of peace, after so long and burdensome a Avar,
was laudable, but perhaps too eagerly manifested. As a negotiator, he did not
procure the best terms, which, from our superiority, might have been obtained.
His project of finance, in itself unobjectionable, derived its impolicy from the
unpopularity of his administration. Exposed from unfounded prejudices to

354 JOHN STUART.

calumny, he deserved and earned dislike by his haughty deportment. The man-
ners which custom might hare sanctioned from an imperious chieftain to his servile
retainers in a remote corner of the island, did not suit the independent spirit of
the English metropolis. The respectable mediocrity of his talents, with the
suitable attainments, and his decent moral character, deserved an esteem which
his manners precluded. Since he could not, like Pitt, command by superior
genius, he ought, like the duke of Newcastle, to have conciliated by affable de-
meanour. His partizans liave praised the tenacity of lord Bute in his pur-
poses ; a quality which, guided by wisdom in the pursuit of right, and combined
with the power to render success ultimately probable, is magnanimous firmness,
but, without these requisites, is stubborn obstinacy. No cliarge has been more
frequently made against lord Bute, than that he was a promoter of arbitrary
principles and measures. This is an accusation for which its supporters can find
no grounds in his particular acts ; they endeavoured therefore to establish their
assertion by circuitous arguments. Lord Bute had been the means of dispos-
sessing tlie Whig connection of power, and had given Scotsmen appointments,
which were formerly held by the friends of the duke of Newcastle. To an im-
partial investigation, however, it appears evident, that lord Bute merely
preferred himself as minister to the duke of Newcastle. If we examine his par^
ticular nominations, we shall find that he neither exalted the friends of liberty
nor despotism, but his own friends. It would probably have been better for
the country if lord Bute had never been minister; but all the evils that may
be traced to that period did not necessarily proceed from his measures, as many
of them flowed from circumstances over which he had no control. Candour
must allow that the comprehensive principle on which his majesty resolved to
govern was liberal and meritorious, though patriotism may regret that he was
not more successful in his first choice. The administration of Bute teaches an
instructive lesson, that no man can be long an effectual minister of this country,
who will not occasionally attend, not only to the Avell-founded judgment, but
also to the prejudices, of Englishmen." ^

The earl of Bute spent the most of the remainder of his life in retirement,
at his seat of Luton in Bedfordshire, but not without the suspicion of
still maintaining a secret influence over the royal counsels. " The spirit of the
Favourite," says Junius, " had some apparent influence over every administra-
tion ; and every set of ministers preserved an appearance of duration, as long as
they submitted to that influence." The chief employment, however, of the ex-
minister was the cultivation of literature and science. He was more fond of
books of information than of imagination. His favourite study was botany,
with which he acquainted himself to such an extent, that the first botanists in
Europe were in the habit of consulting his lordship. He composed a work on
English plants, in nine quarto volumes, of which only sixteen copies were
thrown off; the text as well as the figures of the plants being eng^raved on cop-
per-plates, and these plates, it is said, immediately cancelled, though the work
cost upwards of one thousand pounds. He presented to the Winchester college
a bronze statue of their founder, William of Wykham, supposed to have been
the work of some great artist in the fourteenth century. It is a full length
figure in the episcopal habit, sixteen inches high, and executed with remarkable
elegance. His lordship was elected one of the trustees of the British Museum
in 1765, held the office of chancellor of the Marischal college of Aberdeen,
and, on the institution of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland (1780,) was
elected president. He was an honorary fellow of the Royal College of

1 Bisset's Reign of George III. apud Brydges' Peerage.

DK. GILBERT STUART. 355

Physicians at Edinburgh, and to him the university of that city was indebted for
its useful appendage, the Botanic Garden.

Part of his lordship's time in his latter years was spent at a marine villa
which he built on the edge of the clift' at Christ Church, in Hampshire, over-
looking the Needles and the Isle of Wight. Here his principal delight was to
listen to the melancholy roar of the sea ; of which the plaintive sounds were
probably congenial to a spirit soured with what he believed to be the ingrati-
tude of mankind. His lordship died at his house in South Audley Street, Lon-
don, March 10, 1792, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. Of his private
character and manners, which may now properly be touched upon, an acute ob-
server has written as follows : — " I never knew a man Avith whom one could be
so long tete a tete without being tii'ed. His knowledge was so extensive, and
consequently his conversation so varied, that one thought one's self in the com-
pany of several persons, with the advantage of being sure of an even temper in
a man whose goodness, politeness, and attention, were never wanting to those
who lived with him."-

STUART, (Db) Gilbkbt, an eminent historical essayist, was born at Edinburgh
in 1742. His father was Mr George Stuart, professor of humanity (Latin) and
Koman antiquities, in the university of Edinburgh. Gilbert received an accom-
plished education in his native city, under the superintendence of his father. His
education was directed towards qualifying him for the bar ; but it is question-
able whether his magnificent opinion of his own abilities permitted him ever
seriously to think of becoming an ordinary practising advocate. Before he
was twenty-two years of age, he made what was considered a splendid entrance
on the career of authorship, by publishing an *' Historical Dissertation concern-
ing the English Constitution ;" the circumstance, that four editions of a work
on a subject requiring so much information and power of thought, yet which
almost every man possessed knowledge enough to criticise, were speedily issued,
is of itself sufficient evidence that the young author possessed a very powerful
intellect.' When we consider the reputation of- his father, it cannot perhaps
be argued as a very strong additional evidence of the esteem in Avhich the work
was held, that the university of Edinburgh conferred on the author the degree
of Doctor of Laws. His next literary labour Avas the editing of the second edi-
tion of Sullivan's Lectures on the English Constitution, in 1772, to which he
prefixed a " Discourse on the Government and Laws of England." Dr Stuart
endeavoured to obtain one of the law chairs in the university of Edinburgh,
whether that of Scottish or of civil law, the writers who have incidentally noticed
the circumstances of his life, do not mention ; nor are they particular as to the
period, which would appear from his conduct to his opponents, in the Edin-
burgh Magazine of 1773, to have been some time before that year.^ Whether
he possessed a knowledge of his subject sufficiently minute for the task of teaching
it to others, may have been a matter of doubt; his talents and general learning
were certainly sufficiently high, but his well-earned character for dissipation, the
effect of which was not softened by the supei'cilious arrogance of his manners,

* Memoirs of a Tnivcller now in Retirement, iv. 177.

^ Kerr (Life of Smellie) and others say he was then only twenty-two yeai-s okl ; yet there
is no edition of this work older than 1768, when, according to the same authorities, he must
have been twentj'-six years old.

2 According to the list of Professors in Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh,
the only law chair succeeded to for many years at this period of Stuart's life, is that of the
law of nature and nations, presented to Mr James Balfour, in 176't. If we am suppose this
person to have been Mr Stuart's successful opponent, we would find him disappointed by the
same fortunate person who snatched the moral philosophy chair from Hume. The list
seems, however, to be imperfect. No notice, for instance, is taken of any one entering on
the Scots law chair in 1765, when it was resigned by Erskine.

35G DR. GILBERT STUART.

yvas, to Dr Robertson and 011161*8, tyfficient reason for opposing him, without
farther inquiry. To the influence of the worthy principal, it has generally
f)een considered that his rejection was owing ; and as he was of a temperament
never to forgive, he turned the course of his studies, and the future labour of
tiis life, to the depreciation of the literary performances of his adversai*y; turn-
ing aside only from his grand pursuit, when some other object incidentally at-
tracted his vii-ulence, and making even his inordinate thirst of fame secondary
to his desire of vengeance. After his disappointment, Stuart proceeded to
London, where he was for some time employed as a Avriter in the Monthly Re-
view. His particular contributions to this periodical have not been specified ;
but to one at all curious about the matter, it might not be difficult to detect
every sentence of his magniloquent pen, from the polislied order of the sen-
tences, tlieir aspect of grave reflection, and the want of distinctness of idea,
when they are o-itically examined. By the establishment of the Edinburgh
M<igazine and Review, in 1773, Stuart had more unlimited opportunities of
performing the great duty of his life. As manager of tliat periodical, he was
associated with Mr Smellie, a man of very difl^erent habits and temperament ;
an^ Blacklock, Richardson, Gillies, and other men of considerable eminence,
were among the contributors. This periodical, which extended to five volumes,
was creditable to the authors as a literary production, and exhibited spirit and
originality, unknown to that class of literature in Scotland at the period, and
fieldom equalled in England. But in regard to literature, Edinburgh was then,
what it has ceased to be, a merely provincial town. The connexions of the
booksellers, and the literature expected to proceed from it, did not enable it
to support a periodical for the whole country. It was the fate of that under
consideration, while it aimed at talent which would make it interesting else-
where, to concentrate it, in many instances, in virulence which was uninterest-
ing to the world in general, and which finally disgusted those persons more
personally acquainted with the parties attacked, whose curiosity and interest it
at first roused. Mr DTsraeli has discovered, and printed in his Calamities of
Authors, a part of the correspondence of Stuart at this period, curiously charac-
teristic of his exulting hopes of conquest. " The proposals," he says, " are
issued : the subscriptions in the booksellers' shops astonish : correspondents
flock in ; and, what will surprise you, the timid proprietors of the Scots
Magazine, have come to the resolution of dropping their work. You stare at
all this ; and so do I too." " Thus," observes Mr DTsraeli, " he flatters him-
self he is to annihilate his rival, witiiout even striking the first blow ; the ap-
pearance of his firat number is to be the moment when their Inst is to come
forth." Authors, like the discoverei-s of mines, are the most sanguine creatures in
the world. Gilbert Stuart afterwards flattered himself that Dr Henry was lying
at the point of death, from the scalping of his tomahawk pen. But of this
anon. On the publication of the first number, in November, 1773, all is exul-
tation ; and an account is facetiously expected, tliat " a thousand copies had
emigrated from the Row and Fleet Street." There is a serious composure in
letter of December, which seems to be occasioned by tlie tempered answer
of his London correspondent. The work was more suited to the meridian of
Edinburgh, and from causes sufliciently obvious, its personality and causticity.
St(iart, however, assures his friend, that " the second number you will find bet-
ter than the first, and the third better than the second." The next letter is
dated IMarch 4th, 1774, in which I find our author still in good spirits. " The
magazine rises and promises much in this quarter. Our artillery has silenced
•11 opposition. The rogues of the ' uplifted hands ' decline the combat."
These rogues are the clergy : and some others, who had " uplifted hands,"

DR. GILBERT STUART. * 357

from the vituperative nature of their adversary : for he tells us, that " now the
clergy are silent ; the town council have had the presumption to oppose us,
and have threatened Creech (the publisher in Edinburgh) with the terror of
making him a constable for his insolence. A pamphlet on the abuses of
Heriot's hospital, including a direct proof of perjury in the provost, was the
punishment inflicted in turn. And new papers are forging to chastise them, in
regard to the poor's rate, which is .again started ; the improper choice of
professors ; and violent stretches of the impost. The liberty of the press, in
its fullest extent, is to be employed against tliem."'*

The natural conclusion from the tone of these letters, from circumstances in
the conduct of Stuart, which we have already recorded, and from some we may
hereafter mention, might perhaps be, that he was a man possessed with a gene-
ral malignity against the human race ; yet it has been said that he was warm in
his friendships, and that his indignation against vice and meanness, frequently
exhibited, came from his heart. It will appear perhaps to be the truest con-
clusion as to his character, that he was simply one of those men who are termed
persons of violent passions, and who may be made Falconbridges, squire Wes-
terns, or Gilbei't Stuarts, from circumstances. The circumstances which swerved
his feelings into their particular course, appear to have done so, by feeding his
mind with aiTOgance, and making him look upon himself as a being of
superior mould to that of his fellows. Such a man, independently of the want
of restraint, which he must feel from the opinions of people whom he thinks
beneath him, invariably finds the world not so complimentary to his genius as
he is himself ; and he consequently feels surrounded by enemies, — by people
who rob him of his just right. His father, long a respectable professor, is said
to have possessed the same fiery temperament ; but his mind was regulated by a
routine of studies and duties. He probably entered the world with lower expec-
tations than those of his son, and had less opportunity of nursing his arrogance,
and his passions effervesced in common irritability, and enthusiasm for parti-
cular branches of literature. The mind of such a man as Stuart deserves a
little study, beyond the extent to which his merely literary importance would
entitle him ; and perhaps a few extracts from his letters to Mr Smellie — a man
■certainly his equal in talent, and his superior in useful information — may form
not uninteresting specimens of his arrogance. As Stuart was above troubling
Iiimself with dates, the extracts are picked miscellaneously.

" Inclosed is Murray's letter, which you will consider attentively, and send
me the result, that I may write to him. That was to have been done by Creech
and you, but has not yet been thought of by either. The business we are about
to engage in, is too serious to be trifled with.

" It appears to me perfectly obvious, that without a partner in London, we
cannot possibly be supplied with books ; and on our speedy supply of them,
the whole success of the work must depend. Murray seems fully apprized of the
pains and attention that are necessary, — has literary connexions, and is fond
of the employment, — let him, therefore, be the London proprietor.

" If I receive your letters to-morrow, they may be sent off the day after.
Shut yourself up for two hours after supper. Be explicit and full ; and in the
mean time, let me know what books are sent off, besides Harwood and the Child
of Nature ; which, by the by, might have been sent off three full weeks ago,
as they have been so long in your possession.

"As to the introductory paragraph about an extract from Kames, I wrote
you fully about it ten days ago ; and it is a pain to me to write fifty times on
the same subject. It is odd that you will rnlher give one incessant trouble,
^ Calamities of Authora, i. 51 — 7.

353 • DR. GILBERT STUART.

tlian keep a book of transactions, or lay aside the letters you receive, with copy
inclosed. The extract from Kniiies is laid aside, lo make way for extracts from

Pennant, which are more popular. Explain to , who is by this time in

town, the ridiculousness of his behariour. It would seem tliat his servants are
perfect idiots, and that he trusts to them. If I were in his place, and a ser-
vant once neglected to do what I had ordered him, he should never receive
from me a second order.

" I beg that Creech and you may have some communing about the fate of
the magazine ; as I am no longer to have any concern with it. I do not mean
to write anything for it, after the present volume is finished ; and I fancy the
next is the last number of the third volume. I have another view of disposing
of my time, and I fancy it will almost wholly be taken up ; the sooner, there-
fore, that I am informed of your resolutions, the better."*

Poor 3Ir Smellie seems to have laboured with patient, but ineflectual pei^se-
verance, to check the ardour of his restless colleague. An attack by Stuart on
the Elements of Criticism by lord Karnes, he managed, by the transmutation of
a few words, adroitly to convert into a panegyric. " On the day of publica-
tion," says the memorialist of Smellie, " Dr Stuart came to inquire at the print-
ing office, *if the was damned;'" using a gross term which he usually in-
dulged in, when he was censuring an author. Mr Smellie told him what he
had done, and put a copy of the altered review into his hands. After reading
the two or three introductory sentences, he fell down on the floor, apparently
in a fit ; but, on coming to himself again, he good naturedly said, " William,
after all, I believe you have done right."* Smellie was not, however, so for-
tunate on other occasions. The eccentricities of the classical Burnet of Mon-
boddo, afforded an opportunity which Stuart did not wish to omit. He pro-
posed to adorn the first number of the Magazine with " a print of my lord
Monboddo, in his quadruped form. I must, therefore," he continues, " most
earnestly beg that you will purchase for me a copy of it in some of the maca-
roni-print shops. It is not to be procured at Edinburgh. They are afraid to
vend it here. We are to take it on the footing of a figure of an animal, not
yet described ; and are to give a grave, yet satirical account of it, in the man-
ner of Bufibn. It would not be proper to allude to his lordship, but in a very
distant manner."® Although this laborious joke was not attempted, Stuart's
criticism on the Origin and Progress of Language, notwithstanding the mollifi-
cations of Smellie, had a sensible efi'ect on the sale of the magazine. " I am
sorry," says Mr Murray, in a letter to Smellie, " for the defeat you have met
with. Had you praised lord Monboddo, instead of damning him, it would not
have happened." It is to be f«ared the influence against the periodical was
produced, not so much by its having unduly attacked the work of a philosopher,
as from its having censured a lord of session.

During his labours for liiis magazine, Stuart did not neglect his pleasures.
He is said one night to have called at the house of his friend Smellie, in a state
of such complete jollity, that it was necessary lie should be put to bed. Awaken-
ing, and mistaking the description of place in which he was lodged, he brought
his friend in his night-gown to his bed-side, by his repeated cries of " house I
house!" and, in a tone of sympathy, said to him, " Smellie ! 1 never expected
to see you in such a house. Get on your clothes, and return immediately to
your wife and family : and be assured I shall never mention this afiair to any
one." Ihe biographer of Smellie, who has recorded the above, gives the fol-
lowing similar anecdote of Stuart and his friends. " On another ramble of

* Kerr's Lifeof Smtllie, v. i. * Kerr's Smclh'e, i. 4C9.

<* Calamities of Authors, i. 52.

DK. GILBERT STUART. 359

dissipation, Dr Stuart is Eaid to have token several days to travel on foot be-
tween the cross of Edinburgh and Musselburgh, a distance of only six miles ;
stopping at every public-house by the way, in which good ale could be found.
In this strange expedition he was accompanied part of the way by several boon
companions, who Avere fascinated beyond their ordinary excesses, by his great
powers of wit and hilarity in conversation ; but Avho gi-adually fell off at various
stages of the slow progression. The last of these companions began his re-
turn towards Edinburgh from the Magdalen bridge, within a mile of Mus-
selburgh ; but, oppressed by the fumes of the ale, which he had too long and
too liberally indulged in, he staggered, in the middle of the night, into the
ash-pit of a great steam engine, which then stood by the road side, and fell into
a profound sleep. On awakening before day, he beheld the mouth of an im-
mense fiery furnace open, several figures, all grim with soot and ashes, were
stirring the fire, ranging the bars of the enormous grate, and throwing on more
fuel ; while the terrible clanking of the chains and beams of the machinery
above, impressed his still confused imagination with an idea that he was in
hell. Horror-struck at the frightful idea, he is said to have exclaimed, * Good
God! is it come to this at last?' "^ ;

The persecution of Henry, the author of the Histoi7 of Great Britain, com-
menced by Stuart in the Edinburgh Magazine and Review, has been recorded
in the memoir of that individual. Before quitting this subject, let us give the
parting curse of the editor for his literary disappointments in Scotland. " It
is an infinite disappointment to me tliat the JMagazine does not grow in Lon-
don. I thought the soil had been richer. But it is my constant fate to be dis-
appointed in everything I attempt ; I do not think I ever had a wish that was
gratified ; and never dreaded an event that did not come. With this felicity of
fate, I wonder how the devil I could turn projector. I am now sorry that I
left London ; and the moment I have money enough to carry me back to it, t
shall set ofil / mortally detest and abhor this place, and every body in it.
Never was there a city where lliere was so much pretension to knowledge, and
that had so little of it. The solemn foppery, and the gross stupidity of tho
Scottish literati are perfectly insupportable. I shall drop my idea of a Scots
newspaper. Nothing will do in this country that has common sense in it;
only cant, hypocrisy, and superstition, will flourish here. A curse on the cowi'
try, and on all the men, women, and children of it.^^^ Accordingly, Sluart
did return to England, and along with Whitaker, the historian of Manchester,
a man of very different literary habits, but somewhat similar in temper,
for some time supported the English Review. In 1778, he published his well
known " View of Society in Europe in its progress from rudeness to refine-
ment ; or, Inquiries concerning the History of Law, Government, and
Manners." This, the most popular of his works, and for a long time a standard
book on the subject, is certainly the most carefully and considerately prepared
of all his writings. Its adoption almost to caricature, of that practice of the
great Montesquieu, which was all of him that some writers could imitate, of
drawing reflections Avhether there were, or were not facts to support them, was
fashionable, and did not perhaps disparage the work ; while the easy flow of
the sentences fascinated many readers. It cannot be said that in this book he
made any discovery, or established any fact of importance. He contented him-
self with vague speculations on the description of the manners of the Germans
by Tacitus, and new reflections upon such circumstances as had been repeated-
ly noticed before. To have made a book of permanent interest and utility

'I Kerr's Smellie, i. 50-1. a Calamities of Authors, ii. CO.

800 DR. GILBERT STUART.

from facts which every one knew, requited a higher philosophical genius than
that of Stuart, and since the more accurate researches of Hallani and I\Ieycr,
the book has fallen into disuse. In 1779, he published " Observstions
concerning the I'ublic Law, and the Constitutional History of Scotland, wiih
occasional remarks concerning English Antiquity." To a diligent man, who
would have taken the trouble of investigating facts, there Avould here have been
a very tolerable opportunity of attacking Robertson, at least on the score of
omissions, for his constitutional views are very imperfect ; Stuart, however,
had no more facts than those which his adversary provided him with,
and ho contented himself Avith deducing opposite opinions. As there was
a real want of matter sufficient to supply anything like a treatise on the sulj-
ject — a want scarcely yet filled up — this work was still more vague and senten-
tious, than that on the general history of Europe. A sentence towards the
commencement is very characteristic of the author's habits of thought. " An
idea has prevailed, that one nation of Europe adopted the feudal institutions
from another, and the similarity of fiefs in all the states where they were es-
tablished, has given an air of plausibility to this opinion. It is contradicted,
however, by the principles of natural reason, and by the nature of the feudn?
usages : and, if 1 am not mistaken, it receives no real sanction from records or
history." Thus, his own opinions on " the principles of natural reason," and
on " the nature of the feudal usages," were to him of more importance tlian
" records or history." In 1780, he published his " History of the establishment
of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland," commencing in 1517, and ending
in 15G1 ; and in 1782, *' The History of Scotland, from the Establishment of
the Reformation till the death of queen IMary." Both these works are said by
those who have perused them, to be written with the view of controverting the
opinions of Dr Robertson. In 1785, Stuart was at the head of " The Political
Herald and Review, or a survey of Domestic and Foreign Politics, and
a critical account of Political and Historical Publications." In this work we
frequently meet the flowing sentences of Stuart, especially in papers relating to
Scotland, of wliich there are several. It is a curious circumstance that,
especially in letters of animadversion addressed to individuals, he has evidently
endeavoured to ingraft the pointed sarcasm of Junius on his own slashing
weapon. One of these, " An Address to Henry Dundas, Esq., treasurer of the
Navy, on the Perth Peerage," is with some servility signed " Brutus." This
wotk extended, we believe, to only two volumes, which are now rather rare.

In London, Stuart seems to have suflered most of the miseries of unsuccessful
authorship, and to have paid dearly for talents misapplied.

In the life of Dr William Thomson, in the Annual Obituary for 1822, there
is the following highly characteristic notice of his life and habits at this period :
" Although the son of a professor, and himself a candidate for the same office,
after a regular education at the univereity of Edinburgh : yet we have heard
his friend asseii., and appeal to their common acquaintance, Dr Grant, for the
truth of the position, that, although he excelled in composition, and possessed a
variety of other knowledge, yet he was actually unacquainted with the common
divisions of science and philosophy. Under this gentleman, &s has been aU
ready observed, he (Dr Thomson) composed several papers for the Political
Herald, for which the former, as the ostensible editor, was handsomely paid ;
while the latter received but a scanty remuneration. But it*vns as a boon com-
panion that he was intimately acquainted «ith this gentleman, who was greatly
addicted to conviviality, and that too in a manner, and to an excess which (ra!i
scarcely be credited by one who is acquainted with the elegant effusions of his
polished mind. The * Peacock.' in Grays-Inn Line, was tlie scene of

[EOSJEIT ¥/\i^I^AlH]I!L!L,

?ROM ntE OWGIHAL IB POSSESSION OS TE£ TOBLXSHERS,

biiAcub tc BON (sjsoan.scaiBrmsB iihdsixB

ROBERT TANNAIIILL. 301

their festivities, and it was there that these learned Doctors, in rivulets of Bur-
ton ale, not unfrequeutly quaffed libations to their favourite deity, until tho
clock informed tliem of the approaching day."

His constitution at length broke down, and he took a sea-vovage to the place
of his nativity for the recovery of his health, but died of ' dropsy, at his
father's house, near Musselburgh, August 13, 1786, aged forty-four.

TANNAHILL, RoBEBT, a very popular writer of Scottish songs, was born in
Paisley on the 3rd of June, 1774. He was the son of James Tannahill, a weaver
of silk gauze there, who originally came from Kilmarnock, and Janet Pollock,
the daughter of a farmer near Beith. Both parents Avere much respected for
their intelligence and woi-th ; the mother, in particular, was a woman of very
general information, and exemplary conduct in life. Their family consisted of
six sons and one daughter ; Robert being the fourth child. At his birth, one
of his legs was deformed, the foot being considerably bent, and the leg smaller
than the other. During his boyhood, he was much ashamed of his crooked foot,
and took every opportunity, when alone, to try and straighten it with his hand.
In this manner, by constant application, he brought it into a pi'oper position ;
but the 1* always continued smaller than its fellow, and, to hide this deformity,
he generally wore upon it two or more pairs of stockings. The deception suc-
ceeded so well, that few of his companions knew that the one leg differed from
the other ; nor did he suffer much inconvenience from it, being able to join in
the dance, or afternoon excursion, without betraying any lameness, although in
long journeys it generally failed him. When at school, he began to distinguish
himself by writing vei-ses. These were generally upon some odd character
about the place, or upon any unusual circumstance that might occur. After
school-hours, it was customary for the boys to put riddles to each other, or, as
they called it, to " speer guesses." Robert usually gave his in rhyme; and a
schoolfellow, to whom we are indebted for some of the particulars of this me-
moir, remembers one of them to this day. It was as follows :—

My colour's brown, my shape's uncouth,
On ilka side I hae a mouth ;
And, strange to tell, I will devour
My bulk of meat in half an hour.

This riddle, on being solved, turned out to allude to the big, brown, unshapely
nose of a well-known character, who took large quantities of snufE

From the school, where lie was taught to read, write, and cast accounts,
Tannahill was sent to the loom. About this time, the weaving of cotton was
introduced into Paisley ; and the high wages realized by it, induced parents to
teach their children tiie trade at an early age, so that their apprenticeships
were generally finished by the time they reached fifteen or sixteen. The flow of
money, which persons thus so young could command by tho exercise of a flourish.
iag handicraft, led to the early marriages for which Paisley was then noted; and
no town at the time abounded in more merrymakings, or presented a more gay
and thriving community. Education was widely diffused amongst the inhabitants,
who were remarkable for the intelligent and active interest they took in public
affairs. Tho weaving population could always afford a weekly half-holiday for
cultivating their gardens or rambling into the country. Tannahill participated
in the general prosperity. Dancing parties and rural excui'sions were frequent

862 EGBERT TANNAHILL.

among the young people of both sexes, and in these he often joined. He then
formed many of those poetical attachments, which he afterwards celebrated in
song. It was in such meetings, and such excursions, that lie first saw " Jessie
the flower o' Dumblane,"^ — first heard the song of the " mavis" from the " Wood
of Craigielee," — and first breathed the fragrant " broom" of the " Braes o*
Gleniffer."

While at work, it was his custom to occupy his mind with the composition of
Tcrses. To his loom he attached a sort of wTiting-desk, by which he was en-
abled, in the midst of his laboui-s, to jot down any lines that might occur to
him, without rising from his seat In this way, some of his best songs were
composed. He h.id a correct ear for music, and played the flute well ; and
whenever a tune greatly pleased him, it was his ambition to give it nppropriata
words of his own. It has been said in most of the notices of his life,
that from liis fourteenth to his twenty-fourth year, he wholly neglected the
muse ; but this is a mistake. He seldom allowed many days to pass without
composing some song or copy of verses, which it was his custom to read to one
or two only of his intimate acquaintances. The first poem of his which ap>
peared in print, was in praise of Ferguslee wood ; a wood ^vhich was one of his
favourite liaunts, and which often in the summer evenings rang to the notes of
his flute. Tlie lines were sent to a Glasgow periodical, and obtained immediate
insertion, accompanied with a request for further favours. This wa^he more
gratifying to the young poet, as in one or two previous endeavours at publica>
tion, lie liad been unsuccessful ; and from this period he continued, for two or
three years afterwards, to send occasional contributions to the Glasgow papers.

After his apprenticeship had expired, he removed to the village of Loch-
winnoch, about nine miles from Paisley, where he continued to work at the
loom for some time. It may be worth mentioning, that Alexander Wilson, the
poet and future American ornithologist, was at this time also weaving in the
same village. He was by some years the senior of Tannahill ; and the latter,
being then unknown to fame, had not the fortitude to seek his acquaintance,
although he greatly admired the pieces by which Wilson had already distini
guished himself.

About the year 1 800, some of the figured loora-Avork, for which Paisley was
famed, was beginning to be manufactured in England, and it was reported
that great wages were to be had there for weaving iL Tempted by the report,
or more probably by a desire of seeing the country, Tannahill left Paisley for
England, accompanied by a younger brother. They went away without inform-
ing their parents, who, they rightly supposed, would have put a stop to the
journey, as their circumstances in Paisley were too comfortable to justify a
change. They were both at this time in the strength and buoyancy of youth ;
they were both also of industrious habits, of excellent dispositions, and of modest
manners. They travelled mostly on foot, often stepping out of the way to view
the curiosities of the country, until they reached Preston, which they had
marked as the limit of their journey. They found, however, that nothing but
plain work was woven there ; and while Robert went forward to Bolton, to in-
quire after figured work, his brother took lodgings at Preston, in the house of
an old woman of the Roman catholic persuasion. At Bolton, Robert found

' It disturbs the fancy to know, that, although Tannahill wrote all his love-songs under the
inspiration of some particular object, in this case the girl was neither a Jessie, nor was she
from Dumblane. The words were originally written to supplant the old doggerel song,
" Bob o' Dumblane,"— hence the title. Tannahill never was in Dumblane, — never, indeed,
beyond the Forth, — and knew no person belonging to Dumblane; yet the guards of
coaches, and others, hesitate not to point out the very house in Dumblane in which Jessie
was bom.

ROBERT TANNAIIILL. 363

plenty of employment of the desired description : but his brother, notwith-
standing the superior wages to be made there, remained at Preston all the time
he resided in England, being constrained to do so by the kindness of his old
landlady, in whom he found a second mother. The two brothers, though thus
separated, did not forget each other. Being much attached, they frequently
met half-way between Preston and Bolton, and spent a few hours together :
they also frequently wrote home to their parents an account of their welfare.
Their stay in England lasted two years, and was only cut short by receiving
intelligence of the fatal illness of their father. They hurried home without
delay, and arrived in time to receive his dying blessing. After that event, they
did not choose to return to England. The younger brother married, while
Robert took up his abode Avith his mother, and till his death continued to be a
comfort to her. His filial affections were at all times strong, and through life
he honourably discharged the duties of an affectionate son.

It may be proper here to advert to a very erroneous impression which prevails
respecting his worldly circumstances. In most of the notices taken of him, he
is represented as leading a life of privation, and as fulfilling all that is sup-
posed to be connected with the poet's lot in regard to penury. But so far from
this being the case, his means were always above his wants. The house in
which his mother resided was her own, and she was not only herself comfortably
situated, but was enabled, by indulging in little charities, to add somewhat to
the comforts of others. Such, also, was the state of trade at the time, that
Robert could command good wages without extreme labour, and though more
than one respectable situation, as foreman or overseer, was offei'ed him, he
chose to continue at the loom, because, by doing so, his time was more at his
own disposal, and his personal independence greatef. He had no wish to ac-
cumulate money ; but long before his death, he lodged twenty pounds in the
bank, with the express intention that it should go to defray the expense of his
funeral, and this sum was found untouched when his melancholy decease took
place, a circumstance >vhich of itself proves the unfounded nature of the reports
regarding his poverty and destitution.

Soon after his return from England, he had the good fortune to become ac-
quainted with the late Mr R. A. Smith, a gentleman of distinguished talent as a
composer, Avho set to music and arranged some of his finest songs. He also
formed an intimacy with several other individuals possessed of good judgment
in musical matters, such as, BIr James Barr of Kilbarchan (composer of the
tune of ' Craigielee,') Mr Andrew Blaikie, engraver. Paisley, and Mr James
Clark, master of the Argyle Band. These gentlemen, and several others, were
of service to him in improving his taste for composition, and in encouraging
him in his love of song. His own manners were so retiring, and his reliance
on himself so small, that, without the assurances of friendship, he probably would
never have been induced to give to the world many of those pieces which have
made his name known.

The first edition of his " Poems and Songs" appeared in the year 1807. It
was very favourably received by the public, the previous popularity of several
of his songs tending to make it sought after. But the author speedily came to
regret that he had so prematurely given it to the world. Errors and faults he
now detected in it, Avhich had before escaped him, and he began assiduously to
correct and re-Avrite all his pieces, with a view to a second edition. He con-
tinued also to add to the number of his songs, and in these reached a high de-
gree of excellence. Some of them, indeed, may be pronounced to be the very
perfection of song- writing, so far as that consists in the simple and natural ex-
pression of feelings common to all. The extensive popularity which they at-

364 KOBERT TANNAHILL.

taincd indicates how universally ^vere felt and understood the sentiments which
they recorded. It is gratifying to know, that the poet \vas in some measure a
witness of his own success, and lived to hear his songs sung with approbation
both in hall and cottage. In a solitary Malk, on one occasion, his musings
were interrupted by the voice of a country girl in an adjoining field, who ^\aa
singing by herself a song of his own —

" We'll meet beside the dusky glen, on jon buriisidc •," —

and he used to say, that he was more pleased at this evidence of his popularity
than at any tribute wliich had ever been paid him.

But his celebrity as a song writer brought its annoyances. Visitors of every
description broke in upon his daily labours ; an adjournment to the tavern was
often the result, and acquaintanceships Avere formed too frequently over the
bowi.^ Tannahill at no time was addicted to liquor, but the facility of his
nature prevented him from resisting the intrusions of idle and curious people,
and the very character of the pieces for which he was distinguished led to con-
vivialities, for how could the merits of a song be tested without the flowing glass ?
This was the more to be pitied, as the slightest irregularity injured him. His
constitution was never strong. His father, his sister, and three brothers had all
died of consumption, and he himself was often troubled with a pain in the chest,
which was increased by working too hard. For some time before his lamenta-
ble end, he was observed frequently to fall into a deep melancholy. His tem-
per became irritable, he was easily agitated, and prone to imagine that his best
friends were disposed to injure him. His eyes were observed to sink, his
countenance got pale, and his body emaciated. His whole appearance, in short,
indicated a breaking up of his mental and bodily powers. The second edition
of his Poems, which he had prepared for the press, was offered about this time
to Mr Constable of Edinburgh for a very small sum, but was unfortunately de-
clined. This tended still farther to depress him, and he came to the resolution
of destroying everything which he had written. All his songs, to the amount
of one hundred, many of which had never been printed, and of those printed
all had been greatly corrected and amended, he put into the fire ; and
so anxious was he that no scrap of his should be preserved, he requested his
acquaintances to return any manuscript which they had ever got from him. Of
the immediate circumstances connected with his death, we have received the
following account The day previous to that event, he went to Glasgow, and
displayed there such unequivocal proofs of mental derangement, that one of his
friends, upon whom he called, felt it necessary to convoy him back all the way
to Paisley, and to apprize his relations of the state of his mind. Alarmed at
the intelligence, his brothers, who were married, and resided at different parts
of the town, hastened to their mothers house, where they found that he had
gone to bed, and as it was now late, and he was apparently asleep, they did not
choose to disturb him, hoping that by the morning he would be better. About
an hour after leaving the house, one of the brothers had occasion to pass the
door, and was surprised to find the gate that led to it open. On further inves-
tigation, it was found that Kobert had risen from bed, and stolen out, shortly
after their departure. Search was now made in every direction, and by the

*Au exception must here be made in fiiTour of Mr James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd,
who, much to his own credit, and the credit of Tannahill, made a pilgrimage to Paisley,
with the express purpose of seeing him. They spent one happy night together, and, next
morning, Tannahill convoyed him half-way on the road to Glasgow. On parting, Tanna-
hill, wiQi tears in his ejes, said, " Farewell ! we shall never meet again! Farewell I I shall
never sec jou mere !" a prediction which was too truly verified.

JAMES TAYLOR. 3G5

grey of the morning, the worst fears of the poet's friends were realized, by the
discovery of his coat lying at the side of a pool in the vicinity of Paisley,
which pointed out where his body was to be found. This melancholy event hap-
pened on the 17th of May, 1810, when he had only reached his thirty-sixth year.

Tannahill's appearance was not indicative of superior endowment. He was
email in stature, and in manners diffident almost to bashfulness. In mixed
company he seldom joined in general conversation, yet from the interest ho
manifested in all that was said, his silence was never offensive. Among intimate
friends he was open and communicative, and often expressed himself with
felicity. His sympathies invariably went with the poor and unfortunate, and per-
haps it was the result of his education and position in societyi that he was
jealous of the attentions of the wealthy, and disposed rather to avoid than to
court their company. In liis disposition he was tender and humane, and ex-
tremely attached to his home, his kindred, and hLs friends. His life was simple
and unvaried in its details, but even the uneventful chai'acter of his existence
renders more striking and more affecting its tragic close. In 1838 an enlarged
edition of his poems and songs, with memoirs of the author and of his friend,
Robert Archibald Smith, by Mr Philip A. Ramsay, was published in Glasgow.

TAYLOR, James, whose name must ever bear a conspicuous and honourable
place in the history of the invention of steam navigation, was born. May 3,
1758, at the village of Leadhills, in Lanarkshire, and received the rudiments of
his education at the academy of Closeburn. After fitting himself to enter the
medical profession, he was engaged, in the year 1785, by Mr Patrick Miller
of Dalswinton, to superintend the education of the two sons of that gentleman,
who were in attendance at the university of Edinburgh. It was also the aim
of Mr Miller, that Mr Taylor, whose scientific acquirements had been warmly
spoken of by the common friend who recommended him to the situation, should
assist him in those mechanical pursuits with which for some years he had been
in the habit of amusing his leisure hours. In the year just mentioned, Mr Miller
was engaged in a series of operations for applying paddle-wheels to vessels,
rather witli a view to extricating them from perilous situations against the im-
pulse of wind and tide, than with any expectation that such machinery, driven,
as he contemplated it to be, by human power alone, could be of use in ordinary
navigation. Mr Taylor entered at once into Mr Miller's views, and aided in the
preparation of a double vessel, of sixty feet in length, with intermediate paddles,
di-iven by a capstan, which Mr Miller tried in the Firth of Forth, in spring, 1787,
against a custom-house wherry, which it easily distanced. On this occasion Jlr
Taylor became convinced of the utility of the paddles ; but, observing that the
men were much exhausted by their labour, he was equally convinced that a
superior mechanical pgwer was wanting, in order to realize the full value of the
invention. Having communicated his thoughts to Mr Miller, he received from
that gentleman the following answer : — " I am of the same opinion, and that
power is just what I am in search of. My object is to add mechanical aid to the
natural power of the wind, to enable vessels to avoid and to extricate themselves
from dangerous situations, which they cannot do on their present construction.'
Invited to co-operate in this object, Mr Taylor applied himself to the considera-
tion of all the mechanical powers already in common use, but without being able
to convince himself of the applicability of any of them. At length the steam-
engine presented itself to him; and though he might be naturally supposed to
have been himself startled at the boldness of such a thought, he soon convinced
himself of its being practicable. On suggesting it to Mr Miller, he found he had
excited more astonishment at the novelty, than respect for the feasibility of the
Bcheme. Mr Miller aUowed the sufficiency of the power; but was disposed to

366 JAMES TAYLOR.

deny that it could be applied, more particularly in those critical circumstances
to obviate wliich was the chief aim of his own project. " In such cases," said
he, " as that disastrous event which happened lately, of the wreck of a whole
fleet upon a lee shore, off the coast of Spain, every fire on board must be ex-
tinguished, {^nd of course such an engine could be of no use." Mr Taylor was
not daunted by these objections, but, on the contrary, the more he thought of
the project, the more convinced he became of its practicability. He repre-
sented to Mr Miller, that, if not applicable to purposes of general navigation,
it might at least prove useful on canals and estuaries. After many conversa-
tions, the latter gentleman at length conceded so far to Mr Taylor's suggestion,
as to request him to niake drawings, for the purpose of showing how the engine
could be connected with the paddle-wheels. JMr Taylor did so, and ?dr Miller,
being still farther satisfied, though as yet, it appears, unconvinced, agreed to be
at the expense of an experiment, provided it should not amount to a large sum,
and that 3Ir Taylor should superintend the operations, as he candidly confessed
he was a stranger to the use of steam. The two projectors were then at
Dalswinton ; but it was arranged that, when they should return to Edinburgh
in the early part of winter, an engine should be constructed for the purpose.
Part of the summer was employed by IMr Miller in drawing up a narrative of
his experiments upon shipping, with a view to its being printed and circulated.
This he submitted to Mr Taylor for the benefit of his correction ; and the latter
gentleman, observing that no mention had been made of the application of the
steam engine, " I have not done that inadvertently," answered Mr Miller, " but
from a wish not to pledge myself to the public for a thing I may never per-
form : you know my intentions on that subject are as yet conditional." Mr Taylor
replied, that he could hardly look upon them in that light, as he was satisfied
that any expense which could attach to so small a matter would not prevent him
(Mr Miller) from making the experiment ; that he considered the mention of
the steam engine as of importance ; and that it could be alluded to in such a
manner as to pledge him to nothing. Mr Miller Avas convinced, and introduced
an allusion to steam, as an agent he might perhaps employ for the propulsion of
his vessels. Copies of the paper thus improved were transmitted to the royal
family, the ministers, many of the leading members of both houses of parlia-
ment, and to all the maritime powers in Europe, besides the president of the
United States of America.

In November, 1787, Mr Miller removed as usual to the capital, and Mr
Taylor, having been empowered by his employer to proceed about the con-
struction of an engine, recommended to Mr Miller's notice a young man named
Symington, who had attempted some alterations upon the steam engine, and
was now residing in Edinburgh for his improvemei^; in mechanics. It
was agreed that Symington should form an engine on his own plan, and that
the experiment should be made in the ensuing summer upon the lake of
Dalswinton. The construction of the engine occupied several months, and was
not completed at the conclusion of that session of the university ; so that Mr
Taylor was detained in town, to superintend the operations, for some time after
his pupils had returned with their father to the country. When all was ready,
he proceeded with Symington to Dalswinton, where, on the I4th of October,
1788, the experiment was made in the presence of 3Ir Miller and a con-
siderable concoui-se of spectators. The boat was a double one, and the engine,
which iiad a four inch cylinder, was placed in a frame upon the deck. The
experiment was successful beyond the most sanguine wishes of any of the parties
concerned. The vessel moved at the rate of five miles an hour, and neither
was any awkwardness found in the connexion of the engine with the wheels,

JAMES TAYLOK. 367

nor hazard apprehended in any considerable degree from the introduction of
a farnace into so inflammable a fabric. The experiment was repeated sereral
times during the eoui'se of the few ensuing days, and always with perfect suc-
cess, insomuch that the invention became a subject of great local notoriety.
An account of the experiments, di-awn up by Mr Taylor, was inserted in the
Dumfries Journal newspaper, and the event was also noticed in the Scots Maga-
zine of the ensuing month.

Mr Miller now formed the design of covering his own and Mr Taylor's joint
invention by a patent; but, in the first place, it was judged expedient that ex-
periments should be made with a vessel and engine more nearly approaching
the common size. For this purpose Mr Taylor went to the Carron foundry,
with his engineer, Symington, and there, in the summer of 1789, fitted up a
vessel of considerable dimensions, with an engine, of which the cylinder measured
eighteen inches in diameter. In the month of November this was placed on
the Forth and Clyde canal, in the presence of the Carron Committee of Manage-
ment, and of the parties chiefly interested. The vessel moved along very
smootlily for a space beyond Lock Sixteen, when, on giving the engine full play,
the flat boards of the paddles, which had been weakly constructed, began to
give way, which put an end to the experiment. The paddles having been re-
constructed on a stronger principle, another experiment was made on the 26th
of December, when the vessel made easy and uninteiTupted progress, at the rate
of seven miles an hour. Except in speed, the performances on these occasions
were as perfect as any which have -since been accomplished by steam- vessels.
The project was now conceived, by all parties, to have gone through a sufficient
probation, so far as the objects of inland navigation were concerned; and in an
account of the latter experiments, drawn up by Mr (afterwards lord) Cullen,
and published in the Edinburgh newspapers, February 1790, this view is firmly
taken.

On reviewing the expenses of these proceedings, Mr Miller found considerable
cause of chagrin in their amount, which, chiefly in consequence, as he said, of
the extravagance of the engineer, greatly exceeded what he had been led to
expect. Subsequently he devoted his attention and means to agricultural im-
provements ; and Mr Taylor could never prevail on him to resume their project.
The cultivation of fiorine grass at last took such hold of the mind of Mr Miller,
that, in the belief of Mr Taylor, no other object on earth could have withdrawn
liim from it. Mr Fergusson, younger of Craigdarroch, in 1790, endeavoured,
but in vain, to engage the interest of the court of Vienna in the new invention.

The indiiference of Mr Miller, the direction of public attention to the war
which soon after commenced, and the unfavourable situation of Mr Taylor, in
an inland part of the country, and unable of himself to do anything, conspired
to throw the project for several years into abeyance. At length, in 1801, Mr
Symington, who had commenced business at Falkh-k, resolved to prosecute a
design, in the origination of which he had borne an active and serviceable,
though subordinate part. He wished lord Dundas to employ him to fit up a
small experimental steam-vessel, which was tried on the Forth and Clyde canal,
but, causing much disintegration of the banks, was forbidden by the Company
to be ever set in motion again. This vessel was laid up at Lock Sixteen, where
it remained for a number of years. Symington was afterwards in terms with
the duke of Bridgewater for introducing steam navigation on his grace's canal,
and Messrs Miller and Taylor were about to take measures to protect their joint
invention from being appropriated by this individual, when tlie death of the
duke, and the abandonment of the scheme, saved them that trouble.

Some time after, Mr Fulton, from the United States of America, accompanied

3G8

THOMAS TELFORD.

by Mr Henry Bell of Glasgow, when on a risit to the Carron works, waited
on Mr Symington, and inspected the boat which he had iitted up for the
Forth and Clyde canal. The consequence was, that, in 1 807, the former gen-
tleman launched, a steam vessel on the Hudson, and, in 1812, Mr Bell another
upon Clyde, being respectively the first vessels of the kind used for the service
of the public in the new and old hemispheres. Thus, after all the primary dif-
ficulties of the invention had been overcome, — when the bark was ready, as it
were, to start from the shore, and waited only for the master to give the word
for that purpose, — did two individuals, altogether alien to the project, come in
and appropriate the honour of launching it into the open sea. Unquestionably,
the merit of these individuals in overcoming many practical difiiculties, is very
considerable ; yet it is clear that they were indebted for the idea to the
previous inventions and operations of Jlessrs IMiller and Taylor, and that if the
latter gentlemen had, in the one instance, been inclined, and in the other able.
to carry their project into effect at the pi'oper time, they would not have been
anticipated in this part of the honour, any more than in the suggestion of the
paddles and the engine.

It appears that Mr Taylor by no means sat tamely by, while Fulton and
Bell were reaping the credit due to their labours. Mr Taylor repeatedly urged
Mr Bliller to renewed exertions, though always without success; kept his
claims as well as he could before the public eye; and, on finding that JMr
Symington had obtained a patent, forced him into an agreement to share the
profits, none of which, however, were ever realized. When the vast impor-
tance of steam navigation had become fully established, the friends of Mr
Tayloi', who was not in prosperous circumstances, urged upon hint the
propriety of laying his claims before the government, and soliciting a reward
suitable to the magnitude and importance of the discovery. At last, in 1824<,
he was induced to draw up a statement of his concern in the invention of steam
navigation, which he printed and addressed to Sir Henry Parnell, chairman of
a select committee of the House of Commons, upon steam boats. He hoped
that this narrative might be the means of obtaining from the government some
remuneration for the incalculable services he had performed to mankind ; but
it had no such effect. Bowed down by infirmities, and the fruits of a long lite
of disappointments, this ingenious man died on the I8th of September, 1825,
in the sixty-eighth year of his age.

TELFOllD, Thomas, an eminent engineer and constructor of public works,
was born about the year 1755, in the parish of Westerkirk in Dumfriesshire.
His outset in life was strikingly humble in comparison with its close. He
began the world as a working stone-mason in his native parish, and for a long
tiuie was only remarkable for the neatness with which he cut the letters upon
those frail sepulchral memorials which " teach the rustic moralist to die." His
occupation fortunately aflbrded a greater number of leisure hours than what are
usually allowed by such laborious employments, and these young Telford turned
to the utmost advantage in his power. Having previously acquired the elements
of learning, he spent all his spare time in poring over such volumes as. fell
witiiin his read), with no better light in general than what was aflbrded by the
cottage fire. Under these circumstances the powers of his mind took a
direction not unconnnon among rustic youths ; he became a noted rhmyster in
the homely style of Ramsay and Fergusson, and, while still a very young man,
contributed verses to Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine, under the unpretending
signature of " liskdale Tarn." In one of these compositions, which was ad-
dressed to Burns, he sketched his own character, and hinted his own ultimate
fate—

THOMAS TELFORD. SG9

Nor pass the tcntie curious lad,
AV'ho o'er the ingle hangs his head,
And begs of neighbours books to rej.d ;

For hence arise.
Thy country's sons, who far are spread,

Baith bold and wise.

Tliough Mr Telford afterwards abandoned the thriftless trade of rersifying he
is said to have retained through life a strong " frater-feeling " for the corps
which he showed in a particular manner on the death of Burns, in exertions
for the benefit of his family. Having proceeded to London in quest of work
he had the good fortune to be employed under Sir William Chambers in thg
building of Somerset house. Here his merit was soon discovered by tlie illus-
trious architect, and he experienced promotion accordingly. We are unable to
detail the steps by which he subsequently placed himself at the head of (he
profession of engineering ; but it is allowed on all hands that his elevation was
owing solely to his consummate ability and persevering industry, unless we are
to alloiv a share in the process to the singular candour and integrity which
marked every step in his career. His works are so numerous all over the
island, that there is hardly a county irt England, Wales, or Scotland, in which
ihey may not be pointed out. The 3Ienai and Conway bridges, the Caledonian
canal, the St Katharine's docks, tlie Holyhead roads and bridges, tlie Highland
roads and bridges, the Chirke and Pontcysulte aqueducts, the canals in Salop,
and great works in that county, of which he was surveyor for more than half a
century, are some of the traits of his genius which occur to us, and which will
immortalize tlie name of Thomas Telford.

Tlie IMenai bridge will probably be regarded by the public as the most im-
perishable monument of IMr Telford's fame. This bridge over the Bangor
ferry, connecting the. counties of Caernarvon and Anglesea, partly of stone and
partly of iron, on the suspension principle, consists of seven stone arches, ex-
ceeding in magnitude every work of the kind in the world. They connect the
land with the two main piers, which rise fifty-three feet above the level of the
road, over the top of which the chains are suspended, each chain being 1714
feet from the fastenings in the rock. The first three-masted vessel passed
under the bridge in I82G. Her topmasts were nearly as high as a frigate, but
they cleared twelve feet and a half below the centre of the roadway. The sus-
pending power of the chains was calculated at 2016 tons. The total weight of
each chain, 121 tons.

The Caledonian canal is another of Mr Telford's splendid works, in con-
structing every part of which, though prodigious difficulties were to be sur-
mounted, he was successful. But even this great work does not redound so
much to his credit as the roads throughout the same district. That from Inver-
ness to the county of Sutherland, and through Caithness, made not only, so far
as i-espects its construction, but its direction, under Mr Telford's orders, is supe-
rior in point of line and smoothness, to any part of the road of equal conti-
nuous length between London and Inverness. This is a remarkable fact, which,
from the great difficulties he had to overcome in passing through a rugged, hilly,
and mountainous district, incontrovertibly establishes his great skill in tho
engineering department, as well as in the construction of great public communi-
cations.

Mr Telford was not more remarkable for his great professional abiliiies than
for Lis sterling worth in private life. His easiness of access, and the playful-
ness of his disposition, even to the close of life, endeared him to a numerous
circle of friends, including all the most distinguished men of his time. For

IT. ° 3 A

370 ANDREW THOJISON, D.D.

some years before bis deatb, be bad witbdrawn bimself iu a great measure from
professional employment, and amused bis leisure by writing a detailed account of
the principal works be bad planned, and lived to see executed. He died Sep-
tember 9, 1834, in bis seventy-ninth year, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

THOMSON, Andrew, D. D., an eminent modern divine, and leader in the
national church courts, was born at Sanquhar, in Dunifries-shire, July 11, 1779.
His father, Dr John Thomson, was originally minister of Sanquhar, afterwards
of Markinch in Fife, and lastly one of the ministers of Edinburgh. In early
•life, the subject of this memoir exhibited no indications of those singular talents
which afterwards distinguished him ; and he was several years at college before
he discovered any predilection for that pi'ofession of which be was destined to
become so great an ornament, or felt the influence of that spirit which is so
necessary for its effectual exercise. The pi'ecise period nlien he first turned
his attention to the ministry, is not known ; but, in 1802, he was licensed to
l)reach the gospel by the presbytery of Kelso ; and, on the 1 1th of March of
the same year, was ordained minister of the parish of Sprouston : shortly after
Avhich he married, and, by a happy union, added greatly to his felicity.

Though Dr Thomson's earlier yeai's presented no indications of those power-
ful talents which raised him, in more advanced life, to a high place amongst
tlie eminent men of his country and time, he had not long ascended the pulpit
before these talents became conspicuous. During bis ministry at Sprouston, he
ivas distinguished by that unbending integrity of character, that zeal in the
sacred cause to which he had devoted his life, and that vigorous eloquence
which procured him so high a reputation in the elevated sphere in which he
was afterwards placed. Dr Thomson now, also, began to take an active part
in tlie business of the church courts, of which he was a member ; and further
aided the interests of religion, by publishing a catechism on the Lord's Supper,
which subsequently passed through many editions, and has proved eminently
beneficial and useful.

In 1808, Dr Thomson was removed to the East church of Perth, Avhere he
laboured, assiduously and successfully, till the spring of 1810, when he received
a presentation from the magistrates and council of Edinburgh to the New Grey
Friars' church in that city. He was now in a situation, where his singular ta-
lents could be fully appreciated, and where they had a field wide enough for
their exercise: of these advantages he did not fail to avail himself. He applied
himself to the disdiarge of his sacred duties with redoubled ardour, and with a
vigour and activity both of body and mind, that at once procured him an extraor-
dinary share of public admiration. His powerful eloquence and fearless charac-
ter, pointed him out as no ordinary man, and made an impression on the public
mind, which has but few parallels in the histoi-y of ministerial labours. Inde-
fatigable and zealous, in a singular degree, he left no hour unemployed, and no
means untried, to forward the good Avork in which he was engaged. He la-
boured incessantly ; and such was the vigour and grasp of his comprehensive
mind, and the versatility, as well as brilliancy of his talents, that he could, at
one and the same time, bring the most various and wholly different means, to
bear upon the one great end which he had in view, the spiritual and temporal
happiness of mankind. To the discussion of every variety of subject within tlie
sphere of his calling, he came alike prepared, and on each shed the strong light
of his powerful intellect, exciting the admiration of all who beard him, by bis
manly eloquence, and convincing most, it is to le hoped, by the force of his
rcisoning.

Among the other means to which Dr Thomson had recourse to promote the
interests of religion, was the publication of a periodical work, entitled " The

fAjTli.. HivT"^

E\/o APHP^EW TrGilOliKJS©!?^

Wirn.-T;:!-* r,v r-

ANDREW THOMSON, D.D. 371

Christian Instructor." This work he commenced, with the assistance of several
of his clerical brethren, a few months after his settlement in Edinburgh ; and
for many years he discharged the duties of its editor, besides contributing largely
to the work itself. It is almost unnecessary to add, after what has been said of
Dr Thomson, that the " Christian Instructor" is a Avork of singular merit, and,
altogether, perhaps, one of the ablest of the kind which the cause of Christianity
has produced.

Dr Thomson's literary labours were not, however, confined at this period to
the " Christian Instructor." He contributed, besides, many valuable articles to
the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia ; all of which are distinguished by that nervous
style and accuracy of conception, which so peculiarly belonged to their author.
The extraordinary merits of Ur Thomson had early forced themselves on the
public notice ; but they were now become so obvious and incontestable, as to
engross a very large share of the public attention, and to form a subject of its
consideration. The result of this general feeling was, his appointment to St
George's church, which took place on the 16th of June, 1814; one of the most
important and dignified charges in the church of Scotland. In this conspicuous
situation, he rapidly extended his reputation, and increased the number of his
friends; and, ultimately, acquired an influence over his congregation, composed
of the most influential pei'sons in the metropolis, which few pi-eachera have ever
enjoyed. Previously to his appointment to St George's, Dr Thomson had not
been in the habit of writing out his discourses. He trusted to the natural
promptness with which his ideas presented and arranged themselves, and to the
remarkable fluency of expression with which he was gifted ; and these did not
fail him: but he now thought it advisable, as he was to preach to a more refined
class of persons, to secure more correctness for his discourses, by committing
them to paper, before delivering them from the pulpit. And in the pursuance
of this resolution, he weekly composed and wrote two sermons, and this in the
midst of other avocations, which alone would have occupied all the time of any
man of less bodily and mental activity than he was possessed of.

To the ordinary duties of the Sunday, Dr Thomson added the practice of
catechising the young persons of his congregation, devoting to this exercise the
interval between the forenoon and afternoon services. He also held week-day
meetings in the church, for the purpose of instructing in the principles of re-
ligion, as they are taught in the Shorter Catechism ; and, to complete the sys-
tem of moral and religious culture, which his unwearying zeal had planned out,
he instituted a week-day school, for the benefit of those of his young parishionei-s
whose circumstances either prevented their attending church, or rendered a
greater extent of tuition necessary than he could aftbrd to bestow on Sunday.
But he did still more than merely institute this little seminary. He compiled
suitable books for the difl^erent classes it comprised, and crowned the good
work, by acting himself as their teacher, — as the teacher of the poorest and
humblest of his flock.

With all this devotion to the higher and more important duties of his gacred
office, Dr Thomson di-d not neglect those of a minor character. Amongst
these, church music had an especial share of his attention. Together with his
other rare endowments, he possessed an exquisite ear and taste for music, and
not only introduced an improved psalmody into the Scottish church, but added
to it several eminently beautiful compositions of his own. Admirable as Dr
Thomson was in all his relations to his flock, he was in none more so, than in
that of the personal friend, the soother of affliction, and the alleviator of domes-
tic misery. His private labours of this kind were very great, and eminently
successful. His presence never failed to excite a new feeling of animation,

.)

372 ANDREW THOMSON, D.D.

nor his words to inspire hope. To the sick and the bei'caved his visits were
peculiarly acceptable; for his manner and his language were kind, and soothing,
and conciliating, in a remarkable degree: and, although these could not always
lessen pain, they never missed of reconciling the sufferer to that wliich was
inevitable.

Besides thus faithfully and laboriously discharging the various important duties
of his office, Dr Tlionison took an active part in all the church judicatories of
which he was a member. In these, his singular talents and high character, as
as might be expected, always secured for him the first place, and at length ac-
quired for him the distinction, conceded silently but spontaneously, of being con-
sidered the leader of the evangelical party in the church to which he had attached
himself. Amongst the other characteristics of that party, was a strong feeling
of hostility to the system of patronage ; and to this feeling Dr Thomson gave
utterance in the General Assembly, on several occasions, in a strain of eloquence,
and with a power of reasoning, that will not soon be forgotten.

Although a zealous member of the church of Scotland, and strongly attached
to her institutions, Dr Thomson's liberal and enlightened mind kept him entirely
aloof from anything approaching to bigotry. With dissenters of all descriptions
he maintained a friendly understanding. He made every allowance for differ-
ence of opinion on points of comparatively inferior importance; and, when he was
satisfied that a genumo spirit of Christianity existed, never allowed such differ-
ence of opinion to disturb that harmony which he wisely and benevolently con-
ceived ought to exist between those whOj after all; laboured in the same vine-
yard, and to obtain the same end. '

Ever ready to lend his powerful aid to all rational schemes for promoting
the interests of religion and extending its sacred influence, he eagerly enrolled
himself amongst the supported of the British and Foreign Bible Society ; and
while that society adiiered to the principles uhich were laid down at its institution,
he continued to take a warm interest in its affairs, and laboured with tongue
and pen to secure success to its efforts. On the departure, however, of this
society from one of the leading conditions by which it was understood it should
be regulated, namely, that the copies of the Bible which it issued, should be
purely scriptural, and unaccompanied by note or comment of any kind ; Dr
Thomson felt himself called upon, as a minister of the gospel, not only to with-
draw his support from it, but to oppose, by every means in his power, the con-
tinuance of a system so injurious to the best interests of religion. Into the
Avell known controversy which ensued, and which has been called " the Apo-
crypha Controversy," he entered with all his characteristic zenl ; and so effec-
tually employed his powerful talents during its progress, that his enemies,
whatever cause they may have found for rejoicing in the issue, could find but
little in the circumstance of liaving provoked his resentment

The last great public effort of Dr Thomson was in behalf of the slaves in our
West India colonies; and, in the prosecution of this humane and philanthropic
work, he, on several occasions, m.nde displays of oratory, which have been
seldom equalled, and still seldomer surpassed. He denuinded immediate eman-
cipation, and supported this demand with an eloquence and power of reasoning,
which were altogether overpowering.

These mighty labours, and unceasing exertions in the causes of religion and
philanthropy, were destined, however, to come to a premature termination.
Dr Thomson's constitution was naturally strong, and in person he was robust
and athletic ; but unremitting study, and incessant toil of both body and mind,
had their usual effects. His health was impaired ; and for some time be-
fore his death, a secret sensation gave him warning that that event would take

JAMES THOMSON. 373

place soon, and suddenly. The fulfilment of this melancholy anticipation
took place on the 9lh of Febiuaiy, 1831. On that day, he appeared in his
usual health, and went through the ordinary routine of business with his accus-
tomed activity and energy, taking the same interest in everything that came
under his consideration, as he had been accustomed to do ; and altogether pre-
senting nothing, in either manner or appearance, to indicate the near approach
of that catastrophe which was to deprive religion and morality of one of their
ablest supports, and society of one of its brightest ornaments. Having com-
pleted the out-door business of the day, Dr Thomson returned home about five
o'clock in the afternoon, and while standing on the threshold of his own door,
just previous to his er.tering the house, he suddenly fell down, and expired
Avithout a struggle or a groan, liis remains were interred in St Cuthbert's
church-yard ; and if anything were wanting to impress those who have only
read or heard of him, with a full conception of the estimation in which he was
held by all ranks and denominations in the metropolis, it Avould be found in a
description of his funeral, — the most numerously attended, perhaps, that had
ever been witnessed in the Scottish capital. Dr Thomson's literary labours ex-
hibit a long array of religious Avorks of various descriptions, including lectures,
sermons, and addresses. To these there is to be added, a volume of posthu-
mous *' Sermons and Sacramental Exhortations," published in Edinburgh in the
same year in which he died ; with a memoir prefixed.

TH03IS0N, James, a celebrated poet, was born, September 11, 1700, at
Ednara, near Kelso, of which parish his father was minister. Beatrix Trotter,
the mother of the poet, was daughter and co-heiress of a small portion of land
at Foggo in Berwickshire, and is described as having been a woman of " a sin-
gular lervour of imagination," at the same time that she shone in the domestic
and social virtues. The difficulty with which his father supported his family,
having nine children, occasioned his removal, in the early childhood of the
poet, to the parish of Southdean, in the presbytery of Jedburgh, where
the stipend, though not large, was somewhat better than that which he had en-
joyed at Ednam. The change was from a low and beautifully ornamented part
of the country, and the close neighbourhood of a considerable market town, to
an elevated pastoral district, enlivened only by the slender waters of the Jed,
and frequented by few except the lonely angler. In the church-yard of South-
dean, may yet be seen the humble monument of the father of the poet, with
the inscription almost obliterated. The manse in which that individual reared
his large family, of whom one was to become so illustrious, was ;vhat would now
be described as a small thatched cottage.' The poet received the rudiments of
his education at the school of Jedburgh, and was not distinguished among his
youthful companions, by remarkable superiority of parts. He was still, however,
very young, when his talents for writing verses attracted the attention of several
respectable individuals in that part of the country. Mr Riccarton, minister of
the neighbouring parish of Hobkirk, and a man of taste and learning, observed
and encouraged tiiis talent ; and young Thomson was occasionally invited, on
account of his promising abilities, to spend his vacations at the country seats of
Sir William Bennet of Ghesters, Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, and lord Cranstoun.
He was so little pleased, however, with the poetry he produced at this early
period, that on every new-year's day he burnt all that he had composed during
li»e foregoing year. At a pi-oper age he was sent to the university of Edin-
burgh. According to tradition, a servant of his father conducted hinj to the
capital, seated behind himself on horseback ; but such was his reluctance to for-
sake the country, that he had no sooner been left to himself in the city, than
» Information by Mr Richmond, the present minister of Southdean.

574 JAMES THOMSON.

he set out on foot for home, and was back at his father's manse (between fifty
and sixty miles distant) as soon as the man and the liorse. When Iiis parents
remonstrated with Iiini respecting this disobedient conduct, he passionately ob-
served that " he could study as well on the hauglis of Sou'den [so Southdean is
commonly pronounced] as in Edinburgh."^ He was, nevertheless, prevailed
upon to commence a course of study in Edinburgh.

In the second year of his attendance at the university, his studies were
interrupted by the sudden deatli of his father. He was summoned home to re-
ceive his parent's dying benediction, but came too late. This circumstance
contributed to increase his sorrow, and his filial piety was expressed on this
mournful occasion in instances of conduct which his surviving relations afterwards
delighted to recollect.

His mother now rej»lized as much as she could from her own little inheri-
tance, and removed with her family to Edinbui-gh, in order to give them what
persons of her rank in Scotland generally consider as the best of all endow-
ments, a good education. James re-commenced his studies, and with some re-
luctance was induced by his friends to enter upon a course of divinity, with the
view of applying his talents to the church. After the usual attendance on the
professor of theology, he delivered a probationary exercise in tlie hall ; but his
diction was so poetically splendid, that the professor reproved him for using lan-
guage unintelligible to a popular audience ; which so disgusted him witli his
theological pursuits, that he seems to have, soon after this event, resolved
to abandon them. He had already contributed to a poetical volume, entitled
the Edinburgh 3Hscellany, which was compiled by a society of young aspirants
in"" verse who were attending the college, and among whom, was David Mallet.
About the same time he acted as tutor to lord Binning, — the son of the sixth earl
of Haddington, and himself a poet ; to whom he had probably been introduced
by his mother's friend, lady Grizzel Baillie, mother-in-law to his lordship, and
^vhose " Memoirs" possess so much tender interest; who, finding him unlikely
to do well in any other pursuit, advised him to try his fortune in London as n
poet, and promised him some countenance and assistance. Accordingly, in the
ai.tumn of 1725, he took leave of his mother, whom he was never more to be-
hold, and proceeded by sea to London, carrying with him little besides his poem
of " Winter." On arriving in the metropolis, he found his way to his college
friend Mallet, who then acted as preceptor to the two sons of the duke of Mon-
trose ; he also sought out Mr Duncan Forbes, afterwards president of the court
of session, who, having conceived a favourable opinion of histalentsin Scotland, was
now disposed to promote his views by all means in his power. He was at first in
considerable difiicultics for the means of subsistence, and is found writing to an
incient friend of his family, the minister of Ancrum, for the loan of twelve
pounds, in order to pay off some little debts lie had contracted since his arrival
in the metropolis, and to procure necessaries, till he should raise some-
thing by the sale of his deceased mother's lands of Whithope. By the friendly
intervention of Mallet, a bool<seller named Millar was induced to buy " Winter"
at a low price, and it was accordingly published in 1726, with a dedication to
Sir Spencer Compton, and several recommendatory verses by his friends.
Though unnoticed for some time, it gradually attained that estimation Avhich it
has ever since maintained, and soon procured for the author the friendship of
all the men then distinguished in literature. His acquaintance was sought by
l>p Ilundle, afterwards bishop of Derry, who recommended him to the
lord chancellor Talbot. In 1727, he published another of his Seasons, " Sum-
mer," which he at first proposed dedicating to lord Binning, but eventually
* The editor is obliged for this curious anecdote to Mr Riclunond.

JAMES THOMSON.

375

by the disinterested advice of tliat nobleman, inscribed to Mr Dodington, after-
wards lord 3Ielcorabe, whom Binning thought likely to advance his interest
The same year he gave to the public two more of his productions ; " A Poem
Sacred to the 3Iemory of Sir Isaac Newton," who died in that year ; and
" Britannia," a poetical invective against the ministry, whom the nation' then
thought not forward enough in resenting the depredations of the Spaniards.
His " Spring,*' published in 1728, and addressed to the countess of Hertford*
afterwards duchess of Somerset, procured him an invitation to pass a summer
at lord Hertford's country-seat. The Seasons were not completed by the
addition of " Autumn," till 1730, when he published his poems coUectirely.
Autumn Avas addressed to Mr Onslow.

In the same year, he brought upon the stage, at Drury Lane, his tragedy of
Sophonisba, which raised such expectation, that every rehearsal was dignified
with a splendid audience, collected to anticipate the delight that was preparing
for the publia It was observed, however, that nobody was affected, and that
the company rose as from a moral lecture. It was one of the many proofs that
dramatic genius is a very different thing from the power of putting in dialogue
fine sentiment and poetical description. Not long afterwards, the recommenda-
tion of Dr Bundle caused him to be selected as the travelling associate of the
honourable 3Ir Talbot, eldest son of the chancellor, with whom he visited most
of the courts and countries of the European continent. Such an opportunity
could not fail to be a source of much improvement to one, whose mind was well
prepared for the observation of the different forms of society, and appearances
in external nature. The idea of his poem on Liberty suggested itself to him
during this tour, and after his return he employed nearly two years in its com-
pletion. He was now enabled to pursue his studies at leisure, having been re-
munerated for his attendance on Mr Talbot, by the place of secretary of tlie
briefs, which was nearly a sinecure. His poem " Liberty " at length appeared,
being inscribed to Frederick, prince of Wales, and opening with an affectionate
tribute to the memory of Mr Talbot, who had died during his journey with the
poet. Thomson congratulated himself upon this work as the noblest effort of
his mind ; but it was received with coldness by the public, and has never been
so generally read as the rest of his compositions. In reality, a long historical
piece in blank verse, the incidents of which were taken from common reading,
was not very likely to prove attractive.

The lord chancellor soon after died, and, Thomson having neglected to ap-
ply for a renewal of his place, it was bestowed by the succeeding judge, lord
Hardwicke, upon another. The poet was, therefore, reduced once more to a
dependence on his talents for support. It is creditable to him, that, while in
this painful situation, he showed, in his letters to a friend in Edinburgh, an
affectionate anxiety to assist the narrow circumstances of his sisters, Jean and
Elizabeth, who then lived with Mr Gusthart, one of the ministei-s of the city.
He was introduced, about this time, by Mr (afterwards lord) Littleton, to the
prince of AVales ; and, being questioned as to the state of his affairs, he an-
swered, " that they were in a more poetical posture than formerly :" which
induced the prince to bestow upon him a pension of one hundred pounds a-
year.

In 1738, his second tragedy, entitled " Agamemnon," was brought upon the
stage at Drury Lane. Pope, who had favoured the author, when in Italy, with
a poetical epistle, countenanced the performance on the first night by his pre-
sence ; and Avas received in the house with a general clap. It had the fate of
most mythological pieces, and was only endured, not favoured. The reception
it met with, is said to have thrown the author into such a copious perspiration,

376 JAMES THOMSON.

that he found it necessary to change his wig, before he could join a party of
friends at supper. Another tragedy, which he offered to the theatre, was
'* Edward and J'lleonora ;" but it was prevented from appearing by the lord
chamberlain, on account of its political complexion. In 1740, he wrote, in
conjunction with 3Iallet, the " JIasque of Alfred," which was performed before
the prince of Wales, at Cliefden House, on the birth-day of the princess Au-
gusta. In this piece was introduced the song, " Rule liritannia," which hns
ever since maintained so high a popularity. It is understood to be the com-
position of Thomson.^

The most successful of his dramatic compositions, " Tancred and Sigis-
munda," was brought out at Drury Lane, in 1745: it is still occasionally acted.
His poem, entitled " The Castle of Indolence," which had been several years
under his polishing hand, and which is perhaps the most perfect and pleasing
of all his compositions, was published in 1746. His friend, lord Lyttleton, was
now in power, and procured him the place of surveyor-general of the Leeward
Islands; from which, when his deputy was paid, he received about three hun-
dred pounds a-year. He did not live long to enjoy this state of comparative
independence. He was in the habit of walking from London to his house nt
Richmond, for the sake of exercise. One evening, after he had proceeded a
certain distance, being fearful that he would be too late, he took a boat for the
remainder of the way, not observing that the dews of the evening, and the cold
nir of the river, were dangerous to a person whose pores were opened by the
perspiration of a hasty walk. The cold which he caught on this occasion, ter-
minated in a fever, which carried him oft', August 27, 1748, when he had
nearly completed the forty-eighth year of his age. He was buried under a plain
stone in Richmond church, where the earl of Buchan, forty years afterwards,
erected a tablet to his memory. A monument, however, had been raised to
him at an earlier period in Westminster Abbey. The poet left a tragedy, en-
titled " Coriolanus," which was brought upon the stage at Covent Garden, in
1749, and realized a considerable sum for the benefit of his relations.

It is as a descriptive poet that Thomson has gained a permanent fame ; for
all his compositions, except of that kind, have sunk into comparative neglect.
His " Seasons" has now kept its place amongst the poetical classics of England,
for upwards of a century ; and still there is no perceptible tendency to decline in
its popularity. In reference to this poem, Dr Johnson has Avritten as follows ;
and no further criticism seems to be necessary : — •* As a writer, Thomson is
entitled to one praise of the highest kind, — his mode of thinking, and of ex-
pressing his thoughts, is original. His blank verse is no more the blank verse
of 3Iilton, or of any other poet, than the rhymes of Prior are the rhymes of
Cowley. His numbers, his pauses, his diction, are of his own growth, without
transcription, without imitation. He thinks in a peculiar train, and he always
thinks as a man of genius : he looks round on nature, and on life, with the eye
which nature only bestows on a poet, the eye that distinguishes, in every thing
presented to ita view, whatever there is on which imagination can delight to be
detained, and with a mind that at once comprehends the vast, and attends to
the minute. The reader of the ' Seasons,' wonders that he never saw before
what Thomson shows him, and that he never yet felt what Thomson impresses.
His descriptions of extended scenes, and general eflects, bring before us llie
whole magnificence of nature, whether pleasing or dreadful. The gaiety of

3 It appears from the letters published by the earl of Buchan, that Thomson at this lime
rented a house at the upper end of Kew Lane ; and that the Amanda whom he so fie-
qu?nly celebrated in his verses, was a Miss Young, sister of Mrs Robertson, wife of the sur-
geon to the household at Kew.

. JAMES THOMSON.

377

Spring, the splendour of Summer, the tranquillity of Autumn, and the horrors
of Winter, talce, in their turns, possession of the mind. Tiie poet leads us
through the appearances of things, as they are successively varied by the vicis-
situdes of the year ; and imparts to us so much of his own enthusiasm, that our
thoughts expand with his imagery, and kindle with his sentiments. Nor is the
naturalist without his share in the entertainment ; for he is assisted to recollect
and to combine, to arrange his discoveries, and to amplify the sphere of his
contemplation."

" Thomson," says Dr Aikin, " was in person large and ungainly, with a
heavy unanimated countenance, and nothing in his appearance or manner in
mixed society indicating the man of genius or refinement. He was, however,
easy and cheerful with select friends, by whom he was singularly beloved for
the kindness of his heart, and his freedom from all the little malignant passions,
•which too often debase the literary character. His benevolence is said to be
more ardent than active, for indolence was extremely prevalent in his nature ;
and though he would readily give to the utmost of his ability, he could not
overcome his reluctance to exert himself in doing services. He was fond of in-
dulgences of every kind, and was more attached to the grosser pleasures of
sense, than the sentimental delicacy of his writings would lead a reader to sup-
pose : but this is a common failing. No poet has deserved more pi-aise for the
moral tenor of his works. Undoubted philanthropy, enlarged ideas of the dig-
nity of man, and of his rights ; love of virtue, public and private, and of a de-
votional spirit, narrowed by no views of sect or party, give soul to his verse,
when not m^ely descriptive : and no one can rise from the perusal of his
pages, without melioration of his principles or feelings."

Tlie remark here made as to the attachment of Thomson " to the grosser
pleasures of sense," demands some comment The purity of his writings has
been celebrated by lord Lyttleton, and generally allowed by the world ; and,
excepting the above remark, which is to be traced to the report of Savage to
Dr Johnson, and has not been generally credited, no charge has ever, till
lately, been laid against Uie private character of the poet

In a work lately published, under the title of ** Records of my Life," a
posthumous autobiogi'aphy of 3Ir John Taylor, the author of the humorous
poem of " Monsieur Tonson," a curious tale is related, on the authority of the
late Mr George Chalmers. " Mr Chalmers," says Taylor, " had heard that an
old housekeeper of Thomson's was alive, and still resided at Richmond. Hav-
ing determined to write a life of the celebrated poet of his country, he went to
Richmond, thinking it possible he might obtain some account of the domestic
habits of the poet, and other anecdotes which might impart interest and novelty
to his narration. He found that the old housekeeper had a good memory, and
was of a communicative turn. She informed him Thomson had been actually
married in early life, but that his wife had been taken by him merely for her
person, and was so little calculated to be introduced to his great friends, or in-
deed his friends in general, that he had kept her in a state of obscurity for
many years ; and when he at last, from some compunctious feelings, required
her to come and live with him at Richmond, he still kept her in the same se-
cluded state, so that she appeared to be only one of the old domestics of the
family. At length his wife, experiencing little of the attention of a husband,
though otherwise provided with every thing that could make her easy, if not
comfortable, asked his permission to go for a few weeks to visit her own rela-
tions in the north. Thomson gave his consent, exacting a promise tiiat she
would not reveal her real situation to any of his or her own family. She agreed;
but when she had advanced no farther on her journey than to London she was

IV. 3B

378 DR. WILLIAM THOMSON.

there taken ill, and in a short time died. The news of her death was immedi-
ately conveyed to Thomson, who ordered a decent funeral ; and she was buried,
as the old housekeeper said, in the churchyard of old Maryleboue church. Mr
Chalmers, who was indefatigable in his inquiries, was not satisfied with the old
woman's information, but immediately went and examined the church register;
where he found the following entry — 'Died, Mary Thomson, a stranger' — in
confirmation of the housekeeper's testimony."

There is little, perhaps, in this story to invalidate the commonly received
notions as to the worth of Thomson's character ; though, allowing it to bo
true, it certainly is not calculated to elevate him in the estimation of the world.
The present writer has, of course, no wish to degrade any of the eminent names
of the past j but he thinks it worth while, by way of correcting a piece of lite-
rary history, to mention that the late earl of Buchan possessed a poem in Thom-
son's hand-writing, and bearing all the erasures, interpolations, and other pe-
culiarities, that could mark the composition as his own, which displayed a
marked degree of licentiousness. He has, therefore, been satisfied that Thom-
son, though he had the good sense to publish nothing of an impure character,
was not incapable of delighting in gross ideas, and composing lines — '

'' which, dying, he could wish to blot."

THOMSON, (Dr) William, an ingenious, versatile, and multifarious writer,
was born in 1746, in the parish of Fortcviot, in Perthshire. His father, though
in humble, was in decent circumstances, earning a livcliliood by uniting the
businesses of carpenter, builder, and farmer. Young Thomson was instructed
in the first rudiments of education by his mother, and was then sent to tho
parochial school. He afterwards attended tho grammar-school of Perth, and on
leaving it proceeded to St Andrews, where his abilities attracted the notice and
procured him the patronage of the Earl of Kinnoul, then chancellor of the uni-
versity. This munificent nobleman, after satisfying himself, by personal exami-
nation, that young Thomson's high reputation as a classical scholar was not ex-
aggerated, admitted him into his family in the capacity of librarian, and shortly
after directed his views to the church, with the intention of presenting him to
one of the livings in his gift.

Mr Thomson prosecuted hia theological studies, first at St Andrews, and then at
Edinburgh, and, having obtained a license to preach, was appointed assistant to the
minister of Monivaird. Unfortunately neither his tastes nor habits accorded with
the clerical calling. His temper was irascible, and he delighted more in field
sports and jovial companionship than in the discharge of his professional duties.
The complaints of the parishioners induced him to resign his office, and he resolved
to try his fortune in London as a man of letters. In this he was at first far from suc-
cessful. At length, through theinfluenceof liis distinguished friends, Drs Robertson
and Blair, he was chosen to continue the History of Philip III. of Spain, a work
begun by Dr Robert Watson, principal of the United Colleges of St Andrews,
but which that gentleman left unfinished at his death, which happened in 1780.
This work Dr Thomson completed in a manner highly creditable to his talents,
and so much to the satisfaction of the public, that he soon found himself
surrounded with friends, and his hands filled with employn.ent. The former
procured him about this period, wholly unsolicited on his part, the degree of
LL.D. from tho university of Glasgow. Dr Thomson now became a regular
London author, being ready to write on any subject, and for any one who should
employ liis versatile talents. Business increased apace upon him, and from
this period till near the close of his life, extending to upwards of five and thirty
years, he continued in close connection with the press, and with the exception

WILLIAM TURNBULL.

379

of poetry, went, in that time, creditably through every department of English
literature. Nothing came amiss to him ; history, biography, voyages, travels
and memoirs, novels and romances, pamphlets and periodicals. In all
of these he wrote largely, and wrote well. In his literary labours he was inde-
fatigable. Night and day he wrought with unwearying perseverance, and, by dint
of this industry, associated with a remarkable facility in composition, he accom-
plished, in the course of his life, a greater amount of literary work, and of a
greater variety of character, llian perhaps any English writer who preceded
him. Amongst the most important of his avowed works are, " The 3Ian in the
Moon," a novel; " Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa," a compilation from
other works, published in 1782 ; a translation of " A History of Great Britain
from the Revolution in 16S3, to the Accession of George I. in 1714," from
the Latin of Cunningham, 2 volumes 4to, 1787; "Memoirs of War in
Asia," 1788; " 3Iammoth, or Human Nature displayed on a Grand Scale,"
a novel, 1789 ; " Travels in the Western Hebrides, from 1782 to 1790," from
notes by the Rev. John Lane Buchanan, A.M., missionary minister to the Isles
from the church of Scotland, 1793. Dr Thomson also largely assisted in a
work which appeared about this period, entitled, " Travels into Norway, Den-
mark, and Russia," by A. Smith, Esq.

Numerous as this list is, it comprises but a very small portion of our author's
literary achievements, and gives but a faint idea of the extent and variety of his
labours. He contributed largely, besides, to various newspapers, magazines,
and other periodicals of the day. He also frequently acted as a reporter, and
is said to have greatly excelled in this department of literary labour. For many
years he published a weekly abridgment of politics in the Whitehall Evening
Post, but lost this employment in 1798, in consequence of some political
transgressions. In the latter years of his life, he was engaged in bringing up
the arrears of Dodsley's Annual Register, of which he compiled the historical
part from 1790 to 1800 inclusive. Amongst the last of his literary perform-
ances, (and it is a remarkable proof of the variety of his attainments,) was a ^rock
entitled " Memoirs relative to Military Tactics," dedicated to his royal high-
ness, the duke of York, commander-in-chief of the forces. This work, which
was begun in 1805, and finished in the ensuing year, was reckoned no incon-
siderable addition to that department of literature to which it belongs, and is
said to have been looked upon with favour by those competent to judge of its
merits. Towards the close of his life, Dr Thomson wholly resigned his literary
labours, and retired to Kensington, where he died, in decent, but not by any
means affluent circumstances, on the 16lh of March, 1817, in the 7l8t year of
his age, leaving behind hhn a reputation very far from being proportioned,
either to the extent of his labours, or to the amount of his abilities and ac-
quirements.

TURNBULL, William, bishop of Glasgpw, and lord privy seal of Scotland,
descended from the Tumbulls of Minto, in Roxburghshire, was born in the
early part of the fifteenth century. Having been educated for the church, he
entered into orders, and was appointed prebend of Balenrick (connected with
which dignity was the lordship of Prevan) in the year 1440. In the year
1445, he was prefened to be secretary and keeper of the privy seal ; at which
time, as appears by the act of council, he was called William Turnbull, lord of
Prevan. He was shortly after this inaugurated Doctor of Laws, and made
archdeacon of St Andrews, within the bounds of Lothian. By some writers, he
is said to have been about this time bishop of Dunkeld ; but this, we think, is
doubtful. In the year 1447, he was promoted to the see of Glasgow, upon llie
death of bishop Bruce, and was consecrated in the year 1448.

380 -WILLIAM TURNBULL.

No sooner wns bishop Turnbull settled in the see, than he set about erecting
or founding a college in the city. For this purpose, a bull, at the request of
king James II., was procured from pope Nicholas V., constituting a university,
to continue in all time to come, in the city of Glasgow, " it being ane notable
place, with gude air, and plenty of provisions for human life." The pope, by his
apostolical authority, ordained that the doctors, masters, renders, and students of
the utiirersity of Glasgow, should enjoy all the privileges, liberties, honours, ex-
emptions, and immunities, which he had granted to the city of Bononia. He like-
wise appointed William Turnbull, bishop of Glasgow, and his successors in that
see, chancellors of the university, and to have the same authority over the doc-
tors, masters, readers, and scholars, as the chancelloi's of the university of
Bononia. This bull is dated at Rome, January 7, 1450. By the care of the
bishop and his chapter, a body of statutes was prepared, and a university esta-
blished the following year, 1451.

The university consisted, besides the chancellor, of a rector, and masters of
the four faculties, who had taken their degrees in other colleges ; and students,
who, after a course of study, might be promoted to academical degrees. That
the classes in the university might commence with some degree of' celebrity, a
bull had been procured from the pope, and was now published, granting an
universal indulgence to all faithful Christians, who should visit the cathedral of
Glasgow in the year 1451. The first rector was David Cadzow, who was re-
elected in 1452. During the first two years, upwards of a hundred members
were incorporated, most of them secular or regular clergy, canons, rectors,
vicars, abbots, priora, and monks. The clergy attended the university the
more willingly, that the bishop had procured royal charters and acts of parlia-
ment, exempting them from all taxes and public burdens, and from their resi-
dence in their own cures. The whole incorporated members, students, as well
as doctors and masters, were divided into four parts, called the Quatuor Na«
tiones, according to the place of their nativity. The whole realm of Scotland
and the isles was divided into four districts, under the names of Clydesdale,
Teviotdale, Albany, and Rothsay ; a meeting of the whole was annually called
the day after St Crispin's day ; and, being divided into four nations, each na-
tion by itself chose a procurator and intrant, and the intrants meeting by them>
selves, made choice of a rector and a deputation of each nation, who were
assistants and assessors to the rector. The rector and his deputation had vari-
ous and important functions. They were judges in all criminal causes, wherein
any member of the university was a party. Every member who either sued or
answered before any other court, was guilty of perjury, and incurred the
penalty of expulsion. The ecclesiastics in the university, of course, to what-
ever dior^se they belonged, could no longer be called before their rural deans.
All members were incorporated by the rector and deputation, after taking an
oath to obey the rector and his successors, to observe the statutes, preserve the
privileges of the university, and keep its secrets, revealing nothing to its pre-
judice, whatever station in society they might afterwards attain. The rector
and deputies were also the council of the college. It was their business to de-
liberate upon, and digest all matters to be brought before the congregation of
the doctors and masters, whose determinations in such cases were accounted, in
respect of authority, next to the statutes. Two other office-bearers were chosen
annually, on the day after St Crispin's, namely, a bursarius, who kept the uni-
versity purse, and accounted for all his intromissions ; and a promoter, whose
business it was to see to the observation of the statutes, and to bring delin-
quents before the rector's court, which had power to enforce the statutes, or to
dispense with them, in certain cases. The second division of the university was

WILLIAM TURNBULL. 381

into its different faculties, four of which, in the pope's bull, are specified by
name. Theology, Canon Law, Civil Law, and the Arts. All others are com-
prehended in a general clause, quacunque licita facuUate. In these times, the
professions of theology, canon, and civil laws, were denominated tlie tliree
learned professions, as being the only ones in which learning was thought ne-
cessary. They alone fitted men for honourable or profitable employments, for
being admitted to dignities in the church or the state ; and to train men to
eminence in these professions, was the original intention of universities. Tlie
arts, however, under which were comprehended logic, physics, and morals, be-
ing considered as necessary to these professions, formed an indispensable part
of study in every university. The universities were all incorporated by the
popes, who appear to have borrowed their plan from that of incorporated
towns and burghs, the university corresponding to the whole incorporation of
the burgh, and the different faculties to the different companies of trades or
crafts into which the burgh is divided. The companies in the incorporated
towns, were anciently called collegia, cr colleges ; and the whole incorpora-
tion, comprehending all the companies, was called the universitas of that
town. These names, by analogy, were at first applied to corporations of the
learned professions, and at length appropriated solely to them. The govern-
ment of every faculty was similar to that of the university. Each had its own
statutes, determining the time of study, and the exercises and examinations
necessary for attaining degrees in that faculty. Each chose annually its own
dean, its own bursarius, and sometimes four deputations, as a council to the dean.
Of the three higher faculties in this university, nothing is known, there being no
record of their statutes or transactions extant A third division in the college
was made, according to the academical degree of every member. The highest
degree in theology, canon and civil law, was that of doctor in the arts. In all
the faculties, there were two degrees by which a man rose to the highest.
These were bachelor and licentiate. The degree of licentiate, as well as that
of doctor or master, was conferred by the chancellor or vice-chancellor. The
requisites to all the degrees, were a certain time of study, having heard certain
books prelected upon, and pei-formed certain exercises, and gone through cer-
tain examinations. The age of fifteen was necessary for being made a bachelor
of arts, and twenty to become a master. It was forbidden, under a heavy
penalty, to give any man the title of master, by word or writing, who had not
attained that degree ; and the penalty was still heavier, if any man took it to
himself, without having obtained it in the regular manner. Nor can we feel
surprised at degrees being thus carefully guarded, seeing they were held to be of
divine institution, and were always conferred by the chancellor, or vice-chan-
cellor, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Soma
years after the university was founded, a number of the students being young men
to whom tuition as well as teaching was necessary, provision was made that they
should live and eat in one house, which was called Pedagogium, or the college of
arts. Here they were taught and governed by certain masters, called Regentes
Artibus. This college was at fii-st on the south side of the Rottenrow, near the
cathedral ; but afterwards a tenement was bequeathed for it by lord Hamilton,
situated where the college now stands. There were at first in the university,
three regents in the arts, viz,, Alexander Geddes, a Cistertian monk; Duncan
Burch, and William Arthurlie, Afterwards there were sometimes two, and
sometimes only one. This seems to have been the most laborious and least
coveted oflice in the university. Besides teaching and presiding in disputa-
tions, every lawful day, the regents lived within the college, ate at a common
table with the. students of arts, visited the rooms of the students before nine

382 -WILLIAM TURNBULL.

at night, when the gates were shut, and at fire in the morning, and assisted in
all examinations for degrees in the faculties of arts. For many years the office
had no salary, and the fees paid by the students were very small. All that held
the office, two only excepted, kept it but for a short time ; and often one, who
was not a member of the faculty, was called to the office ; which renders it
probable that there was no competition in those days, either for the office it-
self, or for the patronage of it ; but, on the contrary, some difficulty was ex-
perienced in finding persons qualified to fill it, or who were willing to take it.
James XL, the year after its foundation, granted a royal charter in favour of
the university, by which the rectors, the deans of the faculties, the procurators
of the four nations, the masters, regents, and scholars, with the beadles, writers,
stationers, and parchment makers, were exempted from all taxes, watchings, and
wordings, weapon-scha wings, &c ; but it had no property, either of lands,
houses, or rents. The congregatio universilatis was always held at the
cathedral. The doctors and masters met sometimes at the convent of the
Dominicans, or predicatores , as Uiey were called, where all the lectures wo
find mentioned in theology, canon and civil law, were read. There was
a university purse, into which perquisites, paid on being incorporated
at examinations and promotions to degrees, were put From tliis purse,
after it had accumulated for some years, cups of ceremony were fur-
nished ; but to defray tlie expense of a silver rod or mace, to be borne be-
fore the rector on solemn occasions, it ^vas necessary to tax all the incor-
porated members, on which occasion David Cadzow, the first rector, gave
twenty nobles. The first property tlie college acquired was two or three chap-
lainaries bequeathed by some of its first members. The duly of the chaplain
was to perforin certain masses at a specified altar for the souls of the founder
and his friends, for which he was paid a small annuity. These chaplainarics
were commonly given to some of the regents of the college of arts, probably be-
cause they were the parent of the sacerdotal order in -the univei-sity. Tliis
patronage, and this purse, so far as appears, were all the property the
university ever possessed ; nor does it appear that the faculties of theology,
canon and civil law, ever had any property. The individuals had each
livings through all parts of the nation, abbacies, priories, prebendaries, rec-
tories, and vicarages, but the community had nothing. Its privileges wei-e the
sole inducement to bring rich ecclesiastics into a society in which they lived at
ease free of all taxes, and subject to no authority but that of their own rector.
The college of arts, however, which the public even then had the good sense
to see was the most useful part of the whole, and particularly entitled to public
favour, as being entrusted with the education of youth, soon came to have some
properly.

In the year 1469, only eight years after its foundation, James lord Hamil-
ton bequeathed to Mr Duncan Burch, principal regent of the college of arts,
and his successors, regents, for the use of the said college, a tenement, with tlie
pertinents lying on the north side of the church and convent of Uie Domini-
cans, together with four acres of land in the Dovo-hill, with a request that the
regents and students every day after dinner and after supper should stand up
and pray for the souls of him lord James Hamilton, of Liuphemia, his spouse,
countess of Douglas, of his ancestors and successoi'S, and of all from whom he
had received any benefit for which he had not made a proper return. These
four acres of land still form part of the college garden, and from this date the
faculty of arts from time to time were enabled to devote somewhat to the re-
pairing, and even to make additions to the buildings of the college, furnishing
rooms for the regents and students, with things necessary for tlie kitchen and

"WILLIAM TYTLER. 383

a common table. Nearly thirty years after this, Mr Thomas Arthurlie
bequeathed to the imiversity another tenement adjoining to the college. By
this time the students consisted generally of the youth of the nation, whose
education was of the utmost importance to the public. They were distinguished
according to their I'ank into sons of noblemen, of gentlemen, and those of
meaner rank, and, with a degree of consideration Avhich in modern times has
been lost sight of, for the expense of their education were taxed accordingly.
Such is the early history of the university of Glasgow, founded by bishop
TurnbuU, probably in imitation of that established by bishop Wardlaw at St
Andrews. Neither of those bishops, it may be remarked, bestowed any or
tlieir funds upon tlie colleges they were the means of establishing, and
in this respect came far short of bishop Elphinston of Aberdeen, who not only
procured the foundation of a college in that city, but contributed largely to
its endowment. Bishop Turnbull also obtained from James II. a charter erect-
ing the town and patrimonies of the bishopric of Glasgow into a regality,
and after he had done many acts highly beneficial to the age in which he
lived, and worthy to be remembered by posterity, died at Rome, on the iird
day of September, 1454. His death was universally regretted; and his name
must always bear a conspicuous place among the more worthy and useful clergy
of the elder establishment in Scotland.

TYTLER, William, of Woodhouselee, an eminent antiquarian writer; was
born in Edinburgh on the 12th October, 1711. His father, Alexander Tytler,
was a writer by profession in the same city. His mother was daughter of
Mr William Leslie, merchant in Aberdeen, and grand-daughter of Sir Patrick
Leslie of Iden.

The subject of this memoir received his education at the High School and
university of his native city, and in both distinguished himself by assiduity in
his studies, and by an early and more than ordinary proficiency in classical
learning. Having added to his other acquirements a competent knowledge of
municipal law, which he studied under Mr Alexander Bryce, professor of that
science in the university of Edinburgh, he was, in 1744, admitted into the
Society of Writers to his majesty's Signet, in which capacity he practised with
increasing success till his death.

Mr Tytler's first appearance as an author took place in 1759, when he pub-
lished an " Inquiry, historical and critical, into the Evidence against Mary,
Queen of Scots, and an Examination of the Histories of Dr Robertson and Mr
Hume with respect to that Evidence." In this work Mr Tytler warmly espoused
the cause of the unfortunate princess, and brought a force of argument, and an
acuteness and precision of reasoning to the discussion of the interesting question
of her innocence or guilt, which had never been employed on it before. It was
the first appeal in behalf of the Scottish queen Avhich made any impression on
tlie public mind, or which excited any feeling of particular interest in the
charges which had been brought against her moral character. A similar attempt
with this of Mr Tytler's, had been made some years previously by Walter
Goodal, one of the under keepera of the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh, but
it was so indifferently written, and its matter so unskilfully arranged, that it
entirely failed to attract any share of the public attention. Mr Tytler, how-
ever, found it a useful assistant. He adopted many of Goodal's argumenU, but
he arranged them anew, and gave them that consistency and force which js so
essential to efficien(;y. The first edition of the.Inquiry was published m a single
octavo volume; another, considerably enlarged, particularly m the Instoricai
part, soon afterwards appeared, and in 1790, a fourth edition was published in
two volumes.

384 WILLIAM TYTLER.

The ability displayed by this work acquired for Mr Tytler a very high
reputation in the world of lettei-s. It was eagerly read throughout Britain, and
Has scarcely less popular in France, into the language of whicii country it was
pretty ably translated. The interest which the Inquiry excited was also very
great. There were a novelty and chivalry in the attempt eminently calculated
to attract attention, and to excite sympathy, and it obtained a large share
of both. It was reviewed in many of the different periodicals of the day
by some of the most eminent literary men then living ; amongst these were
Johnson, Smollett, and Douglas, bishop of Salisbury, To the favourable tes-
timony to the merits of the work borne by these competent judges, was added
that of lord chancellor Hardwicke, who said it was the most conclusive arrange-
ment of circumstantiate proofs he had ever seen.

Mr Ty tier's next literary production was, " The Poetical Remains of James
the First, king of Scotland," in one volume, 8vo, Edinburgh, 1783. In this
publication 31r Tytler, on very strong grounds, ascribes to that monarch the
celebrated poems of ** The King's Quair," and " Christ's Kirk on the Green."
His reasoning here, as in the defence of Mary, is remarkable for cogency and
conciseness, and if it is not always convincing, it is, at least, always plausible.
To the Poetical Remains there is added a Dissertation on the Life and Writings
of James, remarkable at once for profound antiquarian research, and the lucid
arrangement of its facts.

Mr Tytler was an ardent lover of music, especially of the music of his native
country. He was himself a good performer, and his theoretical knowledge of
the science was fully equal to his practical proficiency. This devotion to music,
together with a fine sensibility, which subjected him in a peculiar manner to the
infiucnce of the pathetic strains of the national melodies of Scotland, led him
to write a highly interesting, though in some respects fanciful, essay on Scottish
music, which is appended to Arnot's History of Edinburgh.

The ability which these various publications displayed rapidly increased Mr
Tytler's reputation, and procured him the respect and esteem of men of taste
and learning, especially of those of his native country, who felt and acknow-
ledged the good service he was doing towaids completing their national history
by his industry, diligence, and patient research in the peculiar walk of litera-
ture he had chosen : a feeling which was yet further increased by his subse-
quent publications. The next of these, of the character alluded to, was a Dis-
sertation on the mai-riage of Queen Mary to the earl of Bothwell, published in
the first volume of the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries in 17U1. In
this Dissertation, which is distinguished by all the merits displayed by Mr
Tytler's other productions, he defends, with much ingenuity, that unhappy step
which united Mary to Bothwell ; but it is to be feared, that, with all its
ingenuity and judicious remark, it can never be otherwise considered tiian as an
attempt, generous and chivalrous indeed, but unavailing, to defend a thing in it*
self indefensible.

In the year following, viz., 1792, 3Ir Tytler published, through the same
channel with that by which the Dissertation had been given to the world, " Ob-
servations on the Vision, a poem," first published in Ramsay's Evergreen. The
object of these observations was the generous one, of vindicating Ramsay's title
to the merit of being the author of the poem in question, of which some doubts
had been entertained.

The " Observations," &c., were soon after followed by a production of singular
interest. This was " An Account of the Fashionable Amusements and Enter-
tainments of Edinburgh in the last (seventeenth) century, with the plan of a grand
Concert of Music performed there on St Cecilia's day^ 1G95."

ALEXANDER FRASER TYTLER. 385

MrTytlerwas also the author of a paper in the Lounger, No. 16, entitled the
" Defects of Modern Female education in teaching the Duties of a Wife ;" and
with this terminates the catalogue of his published literary achievements, so far
as these are known or acknowledged.

To MrTytler's talents and acquirements his works will always bear evidence, but
there are other merits which he possessed in an eminent degree, which it requires
the pen of the biographer to perpetuate. His works sufficiently inform us of
his profound and intimate acquaintance with Scottish history and antiquarian
lore ; of his zealous patriotism, and eminent knowledge of the science of music ;
but they do not inform us of his generous and benevolent disposition, nor of
that delightful and enviable buoyancy of spirit, Avhich enabled him, at the
latest period of a life protracted beyond the usual limit of human existence,
to join, with the utmost glee, in all the pranks and follies of the young persons,
his friends and relatives, who came to visit him, and whom he was always
rejoiced to see- Mr Tytler not only attained and enjoyed himself a healthy
and happy old age, but had a prescription ready for his friends which would
confer the same blessing. This prescription was " short, but cheerful meals,
music, and a good conscience."

Mr Tytler was one of the original members of the Musical Society of Edin-
burgh, and continued his connexion with that body for nearly sixty years. He
usually spent a portion of the summer at his beautiful country seal of Wood-
houselee. Here in a private and shady walk he had erected an urn with the
following inscription : —

Hunc lucum
Cans mortuis amicis.
Sacrum dicut
W. T.

Some time before his death, Mr Tytler was seized with a slight paralytic af-
fection, but it did not much debilitate his frame, nor did it in the least degree
affect his faculties, all of which remained unimpaired till the hour of his death,
an event which happened on the 12th of September, 1792, in the eighty-first
year of his age.

Mr Tytler was married in 1745, to 3Iiss Anne Craig, daughter of James
Craig, Esq. of Costerton, in the county of Mid Lothian, one of the writers to
his majesty's Signet, by whom he left two sons, Alexander Fraser Tytler, after-
wards lord Woodhouselee, and major Patrick Tytler, fort-major of the castle of
Stirling. He left also one daughter, 3Iiss Christina Tytler. It only remains
to be added to this sketch, and the addition though short, comprises one
of the strongest eulogiums which was ever bestowed on human virtue : it is re-
corded of 3Ir Tytler, that no one ever spoke ill of him.

TYTLER, Alexander Fraseb, usually styled Lord Woodhouselee, was born
in Edinburgh, on the 15th of October, 1747. He was the eldest son of
William Tytler, esquire of Woodhouselee, by his wife, Anne Craig. The
earlier rudiments of education he received from his father at home ; but in the
eighth year of his age, he Avas sent to the High School, then under the direction of
Mr Mathison. At this seminary, young Tytler remained for five years, distinguish-
ing himself at once by the lively frankness of his manners, and by the industry
and ability with which he applied himself to, and pursued his studies. Tlie
ktter procured him the highest honours of the academy ; and, finally, in the
last year of his course, obtained for him the dignity of dux of the rectors

On the completion of his curriculum at the High School his father sent him

IT. 3 0

380 ALEXANDER ERASER TYTLER.

to an academy at Kensington, for the still further improrement of his classicil
attainments. This academy was then under the care of Mr Elpliinston, a man
of great learning and singular worth, who speedily formed a strong attachment
to his pupil, arising from the pleasing urbanity of his manners, and the zeal
and devotion with which he applied himself to the acquisition of classical learn-
ing. When Mr Tytler set out for Kensington, which was in 17G3, in the six-
teenth year of his age, he went with the determination of returning an accom-
plished scholar ; and steadily acting up to this determination, he attained the
end to which it was directed. At Kensington, he soon distinguished himself by
his application and proficiency, particularly in Latin poetry, to which he now
became greatly attached, and in which he arrived at great excellence. His
master was especially delighted with his efforts in this way, and took every op-
portunity, not only of praising them himself, but of exhibiting them to all with
whom he came in contact who were capable of appreciating their merits. To
his other pursuits, while at Kensington, Mr Tytler added drawing, which soon
became a favourite amusement with him, and continued so throughout the whole
of his after life. He also began, by himself, to study Italian, and by earnest
and increasing assiduity, quickly acquired a sufficiently competent knowledge of
that language, to enable him to read it fluently, and to enjoy the beauties of
the authors who wrote in it. The diversity of Mr Tytler's pursuits extended
yet further. He acquired, while at Kensington, a taste for natural history, in
the study of which he was greatly assisted by Dr Russel, an intimate friend of
his father, who then lived in his neighbourhood.

In 1765, Mr Tytler returned to Edinburgh, after an absence of two years,
which he always reckoned amongst the happiest and best spent of his life.
On his return to his native city, his studies naturally assumed a more direct
relation to the profession for which he was destined, — the law. With this ob-
ject chiefly in view, he entered the university, where he began the study of civil
law, under Dr Dick ; and afterwards that of municipal law, under Mr Wallace.
He also studied logic, under Dr Stevenson ; rhetoric and belles lettres, under
Dr Blair ; and moral science, under Dr Fergusson. Mr Tytler, however, did
not, by any means, devote his attention exclusively to these preparatory profes-
sional studies. He reserved a portion for those that belong to general know-
ledge. From these he selected natural philosophy and chemistry, and attended
a course of each.

It will be seen, from the learned and eminent names enumerated above, that
Mr Tytler was singularly fortunate in his teachers ; and it will be seen, from
those that follow, that he was no less fortunate, at this period of his life, in his
acquaintance. Amongst these he had the happiness to reckon Henry Mac-
kenzie, lord Abei-cromby, lord Craig, Mr Playfair, Dr Gregory, and Dugald
Stewart. During the summer recesses of the university, Mr Tytler was in the
habit of retiring to his father's residence at Woodhouselee. The time spent
here, however, was not spent in idleness. In the quiet seclusion of this de-
lightful country residence, he resumed, and followed out with exemplary assi-
duity, the literary pursuits to which he was so devoted. He read extensively
in the Roman classics, and in French and Italian literature. He studied deeply,
besides, the ancient writers of England; and thus laid in a stock of knowledge'
and acquired a delicacy of taste, which few have ever attained. Nor in this
devotion to severer study, did he neglect those lighter accomplishments, which so
elegantly relieve the exhaustion and fatigues of mental application. He in-
dulged liis taste for drawing and music, and always joined in the little family
concerts, in which his amiable and accomplished father took singular delight.
In 1770, Mr Tytler was called to the bar; and in the spring of the succeed-

ALEXANDER FRASER TYTLER. 387

ing year, he paid a visit to Paris, in company with Mr Kerr of Blackfiliiel&
Shortly after this, lord Kames, with whom he had the good fortune to become
acquainted in the year 1767, and who had perceived and appreciated his talents,
having seen from time to time some of his little literary efforts, recommended to
liim to write something in the way of his profession. This recommendation,
which had for its object at once the promotion of his interests, and the acquisi-
tion of literary fame, his lordship followed up, by proposing that Mr Tytter
should write a supplementary volume to his Dictionary of Decisions. Inspired
with confidence, and flattered by the opinion of his abilities and competency
for the work, which this suggestion implied on the part of lord Kames, Mr
Tytler immediately commenced the laborious undertaking, and in five years of
almost unremitting toil, completed it The work, which was executed in such
a manner as to call forth not only the unqualified approbation of the eminent
person who had first proposed it, but of all who were competent to judge of its
merits, was published in folio, in 1778. Two years after this, in 1780, Mr
Tytler was appointed conjunct professor of universal history in the college of
Edinburgh with 3Ir Pringle ; and in 17 86, he became sole professor. From
this period, till the year 1800, he devoted himself exclusively to the duties of
his office ; but in these his services were singularly efficient, surpassing far in
importance, and in the benefits which they conferred on the student, what any of
his predecessors had ever performed. His course of lectures was so remarkably
comprehensive, that, although they were chiefly intended, in accordance with the
object for which the class was instituted, for the benefit of those who were intended
for the law, he yet numbered amongst his students many who were not destined
for that profession. The favourable impression made by these performances, and
the popularity which they acquired for 3Ir Tytler, induced him, in 1782, to
publish, what he modestly entitled " Outlines" of his course of lectures. These
were so well received, that their ingenious author felt himself called upon some
time afterwards to republish them in a more extended form. This he accord-
ingly did, in two volumes, under the title of " Elements of General History."
Tiie Elements were received with an increase of public favour, proportioned to
the additional value which had been imparted to tlie work by its extension.
It became a text book in some of' the universities of Britain ; and was held in
equal estimation, and similarly employed, in the universities of America. The
work has since passed through many editions. The reputation of a man of
letters, and of extensive and varied acquirements, which Mr Tytler now de-
servedly enjoyed, subjected him to numerous demands for literary assistance
and advice. Amongst these, was a request from Dr Gregory, then (1788) en-
gaged in publishing the works of his father, Dr John Gregory, to prefix to
these works an account of the life and writings of the latter. >Yith this request,
3Ir Tytler readily complied ; and he eventually discharged the trust thus con-
fided to him, with great fidelity and discrimination, and with the tenderest and
most affectionate regard for the memory which he was perpetuating.

Mr Tytler wrote pretty largely, also, for the well known periodicals, the
Mirror and the Lounger. To the former of these he contributed, Nos. 17, 37,
59, and 79 ; and to the latter, Nos. 7, 9, 24, 44, 67, 70, and 79. The first
of these were written Avith the avowed intention of giving a higher and
sprightlier character to the work to which they were furnished ; qualities in
which he thought it deficient, although he greatly admired the talent and
genius displayed in its graver papers; but he justly conceived, tliat a judicious
admixture of a little humour, occasionally, would not be against iU popularity.
The circumstances in which his contributions to the Lounger were coni posed,
afford a very remarkable instance of activity of mind and habits, ot facility ot

388 AIJIXANDER FRASER TYTLER.

expression, and felicity of imagination. They were almost all written at inns,
where he happened to be detained for any length of time, in his occasional
journeys from one place to another. Few men would have thought of devoting
such hours to any useful purpose ; but the papers of the Lounger, above enu-
oierated, show how much may be made of them by genius and diligence.

On the institution of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in 1783, 3Ir Tytler be-
came one of its constituent members; and was soon afterwards unanimously elected
one of the secretaries of the literary class, in which capacity he drew up an account
of the Origin and History of the Society, which was prefixed to the first volume of
its Transactions. In 1788, Mr Tytler contributed to the Transactions, a biogra-
phical sketch of Robert Dundas of Arniston, lord president of the Court of Ses-
sion; and in the year following, read a paper to the society on the vitrified forts
in the Highlands of Scotland. The principal scope of this paper, which dis-
covers great antiquarian knowledge and research, is to show, that, in all proba-
bility, this remarkable characteristic of the ancient Highland forts — their vitri-
fication— Avas imparted to them, not during their erection, as was generally sup-
posed, but at their destruction, which its author reasonably presumes, would be,
in most, if not all cases, effected by fire. With the exception of some trifling
differences of opinion in one or two points of minor importance, Mr Tytler's
essay met with the warm and unanimous approbation of the most eminent anti-
quarians of the day.

The next publication of this versatile and ingenious writer, was, an " Essay
on the Principles of Translation," published, anonymously, in 1790. By one
of those singular coincidences, which are not of unfrequent occurrence in the
literary world, it happened that Dr Campbell, principal of the 3Iarischal col-
lege, Aberdeen, had, but a short while before, published a work, entitled
" Translations of the Gospel; to which was prefixed a Preliminary Dissertation
on the Principles of Taste." Between many of the sentiments expressed in this
dissertation, and those promulgated in Mr Tytler's essay, there was a resem-
blance so strong and close, that Dr Campbell, on perusing the latter, immedi-
ately conceived that the anonymous author had pillaged his dissertation ; and
instantly «Tote to Mr Creech of Edinburgh, his publisher, intimating his sus-
picions. Mr Tytler, however, now came forward, acknowledged himself to be
the author of the suspected essay, and, in a correspondence which he opened
with Dr Campbell, not only convinced him that the similarity of sentiment
which appeared in their respective publications, was the result of mere acci-
dent, but succeeded in obtaining the esteem and warmest friendship of his
learned correspondent.

Mr Tytler's essay attiined a rapid and extraordinary celebrity. Compli-
mentary letters flowed in upon its author from many of the most eminent men
in England ; and the book itself speedily came to be considered a standard
work in English criticism. Mr Tytler had now attained nearly the highest
pinnacle of literary repute. His name was widely known, and was in every
case associated with esteem for his worth, and admiration of his talents. It is
no matter for wonder then, that such a man should have attracted the notice of
those in power, nor that they should have thought it would reflect credit on
themselves, to promote his interests.

In 1790, Mr Tytler, through the influence of lord 3Telville, was appointed
to the high dignity of judge-advocate of Scotland. The duties of this important
oflice had always been, previously to 3Ir Tytler's nomination, discharged by de-
puty ; but neither the activity of his body and mind, nor the strong sense of
the duty he owed to the public, would permit him to have recourse to such a
subterfuge. He resolved to discharge the duties now imposed upon him in

ALEXANDER TRASER TYTLER. 389

person, and continued to do so, attending himself on erery trial, so long as
he held the appointment. He also drew up^ while acting as judge-advocate, a
treatise on Martial Law, which hns been found of great utility. Of the zeal
with which Mr Tytler discharged the duties of his office, and of the anxiety
and impartiality with which he watched over and directed the course of justice,
a remarkable instance is afforded in the case of a court-martial, which was
held at Ayr. Mr Tytler thought the sentence of that court unjust ; and under
this impression, whicli was well founded, immediately represented the matter to
Sir Charles Morgan, judge-advocate general of England, and prayed for a re-
version of the sentence. Sir Charles cordially concurred in opinion with
Mr Tytler regarding the decision of the court-martial, and immediately pro-
cured the desired reversion. In the fulness of his feelings, the feelings of a
generous and upright mind, Mr Tytler recorded his satisfaction with the event,
on the back of the letter which announced it.

In the year 1792, Mr Tytler lost his father, and by his death succeeded to
the estate of Woodhouselee, and shortly after Mrs Tytler succeeded in a similar
manner to the estate of Balmain in Inverness-shire. On taking possession of
Woodhouselee, Mr Tytler designed, and erected a little monument to the
memory of his father, on which was an appropriate Latin inscription, in a
part of the grounds Avhich his parents had delighted to frequent

This tribute of filial afl'ection paid, Mr Tytler, now in possession of
affluence, and every other blessing on which human felicity depends, be-
gan to realize certain projects for the improvement and embellishment of his
estate, which he had long fondly entertained, and thinking with Pope that
" to enjoy, is to obey," he prepared to make the proper use of the wealth
uhich had been apportioned to him. This was in opening up sources of
rational and innocent enjoyment for himself, and in promoting the happiness
and comfort of those around him. From this period he reS'ided constantly at
Woodhouselee, the mansion-house of which he enlarged in order that he might
enlarge the bounds of his hospitality. The felicity, however, which he now en-
joyed, and for which, perhaps, no man was ever more sincerely or piously
grateful, was destined soon to meet with a serious interruption. In three years
after his accession to his paternal estate, viz. in 1795, Mr Tytler was seized with
a dangeious and long protracted fever, accompanied by delirium. The skill
and assiduity of his friend Dr Gregory, averted any fatal consequences from the
fever, but during the paroxysms of the disease he had burst a blood vessel, an
accident which rendered his entire recovery at first doubtful, and afterwards ex*'
ceedingly tardy. During the hours of convalescence which succeeded his illne^B
on this occasion, Mr Tytler employed himself in improving, and adapting to
the advanced state of knowledge, Deiham's Physico-Theology, a work which
he had always held in high estimation. To this new edition of Derhani's
work, which he published in 1799, he prefixed a " Dissertation on Final
Causes." In the same year Mr Tytler wrote a pamphlet entitled, " Ire-
land profiting by Example, or the Question considered. Whether Scotland has
gained or lost by the Union." He was induced to this undertaking by the cir-
cumstance of the question having been then furiously agitated, whether any
benefit had arisen, or was likely to arise from the Union with Ireland. Of Mr
Tytler's pamphlet the interest was so great that no less than 3000 copies were
sold on the day of publication.

The well earned reputation of Mr Tytler still kept him in the public eye,
and in the way of preferment. In 1801, a vacancy having occurred in the
bench of the court of Session by the death of lord StonefieUl, the subject of this
memoir was appointed, through the influence of lord Melville, to succeed him,

390 ALEXANDER ERASER TYTLER.

and took his seat, on the 2nd of February, 1802, as lord Woodhouselee. His
lordsliip now devoted himself to the duties of liis office Avith the same zeal and
assiduity Mhich had distinguished his proceedings as judge-advocate. While
the courts were sitting, he resided in town, and appropriated every hour to the
business allotted to him ; but during the summer rec«ss, he retired to his
country-seat, and there devoted himself with similar assiduity to literary pur-
suits. At this period his lordship contemplated several literary works ; but
gratitude, and a Avarm and aflectionate regard for the memory of his early patron
induced him to abandon them all, in order to write the Life of Lord Karnes.
This work, which occupied him, interveniently, for four years, was published in
2 volumes, quarto, in 1807, with the title of " Memoirs of the Life and Writings
of Henry Home, lord Kames." Besides a luminous account of its proper sub-
ject, and of all his writings, it contains a vast fund of literary anecdote, and
many notices of eminent persons, of whom there was hardly any other com-
memoration.

On the elevation of lord justice clerk Hope to the president's chair
in 1811, lord Woodhouselee was appointed to the Justiciary bench, and with
this appointment terminated his professional advancement. His lordship still
continued to devote his leisure hours to literary pursuits, but these were now
exclusively confined to the revision of his Lectures upon History. In this task,
however, he laboured with unwearied assiduity, adding to them the fresh matter
with which subsequent study and experience had supplied him, and im-
proving them where an increased refinement in taste showed him they were
defective. f

In 1812, lord Woodhouselee succeeded to some property bequeathed him by
his friend and relation, Sir James Craig, governor of Canada. On this
occasion a journey to London was necessary, and his lordship accordingly pro-
ceeded thither. Amongst the other duties which devolved upon him there, as
nearest relative of the deceased knight, was that of returning to the sovereign
the insignia of the order of the Bath with which Sir James had been invested.
In the discharge of this duty his lordship had an interview with the Prince
Regent, who received him with marked cordiality, and, from the conversation
which afterwards followed, became so favourably impressed regarding him, tiiat
he caused an intimation to be conveyed to him soon after, that the dignity of
baronet would be conferred upon him if he chose it. This honour^ however,
his lordship modestly declined.

On his return from London, his lordship, who Avas now in the sixty-fifth year
of his age, was attacked with his old complaint, and so seriously, that he was
advised, and prevailed upon to remove from Woodhouselee to Edinburgh for
the benefit of the medical skill which the city afforded. No human aid, how-
ever, could now avail him. His complaint daily gained ground in despite of
every effort to arrest its progress. Feeling that he had not long to live,
although perhaps, not aware that the period was to be so brief, he desired his
coachman to drive him out on the road in the direction of Woodhouselee, the
scene of the greater portion of the happiness which he had enjoyed through
life, that he might obtain a last sight of his beloved retreat.

On coming within view of the well-known grounds his eyes beamed with a
momentary feeling of delight. He returned home, ascended the stairs which
led to his study with unwonted vigour, gained the apartment, sank on the floor,
and expired without a groan.

Lord Woodhouselee died on the 5th January, 1813, in the 66th year of his
age ; leaving a name which will not soon be forgotten, and a reputation
for taste, talent, and personal worth, which will not often be surpassed.

JAMES TYTLER. 391

TYTLER, Jamks, a laborious miscellaneous writer, was the son of the minister
of Fern, in the county of Forfar, where he was born about the middle of the
last century. After receiving a good education, he was apprenticed to a
Mr Ogilvie, a surgeon in Forfar, for whom he probably prepared the drugs
Avhich almost invariably form a part of the business of such provincial practi-
tioners. He afterwards commenced a regular medical education at the uni-
versity of Edinburgh, for which the necessary finances were partly supplied by
two voyages which he made in the capacity of surgeon on board a Greenland
whaler. From his earliest years, and during the whole course of his professional
studies, he read Avith avidity every book that fell in his way ; and, having a
retentive memory, he thus acquired an immense fund of knowledge, more parti-
cularly, it is said, in the department of history. If reared in easy circumstances,
and Avith a proper supervision over his moral nature, it is probable that Tytler
would have turned his singular aptitude for learning, and his prompt and lively
turn of mind, to some account, either in the higher walks of literature, or in some
professional pursuit. He appears, however, to have never known anything but the
most abject poverty, and to have never been inspired with a taste for anything
superior : talent and information were in him unaccompanied by any develop-
ment of the higher sentiments : and he contentedly settled at an early period
of life into an humble matrimonial alliance, which obliged him to dissipate, upon
paltry objects, the abilities that ought to have been concentrated upon some
considerable effort. Whether from the pressing nature of the responsibilities
thus entailed upon him, or from a natural want of the power of application,
Tytler was never able to fix himself steadily in any kind of employment. He
first attempted to obtain practice as a surgeon in Edinburgh ; but finding the
profits of that business inadequate to the support of his family, and being
destitute of that capital which might have enabled him to overcome the
first difficulties, he was soon induced to remove to Leith, in order to open
a shop for the sale of chemical preparations. For this department he was cer-
tainly qualified, so far as a skill in chemistry, extraordinary in that age, could
be supposed to qualify him. But either from the want of a proper market for
his commodities, or because, as formerly, he could not aflbrd to wait till time
should establish one, he failed in this line also. In the mean time, some lite-
rary efforts of Tytler had introduced him to the notice of the booksellers of
Edinburgh, and he was employed by Messrs Bell and Macfarquhar, as a contri-
butor to the second edition of the Encyclopasdia Britannica, uhich began to be
published in 1776. As noticed in the life of Mr William Sinellie, the
first edition of the Encyclopasdia was chiefly compiled by that gentleman, and
was comprised in three volumes quarto. 3Ir Smellie having declined both a
commercial and literary share in the second impression, on account of
its including a biographical department, the proprietors appear to have en-
gaged the pen of Mr Tytler as the next most eligible person that was at their
command as a compiler ; and accordingly, a large proportion of that addi-
tional matter, by which the work was expanded from three to ten volumes, was
the production of the subject of this memoir. The payment for this labour is
said to have been very small, insomuch that the poor author could not support
his family in a style superior to that of a common labourer. At one time, dur-
ing the progress of the work, he lived in the village of Duddingston, in the
house of a washerwoman, whose tub, inverted, formed the only desk he could
command ; and the editor of this dictionary has heard one of his children re-
late, that she was frequently despatched to town with a small parcel of copy,
upon the proceeds of which depended the next meal of the family. It
is curious to reflect that the proceeds of the work \>hich included so much of

392 JAMES TYTLEIl.

this poor man's labours, were, in the next ensuing edition, no less than forty-
two thousand pounds. It is proper, however, to mention that the poverty of
Tytler was chiefly attributable to liis own imprudence and intemperate habits.
A highly characteristic anecdote, related by an anonymous biographer,' will
make this sufficiently clear. " As a proof," says this writer, " of the extra-
ordinary stock of general knowledge which Mr Tytler possessed, and with wiiat
ease he could write on any subject almost extempore, a gentleman in the city
of Edinburgh once told me that he had occasion to apply to this extraordinary
man for as much matter as would form a junction between a certain his-
tory and its continuation to a later period. He found him lodged in one of
those elevated apartments called garrets, and was informed by the old woman
with whom he resided, that he could not see him, as he had gone to bed rather
the worse of liquor. Determined, however, not to depart without his errand,
he was shown into Mr Tytler's apartment by the light of a lamp, where he
found him in the situation described by the landlady. The gentleman having
acquainted him with the nature of the business which brought him at so late an
hour, Mr Tytler called for pen and ink, and in a short time produced about a
page and a half of letter-press, which answered the end as completely as if it
had been the result of the most mature deliberation, previous notice, and a mind
undisturbed by any liquid capable of deranging its ideas." A man who has so
little sense of natural dignity as to besot his senses by liquor, and who can so
readily make his intellect subservient to the purposes of all who may choose to
employ its powers, can hardly expect to be otherwise than poor ; while his very
poverty tends, by inducing dependence, to prevent him from gaining the
proper reward for his labours. Tytler, moreover, had that contentment with
poverty, if not pride in it, which is so apt to make it permanent. "It is said,"
proceeds his biographer, after relating the above anecdote, " that Mr Tytler
was perfectly regardless about poverty, so far as to feel no desire to conceal it
from the world. A certain gentleman who had occasion to wait upon him on
some particular business, found him eating a cold potatoe, which he continued
to devour with as much composure, as if it had been the most sumptuous repast
upon earth." It is mentioned elsewhere by the same writer that poor Tytlei
never thought of any but present necessities, and was as happy in the possession
of a few shillings as a miser could be with all the treasures of India.

Besides his labours in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, to the third edition of
which he is said to have also contributed, (particularly the article " Electricity,"
which was allowed to be excellent,) he was employed in the compilation of
many miscellaneous books of an useful character, and also in abridgments. At
one time, while confined within the precincts of the sanctuary of Holyrood, he
had a press of his own, from which he threw off various productions, generally
without the intermediate use of manuscript. In a small mean room, amidst the
squalling and squalor of a number of children, this singular genius stood at a
printer's case, composing pages of types, either altogether from his own ideas,
or perhaps with a volume before him, the language of which he was condensing
by a mental process little less difficult. He is said to have, in this manner,
fairly commenced an abridgment of that colossal work, the Universal History :
it was only carried, however, through a single volume. To increase the sur-
prise which all must feel regarding these circumstances, it may be mentioned,
that his press was one of his own manufacture, described by his biographer, as
being " wrought in the direction of a smith's bellows ;" and probably, there-
fore, not unlike that subsequently brought into use by the ingenious John Iluth-

1 See " a Biographical Sketch of the Life of James Tytler;" Edinburgh, printed by and
for Denovan, I^^vnmarket, ISOo.

JAMES TYTLER. 393

ven. This machine, however, is allowed to have been « but an indifferent
one :" and tliiis it was with almost everything in which Tytler was concerned.
EveryUiing was wonderful, considering the circumstances under which it was
produced ; but yet nothing was in itself very good.

Tytler was at one period concerned in a manufactory of magnesia, which,
however, did no good as long as he was connected with it ; though it is said to
have realized much money afterwards to his partner and successors. Such was
constantly his fate : his ingenuity and information, useless to himself, were per-
petually taken advantage of by meaner, but more steady minds. On the com-
mencement of the balloon mania, after the experiments of Montgolfier, Tytler
would try his hand also at an aeronautic voyage. Accordingly, having con-
structed a huge dingy bag, and filled it with the best hydrogen he could pro-
cure, he collected the inhabitants of Edinburgh to the spot, and prepared to
make his ascent. The experiment took place in a garden within the Sanctuary ;
and the wonder is, that he did not fear being carried beyond it, as in that
event, he would have been liable to the gripe of his creditoi-s. There was no
real danger, however ; the balloon only moved so high, and so far, as to carry
him over the garden wall, and deposit him softly on an adjoining dunghill.
The crowd departed, laughing at the disappointed aeronaut, who ever after
went by the name, appropriate on more accounts than one, of " Balloon
Tytler."

During his residence in the Sanctuary, Tytler commenced a small periodical
work, entitled the " Weekly Review," which was soon discontinued. Afterwards,
in 1780, a similar work was undertaken by a printer, named Mennons, and Tyt-
ler was employed in the capacity of chief contributor. This was a cheap miscel-
lany, in octavo ; and the present writer, who once possessed a volume of it, is
inclined, on recollection, to say, that it displayed considerable talent. Tytler
also tried poetry, and was the author of at least one popular song — " I canna
come ilka day to woo ;" if not also of another, styled " The bonnie brucket
Lassie." Burns, in his notes on Scottish Song, alludes with surprise to the
fact, that such clever ballads should have been the composition of a poor devil,
with a sky-light hat, and hardly a shoe to his feet One of the principal works
compiled by Tytler, was the " Edinburgh Geographical Grammar," published
by Mr Kincaid, as an improvement upon the work bearing the name of
Guthrie, which had gone through numerous editions, without any revisal to
keep it abreast of the march of information. In the year 1792, Mr Tytler
was conducting a periodical work, entitled " The Historical Register, or Edin-
burgh Monthly Intelligencer," and putting the last hand to a " System of Sur-
gery," in three volumes, which he had undertaken for a surgeon in Edinburgh,
who wished to liave the nominal credit of such a work, when he was suddenly
obliged to leave his native country. Having espoused the cause of parlia-
mentary reform, and joined the society entitled " Friends of the People," he
published, at the close of the year 1792, a political placard, which, in that
excited time, was deemed by the authorities to be of a seditious tendency.
Learning that the emissaries of the law had been sent forth in quest of him, he
sought refuge in the house of a friend in a solitary situation on the northern
skirts of Salisbury Crags ; whence, after a short concealment, he withdre\y to
Ireland; and thence, after finishing his " System of Surgery," to the United
States of America. Having been cited before the High Court of Justiciary, and
failed to appear, he was outlawed by that tribunal, January 7, 1793. His
family, which he necessarily left behind him, was for some time in great dis-
tress ; nor did they ever rejoin him in tlie land of his adoption, poverty on botii
sides, perhaps, refusing the necessary expenses. In America, Tytler resumed

394 Sill THOMAS UllQUHART.

the course of life which had been interrupted by political persecution. He was
conducting a newspaper at Salem, when he died of a severe cold, in the Lit-
ter part of the year 1803.

Tliis extraordinary genius was, perhaps, a fair specimen of a class of literary
men who lr?ed in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and were cliarac-
terized by many of the general peculiarities of that bad era, in a form only
exaggerated perhaps by their abilities. They were generally open scoffers at what
their fellow creatures held sacred ; decency in private life, they esteemed a mean
and unworthy virtue ; to desire a fair share of worldly advantages, Mas, with them,
the mark of an ignoble nature. They professed boundless benevolence, and a
devotion to the spii-it of sociality, and thought that talent not only excused all
kinds of frailties, but was only to be effectually proved by such. The persons
** content to dwell in decencies for ever," were the chief objects of their aver-
sion ; while, if a man would only neglect his affairs, and keep himself and
his family in a sufficient degree of poverty, they would applaud him as a para-
gon of self-denial. Fortunately, this class of infatuated beings is now nearly
extinct ; but their delusion had not been exploded, till it had been the cause of
much intellectual ruin, and the vitiation of a large share of our literature.

u

URQUHART, (Sir) Thomas, of Cromarty, as he designates liimself, was a
writer of some note, in the seventeenth century, but is much more remarkable
for the eccentricity, than either the depth or extent, of his genius. Of this
singular person, there is scarcely anything more known, than that he
was knighted, though for what service is not recorded, by Charles I. at White*
hall; and that having, at an after period, viz., in 1651, accompanied his suc-
cessor, Charles II., from Scotland, in his invasion of England, he was taken
prisoner at the battle of Worcester. After his capture, he was detained in
London on his pnrole ; and this interval he employed in ivriting some of the
extraordinary works which have perpetuated his name.

He appears to have travelled, at some period of his life, through the greater
part of Europe, to have been well skilled in the modern languages of the
continent, and to have been tolerably accomplished in the fashionable arts of
the times in which he lived.

Meagre and few as these particulars are, they yet comprehend all that is
left us regarding the history of a person, who, to judge by the expressions which
he employs, when speaking of himself in his writings, expected to fill no in-
considerable space in the eyes of posterity. Amongst Sir Thomas's works, is a
translation of Rabelais, remarkably well executed ; but, with this performance,
begins and ends all possibility of conscientiously complimenting him on his
literary attainments. All the rest of his productions, though in each occasional
scintillations of genius may be discovered, are mere rhapsodies, incoherent,
unintelligible, and extravagantly absurd. At the head of this curious list, ap-
pears *' The Discovery of a most exquisite Jewel, more precious than diamonds
inchnsed in gold, the like whereof was never seen in any age ; found in the
kennel of Worcester streets, the day after the fight, and six before the autumnal
equinox, &c.,&c., anno 1G5I." This extraordinary work was written, as its
author avows, for the extraordinary purpose of helping him, by the display of
talent wiilch he conceived it would exhibit, to the recovery of his forfeited

WILLIAM WALLACE. 395

estates in Cromarty. As may be readily conceived, howeyer, it had no such
effect ; and it will be at once understood why it should uot, when it is men-
tioned that Cromwell was then protector of England. The " Jewel," its author
boasts, was written in fourteen days ; there being a struggle between him and
the printer, which should get on fastest : a contest which sometimes bore so
hard upon him, that he was, as he tells us, obliged to tear off fragments from
the sheet he was writing, in order to keep the press going. The "Jewel"
contains, amongst other piquant matters, the adventures of the Admirable
Crichton, and a pedigree of tlie author's family, in which he traces the male
line, witli great precision and accuracy, from Adam to himself; and on the
female side, from Eve to his mother ; regulating, as he goes along, the great
events in the history of the world, by the births and deaths of the Urquharts; to
which important events, he, with a proper sense of the respectability and dig-
nity of his progenitors, makes them quite subordinate.

This multifarious and elaborate work, although the most important of the
learned knight's productions, was not the first in point of time. In 1645, he
published, in London, a treatise on Trigonometry, dedicated, in very flowery
language, to " the right honourable, and most noble lady, my dear and loving
mother, the lady dowager of Cromartie." This work, though disfigured by all
the faults of manner and style peculiar to its author, yet discovers a knowledge
of mathematics, which, when associated with his other attainments, leaves no
doubt of his having been a man of very superior natural endowments.

w

WALLACE, WiLi,i4.r, the celebrated asserter of the national independence,
was born probably about the middle of the reign of Alexander 111., or the year
1270. Part of the circumstances which called forth this hero from obscurity
are already detailed under the life of Baliol ; the remainder must here be
briefly noticed.

After the deposition of that unfortunate sovereign in 1296, king Edward I.
overran Scotland with his troops, and united it, as he thought, for ever, to his
native dominions. Many of the nobility who had taken part in the resistance
of king John, fell into his hands, and were sent prisoner to Engl.ind, whither
Baliol himself, along with his eldest son, had also been sent He destroyed
or took away all the public records ; and endeavoured to obliterate every
monument of the former independence of Scotland. He displaced those who
liad held important ofiices under Baliol, and bestowed them on Englishmen.
Warenne, earl of Surrey, was appointed governor, Hugh de Cressinghara
treasurer, and William Ormesby justiciary of Scotland ; and having thus set-
tled all things in a state of seeming tranquillity, he departed with the conviction
that he had made a final conquest of the country.

Scotland was now fated to experience the most flagrant oppression and
tyranny. The unlimited exactions of Cressingham, the treasurer, a volup-
tuous and selfish ecclesiastic, and the rigour of Ormesby, the justiciary,
in taking the oath of fealty, soon rendered them odious to the nobles ; «hile
the rapacity and barbarism of the soldiers laid the wretched inhabitanU open to

396 WILLIAM WALLACE.

every species of HTong and insult,^ Those who refused to tike the oath of al-
legiance to Edward were deprived of their estates, and in many cases of their
lives. Whatever was valuable in the kingdom was seized upon by its oppres-
sors ; even the cause of female virtue was not held sacred under their unhal-
lowed domination ; and in short, the whole country was laid under a military
despotism of the most unqualified and irresponsible kind. It wns at this dark
hour of Scotland's history, when the cry of an oppressed people ascended to
heaven, and the liberty for which they had so long struggled seemed to have
departed for ever from them, that Sir William Wallace arose, to avenge the
wrongs, and restore the rights of his country.

Sir William Wallace was descended from an ancient Anglo-Norman family in
the west of Scotland. His father was knight of Elderslie and Auchinbothie,
in Renfrewshire, and his mother daughter of Sir Baynauld Crawford, sheriff of
Ayr. Wynton, in his Chronicle, speaking of him, says,

Hys Fadyerc was a manly knycht,
Hys Modyere was a lady bricht,
Begothene and born in mariage ;
Hys eldare brodyere the herytage
Had and enjoyed in his da} is.

According to some writera, his father and brother were both slain by the
English at Lochinaben ; but from the above lines it would seem, that the elder

' Barbour, in his Bruce, has given the foUowihg lively picture of the deplorable stale
to which the country was reduced : —

Fra Weik anent Orkena)-,
To Mullyr snwk in Gallaway ;
And slufTyt all with Ingliss men.
Schyrreflys and bailyhejs maid he then ;
And alkjn othir officeris,
That for to gonern land afleris,
He maid oil' Inglis nation ;
That worth)! than sa rjch fellouo,
And sa wykkyt and cowatouss,
And swa liawtane and dispitouss,
That Scottis men mycht do na thing
That euir mycht plejss to thar liking.
Tlia'r wyffis wald thai oft forly,
And thar dochtr3S dispitusly:
And gyfToiiy of thaim thair at war
Thai wat) t hym wele with gret scaith %
For thai suld fjnd sone enchesone n

To out hym to destructione.
And gyffthat ony man thaim by
Had ony thing that wes worthy,
As horss, or bund, or othir thing',
That war plcsand to thar liking;
With rycht or wrang it have wald thai
And gyf ony wald thaim withsay ;
Tiuii suld swa do, that thai suld tjno
Othir land or lyfl", or le}H in pjne.
For thai dempt thaim eftir thair will.
Takand na kep to r^cht na skill.
A ! quhat thai dempt thaim felonly
For gud kn}chtis that war worthy.
For lilill enchesoune, or than nan«j.
Thai hangyt be the nekbane.
Als that folk, that euir wes frc,
• And in fredome wount for to be,
Throw thar gret myschance, and foly,
War tretyt than sa wykkytlj',
That thair fap thair jugis war:
Quhat wrech lines may man have mai >'

WILLIAM WALLACE. ' 397

brother survived his father, and succeeded to the heritage. Sir William, who,
83 already mentioned, seems to have been born about the middle of the reign
of Alexander III., received the rudiments of his education at Dunipace
in Stirlingshire, under the guardianship of his uncle, a wealthy ecclesiastic
there. This worthy man is said to have stored his nephew's mind with the
choicest maxims from the ancients, and in particular to have imprinted upon
his memory the following Leonine verses, which Wallace often repeated in after
years :

DIco tibi verum, Libertas optima rerum,
Nuiiquam servili sub nexu vivito, fili.

Thus translated by Monipennie :

My Sonne (I say) Freedom is best,
Then never yield to thrall's arrest.

From Dunipace Wallace was removed to a public seminary at Dundee,
wliere he contracted a friendsiiip with John Blair, a Benedictine monk, who
afterwards became his chaplain. Blair, being an eye-witness to most of his
actions, composed a history of them in Latin ; but the work has not, unfortu-
nately, come down to us, though a liberal use has evidently been made of it in
the vernacular metrical work of Blind Harry.^

It would appear that Wallace first displayed his intrepid temper in a
(juarrel at Dundee with a young Englisli nobleman of the name of Selby,
Avhom, provoked by some wanton indignity, he stabbed with his dagger, ^nd
slew en the spot. The consequence of this was, that he was obliged to seek
for safety among the wilds and fastnesses of his country,^ where by degrees he
collected a little band, whom he inspired with his own patriotic sentiments.

Although deserted by their nobility, a spirit of determined hostility to the
English government was strongly manifested by the great body of the people.
Throughout the country, numerous bands of armed peasants collected, and
harassed in every possible way the English soldiers. A master spirit was only
wanting to guide them to the restoration of their country's independence — and
such they found in Sir William Wallace. He had every personal and mental
qualification to constitute him the leader of his countrymen at this period of
oppression. In the fragment ascribed to Blair, which is preserved, he is de-
scribed as of a tall and gigantic stature, a serene countenance, a pheasant as-
pect, large and broad-shouldered, but of no unwieldy bulk ; liberal in his
gifts, just in his judgments, eloquent in discourse, compassionate to those in

1 The following lines occur near the conclusion of Blind Harry's performance :

Of Wallace' Life, who hath a belter skeel,

May show forth more with wit and eloquence

For I to this have done my diligence,

After the prose, given from the Latin book,

Which Master Blair in his time undertook,

In fair Latin compiled to an end, &c.
^ •' There is a respectable man in Longforgan, Perthshire, who hits in his possession a
stone, called W'allace^s stone. It was what was formerly called in this country a bear stone,
hollow like a large mortar, and was made use of to unhusk the bear or barley, as a prepara-
tive for the pot, with a large wooden mell, long before barley-mills were known, its
station was on one side of the door, and covered with a flat stone for a seat when ni>K>»)«J-
wise employed. Upon this stone Wallace sat on his way from Dundee, when he «/« »""
killing Selby, the governor's son, and was fed with bread and mi k by the go"''"'!^ °^ "> «
house; from whom the man who now lives there, and is the proprietor of the stonf'/^ '""fa'"
Iv descended •, and here his forbears (ancestors) have lived ever since, in nearly the same
s"lation and circumstances for about £00 \ears:' ^Statistical Account of Scotland, xix. ooi.

398 WILLIAM WALLACE.

distress, a strong protector and deliverer of the oppressed and poor, and a great
enemy to liars and cheats. Fordun and Budinnan also cliaracterize him
as superior to the rest of mankind in bodily stature, strength, and activity; in
bearing cold and heat, thirst and hunger, watching and fatigue ; valiant and
prudent, magnanimous and disinterested, undaunted in adversity, modest in
prosperity, and animated by the most ardent and unextinguisliable love of his
country. With these qualifications, and with a band of followers who confided
in him, and who were stimulated by the same wish of x'escuing their country
from the tyranny under which it groaned, he soon became a terror to the
Knglish, and performed many daring feats of valour. His early and desultory
enterprises against the enemy were almost all successful ; and the result was,
that numbers who had looked with indignation at the usurpation of the crown
by Edward, and who only waited for an opportunity of asserting the independ-
ence of their country, flocked to his standard, until he found himself at the
head of a great body of men, all fired with the same patriotic spirit.

As Wallace's party grew stronger, several of the Scottish nobles joined
him. Among these were, the steward of Scotland, and Sir Andrew Mur-
ray of Bothwell ; Sir John the Grahame, who became W^allace's bosom friend
and confidant ; William Douglas, lord of Douglasdale, designated the Hardy ;
Sir Robert Boyd ; Alexander de Lindesay ; Sir Richard Lundin ; and Wisheart,
bishop of Glasgow. These either acted together, or engaged in separate ex-
peditions, as circumstances allowed. Ormesby, the English justiciary, was
•about this time holding his court at Scone. Wallace attacked him there, killed
some of his followers, and took many prisoners ; but the justiciary had the
good fortune to escape. While Wallace was engaged in this expedition, or
some other equally daring, lord Douglas recovered the castles of Durisdeer and
Sanquhar from the English.'

About the same period, a memorable adventure in the history of Wallace, —
the burning of the barns of Ayr, — is said to have taken place. According to
prevalent tradition, the English governor of Ayr invited to a friendly con-
ference many of the Scottish gentry, in some large buildings, called the Barns
of Ayr, where, by a treacherous and premeditated stratagem, they were strangled
to death. Among those slain in this base manner, were, Sir Raynauld Craw-
ford, sheriff of the county of Ayr, and maternal undo to Wallace ; Sir Neil

' The manner of his bikinv the caslle of Sanc^uhar, is thus described by Hume of Gods-
croft, in his History of the House of Douglas : — '• There was one Anderson that served the
caslle, and furnished it with wood and fuel. The lord Douglas directs one of his trustiest
;iud stoutest of his servants to deal with him, or to find some means to betray the castle to
him, and to bring him within the gates only. Anderson, either persuaded by entreaty, or
corrupted by money, gave my lord's servant, allied Thomas Dickson, his apparei and car-
riages-, who, coming to the castle, was let in by the porter for Anderson. Dickson stabbed
the porter ; and, giving the signal to my lord, who lay near by with his companions, set open
the gates, and received them into the court. They, being entered, killed the ciptain, and
the whole of the English garrison, and so remained masters of the place. The captain's
name was Beauford, who had oppressed the country that lay near him very insolently. One
of the English that had been in the castle, escaping, went to the other garrisons that were in
other castles and towns adjacent, and told them what had befallen his fellows, and withal
informed them how the ciistle might be recovered. Whereupon, joining their forces together,
they came, and besieged it. Lord Douglas, finding himself straitened, and unprovided of
necessaries for his d«;fence, did secretly convey his man, Dickson, out at a postern or some
hidden passage, and sent him to William Wallace for aid. Wallace was then in Lennox ;
and, hearing of the dimger Douglas was in, made all the haste he could to corne to his relief.
The English, having notice of Wallace's approach, left the siege, and retired towards Eng-
land, yet not so quickly, but that Wallace, accompanied by Sir John Graham, did overtake
them, and killed five hundred of their numl>er, before they could pass Dalswinton. By
these, and such like means, Wallace, with his assistants, having beaten the English from
most parts of their strengths in Scotland, did commit the Ciire and custody of the whole
country, from Drumlanrig to Ayr, to the charge of the lord Douglas."

WILLIAIM WALLACE. 399

Montgomerie, Sir Bryce Blair, and Crystal of Seaton.* Wallace, on hearing
of this circumstance, instantly set forward towards Ayr, accompanied by hi«
confederates ; and, about niidniglit, surrounded the barns, where the En<r]igh
soldiers were cantoned, set them on fire, and either killed, or forced back to
perish in tlie flames, all who endeavoured to escape. 3Iany of the English
soldiers who lodged in a convent, were, at the same time, attacked and put to
the sword by the friars : and this is still proverbially called the Friar of Ayr's
Blessing. On returning from Ayr, with a body, it is said, of three hundred
men, Wallace proposed to make an attack upon Glasgow, which was possessed
by an English force of a thousand soldiers. With this purpose, he divided his
band into two, giving the command of one of them to Boyd of Auchinleck,*
Avith instructions to make a circuit and enter the town at an opposite point,
while he himself would engage in the front Wallace came in contact with
the English, near the present site of the college ; a desperate and well-con-
tested combat ensued : the leader of the English fell beneath the sword of
Wallace ; and, on the appearance of Boyd, the English Avere tluroun into con-
fusion, and pursued, with great loss, as f^ir as Bothwell castle.

These, and similar gallant exertions in the cause of Scotland, at length
roused the indignation of the English monarch, who had been at firet inclined
to treat them with disdain. Calling forth the military force on the north of
the Trent, he sent Sir Henry Percy, nephew of the earl of Surrey, and Sir
Robert Clifford, into Scotland to reduce the insurgents, at the head of an army
of forty thousand foot, and three hundred fully caparisoned horse. The Eng-
lish army marched through Annandale to Lochmaben, where, during the night,
their encampment was suddenly surprised, and attacked with great fury by
Wallace and his party, who, however, in the end, were obliged to retire. At
break of dawn, the English advanced towards Irvine, and soon discovered
the Scottish squadrons drawn up on the border of a small lake. The force of
the latter was unequal to a well-appointed army; but Wallace was among them,
and under his conduct they might have made a successful resistance. Dissen-
sions, hoivever, arose among the chiefs as to precedency ; and they were, per-
haps, the more untractable from a conviction of their inferiority to the enemy.
Sir Richard Lundin was the first to set the example. ExcLaiming that he
would not remain with a party at variance with itself, he left the Scottish camp,
and went over with his retainers to the English. He was followed in this by
Bruce, (afterwards the hero of Bannockburn,) who had lately joined the Scot-
tish army ; by the steward of Scotland, and his brother ; by Alexander de
Lindesay ; William, lord of Douglasdale ; and tlie bishop of Glasgow. All
these acknowledged their offences, and for themselves and their adherents
made submission to Edward. A treaty^ to this effect, to which their seals were
appended, was drawn up in Norman French, and a copy transmitted to Wal-

^ Barbour, a credible author, sajfl, (alluding to Crjsial of Seaton,)

It wes gret sorrow sekyrly,
That so worthy persoune as he,
Suld on sic manner hancryt be :
This gate endyt his wortu}Ties,
And off" Craw ford ah Schi/r Ranald toes.
And Schyr Bryce als tlie Blar,

Uansyt in tUl a barne in Ar, .„ _„^

Tlie Bruce, nu 2604

5 Tlie father of this warrior, in consequence of the gallantry he displajed at the balOe of
Largs, obtained a grant oflands in Cunringliam from Alexander III.
0 it is dated 9th July, 1297. See Rymer, Foedera, vol ii. p. 774.

400 WILLIAM WALLxVCE.

lace ; but this brave and patriotic man rejected it with disdain. It is suppo>iod
that Sir John Grahame and Sir Robert Boyd were not present on this occasion;
their names are not in the treaty ; and historians say, that Sir Andrew Murray
of Bothwell was the only boron who remained with Wallace, after this disgrace-
ful desertion.

Undismayed by the occurrence, Wallace retired to the north, after venting
his indignation on the castle and lands of the bishop of Glasgow, who was the
negotiator of the treaty, and who, by his intrigues, had the common fortune of
being suspected by both parties. There are no authentic memorials regarding
the particular actions of Wallace during the summer months that intervened be-
tween the treaty of Irvine and the battle of Stirling ; but he seems to have been
active and successful in raising a formidable army. The spirit of his country-
men was now roused. Knighton, an old English historian, informs us, that
" although the nobility of Scotland had attached themselves to England, the
HEART OF THE PEOPLE WAS WITH Wallace, and the Community of the land obeyed
him as their leader and their prince." The cause of this is obvious. 3Iany,
or most of the nobles, were Normans, of recent connexion with Scotland j still
disposed to look rather to England than to Scotland as their country, and to
the English monarch, than to the Scottish, as their sovereign : while the com-
mon people had no attachment but to their native soil, and their native prince.
Wallace was one of the Anglo-Normans who sided with the body of the
people, in this quarrel, and it is easy to see that much of the jealousy of the
nobility towards hiu), was excited by the reflection, that he deserted the cause
of his kindred aristocracy, for the sake of popular and national rights.

It was when Wallace had succeeded in expelling the English from the castles
of Forfar, Brechin, Montrose, and nearly all their strongholds on the north of
the Forth, and had just begun the siege of the castle of Dundee, that intelli-
gence reached him of the English a»-my, under the command of the earl of Sur-
rey and Cressingham, the treasurer, being on its march to oppose him.
Charging the citizens of Dundee to continue, on pain of death, the siege of the
castle, he hastened with all his troops to guard the important passage of the
Forth, before Surrey had passed the bridge at Stirling, and encamped behind
a rising ground in the neighbourhood of the abbey of Cambuskenneth. His
nrmy, at this time, amounted to forty thousand foot, and a hundred and eighty
horse. That of the English was superior in numbers, being fifty thousand foot,
and one thousand hoi-se. The Steward of Scotland, the earl of Lennox, Sir
Richard Lundin, and others of the Scottish barons, were now with the Englisli,
and, on the army reaching Stirling bridge, they requested Surrey to delay an
attack, till ihey had attempted to bring Wallace to terms. They soon returned
with the information, that they had failed in their efforts at a reconciliation, and
that they had not been able to persuade a single soldier to desert. Surrey, who
seems to have been aware of the danger of passing the bridge, as a last resource,
sent two friars to offer a pardon to \Vallace and his followers, on condition that
they would lay down their arms. But the spirit of Wallace was unsubdued. " Go
back to your masters," he said, *' and tell them, that we stand not here to treat
of peace, but to avenge the wrongs, and restore the freedom of our country.
Let the English come on — we shall meet them beard to beard.'' On hearing
this defiance, the English impatiently demanded to be led to the attack ;
but Surrey, alive to the strong position occupied by the Scots, hesitated, until
overcome by the taunts and impatience of Cressingham. " Why, my lord,"
cried this insolent churchman, " should we protract the war, and spend the
king^s money ? Let us forward as becomes us, and do our knightly duly."

The English army began to cross the bridge, led by Sir Marmaduke Twenge

"WILLIAM WALLACE. 401

and Cressingham; and when nearly the half had passed, Wallace charged them
with his whole force, before they had time to form, and threw them into inex-
tricable confusion. A vast multitude was slain, or drowned in the river in at-
tempting to rejoin Surrey, who stood on the other side, a spectator of the dis-
comfiture. Cressingham, the treasurer, was among the fii-st who fell ; and so
deeply was his character detested, that the Scote mangled his dead body, and
tore the skin from his limbs.' Twenge, by a gallant struggle, regained the
bridge, and got over to his friends. A panic seized the English "who stood
with Sujiey, spectators of the rout Abandoning their wagons and baggage,
they fled precipitately, burning the bridge, (which was of wood,) to prevent
pursuit. The earl of Lennox and the Scottish barons, perceiving this, threw
off their mask of alliance with Edward ; and, being joined by part of the
Scottish army, who crossed the river by means of a ford at some distance from
the bridge, pursued the English with great vigour as far as Berwick, which was
soon abandoned, and taken possession of by the victorious army. It is not
known how many of the English fell at this battle, but the slaughter must have
been great, as few of those who crossed the bridge escaped ; and the Scots,
smarting under the cruel insolence and rapacity with which they had been
treated, gave little quarter. On the side of the Scots, few of any note were
slain, with the exception of Sir Andrew Murray of Bothnell, the faithful com-
panion of Wallace, whose son, some time after, was made regent of Scotland.

This decisive engagement took place on the 11th of September, 1297 ; and
its consequences were important. The castles of Dundee, Edinburgh, and
Roxburgh, immediately surrendered to Wallace : and in a short time not a for-
tress or castle' in Scotland remained in the hands of the English. Thus,
through the means of one man, was Scotland delivered from the iron yoke of
Edward, and her name and independence among the nations of the earth
restored.

Wallace was now declared, by the voice of the people, governor and guardian
of the kingdom, under Baliol.^ About the same time, a severe dearth and fa-
niine, the consequence of bad seasons and the ravages of war, afflicted Scot-
land; and Wallace, with the view of procuring sustenance for his followers, and
of pi'ofiting by his victory at Stirling, resolved upon an immediate expedition
into England. For the purpose of raising a formidable anny, he commanded
that from every county, barony, town, and village, a certain proportion cf
lighting men, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, should be levied ; and al-
though the jealousy of the Scottish nobility began to be more than ever excited,
and many endeavours were made by them to prevent cordial co-operation, he
soon found himself at the head of a numerous body of men, with whom he
marched towards the north of England, taking with him, as his partner in com-
mand. Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell, son of the gallant knight who fell at
the battle of Stirling bridge. The approach of the Scottish army, struck the
inhabitants of the northern counties with terror : they abandoned their dwel-
lings, and, with their cattle and household goods, took refuge in Newcastle.
" At this time," says Hemingford, an English historian, " the praise of God
was unheard in any church or monastery throughout the whole country, from
Newcastle-upon-Tyne to the gates of Carlisle ; for the monks, canons regular,

7 It is said in an old MS. Chronicle, that Wallace made a sftord-belt of Cressingham 's
skin. I his may be the origin of the story, tliat the Scots made girllis of his skin ; an absur-
c*ity upon whicli lord Hailts is at the pains of passing a joke.

8 His title runs thus in a document of his own time :—«' WillelmusVValays, miles,
custos regni Scolite, et ductor exercituum ejusdem, nomine prsedan Prina^ is Uonuni
JohaiinJs, Dei gratia, regis Scotia; illustris, de consensu communitatis ejusdtm.

lY, 8B

402 WILLIAM WALLACE.

and other priests, who were ministers of the Lord, Ced, with the wholo people,
from the face of the enemy : nor wcs there any to oppose tlieiu, except that,
now and then, a few English, Mho belonged to the castle of Alnwick, and other
strengths, ventured from their safe-holds, and slew some stragglers. I3ut these
were slight successes; and the Scots roved over the country, fiom the Feast of
St Luke's to St Martin's Day, inflicting upon it all the miseries of unrestrained
rapine and bloodshed.'" All the tract of country, from Cockerniouth and Carlisle,
to the gates of Newcastle, was laid waste; and it was next determined to invade
the county of Durham. But the Avinter set in with such severity, and provisions
became so scarce, that multitudes of the Scots perished through cold and famine,
and Wallace was obliged to draw off his army. It seems that he endeavoured in
vain to restrain many outrages of his followers. The canons of Hexham, a large
town in Northumberland, complained to him that their monastery had been sa-
crilegiously plundered, and that their lives were in danger. "Eemain with
me," he said ; "for I cannot protect you from my soldiers, when you are out
of my presence." At the same time, he granted them a charter, by wliicli the
priory and convent were admitted under the peace of the king of Scotland ;
and all persons interdicted, on pain of the loss of life, from doing them injury
This curious document still exists. It is dated at Hexham on the 8th of Novem-
ber, 1297.

After his return from England, Wallace proceeded to adopt and enforce those
public measures, which he considered necessary for securing the liberty of his
country. With the consent and approbation of the Scottish nobility, he con-
ferred the office of constabulary of Dundee, on Alexander, named Skirmischur,
or Scrimgeour, and his heii-s, "for his faithful aid in bearing the banner of
Scotland."'" He divided the kingdom into military districts, in order to secure
new levies, at any time when the danger or exigency of the state required
them. He appointed an officer or sergeant over every four men, anotlier of
higher power over every nine, another of still higher authority over every
nineteen ; and thus, in an ascending scale of disciplined authority, up to the
officer, or chiliarch, who commanded a thousand men. In other resjpects, his
administration was marked by justice and sound judgment. He was liberal in
rewarding those who deserved well of their country, by their exertions during
its late struggle for liberty ; and strict in punishing all instances of private
wrong and oppression. But the envy and jealousy of the higher nobility, who
could ill brook the elevation of one whose actions had thrown them so much
into the shade, perplexed the councils, and weakened the government, of the
country, at a time when the political existence of Scotland depended on its
unanimity.

Edward was in Flanders when the news reached him, that th.e Scots, under
Sir William Wallace, had entirely defeated Surrey, driven every Ei.'glish sol-
dier out of their countrj', invaded England, and, in short, had thrown off
effectually the yoke with Mhich he had fettered them. Inflamed against Uiem,
at this overthrow of his exertions and schemes, he issued orders to ail the forces
of England and Wales to meet him at York ; and, concluding a truce with
France, hastened home, to take signal vengeance on the assertors of their
liberty, and to make final conquest of a country which had proved so con-
tumacious and untractable. At York, he held a parliament, on the Feast of

9 In retaliation, lord Robert Cliflbrd twice invaded Annandale witli an army of twenty
thousand men and one hundred horse. In his stcond inroad, the town of Annan, whicli be-
longed to Robert Bruce, and the chuicli of G_\sbome, xvcrc bunit and i)lunri( rtd. 'I'Jiis is
said to have determined Bruce to desert the English, and join the part) of Wallace.

W Tiiis grant is dated at Torphicheii, 29th IMarcli, \29A.

J*, -nsm

•Hfe-'-i

WILLTiM WALLACE. 403

Pentecost, 1298, where, to secure the hearty cooperation of his subjects in his
invasion of Scotland, he passed several gracious and popular acts, and came
under a promise of ratifying more, should he return victorious. He soon found
himself at tl'.e head of an aniiy, formidable in number, and splendid in equip-
ment. It consisted at first of seven thousand fully caparisoned hoi-se, and
eighty thousand infantry; and these were soon strengthened by the arrival of
a powerful reinforcement from Gascony. A large fleet, laden with proTisions,
had orders to sail up the Frith of Forth, as the army advanced.

The English rendezvoused near Roxburgh ; and, about midsummer, ad-
vanced into the country by easy marches. A party under Aymer de Valloins,
earl of Pembroke, landed in the north of Fife. Wallace attacked and routed
them in the forest of Black Ironside, 12th June, 1298. Among the Scots,
Sir Duncan Balfour, sheriff of Fife, was the only person of importance who fell
in this engagement.

This partial success, however, of the ever-active guardian of his country,
could not aftect the terrible array that was now coming against him. He had
no army at all able to compete with Edward ; and his situation was rendered
more perilous by the mean fears and jealousies of the nobility. Many of these,
alarmed for their estates, abandoned him in his need ; and others, who yet re-
tained a spirit of resistance towards the English supremacy, envied his eleva-
tion, and sowed dissensions and divisions among his council. Wallace, how-
ever, with a spirit equal to all emei'^encies, endeavoured to collect and conso-
lidate the strength of the country. Among the barons who repaired to his
standard, only the four following are recorded : John Comyn of Badenoch, the
younger ; Sir John Stewart of Bonkill ; Sir John Graham of Abercom ; and
Macduff, the granduncle of the young earl of Fife. Robert Bruce remained
with a strong body of his vassals in the castle of Ayr." As the army of Wallace
was altogether unequal to the enemy, he adopted the only plan by which he
could hope to overcome it. He fell back slowly as Edward advanced, leaving
some garrisons in the most important castles, driving off all supplies, wasting
the country through which the English were to pass, and waiting till a scarcity
of provisions compelled them to retreat, and gave him a favourable opportunity
of attacking them.

Edward proceeded as far as Kirkliston, a village six miles west of Edin-
burgh, without meeting any resistance, except from the castle of Dirleton, which,
after a resolute resistance, surrendered to Anthony Beck, bishop of Durham.
But a devastating ai-my had gone before him, and his soldiers began to suffer
severely from the scarcity of provisions. At Kirkliston, therefore, he deter-
mined to wait the arrival of his fleet from Berwick ; but, owing to contrary
winds, only a few ships reached the coast ; and, in the couise of a month, his
army was reduced to absolute famine. An insurrection, also, arose among the
English and Welsh cavalry, in which the latter, exasperated at the death of
several of their companions, threatened to join the Scots. " Let them go,'
said Edward, courageously: " I shall then have an opportunity of chastising all

" The story told by Fordun of the interview between Wallace and Bruce on the banks of

r . • -—,..... 1. I ,1.1. _f t.»«A^f nF »i-»o r*;ir_

held a .auspicious neutrality «itii regard to Wallace; and, if «e can reconcile ^'''^}^\^^J'^.
probability of a meeting between these two heroes, it is not '''f'^"'' '° '"PP^^gjg "

effusions in verse, was the successlul competitor.

^.

404 WILLIAM WALLACE.

my enemies at the same time." Worn out, however, by a daily Inci'eaeing fa-
mine, Edward was at Inst obliged to abandon his prospects of ambition and re-
venge, and to issue orders for a retreat to the eastern borders. It was at this
critical moment, when the English army began to break up their quarters, that
Edward, through the ti'eachery of two Scottish lords, Patrick, earl of Dunbar,
and the earl of Angus, received information that the Scots lay encamped in the
forest of Falkirk ; and that it was the intention of Wallace to surprise him by
a night attack, and to hang upon and harass his rear. " Tliank (iod," cried
Edward: " they shall not need to follow me; I shall go and meet them." His army
was immediately marched towards Falkirk, and on the evening of the day on which
he received the information, encamped on a heath near Linlithgow.

Next morning, (July 22nd, 1298,) the Scottish army was descried forming
on a stony field at the side of a small eminence in the neighbourhood of Fnl>
kirk. It did not amount in number to the third part of the English, and, weak
as it was, is said by the Scottish historians to have been still further weakened
by fatal dissensions. Wallace, however, seems to have availed himself
of every adrantaga vA&fa his situation and circumstances permitted. Pie
placed his army on the front of a morass, and divided his infantry into four
compact bodies of a circular form. In these masses composed of his spearmen,
and called Shiltrons,'^ consisted the strength of the Scottish army ; for
they were linked together so closely that it was extremely difficult to break
them.^'' In the spaces between the Shiltrons were placed the archers, commanded
by Sir John Stewart, of Bonkill, and at some distance in the rear was drawn up
the cavalry, amounting to no more than a thousand. When he had thus drawn up
his little army, and the enemy appeared in view, Wallace said pleasantly to his
men, " I have brought you to the ring ; let me see how you can dance.""

The English monarch arranged his army into three divisions; the first
headed by Bigot, earl Marshall, and the earls of Hereford and Lincoln ; the
second by the bishop of Durham and Sir Ralph Basset of Drayton ; and
the third by Edward himself, who, although wounded on ths previous night by
a kick from his horse, was yet able to mingle in the engagement. The
first division led on the attack ; but was checked by the morass that stretched
along the front of the Scottish position, and obliged to make a circuit to
the west. Meanwhile, the second line, under the command of the bishop of
Durham, and Basset, inclined to the right, turned the morass, and advanced
towards the left flank of the Scottish army. The bishop proposed to defer the
attack till the rest of the army should advance. *' Return to tliy mnss, bishop,"
said Basset, sneeringly. "Not so," answered the bishop: " we are all soldiers
to-day ; lead on >" At the same moment the first division made its appearance,

^ This word is used by Barbour, in his desci'iplion of tlie batile of Bannockburn ;.—
' J:^or Scotsmen that them hard essayed.
That then were in a thiltnim all.'
'3 ' Ther formost convey ther bukkis togidere selte,
Ther spcres, point over point, »> sare, and so thikke
And fast togidere joj nt, to se, It ^vas feilike,
Als a castelie thei stode, that were ^Talled with stone.
The! wende no man of blode thorgh them suld haf ffone.'

Langtqft s Chronicle, book if.
'♦ The words of Wallace were, «• / haif brochl you to the ring; hap, gif you cun." The
ring means the dame d la ronde. Hap is an old word for dance.
' The dansand priestis, clepit Sulii,
Happand and singand.'

Douglas's Miuid, viii. 2L
Lord Hailes supposes cun to be an obsolete verb of the noun and adjective cunnitig, still
used as, " Let my right hand forget its cuntiing," &c. ; and tmnslates " gif you cun," i/
you have skill. But we should imagine cun to be simply can, corruptly spelt : — " Gff
you cun," — if you can.

AVILLIASI WALLACE. 405

having extricated itself from the morsEs ; and they both attacked the Scottish
shihrons simultaneously. Tlie shock was tremendous. The English cavalry
was fully caparisoned and armed, and made desperate endeavours to break
through the columns of the Scottish infantry ; but were gallantly withstood.
" They could not penetrate that wood of spears," says one of their historians.
Their charges were repeatedly repulsed, notwithstanding that the Scottish
horse, conunanded by some of the nobles at variance with Wallace, either from
mean jealousy towards him, or fear at the number and force of the English, did
not come to the assistance of the infantry, but left the field without striking a
blow. Edward then brought fornard his numerous body of archers, a class of
soldiers for which England was long celebrated, and who, as a proverbial illus-
tration of the accuracy of their aim, were said to carry each twelve Scotsmen's
lives under their girdle, because they generally bore twelve arrows in their belt.
These by thick and incessant volleys dreadfully galled the Scottish columns.
The archers on the Scottish side were a small but select body from the forest of
Selkirk, ^' under the command of Sir John Stewart. In one of the charges,
Sir John was thrown from his horse. His faithful bowmen crowded around
him, and tried to rescue him ; but in vain. They all perished; and their
bodies were afterwards recognized by the English, as being the tallest
and handsomest on the field. Still the infantry under Wallace did not
give way, and still his sword flashed with terrific effect, amidst the throng of
the English cavalry, and the unceasing shower of the English arrows. But thfe
firm columns of the Scots were at length disunited by dreadful gaps of slain,
and they could no longer withstand the overpowering numbers borne against
them. Macduff and all his vassals from Fife were killed, and at last Sir
John the Graham fell by the side of Wallace. To him, of all others, Wallace
was particularly attached; and when he saw him fall, he plunged with ten-
fold fury into the thickest of his enemies, dealing with his irresistible arm deatik
and destruction ai'ound him. It was impossible, however, that with the hand-
ful of men to wb.ich his army was now reduced, he could for any length
of time successfully oppose the strength brought against him. He was obliged
at last to make good his retreat, and gained a neighbouring wood, leaving fif-
teen thousand of his followers dead on the field.'®

According to Blind Harry, Wallace, when the English had removed to Lin-
lithgow, returned to the field of battle, in order to obtain the body of
his friend. Sir John the Graham. This is somewhat countenanced by the fact,
that Sir John lies buried in the church-yard of Falkirk, having the following
inscription on his grave-stone, which has been several times renewed :
JMente manuqve Potens et Vallae Fidvs Achates,
CoNDiTua Hic Gramvs, bello interfectus ab Angus,

XXII jvLii Anno 1298.
Here lies Sir John the Grame, baith wight and wise,
Ane of the cheefe who rescewit Scotland thrisei
Ane better knicht not to the world was lent
Nor was gude Grame of truth and hardiment."
li The Foreste of Selkyrke in those dajs compi-ehcndcd not only the tract now known by
that name, but also the upper parU of CI\desdale and Ayrshire. ,_,,., ^^ „„r«mplv
16 The accounts of the loss on the Scbttish side at Uie battle "^ Falkirk are ex reme^
various. Fifteen thousand is stated above, on the authont)- of two E"gl'sh Chron ck^ v z.
the Norwich Chronicle, and the Chronica of John Eve.-sde„^_ U f^Z'JflZ. ^/h" S?l
than an)
amount

S^;ir^ain.^;ihi;r-S;;S^ols^red severely. ^ l^/'^^ S r«"'i^"""^e
loss. Only two men of note are mentioned as having fallen on tneu siuc , ^
Jave, and the prior of Torphicheii. ,

>> His gnice the duke of Montrose possesses an antique sword, on
inscription:

406 WILLIAil WALLACE.

Blind Harry's description of the distress of Wallace, when he saw the body
of his beloved friend and brother in arms, is touching in the extreme.

Tlie corec of Gra3m, for whom he raurned maist,
When thae him fund, and Gude Wallace him saw,
He lychtjt down, aiid hynt him frae thame aw
In armjss up. Behaldand his pale face,
He kj-ssjt him, and cryt full oft, ' Alacc '.
My best brothir in waild that evir I had '.
My afiild frejTid quhen I was hardest stad I
My hope, my heill ! — thow was in maist honour !
My faith, my help, my strengtliener in stour I
In thee ^vas wit, fredom, and hardiness ;
In thee was treuth, manhood, and nobilness;
In thee was rewll ; in thee was governans;
In thee was virtue, ^vithouten varians ;
In thee lawty ; in thee was gret largness;
In thee gentjice; in thee was sledfastness.
Thow was gret cause oif winning o.T Scotland,
Thoch I began, and tok the \var on hand.
I TOW to God, that has the warld in wauld,
Thy dead sail be to Southeam full dear said!
Martyr thow art for Scotlandis rycht and rael
I sail thee venge, or els therefor sail dee !'

The remains of the Scottish army, in their retreat, bunit the town and
castle of Stirling. Edward, who had not recovered from tlie k'ck lie re-
ceived from his horse, took up his quartere for some time in the convent of the
I>ominicans there, which had escaped the flames ; and sent a division of his
army into Clackmannanshire, Monteith, and Fifeshire, who laid waste tlie
country. He then marched to the west, through the district of Clydesdale to
Lanark, and afterwards to Ayr, where he found tlie castle forsaken, and burnt
by Robert Bruce. A want of provisions prevented Edward from pursuing
Bruce into Galloway, as he intended. After capturing Bi-uce's castle of Loch-
maben, he was constrained to march through Annandaie into England, leaving
Scotland only partially subdued, and ready to rise into a new revolt against
him.

Wallace, after the defeat of Falkirk, feeling how little he was supported by
the nobility, and how much jealousy and envy his elevation had occasioned, re-
signed the office of governor of Scotland, reserving to himself no other pmi-
lege than that of fighting against the enemies of his country, at the head of
such friends as might be inclined to adhere to him. His resignation was fol-
lowed by the election of a regency, consisting, at first, of Jolin Comyn of
Badenoch, the younger, and John de Soulis ; to whom were afterwards added,
as partnei-s in administration, Bruce, earl of Carrick, and William Lamberton,
bishop of Saint Andrews.

The first enterprise of the new governors was against the castle of Stirling,
which Edward had left garrisoned. To preserve tliat important place from
falling into their hands, Edward determined upon another expedition into Scot-
land, and with tliat purpose assembled his army at Berwick ; but the English

Sir lone )e Gmme, verry vicht and vr\se,
One of ye cheefs relievit Scotland thrvs'e,
Favght vitli )s svord, and ner thout sciiame,
Commandit nane to beir it hot his name.

Kimmo's History ofSlirlingsIiire.

>«

AVILLIAM WALLACE. 407

barons, to whom he liad not confirmed certain privileges as he had promised
refused to go fartlier, urging the inclemency of Uie season, and the danger of a
winter campaign. He was, therefore, obliged to abandon his design, and to
allow tlie English, who were beleaguered in Stirling, to capitulate.

In the course of the following year, (1300.) Edward, by confirming the
charters of the barons, was enabled, once more, to prosecute his great object,
the invasion and subjugation of Scotland. At the head of a great army, he
entered the country by the western marches, and penetrated into Galloway.
He was here met by a petition from the governors and community of Scotland
requesting that John Baliol, their lawful king, should be permitted to reign
peaceably over them ; but he rejected it with disdain. The Scottish army, now
profiting by experience, confined itself to cutting off the supplies of the enemy;
and Edward, after spending five months in the southern part of the country,
without efl^ecting anything material, found himself compelled, by the approach
of winter, and the scarcity of provisions, to return to England. Before leaving
Scotland, when no other alternative remained, he afiected to listen to the me-
diation of France, and concluded a tiuce with the Scots, at Dumfries, 30th Oc-
tober, 1300, to endure till Whitsunday, 1301.

Meanwhile a new competitor to the crown of Scotland arose in the person of
liis holiness, pope Boniface VIII. This singular claim had been suggested to
the Roman see by certain Scottish commissioners, who wished his holiness to
interpose in behalf of their distracted country. The arguments upon which it
was founded, Avere altogether absurd, (such as, " that Scotland has been mira-
culously converted to the Christian faith, by the relics of St Andrew," &c.) ; but
Edward's own pretensions were clearly and justly refuted. As it was dangerous
for the English monarch to break with the pope at this time, owing to several
continental arrangements, Edward laid the affair before Ips barons, wlio pro-
tested, with much spirit, that they would not allow the rights of their sovereign
to be interfered with by any foreign potentate ; and, to soothe his holiness,
he sent him a long letter in his own name, " not in the form (as he says) of an
answer to a plea, but altogether extrajudicially ;" wherein he enumerated all his
claims to the superiority of Scotland, from the days of his " famous predecessor,
Brutus, the Trojan," to his own.

In the ensuing summer, as soon as the truce had expired, Edward, accom-
panied by his son, the prince of Wales, and a great array, marched again into
Scotland, and spent the winter at Linlithgow, where he ratified another truce
with the Scots, to endure until Saint Andrew's day, 1302, and soon afterwards
returned to London. On the expiry of this second truce, having gained Pope
Boniface over to his interest, he sent Sir John de Segrave, a celebrated warrior
into Scotland, with an army of 20,000 men, chiefly consisting of cavalry.
Segrave, when near Roslin, on his march to Edinburgh, separated his
army into three divisions ; the first led by himself, the second by Ralph
de Manton, called from his oflice of pay-master the Cofl'erer, and the
third by Robert de Neville. These divisions, having no communication
established between them, were successively attacked and defeated at Roslin, on
the 24th February, 1303, by a small body of 8000 horse, under the command
of Sir John Comyn and Sir Simon Fraser. Ralph the Cofferer and Neville
were slain. Segrave escaped, and fled, with the remains of his army, to
England, leaving behind an immense booty.

But while the Scots thus persevered in defence of their country, Philip le
Bel, king of France, upon whose alliance they had confided, concluded
a treaty of peace with Eduard, (20th Blay, 1303,) in which they were not in-
eluded; and the English monarch, being now freed from foreign wars.

408 WILLIAM WALLACE.

bent his whole force to make a complete conquest of Scotland, which had long
been the ruling object of his ambition and exertions. Mis passions were now
exasperated to the utmost by the repeated failures of his attempts, and he de-
clared liis determination either to subjugate it entirely, or to raze it utterly
with fire and sword, and blot it out from existence in the list of nations.
With this purpose, he marched into Scotland at the head of an army too powerful
to be resisted by an unfortunate people, already broken down by the accumu-
lated miseries that attended their long continued conflict with an unequal enemy.
The inliabitants fled before him, or submitted to his power, and his whole
course was marked by scenes of slaughter, devastation, and ruin. The
gorernor, Comyn, Sir Simon Fraser, and Sir William Wallace, with their fol.
lowers, were driven into the fields and fastnesses of the country, from which
they only issued in irregular predatory expeditions against detachments of the
English. Edward continued his victorious progress as far as the extremity of
the province of Moray, and the only fortress that opposed his course was
the castle of Brechin, which, after an obstinate resistance, surrendered on the
death of Sir Thomas Maule, its gallant commander, who was killed by a stone
discharged from one of the besieging engines. Edward then returned to
Dunfermline, where he spent the winter in receiving the submission of those
who had not made their peace with him during his progress through the
kingdom. Almost all the nobles gave in submissions. Bruce surrendered him-
self to John de St John, the English warden ; and at last Comyn, the governor,
snd his followers, delivered themselves up to Edward, under a stipulation
for their lives, liberties, and lands, and a subjection to certain pecuniary
penalties. From this stipulation Edward excepted the following, as being
more obstinate in their rebellion: Wishart, bishop of Glasgow, James,
the Steward of Scotland, Sir John Soulis, the late associate of Comyn in
the government of the kingdom, David de Graham, Alexander de Lindesay,
Simon Fraser, Thomas Bois, and William Wallace. The bishop of Glasgow,
the Steward, and Soulis, were to remain in exile for two years; Graham and
Lindesay were to be banished from Scotland for six months ; and P'raser
and Bois for three years. " As for William Wallack," says the deed, " it is
covenanted, that if he thinks proper to surrender himself, it must be uncondi-
tionally to the will and mercy of our lord the king."'*

Soon after, an English parliament was held at St Andrews, to which the
king summoned all the Scottish barons and nobles. The summons was obeyed

I* Langtoft, in his Chronicle, says that Wallace proposed, on certain terms, to surrender
liimsel£ These terms mark his bulcl and unsubdued spirit. Their effect upon Edward
was to throw liiin into a fit of rage. The passage is as follows :

Turn we now other weyes, unto our owen gestc,

And speke of the Waleys that lies in the loreste ;

In the forest he lendes of Dounfermelyn,

He pniied all his frendes, and other of liis kyn,

After that Yole, thei wilde beseke Edward,

That he might yelde till him, in a fur\Tard

That were honorable to kepe wod or beste,

And with his scrite full staole, and seled at the least.

To him and uU his to haf in heritage ;

And none otherwise, als term t) me and stage

Bot als a propre thing that were conquest till him.

Whan thei brouht that telhing Edward was fuUe grim.

And bilauht him the fende, als trajtoure in Lond,

And ever-ilkon his frende that him sustejTi'd or fond.

Three hundreth marke he helte unto his >varisoun,

That with him so mette, or bring his liede to toun.

Now flics William Waleis:, of pres iioulit he sptdis,

In mores and mareis with robberie him fedis.

ATILLIAM WALLACE. 409

by all, except Sir William Oliphant, Sir Simon Fraser, and Sir "William Wal-
lace. Olipliant lieUl the castle of Stirling, and refused to capitulate. It was
t.lie only stronghold of Scotland not in the liands of the Englisli ; and Edward
brought all his force to besiege it. Every engine known in those days was
employed in the attack. After an obstinate defence for three months, of which
the English historians speak with admiration. Sir William Oliphant and his
little garrison were compelled to surrender at discretion. Fraser, too, despair-
ing of further resistance, at last accepted the conditions of Edward, and ofl'ered
liimself up to the conqueror. Wallace alone remained unsubdued, amid tliis
wreck of all that was free and noble, standing like a solitary monument among
the ruins of an ancient dynasty — destined then to be the emblem of his coun-
try's independence ; now, to be its watchword, its pride, and its praise.

Having gained the submission of the principal men of Scotlaiul, and, in the
capture of Stirling, i-educed tlie last castle which had resisted his authority,
Edward returned to England, in the pleasing conviction that he had, at length,
finally accomplished the object upon which so nmch of the blood and money of
England had been expended. Yet, while Wallace still lived, he felt his pos-
session insecure ; and he used every possible means to obtain the person of
this his first, most dangerous, and uncompromising opponent. After the battle
of Falkirk, and his resignation of the governorship of Scotland, little is authen-
tically known of the particular transactions of Wallace. Great part of the
time between 1298 and 1305, was no doubt spent in desultory attempts to an-
noy the English garrisons and migratory parties. But that a portion was also
devoted to a visit to France, as has been related by Blind Harry, and disputed
by subsequent writers,^" appears now to be equally certain ; as a manuscript
English chronicle, recently discovered by BIr Stevenson in the British Museum,
speaks of such a visit, without the intimation of any doubt upon the subject.
Wallace was probably induced to visit the French court, by a hope of obtain-
ing some auxiliaries from Philip, for the purpose of carrying on the war against
Edward ; or, by a wish to urge the interests of Scotland, in the treaty which that
monarch formed in 1303 with the English king, and in which Scotland was over-
looked. Finding no success in either of these objects, he seems to have returned
to his native country, to renew that partisan warfare, which was now the only
method left to him of manifesting his patriotic feelings. That his deeds, hou-
ever obscure, were of no small consequence, is shown by the eager solicitude which
Edward evinced to secure his person, and the means which he took for effecting
that end. Besides setting a great reward upon his head, he gave strict orders
to his captains and governors in Scotland, to use every endeavour to seize lum;
and sought out those Scotsmen, who he had reason to think entertained a per-
sonal pique at Wallace, in the hope of bribing them to discover and betray
him. Sir John de Mowbray, a Scottish knight, then at his court, was em-
ployed to carry into Scotland, Ralph de Haliburton, one of the prisoners taken
at Stirling castle, with the view of discovering and seizing the deliverer and
protector of his country. What these creatures did in this dishonourable afta-r,
or with whom they co-operated, is not known ; the lamentable fact alone re-

-■" In the present narrative, it iias been our endeavour to go no further than Uie wtll-
uccredited histories of both countries warrant; and the numerous stories told by Hlind FJiiiry

Wallac^VFrencirexpS^ pc^^nal kindness of Mr Tjtler, who saw and a.pied the

document alluded to in the text.

IV. 3f

410 WILLIAM WALLACE.

mains, that Sir WUliam Wallace was at last treacherously betrayed and taken,
through the agency of one of his own countrymen, and one who had served
under him against the Englisli, Sir John Menteith, a baron of high rank ;
whose name, for this cause, is throughout Scotland, even unto this day, a bye-v
word of scorn and detestation."' Wallace was made prisoner at Robroyston,
in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, on the 5th of August, 1305.

The fate of this great man was soon decided. He was first taken to
Dumbarton castle,'- then under the command of Menteith, and afterwards car-
ried to London, heavily fettered, and guarded by a powerful escort. The
people in the northern counties of England are said to liave exulted greatly at
the news of his capture ; and, as the cavalcade advanced, multitudes flocked
from all quarters to gaze at its illustrious prisoner. On reaching London, lie
was lodged for the night in Fenchurch street, in the house of a citizen,
by name William Delect ;-^ and next day (23rd August,) carried to Westminster

'^^ Some attempt has been made (especially by lord Hailes, wlio seems to have sometimes
opposed ordinary facts and notions, under the vulgar delusion of being philosopliicid and un-
prejudiced,) to deny tliat Sir John Menteith was the raptor of Wallace, liul no circum-
stance in history could be better corroborated than lliis. All the English and Scottish wiit-
ers iigree on the subject. The Clironicle of Lanercost Priory, a MS. of tlie tkirleaUh cen-
tury, preserved in the British Museum, has this passage: " Captus fuit Willelmus Waleis
;;«• U7ium Scolum, scilicet j>er Dominum Johannem de Mentiplie, et usque London ad Regem
adductus, et adjudicatum fuit quod tralieretur, et suspenderetur, et decoUaretur." Another
ancient MS. (the Scila Chronicle) preserved at Cambridge, says, " Wi/lliam Walei/s was
taken of the Counle of Menleth about Glaskow, and sent to King Edward, and after was
hangid, drawn, and quarterid, at London." Langloft's Chronicle (another English ati-
thority) is also conclusive.

Sir Jon of Alenetest sewed William so nehi,

He took him when he wend lest, on nyght his leman bi ;

That was thought treson of Jak Short his man ;
Lie was the encheson, that Sir Jon so him nam.

r ordun, ^'\YHldmus Wallace j^r Johannem de MentHhfraudulenter et prodicionaliler capi
dJtur, Londinis demembralur." Wynton's cliapler on the subject is

lur, Kegi Anglise traditur
headed thus : —

Q.ithen Jhon of Mentetk in his dayit,
DUmvit gude Willame Walays.

And, further, he says: —

A thousand thre hundjr and the fyfl ycrc
Efter the byrth of our Lord dere,
Schure Jon of Menleth in tha dayis
Tuk in Glasco Willame Walays.

That Menteith was at one time a fellow soldier of Wallace, is proveil by the following pas-
sage from Bower, preserved in the Relationes Arnaldi Blair:—" In hoc ipso anno ri298)
viz 23 die moiisis August!, Domiims Wallas, Scotiae custos, cum Johanne Gnihame, et
Johaiinede Menteith, militibusjnecnon, Alexandro Scrymgeour, constiibulario villa; de Dun-
dee et vexillario Scotia, cum quinquagenlis militibus armatis, rcbelles Gallovidienses pu-
nierunt, qui Regis Anglite et Cuminorum partibus sine aliquo jure steterunt." As to iny
lurther intimacy between Menteith and Wallace, there is no evidence be\ond Blind llarrv
and popular tradition. •'

K A sword and mail are still sliown in Dumbaiton aistle, as havin<r belonffcd to
Wallace. ° °

23 The following passage occurs in Stows Chronicle: « WiUiam Wallace, which had oft-
times set Scotland in great trouble, was taken and brought to Loudon, wiUi gicat numbers
of men and women wondering upon him. He was lodged in the house of William Delect

Iiall, accompanied by the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of the city, and there
arraigned of treason. A crown of laurel was in mockery placed on his head,
because, as was alleged, he had been ambitious of the Scottish crown. The
king's justice, Sir Peter ilallorie, then impeached him as a traitor to Edward,
nnd as having burned villages, stormed castles, and slain many subjecU of
England. " I could not be a traitor to the king of England," said Wallace,
"for I was never his subject, and never swore fealty to him. It is true I have
elain many Englishmen; but it was in the defence of tlie rights and liberties
of my native country of Scotland." Notwithstanding the truth and justice of
his plea, Wallace was found guilty, and condemned to a cruel deatli. It is a
stain on the character of Edward, and a reproach to the spirit of his age and
country, that, wliile he pardoned, and even favoured many who had repeatedly
violated their oaths of allegiance to him, he not only bestowed no mercy on
this brave and true-hearted man, who had never professed allegianca, but, with
an enmity which showed how little sympathy he had for his noble qualities, add-
ed insult to injustice, and endeavoured to heap indignity on the head of him
whose name shall be through all ages honoured and revered by every generous
breast Sir William Wallace was dragged at the tails of horses through the
streets of London to a gallows in Smithfield, where, after being hanged a short
time, he was taken down, yet breathing, and his bowels torn out, and burned.
His head was then struck off, and his bcdy divided into quarters. His head
was placed on a pole on London Bridge, his right arm above the bridge at New-
castle, his left arm was sent to Berwick, his right foot and limb to Perth, and
his left quarter to Aberdeen. " These," says an old English historian, " were
the trophies of their favourite hero, which the Scots had now to contemplate,
instead of his banners and gonfanons, which they had once proudly followed."
But he might have added, as is well remarked by 3Ir Tytler, that " they
were trophies more glorious than the richest banner tliat had ever been
borne before him ; and if Wallace already had been the idol of the people, if
they had long regarded him as the only man who had asserted, throughout
every change of circumstances, the independence of his country, now that bis
mutilated limbs were brought before them, it may well be conceived how deep
and unextinguishable were their feelings of pity and revenge." Edward, as-
suredly, could have adopted no more certain way of canonizing the memory of
his enemy, and increasing the animosity of tlie Scottish people. Accordingly,
we find, although the execution of Wallace may be said to have completed that
subjugation of the country which the English monarch had been straining for,
by force and fraud, during a period of fifteen years, — that in less than six
months from the death of her great champion, Scotland, roused to the cause
now sealed and made holy by her patriot's blood, sbook ofi^ the yoke of
England, and became once more a free kingdom.

WALLACE, Jamhs, usually called Colonel Wallace, leader of the Covenanters
at the battle of Pentland hills, was descended from the Wallaces of Dundonald,
a branch of the Wallaces of Craigie. Neither the place, nor the year of his
birth is known : but in the sentence of death, whicii was passed against him
in absence, after the battle of Pentland, he is styled " of Aucbens," an estate
Eituated in the parish of Dundonald, in Ayrshire, and which was the family seat
of his ancestors, and most probably his own birth-place. Of his education

foot, accompanying him; and in the grent hall at Westminster, he bting placed on the
south bench, crowned with laurel, for ttiat he had said in times past that he ought to bear
a crown in that hall, as it was commonly.reported ; and being appeached for a traiiour by air
Peter Mallorie, the king's justice, he answered, that he \v;is never traitour to the kmg of
England ; but for other things whereof he was accused, he confessed them; and ^^•as alter
headed and quartered."

41? JAMES WALLACE.

there is equnlly little known, fls of the other particulars alluded to. He ap-
pears, however, to have adopted the military profession at a very early period
of life, and having distinguished himself in the parliamentary army, was raised
to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He went to Ireland in the marquis
of Argyle's regiment in the year 1642, and in 1615, was recalled to oppose
the progress of the nnrquis of Montrose. At what period of the struggle
colonel Wallace joined the army of the covenantee, under general Baillie, is
unknown, but he was at the battle of Kilsyth, where ho was taken prisoner.

In 1650, when Charles II. came from the continent, at the entreaty of the
Scottish parliament, two regiments being ordered to be embodied of '* the
choicest of the army, and fittest for that trust," one of horse and another of
foot, as his body guards, Wallace was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the foot
regiment, under lord Lorn, who was colonel. Sir James Balfour, lord Lyon
King at Arms, by his majesty's command, set down the devices upon the en-
signs and colours of these regiments. Those of the lieutenant colonel [Wallace]
were azure, a unicorn argent, and on the other side in " grate gold lelers,"
these words, " Covenant for religion, king, and kingdoms." At the battle of
Dunbar Wallace was again made prisoner ; and in the end of that year, lord
Lorn, in a petition to the parliament, says, " In respect my lieutenant'colonel
has, in God's good providence, returned to his charge, whose fidelity in this
cause is well known both in Ireland and in this kingdom, and that his losses
are very many and great, I do humbly desire that your majesty and this high
court of parliament may be pleased in a particular manner to take notice of him,
that he may not only have a company appointed him, but likewise something
may be done, for the satisfaction of his former losses." Upon this petition the
Committee of Bills reported, " that lieutenant-colonel Wallace may be referred
to the Committee of Estates, ^that he may be assigned to some jKirt of the excise
or maintenance forth of the shire of Ayr, or any other of the shires in the
south."

Colonel Wallace seems to have lived in retirement , from the Restoration till
the month of November, 1666, when Maclellan of Barscob, and some other
gentlemen who had been driven into hiding, happening to fall in with some
soldiers whom they found maltreating a poor old countryman, immediately dis-
armed the latter, and thus gave occasion to that rising, which, from the place
where it was suppressed, has always been called the rising of Pentland. Hav-
ing fairly committed themselves by their humane interference, these gentlemen
conceived the design of anticipating the vengeance of Sir .Tames Turner, by
surprising him with his whole party Avhere he lay in the town of Dum-
fries, about sixteen miles distant. Accordingly, having assembled their friends,
to the number of about fifty horse, w ilh a few foot, they marched into that town
upon Thursday, the 1 5ih of November, and made Sir James prisoner with his
whole party, wounding only one man. The insurgents on this occasion, were
led by a 3Ir Andrew Gray, a merchant in Edinburgh, who happened
by chance to be in that part of the country at the time. Neilson of Corsack,
however, was the leader, before whom Sir James Turner, upon being made
prisoner, was brought. From this gentleman he obtained quarter and protec-
tion ; but when Gray, the chief of the party, came up, he insisted upon having
him shot upon the spot. They finally, however, set him upon a sorry beast,
and carried him about with them in his dishabille, and in this manner proceeded
to the market cross, where they drank the king's health, and prosperity to his
government. Sir James, however, for some days could not believe but that
they intended to hang him when they should find time and place suitable.
While these things were transacting in Dumfries, the friends of religion and

JAMES WALLACE. 413

liberty, kept up a correspondence by special messengers, and continued de-
liberating on what was best to be done. Among others, Wallace joined a con-
sultation, which was held at the chambers of Mr Alexander Robertson in Edin-
burgh, the same night that Sir James Turner was made prisoner. At this meet-
ing it was resolved to make common cause with the western brethren, and seek
redress from government with arms in their hands. Colonel Wallace, and a
little band of adherents, lost co time in proceeding to Ayrshire, in the hope of
being joined by the friends of religion and liberty there. They visited succes-
sively Mauchline, Ayr, Ochiltree, Cumnock, Muirkirk, and other places on the
route ; but met with little encouragement in their enterprise. Mr Robertso:i,
who had been still less successful in procuring assistance, rejoined Wallace, along
with captain Robert Lockhart, and insisted that the undertaking should be
abandoned. This counsel was unpalatable to Wallace, but he forthwith sent
Maxwell of Monreith to consult with John Guthrie, brother to the celebrated
minister of Fenwick, on the subject. Having been reinforced by a small party
from Cunningham, under captain Arnot, the whole body marched to Douglas, ou
Saturday the 24th, where, at night, after solemn prayer, the proposal of Robert-
son and Lockhart was carefully considered. It was rejected without one dis-
senting voice, all being clear that they had a Divine warrant for the course they
were pursuing. They resolved, therefore, to persevere in it, although they
should die at the end of it; hoping that, at least, their testimony would not bo
given in vain to the cause they had espoused. Two other questions wero
discussed at this meeting: the renewing of tlie covenants, — to which all agreed;
and, what should be done with Sir James Turner, whom, for want of any place
in which to confine him, they still carried about with them; and who, as a per-
secutor and murderer of God's people, it was contended by many, ought to have
been put to death. As quarter, however, as it was alleged, had been granted
to him, and as he had been spared so long, " the motion for pistoling him was
slighted." On the morrow. Sabbath, they marched for Lesmahago, and passed
the house of Robert Lockhart, where Mr Robertson also was, at the time ; but
neither of the two came out. This day, they perfected, as well as they could,
the modelling of their force ; but few as their numbers were, they had not the
half of the officers requisite : they had not above four or five that had ever
been soldiers. At right, they entered Lanark, crossing Clyde near the
town. Next day, Monday, the' 26th, guards being set upon the water in a
boat, to prevent any surprise from the enemy, the covenants were renewed,
Mr John Guthrie preaching and presiding to one part of the army, and Messrs
Gilbert Semple and Crookshanks to the other; and the work was gone about
" with as much joy and cheerfulness as may be supposed in such a condition."
On this dav, considerable numbers joined them ; and, with the view of favour-
in* the rising of their friends, who were understood to be numerous, m
Shotts West Calder, and Bathgate, they marched for the latter place ; but did
not reach it till late in the evening. Part of the way, a large body of the
enemy's horse hung upon their rear; the roads were excessively bad, and the
place could not so much as afford them a cover from the rain, which was falling
in torrents. The officers went into a house for prayer, and to deliberate upon
their further procedure, when it was resolved to march early in the direction
of Edinburgh, in the hope of meeting their friends from that quarter, as well as
those they had expected through the day. Scarcely, however, had the meeting
broken up, when their guards gave the alarm of the enemy ; and though the
night was dark and wet in the extreme, they set out at twelve o clock, taking
the road through Broxburn, and along the new bridge for Collmgton. Uay-
1i..ht appeared as they came to the bridge, in the most miserable plight imagin-

414 JAMES WALULCK

able. From their Edinburgh friends there was no intelligence; and when they
drew up on the east side of the bridge, there was not a captain with the horse,
save one, and tlie enemy were close at hand, marching for the same bridge.
Wallace, however, was a man of singular resolution, and of great self-possession.
Even in these distressing circumstances, he sent a party to occupy the bridge,
and marched oiTthe main body of bis little army to a rising ground, where he
awaited the enemy to give hiiu battle.

It was at this critical juncture, that Lawrie of Blackwood paid him a second
visit, not to assist, but to discourage him, by proposing a second time that he
should disband his followers, and trust to an indemnity, which he assured him
tlie duke Hamilton would exert himself to obtain for them. As he had no cre-
dentials to show, and seemed to be speaking merely his own sentiments, with-
out the authority of either party, Blackwood's proposal excited suspicions of his
motives. He, however, remained with the party, which had now moved on to
CoUington, all night ; and in the morning was the bearer of a letter from
colonel Wallace to general Dalzell, who sent it to the council, while he hastened
himself to pursue the insurgents. Wallace, in the mean time, marched to
Tngliston bridge, at the point of the Pentland hills, and was in tlie act of drawing
up his little party to prevent straggling, when he learned that Dalzell, with tlia
advance of the lung's troops, was witliin half a mile of him. There had been
a heavy fall of snow through the night, but it was succeeded by a clear frosty
day; and it was about noon of that day, the 2Slh of November, when the ar-
mies came in sight of each other. That of the insurgents did not exceed nine
hundred men, ill-armed, worn out with fatigue, and half starving. The royal
army, which amounted to upwards of three thousand men, was in the highest
order, and well provided in all respects. Wallace disposed his little army with
great judgment upon the side of a hill, running from north to south. The
iialloway gentlemen, on horseback, under M'Clellan of Barmagachan, were
stationed on the south ; the remainder of the horse, under Major Learraont, on
the north; and tlie foot, who were exceedingly ill armed, in the middle.
Dalzell seems to have been for some time at a loss how to proceed ; liaving
such a superiority, however, in numbers, he detached a party of horse, under
general Druramoud, to the westward, in order to turn Wallace's left wing.
This detachment was met by tlie Galloway gentlemen, under captain Arnot and
Barnuigaclian, and completely routed in an instant ; and had Wallace been in
a condition to have supported and followed up this masterly movement, the
king's army would inevitably have lost the day. A second attack was met by
major Learmont, with equal spirit; and it was not till after sunset, when
Dalzell himself charged the feeble unarmed centre with the sU-engtli of his
army, horse and foot, that any impression was made upon them. This charge
they were unable to resist, but were instantly broken and dispereed. The
nature of the ground, and the darkness of the night, favoured their
flight, and there were not more tluin one hundred of them killed and taken by
the victoi-8 ; but they were in an unfriendly part of the country, and many of
the fugitives were murdered by their inhumane countrymen, for whose rights
and liberties they were contending.

Colonel Wallace after the battle left the field, in company with Mr John
Welch, and, taking a north-westerly direction along the hills, escaped pursuit.
After gaining wliat they conceived to be a safe distance from the enemy, they
turned their horses loose, and slept the remainder of the night in a barn.
Wallace for some time concealed himself in different parts of the country, and
at length escaped to the continent, where he assumed the name of Forbes.
Eyen there, however, he was obliged to wander from place to place for several

DR. EGBERT WALLACE. 415

yaars, to avoid his enemies, who still continued to seek him out. When the
eagerness of the pursuit abated, he took up his residence at Rotterdam, where
Mr M.icward and Mr John Brown had found an asylum, and were now eiu-
played in dispensing ordinances to numerous congregations ; but on the com-
plaint of one Henry Wilkie, whom the king had placed at the head of the
Scottish factory at Campvere, who found his interests suffering by the greater re-
sort of Scottish merchants at Ilotterdam, for the sake of enjoying the ministry of.
these worthy men, the states-general were enjoined by Uie British government
to send all the three out of their territories. In the case of Wallace, the states
were obliged to comply, as he had been condemned to be executed as a traitor,
when he should be apprehended, and his lands forfeited for his majesty's use ;
but they gave him a recommendation to all kings, republi(;s, &c., &c., to whom
he might come, of the most flattering description. In the case of the other
two, the order seems to have been evaded. Wallace ventured in a short
time back to Holland, and died at Rotterdam in the end of the year 1678,
** laiuented of all the serious English and Dutch of his acquaintance, who were
many ; and, in particular, the members of the congregation, of which he was
a ruling elder, bemoaned his death, and their less, as of a father." " To tlie last,
he testified his attachment to tlie public cause which he had owned, and his
satisfaction in reflecting on what he had hazarded and suffered in its defence."
He left one son, Avho succeeded to his father's property, as the sentence of
death and of fugitation, which was ratified by the parliament in 1669, was re-
scinded at the Revolution.

Among the sufiering Scottish exiles, there were few more esteemed than
colonel Wallace. Mr Brown of Wamphray, in a testament executed by him at
Rotterdam, in 1676, ordered one hundred guineas *' to be put into the hands
of Mr AYalkce, to be given out by him to such as he knoweth indigent and
honest ;" and while he leaves the half of liis remanent gold to Mr Macward, he
leaves the other half to I\Ir Wallace. Mr Macward, who was honoured to close
the eyes of his valued friend and fellow Christian, exclaims : " Great Wallace
is gone to glory ; of whom I have no doubt it may be said, he hath left no man
behind him in that church, minister nor professor, who hath gone through such a
variety of tentations, without turning aside to the right hand or to the left. He
died in great serenity of soul. When the cause for which he suffered was men-
tioned, when it was scarce believed he understood or could speak, there was
a sunshine of joy looked out of his countenance, and a lifting up of liands on
high, as to receive the martyr's crown ; together with a lifting up of the voice,
with an * Aha^ as to sing the conqueror's song of victory."

WALLACE, (Dr) Robert, celebrated as the author of a work on the numbere
of mankind, and for his exertions in establishing the Scottisli Ministers' Widows'
Fund, was born on the 7th January, 1697, O.S. in the parish of Kincardine
in Perthshire, of Avhich his father, Matthew Wallace, was minister.^ As he was
an only son, his early education was carefully attended to. He acquired Latin
at the grammar-school of Stirling, and, in 1711, was sent to the university of
Edinburgh, where he passed through the usual routine of study. He was
one of the original members of the Rankenian club, a social literary
fraternity, which, from the subsequent celebrity of many of its members,
became remarkably connected with the literary history of Scotland. Mr Wal-
lace directed his studies towards qualifying himself for the church of Scotland.
In 1722, he was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Dumblane, and in Au-
gust, 1723, the marquis of Annandale presented him with the living of Moffat.

Dr Wallace had an early laste for mathematics, to Avhich he directed his at-
' Scots Magazine, xxxiii. 34v). Ixxi. 5Q1.

416 BE. ROBERT •WALLACE.

tention wliilc a student at the university, and on that study ho bestowed many
of his spare hours during his ministry. Ho has left behind him voluminous
manuscript specimens of his labours; but it will probably be now considci'od
better evidence of his early proficiency, that in 1720 he was chosen assistant to
Dr Gregory, then suffering under bad health. Wallace was, in 1733, appointed
one of the ministers of the Greyfriars' church in Edinburgh. The countenance
of the government, which he had previously obtained, he forfeited in 173G, by
refusing to read in his church the act for the more effectually bringing to justice
the murderers of Porteous, which the zealous rage of the ministry and the house
of peers had appointed to be read from the pulpit. He was in disfavour during
the brief reign of the Walpole ministry; but under their successors was intrusted
with tho conduct of ecclesiastical affairs. The revolution in the ministry hap-
pened at a moment when Dr Wallace was enabled to do essential service to his
country, by furthering the project of the Ministers' Widows' Fund. The policy
of that undertaliing was first hinted at by Mr Mathieson, a minister of tho high
church of Edinburgh ; Dr Wallace in procuring the sanction of the legislature,
and Dr Webster, by an active correspondence, and the acquisition of statistical
information, brought the plan to its practical bearing, by apportioning the rates,
&c., and afterwards zealously watched and nurtured the infant system. As the
share wliich Dr Wallace took in the promotion of this measure is not very well
known, it may be mentioned, that it appears from documents in the office of tho
trustees of the Ministers* Widows' Fund, that he was moderator of the General
Assembly in 1743, which sanctioned the measure. In tho ensuing November
he was commissioned by the church, along with Mr George Wishart, minister of
the Tron church, to proceed to London, and watch the proceedings of the legis-
lature regarding it. He there presented the scheme to the lord advocate, who
reduced it to the form of a Bill. The corrections of Messrs Wallace aud Wishart
appear on the scroll of the Bill.

In 1744, Dr Wallace was appointed one of the royal chaplains for Scotland.
He had read to the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, of which he was aa
original member and active promoter, a "Dissertation on the numbers of Man-
kind in ancient and modern times," which he revised and published in 1752,
In this work he was the first to apply to purposes of investigation one of those
truisms which, however plain, are never stated until some active mind employs
them as foundations for more intricate deductions, that the number of human
beings permanently existing in any portion of the earth must be in the ratio of
the quantity of food supplied to them. Tho explanation of this truth b^ Dr
Wallace has been acknowledged by Maltlius, and the work in which it was
discussed has acquired deserved fame for the mass of curious statistical informa-
tion with which the author's learning furnished it; but iu the great tlieoiy
which he laboured to establish, the author is generally allowed to have failed.
He maintained, as a sort of corollary to the truth above mentioned, that where
the greatest attention is paid to agriculture, the greatest number of huraau
beings will be fed, and that the ancients having paid greater attention to that
art than the moderns, the world of antiquity must have been more populous
than that of modern days. Were all food consumed where it is produced, tho
proposition would be true, but in a world of traffickers, a sort of reverse of the
proposition may be said to hold good, viz., that in the period where the smallest
proportion of the human beings on the surface of the earth is employed iu
agriculture, the world will be most populous, because for every human being that
exists, a quantity of food sufficient to live upon must bo procured; for procuring
this food the easiest method will always be preferred, and therefore whe» the
proportion of persons engaged in agriculture is the smaller, we are to presume, not

HENRY WAUDLAW. 417

that the less is produced, but that the easier method of providing for the aggre-
gate number has been followed. Tiie greatengineof facilitating ease of production
is commerce, which miikes the abundance of one place supply tlie deficiency of
another, in exchange for such necessaries and luxuries, as enable the dwellers
on the fertile spot to bestow more of their time in cultivation than thay could
do, were they obliged to provide these things for themselves. Hence it is
pretty clear, that increase of populousness has accompanied modern commerce.
Previously to the publication of this treatise, Hume had produced his invaluable
critical essay on the populousness of ancient nations, in which, on politico-eco-
nomical truths, he doubted the authenticity of those authorities on the populous-
ness of antiquity, on many of which Wallace depended. In publishing his
book, Dr Wallace added a long supplement, discussing Hume's theory with
much learning and curious information, but leaving the grounds on which the
sceptic had doubted the good faith of the authorities unconfuted, Wallace's
treatise was translated into French, under the inspection of Montesquieu ,• and
was republished in 1809, with a life of the author. Dr Wallace's other pub-
lished works, are " A Sermon, preached in the High Church of Edinburgh,
Monday, January 6, 1745-6, upon occasion of the Anniversary Meeting of the
Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge ;" in which he min-
gled, witli a number of extensive statistical details concerning education, col-
lected with his usual learning, and tinged with valuable remarks, a political at-
tack on the Jacobite insurrection of the period, and the motives of its instigators,
" Characteristics of the Present State of Great Britain," published in 1758 ; and
*' Various Prospects of Mankind, Nature, and Providence," published in 1761 ;
in which he discussed the abstruse subjects of liberty and necessity, the perfecti-
bility of human nature, &a He left behind him a MS. essay on Taste, of con-
siderable length, which was prepared for the press by his son, Mr George
Wallace, advocate, but never published. From the new aspect which modern
inquiries on this subject have assumed, in their adoption of tlie cumulative prin-
ciple of association, this work can now be of little interest ; but it may be worth
while to know, that his " Principles of Taste," or sources from whence the feeling
was perceived to emanate, were divided into, 1st, grandeur ; 2nd, novelty; 3rd,
variety; 4th, uniformity, proportion, and order; 5th. symmetry, congruity, or
propriety ; and, 6th, similitude and resemblance, or contrast and dissimilitude.

Dr Wallace died on the 29th of July, 1771, in consequence of a cold, caught
in being overtaken in a walk by a snow storm. His son George, already
mentioned, is known as the author of a work on the Descent of ancient Peerages,
and " Principles of the Law of Scotland," which has fallen into obscurity.

WARDLAW, Hknby, bishop of St Andrews, and founder of the university
there, was descended from the WardlawG of Torry, in Fife, and was nephew
to Walter Wardlaw, bishop of Glasgow, who was created a cardinal by pope
Urban VI., in the year 13S1. The subject of this memoir, having received
tlie usual education of a churchman, was appointed, not improbably through the
interest of his uncle, to the office of precentor in the cathedral church of Glas-
gow. He afterwards went to Avignon, probably on sohie mission from his dig-
nified relative. While residing at the papal court there, Thomas Stewart, son
to Robert II., king of Scotland, who had been elected bishop of St Andrews,
died, and the subject of this memoir ivas preferred to the vacant see by pope
Benedict XIII., in the year 1404. He returned to Scotland shortly after,
bearing the additional title and office of pope's legate for Scotland. Being a
man of strict morals, his first care was to reform the lives of the clergy, whicli
had become profligate to an extreme degree. In the mean time, king Robert
III., having lost his eldest son David, by the treacherous cruelty of his brother

418 HENRY -WAllDLAW.

the duke of Albany, to secure the life of his sou James, sent him to the care of
bishop W.irdlaw, who, dreading the power nnd the ciuelty of Albany, advised
his father to send him to France to the care of Charles "VI., on whose friendly
dispositions he assured him he might confidently rely. On the seizure of
James, in 1404, by Henry IV. of England, the bishop was left at liberty to
pursue his plans of improvement at his leisure, but from the unsettled slate
of the country, and the deplorable ignorance which prevailed among all classes
of the community, with very little success. With the view of surmounting
these obstacles, he erected a college .it St Andrews in 1111, for which he
procured a confirmation from Pope Benedict in the year following. His
agent on this occasion was Alexander Ogilvy. On the return of this missionary
in the year 1412, uilh the bull of confirmation, bonfires were kindled, bells
were rung, and tlie night spent with every demonstration of joy. The next
day was devoted to a solemn religious procession, in which there were four
hundred clergymen, besides novices of various orders and degrees. Tlie
model upon which the bishop formed this university was that of Paris,
where, it is probable, he had received his own education ; and he nominated
Mr John Shevez, his first official, Mr William Stephen, afterwards bishop
of Dumblane, and Sir John Leister, a canon of the abbey, readers of divinity,
Mr Laurence Lindores, reader of the canon, and Mr Richard Cornwall of tlie
civil law, and Messra John Gow, William Foulis, and William Croisier, profes-
sors of philosophy, " persons," says Spotiswood, " worthy of being remem-
bered for being the first instruments that were employed in that service, and
for the attendance they gave upon it, having no allowance for their labour."
Buchanan has not recorded the names of these worthy men, but he alludes to
them when he says, " the university of St Andrews was founded througb the ef-
foi-ts of learned men, who gratuitously offered their services as professors, ratlier
than from any stipendiary patronage either of a public or private character."
For sixty-four years after its foundation the lectures were read in a wooden
building called the pedagogy, erected on the spot where St Mary's now stands,
the number of students amounting, if we may credit some authors, to several
thousands. The professors had no fixed salaries, and the students paid no
fees.*

Notwithstanding all the bishop's industry, and the diligence of his professors,
matters do not seem to have mended with the clergy. King James, after his
return, attempted to check their licentiousness without effect, as they had now
got beyond the reach of all authority except that of the court of Rome. The
university seems as yet to have been wholly unappreciated by the only classes
who could partake of its benefits ; for we find the monarch, in order to rid
himself of the profligate clergy, bestowing a large portion of his attention on
the establishment of schools, and supporting them liberally, that they might bo
available to all ranks. Learned men he induced by rewards to attend him, and
as often as he could disengage himself from public business he resorted to the
scene of their disputalioi)3, and listened to their discourses. By these means
he laboured to overcome the ignorant prejudices of his nobility, who, look-

' Forty-four jears after this, vit, 1455, while the pedagogy was yet standing, archbishop
Kennedy founded St Salvador's college, and in 1512, one hundred and one years after the
foundation of the pedagogv, prior Uepbum founded St Leonard's. The pedagogy being
taken don-n, St Mary's or Divinity college was erected in its stead. Towards this erection
the two Beatons, Uavid and James, contributed considerable sums, and lectures on theology
were there first introtluced by cardinal Beaton's successor, archbishop Hamilton, about the
year 1657. St Salvador's and St Leonard's were in comparatively recent times conjoined,
and go by the name of the United college. St Mary's is still distinct, and by the favour cf
different individuals, all of them have been pretty iibemlly endowed.

IlENKY WARDLiLW. 419

ing at the worthless and ignoble lives of the clergy, only conceived that
learning, to which the latter urged an exclusive claim, uas the nurse of idle^
ness and sloth, and fit to be exercised only in the gloom of a monastic cell.
Ill these generous and truly princely endeavours, however, James wr.s
grievously thwarted by the exhausted condition of the public revenues, whicli,
what with foreign wars, and domestic seditions, had almost entirely disappeared.
To remedy this evil he called a parliament at Edinburgh, mainly with a view
to relieve the hostages that remained in England for the king's ransom, of which
one half, or two hundred thousand nierks, stood unpaid. To raise this money
a general tax of twelve pennies on the pound of all land, spiritual ar.d tem-
poral, and four pennies on every cow, ox, and horse for the space of two years
was imposed. This tax, however, was so grievously resented by the people,
and so many extortions were committed in its exaction, tliat the generous
monarch, after the first collection, compassionately remitted what was unpaid,
and, so far from being enabled to be more generous in rewarding men
of learning and talents, the greater number of the hostages for his ransom
were allowed to die in bondage, from his inability to redeem them. What good
was in his power, however, he did not fail to perform, lie invited from
the universities on the continent no fewer than eighteen doctors of theology,
and eight doctors of the canon law. He attended in person the debates in the
ivfant university of St Andrews, and visited the other seminaries of learning.
He advanced none to any dignity in the church but persons of learning and
merit ; and he passed a law, that no man should enjoy the place of a canon
in any cathedral church till he had taken the degree of a bachelor in divinity,
or of the canon law. He placed choristers and organs in every cathedral in
the kingdom ; and, that the nobility might be compelled to apply themselves
to learning, he ordained, that no nobleman should be allowed to accede to
his father's estates till he was in some degree acquainted with the civil law,
or the common law of his own country. James was also careful to encour-
age artists from abroad to settle among his rude people, who were miserably
destitute of all the conveniences and comforts of civilized life.

A degree of prosperity, for a long period unknown in Scotland, followed ;
and, in its train, if we may believe Buchanan, ease, luxury, and licentiousness,
and, to such an extent, as not only to disturb the public tranquillity, but to
destroy all sobriety of individual conduct. Hence, he says, arose sumptuous
entertainments by day, and revellings by night, masquerades, a passion for
clothes of the most costly foreign materials, houses built, not for use but for
show, a perversion of manners under the name of elegance, native customs
came to be contemned, and, from a fastidious fickleness, nothing was esteemed
handsome or becoming that was not new. All this was charged by the common
people, though they themselves were following it up as fast as possible, upon
the courtiers who had come with the king from England, in the train of his
queen, Jane, daughter to the duke of Somerset Nor did the king himself
escape blame, though, by his own example, he did all that he could to repress
the evil ; for not only were his dress and his household expenses restrained
within the most moderate bounds, but extravagance of every kind he reproved,
wherever he beheld it. The matter, however, was considered of so great im-
portance by some of the Scottish nobility, who were accustomed themselves to
wear the plainest habiliments, to live on the plainest and simplest description
of food, and to accustom themselves to all manner of privations, in order to fit
them for the fatigues of war, that they pressed the bishop to move the king to
call a parliament, for abolishing these English customs, as they were called.
A parliament was accordingly assembled at Perth, in tlie year 1430, when it was

420 DR. ROBERT WATSON.

enacted that pearls should be worn only by ladies, who were permitted to hang
a small collar of them about their nocks. All furs and ermines, and excossivo
use of gold and silver lace, all banqueting and riotous feasting, with other
abuses of a similar kind, were prohibited ; and this prohibition, says the writer
of the bishop's life, was so effectual, that no more complaints of the kind
were heard of. The bishop, though remarkable for the great simplicity of his
character, for his piety and well meaning, was yet a greater enemy to what ho
believed to be heresy, than to immorality. In 1422, John Rcsby, an English-
man, was apprehended by Lawrence Liudorcs, professor of common law in the
newly erected university of St Andrews, who accused him in the ecclesiastical
court of having denied tho pope's vicarship, &c., &c. For this, Resby was
condemned to be burnt alive, and suffered accordingly. In tho year 1432,
Paul Craw, a Bohemian, was also apprehended in the university of St Andrews,
and accused before the bishops* court of following Wickliffe and Huss; of
denying that tho substance of bread and wine, in the sacrament, was changed
by virtue of any words; of denying that confession should be made to priests;
or that prayer should be offered up to saints. He likewise was condemned and
burnt alive, at tho instigation of the bishop. Notwithstanding this, Wardlaw
was celebrated for his charity; and though he laboured to suppress the riotous
living which had become so general in the kingdom, he was yet a man of
boundless hospitality. It is recorded of him, that tho stewards of his household,
on one occasion, complained to him of the numbers that resorted to his table, to
share in the good things which it afforded; and requested that, out of compassion
for his servants, who were often quite worn out with their labours, he would
furnish them with a list of his intended guests, that they might know how ma'ny
they should have to serve. To this he readily assented, and sent for his secre-
tary, to prepare the required document. Tho latter having arranged his writing
materials, inquired who was to be put down. " Put down, first," replied tho
bishop, "Fife and Angus," (two largo counties). This was enough: his servants,
appalled by anticipations of a list which began so formidably, instantly relin-
quished their design of limiting the hospitality of their generous master. For
the benefit of his diocese, the bishop built a bridge over the Eden, near its
mouth. Dempster charges him with having written a book, " Do Reformationc
Cleri et Oratio pro Reformatione conviviorum et luxus ; " but this seems to have
been simply a speech which he delivered in parliament on tho sumptuary laws,
and which, by some miracle, similar to that bo often employed by Livy, has
found its way into the Scottish histories.

Wardlaw departed this life in his castle of St Andrews, on the 6th day of
April, 1440, and was buried in the church of that city, wiih great pomp and
splendour, having held his dignified situation for nearly forty years.

WATSON, (Dr) Robert, author of tho History of the Reign of Philip II. of
Spain, was born at St Andrews about the year 1730. He was the son of an
apothecary of that city, who was also a brewer. He studied successively at the
universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, with a view to the ministry,
availing himself of the leisure which a course of theology leaves to the student
to cultivate English literature and rhetoric, upon which subjects he delivered a
series of lectures in Edinburgh, to an audience comprising the principal literary
and philosophical men of the day.

Soon after he had been licensed to preach, a vacancy occurred in one of the
churches of his native city, and for this he became a candidate, but was disap-
pointed. About this time, however, Mr Rymcr, tho professor of logic in St
Salvador's college, feeling the infirmities of old age advancing upon liim,
was inclined to enter into a negotiation for retiring, and, according to a

DR. ROBERT WATSON. 431

prevailing though not a laudable custom, Watson obtained his chair for the
payment of a small sum of money, and on the condition that the retiring pro-
fessor should continue to enjoy his salary. The subject of our memoir obtained
at the same time a patent from the crown, constituting him professor of rhetoric
and belles lettres. The study of logic, in St Andrews, as in most other
places, was confined to syllogisms, modes, and figures. Watson, whose mind
had been expanded by intercourse with the most enlightened men of his day,
and by the study of tha best modern literature, prepared and read to his
students a course of metaphysics and logic on an improved plan ; in which he
analyzed the powers of the mind, and entered deeply into the nature of the
different species of evidence of truth or knowledge.

After having fully arranged the course of his professional duties, Watson was
induced by the success of Hobertson and Hume in the composition of history,
as well as by the natural tendencies of his mind, to attempt a Avork emulating
theirs in labour and utility. The reign of Philip II. of Spain presented itself
to him as a proper subject, not only on account of its intrinsic interest, but as
a continuation of the admired work of Robertson on the preceding reign.
Having therefore prepared this composition with all due care, it was published
at London in 1777, in two volumes quarto. A periodical critic thus charac-
terizes the work : " The style and narration of this history deserve much
praise ; it is easy, flowing, and natural, always correct, and well adapted to the
difi'erent subjects which come under review ; it possesses, however, more of the
dignified simplicity and strength of the philosopher, than the floAving embel-
lishments of the poet. Watson rests none of his merit upon external orna-
ment ; he is chiefly anxious to relate facts, clearly and completely in
their due proportion and proper connexion, and to please and interest,
rather by what he has to tell than by any adventitious colouring. But though
he does not seem solicitous to decorate his narrative with beauty or sublimity
of diction, we feel no want of it ; we meet with nothing harsh, redundant, or
inelegant ; we can on no occasion say that he has not done justice to his sub-
ject, that his conceptions are ever inadequate, his views deficient, or his
description feeble. * * * The whole series of events lies full and clear
before us as they actually existed ; nothing is heightened beyond truth by the
false colourings of imagination, nor does anything appear without suitable dig-
nity. The principal circumstances are selected with judgment, and displayed
with the utmost perspicuity and order. On no occasion are we at a loss to ap-
prehend his meaning, or follow the thread of his narrative ; we are never
fatigued with minute attentions, nor distracted with a multiplicity of things at
once." '

On the death of principal Tullidelph, November 1777, Watson, now graced
with the degree of doctor of laws, was, through the influence of the earl of
Kinnoul, appointed to that respectable situation, and, at the same time, pre-
sented to the church and parish of St Leonard, in St Andrews, which had pre-
viously been enjoyed by Tullidelph. Dr Watson died March 31, 1781, leaving
by his lady, who was a daughter of Mr Shaw, professor of divinity in St
Mary's college, five daughters. He also left the first four books of a history
of the Reign of Philip IH., being a continuation of his former work. The task
of completing this by the addition of two books having been confided to Dr
William Thomson, (see the life of tliat gentleman,) the work was published at
London in 1783, in one volume quarto. Both of this and of the history of PhiL'p
11., there were subsequent editions in octavo.

1 Bee, volumes vii. and viii.

422 JAMES WATT.

WATT, James, one of the raost illustrious men of bis time as a natural phi-
losopher, clietnist, and civil engineer, was born at Greenock, on the 19th of
January, 1736. His father, James Watt, was a block-maker and ship chand-
ler, and for some time one of the magistrates of Greenock; and his mother,
Agnes Muirhead, was descended from a respectable family. During boyhood
his health was very delicate, so that his attendance at school was by no means
regular; nevertheless, by assiduous application at home, he soon attained great
proficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and, by the perusal of books
that came within his command, he extended his knowledge beyond the circle of
elementary instruction of the public schools, and cherished that thirst for in-
formation which is the characteristic of all men of genius, and for which he was
throughout life remarkable. Au anecdote of his boyhood lias been preserved,
showing the early bent of his mind. His aunt, Mrs. Muirhead, sitting with him
one evening at the tea-table, said, " James, I never saw such an idle boy! Take
a book, or employ yourself usefully ; for the last half hour you have not spoken
a word, but taken ofif the lid of that kettle, and put it on again." With
the aid alternately of a cup and a silver spoon, he was observing how tho
steam rose from the spout and became condensed, and was counting tho
di'ops of water. But there is little incident in his life until he reached his
eighteenth year, excepting that he manifested a strong predilection for mechani-
cal and matliematical pursuits. In accordance with this natural bent, he de-
parted for London, in 1754, in order to learn the profession of a mathe-
matical instrument-maker. When he arrived in London, he placed himself
under the direction of a mathematical instrument-maker, and applied himself
with great assiduity, and with such success, that, although he was obliged, from
want of health, to return to his father's roof in little mora than a year, yet he
persevered, and soon attained proficiency in his business. lie made occasional
visits to his mother's relations in Glasgow, a city at that time considerably ad-
vanced in that career of manufacturing industry and opulence, for which it
has in more recent times been so eminently distinguished. In that city, it was
his intention to settle as a mathematical instrument-maker; but he was violently
opposed by some corporations of the trades, who viewed him as an intruder
upon their privileges, although the business which he intended to follow, was at
that time little practised in Scotland. By this occurrence, the hopes of Watt
had been well nigh frustrated, and the energies of his inventive mind had
probably been turned in a different channel from that which distinguished his
future years, had it not been for the kind and well directed patronage of the
professors of the university. In the year 1757, this learned body, who had at
that time to reckon among their number some of the greatest men then living —
Smith, the political economist, Black, the chemist, and Simson, the geometer —
conferred upon Watt the title of mathematical instruroent^maker to the univer-
sity, with all the privileges of that office, and cliambers within the walls of
their venerable seminary, adjoining the apartments occupied by the cele-
brated printers, the Messrs Foulis. He continued to prosecute his avo-
cation in this place for about six years, during which time, so far as health
and necessary employment would permit, he applied himself to the acquisition
of scientific knowledge. It was during this period, also, that he contracted a
lasting friendship with l)r Black, whose name will ever be conspicuous in the
history oT philosophyj for his valuable additions to our knowledge of the doc-
trine of heat; and also with Hobison, then a student in Glasgow college,
and who afterwards filled the natural philosophy chair in the university of
Edinburgh.

This period of Watt's life was marked by an incident, which in itself might

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JAMES WATT. 423

appear trifling, and not at all out of the course of his ordinary business, but
which was nevertheless productive of results, that not only gave immortality to
his name, but impressed a great and lasting change on the commerce and man-
ners of his own country, and also of a great portion of the world. We here
allude to a circumstance that shall shortly be mentioned, that led to the im-
provements of Watt on the steam engine ; and the events of his life are so
intimately interwoven with the history of the perfection of this extraordinary
machine, that it will be necessary, in a brief and popular way, to describe tlie
leading principles of its action.

The steam engine, at the time of which we speak, was constructed after the
plan invented by Newcomen. The chief use to which these engines were ap-
plied, was the pumping of water from coal mines, one end of the pump rod
being attached to a long lever, or beam suppoi-ted in the middle. To tlie other
end of this lever was attached the rod of a piston, capable of moving up and
down in a cylinder, after the manner of a common syringe. The weight of
the pump rod, &c., at the one end of the beam, having caused that end to
descend, the other end was necessarily raised, and, the piston rising in the
cylinder, steam was admitted from the bottom to fill the vacuity. But when
the piston arrived at the top, cold water was injected at the bottom, and by
reducing the temperature of the steam, condensed it, forming a vacuum. In
this state of things, the atmosphere pressing on the top of the piston, forced it
down, and raised the pump rod at the other end of the beam. This operation
being continued, the pumping of the mine was carried on. Such was the form
of the steam engine, when Watt first found it; and such is its construction at
many coal mines even in our own day, where the economy of fuel is not a
matter of any importance.

Anderson, the professor of natural philosophy, in the course of the win-
ter of 1763, sent a model of Newcomen's engine to Mr Watt in order to
be repaired. This was accordingly done, and the model set in operation, and
with this an ordinary mechanic Avould have been satisfied. But the mind of
the young engineer had two yeara before this time been occupied in researches
into the properties of steam. During the winter of 1761, he made several
vei'y simple yet decisive experiments, for the most part with apothecaries'
phials, by which he found that a cubic inch of water will form a cubic
foot of steam, equal in elasticity to the pressure of the atmosphere, and also
that when a cubic foot of steam is condensed by injecting cold water, as much
heat is given out as would raise six cubic inches of water to the boiling point.
To these important discoveries in the theory of steam, he subsequently added
a third, beautifully simple, as all philosophical truths are, and valuable from its
extensive application to practical purposes : he found that the latent heat of
steam decreases as the sensible heat increases, and that univei-sally these
two added together make a constant quantity which is the same for all temper-
atures. This matter is commonly misrepresented, and it is stated not only in
accounts of the steam engine, but also in memoirs of Mr Watt, that the
discoveries of Dr Black regarding the properties of heat and steam laid the
foundation of all Watt's inventions. Dr Black himself gave a correct state-
ment of the matter, and frequently mentioned with great candour, that
Mr Watt discovered unaided the latent heat of steam, and having coumiuni-
cated this to the doctor, that great chemist was agreeably surprised at this
confirmation of the theory he had already formed, and explained that theory
to Mr Watt; a theory which was not made public before the year 1762.
During the same year Watt made sonic experiments with a Papin's digester,
causing the piston of a syringe to move up and down by the force of steam of

424 JAMES WATT.

high temperature, on the principle of the high pressure engine, now employed
for various purposes. But he gave up ihe idea from fear of bnrstinp the
boiler, and the difficulty of making tight joints. These facts are sufficient to
prove that he had at this time some idea of improving the steam engine ; and
lie himself modestly says, " My attention was first directed in 1759, to the sub-
ject of steam engines by Dr Robison, then a student in the university of
Glasgow, and nearly of my own age. Robison at that time threw out the idea
of applying the power of the steam engine to the moving of wheel carriages
and to otiier purposes ; but the scheme was not matured, and was soon
abandoned on his going abroad." His active mind, tlius prepared, was not
likely to allow the defects of the model which was put in his hands to pass un-
observed. This interesting model, which is still preserved among the apparatus
of the Glasgow university, has a cylinder whose diameter is two incites, tlie
length of stroke being six. Having repaired it, he tried to set it a-going, the
steam being formed in a spherical boiler whose diameter was about nine inches.
In the course of these trials he found the quantity of steam, as likewise that
of the cold injection water, to be far greater in proportion, than what he un-
derstood was required for engines of a larger size. Tliis great waste of steam,
and consequently fuel, he endeavoured to remedy by forming cylinders of bad
conductors of heat, such as Avood saturated with oil, but this had not the desired
effect. At last the fact occurred to him, that the cylinder was never suf-
ficiently cooled down in order to obtain a complete vacuum. For some time
before this it had been found by Dr Cullen that under diminished pressure
there is a corresponding fall of the boiling point It now became necessary to
ascertain the relation which the boiling point bears to the pressure on the sur-
face of the water. He was not possessed of the necessary instruments to try
the boiling points under pressures less than that of the atmosphere, but having
tried numerous points under increased pressures, he laid down a curve whose
ordinates represented the pressures and abscissas the corresponding boiling
points, and thus discovered the equation qf the boiling point. These consider-
ations led Watt, after much reflection, to the true method of overcoming the
difficulties in the operation of Newcomen's engine. The two things to be ef-
fected were, 1st, to keep the cylinder always as hot as. the steam to be admitted
into it, and secondly, to cool down the condensed steam and the injection water
used for condensation to a temperature not exceeding 100 degrees. It was
early in the summer of 1765 that the method of accomplishing these two ob-
jects was first matured in his mind. It then occurred to him that if a communi-
cation were opened between a cylinder containing steam and another vessel
exhausted of air and other fluids, the steam would immediately rush into the
empty vessel, and continue so to do until an equilibrium was established, and
by keeping that vessel very cool the steam would continue to enter and be con-
densed. A difficulty still remained to be overcome, how was the condensed
steam and injection water, together with the air, which must necessarily ac-
company, to be withdrawn from the condensing vessel. Watt thought of two
methods, one by a long pipe, sunk into the earth, and the other by employing
a pump, wrought by the engine itself; the latter was adopted. Tlius was
laid open the leading principle of a machine the most powerful, tlie most
regular, and the most ingenious, ever invented by mnn.

Watt constructed a model, the cylinder of which was nine inches diameter,
making several improvements besides those above alluded to. He sui-rounded
the cylinder with a casing, the intervening space being filled with steam to
keep the cylinder warm. He also put a cover on the top, causing the piston
rod to move through a hole in it, and the piston was rendered air-tight by

JAMES WATT, 425

being lubricated uith \vax .ind tallow, instead of water as formerly. The
model answered the expectations of tlie inventor, but in tlje course of liis trials
the beam broke, and lie set it aside for some time.

In tracing the progress of improvement in tlie steam engine, we have been
obliged to pass over some incidents in his life which took place during the
same period, and wliich we now proceed to notice. In tlie course of the year
17G3, Mr Watt married his cousin 3Iiss 3Iiller, daughter of the chief
magistrate of Calton, Glasgow ; previously to which he removed from his
apartments in the college, and opened a shop in the Saltniarket, opposite St
Andrew's Square, for the purpose of carrying on his business as Mathematical
and Philosophical instrument-maker. Here he applied himself occasionally in
making and repairing musical instruments, and made several improvements on
tlie organ. He afterwards removed to Buchanan's land in the Trongate, a lit-
tle west of the Tontine, and in 17G3 he shut shop, and removed to a private
house in King Street, nearly opposite to the Green market. It was not, how-
ever, in any of these residences that the interesting experiments and valuable
discoveries connected with the steam engine were made ; the experiments were
pei-formed, and the model erected in the delft work at the Broomielaw quay,
in which concern AVatt soon after became a partner, and continued so to the
end of his life.

In 17G», Dr Lind brought from India a perspective machine, invented there
by a 3Ir Hurst, and showed it to his friend Mr Watt, who, by an ingenious
application of the principle of the parallel ruler, contrived a machine
mucli lighter, and of more easy application. Blany of these maciiines were
made and sent to various parts of ibc world; and Adams, the eminent philoso-
phical iastrament-maker, copied cue of those sent to London, and made them
for sale.

Mr Watt, having relinquished the business of mathematical instrument-
maker, commenced that of civil engineer, and in the course of 1767, he sur-
veyed the Forth and Clyde canal ; but the bill for carrying on this gi'eat and
beneficial public work being lost in parliament, his attention was directed to
the superintendence of the 3Ionkland canal, for which he had previously pre-
pared the estimates and a survey. He likewise surveyed for the pro-
jected canal between Perth and Forfar, as also for the Crinan canal, which
was subsequently executed under the superintendence of Rennie.

In 1773, the importance of an inland navigation in the northern part of
Scotland between the eastern and western seas became so great, that Mr Watt
was employed to make a survey of the Caledonian canal, and to report on the
practicability of connecting that remarkable chain of lakes and valleys.
These surveys he made, and reported so favourably of the practicability of
tlie undertaking, that it would have been immediately executed, had not the
forfeited lands, from which the funds were to be derived, been restored to their
former proprietors. This great national work was afterwards executed" by Mr
Telford, on a more magnificent scale than had originally been intended.

What Johnson said of Goldsmith may with equal justice be applied to
Watt, " he touched not that which he did not adorn." In the course of his
surveys, his mind was ever bent on improving the instruments he employed, or
in inventing others to facilitate or correct his operations. During the period
of which we have been speaking ha invented two micrometers for measuring dis-
tances not easily accessible, such as arms of the sea. Five years after the inven-
tion of these ingenious instruments, one 3Ir Green obtained a premium for an in-
vention similar to one of tliem, from the Society of Arts, notwithstanding the
evidence of Smeaton and other ;iroofs that Watt was the original contriver.

IV. ' 2"

42G JAMES WATT.

Mr Watt applied for lettei's patent in 1768, for ** methods of lessening the
consumption of steam, and consequently of fuel in the steam engine," whidi
passed the seals in January, 17G9. Besides the improvements, or rather inven-
tions, already alluded to, this patent contained in its specification methods to
employ the steam expansively upon the piston, and, where water was not plenti-
ful, to work the engine by tliis force of steam only, by dischai-ging the steam
into the open air after it has done its office ; and also methods of forming a
rotatory steam engine. Thus was completed Watt's single reciprocating engine,
and while the patent was passing 'through the different stages an engagement
was entered into between the inventor and Dr Roebuck of the Carron iron
works, a man equally eminent for kindness of heart, ability, and enterprise.
The terms of this agreement Avere, that Dr Roebuck, in consideration of his risk
of capital, should receive two-thirds of the clear profits of the sale of the
engines which they manufactured. Dr Roebuck at this time rented the large
coal mines at Kinneil, near Borrowstownness, and under the superintendence of
Mr Watt an engine was erected at Kinneil house, the cylinder of which was
made of block tin, being eighteen inches diameter. The action of this engine
far surpassed even the sanguine expectations of the proprietors. Preparations
were accordingly made for the manufacture of the new steam engine ; but tiie
pecuniary difficulties in which Dr Roebuck became at this time involved, threw
a check on the proceedings. From this period till the end of 1773, during
which time, as we have seen, Mr Watt was employed in surveys, &c., little was
done with the patent right obtained in 1769. About the end of the year
1773, while Mr Watt was engaged in his survey of the Caledonian canal, ho
received intimation from Glasgow of the death of his wife, who left him a
son and a daughter.

His fame as an engineer had now become generally known, and about
the commencement of 1774, he received an invitation from Mr Matthew
Boulton, of the Soho foundery, near Bii-mingham, to enter into copartnership,
for the manufacture of the steam engine. Mr Watt prevailed upon Dr Roe-
buck to sell his share of the patent right to Mr Boulton, and immediately pro-
ceeded to Birmingham, and entered on business with his new partner. This
new alliance was not only exceedingly fortunate for the parties themselves, but
forms an important era in the history of the manufactures of Great Britain.
Few men were so well qualified as Boulton to appreciate the merits of Watt's
inventions, or possessed of so much enterprise and capital to put them into
operation. He had already established the foundery at Soho on a scale of
magnificence and extent, not at that time elsewhere to be found ; and the in-
troduction of Watt made an incalculable addition to the extent and regularity
of its operation.

The length of time and great outlay necessary for bringing the manufacture
of steam engines to such a state as would yield a remuneration, was now appa-
rent to Mr Watt, and he clearly saw that the few years of his patent which had
yet to run, would not be by any means sufficient to yield an adequate return.
Early, therefore, in 1774, he applied for an extension of his patent right, and
by the zealous assistance of Drs Roebuck and Robison, he obtained this four
years afterwards, the extension being granted for twenty-five years. The year
following the first applTcation for the extension of the patent, tlie manufacture
of steam engines was commenced at Soho, under the firm Boulton, Watt, and
Co. ^lany engines were made at this foundery, and licenses granted to miners
in various parts of the country to use their engines, on condition that the
patentees should receive a third part of the saving of coals of the new engine,
compared with one of the same power on Newcomen's construclion. Au iden

JAMES WATT. 427

may be formed of the profits arising by this arrangement, when we know thnt
from the proprietors of throe large engines erected at Cliacewater in Cornwall,
Watt and Boulton received ^6800 anniially.

John Smeaton had for many years been employed in erecting and improving
tlie steam engine on Newcomen's principle, and did as much for its perfection
as beauty and proportion of mechanical construction could effect. The fame of
Smeaton does not rest on his improrements on the steam engine. What he has
done in other departments of engineering, is amply sufficient to rank him as
one of the most ingenious men England ever produced. Yet even what he has left
behind him, in the improvement of Newcomen's engine, is well worthy the
study, and will ever elicit the admiration, of the practical mechanic To a man
of weaker mind than Smeaton, it must have been galling to see all the ingenuity
and application which he had bestowed on the subject of steam power, rendered
ahnost useless by the discovery of a younger man. Yet when he saw Watt's
improvement, he was struck with its excellence and simplicity, and with that
readiness and candour which are ever the associates of true genius, he com-
municated to INIr Watt, by a complimentary letter, the high opinion he held
of his invention ; admitting that *"' the old engine, even when made to do its
best, was now driven from every place, where fuel could be considered of any
value." How different this from the treatment he received from inferior in-
dividuals, labouring in the same field ! His right to the invention of a separate
condenser, was disputed by several, whose claims were publicly and satisfac-
torily refuted. Among others, he Avas attacked in a strain of vulgar abuse, and
a tissue of arrant falsehoods, by a Jlr Hornblower, who Avrote the article
" Steam Engine," in the first and second editions of Gregory's 3Iechanics.
This Mr Hornblower, not contented with giving his own sliallow evidence
against Watt, has, with the characteristic grovelling which pervades the whole
of his article, endeavoured to give weight to his assertions, by associating witli.
himself a respectable man. Mr Hornblower states, that, in a conversation with
Mr S. 3Ioor, secretary to the Society for tlie Encouragement of Arts, that
gentleman had stated that Mr Gainsborough was the true inventor of the sepa-
rate condenser. Mr Moor had doubtless an intimate knowledge of the true
state of the matter ; and, fortunately for his reputation as a sincere and candid
man, we find him controvert this upon oath, at his examination in the case,
Watt and Boulton verstis Bull, in 1792.

In 1775, Mr Watt married, for the second time. The lady, Bliss M'Gre-
gor, was the daughter of 3Ir M'Gregor, a wealthy merchant of Glasgow, who,
as will be seen hereafter, was the first in Britain, in conjunction with 3Ir Watt,
to apply chlorine in the process of bleaching. From this time, Watt applied
himself assiduously to the improvement of that powerful machine for which
he had already done so mucli. In 17SI, he took out a patent for the re-
gulating motion, and that beautiful contrivance, the sun and planet wheel.
The short history of this latter invention, gives an apt illustration of his
exhaustless powers of contrivance. For the purpose of converting the re-
ciprocating motion of the large beam into a rotatory movement for driving
machinery, he had recourse to that simple contrivance, the crank ; but while
it was preparing at Soho, one of the workmen communicated it to 3Ir Steed, who
immediately took out a patent, and thus frustrated Watt's views. Mr Watt be-
thought himself of a substitute, and hit upon the happy idea of the sun and
planet wheel. This and the like occurrences may have given him that fond-
ness for patents, with which he has frequently been charged.

During the course of the following year, two distinct patents were granted to
Mr Watt, one in February, and the other in July, for an expansive engine —

J

428 JAMES WATT.

six contrivances for regulating the motion — double acting engine — two cylin-
ders— parallel motion, by rack and sector — semirotative engine — and steam
wheel. A third was granted in 1784, for a rotative engine — parallel mo-
tions— portable engine and steam carriage — Avorking hammers — improved
hand gear, and new method of working the valves. The most important of
these inventions are, the double acting engine, in which steam is admitted
both below and above the piston alternately, steam pressure being thus em-
ployed to press on each side of the piston, while a vacuum was formed over the
other. By this contrivance, he was enabled to double the power of the en-
gine, Avithout increasing the dimensions of tlie cylinder. To the complete
effecting of this, he was obliged to cause the piston rod to move througli a stuf-
fing box at the top of the cylinder ; a contrivance, it must be stated, wliich had
been some years previous applied by Smeaton, in the construction of pumps.
Simple as these additions may at first appear, they were, nevertheless, followed
by many great advantages. They increased the uniformity of motion, and at
the same time diminished the extent of cooling surface, the size of boiler, and
the weight and magnitude of the whole machinery. Another vast improvement
involved in these patents, is the expansive engine in which the steam was
let fully in, at the beginning of tlie stroke, and the valves shut, when the
piston had advanced througli a part of its progress, the rest being completed by
the expansion of the steam; which arrangement greatly increases the power.
This engine was included in the patent for 1782 ; though JMr Hornblower had
published something of the same nature the year before. But an engine on
the expansive principle was erected by Watt at Shadwell iron works in 1778,
and even two years before expansive engines had been manufactured at Soho ;
facts which secure to Watt the honour' of the priority of discovery. That in-
genious combination of levers which guided the piston rod, and is called the
parallel motion, was secured by patent of 1784, and remains to this day
unsurpassed as a beautifully simple mechanical contrivance.

In 1785, a patent was granted to Mr Watt for a new method of constructing
furnaces, and the consumption of smoke. He likewise applied to the stenm
engine the governor, or conical pendulum, the steam and condension gauges,
and the indicator. About the same time, in consequence of the delay and ex-
pense attendant on the numerous experiments towards the perfection of this
vast creator and distributor of power, he found it necessary to apply to par-
liament for an extension of his patent, which was granted to the end of the
eighteenth century. By this grant, the proprietors of the Solio foundery were
enabled speedily to realize a great fortune.

In the winter of the year 1786, the subject of this memoir, together with
his able and active partner, went to Paris, at the solicitation of the French
government, in order to improve the method of raising water at 3Iarley. Here
fllr Watt met with most of the eminent men of science, who at that time
adorned the French metropolis ; and among the rest, tlie celebi-ated chemist,
Berthollet. The French philosopher had discovered, in 1785, the bleaching
properties of chlorine, and communicated the fact to Mr Watt^ willi the power
of patenting the invention in England. This Mr Watt modestly declined do-
ing, on the ground that he was not the author of the discovery. Mr Watt saw
the value of this new process, and communicated the matter, tlirough the course
of the following year, to his father-in-law, iMr M'Gregor, who at that time car-
ried on a large bleaching establishment in the vicinity of Glasgow. He sent
an account of the process, together with some of the bleaching liquor, in March,
1787 ; and the process of bleaching by the new method was immediately com-
menced at 3Ir McGregor's field, and fire hundred pieces were speedily executed

JAMES WATT. 429

to entire satisfaction. Early in the following year, two foreigners niado an
attempt to gain a patent for the new bleaching process ; but they were opposed
by IVIr Walt, and Jlessrs Cooper and Henry of 3Ianchester, all of whom had
already bleaciied by Berthollet's method. Notwithstanding ihe misrepresenta-
tions in several histories of bleaching, it is manifest from these facts, as well as
from the dates of several letters of INIr Watt and Sir Henry, that the great im-
prover of tlie steam engine, had also the honour of introducing the process of
bleaching by chlorine into Great Britain; and though he was not the original
discoverer, yet he greatly simplified and economised the process of obtaining
the discharging agent employed, and the vessels and other arrangements used
in the art of bleaching. Among other improvements may be mentioned, his
method of testing the strength of the chlorine liquor, by ascertaining how
much of it is necessary to discharge the colour of a given quantity of infusion
of cochineal. The benefits which 31r Watt confen-ed on chemical science, did
not terminate here. From a letter written to Dr Priestley in 1763, and in
another to 31, De Luc, in the same year, he communicated his important dis-
covei*y of the composition of water. But in the beginning of the following
year, jMr Cavendish read a paper on the same subject, claiming to himself the
honour of discovery ; ar.d in the histories of chemistry, the claims of Caven-
dish are silently admitted. There is a confusion of dates in the documents on
this subject, which at the present day it is impossible to reconcile; but from the
characters of the two men, we are inclined to think that each made the dis-
covery independently of the other, and that therefore the credit is due to
both. 3Ir Watt's letter to IM. De Luc was read before the Royal Society, and
published in their Transactions for 1784, under the title of" Thoughts on the
Constituent parts of V\'ater, and of Dephlogisticated Air ; with an Account of
some Experiments on that subject." Mr Watt also contributed a paper on the
medical properties and application cf the factitious airs, to the treatise of Dr
Beddoes on pneumatic medicine, and continued during the latter period of his
life deeply to engage himself in chemical pursuits.

A patent was granted to Mr Watt in 1780, for a machine for copying let-
ters and drawings. This machine, Avhich soon became well known, and exten-
sively used, was manufactured by Messrs Boulton and Kier, under the firm of
James Walt and Company. He was led to this invention, from a desire to
abridge the lime necessarily spent in taking copies of the numerous letters he
was obliged to write. It was constructed in two forms, on the principle of the
rolling press, one of them being large, and fitted for oflices ; the other light,
and capable of being inclosed in a portable writing desk. Through the course
of the following year, Mr Watt invented a steam drying apparatus, for his
friend, 3Ir 3I'Gregor, of Glasgow. For this machine he never took out a patent,
although it was the first thing of the kind ever contrived; nor was there ever any
drawing or description of it published during his lifetime.' During the winter
of 1784, Mr Watt made arrangemenU for heating his study by steam ; which
method has since been extensively applied to the heating of private houses, con-
servatories, hot-houses, and manufactories. Concerning the history of this ap-
paratus, it is but justice to state, that colonel Cook had, in the Philosophical
Transactions for 1745, described a method of "heating apartments by means of
the steam of water conveyed along the walls by pipes ;" but there is no proof
that this was known to 3Ir Walt

In the year 1800, Mr Watt withdrew from the concern at Soho, delivering
liis share of the business to his two sons, James and Gregory, the latter of whom
died in the prime of life, much regretted by all uho knew him. Afier
' See Edinburgh Eiicyc xviii.. Steam Drying.

430 JAMES WATT.

having given ample proofs of great niexital endowments 3Ir Watt thus retired
from business, witii a well earned competency, which enabled him to enjoy tha
evening of n well spent life with ease and comfort in the bosom of his family.
At no time had he taken any active sliare in the management of the busi-
ness of the Soho foundery, nor were his visits to it, even while he was a partner,
by any means frequent. Mr Boulton was a man of excellent address, great
wealth, of business habits, and full of enterprise, and contributed greatly to tha
improvement of the steam engine, by taking upon himself the entire manage-
ment of the works at Soho : he thus relieved from all worldly concern, the mind
of his illustrious partner, which was much more profitably employed on those
profound and valuable researches, by which he has added so largely to the
field of science. As Dupin well observes, "men who devote themselves en-
tirely to the improvement of industi-y, will feel in all their force the services
that Boulton has rendered to the arts and mechanical sciences, by freeing tha
genius of Watt from a crowd of extraneous difficulties which would have con-
sumed those days that were far better dedicated to the improvement of tlic
useful arts."

Although 3Ir Watt retired from public business, he did not relax in his ar-
dour for scientific pursuits and new inventions. Towards the end of the year
1809, he wasapplied to by the Glasgow Water Company to assist them in pointing
out a method of leading water across the river, from a well on the south side,
which atlbrded a natural filter. From a consideration of the structure of the
lobster's tail, he funned the idea of a flexible main, with ball and socket
joints, to be laid across the bed of the river, and which was constructed accord-
ing to his plan in the summer of IS 19. This ingenious contrivance gave such
satisfaction, that another precisely similar was added a short time afterwards.
Two years subsequent to this, he received the thanks of the Board of Admiralty,
for his opinion and advice regarding the formation of the docks then carrying
on at Sheerness.

About the year 1813, it was proposed to publish a complete edition of Dr
Robison's works, and the materials were delivered, for the purpose of editing,
into the hands of his able friend, Piayfair, who, not having sufficient leisure
for such an undertaking, transmitted them to Sir U. Brewster. The Litter
gentleman applied to IMr Watt for his assistance ia the revision of the article
" Steam Engine," for which article he had originally furnished some materials,
when it first appeared in the Encyclopasdia Britannica; and to the article, in its
new form, he furnished many valuable corrections and additions.

In 1817, Mr Watt paid a visit to his native country ; and it surprised and
delighted his friends to find that he enjoyed good health, his mind possessed its
wonted vigour, and his conversation its wonted charms. During the last years
of his life, he en)ployed himself in contriving a machine for taking copies of
pieces of sculpture. This machine never received the finishing touch of its in-
ventor's liand ; but it was bi'ought to such perfection, that seven specimens were
executed by it in n very creditable manner. Some of these he distributed
among his friends, " r.a the productions of a young artist, just entering his
eighty-third year." When tins machine was considerably advanced in construc-
tion, Mr Watt learned that a neighbouring gentleman had been for some time
engaged in a similar undertaking ; and a proposal was made to IMr Watt, that
they should jointly take out a patent, whicli he declined, on the ground, that
from his advanced age, it would be unwise for him to enter upon any new spe-
culation. It was always Mr Watt's opinion that this gentleman had no know-
ledge whatever of ilie constniction of the machine.

The health of 3Ir Watt, which was naturally delicate, became gradually bel-

JAMES WATT.

431

ter towards the latter period of his long and useful life. Intense headaches
arising from an organic defect in the digestive system, often afflicted him.
These were often aggravated and induced by the severe study to which he com-
iiionly subjected himself, and the perplexity arising from the frequent law-
suits in uhich he had been engaged towards the close of the eiohteenth cen-
tury. It must not be inferred from this last statement, that this great man
whose discoveries we have been recounting, was by any means litigiously in-
clined. His quiet and peaceful mind was ever disposed to shrink from the
agitations of paper wars and law pleas, and to repose in the quiet retreats of
science. IMany attempts were made to pirate his inventions and to encroach
upon his patent rights, against which he never made any other defence tlian
that which become an honest man, i. e. an appeal for the protection of the law
of the land. He lived to see all these attempts to rob him of the profits of his
inventions, as well as the envy and detraction which are ever the followers of
merit, silenced for ever, and terminated a long, useful, and honourable life in
the full possession of his mental faculties, at his residence at Heathfield in Staf-
fordshire, on the 25lh of August, 1819, having reached his eighty-fourth
year.

The fame of Watt will in future ages rest secure upon the imperishable basis
of liis many discoveries, and he will ever be ranked in the first class of tliose
great men who have benefited the human race by the improvement of the arts
of industry and peace. Even dui-ing his lifetime this was known and recog-
nized, and he received several honorary distinctions. In 1784, he was elected
a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the year following he became
fellow of the Royal Society of London. In 1787, he Avas chosen con-espond-
ing member of the Batavian Society; in 1806, he received the honorary de-
gree of LL.D. from the university of Glasgow ; and ten years later, he was
made a member of the national institute of France.

Respecting the private character of Watt it would be difficult to communi-
cate an adequate idea of its excellence. Those who knew him will ever
remember that in his private intercourse with society he elicited from them
more love and admiration than they can ever express. He was benevolent aud
kind to all those who came about him, or solicited either his patronage or ad-
vice. His conversation was easy, fluent, and devoid of all formality ; replete
with profound and accurate information on all subjects, blended with pertinent
and amusing anecdote — such that, when combined with liis plain unafiected lan-
guage, the mellow tones of his manly voice, his natural good humour and ex-
pressive countenance, produced an effect on those around him wiiich will
hardly ever fade from memory. He read much, and could easily i-emem-
ber and readily apply all that was valuable of what he read. He was
versed in several of the modern languages, antiquities, law, and the fine arts,
and was largely read in light literature. His character was drawn up by his
friend Francis Jeffrey, with a fidelity and eloquence that has made it
known to almost every one. We will, thei-efore, forbear to quote it here, and
bring this memoir to a conclusion by placing before the reader what has been
said of Watt by his illustrious countryman and friend, the author of Waverley.
In the playful letter to captain Clutterbuck in the introduction to the 3Ionas-
tery, Sir Walter Scott gives the following lively description of his meeting in
Edinburgh Tvith this remarkable man: — "Did you know the celebrated Watt of
Birmingham, captain Clutterbuck ? I believe not, though, from what I am about
to state, he would not have failed to have sought an acquaintance with you.
It was only once my fortune to meet him, whether in body or in spirit it matters
not. There were assembled about half a score of our northern lights, who had

432 JAMES WATT.

amongst them, heaveo knows liovr, a well known character of your country,
Jcdediah Cleishbotham. This worthy person having come to Edinburgh during
the Christmas vacation, had become a sort of lion in the place, and was led in
leash from house to house along with the guizzards, the stone eater, and other
amusements of the season, which 'exhibit their unparalleled feats to private
family parties, if required.' Amidst this company stood Mr Watt, tho man
whose genius discovered the means of multiplying our national resources to
a degree perhaps even beyond his own stupendous powers of calculation and
combination, bringing the treasures of the abyss to tho summit of the earth;
giving the feeble arm of man the momentum of an Afrite; commanding manu-
factures to arise, as tho rod of the prophet produced water in the desert;
affording the means of dispensing with tliat time and tido which wait for no
man, and of sailing without that wind which defied the commands and threats
of Xerxes himself. This potent commander of tho elements — this abridge* of
time and space — this magician, whose cloudy machinery has produced a change
on the world, the effects of which, extraordinary as they are, are perhaps
only now beginning to be felt — was not only the most profound man of science,
the most successful combiner of powers and calculator of numbers, as adapted
to practical purposes — was not only one of the most generally well informed,
but one of the best and kindest of human beings.

" There ho stood, surrounded by the little band I have mentioned of north-
ern literati, men not less tenacious, generally speaking, of their own fame
and their own opinions than the national regiments are supposed to be jealous
of the high character which they have gained upon service. Methinks I yet
see and hear what I shall never see and hear again. In his eighty-fifth year,
the alert, kind, benevolent old man had his attention at every one's question,
his information at every one's command. His talents and fancy overflowed
on every subject. One gentleman was a deep philologist; he talked with
him on the origin of the alphabet as if he had been coeval with Cadmus :
another was a celebrated critic; you would have said the old man had studied
political economy and belles lettres all his life; of science it is unnecessary
to speak, it was his own distinguished walk. And yet, captain Clutterbuck,
when he spoke with your countryman, Jedcdiah Cleishbotliam, you would
have sworn he had been coeval with Clavcrse and Burley, with the persecutors
and persecuted, and could number every shot the dragoons had fired at the fugi-
tive Covenanters. In fact, we discovered that no novel of the least celebrity
escaped his perusal, and that the gifted man of science was as much addicted to
the productions of your native country, (the land of Utopia aforesaid ;) in other
words, as shameless and obstinate a peruecr of novels as if he had been a very
milliner 's apprentice of eighteen."

A highly characteristic statue of Watt, by Cliantrc}', adorns a Gothic monu-
ment reared to his memory, by his son, Mr James Watt, who died June 2, 1848,
in his 80th year. Three other statues of him by Cbantrcy have been erected —
one of them, of colossal size, stands in Westminster Abbey, and boars an elegant
inscription by lord Brougham. The countenance of this statue has been cha-
racterised as the personification of abstract thought. Glasgow possesses the other
two — one of marble, in the museum of the university, and the other of bronze,
in George's Square. His native town of Greenock has also rendered appropriate
homage to his genius, by erecUng not only his statue but a public library, which
bears his name. An admirable Eloge on Watt and his inventions was pronounced
before the National Institute of France by the late M. Arago. Lord Brougham
has also celebrated his merits in his Historical Account of the Composition of
Water, which is published as an appendix to tho Eloge.

ROBERT WATT, M.D. 433

WATT, Robert, M.D., the author of the Bibliotheca BiiiTANNrcA, and of
several medical treatises, was born in May, 1774. His father, John Watt,
possessed a small farm, called Muirhead, in tho parish of Stewarton, Ayrshire
which had belonged to tho ftimily for several generations, but which was sold
shortly after his death, in 1810. Robert was tho youngest of three sons; and,
Avith his elder brothers, was employed, during his boyhood, in attending
school, and in assisting his father in the management of tho farm. His early
life, it would seem, was subject to considerable hardships, and afforded few op.
portunitics for cultivating his mind. In a letter of his now before us, written
a short lime before his death, we find the following notanda of his early years,
prepared at the request of a friend. After recording his recollections of an
English school, to which he was sent at the age of five or six, and where he
learned to read, write, and count, the narrative proceeds: —

** About the age of thirteen, I became a plougliboy to a fanner in a neigh-
bouring parish. After this, I was sometimes at home, and sometimes in
the service of other people, till the age of seventeen. Before this age, I had
begun to acquire a taste for reading, and spent a good deal of my time in that
way. Tlie books I read were such as I found about my father's house ; among
Avhicli I remember the " Pilgrim's Progress," " The Lives of Scotch Wor-
thies," &c. A spirit for extending my knowledge of the country, and other
tilings, had manifested itself early, in various forms. When very young, my
great ambition was to be a chapman ; and it was long before the sneers of my
friends could drive me from this favourite project. It was the same spirit, and
a wish of doing something for myself, that made me go into the service
of other farmers. I saw more than I did at home, and I got money which I
could call my own. My father's circumstances were very limited ; but they
were equal, with his own industry, to the bringing up of his family, and
putting them to trades. This was his great wish. I remember he preferred a
trade greatly to being farmer's servants.

" With a view to extend my knowledge of the country, I went with a party
into Galloway, to build stone dykes. On getting there, however, the job which
we had expected was abandoned, on account of some difference taking place
between the proprietor of the land and the cultivator ; and we went to
the neighbourhood of Dumfries, where our employer had a contract for making
part of the line of road from Sanquhar to Dumfries. During my short stay in
Galloway, which was at Loch Fergus, in the vicinity of Kirkcudbright,
I lodged in a house where 1 had an opportunity of reading some books, and saw
occasionally a newspapei*. This enlarged my views, increased the desire to see
and learn more, and made me regret exceedingly my short stay in the
place.

" On our arrival at Dumfries, we were boarded on the farm of Ellisland, in
the possession of Robert Burns. The old house which he and his family liad
recently occupied became our temporary abode. This was only for a few days.
I was lodged, for the rest of the summer, in a sort of old castle, called the
Isle, from its having been at one time surrounded by the Nith. While at El-
lisland, I formed the project of going up to England. This was to be accom-
plished by engaging as a drover of some of the droves of cattle that continually
pass that way from Ireland and Scotland. My companions, however, disap-
proved of the project, and I gave it up.

" During the summer I spent in Dumfries-shire, I had frequent opportunities
of seeing Burns •. but cannot recollect of having formed any opinion of him,
except a confused idea that he was an extraordinary character. \\ hile here, I
read Burns's Poems ; and, from an acquaintance with some of his relations, I

IT.

434 ROBERT "WATT, M.D.

occasionally got from his library a reading of other works of the same kind.
With these I used to retire into some of the concealed places on the banks of
the Nith, and pass my leisure hours in reading, and occasionally tried my liand
in writing rhymes myself. My business at this lime consisted chiefly in driving
stones, from a distance of two or three miles, to build bridges and sewers.
This occupation gave me a further opportunity of perusing books, and
although, from the desultory nature of my reading, I made no proficiency in
any one thing, I acquired a sort of smattering knowledge of many, and a de-
sire to learn more. From this period, indeed, I date the commencement of
my literary pursuits.

" On my return home, the first use I made of the money I had saved was
to purchase a copy of Bailey's Dictionary, and a copy of Burn's English gram-
mar. AVith these I began to instruct myself in the principles of the English
language, in the best way I could.

" At this time, my brother John, who had been in Glasgow for several
years, following the business of a joiner and cabinet-maker, came home, with
the design of beginning business for himself in the country. It was proposed
that I should join hira. This was very agreeable to me. I had, at that time, no
views of anything higher ; and it accorded well with the first bent of my mind,
which was strongly inclined to mechanics. If of late all my spare hours had
been devoted to reading, at an earlier period they had been equally devoted to
mechanics. When very young, I had erected a turning lath in my father's
barn ; had procured planes, chisels, and a variety of other implements, which I
could use with no small degree of dexterity.

" For some time my mind Avas wholly occupied with my new trade.
I acquired considerable knowledge and facility in constructing most of the dif-
ferent implements used in husbandry, and could also do a little as a cabinet-
maker. But I soon began to feel less and less interest in my new employ-
ment. My business came to be a repetition of the same thing, and lost ail its
charms of novelty and invention. The taste for reading, which I had brought
from the south, though it had suffered some abatement, had not left me. I was
occasionally poring over my dictionary and grammar, and other volumes that
came in my way.

** At this time, a circumstance occurred which gave my mind an entirely
new bent. My brother, while at Gl.isgow, had formed a very close intimacy
with a student there. Tliis young gentleman, during the vacation, came out
to see my brother, and pass a few days in the country. From him I received
marvellous accounts of what mighty things were to be learned, what wonders
to be seen — about a university ; and I imbibed an unquenchable desire to fol-
low his course."

Here his own account of himself closes, and what we have to add must of
course be deficient in that interest which attaches itself to all personal memoirs
that are written wth frankness and sincerity. The newly-imbibed desire of an
academical education, to which he alludes, was not transient in its character.
To prepare himself for its accomplishment, he laid aside as much of his earnings
as he could spare, and applied himself, in the intervals of manual occupa-
tion, to the Latin and Greek languages. It was not long ere he thus qualified
himself for beginning his course at the university. In 1793, at the age of
eighteen, he matriculated in the Glasgow college, under professor Richardson ;
and, from that period, went regularly through the successive classes in the uni-
versity, up to the year 1797. Baring the summer recesses, he supported him-
self by teaching, at first as a private tutor ; but latteriy he took up a small
public school in the village of Symington, in Ayrshire. It was his first

=. ^tui^:.

ROBERT WATT, M.D. 435

determination to follow the clerical profession ; but after he liad attended tivo
sessions at the Dirinity Hall of Glasgow, he turned himself to the study
of medicine; and, in order to have evei-y advantage towards acquiring
a proficiency in that branch of knowledge, he removed to Edinburgh, whicli
has been so long celebrated as a medical school. Here he remained until he
had gone through the usual studies of the science.

In 1799, he returned to Glasgow ; and, after an examination by the
faculty of Physicians and Surgeons there, he was found * a fit and capable per-
son to exercise the arts of surgery and pharmacy.' In the same year, he set
up as surgeon in the town of Paisley ; and soon began to attain great popular-
ity in his profession, and to reap the reward of his talents and perseverance.
In a short time he had engrossed so much practice, as to find it ne-
cessary to take in, as partner and assistant, Mr James Muir, who had been
his fellow student at Edinburgh. This gentleman possessed considerable
literary abilities, and was author of various pieces of a didactic character,
whicli appeared in the periodicals of the day. On his death, which hap-
pened early in life, he left behind him, in manuscript, a volume of mis-
cellaneous essays, and a poem, entitled " Home," consisting of 354 Spen-
serian stanzas. He was, in particular, greatly attached to painting, and
exhausted much of his time and money upon that art. Dr Watt, on the
other hand, was chiefly attached to that department of human inquiry which
comes under the denomination of experimental philosophy — particularly
chemistry, to which science he, for a considerable time, devoted his leisure
hours almost exclusively. Yet, with these differences of pursuits, they lived in
good harmony during a partnership of nearly ten yeare, each following his
o>vn course, and both holding the most respectable station of tlieir profession
in the place whei-e they resided.

The period of Dr Watt's residence in Paisley, was perhaps the busiest in his
life. He enjoyed, during it, a better state of health than he ever did after-
wards ; and had, besides, all the ardour and enterprise of one newly entered
into a sphere for which he liad long panted. The number and variety of manu-
scripts which he has left, sufficiently attest the persevering activity of his mind
during this period. The most important, perhaps, of these is one in quarto,
entitled " An Abstract of Philosophical Conjectures; or an Attempt to Explain
the Principal Phenomena of Light, Heat, and Cold, by a few simple and ob-
vious Laws." This volume contains some curious and interesting experiments;
but, of course, since the date of its composition (1805) many new lights have
been thrown on the subjects it embraces, which, in a great measure, diminish its
importance, and render its publication unadvisable. The only work which he
ventured to publish while at Paisley, amid the many he composed and contem-
plated, was one, entitled " Cases of Diabetes, Consumption, &c; with Observations
on the History and Treatment of Disease in general." This appeared in 1803,
and excited considerable interest at the time among the learned of the profession.
The method which the author adopted in treating Diabetes, was venesection,
blistering, and an abstemious diet; and the various cases which he records, were
considered at the time as tending to establish the propriety of this mode of treat-
ment. At the end of the volume observations are given upon different diseases,
as asthma, English cholera, colic, &c.; and these are also illustrated by cases
which came under his own observation.

Soon after the publication of this volume, lie felt a desire to remove to an-
other quarter, and commence for himself on a higher scale than he had hitherto
done. There was no place, however, which he had particularly fixed upon ;
and, before coming to any decision on this point, he determined to make a

436 EGBERT WATT, M.D.

tour through England, with the view of oscerLiining wlietlier that country might
not afford an eligible spot. The journey uoiild, at the same time, be favour-
able to his health, which was beginning to be impaired. In 1809, having fur-
nished himself with letters of recommendation to many eminent in his profession
throughout England, he went to London, by a circuitous route, embracing, on
his way, most of the principal towns in the country. It does not appear, how-
ever, that he found any situation tliere agreeable to his wishes ; fur on his re-
turn home, after an absence of several months, he determined on settling at
Glasgow : and, accordingly, in 1810, as soon as matters could properly be ar-
ranged, he removed to that city.

Previously to this, he had received from the university of Aberdeen the title of
doctor in 3Iedicine, and liad been elected member of the Faculty of Physicians
and Surgeons of Glasgow. He had also become pretty well known in the
neighbourhood as an eminent practitioner, and had every reason to calculate
upon success, whatever rank of his pi'ofession he should assume. He, thei*e-
fore, commenced upon the highest scale, took a large house in Queen Street,
and confined his profession to that of physician and accoucheur. In the same
winter, he began his lectures on tiie theory and practice of medicine ; and
thus at once placed himself in that station of life for which he was so eminently
qualified.

His success in Glasgow was complete and jumiediato. As a physician, he
suddenly acquired a most respectable and extensive practice; and as a lecturer,
his popularity was equally gratifying. The continental war, which was then
raging, occasioned a great demand for surgeons, and increased the number of
students much above the ordinary average. Dr Watt's leclure-room was
numerously attended ; and he spared no pains or expense that might conduce
to the advantage of his pupils. His lectures were formed on the best models,
and from the most extensive sources, and his manner of delivering them was
easy and engaging. During the first course, he read them from his MSS. ; but
he afterwards abandoned that method for extemporaneous delivery, assisting his
memory merely by brief memorandums of the chief heads of discourse. He
used to say, that this method, by keeping his mind in a state of activity,
fatigued him less than the dull rehearsal of what lay before him. With a view-
to the advantage of his students, he formed a library of medical books, uhich
was very complete and valuable, containing, besides all the popular works on
medicine, many scarce and high-priced volumes. Of this library he published
a catalogue, in 1812 ; to which he appended, " An Address to Medical Stu-
dents on the best Method of prosecuting their Studies."

The " Bibliotheca Britcinnica " may be said to have originated with the for-
mation of this library. Besides the catalogue of it, Avhich was printed in the
usual form, having the works arranged under their respective authors in alpha-
betical order, he drew out an index of the various subjects which the volumes
embraced, making references to the place which each held upon the shelf; and
thus brought before his eye, at one view, all the books in his possession that
treated on any particular point. The utility of this index to himself and his
students, soon turned his mind to the consideration of one upon a more com-
prehensive scale, that would embrace all the medical works which had been
printed in the British dominions. This he immediately set about drawing out,
and devoted much of his time to it. After he had nearly completed his object,
he extended the original plan by introducing works on law, and latterly works
on divinity and miscellaneous subjects. This more than tripled his labours ;
but it proportionably made them more useful. Tlie extent of the design, how-
ever, was not yet completed. Hiiherto, all foreign publications had been ex-

'•*d^-A- '

ROBERT WATT, M.D. 437

eluded from it ; and, although a prospectus of the work had been publishf^d
containing very copious explanations and specimens, uhich might be supposed
to have determined its nature and bounds, he resolved—uhen it was on the ere
ot going to press— to make the work still further useful, by introducing the more
popular and important of foreign authors and their productions ; embracin^r at
the same time, the various continental editions of the classics. Thus was an-
other mighty addition made to the original plan ; and it is thus that many of
the most splendid monuments of human intellect and industry originate in
trifling or small beginnings.

In 1813, he published a " Treatise on the Histoi-y, Nature, and Treatment
of Chincough." He was led to investigate particularly this disease, by a severe
visitation of it in his own family, in which four of his children were afiected at
the same time, the two eldest of Avhom died. The treatise contains not only
the author's own observation and experience, but also that of the best medical
writers on the subject. To the volume is subjoined, " An Inquiry into the
Relative Mortality of the principal Diseases of Children, and the Numbers Avho
have died under Ten Years of Age, in Glasgow, during the last Thirty Years."
In this Inquiry, the author was at infinite pains in comparing and digesting the
registers of the various burying-grounds in the city and suburbs ; and of these
he gives numerous tables, so arranged, as to enable the reader to draw some
very important conclusions regarding the diseases of children, and their respec-
tive mortalities.

In 1814, he issued, anonymously, a small volume, entitled "Rules of Life,
with Reflections on the Manners and Dispositions of Mankind." The volume
was published by Consbible of Edinburgh, and consisted of a great number of
apophthegms and short sentences, many of them original, and the others selected
from the best English writers. •

About this time, his health began rapidly to decline. From his youth lie
had been troubled with a stomachic disorder, which attacked him at times very
severely, and kept him always under great restrictions in his diet and general
regimen. The disease had gained ground with time, and perhaps was accele^
rated by the laborious life which he led. He, nevertheless, continued to
struggle against it, maintained his usual good spirits, and went through the
various arduous duties of his profession. His duties, indeed, had increased
upon him. He had become a member of various literary and medical societies,
of several of which he was president, and had been elected physician to the
Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and president of the Faculty of Physicians and
Surgeons. These two latter situations involved a great deal of trouble and at-
tention. He held them both for two successive years ; the former he was
obliged to resign, on account of the state of his health, just at the period
when a handsome compensation would have followed his holding it ; the latter
was resigned at the expiry of the usual term of its continuance.

Although he had long laboured under that painful disease which we have
spoken of, and of which he eventually died, it was not until the year 1817,
that he totally discontinued his professional pursuits. Nor would, perhaps, his
active spirit have so soon submitted to this resignation, had not another employ-
ment engaged his attention. He had, by this time, brought iiis great work,
the " Bibliotlieca Britannica," to a very considerable state of forvNardness; had
become interested in it, and anxious for its completion. He probably saw
that, from the state of his health, the duration of his life must be but limited,
and was desirous, while yet some strength and vigour remained, to place tlie
work in such a state, that even his deatii would not prevent its publication.
He retired, therefore, with his family, to a small country-house about two mile*

i*^*

438 ROBERT WATT, M.D.

from Glasgow, engaged several young men as amanuenses,^ and devoted hiuiself
exclusively to the compilation.

In this literary seclusion, Dr Watt was fur some time able to make great pro-
gress in iiis undertaking ; but, though freed from worldly interruptions, he had
to combat with a dise.'ise uhich was every day becoming more formidable, and
which at last obliged him to discontinue all personal labour. lie still, how-
ever, continued to oversee and direct liis amanuenses ; and nothing could ex-
ceed the kind attention which he paid to tlieir comforts, even when suflering
under his fatal malady. In his own retirement, he practised every method
which his knowledge or experience could suggest to stem the progress of the
disease, but they were all unavailing. In the hope that travel and a sea
voyage might benelit him, he went in one of the Leith smacks to London, made
a considerable tour through England, and returned more exliaustud and ema-
ciated than before. From that period, until his death, he was scarcely out of
bed, but underwent, with wonderful fortitude, an alllicting and uninterrupted
illness of several mouths. He died upon the 1 2th of 3Iarcli, IS 19, aged only
forty-five, and was interred in the Glasgow High Church burying ground.

Dr Watt's personal appearance was prepossessing. He was tall in stature,
and in early life, before his health declined, robust His countenance displayed
great intelligence. In private life, he was universally esteemed. His character
was formed on the strictest principles of morality, with which was blended a gene-
ral urbanity of manners, that won at once the good- will of wlioever be addressed.
Hi< conversation was connnunicative and engaging, apart equally from dulness
and tediousness, as from what is quite as intolerable, a continued study at effect.
In his habits, lie was extremely regular and persevering. There was nothing
from which he shrunk, if usefulness recommended it, and exertion made it at-
tainable. This i« particularly exemplitied in his undertaking and executing
such a work as tlie " Bibliotheca Britannica," the bare conception of which
would, to an ordinary or less active mind, have been appalling ; but which, be-
set as he was by professional duties and a daily increasing malady, he under-
took and accomplished. But laborious as the work is — beyond even what the
most intelligent reader can imagine — it is not alone to industry and perse-
verance that Dr Watt has a claim upon our notice. He was ingenious and
original-minded in all his schemes ; and while his great ambition was that his
labours might be useful, he was careful that they should not interfere with those
of others. His various works, both published and unpublished, bear this dis-
tinction. The whole plan of the "Bibliotheca" is 7iew; and few conipilations,
of similar magnitude and variety, ever presented, in a first edition, a more com-
plete design and execution. It is divided into two parts; the first part con-
taining an alphabetical list o£ authors, to the amount of above forty thousand,
and under each a chronological list of liis works, their various editions, sizes,
price, &c., and also of the papers he may have contributed to the more cele-
brated journals of art and science. This division differs little in its construc-
tion from that of a common catalogue, only that it is universal in its character,
and in many instances gives short biographical notices of the author, and criti-
cal opinions of his worlu. It also gives mo&t ample lists of the various editions
of the Greek and Roman classics, &c., and, under the names of the early printers,
lists of the various books which they printed. In the second part, all the titles
of works recorded in the first part, and also anonymous works, are arranged
alphabetically under their principal subjects. This part forms a minute index

« Among those so engag''d wers the late Mr William Slotherwfll, who distinguished
himself by his beautiful ballads; atul tlie late Mr Alexander Whitelaw, editor of ' Tho
Casquet," '■ Republic o:' Letters," c- c.

DR. ALEXANDER WAUGH. 439

to tlie first, and upon it the chief claim of the " Bibliotheca" to novelty and
value rests; foi- it lays before the reader at a glance, a chronological list of all
tlie works that have been published on any particular subject that he may wish
to consult, with references to their respective authors, or with the publisher's
name, if anonymous. While, in short, the first part forms a full and compre-
hensive catalogue of authors and their works, the second forms an equally com-
plete and extensive encyclopedia of all manner of subjects on which books
have been written. The utility of such a work, to the student and author in
particular, must be obvious ; for, with the facility with which he can ascerUin
in a dictionary the meaning of a word, can he here ascertain all that Ims been
written on any branch of human knowledge. Whatever may be its omissions
and inaccuracies, (and these were unavoidable in a compilcUion so extensive,)
the plan of the work, we apprehend, cannot be improved ; and, amid the
numerous and laborious methods that have been offered to the public, for ar-
ranging libraries and catalogues, we are ignorant of any system ihat coidd be
adopted, with greater advantage, both as to convcniency and completeness of
reference, without at the same time affecting the elegant disposal of the books
upon the shelves, than the one upon which the " Bibliotheca Britiinniui " is
founded.

Dr Watt married, while in Paisley, Miss Burns, the dauglitcr of a farmer in
bis father's neighbourhood, by whom he had nine children. At his death, the
publication of the " Bibliotheca " devolved upon his two eldest sons, who de-
voted themselves to its completion with filial enthusiasm. Tiiey were both
young men of the most pronusing abilities ; and it is to be feared that their
lives were shortened by the assiduity with which they applied themselves to the
important charge that was so prematurely laid upon them. John, the elder of
the two, died in 1821, at the early age of twenty ; James, his brother, lived to
see the work completed, but died in 1829, leaving behind him the deep re-
grets of all who knew and could appreciate his high character and brilliant
talents.

The printing of the " Bibliotheca" was completed in 1S24, in four large
quarto volumes. The first division or portion of it was printed in Glasgow,
and the second in Edinbuigh. Messrs Archibald Constable and Company,
of Edinburgh, purchased the whole for about £2,000, giving bills to that
amount, but before any of the bills were honoured, the house failed, and thus
the family of Dr Watt was prevented from receiving any benefit from a work
to which so many sacrifices had been made, and upon which all tlieir liopes
depended.^

WAUGH, (Dr) Alexander, an eminent divine of the United Secession
church, was born on the 16th August, 1754, at East Gordon, in the parish
of Gordon, Berwiclishire, where his father followed the occupation of a
farmer.

The subject of this memoir, who was devoted by his parents from his
infancy to the church, was put to the parish school of Gordon, at ^vhich he

^ In connexion with the misfortunes attendant upon the work, we may mention here, in
a note, one, fortunately in this country, of singular occurrence. Not long after Dr Watt's
death, his country-house was broken into, in the middle of the night, by a band of ruffian?,
disguised with blackened faces, and armed with guns, swords, Sk. While one party held
their fire-arms over the unhappy inmates, another ransacked the house, and packed up
everything valuable of a portable nature, which they carried off, and which were never re-
covered. They even took the rings from Mrs Watt's fingers. Among their ravages, thcv
unfortunately laid their hands on a portion of the unprinted MS. of the " Bibliotiiecn, '
which they thrust into the fire, with the purpose of lighting the apartmenU It took nearly
a year's labour to remedy the destruction of this MS. Four of the robbei-s were afterwards
taken, and executed for the crime at Glasgow, in 1-20.

440 DR. ALEXANDER -WAUGII.

remained till he had attained his twelfth year, when he Mas removed to that of
the neighbouring parish of Earlston, uhere the schoolmaster was celebrated as a
teacher of Latin and Greek. Here he remained till 1770, uhen he entered
the university of Edinburgh, leaving behind him at Earlston a reputation for
talents and piety which, young as he then was, made a deep impression on all
who knew him, and led them to anticipate for him the celebrity he afterwards
attained as a preacher.

Mr Waugh continued at the university throughout four sessions prior to his
entering on his theological studies, during which he attended the Latin, Greek,
and Natural and Moral philosophy classes. He subsequently studied and ac-
quired a competent knowledge of Hebrew. At tlie end of this period, he
was examined by the presbytery regarding his proficiency in philosopliy and
the learned languages, and, having been found qualified, was admitted to the
study of divinity, which he commenced in August, 1774, under the tuition of
the Rev. John Brown of Haddington. Three years afterwards, he repaired
to the university of Aberdeen, and attended for one session the lectures of
Dr Beattie, professor of moral philosophy, and of Dr Campbell, professor of
divinity in the Marischal college. In the following year, having been found
amply qualified by prior attainments, he received his degree of M. A. On the
completion of his studies, Mr Waugh was licensed to preach the gospel by
the presbytery of Edinburgh at Dunse, June 28, 1779, and in two months
afterwards was appointed by the presbytery to supply the Secession congrega-
tion of Wells-street, London, left vacant by the death of the Rev, Archibald
Hall. On this occasion he remained in London for about ten weeks, when he
returned to Scotland, and soon after received a unanimous call from the con-
gregation of Newton, which was sustained by the presbytery at their meeting
on December 21, 1779, and on the 30th of August, 1780, he was formally in-
ducted to this charge.

The efiecls of the favourable impression, however, which he had made upon
his hearers in London reached him, even in the retired and obscure situation
in which he was now placed. A call to him from the Wells-street congrega-
tion was brought before the Synod which met at Edinburgh in May, 1781, but
he was continued in Newton by a large majority. He himself had declined this
call previously to its being brought before the Synod, and that for reasons which
strikingly exhibit the benevolence of his disposition and the uprightness of his
character. Amongst these were the unsettled slate ef his congregation, which
was yet but in its infancy, the strong attachment which they had manifested to
him, and the struggles which they had made for the settlement of a minister
among them. But so desirous were the Wells-street congregation to secure
his services, that, undeterred by the result of their first application, they for-
warded another call to him, which was brought before the Synod on the 27tli
November, 1781, when" it was again decided that he should continue at Newton
The second ciill, however, was followed by a third from the same congregation,
and on this occasion the call was sustained by the presbytery on the 19tli
March, 1782. Mr Waugh received at the same time a call from the Bristo-
street congregation of Edinburgh, but, owing to some informality, it did not
come into direct competition with the former, and therefore was not discussed.

The presbytery of Edinburgh having been appointed to admit him to his new
charge, this ceremony took place at Dalkeith on the 30th May, 1782; and
in June following he set out for London, where he arrived on the 14th of that
month, and immediately commenced his ministry in the Secession church. Wells-
street. He soon extended the reputation, which he had already acquired,
amongst the body of Christians in London to which he belonged, and became

DR. ALEXANDER WAUGII. 441

exceedingly popular, at once by his singularly amiable character, his unwearied
activity and unremitting zeal in the discharge of his ministerial duties, and by
his fervid and impressive eloquence in the pulpiL He also took an active part
in promoting the interests of the London .Missionary and Bible societies; and
even extended his benevolent exertions to many other religious and cliaritable
institutions in the metropolis.

In IS 1 5, he received the degree of doctor of Divinity from the 3Iarischal
college of Aberdeen, and was much gratified by this mark of distinction from
that learned body, which he did not deem the less flattering, that, although he
had studied there in his youtli, he \vas, when it was conferred, almost an entire
stranger, personally, to all of them. Previously to this, Dr Waugh had been
seized with a serious illness, which had compelled him to revisit his native
country, with the view of benefiting by the change of air. From this illness,
he finally I'ecovered ; but, in 3Iay, 1823, he received an injury by the fall of
some scaffolding, at the laying the foundation stone of the Orphan asylum at
Clapton, from the effects of which he never entirely recovered. He, however,
continued to preach Avilh unremitting zeal, till tha beginning of 1827, when
increasing infirmities, particularly an inability to make himself audible in the
pulpit, rendered it necessary to procure an assistant to aid him in his labours,
as well on his own account, as on account of the spiritual interests of his con-
gregation. In this year, therefore, he was relieved from a large portion of the
laborious duties which had before devolved upon him. But this excellent man
was rot destined long to enjoy the ease which his affectionate congregation
had kindly secured for him. In the last week of November, he caught a severe
cold, which finally terminated his useful and active life, on the 14lh of Decem-
ber, 1827, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and the forty-fifih of his
ministry in London.

The remains of Dr Waugh were attended to the grave by an immense con-
course of people, drawn together on that melancholy occasion, by the celebrity
and popularity of his character ; and his congregation, as a testimony of their
afl^ection for his memory, erected an elegant tablet of marble, with a suitable
inscription, in their chapel in Wells-street. They also claimed it as a privilege
to defray the funeral expenses. But they did much more than all this : they
secured an annuity for his widow, and expressed their sympathy in her bereave-
iiient, by many other acts of generosity and kindness.

Dr Waugh, in all the relations of life, was, perhaps, one of the most amiable
men that ever existed. His character was pure and spotless ; his benevolence
unbounded ; his philanthropy unqualified. His manners were mild, gentle,
and highly prepossessing, and his piety sincere and ardent, and wholly without
any portion of that gloominess which has been erroneously believed to belong
to heart-felt religious feeling. So far from this, he was lively, cheerful, and
humorous, and delighted in innocent mirth and raillery. To those of his coun-
trymen, who came to London, his house and table were ever open ; and his
advice, counsel, and assistance in furthering their views, always at their service.
His kindness in this way, indeed, he carried to an almost blameable extent.
• His talents, too, generally, and particularly as a preacher of the gospel. Mere
of a very high order ; and of this the London 3Iissionary society, in common
with others, was so sensible, that he was employed in frequent missions by that
body, and always with eminent success. His whole life in London was one of
continued and unremitting activity. He laboured early and late in the dis-
charge of the important duties intrusted to him, and willingly undertook, at ail
times, in addition to these, any othera «hich had from their nature a claim upon
his exertions.

IV. 3 ^

442 DR. AIJIXANDER ^VEBSTER.

WEBSTER, (Db) Alexander, an eminent divine and statistical inquirer, was
born in Edinburgh about the year 1707, being the sou of a clergyman of the
same name, who, after suffering persecution under the reigus of the latter
Stuarts, had become minister of the Tolbootb parish in tliat city, iu which
charge ho acquired considerable celebrity as a preacher of the orthodox school.
The subje(;t of this memoir studied for the church, and, after being duly
licensed, uas ordained minister of Culross, uhere lie soon became noted for
his eloquence in the pulpit, and the Liborious zeal with which he discharged
every duty of his office. The congregation of the Tolbooth church, who liad
lost liis fatlier in the year 1720, formed the wish to Iiave the son set over them,
and accordingly, in 1737, he received an unaniuious call from tliem, and thus
was restored to the society of his native city. Previously to this event, he had
obtained the affections of Oliss 3Tary Ersliine, a young lady of fortune, and
nearly related to tlie family of Dundonald. He had been employed to bespeak
the favour of JMiss Erskine for a friend, and for this purpose paid frequent
visits to Valleyfield, a house within the parish of Culross, where slie resided.
The suit of his friend he is said to have urged with equal eloquence and sincerity,
but, whether his own figure and accomplishments, which were higlily elegant,
had prepossessed the young lady, or she despised a suitor wlio could not make love
on his own account, his effort;; were attended with no success. At length 31iss
Ersliine naively remarked to him that, had he spoken as well for himself, ho
• miglit have succeeded better. Tiie liint was too obvious to be overlooked, and
its promise too agreeable to be neglected. Webster spoke for himself, and was
readily accepted. They Avere married a few days after his accession to tlic
pulpit of tlie Tolbootli church. Though the reverend gentleman was thus
prompted by the lady, it does not appear that ho was in the least degree
deficient in that affection which ought always to be the motive of the nuptial
connexion. On the contrary, he seems, from some verses composed by himself
upon the occasion, to have been one of the most ardent of lovers, and also one
of the most eloquent of amatory poets ; witness the following adniii-able
stanza : —

When I see thcp, I love thoe, but hearing ador",
1 wonder, and think you a wonuin no mori' ;
Till, mad >Tith admiring, I cannot contain,
And, ki:^ing U>ose hps, find you woman again.

With the lire of a profane poet, and the manners and accomplishments of a
man of the world, Webster possessed the unction and fervour of a purely evan-
gelical divine. The awakenings whicli occun-ed at Cambuslang, in consequence
of the preaching of Whitefield, lie attributed in a pamphlet, to tlie direct in-
fluence of the Holy Spirit; A\hilethe Secedei-s imputed the whole to sorcery
and the direct influence of the devil. In the pulpit, both his matter and his
manner gave tlie highest satisfaction. His voice was harmonious, his
figure noble; the dignity of his look, the rapture of his eye, conveyed
an elccti'ic impression of the fervent devotion which engrossed his soul.
In prayer and in sacramental addresses, his manner was particularly noble and
august The diction of his sermons was strong and animated, rather than
polished, and somewhat lowered to the capacity of his hearers, to whose
situation in life he was always attentive. To the best qualities of a clergyman,
he added an ardent, but enlightened zeal for the external Interests of the
church, a jealousy of conniption, a hatred of fiJse politics and tyi-annic;il

» Webster's Lines, Scottish Songs, ii. S37. This fine 1) ric soeins to have been fu-«t pub-
lished in tJie Scots Magazine, 1747.

DB. ALEXANDER "WEBSTER.

443

measures, wliicli soraetinies exposed hhn to calumny from tha giiilty, but
secured him unbounded esteem from all who could value independence
of soul and integrity of heart. His sentiments respecting the affairs of
both church and slate were those of what may now be called an old wliiff ; he
stood upon the Revolution establishment, alike anxious to realize the advantages
of that transaction, and to prevent further and needless or dangerous changes.
" Nature," says an anonymous biographer, " had endowed him wilh strong
£iculties, which a very considerable share of learning had matured and im-
proved. For extent of comprehension, depth of thinking, and accuracy in the
profoundest researches, he stood unrivalled. In the knowledge of the world,
and of human nature, he was a master. It is not wonderful that the best
societies in the kingdom were perpetually anxious to possess a man, who knew
how to soften the rancour of public theological contest with the liberality and
manners of a gentleman. His address was engaging ; his wit strong as
his mind ; his convivial powers, as they ai-e called, enchanting. He had a
constitutional strength against intoxication, which made it dangerous in most
men to attempt bringing him to such a state : often, -when they were unfit for
sitting at table, he remained clear, regular, and unafTccted."

Among the gifts of Dr \\'ebster, was an extraordinary power of arithmetical
calculation. This he began soon after his settlement in Edinburgh, to turn to
account, in the formation, in company with Dr Robert Wallace, of the scheme
for annuities to the widows of the Scottish clergy.* From an accurate list of
the ministers of the church, and the members of the three southern universities,
compared with the ordinary ratio of birtiis, marriages, and deaths, in this and
other kingdoms, he was enabled to fix on a series of rates to be paid annually
by the members of these two departments, the amount of which rates was to
supply a specific annuity to every widow, whose husband should be a
contributor, and a proportional sum for the children of the same. To forward
this scheme, he opened a correspondence with the different presbj teries in the
kingdom ; and, in the year 1742, received for it the sanction of the General
Assembly of the church, which, after suitable examination, approved of the
whole plan, with the exception of a few immaterial particulars. Accord-
ingly, the several presbyteries and universities concurred with the Assembly, in
peUtioning parliament for an act, enabling them to raise and establish a fund,
and obliging the ministers of the church, with the heads, principals, and mas-
ters of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, to pay annually, each according
to his option, one of the following rates, viz., eitiier £2. 12s. Gd. £3. 18s. »d.
£o. 5s., or £6. Us. 3d,, to be repaid in proportional annuities of £10,^15, £20,
or £25, to their widows, or insimilar provisions of £ 1 00, £1 50, £200, or £250,
to their children. The act was obtained in terms of the petition, (I 7 Geo. 11.,)
with liberty to employ the surplus of the annual paymenU and expenses
in loans of £30 a-piece among the contributors, and to put out the re-
mainder at interest, on proper security. A second act, amending the former,
was procured in the 22nd vear of the same reign, (1748,) regulating the
several parts of the management, and granting liberty to raise the capital to
£S0,000, including the sums lent to contributors.^ The commencement of
the fund is reckoned from the 25ih of March, 1741, the whole trouble
of. planning, arranging, and collecting the revenues, and applying them
to their immediate purposes, devolving on the original proposer, who, will, a

2 The ensuing ac-ount of the Clcrg>'s AVi.'ows' .Sclieme is lake,. f'°"V.» »'^^^ Ij^^
WebsTer.Tn t^^e Scots Magazine for 1S02. bom. fui iher pari.cul.rs are given m the arucl.
Da KoBKRT Wallace. . . , j .. „„~*

3 B\ this act, the university of Abcrdetn was iiic.uc.«-d on nqucst.

444 DR. ALEXANDER WEBSTER.

patience and perseverance nearly equal to the extreme accuracy of his calcula-
tions, at List completed tlie scheme. In the year 1770, a new act of parlia-
niLMit, procured by advice of Dr Webster, prescribed tlie full form in wliich the
fund is at present conducted. The loans granted to contributors were discon<
tinued, as prejudicial to tlie parties concerned ; liberty was granted to extend
the capital to ^6100,000 ; the methods of recovering payments; llie nomination
and duties of trustees ; the salaries of the collector and clerk ; in short, tlie
whole economy of the institution, were fixed and determined. A tax on
the inan-iage of each contributor, amounting to one year's annual rate of his
particular option ; and, if lie were forty years of age at his accession to
his benefice, and had children, the sum of two years and a half of his rate, be-
sides his ordinary dues and marriage, were added to tiie revenue. Further, a
sum of half his usual rate was declared due. to the fund, out of the ann. ;
or, in case of its not falling, out of his real or personal estate, on the
death of a minister; and patrons were assessed in the sum of ^C3. 2s. for
every half year's vacancy.

A report of the state of the fund was ordered to be made annually to
the General Assembly by the trustees, and this afterwards to be printed.
Dr Webster, in the year 1748, had finished a series of calculations, in whicli
he not only ascerLiined the probable number of ministei'S tliat Avould die an-
nually, of widows and children that would be left, of annuitants drawing whole
or half annuities, and the medium of the annuities, and annual rates, but also
the different annual states of the fund, in its progress to completing tlie capital
stock. These calculations have approached the fact with astonishing precision.
It would exceed our limits to insert the comparison between the calculations
and the facts stated in the reports for the years 1703, 1765, and 1779, and
printed again in those for 1790, &c. ; but we shall only mention, that in the
second of these statements, the comparison ran as follows : thirty ministers were
calculated to die annually ; inde for twenty-one years, from 1741 to 1765, the
number by calculation is 630; the fact was 615, being only 15 of total dif-
ference. Twenty widows were calculated to be left annually in tlie foremen-
tioned period ; tliere were left 41 1 : the calculation was 420, and the diflerence
9. It was calculated, that six families of children, without a widow, would be
left annually ; the calculated amount for the above period, wns 126, the fact 1 24,
the diflerence 2. Four ministers or professors were calculated to die annually,
without either widows or children; the calculated number for the first twenty-
one years was 84, the fr.ct was 82. The difierences for that period, between
the calculated mediums of the whole number of annuities, and of annual rates,
compared each with its respective fact, was, for the number of annuities, li.
2d. 6-12th8, and for the rates 3s. Od. 6-12ths. On the 22nd of November,
1799, in the fifty-sixth year of the fund, and the year which completed tlitj
capital stock fixed by act of parliament, Dr Webster's calculations, after having
approached the truth for a long series of years with surprising accuracy, stood
in the following manner: the stock and surplus for that year were .£105,50],
2s. lid. 3-12ths, and the calculated stock was i;8i),44S, 12s. 1 Od. 8-l2tiis;
consequently the difference was iC 19,035, 10s. Od. 7-12ths.

In the year 1745, wiien tiie Highland army under prince Charles Stuaft,
took possession of Edinburgh, Dr Webster manifested the sincerity and firm-
ness of his principles, as well as his general vigour of character, by remaining
ill the city, and exerting his eloquence to suj)port the people in their attach-
ment to the house of Hanover. On the day afierwards appointed by the
General Assembly for a thanksgiving for the victory of CuUoden, (June 23,
1740,) he preached a sermon, afterwards printed, in which he made a masterly

DR. ALEXANDER WEBSTER. 445

exposure of the new-born affection then manifested by the Tory pirly for the
cxistino- dynasty. Tliis composition, liowever, is degraded by a panegyric on
tlse infamous Cumberland, and a number of other allusions to secular penons
and affairs, more consistent perhaps with the manners of the times, than with
the immutable principles of taste in pulpit oratory. It has only the negativo
merit of being less fulsome in its respect for the hero of the day, than a similar
composition by Dr Hugh Blair, which contained the following passage :
*' When the proper season Mas come for God to assert his own cause, then he
raised up an illustrious deliverer, whom, for a blessing to his country, he had
prepared against this time of need. Him he crowned with the graces of his
right hand ; to the conspicuous bravery of early youth, he added the conduct
and wisdom which in others is the fruit only of long experience: and distin-
guished him wilii those qualities which render tlie man amiable, as well as the
Hero great. He sent him fortii to be the terror to his foes, and in the day of
deatli, commanded the shields of angels to be spread around him." At iho
time when this and similar eulogia were in the course of being pronounced, the
subject of them Avas wreaking upon a defeated party the vengeance of a mean
and brutal mind. He whom the shields of angels had protected on a day when
superior strength rend'^red danger impossible, w.i8 now battening, with savage
relish, on the fruits of an easy conquest. Cottages were smoking in every
direction for a hundred miles around him, a prey to conflagration ; their
tenants, either murdered by cold steel, or starved to death ; while the dictates
of law, of humanity, of religion, were all alike unheard. Nor could these cir.
cumstances be unknown to the courtly preachers.

Dr Webster had now become a conspicuous public character, and the utility
of his talents and dignity of his character were universally acknowledged.
The comprehensiveness of his mind, and the accuracy of his calculating powers,
rendered him a desirable and most useful ally in almost all kinds of schemes of
public improvement, of which, at that period of nascent prosperity, a great
number were set in motion. As the friend of provost Drummond, he aided much
in the plan of the new town of Edinburgh, not scrupling even to devise plans
for those public places of amusement wliich, as a piinister of the church
of Scotland, he was forbidden by public opinion to enter. He was a most

1755, he drew up, at the desire of lord president Dundas, for the information
and service of government, an account of the number of people in Scotland ;
being the first attempt at a census ever made in the kingdom. His rese.-irches
on this occasion were greatly facilitated by a general correspondence which ho
had opened in 1743, both with the clergy and laity, for the purposes of the
Clergy's Widows' Fund. " Dr Webster's well-known character for accuracy,'
says Sir John Sinclair, " and the success with which his calculations h.ave been
uniformly attended, ought to satisfy every one that the report he drew up may
be safely relied on." Yet, as the means employed on the occasion w-ere only
calculated to produce an approximation to correctness, it nmst not be disguised
that the census of 1755, as it is sometimes called, was in no respect coinp.ira-
ble to those which actual survey has since effected.

Our limits will not allow ns, nor our information suffice, to enumerate all
the charitable institutions, or projects of public welfare, temporary or lasting
in which Dr Webster was engaged. As he lived to an advanced age he h.ad
the pleasure of seeing many of them arrive at their maturity "^ j'-^"' ^ ' !
best reward, perhaps, which merit ever enjoys. He preserved, to the latcs.

446 ALEXANDER WEDDERBURN.

period of his cota*se, tliat activity both of mind and body, which distin-
guished him in the prime of life ; and, ripe like a sheaf in autumn, obtained
his frequent wish and prayer, an easy and peaceful death, after a very short
indisposition, on Sunday, the 25lh of January, 1784. By his Jady, who died
November 28, 1766, he had six sons and a daughter: one of the former,
colonel Webster, fell in tlie American contest. The person of Dr Webster was,
as already mentioned, diguilied and commanding. In latter life, it berame
somewhat attenuated and bent. His countenance, of whidi a good memorial,
by David Martin, is in the office of the Ministers' Widows' Fund, was of an
elevated and striking cast, and iiighly characteristic of his mind. It is related
to his honour, that the superior income wliich his wife's fortune placed at his
command, was employed with unusual bountifulness in behalf of the poor, to
whom he tlins proved liimself a practical as well as theoretic friend.

WEDDERBUIIN, Alkxaxdkr, first earl of Rosslyn, was born, February 13,
1733, at Chesterhall in East Lothian. His father was Peter Wedderburn,
of Chestei-hali, Esquire, an eminent advocate, who became in 1755, a judge of
the court of session, with the designation of lord Chesterhall. The grandfather
of the latter was Sir Peter Wedderburn of Gosford, an eminent lawyer, and
subsequently a judge, during the reign of Charles II. ; of whom Sir George
Mackenzie speaks in terms of the highest panegyric, in his Cliarncters of Scot-
tish Lawyers.' Sir Peter was descended from an old landed family in Forfar-
shire, which had produced several learned persons of considerable eminence.

The subject of this memoir was bred to the profession in whicli his father
and great-grandfather had so highly distinguished themselves ; and so soon
wevQ his natural and acquired powers brought into exercise, that he was
admitted to the bar at the unusually early ago of nineteen. He was rapidly
gaining gi-ound as a junior counsel, when an accident put a sudden stop to his
practice in his native courts. He had gained the cause of a client in opposi-
tion to the celebrated Lockhnrt, when the defeated veteran, unable to conceal
his chagrin, took occasion from something in the manner of IMr Wedderburn,
to call Iiim " a presumptuous boy." Tho sarcastic severity of the young
barrister's reply drew upon him so illiberal a rebuke from one of the judges,
that he immediately unrobed, and, bowing to the court, declared that he would
never more plead where he was subjected to insult, but would seek a wider
field for his professional exertions. Ho accordingly removed to London, in
May, 1753, and enrolled himself a member of the Inner Temple. A love of
letters which distinguished him at this early period of life, placed Iiim, (1754,)
in the chair at the first meeting of a literary society, of wliich Hume, Snn"th,
and other eminent men, greatly his seniors, were membei-s. Professional
pursuits, however, left him little leisure for the exercise of his pen ; which is
to be the more regretted, as the few specimens of his composition wliich have
reached us, display a distinctness of conception, and a nervous precision
of language, such as might have secured the public approbation for much more
elaborate eflbrts. It. is related, to his honour, that he retained to the close of
his life, amidst the dignities and cares of his elevated station, a most affection-
ate attachment to all the literary friends of his youth.

Mr Wedderburn was called to the English bar in 1757, and became a
bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1763. He early acquired considerable reputation

1 " Wedderburnns momm probitate judices, jndices clienti conciliabat, diceadique
Buavitate eos corrumpero potuisset si voluisset; nihil autem ills in facto nisi quod verum
nee injure nisi quod justum, pathetice, urgebat; Ciceronis leetioni semper incumbebat;
unde illi dicendi genus uniforme et flexanimum : ex junioribus tamen nullum ilium eloquium
decorabat, famaque fugientem prosequebatur."

A.LEXANDER ^^■EDDERBUKN,

447

and practice, which he greatly increased by becoming tlie advocate of lord
Clive, ill uliose cause he was tiiuinphantly successful. He pleaded on the great
Douglas cause in 17G8-9, when his acute reasoning, his deep reading, and his
irresistible eloquence, attracted the favourable notice of lord Camden, and se-
cured him ever after the protection and friendship of lords Bute and Mansfield.
If the squibs of his political opponents in after life are to be trusted, his en-
deavours at the commencement of his career to forget his national accent were
not verj' successful ; while his friends asserted, perhaps truly, that he only re-
tained enough of it to give increased effect to his oratory.

After having been called to the degree of sergeant-at-law, with the rank of
king's counsel, he was promoted in January 1771, to the office of solicitor-
general, and in June, 1773, to that of attorney-general: the duties of theso
posts he is said to have disc'iarged with a mildness and moderation which pro-
cured him universal approbation ; though his inveterate hostility to Franklin,
and the overwhelming bitterness of his language before the privy council in
1774, are justly held to detract considerably from his merit. Mr Wedderburn
first sat in parliament for the Inverary district of burghs, and in 1774, being
chosen simultaneously for Castle Rising and Oakhampton, made his election for
tlie latter ; in 1778, he was elected for Bishop's Castle. Throughout his career
in the house of commons, he was a powerful support to the ministry of lord
North, not only by his eloquence, but by the great extent of his legal, juris-
prudential, and parliamentary knowledge. His merits as a statesman are of
course estimated very differently by contemporary party writers. Churchill
lias embalmed him in the well-known qujitrain : —

" .Mute at the bar, and in the senate loud.
Dull 'mongst the dullest, proudest of the prou ',
A pert, prim prater, of the northern race,
Guilt in liis heart, and famiae in his face."

Yet even Junius has allowed that his character was respected, and that he pos-
sessed the esteem of society. Sir Egerton Bridges says : " Lord Rosslyn ap-
peared to be a man of subtle and plausible, rather than solid talents. His
ambition was great, and his desire of office unlimited. He could argue witli
great in-enuity on either side, so that it was difficult to anticipate his future
by his past opinions. These qualities made him a valuable partizan, and an
useful and efficient member of any administration." One public service of high
value is always allowed to Mr Wedderburn. During the celebrated metropoli-
tan riots in 1780, when the municipal power had proved so inadequate to the
occasion, and the conflagration of the whole capital seemed to be threatened,
a privy council was held by the king, who asked Mr Wedderburn for his of-
ficial opinion. Mr Wedderburn stated in the most precise terms, that any
such assemblage of depredators might be dispersed by military force, without
waiting for forms or reading the riot act. " Is that your declaration of the
law as' attorney-general?" asked the king; BIr Weddex-burn ^"r""^,^'"^
ly in the affirmative, " Then let it so be done," replied his majesty; and the
auorney-general immediately drew up the order by which the rioters were m a
few hours dispersed, and the metropolis saved. ,

In June of the year last mentioned, Mr \N edderbum was called to the
privy rouitci? raised to the bench as lord chief justice of the court of Common
K and to the peerage as lord Loughborough, baron of Loughborough in he
To ty of Leicester. He had occasion in his judicial '^^'^^-^"^V hTowed
iurv sittinn- under the commission for the trial of the rioter ; and it '« J^»« «^
That tte address was one of the finest specimens of reasoned eloquence that had

L

4.iS JAMES \\EDDERBUEX.

ever been delivered in that situation ; though some haro objected t1i.it, both on
this and on other occasions, his Scottish education inclined liiin too much to^
\rards the principles and modes of tlie civil law, inculcating greater latitude
than by the precision of the English law was warranted.

In April, 1783, lord Loughborough united with his friend lord North in
forming tlie celebrated Coalition ministry, in which he held the appointment
of first commissioner for keeping llie great seal ; but the reflections so justly
levelled at many of the coalesced leaders did not apply to the '* wary Wedder-
burn," for he had never uttered any opinion. depreciatory of the talents or
character of 3Ir Fox. From the breaking up of tins ministry, his lordship re-
mained out of office till the alarm of the French revolution separated the
lieterogeneous opposition which its remnants h.id formed for nearly ten years
against Mr Pitt, under whom he accepted oflice, January 27, 171)3, as lord
high chancellor. He filled that important station for eight years, " not per-
haps, says Brydges, " in a manner perfectly satisfactory to the suitors of his
court, nor always with the highest degree of dignity as speaker of the upper
house, but always with that pliancy, readiness, ingenuity, and knowledge, of
tvhich political leaders must have felt the convenience, and the public duly ap-
preciated the talent. Yet his slender and flexible eloquence," continues this
elegant writer, " his minuter person, and the comparative feebleness of liis bodily
organs, were by no means a match for the direct, sonorous, and energetic
oratory, tiie powerful voice, dignified figure, and bold manner of Thurlow ; of
whom he always seemed to stand in awe, and to whose superior judgment ho
often bowed against his will."

Lord Loughborough having been twice married without issue, and his first
patent having been limited to heirs-male, a new patent was granted to him in
1795, by which his nephew Sir James Sinclair Erskine of Alva, was entitled to
succeed him. On resigning the chancellorship in April, 1301, his lordship
was created earl of Rosslyn, in the county of 3Iid Lothian, with the same re-
mainders. He now retired from public life, but continued to be a frequent
guest of his sovereign, who never ceased to regard him Avith tlie highest esteem.
During the brief interval allowed to him between the theatre of public business
and the grave, he paid a visit to Edinburgh, from which he had been habitual-
ly absent for nearly fil'ty years. With a feeling quite natural, perhaps, but yet
hardly to be expected in one who had passed through so many of the more ele-
vated of the artificial scenes of life, he caused himself to be carried in a chair
to an obscure part of the Old Town, where he had resided during the most of
his early years. He expressed a particular anxiety to know if a set of holes
in the paved court before his father's house, whicli he had used for some youth-
ful sport, continued in existence, and, on finding them still there, it is said
tliat the aged statesman was moved ahr.nst to tears." The earl of Rosslyn died
at Bayles in Berkshire, January 3, 1805, and was interred in St Pauls
cathedral. A portrait of his lordship, painted by Reynolds, was engraved by
Bartolozzi. He wrote, in early life, critiques on Barclay's Greek grammar,
the Decisions of the Supreme Court, and the Abridgment of the Public Statutes,
Mhich appeared in the Edinburgh Review, 1755. In 1793, he published a
treatise on the management of prisons, and subsequently a treatise on the
English poor laws, addressed to a clergyman in Yorkshire.

WEDDERBURN, Ja.mes, a poet of the sixteenth century, was bom in Dundee

about the year 1500, and is supposed to have belonged to the family which

afterwards produced the earl of Rosslyn. He wrote three poems, beginning

respectively with the following lines : " My love was falss and full of flatteric,"

* The house was situated in Gmj's close, opposite to the ancient Alint.

JAMES WEDDERBUBN. 4i9

" I think thir men are verie fals and vain," " O man, transfonuit and un-
naturall," which are to be found with his name in the Bannatyne manuscrip!;.
Wedderburn appears to have early espoused the cause of the Keforraation.
In two dramatic compositions, a tragedy on tiie beheading of John the Baptist,
and a comedy called " Dionysius tiie Tyrant," which were represented at Dun-
dee about the year 1510, he exposed to ridicule and execration the corruptions
of the cliurch of Rome : both compositions, however, are now lost. It seems
to have been before 1549, that he composed his celebrated " Buike of Godlie
and Spiritual Sangs, collected out of sundrie pnrts of Scripture, wylh sundrie
of uther Ballates, changed out of Profane Sangs for avoyding of Sinne and Har-
lotrie," as, though no edition of it before that of Sraytli, in 1501), is in the
hands of modern antiquaries, it seems to be denounced in a canon of the pro-
vincial council of the clergy held in 1549, and foi- cerUiin is alluded to in a
manuscript " Historic of the Kirk," dated in 1 5G0. The " Buike of Godlie and
Spiritual Sangs," though allowed to have been a most effectual instrument in
expelling the old and planting the new religion, appears to modern taste as
only a tissue of blaspliemy and absurdity ; the " sangs " being chiefly parodies
of the coarse and indecent ballads of the common people, retaining the general
structure and music, with much of the very language of the originals, and thus
associating the most sacred and the most profane images.

That extraordinary book, the "Complaynt of Scotland," which appeared at
St Andrews in 1548, without the name of either author or printer, has
been ascribed to Wedderburn in the Harleian Catalogue ; nor does it appear
that the claims of Mackenzie for Sir James Inglis, or those of Leyden for Sir
David Lindsay, can stand for a moment against the probabilities of this sup-
position. Inglis, it is hardly possible to deny, was murdered in 1530, eighteen
years before the composition and publication of the Complaynt ; and so little
confidence had Leyden himself in the theory which he employed nearly three
Imndred pages to support, that he candidly confesses, at the close of his disser-
tation, " he scarcely expects his remarks to produce conviction."

Previously to the introduction of the version of Sternhold and Hopkins into
Scotland, in 1564, the reformed congregations sang versions of twenty-one
psalms, and paraphrases of the Lord's prayer, creed, and commandments, which
had been executed for that purpose by the subject of this memoir. Two vei-scs
of his translation of the i37ih psalm may be given as a specimen of hU
uKinner : —

At the rivirs of Babylon,

Quhair we dwelt in captivitle,

Quhen we rememberit on Syon,

We weipil a) full sorrowfullie.

On the sauch tries our herpes we hang,

Quhen thay requirit us an sang.

They hald us into sic thraldome,

They bad us sing sum psalme or hymmo,

That we in Syon sang sum tyme ;

To quhome we answerit full sune :

Nonht may we oulher play or sing,
Ihe psalmis of our Lord sa s\vcit,
Intil ane uncouth land or ring.^
My richt hand first sail that forlcit,
Or Jerusiilcm forjeltin be ;

1 Kingdom.
3 L

450 DAVID WEDDERBURN.

Fast to my cliafiis my lung sail be
Cll'pit, or that 1 it forget.
In my m:ibt gladnus and my g.i:iie,
I sail remember Jerusulcm,
Aud all my hart upon it s'.-t.

Wedderburn is said to liave ultimately gone to England, where Iio died in
156i-5.

WEDDERBURN, Dattd, a poet of considerable eminence, was born proba-
bly about the year 1570. Neither the place of his birth nor his parentage has
been ascertained. Of the latter all that is Itnomi is that his mother was buried
in St Nicholas church at Aberdeen in 1635.' It is highly probable from
Tarious circumstances that Wedderburn was educated in tlie city just named, and
that he studied either in King's, or in the newer institution, jMarischal col-
lege. In 1602, a vacancy occurred in the grammar-school of Aberdeen, by
the death of Thomas Cargill, a grammarian of great reputation, and author of a
treatise on the Gowrie conspiracy, now apparently lost. After an examination
which lasted four days and extended to " oratorie, poesie, and compositioun in
prois and versa," Wedderburn and Mr Thomas Reid, afterwards the well-known
Latin secretary to James VI., were appointed " co-equall and conjunct mastei-s "
of the institution, with salaries of ^40 yearly, and the quarterly fees of the
scholars limited to ten shillings. They were inducted into this cfRce by " d&.
livery to thame of ane grammar buke."- Early in 1603, Wedderburn ap-
peared before the town council, and stated, that being " urgit and burdenit bo
the lait provinciall assemblie of ministers, hauldin at this burghe, to accept upon
him the function of ane minister of Goddis word, he wes resolvit to enter in
the said function and obey God, calling him thairto be the said assemblie, and to
leave and desert the said school)," and concluded by craving leave to demit his
office. This the council granted, and accompanied it with a testimonial of
his faithful discharge of his duty ; but, from what cause is now unknown, Wed-
derburn in the same year resumed his office. Before he had retained it twelve
months, a complaint was lodged against him for making exorbit^tnt claims on
the scholars for fees, charity on Sundays, " candle and bent siller." These
exactions were repressed by the magistrates, and in 1619, the quarterly fees
were advanced from ten shillTngs to thirteen shillings and fourpence. Several
years before this, in 1612, his scholars distinguished themselves by an act of
mutiny of the boldest nature. In conjunction with the other scholars of the
town, they took possession of the Song or 3Iu8in school, and fortified them-
selves within it. Being armed with guns, hagbuts, and pistols, they boldly
sallied forth as occasion required, and, attacking the houses of the citizens,
broke open the doors and windows, " and maisterfullie away took their foullis,
pultrie, breid, and vivaris." They also intercepted the supplies of fuel and
provisions intended for the city markets, and continued in this state of open
insurrection for two days, when they submitted to the authority of the magis-
trates, »ho punished the ringleaders by imprisonment, and banished twenty-
one of their associates from all the city schools.^

In 1614, on the death of Gilbert Gray, principal of Marischal college, Wed-
derburn was appointed to teach " the high class" of the university, probably
meaning the class then usually taught by the principal. In 1617, ap-
peared tlie first of his publications, two poems on the king's visit to Scot-
laud in that year, the one entitled, " Syneuphranterion in reditu Regis

1 Kirk find Bridge Work Accounts of Aberdeen, IC34-1625.
* Council Hegister of Aberdeen, xl. 4r9, 410.
» Council Register of Aberdeen, xlv. 866.

DAVID WEDDERBUIiN. 451

in Scotiam, 1617," and the otiier " Propempticon Caritatuin Abredonensium."
lioth these poems (along with five others by the author,) were reprinted in the
" Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum," and the last of these, composed at the request
of the magistrates, procured him a donation of fifty merks. In 1G19, he was
appointed to teach a lesson in humanity once a- week to the students of
Marischal college, from such authors as the magistrates might select, and also
to compose in Latin, both in prose and verse, an essay on the common affairs of
the city. For tliis he was to receive a salary of eighty merks per annum. In
1625, he wrote a poem on the death of James VI., which was printed at Aber-
deen by Edward Raban, under the title of " Abredonia Atrata sub Obitura
Serenissiuii et Potentissimi Monarchse Jacob! VI., Abredoniee, 1625," 4to, pp.
1 2. This was dedicated " Ad Amplissimos Curias Abredonensis Primatus," and
is now so rare as to be priced at two guineas. In 1630, he completed
the writing of a new grammar for the use of his pupils, and received from the
magistrates a reward of ^ 1 00 Scots. It was found, however, that this work could
" neither be prentit nor publisht for the use of young schollaris, whome the
same concernis, unto the tyme the same resaive approbatioune frome the lordis of
counsall." In consequence of this, the magistrates " thocht meit and expede,
that the said Mr David address himself with the said wark to Edinburgh, in all
convenient diligence, for procuring the saidis lordis thair approbatioun thairto,
and ordanis the soume of ane hundreth pundis race to be debui-sit to him be the
tounis thesaurar for making of his expenss in the sudeward." * It is unknown
whether Wedderburn succeeded in procuring the license of the privy council ;
but if published no copy of this " gramer newly reformed " seems to have
been preserved. In 1635, Wedderburn lost a friend and patron in the learned
Patrick Forbes of Corse, bishop of Aberdeen ; and among the many distin.
guished contributors to tliat prelate's " Funerals" we find the name of "David
Wedderburnus Latinas Scholae in Urbe Nova AbredonicB Prjefectus." In
1640, he was so borne down by bodily infirmity that he was allowed to retire
from the rectorship of the grammar-school on a pension of two hundred merks
annually. The succeeding year he was called on to mourn the death of the
celebrated Arthur Johnston, with whom he had lived in tlie closest friendship.
One of the most beautiful of JoKaston's minor poems was addressed " Ad Davi-
dem Wedderburnum, araicum veterem," and drew forth a reply frtoB Wedder-
burn of equal elegance. He thus speaks of their friendship :

'■' Noster talis amor ; quem non (pia numina tester)
Ulla procelloso turbine vincit hiems.
Absit! ut ^ncides palmam vel fidus Achates
Hanc libi prceripiat, prseripiatve mihi."

AndJolinston dwells with much feeling on their early intimacy: —

" Aptius at vestTffi, tu Wedderburne, senectae

Consulis, et, quae fert dura senecta malis.
Bum mihi te sisto, dum, quos simul egimus amios,

Mente puto, mutor, nee mihi sum quod eram.
iEsona carmiriibus mutavit Colcliis et herbis;

Hac juvenem tremulo de sene fecit ope.
Cokhidis in morem, veteri lu rediies amiCC,

Qui pede veloci prseteriere dies,
Tempora dum ve colo tecum simul acta juventae

Me mihi vestituens, ipsa juventa redit.
Colchida tu vincis : loiigo molimine Colchis

tjuod semel aura fuit, tu mihi socpe facis."

* Cjuncil Register, vol. 52. p. 8.

452 JOHN WELCH.

On the death of this valued friend, Wedderburn published six elegies, under tho
title of " Sub obituni viii clarissimi et caiissimi D. Aioturi Jonstoni, Medici
Hegii, Davidis Wedderburni Susi)iiia — Abredonife, 1 G4 1." This tract has since
been reprinted by Lauder in his " Poetarum Scotoruni Musjb Sacra*," Edinburgh,
1731. Two years after the publication of his " Suspiria " he published, at
Aberdeen, " 31editationura Canipestrium, seu Epigrannnatum Moraliuni, Cen-
turiae duae," and in the following year, 1644, appeared " Centuria tertia."
Both these works are from the press of Edward Raban, and are of great rarity.
It is probable that they were the last compositions of their author wliich uere
printed in his lifetime, if we except some commendatory verses to a treatise
"De Arte conservando sanitatem," published at Aberdeen in 1G51. Though
the precise year of Wedderburn's death has escaped our researches, it may be
fixed within a few years from this last date. In 16G4, his brother, Alexander,
n-ave to the world " Persius Enucleatus, sive Gonnnentarius exactissimus et
maxime pei-spicuus in Persium, Poetarum omnium difficillimum, studio Davidis
Wedderburni, Scoti Abredonensis — opus Pcsthumum ; Amstelodami," 12mo.
Besides tho works now enumerated, Wedderburn was the author of a great
number of commendatory poems and elegiac verses. His learning has been
celebrated by Vossius, who styles him " liomo eruditissimus beneque promovers
de studiis jiiventutis." His repuUition is attested by the terms on which he
lived with many of the most eminent persons of his time. His intimacy witli
Arthur Johnston and bi£hop Patrick Forbes, has been already mentioned ; the
well known secretary iieid was his coadjutor ; and he counted among his
friends Jameson the painter, William Forbes, bishop of Edinburgh, Gilbertus
Jacobaeus, Duncan Liddel, baron Dun, Ramsay, Ross, and many other illus-
trious individuals. His poems show in every line an intimate acquaintance with
the classic writers, and are filled with happy allusions to ancient history and
fable. His verees, indeed, are more to be admired for their learning than for
their feeling ; he has nowhere succeeded in reaching the highest flights of
poetry, and has frequently sunk into connuon-place and bathos. But it is im-
possible to withhold admiration from the case and elegance of his latinily, the
epigrammatic vivacity of his style, or the riches of classical lore w ith which he has
adorned his pages.

WELCH, JoiLv, a celebrated divine of the seventeenth century, was
born about the year 1570. His father was a gentleman of considerable note
in Nithsdale, where he possessed a pretty extensive and valuable estate called
Collieston. The outset of Mr Welch's career was an extraordinary one,
and presents one of the most striking and singular contrasts of conduct and
disposition in one and the same pe«-son at different periods of life which can
perhaps be found in the annals of biography.

This faithful and exemplary minister of the church (for he became both in
an eminent degree) began the world by associating himself with a band
of border thieves. While at school, he was remarkable for the unsteadiness of
his habits, and for an utter disregard for the benefits of instruction and for the
admonitions of his friends and preceptors. He was also in the practice of ab-
senting himself, frequently and for long periods, frouj school, a habit in which
he indulged until it finally terminated in his not only abandoning the latter
entirely, but also his father's house, and betaking himself to the borders, where,
as already noticed, he joined one of those numerous bands of freebooters with
which those districts were then infested. Whether, however, it was that a bet-
ter spirit cinie over the young prodigal, or that he found the life of a border
marauder cither not such as he had pictured it, or in itself not agreeable to
him, he soon repented of the desperate step he had taken, and resolved on re-
turning to his father's house.

JOHN TVELCII. 453

In pursuance or this resolution he called, on his nay homewards, on one of
his aunts, uho lired in Dumfries, with the view of making her a mediator
between himself and his offended father, an office which she undertook and ac-
complished in the course of an accidental visit which young Welch's father paid
her whilst his son was still under her roof. The former, however, had antici-
pated a very different issue to his son's profligate courses, for, on a sort of trial
question being put to him by the young man's aunt, previously to her producing
him, whether lie liad heard anything lately of John, he replied, " The fii-st
news I expect to hear of him is, that he is hanged for a thief." On the recon-
ciliation Mith his father being effected, young Welch entreated him, with many
protestations of future amendment, all of which lie afterwards faithfully imple-
mented, to send him to college. With this request his father complied, and
the young convert gave him no reason to repent of his indulgence. He
became a diligent student, and made such rapid progress in the learning of the
times that he obtained a ministerial settlement at Selkirk before he had
attained his twentieth year. His stay here, however, was but short, as, for some
reason or another which has not been recorded, he seems to have been an ob-
ject of dislike and jealousy both to the clergy and lay gentlemen of the district
in which he resided. It is not improbable that his former life was recollected
to his disadvantage, and that this was, at least in some measure, the cause of
the enmity with which he was persecuted. But, whatever the cause was, it is
certain that it is not to be found in his conduct, which was now exemplary,
both in a moral and religious point of view.* 'Ihe latter, indeed, was of an ex-
traordinary character. It was marked by an intensity and fervour, an unre-
mitting and indefatigable zeal, which has been but rarely equalled in any other
person, and never surpassed. He preached publicly once every day, prayed,
besides, for seven or eight hours during the same period, and did not allow
even the depth of the night to pass without witnessing the ardency and en-
thusiasm of his devotions. Every night, before going to bed, he threw a Scotch
plaid above his bed-clothes, that, when he awoke to his midnight prayers,
it might be in readiness to wTap around his shoulders. These devotional habits
he commenced with his ministry at Selkirk, and continued to the end of his
life. Finding his situation a very unpleasant one, Mr Welch readily obeyed a
call which had been made to him from Kirkcudbright, and lost no time in re-
moving thither. On this occasion a remarkable instance occurred of that unac-
countable dislike with which lie was viewed, and which neither his exemplary
piety nor upright conduct seems to have been capable of diminishing. He
could not find any one pei-son in the whole town excepting one poor young
man of the name of Ewart, who would lend him any assistance in transporting
his furniture to his new destination. Shortly after his settlement at Kirkcud-
bright Mr Welch received a call from Ayr. Ihis invitation he thought
proper also to accept, and proceeded thither in 1590.

Some of the details of this period of IMr Welch's life afford a remarkably
striking evidence of the then rude and barbarous state of the country. On his
arrival at Ayr, so great was the aversion of the inhabitants to the ministerial
character, and to the wholesome restraints which it ought always to impose, that
he could find no one in the town who would let him have a house to live in,
and he was thus compelled to avail himself of the hospitality of a merchant of
the name of Stewart, who offered him the slielter of his roof. At this period,
too, it appears that the streets of Ayr were constantly converted into scenes
of the most sanguinary combats between factious parties, and so frequent
and to such an extent was this murderous turbulence carried lliat no man could
walk throusrh the town witli safety.

454: JOHN WELCH.

Among the first duties which 3Ir Welch imposed upon himself after his
EOttleraent at Ayr, was to correct this ruthless and ferocious spirit, and the
method he took to accomplish his good work was a singular but, as it proved,
effectual one. Regardless of the consequences to himself, he rushed in between
the infuriated combatants, wholly unarmed, and no otherwise protected from
any accidental stroke of" their weapons than by a steel cap which he previously
placed on his head on such occasions. When he had, by this fearless and de-
termined proceeding, succeeded in staying the strife, he ordered a table to be
covered in the street, and prevailed upon the hostile parties to sit down and
eat and drink together, and to profess themselves friends. This ceremony he
concluded with prayer and a psahn, in which all joined. The novelty of this
proceeding, the intrepidity of its originator, and above all tlie kind and
christian-like spirit which it breathed, soon had the most beneficial effects.
The evil which Mr Welch thus aimed at correcting- gradually disappeared, and
he himself was received into high favour by the inhabitants of the tOAvn,
who now began to reverence his piety and respect his worth. While in Ayr
Mr Welch not only adhered to the arduous course of devotional exercise which
he had laid down for himself at Selkirk, but increased its severity, by adopting
a practice of spending whole nights in prayer in the church of Ayr, which was
situated at some distance from the town, and to Avhich he was in the habit of
repairing alone for this pious purpose. Among the other objects of pns-
toral solicitude which particularly engaged Mr Welch's attention during his
niinisti'y at Ayr, was the profanation of the Sabbath, one of the most prominent
sins of the place. This he also succeeded in remedying to a great extent by a
similarly judicious conduct with that he observed in the case of feuds and
quarrels. This career of usefulness Mr Welch pursued with unwearied dili-
gence and unabated zeal till the year 1G05, Avhen on an attempt on the part of
the king (James VI.,) to suppress General Assemblies, and on that of tlie clergy
to maintain them, he, with several more of his brethren, was thrown into
prison for holding a diet, in opposition to the wishes of the court of delegates
of synods, of which Mr Welch was one, at Aberdeen. For this oflence they
were summoned before the privy council, but, declining the jurisdiction of tiiat
court in their particular case, they were indicted to stand trial for high treason
at Linlithgow. By a series of the most unjust, illegal, and arbitrary proceed-
ings on the part of the officers of the crown, a verdict of guilty was obtained
against them, and they were sentenced to suffer the death of traitors. The
conduct of the wives of the condenmed clergymen, and amongst those of Mrs
Welch in particular, on this melancholy occasion, was worthy of the brightest
page in Spartan story. Ihey left their families and hastened to Linlithgow to
be present at the trial of their husbands, that they might share in their joy if
the result was favourable, and that they might inspire them with courage if it
were otherwise. On being informed of the sentence of the court, " these
heroines," says Dr 3I*Crie, " instead of lamenting their fate, praised God who
had given their husbands courage to stand to the cause of their Master, adding,
that, like Him, tltey hnd been judged and condemned under the covert of
night." If spirit be hereditary, this magnanimous conduct, on the part of Mrs
Welch at any rate, may be considered accounted for by the circumstance of her
having been the daughter of John Knox. She was the third daughter of that
celebrated pereon. Either deterred by the popularity of the prisoners, and
the cause for which they suffered, or satisfied with Uie power which the sen-
tence of the court had given him over their persons, James, instead of bringing
that sentence to a fatal issue, contented himself with commuting it into banish-
ment; and on the 7th November, IGOG, Mr Welch, accompanied by his wife,

JOHN WELCH. 455

and bis associates in misfortune, sailed from Leith for France, after an im-
prisonment of many montlis' duration in the castles of Edinburgh and Black-
ness. So great was the public sympathy for these persecuted men, that,
though the hour of their embarkation was as early as two o'clock of the
morning, and that in the depth of winter, they were attended by a great
number of persons who came to bid them an afiectionate farewell. Tlie part-
ing of the expatriated men and their friends was solemn and characteristic,
prayers were said, and a psalm, (the 23rd,) in which all who were present
joined, was sung.

On his arrival in France, Mr Welch immediately commenced the study of
the language of the country, and such was his extraordinary diligence, and his
anxiety to make himself again useful, that he acquired, in the short space of
fourteen weeks, such a knowledge of French as enabled him to preach in it.
This attainment was soon after followed by a call to the ministry from a
protestant congregation at Xeraa Here, however, he remained but for a
short, period, being translated to St Jean D'Angely, a fortified town in Lower
Charente, where he continued to reside during the remainder of his slay in
France, which was upwards of fourteen years.

While living at St Jean D'Angely, Mr Welch evinced, on an occasion whi<;h
called for it, a degree of courage in the field not less remarkable than that
which distinguished him in the pulpit. A war having broken out between
Louis XIII. and his protestant subjects, the former besieged the town in person.
Durino- the siege Mr Welch not only exhorted the inhabitants to make a de-
termined and vigorous resistance, but took his place upon the walls of the city,
and assisted in serving the guns. When the town capitulated, which it finally
did, in terms of a treaty entered into with the besiegers, the French monarch
ordered that 3Ir Welch, who, with characteristic intrepidity, continued to preach,
to be brought before him. The messenger whom he despatched for this pur-
pose was the duke D'Espernon, who entered the church in which 3Ir Welch
was at the moment preaching, with a party of soldiers to take him from the
pulpit. On perceiving the duke enter, Mr Welch called out to him in a loud
and authoritative tone to sft down and hear the word of God. The duke instinc-
tively or unconsciously obeyed, and not only quietly awaited the conclusion
of the sermon, but listened to it throughout with the greatest attention, and af-
terwards declared himself to have been much edified by it. On being brought
into the presence of the king, the latter angrily demanded of Mr Welch how
he had dared to preach, since it was contrary to the laws of the kingdom for
such as he to officiate in places where the court resided. Mr Welch's reply
was bold and characteristia " Sir," he said, " if your majesty knew what I
preached, you would not only come and hear it yourself, but make all France
hear it ; for I preach net as those men you used to hear. First, I preach that
you must be saved by the merits of Jesus Christ, and not your own, (and I am
sure your conscience' tells you that your good works will never merit heaven :)
next, I preach, that, as you are king of France, there is no man on earth
above you ; but these men whom you hear, subject you to the pcoe of Rome,
Avhich I will never do." This last remark was so exceedingly gratifying to the
king, that it had the effect not only of disarming him of his wTath, but induced
him" to receive the speaker instantly into his royal favour. " Very well, re-
plied Louis, " you shall be my minister," and to these expressions of good-
Avill he added an assurance of his protection, a pledge which he afterwards
amply redeemed. AVhen St Jean D'Angely was again besieged by the french
monarch in 1021, he ordered the captain of his guard to protect the house and
property of " his minister," and afterwards supplied him with horses and wagons

4:5G SIR HENRY MONCRIEFP WELLWOOD, BART., D.D.

to transport his family to Rochelle, whither he removed on tlie cajiture of the
town.

Mr Welch was at this period seized with an illness which his physicians de-
clared could be removed only by his returning to breathe the air of his native
country. Under these circumstances he ventured, in 1G22, to come to London
hoping that when there he should be able to obtain the king's permission tc
proceed to Scotland. This request, however, James, dreading Welch's in-
lluence, absolutely refused. Among those, and they were many, who inter*
ceded Avith the king in hehalf of the dying divine, was his wife. Ou
obtaining access to James, the following extraordinary, but highly characteris-
tic conversation, as recorded by Dr 31*Crie, in his Life of Knox, took place be-
tween the intrepid daughter of the stern veformer and the eccentric monarch
of England : His majesty asked her, who was her fiither. She replied " iVIr
Knox." " Knox and Welch," exclaimed he, " the devil never made such a
match as that." " Its right like, sir," said she, " for we never speired his ad-
vice." He asked her, how many children her father had left, and if they were
lads or lasses. She said three, and they were all lasses. " God be thanked!"
cried the king, lifting up both his hands, *' for an they had been three lads, I
had never bruicked my three kingdoms in peace." Siie again urged her re-
quest that he would give her husband his native air. " Give him his native
air!'' replied the king. " Give him the devil!" a morsel which James had
often in his mouth. " Give that to your hungry courtiers," said siie, offended
at his profaneness. He told her at last, that if she would persuade her hus-
band to submit to the bishops, he would allow him to return to Scotland. Mrs
Welch, lifting up her apron, and holding it towards the king, replied, in the
true spirit of her father, '* Please your majesty, I'd rather kep his head
there."

Although .Tames Avould not permit 3Ir Welch to return to Scotland, he was
prevailed upon by the friends of the latter, though not without nnich impor^
tunity, to allow him to preach in London. They had entreated this as an
alternative in the event of his refusing him permission to return to his native
country, and they eventually succeeded in obtaining from James a reluctant
consent. On learning that this indulgence had been granted him, the dying-
preacher, for his complaint was rapidly gaining ground upon him, hastened to
avail himself of it. He appeared once more in the pulpit, preached a long and
pathetic sermon ; but it was his last. When he had concluded his discourse he
returned to his lodging, and in two hours afteruards expired, in the 53d year
of his age. It is said that 3Ir Welch's death was occasioned by an ossification
of the limbs, brought on by much kneeling in his frequent, and long protracted
devotional exercises. Like many of the eminently pious and well-meaning
men of the times in which lie lived, 3Ir Welch laid claim to the gift of pre-
science, and his Life, as it appeai-s in the " Scots Worthies," compiled by
Howie of Lochgoin, presents a number of instances of the successful exercise of
this gift, but no one now who has any sincere respect for the memory of such
truly worthy persons and sincere Cinistians as Jlr Welch, can feel much grati-
fied by seeing iiim invested, by a mistaken veneration, with an attribute whicli
does not belong to humanity.

WELLWOOL), SiE Henkv Mokckiefp, Baronei", D.D., an eminent divine,
was bom at Blackford, near Stirling, in February, 1750. He was the eldest
son of Sir William IMoncrieff, BarL, minister of the parish just name«l ; a mati
of singular merits and virtues, and who possessed an induence over his parish-
ioners, and in the surrounding country, which these alone could bestow.

The subject of this memoir was destined from an early age, as well by Lis

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S. £c««BlSIl..

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PROM thb; original m the posshssion or thu KAWn.v

Mj.ACKiB * pan,. etABOow; raaHBURGit * jjCimxiu .

SIR HENRY MONCRIEFF WETXTVOOD, BART., D.D. 457

own choice, as the desire of his father, to the clerical profession ; and,
with tills view, lie repaired to the university of Glasgow, after completing
an initiatory course of education at the parochial school of Blackford. Having
given a due attendance on the literary and philosophical classes in the uni-
vereity, Sir Henry entered on the study of theology, in whi«-.h he made a pro-
gress that raised the highest hopes of his future eminence ; and these hopes were
not disappointed. About this period, he had the misfortune to lose his vener-
nble father, who sank into a premature grave : but the esteem in which that
good man was held did not die with him. All those who had any influence in
the appointment of a successor to his charge, unanimously resolved tliat his son
should be that person ; and, further, that, as he had not yet attained the age at
which he could, according to the rules of the church, be licensed and ordained,
the vacancy should be supplied by an assistant, until tiiat period arrived.
On the completion of this arrangement, which took place in 1768, Sir Henry
removed to Edinburgh, where he prosecuted his studies to their close, distin-
guishing himself among his fellow students by the superiority of his talents,
and continuing to inspire his friends with the most sanguine hopes of the suc-
cess of his future ministry.

Having attained the prescribed age, he was licensed to preach the gospel,
although he had not yet completed the required term of attendance at the
divinity hall ; and immediately after, was ordained, 1 5th August, 1771, to the
church of his native parish. The singular talents of the young preacher, how-
ever, did not permit of his remaining long in so obscure a charge as that of
Blackford. On the occurrence of a vacancy in the extensive and populous
parish of St Cuthberl's, Edinburgh, Sir Henry IMoncrieft*, whose personal worth
and extraordinary abilities were already known and appreciated in the capital,
was called upon to supply it. Into this charge he was inducted in October,
1775, about four years after his ordination and settlement at Blackford. The
Bubsequent life of Sir Henry iMoncrieff, though remarkable for an exemplary
and unwearied diligence in the discharge of the laborious duties of his office,
and for a continued display, on his part, of every excellence and virtue which
can adorn the human character, presents little of which the biographer can
avail himself. Holding on the " even tenor of his way," and neither turning
to the right nor to the left, but still anxiously promoting the interests of reli-
gion by his eloquence, and of morality by his example. Sir Henry 3Ioncrieff
"ivas one of those great and good men, who are content to confine the exercise
of their talents — of talents which, if they had been directed by ambition, might
have procured them a more dazzling fame — to the immediate duties of their
calling ; and who think that the high intellectual powers with which they have
been gifted, cannot be more usefully, or more appropriately employed, than in
extending the knowledge and promoting the happiness of those wiliiin the im-
mediate sphere of their personal influence. Tiie talents of Sir Henry Mon-
crieft" could easily have procured him, had he chosen it, a wider and a more
brilliant reputation than is now attached to his name ; but he conceived, and
he did so justly and wisely, that the end for which these talents were bestowed
on him, was fully and amply attained, by devoting them to the task of instruct-
ing those over whose spiritual welfare Providence had called him to preside ;
and who, as he well knew, must have lost in proportion to what others might
have gained by a dissi2>ation of his exertions.

It was not inconsistent, however, with his duties as a minister of the estab-
lishment, that he should take an active interest in the business of the church
courts. At the period when he entered public life, the moderate party, headed
by Drs Robertson and Drysdale, had attaioed a complete and hardly resisted

458 SIR HENRY MONCRIEFF ^¥ELLWOOD, BAUT., D.D.

eupreinacy ia tlie Scotlisli church. Sir Henry, however, instead of joining
with a party witli wliich his seculnr rank might have hcen expected to inspire
Itiin with luany sympathies, took a decided part on ttie opposite course ; and
soon rose, by the force of talent and cliaracter, assisted, but in no great de-
gree, by his rank, to the situation of a leader in the more zealous party, over
whom he ultimately acquired a control, not more useful to their interests than,
as the result of a tacit acknowledgment of his deserts, it was honourable to
himself. In 1780, he was proposed as moderator of the General Assembly, in
opposition to Dr Spens, of Wemyss ; the competition was keen, Dr Spens being
elected by a majority of only six votes ; but in 1785, Sir Henry, being again
a member of the General Assembly, was unanimously cliosen moderator. Dr
Andrew Tiiomson, to wliom in latter life he yielded much of his influence in
the church, has thus spoken, in his funeral sermcn, of tlie public cliaracter of
Sir Henry : —

*' It was in early life that he began to take an active part in tlie government
of our national church. The principles of ecclesiastical polity, which he
adopted as soon as he entered on his public career, he adopted from full and
firm conviction ; and he maintained, and cherished, and avowed tliem to the
very last. They were the very same principles for which our forefathers had con-
tended 60 nobly, which they at length succeeded in establisliing, and \thich
they bequeathed as a sacred and blood-bought legacy to their descendants.
But tliough that circumstance gave a deep and solemn interest to them in his
regard, he was attached to them on more rational and enliglitened grounds.
He viewed them as founded on tlio word of God, as essential to tlic rights and
liberties of the Christian people, as identified with the prosperity of genuine
religion, and with the real welfare and efhcicncy of the establishment. And,
therefore, he enibraced every opportunity of inculcating and upholding them ;
resisted all the attempts that were made to discredit them in theory, or to vio-
late them in practice ; rejoiced when they obtained even a partial triumph over
the opposition they had to encounter ; and clung to tliem, and struggled for
them, long after they Avere borne down by a system of force and oppression ;
and when, instead of the numerous and determined host that fought by his side
in happier times, few and feeble, comparatively, were those who seconded his
manly efTorts, and held fast their own confidence : but he lived to see a better
spirit returning. This revival cheered and consoled him. Fervently did he
long and pray for its continuance and its spread. Nor did he neglect to em-
ploy his influence, in order to introduce pastors who would give themselves con-
scientiously to their Master's work, preaching to their flocks the truth as it is
in Jesus, watching for souls, as those that nmst give an account; and faithfully
and fearlessly performing all the duties incumbent on them, both as minister?,
and as rulers in tlic church."

Sir Henry made a more successful opposition, especially towards the end of
his life, to the doujinant faction in the church, than had been made for up-
wards of lialf a century before ; and, in more instances than one, ho left
their leader, principal Hill, in a minority : but it was, in the latter re-
spect, adverted to by Dr A. Thomson, that his efl'orts were most eminently
useful, and were followed with the most beneficial effect. To his efforts,
indeed, are to be ascribed, in a great measure, tlio introduction of cvcon-
gclical doctrines into parts of the country from which they had for many
years been excluded, tlio preponderance of evangelical ministers and elders
In the church court?, and the consequent ascendency of the popular parly.
Young men of piety and pvomiso were always sure of his assistance and en-
couragement. Ia this respect many had reason to bless him ; while the church at

SIR HENRY MONCRIEFP WELLAYOOD, BART., D.D.

459

large has Iiad reason to rejoice in his fidelity and wisdom. In the raanageinent
of the Widows' Fund, established by act of parliament in the year 1744, Sir
Henry took a deep interest, and acted as its collector for upwards of forty
yeai-8. He was also one of the original members of the society of the Sons of
the Clergy, and, by his influence and his exertions, contributed largely to its
success. He was, besides, n warm friend to erery reasonably adjusted scheme,
that had for its object the amelioration of the moral and physical condition of
mankind. In the year 1826, he was bereaved of his wife, (Susan, daughter
to Mr James Robertson Barclay, of Keavll, W. S., to whom he had been mar-
ried in 1773, and who was his cousin ;) while his own health, which had been
generally good, was also undergoing a decline. In the month of August of the
following year, 1827, Sir Henry himself died, after an illness of considerable
duration. At the time of his death, he was in the sevenly-eigiith year of his
age, and the fifty-sixth of his ministry.

The personal character of Sir Henry Moncrieff was, in the highest degree,
respectable, and his conduct, in every relation of life, most exemplary. He had
thoroughly studied the whole scheme of the gospel; and, from full and delibe-
rate conviction, as well as from its experimental application to his own personal
need, he threw himself, without pretension and without reserve, upon the pecu-
liar doctrines of tlie church to which he belonged, as those which could alone
insure his eternal interests.

In his ministerial capacity, he but rarely indulged in what is termed the
pathetic; yet there was often, particularly towards the close of iiis life, a tender-
ness in his modes of expression, as well as in the accents of his voice, which came
home to the heart, with the energy of pathos itself. As an author. Sir Henry
was well known, and higlily esteemed. The works which give him a claim to
this title, are, " A Life of Dr John Erskine ;" three volumes of sennons, and a
small work on the constitution of the church of Scotland, which, as well as
one of the volumes of sermons, was published posthumously. The first is an
interesting record of the life of a most excellent and public-spirited minister,
and contains much valuable information respecting ecclesiastical affairs in Scot-
land, The sermons abound with luminous expositions and practical applica-
tions of divine truth. All of these publications were well received by the public.
Tliat Sir Henry was admitted by all parlies to be no ordinary man, is sufficiently
CTinced by the following character of him, drawn up at the unanimous request
of the General Assembly of the church of Scotland, by the llev. Dr 3Iacgill,
professor of divinity in tlie college of Glasgow, their utoderator at the time,
and inserted in the records of court ; an honour whicli has been bestowed on
but few individuals in the Scottish church. Having enjoyed the friendship and
the confidence of Sir Henry from his earliest years, as well as from kindred
habits of thought and feeling, no man could be better qualified than the reve-
rend doctor to do justice to the subject.

** The Rev. Sir Henry JIoncriefT Wellwood, whose death and character
have been brought before tlie Assembly, was elected to Le the general collector
of the fund for tlie widows and children of this church, in 1784, and continued
to discharge, till his death, the duties of that important office. During the
long period of forty-three years, he received annually the thanks of the Ge-
neral Assembly, for the able, faithful, and affectionate manner in whicli he ful-
filled the trust reposed in him ; and never were thanks bestowed more de-
servedly, and with more full or heartfelt approbation. In the discharge of the
difficult, and often delicate duties of his office, he united tlie highest honour and
fidelity, witli the most consummate prudence, and the greatest tenderness and
forbearance ; so that it is stated of him, by those who were connected with liini

400 SIR HENRY MONCRIEFF WELL^YOOD, BART., D.D.

in the trust, and who long and intimately knew him, that his vigour of mind,
and the caution with which he deliberated, enabled him to form such decided
opinions, as saved them in many cases from much perplexity; llint even tlio
minutest details of the management were never regarded by him as unworthy
the attention of his powerful mind ; that for the period during which he ad-
ministered the concerns of tlie fund, not a single instance occurred of any em-
barrassment being occasioned to them, by any mistake or inadvertency on his
part, and on the otlier liand, so great was the confidence reposed in him, that
they never heard of a single complaint of severity in the exercise of the powers
with which he was intrusted.

" But while the General Assembly thus gratefully record their sense of the
public services of Sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood in that office to which their
attention has been specially directed, it is impossible not also to remember
what he was in a iiigher character, and in the discharge of higher duties. En-
dowed with great talents for the business of life, he was fitted for rising to high
distinction in the secular departments of society ; but with a strong attach-
ment, which increased with his years, he devoted himself to the ministry of
Christ in the church of Scotland. The church of Scotland was dear to him
from his earliest predilections, and these were confirmed by his maturest judg-
ments and long expei'ience and observation of human life. The character of
a minister of the gospel he valued above all others, and though of too just an
understanding not to estimate the advantages of his hereditary rank, he never
forgot, or allowed others to forget, that he held a sacred cliaracter, by which it
was of chief importance that he should be known and considered. Tiie doc-
trines of Christ were the objects of Ids firmest faith and warmest attachment,
and to preach them to his people he considered to be his first duty, and highest
honour. With a peculiar energy and power he presented them to the minds of
his hearers, and made them the principles from which he enforced all the vir-
tues and graces of a holy life ; while with fearlessness and freedom, and great
discernment of human character, he unfolded and exposed the besetting sins of
men of every condition. As a member of the General Assembly he will long
be remembered. His knowledge of business, his strong and masculine elo-
quence, the distinctness and vigour with which he went forward to his subject,^
and the simplicity and fire with which he stated his sentiments, secured to him
at all times the respectful attention of men of every description. Equally dis-
tant from flattery and piersoiial invective, lie spoke with the freedom of an in-
dependent but well regulated mind ; nor amidst the collision of sentiment and
warmth of discussion did he ever forget the spirit which should be maintained
in an assembly met in the name of Christ and to promote his kingdom. His
life was devoted to active and general usefulness. He had no taste for
frivolous pursuits, and while his judgment led him to devote Iiimself chiefly to
those peculiar departments of duty in which he believed he would be most
useful, he entered with deep interest into every scheme of public utility, and
rejoiced in the success of every well directed plan for promoting the cause of
religion and humanity. The young and the friendless he delighted to take un-
der ids protection ; and as his influence in society was great, so many were the
individuals in every department of life, besides those who were within the
reach of his private friends, whom he benefited by his active services and by
the wisdom of his counsels."

To this eulogium may be added the following estimate of Sir H. MoncricfTa
public character, by the late lord Coclcburn, in the Life of Francis Jeffrey :^
"This eminent person was not merely distinguished among his brethren of the
church of Scotlaud, all of whom leant upon him, but was in other respects one of

WILLIAM WILKIE, D.D. 4G1

ilio most remarlv.ible and admrrable men of his ago. Small gray eyes, an aqui-
line nose, vigorous lips, a noble head, and the air of a plain hereditary gentle-
man, marked the outward man. The prominent qualities of his mind were, strong
integrity and nervous sense. There never was a sounder understanding. Many
men were more learned, many more cultivated, and some more able. But who
could match him in sagacity and mental force? Tlie opinions of Sir Harry
MoncriefF might at any time have been adopted with perfect safety, without know-
ing more about them than that they were his. And he was so experienced in
the conduct of affairs, that he had acquired a power of forming his views with
what seemed to be instinctive acuteness, and with a decbiveness wliich raised
them above being slightly questioned. Nov was it the unerring judgment alono
that the public admired. It venerated the honourable heart still more. A
thorough gentleman in his feelings, and immoveably honest in his principles, his
whole character was elevated into moral majesty. He was sometimes described
as overbearing. And in one sense, to the amusement of bis friends, perhaps, ho
was so. Consulted by every body, and of course provoked by many, and witli
very undisciplined followers to lead, his superiority gave him the usual confidence
of au oracle ; and this operating on a little natural dogmatism, made him some-
times seem positive, and even hard: an impression strengthened by his manner.
With a peremptory conclusiveness, a shrill defying voice, and a firm concentrated
air, he appeared far more absolute than he really was, for he was ever candid
and reasonable. But his real gentleness was often not seen ; for if h's first clear
exposition did not convince, he was not unapt to take up a short disdainful refu-
tation; which, however entertaining to the spectator, was not always comfortable
to the adversai'y. But all this was mere manner. His opinions were uniformly
liberal and charitable, and, when not under the actual excitement of indignation
at wickedness or dangerous folly, his feelings were mild and benignant; and ho
liberalized his mind by that respectable intercourse with society which improves
tlie good clergyman, and the rational man of the world. I was once walking
with him in Queen Street, within the last three years of his life. A person ap-
proached who liad long been an illiberal opponent of his, and for whom I under-
stood that he had no great regard. I expected them to pass without recognition
on either side. But instead of this, Sir Harry, apparently to the man's own sur-
prise, stopped, and took him by the hand, and spoke kindly to him. When they
separated, I said to Sir Harry that I thought he had not liked that person. * Oh!
no; he's a foolish, intemperate creature. Bat to tell you the truth, I dislike a
man fewer every day that I live now,' " Lord Cockburn adds that Sir Harry's
"great instrument of usefulness was his public speaking;" that he often rose in
the pulpit into "great views and powerful declamation;" was "the noblest de-
liverer of prayers at striking funerals;" and in debate "a fearful man to grapple
Tvith ;"i that " his writing, though respectable, was feeble;" and that " had he not
preferred his church to every other object, there was no public honour to which
lie might not have fought his way," as counsel, judge, head of public depai-tment,
or parliamentary leader.

WILKIE, William, D.D., the '•' Scottish Homer," as he has been called, from
the circumstance of his having been the author of a poem in the style of the
Iliad, entitled the " Epigoniad," was born at Echlin, in the parish of Dalmeny,
county of Linlithgow, on the 5th of October, 1721. His father was a former,

J Th^re was really great justica (observes Lord Cockbur.i) in the remark of a little
old north country minister, who, proud both of himself as a member, and of the reverend
baronet who was predominating in the Assembly, said to his neighbour, " Preserve m>,
Sir ! hoo that man Sir Uarry does go on ! He puts me in mind o Jupiter among the
lesser yods."

463 WILLIAM WILKIE, D.D.

8ik1 possessed a smalT property to which he succeeded by inheritnnco. Ho wna
an upright and intelligent man, but through a series of misfortunes becamo
greatly reduced in circumstances in the latter part of his life.

The subject of this memoir received the earlier part of his education at tho
parish school of Dalraeny, then kept by a 31r Kiddel, a respectable and suc-
cessful teacher. At this seminary young Wilkie gave many proofs of a lively
and vigorous fancy, and of that genius for poetry uhich afterwards distin-
guished him. Before he had passed his tenth year, he had written some little
poetical sketches of considerable promise.

At the age of thirteen, he was sent to the university of Edinburgh. Here
he also distinguished himself by the superiority of his talents, and in particular
by the progress he made in classical acquirements, and in the study of theology.
He had the good fortune, likewise, while attending college, to form intimacies
with some of the most celebrated men of the last century. Amongst these were
Dr Robertson, Uavid Hume, Adam Smith, and John Home. Mr Mackenzie, in
his life of the last mentioned individual, says that Wilkie's friends all spoke of
him as *' superior in genit^ to any man of his time, but rough and unpolished
in his manners, and still less accommodating to the decorum of society in the
ordinary habits of his life. Charles Townsend, a very competent judge of
men," continues the biographer, *' and who, both as a politician and a man of
the world, was fond of judging them, said, after being introduced to Wilkie,
and spending a day with him at Dr Carlyle's, that he had never met with a
man who approached so near to the two extremes of a god and a brute as Dr
Wilkie."

While prosecuting his studies at Edinburgh, Wilkie lost his father, who died
in straitened circumstances, but left his son the stock and unexpired lease of
a farm at Fishers' Tryste, a few miles south of the city, burdened, however,
with the charge of maintaining his three sisters, who were otherwise wholly
unprovided for ; Wilkie, in consequence of this event, became a farmer ; but,
unwilling to trust entirely to that profession for his future subsistence, he con-
tinued, while conducting the business of his farm, to prosecute his studies in
divinity, and eventually was licensed as a preacher of the gospel, although some
years elapsed before he obtained a church. Previously to his assumption of tho
gown, he had made himself an expert farmer, and so remarkable was he, in
particular, for his successful culture of the potatoe, then but indifferently under-
stood, that he obtained the facetious by-name of the potatoe minister. But,
while he claimed and really possessed the merit of being a superior agricul-
turist to any of his neighbours, he always acknowledged that he was their in-
ferior in the art of trafficking; and the manner in which he made this boast
and acknowledged this inferiority was characteristic of the man ; " I can raise
crops," he would say, " better than any of my neighbours, but I am always
cheated in the market."

While pursuing his farming occupations at Fishers* Tryste, which he did with
the most laudable industry and perseverance, labouring much and frequently
with his own hands, he did not neglect those studies which his classical educa-
tion had placed within his reach. It was here, and while labouring with
scythe and sickle, ploughing and harrowing, that he conceived, and, at
intervals of leisure, in part wrote, his poem of " The Epigoniad ;" the work which
acquired him what celebrity he possesses.

Through the influence of Mr Lind, sheriff-substitute of BTid Lothian, who
resided in his neighbourhood, and who knew of and apprecLited his abilities,
Mr Wilkie obtained the appointment of assistant and successor to 3Ir Guthrie,
minister of Ratlio. To this office he was ordained by the presbytery on the

WILLIAM WILKIE, D.D. 463

17th May, 17c3. Three years afterwards, during aU which time he continued
to reside on and cultivate liis farm, he succeeded to the entire living by the
death of the incumbent.

In 1757, Mr Wilkie published at Edinburgh « The Epigoniad, a Poem in
Nine Books," 12rao, and in 1753, a second edition, corrected and improved
with the addition of " A Dream, in the manner of Spenser." Tlie Epigoniad'
obLnined a temporary and local celebrity of no unenviable kind. It was read
and admired by the learned of Scotland, and has been so frequently alluded to
in contemporary literature, that even yet, when perhaps there is liardly a living
man who has read it, nothing like oblivion can be said to have overtaken it.
^lackenzie, in his life of Home, speaks of it as " a poem of great merit, not only
as possessing much of tlia spirit and manner of Homer, but also a manly and
vigorous style of poetry, rarely found in modern compositions of the kind."
The same critic, after remarking the want of feeling wliicli characterized
Wilkie, goes on to say, " Perhaps it is to a want of Uiis poetical sensibility
that we may chiefly impute the inferior degree of interest excited by Wiikie's
Epigoniad, to that which iU meriU in other respects might excite. Perhaps it
suffers also from its author having the Homeric imitation constantly in view in

uhich, however, he must be allowed, I think, to have been very successful, so

successful that a pei-son ignorant of Greek, will, I believe, better conceive what
Homer is in the original by perusing the Epigoniad, than by reading even the
excellent translation of Pope."

After his establishment at Ratho, Mr Wilkie became a fre^juent and welcome
visitor at Hatton, tlie residence of the earl of Lauderdale, the patron of the
parish, who highly esteemed him for his worth and talents, and was particularly
fond of his society.

In 1759, he became a candidate for the chair of natural philosophy
in the university of St Andrews, then vacant by the death of JVIi- David Young,
and was successfuL After settling in St Andiews, the poet purchased some
acres of land, and resumed his farming occupations, in \vhich he succeeded so
Avell as to leave at his death property to the amount of ^£3000. Sometime af-
ter his appointment to the professorship, the university conferred on him, as a
mark of its sense of his merits, the degree of doctor in divinity.

In 1768, Dr Wilkie published a series of sixteen *' Moral Fables, in Verse,"
8vo; but these, though sufficiently ingenious productions, did not advance him
much farther in public favour as a poet. With this circumstance the remark-
able occurrences of his life terminate. After a lingering indisposition, he died
at St Andrews, on the lOlh October, 1772, in the fifty-iirst year of his age.

Of Dr Wiikie's personal peculiarities some curious anecdotes , have been pre-
served. Amongst the most amusing and extraordinary of his eccentricities was
n practice of sleeping wilh an immoderate quantity of bed-clothes, and a detes-
tation which he entertained of clean sheets. He lias been known to sleep wilh
no less than four and twenty pair of blankets on him ; and his abhorrence of
clean sheets was so great, that, whenever be met with them in any bed in nhicli
lie was to lie, he immediately pulled them ofl^ crumpled them together, and
threw them aside. On one occasion, being pressed by lady Lauderdale to stay
all night at Hatton, he agreed, though with reluctance, and only on condition
that her ladyship would indulge him in the luxury of a pair of foul sheets !

He was of extremely parsimonious habits, although in the latter years of his
life he was in the habit of giving away £20 annually in charity. His parsi-
mony, however, did not proceed so much from a love of wealth as of inde-
pendence. On this subject he was wont to say, " I have shaken bands with
poverty up to the very elbow, and I wish never to see her face again. He was

484 WILLIAM THE LION.

absent to a degree that placed him frequently in the most awkward and ludi-
crous predicaments. He used tobacco to an immoderate excess, and was
extremely slovenly in his dress.

WILLIAM, surnamed Thb Lion, one of the most distinguished of our early
raonarchs, was born in the year 1143. He was the second son of Henry,
prince of Scotland, the son and heir-apparent of David I., but who predeceased
his father in 1152. On the death of his son, David proclaimed his eldest
grandson 3Ialcolm as the heir of his Scottish dominions, and, destining William
for a separate principality in Northumberland, caused the barons of that district
to give him tlieir promise of obedience, and took hostages for its performance.
Malcolm accordingly succeeded David in 1 153, as king of Scots, while William,
then only ten years of age, became supei*ior of the territory now constituting
the northern counties of Engbind.

In 1 157, an agreement took place between Malcolm and Henry II. of Eng-
land, by which Northumberland was ceded to the latter, who gave in return the
earldom of Huntingdon ; an exchange which produced great dissatisfaction in
Scotland, and the utmost displeasure in the subject of this memoir. From this
time Malcolm became unpopular in Scotland, and it is not improbable that Wil-
liam took advantage of the national prejudices to advance iiis own ambitious
views. It is represented by the Scottish historians that, in 1 1G4, the people ob-
liged him to undertake the regency of the kingdom, while the king his brother
gave himself up to religious meditation ; a very decent description of what
must have been little else than a usurpation. On the 2 Sth December, IIG5,
Malcolm died, and William succeeded to the crown.

William, having repeatedly but vainly solicited the restitiition of Northumber-
land from Henry II., at length joined in a confederacy with his son, the cele-
brated Coeur de Lion, for the purpose of dethroning that monarch ; Richard
not only assuring him of the territory he desired, but also granting the earl-
dom of Cambridge to his younger brother David. In 1174, William served
the purjioses of this confederacy by an invasion of Northumberland, which he
spoiled without mercy. He was prosecuting the siege of Alnwick with a small
party, when a large body of Yorkshire horsemen came upon him unexpectedly.
Though he had only sixty horse to present against four hundred, he gallantly
charged the enemy, crying out, " Now we shall sec who are true knights."
He was unhorsed, disarmed, and made prisoner, while his companions, and
some others who were not then present, submitted to the same fate, from a sen-
timent of duty. Henry did not make a generous use of this triumph. He
caused the captive monarch to be brought into the presence of his court at
Northampton, with his feet tied together under the belly of a horse, as if he
had been a felon ; and afterwards placed him in strict confinement in the cas-
tle of Falaise in Normandy. The Scots, towards the close of the year,
recovered their monarch from captivity, but at the expense of a temporary sur-
render of their national independence. In terms of the treaty formed on this
o«xasion, William was to do homage to the English king for the whole of Ids
dominions ; an object at which the latter had long unjustly aimed : and the
castles of Roxburgh, Berwick, Jedburgh, Edinburgh, and Stirling, were sur-
rendered as pledges on the part of the king of Scots, for the performance of
his promise. The independence of the Scottish chiircij was nt the same time
impignorated, but with certain cautious ambiguities of phrase that reflect great
credit on the ingenuity of its dignitcaries, who managed tiiis part of the treaty.
Tlie claims of the English church over Scotland, however, disturbed several of
the ensuing year* of the reign of William, who, in resisting them, backed .as

JOHN WILLOCK. 4G5

they were by the pope and all his terrors, showed surprising fortitude and per-
eeverance. » o f

In 1189, Richard Cwur de Lion, having acceded to the throne, and con-
sidenng that William of Scotland had forfeited his independence in conse-
quence of an attachment to his own interest, restored it to him, along uith the
castles of Berwick and Roxburgh. Perhaps it was not altogether from a
generous or conscientious motive that the king performed this act of justice.
He was about to commence liis celebrated crusade, and it migl t be apparent
to him that the king of Scots was not a neighbour to be left dissatisfied :
lie also stipulated for ten thousand merks as^ the price of the favour he was
granting to his brother monarch. The treaty, however, which these mingled
notions had dictated, was tiie blessed means of preserving peace between the
two countries for upwards of a century. When Richard was afterwards so
unfortunate as to become a captive in a foreign land, William contributed two
thousand merks towards his ransom. Such transactions afford a pleasing relief
to the general strain of our early history.

After a long reign, of which the last thirty years appear to have been spent
in tranquillity, and without the occurrence of any remarkable event, William
died at Stirling, December 4, 1214, in the seventy-second year of his age,
and the forty-ninth of his reign, leaving, by his wife, Ermingarde de Beau-
mont, one son, who succeeded him under the title of Alexander II. William
also had six illegitimate children. He is allowed by historians to have been
a vigorous and judicious prince, not exempt of course from the vices of his
age, among which must be reckoned a rash valour, but adorned also by some
of its virtues. William was the first Scottish sovereign who bore a coat
armorial. He assumed the lion rampant upon his shield, and from this cause,
it is supposed, he obtained the designation of William the Lion. A curious por-
trait of William has been preserved from time .immemorial in the Trinity hos-
pital at Aberdeen, and was lately engraved and published in the Transactions
of the Antiquarian society of Scotland.

WILLOCK, John, one of the earliest Scottish reformers, is supposed to have
been a native of Ayrshire, and to have been educated at the university of Glas-
gow. He entered one of the monastic orders (that of the Franciscans, accord-
ing to Spotswood, and of the Dominicans, according to Lesley) in the town of
Ayr, and remained in it probably for several years; but the history of this period
of his life is almost entirely unknown. Previously to 1541, he had become a
convert to the protestant faith, and retired from his native country into Eng-
land. There, however, he did not receive tiie protection which he seems to
have expected ; for, during the persecution for the Six Articles, he Mas thrown
into the Fleet prison. After his liberation, he became one of the chaplains to
the duke of Suffolk, the father of the lady Jane Grey ; and during the reign of
king Edward, appears to have lived in tranquillity. But the hopes of the
protestants were soon blasted by the early death of that monarch; and Willock,
•with many others, was obliged once more to flee, on the accession of Mary to
the throne. The town of Embden, in Friesland, was selected as the place of
his retirement. Here he was enabled to turn his knowledge to account in the
practice of medicine, which brought him into contact with persons of distinc-
tion, and, among others, with Anne, duchess of Friesland. The acquaintance,
which was thus formed, was strengthened by subsequent intercourse, and Willock
was sent by the duchess on several missions into Scotland. His visits to his
native country, where he preached, whether in health or sickness, to all that
came to his house, must have had a powerful effect in hastening the establish-

IT 3N

460 JOHN WILLOCK.

mentof the Reformation. He seems to have ultimately determined U}iOD resid-
ing in Scotland; and, uith this view, returned in 1558, or early in 1559.
The town of Ayr, in which he had formerly lived in monastic seclusion, was
now destined to be the place of his public ministrations ; and he mentions St
John's churcli as the place uhere he taught his doctrine " oppinlye befoir
the pepil." Nor did he decline controversy with the popish ecclesiastics : for,
in 1559, he became the opponent of Quentin Kennedy, the well known abbot
of Crosi-aguel ;^ and at a later period he had public disputes with Black, a
Dominican friar, and with Robert Maxwell, a schoolmaster in Glasgow ; but of
neither of tliese has any account, so far as we are aware, been preserved.
Early in 1559, Hamilton, archbishop of St Andrews, had summoned Willock,
and some of the other protestant preachers, to appear before him ; but their
trial was prorogued by the queen regent's orders, and they were summoned to
appear before the Justiciary court at Stirling. In the mean time, the gentle-
men of the counties of Angus and Mearns, where the protestant doctrines pre-
vailed, assembled with their followers, with the avowed intention of accom-
panying the ministers to Stirling. Tlie queen regent became alarmed, and
promised to Erskine of Dun, " to take some better order." Upon the faith of
this promise, they retired, and the ministers did not, of course, consider them-
selves as still bound to appear. But when the day of trial came, the regent
ordered the summons to be called, the nunisters outlawed, and their cautioners
amerciated.

It is fortunate when such instances of duplicity meet with " the skaith and
the scorn" which they deserve. This was certainly the case in the present in-
stance. While the breach of faith alienated the ailections of some of her best
supporters, it had not even the temporary effect of retarding the progress of
the new doctrines. In the following July, Willock preached in St Giles's,
Edinburgh, to large audiences ; and in harvest, the sacrament of the Lord's
supper was publicly administered. The regent requested that mass might still
be said, the church leaving it to the option of the people to attend the popish
or the protestant service j but Willock and his party were sufficiently powerful
to resist the proposal, and she had the mortification of seeing her wishes frus-
trated by tlie very men whom she had proclaimed rebels not two months before.
She was to receive a yet more decided blow from them. In October, the nobi-
lity, barons, and burgesses, assembled at Edinburgh, to discuss the question,
whether a regent who had contemptuously refused the advice of her bom
councillors,— who had infringed the laws, both of the realm and of common
good faith, — and who had carried on a civil wax in the kingdom, — should be
suffered any longer to rule tyrannically over them. After a statement of theii
opinions by Willock and Knox, she was solemnly deposed, and a council, as-
sisted by four ministers, of whom Willock was one, was appointed to carry on
the government, till the first meeting of a parliament.

The arrangements which followed the establishment of the Reformation, and
the appointment of superintendents over provinces, have been noticed in several
of the lives in this work. In September, 15G1, Willock was ordained superin-
tendent of the west, at Glasgow, in presence of some of the most powerful of
the nobility.- From this period ceases everything in his history, that may be

* See an account of their controTersy, so far as it proceeded, in Keith's History, Appoidbb
193—9. *^

» Although the form of admission did not take place till (hat date, there is evidence tlmt
Willock WIS settled in the west, and had an allowance from the revenues of the arch-
bishopric of Glasgow, as early as Octoher, 1660, before the meeting of the first General
Assembly. In the following January, his wife, who appears to iiuve rebidcd in England

JOHN -WILLISON. 467

supposed to interest a general reader. He was now occupied, apparently, in
ilie routine of his duties, and in the business of the General Assembly, of whicli
he uas several times (in 15G3, 1565, and 1568) chosen moderator. In or
before 1567, he seems to have gone to P^ngland; and the General Assembly, in
testimony of their esteem, and of the value of his services, ordered John Knox
to request him to return. This he did in a most affectionate letter, and it had
its effect Willoclc did return, and was appointed moderator of the next As-
sembly. For re.osons Avhich it is now in vain to conjecture, he is supposed to have
returned to England, almost immediately afterwards. With this period closes
every authentic trace of this excellent man, of whose history throughout, we unfor-
tunately only know enough to excite, but not to gratify, our interest. A charge,
apparently of a very absurd nature, has been brought against him by Mr George
Ciialmers. In a MS. in the State Paper office, that author discovered, that in
April, 1590, " twa men, the ane namyt Johnne Gibsonne, Scottishman,
preacher, and Johne Willokes, were convicted by a jury of robbery ;" and lie
immediately concluded that this could be no one else, but ** the reforming co-
adjutor of Knox :" a conclusion which could not fail to gratify his prejudices.
Without troubling the reader with any lengthened defence of the supposition
that there may have been more than (me John Willock in broad England, we
shall merely state, that as our Willock was a preacher in 1540, if not earlier,
he must now have been at an age when robbers (when the gallows spares them)
generally think of retiring from tlieir profession.

Respecting the works of John Willock, we have not been able to learn any-
thing. Dempster, in his account of him, — one of the most bitter articles in hi?
"HistoriaEcclesiastica," — ascribes to him, " Impia Quasdam;" which, however,
he had not seen when he pronounced this opinion of them.*

WILLISON, John, an eminent divine, and author of several well known re-
ligious works, was born in the year 1680. The singularly gentle and pious
disposition which he evinced, even in his boyhood, together Avith the extraoi-di-
nary aptness which he discovered for learning, determined his parents to devote
him, from a very early period of his life, to the service of the church, and in
this determination young Willison cordially acquiesced. It was the profession of
all others which he himself preferred.

On completing a regular course of academical education, he entered on the
study of divinity, and prosecuted it with remarkable assiduity and success.
Having duly qualified himself for the sacred calling of the ministry, he was al-
most immediately thereafter invited, 1703, by an unanimous call, to the pas-
toral office at Brechin. Here he acquired so great a degree of popularity by
his abilities as a preacher, and by the simplicity and purity of his manners and
conduct, and the benevolence of his disposition, that he was earnestly and
unanimously called upon by the people of Dundee to fill a vacancy which shortly
after occurred in that town. He accordingly removed thither, and remained
there till his death.

Mr Willison's abilities procured him a remarkable prominency in all public
discussions regarding church matters in the period in which he lived, especially
in the question of patronage, to whicli he was decidedly hostile. He was, in-
deed, considered the leader of the party who advocated the right of the people
to choose their own pastors agreeably to the settlement of the church at t!ie rev(v
luUon, in 168a, and was indefatigable in his exertions to restore the exercise

duri))g the struggles which preceded the Rtformation, joined him. ( Wodrow's Biographical
Collections, primed by the Maillaiid Club, i. 450.) ,,r^jc <ro

» Abridged fiom Wodiow's Biographical Collecuons i., 99—110, 4*6— 4>jJ.

463 ALEXANDER WILSOK

of this popular right, which had been overturned by an act of parliament passed
in 1712. In these exertions, however, both Mr Willison and his party •were
unsuccessful till the year 1734, when they were fortunate enough to procure
the co-operation of the General Assembly in their views. That body had
hitherto strenuously seconded the enforcement of the system of exclusive
patronage, but in the year just named it happened to be composed of men who
entertained directly opposite sentiments on that subject to those avowed and
acted upon by their predecessors; — so opposite, indeed, that tl>ey determined,
in the following year, 1735, to apply to parliament for a repeal of the
patronage act. The known abilities, zeal, and activity of Mr Willison sug-
gested him as one of the fittest persons to proceed to London on this important
mission, and he was accordingly appointed, with two other clergymen, Messrs
Gordon and Mackintosh, to perform that duty ; but the application was unsuc-
cessful.

Mr Willison also distinguished himself by the strenuous effurU he made to
keep the peace of the church, by endeavouring to prevent those schisms, and to
reconcile those differences, which led to the separation of large bodies
of Christians from the established church, and which first began to manifest
themselves about this period. His efforts were unsuccessful, but not the less
meritorious on that account.

Besides being a popular preacher, Mr Willison was also a popular author,
and in the religious world his name, in the latter capacity, still stands, and will
long stand, deservedly high. His principal works are, " The Afflicted Man's
Companion," written, as he himself says, with the benevolent intention " that
the afflicted may have a book in their houses, and at their bed sides, as
a monitor to preach to them in private, when they are restrained from hearing
sermons in public ;" and the work is admirably calculated to have the soothing
effect intended by its able and amiable author ; " The Church's Danger and
JMinisters' Duty ;" " A Sacramental Directory ;" '* A Sacramental Cate-
chism;" "An Example of Plain Catechising;" "The Balm of Gilead ;"
"Sacramental Meditations;" "Appendix to Sacramental Meditations;" "A
Fair and Impartial Testimony;" " Gospel Hymns;" " Popery another Gos-
pel ;" and " The Voung Communicant's Catechism." An edition of these very
useful and pious works, in one volume, 4to, was published at Aberdeen
in 1817.

Mr Willison is described as having been most exemplary in all the relations
of life, and singularly faithful and laborious in the discharge of the important
duties of his sacred offlce, especially in visiting and comforting the sick. In
this benevolent work he made no distinction between the rich and the poor,
or, if he did, it was in favour of the latter. Neither did he confine his exer-
tions in such cases to those of his own persuasion, but with a truly christian
liberality of sentiment, readily obeyed the calls of all in affliction, whatever
their religious creed might be, who sought his aid.

Mr Willison died at Dundee, on the 3rd of May, 1750, in the seventieth
year of his age, and the forty-seventh of his ministry.

WILSON, Alkzanoer, the celebrated Ornithologist, was born in Paisley, on
the 6th July, 1766. His father was at that time a distiller in a limited way ;
poor in circumstances, but sober, religious, and industrious, and possessed
of sagacity and intelligence much beyond most men in his sphere of life.
From the period of his son's birth, he entertained the project so fondly
cherished by almost every parent among our Scottish peasantry, of rearing hinj
up to be a minister of the gospel. There is no evidence to show that young
Wilson displayed any unusual precocity of intellect or bias of disposition to ju^

ALEXANDER "WILSON. 469

tify so high a destination ; but even if he had, he would have been compelled
to relinquish his views by the death of his mother, which left his father em-
barrassed with the charge of a young family. Alexander was at this time ten
years of age, and although his education had necessarily been restricted to the
ordinary branches of writing, reading, and accounts, the judicious and careful
superintendence of his father had even then imbued his mind with a passion
for reading, and a predilection for the beauties of nature, which continued to
influence his character ever afterwards. In his correspondence at a later period
of his life, Wilson often recurs, with expressions of warm-filial gratitude, to the
paternal anxiety with which his early studies Avere directed, to which he attri-
buted all the eminence and honours he subsequently attained. In a letter,
dated February, ISll, he says: — "The publication of my Ornithology,
though it has s^Yallowed up all the little I had saved, has procured tne the
honour of many friends, eminent in this country, and the esteem of the public
at large ; for which I have to thank the goodness of a kind father, whose
attention to my education in early life, as well as the books then put into my
hands, first gave my mind a bias towards relishing the paths of literature, and
the charms and magnificence of nature. These, it is true, particularly the
latter, have made me a wanderer in life ; but they have also enabled me to
support an honest and respectable situation in the world, and have been the
sources of almost all my enjoyments."

Wilson's father soon married .ngain ; a d three years passed away, during
which time Alexander seems to have had no other occupation, but reading and
roaming about, feeding in solitude habits of reflection, and an ardent poetic
temperament, which led him to shun the society of his frolicksome compeers.
An American biographer erroneously attributed this disposition for solitary
rambling, and his ultimate departure from the paternal dwelling, to the harsh
treatment of his stepmother ; but it has been clearly proved by subsequent
Avriters, that she discharged her duty towards him with great tenderness and
afl^ection ; and Wilson himself uniformly speaks of her with great respect.

At the age of thirteen, — that is in July, 1779, — Wilson was apprenticed
for three years to William Duncan, a Aveaver, who had married his eldest
Eister. This occupation was quite at variance with his disposition and pre-
vious habits ; yet he, nevertheless, not only completed his indenture, but
afterwards wrought for four years as a journeyman, residing sometimes at
Paisley, at other times in his father's house, (who had then removed to
Lochwinnoch,) and latterly with his brother-in-law, Duncan, who had shifted
his quarters to Queensferry. Having much of his time at his own disposal
during the last four years, Wilson gave a loose to his poetical disposition ;
his relish for the quiet and sequestered beauties of nature, which began to
assume almost the character of a passion, he indulged more and more, giving
utterance to his feelings in veraes — chiefly descriptive — which, if exhibiting no
great power of diction, certainly display an expansion of thought, a purity of
taste, and a refinement of sentiment, that are very remarkable in one so
young, and so unfavourably circumstanced for the cultivation of literary pursuits.
The only explanation which can be given of the fact, is, lliat he possessed an
insatiable thirst for reading ; and with that and solitary musings, passed the
leisure hours which others generally devote to social amusements. An almost
necessary consequent on this gradual refinement and elevation of mind, was, a
disgust with the slavish and monotonous occupation of the loom; and the incon-
gruity between his worldly circumstances and the secret aspirations of his soul,
frequently occasioned fits of the deepest melancholy. Unlike, however, but
too many of the like sensitive character, similarly situated, he never sought relief

470 ALEXANDER WILSON.

from his morbid despondency in the deceitful stimulant of the bottle. He
yielded to its influence, only in ns far as he manifested an increasing aversion
to his occupation ; or, as more uorldly-niinded people would term it, .1 ten-
dency to idleness. Nor did the circumstance of teveral of his juvenile pieces
appearing about this time in the Glasgow Advertiser, (now the Glasgow
Herald,) and which attracted no small attention amongst his townsmen, tend
anything to reconcile him to the shuttle. This was immediately before his
migration to Queensfen'y ; on his removal to which place, a circumstance
occurred, which had a strong influence upon his future fortunes and character.
His brother-in-law, Duncan, finding the trade of weaving inadequate to the
support of his family, resolved to attempt tliat of a peddler or travelling mer-
chant, for a while, and invited Wilson to join in the expedition. No propos.il
could have been more congenial to the young poet's mind, promising, as it did,
the gratification of the two most powerful passions which he cherished, — a
desire for increasing his knowledge of men and manners; and a thirst for con-
templating the varied scenery of nature. From a journal which he kept, in-
deed, (he was in his twentieth year when he set out,) during this expedition, it
is evident that liis sensations almost amounted to rapture; and he speaks with
the most profound contempt of the " grovelling sons of interest, and the grubs
of this world, who know as little of, and are as incapable of enjoying, the
pleasures arising from tiie study of nature, as those miserable spirits who are
doomed to perpetual darkness, can the glorious i*egions and eternal delights of
paradise!"' For nearly three years did AVjIson lead this wandering life, during
which time it appears that he paid less attention to the sale of his wares, than
to gratifying his predilection for reading and composition, and indulging in
a sort of dreamy meditation, little compatible with the interests of his pack.
In fact, of all occupations, the sneaking, cajoling, and half-mendicant profession
of a peddler, was perhaps the most unsuitable to the manly and zealously inde-
pendent tone of Wilson's mind ; but he was consoled for his Avant of success,
by the opportunities he enjoyed of visiting those spots rendered classical, or
hallowed by the " tales of the days of old." He used to speak, for instance, with
rapt enthusiasm, of the exultation he experienced in visiting the village of Athel-
staneford, successively the residence of Blnir and Home. During this happy
period — the only truly happy one, perhaps, of his whole life — liis muse was so
busy, that, in 1789, he began to think of publishing. Ashe could get no book-
seller, however, to risk the necessary outlay, he was compelled to advance wliat
little gains he had stored up, and getting a bundle of pi-ospectuses thrown olT,
he set out on a second journey with his pack, for the double purpose of selling
muslins and procuring subscribers for his poems. In the latter object, lie
was grievously disappointed; but Wilson was not a man to travel from Dan to
Beersheba, and say all is barren, even although foiled in the inmiediate pur*
pose of his heart. His journal, during this second journey, indicates the strong
and rapid growth of liis understanding, and exhibits powers of observation and
philosophic reflection, remarkable in a young man of the immature age of
twenty-three. Upon his return home, he obtained the publication of his
poems by IMr John Neilson, printer in Paisley, when he again set out on his
former route, carrying with iiiin a plentiful supply of copies, for the benefit of
those who might prefer poetry to packware. A less sanguine individual than
Wilson, might have anticipated the prejudice with which attempts at literary
eminence, emanating from such a quarter, were likely to be viewed by the world.
But our author was one to whose mind nothing but the test of experience
could ever carry conviction — a characteristic, wliidi, in his subsequent career,
proved one of the most valuable attributes of his mind. His expectations were

ALEXANDER WILSON. 471

soon resolved, iu the present instance. The amount of his success may "be
gathered from a passage in one of his letters from Edinburgh, wherein he says,
" I have this day measured the height of a hundred stairs, and explored the
recesses of twice that number of miserable habitations ; and what have I gained
by it? only two shillings of worldly pelf!" In short, poetry and peddlery
proved equally unsuccessful in his hands ; he had neither impudence, flattery,
nor importunity enough, to pass off either the one or the other upon the public;
and he returned, mortified and disappointed, to his father's house at Loch-
winnoch, where necessity compelled him to resume the shuttle. Cut his was
not a heart to sink into despair under the frowns of fortune ; and accident
soon furnished occasion J'or a display of the latent vigour of his mind. A few
of the rising Edinburgh literati, having formed themselves into a debating
society called the Forum, were in the habit of propounding questions for dis-
cussion, in which the public were admitted to take a share. It happened about
tiie time we are speaking of, tliat one of the questions fur debate was,
" Whether the exertions of Allan Ramsay or Robert Fergusson liad done most
honour to Scottish poetry ?" Wilson having accidentally got notice of this,
became fired with the idea of making a public appearance upon a subject, on
which he felt confident he was capable of acquitting himself creditably, even
although he had not then read the poems of Fergusson, and had only a fort-
night to prepare himself. He accordingly borrowed a copy, read, and formed
his opinion, composed a poem of considerable length for tlie occasion, labouring
all the while double the usual time at the locm, in order to raise funds for his
iourney ; and arrived in Edinburgh in time to take a share in the debate, and
recite his poem, called the " Laurel Disputed ;" in which, contrary to the
opinion of the audience, he assigned the precedence to Fergusson. Wilson
remained some weeks in Edinburgh, during which time he composed and recited
in public other two poetical essays, and published his " Laurel Disputed ;" a
poem slovenly, or we should rather say hastily written, but marked by much
routrh vigour of thought. Some of his pieces about the same lime appeared in
Dr Anderson's Bee ; a fact sufficiently proving that his poetical talents were
appreciated by those who constituted the high court of criticism in Edinburgh
nt the time ; but from some cause or other — probably the poverty of his circum-
stances, together with his unobtrusive disposition — he met with no efiicient
patronage or encouragement to induce him to try his fortune in the metropolitan
world of letters ; and he returned home to the loom, with nothing else than
some increase of reputation.

About this time, an interesting incident took place in Wilson's career. The
poems of Burns had then (1791) drawn tlieir immortal author from his obscuro
situation, into the full blaze of fame and popularity. Wilson, having obtained
a copy of them, wrote to Burns, strongly objecting to the immoral tendency of
several of the pieces. The latter replied, that he was now so nmch accustomed
to such charges, that he seldom paid any aUention to ihem; but that, as Wilson
was no common man, he would endeavour to vindicate his writings from the
imputation laid against them; which he accordingly did. Wilson shortly
afterwards made a peregrination into Ayrshire to visit Burns, and an intimacy
commence'd, which probably would only have been terminated by deatii, but for
the causes which shortly afterwards doomed Wilson to expatriation. Tlje two
poets, indeed, had many striking points of resemblance in their character,
especially in the manly and dauntless independence of tlieir minds, tlieir love
of nature, and their admiration of everything generous and noble, and intol-
eiance of everything low and mean. Yet it is singular what a contrast their
respective writings exhibit. While the passion of love was the main source of

472 ALEXANDER WILSON.

Burns's inspirations, even to the last, Wilson, even in the heyday of ardent
youth, seldom alludes to such a feeling'; and when he does, it is in the cool
tone with which an unconcerned individual would speak of any othei* curioi:s
natural phenomenon.

In the following year (1792) appeared Wilson's admirable narrative poem,
" Watty and Meg." Being published anonymously, it was universally attri-
buted to Burns; a mistake, which, of course, the author felt as the highest
acknowledgment of its merits. But this was the last gleam of sunshine he
enjoyed in his native land, A violent dispute broke out between tlie journey-
men and master weavers of Paisley, and Wilson joined the ranks of the former
with all the determined energy which so peculiarly characterized him. Fierce
and bitter anonymous satires oppeared, the paternity of which was rightly
assigned to Wilson; and one individual, especially, a most respectable and
benevolent man, but who was represented to the poet as a monster of avarice
and oppression, was libelled by liira in a manner too gross to be patiently
borne. Wilson was prosecuted, convicted, imprisoned, and compelled to buia
the libel with his own hands at the public cross of Paisley. In a badiy
regulated mind, such an infliction would only Iiave excited thoughts of retalia-
tion, and the desire of revenge ; but, although Wilson must have smarted
severely under the disgrace, he was a man of too correct and candid judgment,
to persist wilfully in an evil course. He deeply repented afterwards thesu
wrathful effusions of his pen. Before setting out to America, he called upon
all those whom he had been instigated to satirize, and asked their forgiveness
for any uneasiness his writings had occasioned ; and many years afterwards,
when his brother David, who went out to join him in the west, carried out a
collection of these youthful satires, thinking they would be an acceptable
present to him, after the lapse of' so long a period, Wilson, without once
looking at them, threw the packet into the fire, exclaiming, " These were the
sins of my youth ; and had I taken my good old father's advice, they never
would have seen the light." Such an anecdote is equally creditable to the
father's good sense, and the son's moral feeling. But other public events
accelerated the most important crisis in Wilson's life. The French Revolution,
with all its delusive promises of a harvest of liberty, broke out ; its influence
spread over the surrounding nations, and Wilson was one of those ardent men,
who, in our own country, conceived a favourable opportunity to have occurred
for reforming the national institutions. His well known zeal and determination
of mind made him, of course, be looked upon as a man of most dangerous
character ; and, his previous attacks upon the authorities of Paisley being yet
fresh in their recollection, he was watched with a suspicion proportioned to the
dislike with which he was regarded. From these causes, Wilson's situation
soon became intolerably unpleasant to him ; and ho then, for the first time,
resolved upon emigrating to America. By what means he purposed to support
himself there, it is not very easy to conjecture ; butjiaving once resolved, he
proceeded immediately to put his plan into execution. His chief, if not his
only, obstacle, was the want of funds; and, to raise them, he applied himself so
indefaligably to the loom, that in four months he realized the amount of his
passage money. He has himself recorded that, during this period, his expenses
for lyfing did not exceed one shilling per loeek ; so little does man actually
require for the bare sustenance of life.

Having bidden adieu to his friends and relatives, he walked on foot to Port-
patrick, whence he passed over to Belfast, and there embarked on board a
vessel bound for Newcastle in the Delaware Slate, being necessitated to sleep on
deck during the voyage. He landed in America on the 14lh July, 179't,

ALEXANDER WILSON. 473

witli his fowling piece in his hand, and only a few shillings in his pocket, wiUi-
out .1 friend or letter of introduction, or any definite idea in nhat manner
he was to earn his future livelihood. He, nevertheless, set out cheerily on
foot towards I'hiladelpliia — a distance of thirty-three miles — delighted with
everything he saw ; and it was curious enough, that almost his very first action
was shooting a red-headed woodpecker, as if indicative of the nature of his
future studies. It ought here to be remarked, that, previously to this time, Wil-
son had never manifested the slightest disposition to the study of ornithology.
On arriving at Philadelphia, an emigrant countryman, a copper-plate printer,
(from motives of charity, we presume,) employed him for some weeks at this
new profession ; but it is probable that both soon grew mutually tired of the
agreement. Wilson, at least, speedily relinquished the occupation, and betook
himself to his old trade of weaving, at which lie persevered for about a twelve-
month. Having amassed some little savings, he resumed his old profession of
peddler, chiefly with the view of exploring the scenery and society of the
country, and traversed the greater part of the State of New Jersey, experiencing
considerable success with his pack. Upon his return, he finally abandoned the
professions of weaver and peddler, and betook himself to an occupation, which
of all others it might be supposed he was the least fitted by education and dis-
position to undertake, that of a schoolmaster. But it is evident that Wilson
adopted this profession, as much as a means of self-improvement, as of a live-
lihood. His fii-st school was at Frankford, in Pennsylvania : thence he re-
moved to Milestown, where he continued for several years, assiduously culti-
vating many branches of learning, particularly mathematics and the modern
languages : thence to Bloomfield, New Jersey ; where he had scarcely settled
himself, when (in 1802) he was offered and accepted an engagement with the
trustee? of a seminary in Kingsessing, on the river Schuylkill, about four miles
from Philadelphia ; and this was the last and most fortunate of all his migra-
tions. During all these eight years of shiftings and wanderings, Wilson's
career was almost one continued struggle with poverty, the principal part of
Iiis income being acquired by occasional employment in surveying land for the
farmers ; yet his mind did not, as is usual with most men, become soured or
selfish under the incessant pressure of difficulties. On the contrary, he con-
tinued to write home such flattering accounts of his adopted country, as to
induce his nephew, William Duncan, (whose father was then dead,) to follow
him across the Atlantic, with his mother and a large family of brothers and sisters.
Wilson was at this time at IMilestown; but when he heard of their arrival, he set
out on foot for New York, a distance of four hundred miles, for the sole pur-
pose of assisting in getting them comfortably settled. An American biographer
says, that, by the kindness of a IMr Sullivan, Wilson was enabled, in conjunc-
tion with his' nephew, to purchase and stock a small farm, for the accommoda-
tion and support of his relatives ; after which he returned again on foot to the
ungi-acious labours of the school-room, accomplishing a journey of eight hundred
mifes in twenty-eight days. To this family he continued ever afterwards to
pay the most unremitting and benevolent attention ; keeping up a constant
correspondence with his nephew, advising and encouraging him amid his difli-
r.ilties, and even redoubling his own exertions, by keeping a night-school, and

of wheat, to be sure, is no great marketing; but has it not been expended in
the support of a mother, and infant brothers and sisters, thrown upon your

474 ALEXANDER WILSON.

bounty in a foreign country ? Robert Burns, when the mice nibbled away his
com, snid

• I'll get a blessing wi' the la\c,
And never miss 't.'

Where he expected one, you may expect a thousand. Robin, by his own con-
fession, ploughed up his mice out of ' ha' and hanie.' You have built for your
wanderers a cozie bield, where none dare molest them. There is more true
greatness in the a.lectionate exertions which you have made for their subsistence
and support, than the bloody catalogue of heroes can boast of. Your own
heart will speak peace and satisfaction to you, to the last moment of your life,
for every anxiety you have felt on their account." Nor did Wilson forget the
ties of relationship that still united him to the land of his birth. To his father
he wrote fully and regiilarly ; and his letters, both to him and his brother
David, are no less replete with sound sense, than ardent aiTection and excellent
moral feeling.

Wilson's removal to Kingsessing was the fii-st lucky step towards the attain-
ment of that fame which hallows his memory. His salary was extremely in-
adequate to his labour, and almost to his subsistence ; but this situation
introduced him to the patronage of many kind and influential friends, and
afforded him opportunities of improving himself which he had never before en-
joyed. Amongst the former was William Bartram, the American Linnaeus of
the period, in whose extensive gardens and well-stocked library Wilson found
new and delightful sources of instruction and enjoyment ; and Mr Law-
son, the engraver, who initiated him into the mysteries of drawing, colouring,
and etching, which afterwards proved of such incalculable use to him when
bringing out his Ornithology. About this time Wilson tasked his powers to
their very utmost in the duties of his school and his efforts at self-improvement.
This severe exertion and confinement naturally preyed upon his health and de-
pressed his spirits ; but Messrs Bartram and LaAVSon, who seem to have known
little, personally, of the exhausting process of " o'er-informing the tenement
of clay," mistook the despondency and lassitude of body and mind thereby oc-
casioned in their friend, for the symptom of incipient madness. This
melancholy fact they attributed to his " being addicted to writing verses and
playing on the flute ;" and it would appear, that, in their efforts to wean him
frOm such perilous habits, they were at little pains to conceal their opinion even
from himself. While rambling in the woods one day Wilson narrowly escaped
destruction from his gun accidentally falling against his breast when cocked ;
and in his diary (which he uniformly kept), he blesses God for his escape, as,
had he perished, his two worthy friends would undoubtedly have loaded
his memory with the imputation of suicide. He complied, however, with their
request so far as to substitute drawing for poetry and music ; but he attained
not the slightest success until he attempted the delineation of birds. This de-
partment of the art, to use our old Scottish expression, " came as readily to liis
hand as the bowl of a pint stoup," and he soon attained such perfection as
wholly to outstrip his instructoi-s. His success in this new employment seems
to have first suggested the idea of his ornithological work, as we see from let-
tere to his friends in 1803, that he first mentions his purpose of " making a
collection of all our finest birds." Upon submitting his intentions to Rlessrs
Bartram and Lawson, these gentlemen readily admitted the excellence of his
plan, but started so many difficulties to its accomplishment, that, had Wilson
been a man of less nerve, or confidence in his own powers, he would have
abandoned the idea in despair. But he treated their remonstrances with

ALEXANDER WILSON. 475

indifference, or something more like scorn : he resolved to proceed at all risks
and hazards, and, for some time afterwards, busily employed himself in
collecting all the rarer specimens of birds in his own neighbourhood. lu
October, 1804, he set out, accompanied by his nephew Duncan, and another
individual, upon an expedition to the Falls of Niagara, which wondrous scene,
according to his own account, he gazed upon with an admiration almost
amounting to distraction. On their return, the three friends were overtaken
by the storms of winter. AVilson's companions successively gave in, and left
him at different parts of their route ; but he himself toiled on through the mud
and snow, encumbered with his gun and fowling bag, the latter of which was of
course always increasing in bulk, and arrived gnfely at home, after an absence
of fifty-nine days, during which he had walked nearly 12G0 miles, 47 of which
were performed the last day. Instead of being daunted by the fatigues and
hardships of tlie journey, we find him writing an account of it to his friends
with something like exultation, and delightedly contemplating future expedi-
tions of the like nature ; and this when his whole stock of money amounted to
three-fourths of a dollar! For some time after his return, he amused himself
with penning a poetical narrative of his journey, called " The Foresters," (af-
terwards published ;) a piece much superior to any of his former descriptive
poems, and containing many even sublime aposti-ophes. From this time
forward, AA'ilson applied his whole energies to his ornithological work,
drawing, etching, and colouring all the plates himself, for he had in vain
endeavoured to induce his cautious friend 3Ir Lawson, to take any share in
the undertaking. In the spring of 1806, a favourable opportunity seemed to
present itself for prosecuting his researches, by a public intimation being given
of the intention of pi-esident Jefferson to despatch parties of scientific men to
explore the district of Louisiana. At Wilson's request, IMr Bartram, who was
intimate with the president, wrote to him, mentioning Wilson's desire,
character, and acquirements, and strongly recommending his being employed
in the proposed survey. Wilson also wrote a respectful and urgent letter to
Jefferson, detailing the extensive plans of his work, and explaining all his pro-
ceedings and views. To these applications the president vouchsafed not one
word in reply ; a circumstance which convinced Wilson more and more — nor
did he shrink from the conviction — that he must stand self-sustained in the exe-
cuting of his great national undertaking. But his intrinsic and sterling merits
soon procured him a patronage Avhich to his independent mind i\as, perhaps,
infinitely more gratifying than the condescending favours of a great man.
He received a liberal offer from Mr Bradford, a bookseller of Philadelphia, to
act as assistant editor in bringing out a new edition of Rees's Cjclopasdia, and
he gladly relinquished the toilsome and ill-rewarded duties of a schoolmaster to
betake himself to his new employment. Soon after this engagement, he laid
before Mr Bradford the plan of his Ornilhology , with the specimens of com-
position and delineation which he had already executed ; and that gentleman
was so satisfied of Wilson's ability to complete it, that he at once agreed to
run all the risk of publication. All obstacles to the fulfilment of his great de-
sign being now removed, Wilson applied himself night and day to his double
task of author and editor, occasionally making a pedestrian excursion into
various districts for the benefit at once of his health (which was beginning to
decay) and of his great work. At length, in 1808, the first volume of
the American Ornithology made its appearance, and, much as the public had
been taught to expect from the advertisements and prospectuses previously is-
sued, the work far exceeded in splendour anything that had ever been seea in
the country before. Inmiediately on its publication, the author set out on an ex-

47G ALEXANDER WILSON.

peditiun throagh the eastern states, with the design of exhibiting liis book and
solicitino- subscribers. It is not our purpose to trace his course in this journey,
wherein lie encountered hardships, vexations, and disappointments innumera-
ble but insufficient to check his ardour. The extent of his journey may bo
guessed at from the following extract from one of his letters when about to re-
turn: "Having now visited all the towns within one hundred miles of

the Atlantic, from Maine to Georgia, and done as much for this bantling book
of mine, as ever author did for any progeny of his brain, I now turn my wish-
ful eyes towards Iiome." Upon the whole the result of his expedition
was unsuccessful, for although he received most flattering marks of respect
wherever he went, the sacrilice of 120 dollars (for the ten volumes) proved a
sad check upon tiie enthusiasm of his admirers. His letters to his friends, in
which a full account of every part of this, as well as his subsequent journeys is
given, are in the highest degree intei-esting. In 1810, the second volume was
published, and Wilson innnediately set out for Pittsburg, on his way to New
Orleans for the same purpose as before. On reaching Pittsburg, he was puz-
zled to think by what means he should descend the Ohio ; but at last
determined, in spite of the remonstrances of his friends, to voyage it in a small
boat alone. He accordingly bought a batteau, which he named the Ornitlio-
loght, put in a small stock of provisions and water, (he never carried spirits
with him,) with his never-failing fowling piece and ammunition, and pushed off
into the stream for a solitary voyage of between 500 and 600 miles. This was
exactly such a situation as was calculated to arouse all the romantic feelings of
Wilson's soul : the true lover of nature experiences a delight approaching to
ecstasy when alone in the uninhabited desert. But the whole tract of his
journey was rich with the objects most attractive to the lonely voyager ; he
collected an immense stock of ornithological riches for his future volumes, and
amused his mind at his hours of repose with the composition of a descriptive
poem entitled " The Pilgrim." He reached New Orleans on the 6ih of June,
and arrived at Philadelphia on the 2nd of August, having been travelling since
the beginning of January ; during which time his whole expenses did not
amount to 500 dollars. This was the most extensive of all Wilson's excursions,
and although he took several others to various districts, as the volumes of the
Ornithology successively appeared, we do not think it necessary here to advert
to them particularly. Writing to his brother David, a year or two afterwards,
in reference to these exertions to further the sale of his works, he says :
** By the fii-st opportunity I will transmit a trifle to our old father, whose
existence, so far from being forgotten, is as dear to me as my own. But
David, an ambition of being distinguished in the literary world, has re-
quired sacrifices and exertions from me with which you are unacquainted ;
and a wish to reach the glorious rock of independence, that I niigbt from
thence assist my relations, who are struggling with and buffeting tlie billows of
advei-sity,has engaged me in an undertaking more laborious and extensive than
you are awai-e of, and has occupied every moment of my time for several years.
Since February 1810, I have slept for several weeks in the wilderness alone,
in an Indian country, with my gun and my pistols in my bosom ; and have
found myself so reduced by sickness as to be scarcely able to stand, when not
within 300 miles of a white -settlement, and under the burning latitude of 25
degrees. I have, by resolution, surmounted all these and other obstacles, in
my way to my object, and now begin to see the blue sky of independence open
around me."

Wilson's reputation, indeed, and the merits of his great undertaking, had
now forced themselves into notice, not only in Anerica, but throughout

ALEXANDER WILSON. 477

Ell Europe, and one of his biographers says, that there was not a crowned head
in the latter quarter of the globe but had then become a subscriber to the
American OrnUhology. Honoui-s as well as profit began to pour in upon
liini. In 1812, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical
Society, and subsequently of other learned bodies. In 1813, the literary
materials for the eighth volume of the Ornithology were ready at the same
time that the seventh was published. But its progress was greatly retarded (pr
want of proper assistants to colour the plates, those whom he could procure
aiming rather at a caricature than a copy of nature. He was at last obliged
to undertake the whole of this department himself in addition to his
other duties, and these multifarious labours, by drawing largely upon his hours
of rest, began rapidly to exhaust his constitution. When his friends re-
monstrated with him upon the danger of his severe application, he answered,
" Life is short, and without exertion nothing can be performed." A fatal
dysentery at last seized him, which, after a few days' illness, carried him ofl*,
upon the 23rd of August, 1813, being then only in his forty-eighth year. Ac-
cording to the authority of an American gentleman who was intimate with
him, his death was accelerated by an incident in singular keeping with
the scientific enthusiasm of his life. While sitting in the house of one of his
friends, he happened to see a bird of a rare species, and which he had been long
seeking for in vain, fly past the window. He immediately rushed out of the
house, pursued the bird across a river, over which he was compelled to
swim, shot and returned with the bird, but caught an accession of cold which
carried him off. He was buried next day in the cemetery of the Swedish church
in the district of Southwark, Philadelphia, with all the honours which the in-
habitants could bestow on his remains. The clergy and all the public bodies
walked in procession, and wore crape on their arms for thirty days. A simple
marble monument was placed over him, stating shortly the place and
year of his birth, the period of his emigration to America, and the day and
cause of his death.

The whole plates for the remainder of the Ornithology having been com-
pleted under Wilson's own eye, the letter-press of the ninth volume was
supplied by his friend 3Ir George Ord, who had been his companion in several
of his expeditions, as also a memoir of the deceased naturalist. There have
been few instances, indeed, where the glowing fire of genius was combined
with so much strong and healthy judgment, warmth of social affection, and cor-
rect and pure moral feeling, as in the case of Alexander Wilson. The bene-
volence and kindness of his heart sparkle through all his writings, and it is
cheering to the true Christian to observe, that his religious principles became
purified and strengthened in proportion to the depth of his researches into the
organization of nature. He is said to have been strikingly handsome in per-
son, although rather slim than robust, with a countenance beaming with intelli-
gence, and an eye full of animation and fire. His career furnishes a
remarkable example of the success which, sooner or later, is the reward of
perseverance. It is (rae he did not attain riches, but upon the possession of these
his happiness was not placed. Ho wished, to use his own woi-ds, " to raise some
beacon to show that such a man had lived," and few have so completely achieved
the object of their ambition. Wilson's father survived him three years.

Three supplementary volumes of the Ornithology, containing delineations ot
American birds not described by Wilson, have been published by Cliarlea Lucien
Bonaparte. In 1832, an edition of the American Ornithology., with illustrative
notes, and a Life of Wilson, by Sir William Jardine, was published in London, in
three volumes.

478 FLORENCE WILSON.— JOHxV WINRAM.

WILSON, Florence, an author of eome note, was born on the banks of the
Lossio, near Elgin, about the year 1500. He is commonly known by his Latin-
ized name of Florentius Volusenus, which has been usually translated Wilson,
though it is doubted whether his name was not Wolsey, Willison, AVilliamson, or
Voluzene. He studied at Aberdeen, and afterwards repaired to England, where
cardinal Wolsey appointed him preceptor to his nephew. Accompanied by the
latter he went to Paris, where, after the death of Wolsey and the consequent
losSi of hia pupil, he found another patron in cardinal du Bellai, archbishop of
Paris. Along with this prelate he intended to visit Rome, but was prevented
by illness, and was left behind at Avignon. Here he recommended himself by
liis scholarship to cardinal Sadolet, who procured for him the appointment of
teacher of Latin and Greek in the public school of Carpcntras. He is best
known by his dialogue "De Auimi Tranquillitate," which was published at Lyons
in 1543, and reprinted at Edinburgh in 1571, 1707, and 1751. Wilson died at
Vienne, in Dauphiny, in 1547, when returning to his native land. Several other
works have been ascribed to him besides the well known dialogue, but the works
themselves are not extant. His death was celebrated by Buchanan in the
following epigram: —

"Uic Mnsis, Volusene, jaces cnrissime, ripnm
Ad Rhodani, terra quam procul a patrlal
Hoc meruit virtus tua, tellus quae foret altrix
Virtutuni, iit cineres conderet ilia tuos."

WINRABI, John, superintendent of Fife and Stratheme, was descended of
the Fifeshire family of the Winrams of Batho. He is supposed to have
entered the university of St Andrews (St Leonard's college) in 1513, and in
1515 he took the degree of B. A., on which occasion lie is designated a
pauper ; that is, one who paid the lowest rate of fees. From that period till
1532, no trace h.is been discovered of him, but at the last mentioned date he
is noticed under the title of " Canonicum ac baccalarium in Theologia " as one
of the rector's assessors, and in a deed dated the same year ho is called a canou
regular of the monastery of St Andrews. Two years afterwards he is men-
tioned as third prior, and in 1536, as subprior, in which situation he continued
till the Reformation.

The first occasion on which we have found Mr John Winram making a pub-
lic appearance was the trial of George Wishart, the martyr. On that occasion
he was appointed to open the proceedings by a sermon, and he accordingly
preached on the parable of the wheat and tares : he mentioned that the word
of God is ** the only and undoubted foundation of trying heresy without any
superadded traditions," but held that heretics should be put down, — a position
strangely inconsistent with the command to let the tares and wheat grow to-
gether till harvest. About the same period, archbishop Hamilton ordered the
subprior to call a convention of Black and Grey friars for the discussion of
certain articles of heretical doctrine. At this meeting, John Knox demanded
from Winram a public acknowledgment of his opinion, whether these heretical
articles were consistent or inconsistent Avilh God's word ; but this the wary subprior
avoided. " I came not here as a judge," he replied, " but familiarly to talk,
and therefore I will neither allow nor disallow, but if ye list, I will reason ;"
and accordingly he did reason, till Knox drove him from all his positions, and
he then laid the burden upon Arbuckle, one of the friars. Winram attended
the provincial councils of the Scottish clergy, held in 1549 and 1559, and, on
the first of these occasions at least, took an active part in the proceedings.
Thus, up to the very period of the establishment of the Reformation, he

JOHN WIN RAM. 479

continued to act a decided part with the cntliolic clergy. " There have been,
and are," says Wodrow, " some of God's children, and hidden ones, in
Babylon, * * * * and no doubt Mr Winrain was useful even in this period."
May it not be asked, whether he did not, by a bad example, and a pertinacious
adherence to a system which he knew to be erroneous, greatly more weaken
the hands of his brethren, than he could possibly strengthen them by his
private exertions?

Winram, as prior of Portmoak, attended the parliament of August, 1560,
which ratified the protestant Confession of Faith. The first General Assembly
held in December following, declared him fit for and apt to minister the word
and sacraments; and on Sunday, April 13, 1561, he was elected superinten-
dent of Fife, Fothrick, and Stratherne, "be the common consent of lordis,
baronis, ministeris, elderis, of the saidis bowndis, and otheris common pepill,''
&c. The transactions in which he was engaged in this capacity present so lit-
tle variety that we shall merely take a short general view of them-

One of Winram's earliest acts as superintendent was the reversal of a sen-
tence of condemnation which had been passed on Sir John Borthwick, in 1540,
for heresy. This gentleman had saved himself by flight, but appears to liave
returned to Scotland in or before 1560, for, at the first General Assembly, we
find one of the members " presented by Sir John Borthwick to the kirks
of Aberdour and Torrie." It is sufficiently singular that Winram was
one of " those plain enemies to the truth " described in the reversal of the sen-
tence, who had assisted at the trial and condemnation of the man whom
he even then must have considered as a friend, although he had not the courage
or the honesty to avow it. The notices of Winram in the records of the
General Assembly consist, almost Avithout exception, of complaints against him
for negligence in visiting the district or diocese committed to his charge.'
This is a charge which was brought more or lesa frequently against all
the superintendents : the people on the one hand seem to have been un-
reasonable in their expectations, and the government, beyond all question, gave
the clerey but little encouragement by a liberal or even moderate provision for
their wants. In Winram's case, however, the frequency of these complaints
leaves on the mind a suspicion that he was to a considerable extent in fault,
and, on one occasion at least, the complaint was accompanied with a charge of
a covetous, worldly-minded disposition, — a charge Avhich circumstances we
shall mention in our general remarks on his character lead us to conclude
were not unfounded. He was several times employed in reconciling party and
private disputes. In 1571, he was ordered by the General Assembly to
inhibit Mr John Douglas, who was appointed archbishop of St Andrews, to vote
in parliament in name of the church. In January, 1572, he attended the con-
vention at Leith, at which Tulchan bishops w«re authorized, and in the following
month he was employed as superintendent of the bounds to inaugurate the arch-
bishop of St Andrews. There are no subsequent notices of him of the
slightest interest or importance. He died on the 18th or 28th of September,
1582, (the date seems uncertain,) leaving by his will James Winram and John
Winram of Craigton, sons of Mr Robert Winram of Ratho liis brother,
his principal heirs.

The character of Winram is by no means free from suspicion. He was an
early convert to the protestant doctrines, but he neither abandoned his situation
nor emoluments in the catholic church ; he did not, like almost all his brother
superintendents, expose himself to danger or to suffering by a public profes-

1 These charges were lirought forward in December, 1562 ; December, 1564 ; Decem-
ber, 1563; Decembei-, 1367; July, 1569; July, 1570; March, 1572.

4S0 GEORGE WISHART.

sion of his scntimenls, .and when Knox, at the meeting of the Black and Grey
friars, demanded wiiether he conscientiously considered the doctrines then
called heretical contrary to God's word, lie not only evaded the question, but
argued on the popish side : he assisted at the trials of at least two of the
reformers, of whom one suffered, and the other only saved himself by flight.
It may perhaps be said that Winram expected to be thus able to advance the
reformation more effectually than by an open abandonment or opposition of the
popish church, but this is an argument which would in any case be liable to
strong suspicion, and which in Winram's is rendered everytiiing but inadmis-
sible by the other facts which are known respecting him. Tiie truth seems to
be, and candour requires that it should be stated, that he generally displayed
a covetous, interested disposition. On this account he was sometimes treated
with no great respect, even by persons of inferior rank: one person, indeed,
was charged in 15G1, before the kirk session of St Andrews, with saying that he
was a " fals, dissaitful, greedy, and dissemblit smaik, for he wes ane oftliam thai
maist oppressed, smored, and held doun the word [kirk ?J of God, aiid now he is
cum into it and professes the same for grediness of geir, lurkand and watchand
quhill he may se ane other ti/m.''* Nor does he seem to have possessed in any
considerable degree the confidence of his clerical brethren. It has been
remarked that, in the records of the proceedings of the first (ieneral Assembly,
his name appears but seventeenth on the list of persons considered fit to
minister, and is placed after those of men greatly his juniors. This is a cir-
cumstance which mei'e accident may have occasioned, and is not of itsellt
entitled to much consideration ; but of one fact there can be no doubt, that in
the whole course of thirty-six Assemblies, which, according to Wodrow, he at-
tended, he was never appointed moderator, nor intrusted even with a shai-e in
the management of their more important transactions.

Winram married Margaret Stewart, widow of ... . Ayton of Kin-
naldy, but she predeceased him without having any family except by her first
husband. 3Iany passages in the books of the commissariot of St Andrews show
that the superintendent and his wife's sons were on indifferent terms, and leave
one not without suspicion that he made some attempt to deprive them of their
just rights or property. In the remarks which we have made on this and other
parts of his conduct we have been actuated by no other motive but a desire to
draw a fair and impartial conclusion from the facts which time has spared to
us. At the same time, we are sensible, and we mention it in justice to the
memory of Winram and many others, that, did the history of the period admit
a fuller investigation, considerations might arise which would probably place
many transactions in a different point of view." The only work known
to have been written by W'inram is a catechism, which has long disappeared,
and of which not even a description is now known to exist.

WISH ART, Georqe, a distinguished protestant martyr, was probably the
son of James Wishart, of Pitarro, justice-clerk to James V. He is supposed
to have studied at 3Iontrose, where he himself gave instructions for some time
in the Greek language ; a circumstance which, considering the state of Greek
learning in Scotland at the time reflects distinguished honour on his literary
character. But there were men in power by whom it was reckoned heresy to
give instructions in the original language of the New Testament. Owing
to the persecution he received from the bishop of Brechin and cardinal
Beaton, lie left the country in 1538. His history during the three following
years is little known. It appears that, having preached at Bristol against the
worship and mediation of the Virgin, he was condemned for that alleged
- Abridged from Wodrow 's BiogiaphiL-al Collections, piiiited by the Maillaiid Club, i.

GEORGE "WISH ART. 481

heresy, recanted his opinions, and burnt his fagot in the church of St Nicholas
in that city. Probably he afterwards travelled on the continent. In 1543,
he was at Cambridge, as wo learn from the following description quoted
by the biographer of Knox,^ fronva letter of Emery Tylney. "About the yeare
of our Lord a thousand, five hundreth, forty and three, there was, in the uni-
versity of Cambridge, one Maister George Wishart, commonly called Maister
George of Bennet's colledge, who was a tall man, polde headed, and on
the same a round French cap of the best Judged of melancholye complexion
by his physiognomic, black haired, long bearded, comely of personage, well
spoken after his country of Scotland, courteous, lowly, lonely, glad to teacii,
desirous to learne, and was well ^travailed. Having on him for his habit or
clothing never but a mantill frieze gowne to the shoes, a black milliard fustian
dublet, and plain black hosen, coarse new canvasse for his shirtes, and white
falling bandes and cuffes at the hands. All the whicli apparell he gave to the
poore, some weekly, some monthly, some quarterly, as he liked ; saving his
French cappe, which he kept the whole year of my being with him. He was
a man, modest, temperate, fearing God, hating covetousnesse ; for his charitie
had never ende, night, noone, nor daye. He forbare one meale, one day in
four for the most part, except something to comfort nature. Hee lay hard upon
a pouffe of straw, coarse new canvasse sheetes, which, when he changed, he gave
away. He had commonly by his bedside a tubbe of water, in the which (liis
people being in bed, the candle put out, and all quiet) hee used to bathe him-
self. He taught with great modestie and gravitie, so that some of his people
thought him severe, and would have slaine him ; but the Lord was his defence.
And hee, after due correction for their malice, by good exhortation, amended
them, and he went his way. O that the Lord had left him to me his poore
boy, that he might have finished that he had begunne! His learning, no less
sufficient than his desire, always prest and readie to do good in that he
was able, both in the house privately, and in the school publikely, profusing
and reading diveree authors."

Wishart returned to Scotland in July, 1543, in company with the commis-
sioners who had been despatched for the negotiation of the marriage treaty with
Henry VHI.^ From these individuals, many of whom were attached to the re-
formed doctrines, he had probably received assurances of safety for his person :
it is at least certain that, from the time of his entering the country till
his death, he was under their protection, and usually in the presence of one or
more of them. The chief laymen of the protestant party at this period were
the earls Cassillis, Glencairn, and Marischal, Sir George Douglas, and the
lairds of Brunstaiu, Ormiston, and Calder. They were in secret alliance with
the king of England, and, at his instigation, several of them formed designs for
assassinating cardinal Beaton, whose powerful genius was the chief obstacle to

their views. , . -.r ^ a

Thus countenanced, Wishart preached to large audiences in Montrose and
Dundee, causing, at the latter of these places, the destruction of the houses of
the Black and Grey friars. The authorities having interfered to preserve the
peace, Wishart left the town, but not till he had given a public testimony to
the friendly nature of his intentions, and the danger that would be incurred by
those who refused to hear the truth which he proclaimed. He then proceeded

I Slox Tn^Ws^nLori^ome Reformadon. says 1544 ; but it is «ilisfactorily proved that
thP o^misTione "returned in 1543: and hence as it is more likely that a mistake would
frLTt^rdrUmn inX circumstance, we assume the latter year, as a correction upon
Knox's statement.

SP

482 GEORGE WISHART.

to the west of Scotland, and for some time preached successfully. But in tho
town of Ayr, he found the church preoccupied by the bishop of Glasgow ; in
consequence of which he proceeded to the market-cross, " where," says Knox,
" he made so notable a sermon, that the ve% enemies themselves were con-
founded." He also preached frequently at Galston and Bar. At Mauchline
he was prevented from officiating', by the sheriff of Ayr " causing to man
the church, for preservation of a tabernacle that was there beautiful to the eye."
Wishart, refusing to yield to the solicitations of some who urged liim to enter
forcibly, exclaimed, " Christ Jesus is as mighty upon the fields as in the
church ; and I find that he himself, after he preached in the desert, at the
sea-side, and other places judged profane then, he did so in the temple of
Jerusalem. It is the word of peace that God sends by me — the blood of no
man shall be shed this day for the preaching of it." Thereafter he preached
in the neighbourhood, so as to produce a wonderful reformation on a gentle-
man of abandoned character. But while engaged in this part of Scotland, he
heard that the plague was raging in Dundee. Tho devoted preacher hastened
thither. In the midst of the disease and misery of the people, he preached so
as to be heard both within and without the town, many of the sick being be-
yond the gate, on these appropriate words, "He sent his sword and healed
them ;" adding, " It is neither herb nor plaster, O Lord, but thy word healeth
all." This discourse produced a very general and powerful impression. He
continued to preach and visit the sick with singular benevolence ; and, besides
the infection of the disease, to which he was constantly exposed, he was, on one
occasion, liable to danger from a priest, who had been commissioned to assassinate
him. The people, on discovering the dagger which he held in his hand at the
conclusion of one of Wishart's sermons, were inflamed with passion, but
the latter embraced him, with these friendly words, *' whosoever troubles him
shall trouble me, for he hath hurt me in nothing ; but he hath done great com-
fort to you and me, to wit, he hath let us to understand what we may fear : in
times to come we will watch better," The truth appears to be, that Beaton, being
fully apprized of the designs of Wishart's friends against his own life, had thought
proper to form similar designs against that of a preacher who was perpetually in
the company, and in all probability in the confidence of his own enemies, and
whose eloquence was threatening his church with destruction. Whether this
was the case or not, there can be no doubt that the cardinal now made all pos-
sible efforts to apprehend Wishart. The preacher, therefore, never moved in
any direction without a tried adherent, who bore a two-handed sword before
him ; nor did he ever preach except under a strong guard of friendly
barons and their retainers. Knox at one time ofiiciated in the character of
sword-bearer to his friend.

From Dundee he returned to Montrose, where he spent some time, occupied
partly in preaching, " but most part in secret meditation." At Dundee,
wliich he now revisited, he uttered a memorable prediction of future glory to
the reformed church in Scotland. " This realm," said he, " shall be illuminated
with tho light of Christ's gospel as clearly as ever any realm since the days of
the apostles. The house of God shall be builded in it ; yet it shall not lack,
whatsoever the enemy may imagine in the contrary, the very kepstone." For
this and other anticipations of the future, Wishart received the credit of
a prophet among his followers ; nor have writers been wanting in the present
age to maintain that he really possessed this ideal accomplishment. It is im-
possible, however, for a reasonable mind to see anything in tlie above predic-
tion, beside the sanguine expectations of a partisan respecting his own favourite
objects. As for the rest of Wishart's predictions, which generally consisted in

GEORGE "WISHART. 483

the announcement of coming vengeance, air Tytler, wlio enjoyed the adrautage
of a closer inspection of the secret history of the period, than any preceding
writer, presents the following theory ,3 to which we can see little chance of any
valid objection being started : — " He enjoyed, it is to be remembered, tlie con-
fidential intimacy, nay, we have reason to believe that his councils influenced
the conduct, of Cassillis, Glencairn, Brunstain, and the party which were now
the advisers of Henry's intended hostilities ; a circumstance which will
sufficiently account for the obscure warnings of the preacher, without endowing
him with inspiration." It is to be remarked that in calling upon the people
to embrace the reformed doctrines, and threatening them with temporal
destruction if they refused, he was speculating only upon the natural course of
events : he must have known that to continue attached to the ancient faith,
which was equivalent to a resistance against the English match, was sure to
bring the vengeance of Henry upon the country, while an opposite conduct
was calculated to avert his wrath.

While at Dundee, Wishart received a message from the earl of Cassillis and
the gentlemen of Kyle and Cunningham, requesting him to meet them in
Edinburgh, where they intended to make interest that he should have a public
disputation with the bishops. On arriving at Leith, he did not, as expected^
immediately find his friends, so that, " beginning to wax sorrowful in spirit,''
from the inactive life to which he was submitting, he preached in Leith, from
Avhich, as the governor and cardinal were expected in Edinburgh, he went to
the country, residing successively in Brunstain, Longniddry, and Ormiston, the
proprietors of which, as well as many other gentlemen of Lothian, were zealous
in the cause of reformation. At this time he preached, with much effect in In-
veresk and Tranent, and, during tlie holidays of Christmas, 1545, he proceeded
to Haddington. Here he preached several sermons. Before delivering
the last of them, he received information that the conference to which he had
been invited in Edinburgh could not be fulfilled. This greatly distressed him,
and the smallness of his audience on the present occasion added to his depre»<
sion. Having, for more than half an hour walked about in front of the high
altar, he proceeded to the pulpit, where his sermon commenced with the fol-
loAving words : " O Lord, how long shall it be that thy holy word shall
be despised, and men shall not regard their own salvation ? I have heard
of thee, Haddington, that in thee would have been, at any vain clerk play,
two or three thousand people ; and now to hear the messenger of the Eternal
God, of all the town or parish, cannot be numbered one hundred persons.
Sore and fearful shall the plagues be that shall ensue upon this thy contempt;
with tire and sword shalt thou be plagued." He then proceeded to particularize
the kind of troubles which should fall on Haddington, and which actually did
befall it shortly afterwards. Farting with several of his friends, and even with
John Knox, to whom, on his wishing to accompany him, he said, " Nay, re-
turn to your children, and God bless you; one is sufficient for one sacrifice,"
he went, with the proprietor, to Ormiston. At night, the earl of Bothwell
came to the house, and, intimating the approach of the governor and the
cardinal, advised Ormiston to deliver Wishart to him, promising that he should
be safe. Wishart was willing to accede to these terms. " Open the gates,"
said he, " the blessed will of my God be done." BothweU's promises were re-
newed, and his attendants joined him in his protestations. But they proceeded
with Wishart to Elphinston, where Beaton was; and the preacher, having
been sent to the capital, and thence brought back to Hailes, lord BothweU's
seat, was at last committed to ward in the castle of Edinburgh. He was soon
3 History of Scotland, v. 414.

4S4 GEORGE WISHART, or WISEHEAKT.

after sent to St Andrews, by the cardinal, who, assisted by Dunbar, archbishop
of Glasgow, prepared for the trial of the reformer.

On the 1st of Blarch, 1545-6, the dignitaries of the church assembled at Sf
Andrews, when Beaton, being refused the presence of a civil judge by the
governor, determined to proceed on his own authority. The alleged heretic,
being arraigned on a series of charges, defended himself meekly but firmly,
and with a profound knowledge of scripture. The result, as was to be expected,
W.18 his condemnation to the stake. On tiie 2Sth, he wns led from the prison,
with a rope about his neck, and a large chain round his middle, to the place
of execution, in front of the castle, which was the archi-episcopal palace of the
cardinal. " Here a scaffold had been raised,* with a high stake firmly fixed in
the midst of it. Around it were piled bundles of dry faggots ; beside them
stood an iron grate containing the fire ; and near it the solitary figure of the
executioner. Nor did it escape the observation of the dense and melancholy
crowd which had assembled, that the cannon of the fortress were brought to
bear directly on the platform, whilst the gunners stood with their matches be-
side them ; a jealous precaution, suggested perhaps by the attempt of Duncan
to deliver the martyr Hamilton, and which rendered all idea of rescue in this
case perfectly hopeless. On arriving at the place, Wishart beheld these horrid
preparations, which brought before him the agony he was to suffer, ^\ith an un-
moved countenance ; mounted the scaffold firmly, and addressed a short speech
to the people, in which he exhorted them not to be oflended at the word of
God, by the sight of the torments which it seemed to have brought upon its
preacher, but to love it, and to sufter patiently for it any persecution which the
sin of unbelieving men might suggest. He declared that he freely forgave all
his enemies, not excepting the judges who had unjustly condemned him."
Having signified his forgiveness to the executioner, he was tied to the stake,
and the flame began to encompass the holy maityr. " It torments my body,"
said he to his friend, the captain of the castle, " but no way abates my spirit;"
then, looking up to a window, from which the cardinal was contemplating the
scene, he said, " He who, in such state, from that high place, feedeth his eyes
with my torments, within a few days shall be hanged out at the same window,
to be seen with as much ignominy, as he now leaneth there in pride." Ou
this, the executioner drew a cord which had been fastened round the neck of '
the sufferer, who shortly afterwards expired amidst the flames. The prediction
of the dying martyr was literally fulfilled witbiu thi'ee months after, by the vio-
lent and ignominious death of his persecutor. The admirable biographer of Knox
and Melville has recorded this just and comprehensive eulogium on the character
of the martyr: — "Excelling," says Dr M'Crie, "the rest of his countrymen at that
period in learning; of the most persuasive eloquence; ix'reproachable in life,
courteoos and affable in mauners; hia fervent piety, zeal, and courage in the
cause of truth, were tempered with uncommon meekness, modesty, patience, pru-
dence, and charity."

WISHART, or WISEHEART, Gbobqe, a learned divine, and admired
writer of the seventeenth century, was of the family of Logy in Forfarshire.
He is said to have been born in liast Lothian in 1G09, and to have studied at
the university of Edinburgh. I'reviously to the breaking out of the religious
troubles in the reign of Charles T. he was one of the ministers of St Andrews.'
Being prepossessed, like the most of the men of family connected with the east
coast of Scotland, in favour of episcopacy, he refused to take the covenant, and

'^ We here quote the animated dcstription of Mr Tjtier.

• Keith in his Catalogue of tJie Scottish I^Lshops, sajs North Leilh; but il.is appears to
be a mistake.

^nSc(Cf^cS\T^ S.-0?cflnigTi

PROM T.HK OKIGIKAI. m TOE tJNlVEK-SI-nr OF GJoASGO-W

BLACKIE A 30If, ObASOOH; KDIHBTTRXIB. iliOESDOII.

GEORGE WISHART, ou WISEHEART. 485

•was accordingly deposed by the Assembly of 1639, in company with his
colleague Dr Gladstanes, the celebrated Samuel Eutherford and Mr Robert
Blair coming in their places. Having been subsequently detected in a corre-
spondence with the royalists, Wishart was plundered of all his worldly goods,
and thrown into a dungeon called the Thieves' Hole, said to have been
the most nauseous part of one of the most nauseous prisons in the world,
the old tolbooth of Edinburgh. Wishart himself tells us that, for his attach-
ment to royalty and episcopacy, he thrice suffered spoliation, imprisonment,
and exile, before the year 1647. In October, 1644, he was taken by
the Scottish army at the surrender of Newcastle, in which town he had officiated
professionally. On this occasion, he suffei'ed what appears to have been his
third captivity. In January, 1643, he is found petitioning the estates from
the tolbooth, for maintenance to himself, his wife, and five children, who
otherwise, he says, must starve :- the petition was remitted to the Committee of
Monies, with what result does not appear. A few months afterwards, when
Montrose had swept away the whole military force of the covenanters, and was
approaching the capital in triumph, Wishart was one of a deputation of cavalier
prisoners, whom the terrified citizens sent to him to implore his clemency.
He seems to have remained with the marquis as his chaplain, during the
remainder: of the campaign, and to have afterwards accompanied him abroad in
the same capacity. This connexion suggested to him the composition of an ac-
count of the extraordinary adventures of 3Iontrose, which was published in the
original Latin at Paris in 1647. His chief object in this work, as he informs us
in a modest preface, was to vindicate his patron from the aspersions which had
been thrown upon him by his enemies ; to clear him from the charges of cruelty
and irreligion, which had been brought against him by the covenanters, and
show him as the real. hero which he was. Whatever might be the reputation of
Montrose in Scotland, this work is said to have given it a very enviable
character on the continent. " To the memoir," says the publisher of the English
translation of 1756, "may be in a great measure ascribed that regard and
notice which was had of Montrose, not only in France, where the proscribed
queen then held her thin-att.ended court, and where it was first published, but
likewise in Germany, and most of the northern courts of Europe, which he soon
after visited. That peculiar elegance of expression, and animated description,
with which it abounds, soon attracted the regard of the world, and in a few
years carried it through several impressions both in France and Holland."

Proportioned to the estimation in which the work was held by the perse-
cuting party, was the detestation with which it was regarded by the Scottish
covenanters. Those daring and brilliant exploits which formed the subject
of its panegyric could never be contemplated by the sufferers in any other light
than as inhuman massacres of the Lord's people; and he whom cardinal de
Retz likened to the heroes of Plutarch, was spoken of in his own countiy in
no other terms than as " that bloody and excommunicate traitor." An appro-
priate opportunity of showing their abhorrence of the book was presented within
a very few years after its publication, when Montrose, having fallen into their
bands, was ordered to be executed with all possible marks of odium and
degradation. Over the gay dress he assumed on that occasion, they hung from
his neck the obnoxious volume, together with the declaration he had published
on commencing his last and fatal expedition ; the one hanging at the right
shoulder, and the other at the left, while a cincture, crossing the back and
breast, kept them at their proper places. As this ceremonial was made matter for
a parliamentary decree, there can be little doubt that the Scottish presbyterians
a Balfour's Annals, iil. 261.

486 GEORGE WISUART, obWISEHEART.

i
conceived it to be a not unbecoming mode of expressing contempt for the'
eulogies of the biographer. Upon Montrose, however, it produced no such ef-
fect as they had calculated on. His remark, long since become a part of his-
tory, is thus given by Wishart in the sequel to his memoir: " That though it
had pleased his majesty to create him a knight of the garter, yet he did
not reckon himself more honoured thereby than by the cord and the books
which were now hung about his neck, and which he embraced with greater joy
and pleasure than he did the golden chain and the garter itself when he first
received them."

While his work was receiving this memorable honour, the author remained
at the Hague, where a body of commissioners from Scotland were endeavouring
to induce the young and exiled king (Charles II.,) to assume the government
of that kingdom upon the terms of the covenant. To these personages,
Wishart, as might be supposed, was by no means an agreeable object, particu-
larly as he happened to enjoy the royal favour. Clarendon, who Avas there at
the time, relates the following anecdote : — " A learned and worthy Scotch
divine, Dr Wishart, being appointed to preach before the king, they [the. com-
missioners] formally besought the king, ' that he would not sutler him to preach
before him, nor to come into his presence, because he stood excommunicated
by the kirk of Scotland for having refused to take the covenant,' thoygh it was
known that the true cause of the displeasure they had against that divine, was,
that they knew he was author of that excellent relation of the lord Montrose's
actions in Scotland, which made those of his majesty's council full of indigna-
tion at their insolence ; and his majesty himself declared his being offended,
by hearing the doctor preach with the more attention."

Dr Wishart subsequently wrote a continuation of the memoirs of Montrose,
bringing down his history till his death : this, however, Avas never published in
its original form. The original book was printed oftener than once, and in
various places, on the continent. A coarso translation appeared in London in
1652, under the title of " Montrose Redivivus," &c,, and was reprinted in 1720,
with a translation of the second part, then for the first time given to the
world. A superior translation of the whole, with a strong Jacobite preface,
was published at Edinburgh by the Ruddimans in 1756, and once more, in the
same place, by Archibald Constable and Company in 1819.

After the fall of 3Iontrose, Br Wishart became chaplain to Elizabeth, the
electress-palatine, sister of Charles I. ; he accompanied that princess to England
in 1660, and being recognized as one who had both done and suffered much
in the cause of royalty, was selected as one of the new bishops for the kingdom
of Scotland, being appointed to the see of Edinburgh. He had now, therefore,
the satisfaction of returning to the scene of his former sufferings, in the mo^t
enviable character of which his profession rendered him capable. He was con-
secrated bisliop of Edinburgh, June, 1, 1662. It is recorded of Wishart, that,
after the suppression of the ill concerted rising at Pentland, he interested him-
self to obtain mercy for the captive insurgents ; and, remembering Lis owu dis-
tresses in the prison which they now occupied, never sat down to a meal till he
bad sent off the first dish to these unfortunate men. From these anecdotes it
may be inferred tliat whatever were the faults of his character, he possessed
a humane disposition. Bishop Wishart died in 1G71, when his remains were
interred in the abbey church of Holyrood, where a handsome monument, bearing
an elaborate panegyrical inscription in Latin to his memory, may yet be seen.

Bishop Keith saj-s of Wishart that he was "a person of great religion."
Wodrow speaks of him as a man who could not refrain from profane swearing,
even on the public street, and as a known drunkard. " He published somewhat

JOHN WITHERSPOON, D.D., LL.D. ' 487

in divinity," says the historian, " but then I find it remarked by a very good
hand, his lascivious poems, compared with •which the most luscious parts of
Ovid de Arte Amandt are modest, gave scandal to all the world." It is not
unlikely that Dr Wishart had contracted some rather loose habits among the
cavaliers with whom he associated abroad; for both Burnet and Kirliton bear
testimony to the licentious manners by which the royalists were too often
characterised, more especially during tho reckless administration of the earl
of Middleton.

AVITHERSPOON, John, D. D., LL. D., an eminent divine and theological
writer, was born, February 5, 1723, in the parish of Yester. His father, who
was minister of that parish, was a man of singular worth, and of much more
than ordinary abilities. Young Witherspoon received the earlier part of his
education at the public school of Haddington, where he distinguished himself
by his diligence, and by the rapid proficiency he made in classical attainments.
He was, also, even at this early period of his life, remarkable for that sound-
ness of judgment, and readiness of conception, which aided so much in procur-
ing him the favour he afterwards enjoyed. On completing the usual initiatory
learning observed at the school of Haddington, he was removed to the university
of Edinburgh, where he continued to attend the various classes necessary to
qualify him for the sacred profession for which lie was intended, until he had
attained his twenty-first year, when he was licensed to preach the gospel. He
»Yas soon after this invited to become assistant and successor to his father ; but
held this appointment for a very short time only, having received a presentation,
in 1744, from the earl of Eglinton, to the parish of Beith, of which he was
ordained minister, with the unanimous consent of the people, in the following
year.

An incident in the life of Mr Witherspoon, too curious to be passed over,
occurred soon after this. On learning that a battle was likely to take place at
Falkirk, between the Highlanders and royal troops, during the rebellion of
1745-6, the minister of Beith hastened to the anticipated scene of conflict, to
witness the combat. This he saw ; but in a general sweep Avhich the victorious
rebels made around the skirts of the field after the battle, Mr Witherspoon,
with several others, whom a similar curiosity had brought to the neighbourhood
of the field, was made a prisoner, and tlirown into the castle of Doune, where
he was confined, until he effected his escape, which he did with considerable
difficulty, and not without great peril.

Mr Witherspoon first assumed the character of an author in 1753, by bring-
ing out an anonymous publication, entitled " Ecclesiastical Characteristics, or
the Arcana of Church Policy." This work, which discovers a rich vein of
delicate satire, Avas directed against certain flaws in the principles and practice
of some of the ministers of the church of Scotland of the period. It excited a
great sensation, and became so popular as to reach a fifth edition, in less than
ten years after its publication. This successful debut was followed soon after
by another able performance, entitled a " Serious Apology" for the Charac-
teristics, in which Dr W^itherspoon acknowledged the authorship of the latter.
Three years afterwards, in 1756, he published, at Glasgow, his admirable essay
on the " Connexion between the Doctrine of Justification by the imputed
righteousness of Christ, and holiness of life."

The diligence, industry, and regular habits of Dr Witherspoon, enabled him
to reconcile the character of a prolific author, with that of an attentive and
faithful pastor ; and while discharging the duties of the Litter with an exem-
plary fidelity, he continued to instruct and enlighten the public mind by his
literary labours. His industry enabled him to give- to the world, in the year

48S JOHN WITIIERSPOON, D.D.. LL.B.

following that in which his essay on tlie Connexion, appeared, liis
still more celebrated work, entitled " A serious Inquiry into the Nature and
Eflects of the Stage." On this subject, there is much difference of opinion ;
but tliere can be none regarding the ability which Dr Wiiherspoon's work
evinces. The reputation which he had now acquired as a zealous minister and
profound theologian, procured him one of those spontaneous calls, which so
strikingly mark tlie public sense of a clergyman's usefulness and merits. In
the year 1757, he was solicited by the people of Paisley to accept the pastoral
charge of the Low Church of that town. Here, as at Keith, he diligently
prosecuted his literary labours, and still continued to associate them with
a faithful discharge of his pastoral duties. During a portion of the time of
nis ministry in Paisley, he employed himself in preparing sermons for the
press; several of which were published in 1758 and 175'J, and were received
with marked approbation. His next publication, unfortunately, though written
with the best intentions, and well calculated to attain the ends proposed by its
author, involved him in difhcultics, which pressed hard upon him for several
years afterwards. The publication alluded to was a discourse, entitled a "Sea-
sonable Advice to Young Persons," published in 17C2. The subject of this
discourse was suggested, at the particular moment it appeared, by an account
which had reached Dr Witherspoon, of a riotous and extremely disorderly meet-
ing which had taken place in Paisley, on the night before the celebration of
the Lord's Supper. To this discourse, the author had prefixed a prefatory
address, in which he incautiously set forth, at full length, the names of the per-
sons said to have been concerned in the indecorous meeting alluded to; and tlie
consequence of tliis unguarded proceeding, on the part of Dr Witherspoon, was
an action of damages, in which, being unable to adduce sufficient proof of the
accuracy of his information, he was defeated, and involved in serious expenses.
In 17G4, he received a degree from one of the Scottish universities,
and in the same year went to London, to superintend the publication of his
" Essays on Important Subjects," in three volumes. Tliis work, with the ex-
ception of his admirable treatise on Regeneration, which was included in these
volumes, was merely a reprint, in a collected form, of the detached essays which
he had, from time to time, published in Scotland. Their republication, however,
had the effect of greatly extending Dr Witherspoon's fame as an able theolo-
gian, and useful minister : and its appearance was soon after followed by three
different calls to as many different new charges. The first of these was from a
largo congregation in Dublin ; the second, to the Scottish church at Rotter-
dam; and the third, from the town of Dundee. Dr Witherspoon's attachment*
in Paisley, however, were too numerous, and too strong, to permit of his ac-
cepting of either of these invitations. But one of a more remarkable descrip-
tion, soon after prevailed ivith him to leave not only Paisley, but his country-
This was an invitation from the trustees of the college of Princeton, New
Jersey, in America, to become president of that institution. He, {it first, de-
clined this appointment, but, on a second application being made to him,
thought fit to comply. A sufficient proof that this compliance did not proceed
fi'om interested motives, is found in tlie circumstance of his having been pro-
mised, by a gentleman, a relation of his own, who possessed considerable pro-
perty, that he should be made his heir, if he would remain at Iiome. 'l'hi»
promise weighed notiiing, however, with Dr Witherspoon, when put in opposi-
tion to the sense of duty which called him to an extensive, and peculiarly
interesting field for ministerial exertion. Having come to the resolution of
crossing the Atlantic, he preached a farewell sermon to his affectionate people
in Paisley, on the 16th of April, 1768. This sennon was immediately after

JOHN \\ITHERSP0ON, D.D., LL.D. 489

published, under the title of " Ministerial Fidelity, in declaring tne whole
Counsel of God." Before leaving his native shores, he also published, at Glas-
gow, " Discourses on Practical Subjects ;" and, at Edinburgh, " Practical
Discourses on the Leading Truths of the Gospel."

Dr Witherspoon now prepared for his departure for 'America, and at lenotli
sailed for that country in the month of July, 17G8, and arrived there in safety
with his family, in tlie following month. Immediately after his arrival, he
entered upon his new appointment, and began to discharge the important duties
with which it Avas associated. The reputation of Dr Witherspoon bad gone
before him ; and the result to the college, over which he presided, was a great
and rapid increase of its prosperity. Previously to his arrival, the institution,
which was chiefly supported by private liberality, was in a vei-y indifferent
situation Avith regard to finances ; these, however, were quickly placed in a
flourishing condition by the spirit of liberality, which the new president's
abilities and zeal excited. Nor were either these, or the value of his services,
overrated. The latter were singularly important and beneficial, not only to
the college over which he presided, but to the general interests of education
throughout America. At Princeton, he effected ar total revolution in the system
of instruction practised there previously to his arrival. He greatly extended
the study of mathematical science, and introduced important improvements
into the course of instruction in natural philosophy. In a few yeara after-
wards, his career of usefulness was not only interrupted, but, for a time, alto-
gether terminated, by the occurrence of the American war of independence. In
this struggle, he took a decided part in favour of the insurgents; and on the 17th
3Iay, 1776, preached a sermon at Princeton, on the occasion of a general fast,
appointed by the Congress, in which he expressed his sentiments fully on the
subject of the great political questions, then agitated between the mother coun-
try and the revolted colonies. This discourse was afterwards published, under
the title of ** The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men." Dr
Witherspoon's conduct, on this occasion, greatly displeased his friends at home;
and an edition of the sermon above alluded to, was published at Glasgow, Avith
severe and abusive notes and remarks, by its editor, in some of which the
author was stigmatized as a rebel, and a traitor to his country. In America,
however, it produced a very different feeling towards Dr Witherspoon; and the
nature of this feeling is sufficiently evinced, by the circumstance of his having
been, soon aftei-, elected by the citizens of New Jersey as their delegate to
the convention, in which the republican constitution was formed. In this
capacity he acquired, by the vereatility of his talents, and the soundness of his
judgment, a political reputation, not inferior to that which he enjoyed as a man
of letters. In the early part of this year, 1776, he was sent, as a representa-
tive of the people of New Jersey, to the Congress of the United States, and
continued for seven years an'active and zealous member of that body. He was
consulted on all momentous occasions ; and it is knoAvn that he was the writer
of many of the most important state papers of the period.

On the final settlement of the question of American independence, in the
early part of the year 1783, Dr Witherspoon resumed his college duties; and
two years afterwards, paid a short visit to his native country. The object of
this visit was to obtain benefactions for the college over which he presided, and
which had nearly been exterminated by the war ; but party feeling still ran
too hi^h in the mother country, to allow of such a mission being very successful :
and although the doctor made every exertion in London, and in several other
I>arts of the kingdom, to excite an interest in, and sympathy with his views, the
result on the whole, was by no means favourable. After a short stay in Paisley,

IV.

490 ROBERT "WODROW.

daring which he preached repeatedly in the Low and Middle churches, he took
a final farewell of his friends, and returned to America, where he continued for
several years more to maintain, and eren increase, the reputation he had already
acquired. The infirmities of age, however, began at length to steal upon hiui.
Two years previous to his death, he was totally deprived of sight ; yet such was
the activity of his mind, and the greatness of his anxiety to be useful, that, even
under this grievous affliction, he did not desist either from the exercise of
his ministry, or from his duties in the college, although he had on all occasions
to be led to the pulpit and rostrum. This affecting condition was but of short
duration. He was released from it, and from all other afflictions, on the 15th
of November, 1794, in the seventy-third year of his age.

Dr Witherspoon's merits as an author, preacher, and philosopher, have been
the theme of much and frequent eulogium by men, themselves eminent for the
attainments they so much admired in him ; and we cannot conclude this brief
memoir better, than by quoting the language of one of those eulogists alluded
to. " Of Dr Witherspoon's character as an author," says Dr Rogers, senior
minister of the United Presbyterian churches in the city of New York, " it is
not necessary to say much. His writings are before the public ; and to every
serious and intelligent reader, they discover an uncommon knowledge of human
nature, and a deep and intimate acquaintance with the holy scriptures. They
generally strike us, as being at once elegant and convincing, grave and attrac-
tive, profound and plain, energetic and simple. They evidently show that the
author's learning was very extensive ; that God had given him a great and
understanding mind, a quick apprehension ^^.and a solid judgment. And, as a
preacher, he was, in many respects, one of the best models on which a young
orator could form himself."

WODROW, Robert, the faithful and laborious author of the " History of the
Sufferings of the Church of Scotland,'* Avas born in Glasgow, in the year 1679.
He was the second son of Mr James Wodrow, professor of divinity in the col-
lege of that city, a man of singular piety and learning. His mother, Margaret
Hair, was the daughter of William Hair, the proprietor of a small estate in the
parish of Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire. In this parent, he was equally fortunate
as in the other. To all the piety of her husband, she added a degiee of
strength of mind, not often associated with her sex.

In 1691, young Wodrow was entered a student in the university of his native
city, and went through the usual course of academical education then adopted
there, and which included several of the learned languages, and various branches
of philosophy. 'ITieology he studied under his father, and, while engaged in
this pursuit, Avas appointed librarian to the college ; a situation to which the
peculiar talent which he already displayed for historical and bibliographical in-
quiry, had recommended him. This office he held for four years ; and it was
during this time that he acquired the greater part of that knowledge of the
ecclesiastical and literary history of his country, which he applied, during the
course of his after life, to such good purpose, as to have the effect of associating
his name, at once honourably and indissolubly, with those interesting subjects.
At this period he imbibed, also, a taste for antiquarian research, and the study
of natural history, which introduced him to the notice, and procured him the
friendship, of several of the most eminent men of the day. But all these pur-
suits were carefully kept subordinate to what he had determined to make the
great and sole business of his life, the study of theology, and the practical ap-
plication of its principles. To the former, he devoted only his leisure hours;
to the latter, all the others that were not appropriated to necessary repose.

On completing his theological studies at the university, Mr Wodrow went to

ROBERT WODROW. 491

reside with a distant relation of the family, Sir John Maxwell, of Netlier Pol-
lode; and, while here, offered himself for trials to the presbytery of Paisley,
by whom he was licensed to preach the gospel, in March, 1703. On the 2Sih
of October following, he Avas ordained minister of the parish of Eastwood, near
Glasgow, through the influence of the family with which he resided. East-
wood was, at that period, one of the smallest parishes in Scotland ; but it was
just such a one as suited Mr Wodrow : for its clerical duties being comparatively
light, he was enabled to derote a portion of his time to his favourite studies in
history and antiquities, without neglecting the obligations which his sacred
office imposed upon hira ; and of this circumstance he appreciated the value so
highly, that he could never be induced, though frequently invited, to accept
any other charge. Glasgow, in 1712, made the attempt, in vain, to withdraw
him from his obscure, but beloved retreat, and to secure his pastoral services for
the city ; and Stirling, in 1717, and again in 1726, made similar attempts, but
with similar success. The sacrifices which he made, however, by rejecting
these overtures, were amply compensated by the affectionate attachment of his
little flock, who rejoiced in his ministry, and were made happy by the amia-
bleness of his manners, and the kindliness of his disposition. Althouo-h the
charge in which he was placed was an obscure one, Mr Wodrow's talents soon
made it sufiiciently conspicuous. The eloquence of his sermons, the energy
and felicity of the language in which they were composed, and the solemn and
impressive manner in which they were delivered, quickly spread his fame as a
preacher, and placed him at the head of his brethren in the west of Scotland.

The popularity and reputation of Mr Wodrow, naturally procured for him a
prominent place in the ecclesiastical courts which he attended ; and in this at-
tendance, whether on presbyteries, synods, or the General Assembly, he was
remarkable for his punctuality. Of the latter, he was frequently chosen a
member ; and on occasions of public interest, Avas often still more intimately
associated with the proceedings of the church, by being nominated to commit-
tees. In all these instances he took a lively interest in the matters under dis-
cussion, and was in the habit of keeping regular notes of all that passed ; a
practice which enabled him to leave a mass of manuscript records behind him,
containing, with other curious matter, the most authentic and interesting de-
tails of the proceedings of the Scottish ecclesiastical courts of his time, now in
existence.

In 1707, Mr Wodrow Avas appointed a member of a committee of presby-
tery to consult Avith the brethren of the commission in Edinburgh as to the
best means of averting the evils Avith A\hich it Avas supposed the Union Avould
visit tlie church and people of Scotland ; and, on the accession of George I., he
Avas the principal adviser of the five clergymen deputed by the Assembly
to proceed to London to plead the rights of the former, and to solicit
the abolition of the law of patronage, of Avhich he Avas a decided enemy. In
this the deputation did not succeed. The laAV Avas continued in force, and 3Ir
Wodrow, Avith that sense of propriety Avhich pervaded all his sentiments and ac-
tions, inculcated a submission to its decisions. He did not deem it becoming
the character of a Christian minister to be in any Avay accessary to acts of in-
subordination or of resistince to the laAVS of his country by irregular and un-
constitutional means. The same feeling of propriety induced him to continue
on friendly terras with those clergymen Avhose consciences permitted them to
take the abjuration oath, although he, in his OAvn case, resisted its imposition.
But so far from taking offence at those Avho did, he exerted all his influence to
reconcile the people to them, and to induce them to believe that compliance Avas
110 proof of apostasy.

492 ROBERT WODROW.

Mr Wodrow's life presents us with little more of particular interest than
what is contained in the circumstances just narrated, until it becoines associated
wiih that work which has made his name so memorable, namely, '• The History
of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolu-
tion." This work, for which his integrity, candour, liberality of sentiment, and
talents, eminently qualified him, he contemplated from an early period of his
life; but it was only in the year 1707, that he began seriously to labour on it.
From this time, however, till its publication in 1721 and 1722, a period of
between fourteen and fifteen years, he devoted all his leisure hours to its com-
position.

On the appearance of Mr Wodrow's Histoiy, which was published in three
large folio volumes at separate times, in the years above named, its author was
attacked by those whom his fidelity as an historian had offended, with the vilest
scurrility aud abuse. Anonymous and thx*eatening letters were sent to him, and
every desoription of indignity was attempted to be thrown oa both his person and
his work. The faithful, liberal, and impartial character of the history, never-
theless, procured its author many and powerful friends. Its merits were, by a
large party, appreciated and acknowledged, and every man whose love of truth
was stronger than his prejudices, awarded it the meed of his applause. Copies
of the work were presented by Dr Fraser to their majesties, and the prince and
princess of Wales, and were received so graciously, and so much approved of,
that the presentation was almost inunediately followed by a royal order on tlie
Scottish exchequer for one hundred guineas to be paid to the author, as a
testimony of his majesty's favourable opinion of his merits. The warrant for
the payment of this sum is dated the 2Gth April, 1725. In 1830, a second
edition of the History Avas published, in 4 volumes 8vo, by Messrs Blackie and
Fullarton of Glasgow, under the editorial cai'e of the Rev. Dr Burns of
Paisley, now of Toronto, Canada.

Mr Wodrow's literary labours did not end with the publication of his His-
tory. He afterwards planned and executed the scheme of a complete history
of the church of Scotland, in a series of lives of all the eminent men who
appeared from the beginning of the Reformation down to the period at whicli
his preceding work commenced. Tliis valuable production, which contains an
accurate and comprehensive view of some of the most important and interesting
events in the history of the kingdom, has never yet been entirely published.
It lies still in manuscript in the library of the university of Glasgow.

Besides these works, Mr Wodrow has left behind him six small but closely
written volumes of traditionary and other memoranda regarding the lives and
labours of remarkable ministers, and comprising all the occurrences of the
period whicli he thought worth recording. These volumes are designated
by the general name of Analecta, and the entries extend over a space of
twenty-seven years, viz., from 1705 to 1732. The Analecta contains much
curious information regarding the times of its author, and is full of anecdote,
and anmsing and interesting notices of the remarkable persons of the day. It
is preserved in the original manuscript in the Advocates' library at Edinburgh,
where it is often consulted by the curious inquirer into the times to which it re-
lates ; so often indeed, that the greater part of it has found its way to the pub-
lic, though in a disguised and unacknowledged shape, through the medium of
various publications in which its matter has been wrought up with other
materials.

A large portion of Mr Wodrow's time, all of which was laboriously and use-
fully employed in the discharge of his various duties, was occupied in an ex-
tensive epistolary correspondence with acquaintances and friends in different

ROBERT WODROW.

493

parts of the world, but this was no idle correspondence. He made it in all
cases subservient to the purposes of improving his general knowledge, and of
adding to his stores of information ; and with this view he was in the habit of
transmitting to his correspondents lists of queries, on subjects of general and
public interest, and particularly on matters connected with religion, as they
stood in their several localities. With all this labour, he regularly devoted two
days in every week to his preparation for the pulpit, and bestowed besides the
most assiduous attention on all the other duties of his parish.

In tlie case of professor Simpson of Glasgow, the successor of Mr Wodrow's
father, who was suspended from his office by the General Assembly for his
Arian sentiments, Mr Wodrow felt himself called upon as a minister of the
gospel, and a friend to evangelical truth, to take an active part with his
brethren against the professor. The latter, as already said, was suspended, but
through a feeling of compassion the emoluments of his office were reserved to
him ; a kindness for which, it is not improbable, he may have been indebted,
at least in some measure, to the benevolent and amiable disposition of the sub-
ject of this memoir. Soon after this occurrence Mr Wodrow took occasion,
when preaching on tlie days of the lOth and 11th June, 1727, in the Baron>
church of Glasgow, to illustrate the divinity of the Saviour in opposition to the
sentiments of the Arians and Socinians, These sermons had the effect of
rousing the religious zeal of one of the former sect, 8 Mr W^illiam Paul, a
student of theology, to such a pitch as to induce him, on the day following, to
challenge Mr Wodrow to a public or private disputation or to a written contro-
versy. This challenge, however, the latter did not think it prudent to
accept.

In the affair of the celebrated Marrow C<yntroversy, which opened the way
to the Secession in 173^, Mr Wodrow decided and acted with his usual pru-
dence, propriety, and liberality'. lie thought that those who approved of the
sentiments and doctrines contained in the work from which the controversy took
its name, viz., the " Marrow of Modern Divinity," weut too far in their at-
tempts to vindicate them, and that the Assembly, on the other baud, had been
too active and too forward in their condemnation. On the great question about
subscription to articles of faith, he took a more decided part, and ever looked
upon the nonsuUscribers as enemies to the cause of evangelical Christianity.

On this subject he corresponded largely with various intelligent and some
eminent men in different parts of the three kingdoms, especially in Ireland,
from whom he collected a mass of opinion and information regarding prcs-
byterianisra in that country, which for interest and importance cannot bo
equalled.

The valuable and laborious life of the author of the History of the Suffernigs
of the Church of Scotland, was now, however, drawing to a close. His con-
stitution had been naturally good, and during the earlier part of his life he had
enjoyed uninterrupted health ; but the severity of his studious habits at length
began to bear him down. He was first seriously affected in 1726, and from this
period continued gradually to decline till 1734, an interval of pain and suffering
of no less than eight years, when he expired, on the 21st March, in the 55ih year
of his age; dying, as he had lived, in the faith of the gospel, and love to ^l
mankind. His remains were interred in the church-yard of Eastwood, where his
memory has lately been commemorated by the erection of a monument.

Mr W^odrow was married in the end of the year 1708, to Margaret Warner,
grand -daughter of William Guthrie of Fenwick, author of the "Trial of a
Saving Interest in Christ," and daughter of the reverend Patrick Warner of
Ardeer, Ayrsliii-e, and minister of Irvine. He left at his death four sons, and

five daughters. The eldest of the former succeeded his father in the parish of
Eastwood, but was compelled to retire from it by an infirm state of health.

WYNTOWN, Andrew, ov Andrew of Wyntown, the venerable rhyming
chronicler of Scotland, lived towards the end of the fourteenth century; but
the dates of his birth and death are unknown. He was a canon regular of the
prioi-y of St Andrews, the most flourishing and important religious establish-
ment in the kingdom; and in or before the year 1395, he was elected prior
of St Serf's inch, in Lochleven.^ Of this hehitnself gives an account in his
" Cronykil."

Of my defautte it is my name
Be baptisme, Andrew of Wynlowno,
Of Sanct Andrews, a chanoune
Regulare : but, noucht fortlii
Of thaim al the lest worth j-.
Bot of thair grace and thair favoure
I wes, but' meryt, made prioure
Of the ynch within Lochlevjne.

Innes mentions ** several authentic acts or public instruments of Wyntown,
as prior, from 1395 till 1413, in ' Extracts from the Register of the Priory of
St Andrews,' " which points out part of the period of his priorship ; and as the
death of Robert, duke of Albany, is noticed in the ** Cronykil," Wyntown must
have survived till beyond 1420, the year in wliich the duke died. Supposing, as
is probable, that he brought down his narrative of events to the latest period of
his life, we may conjecture his death to have occurred not long after the above
date.

It was at the request of " Schyr Jhone of the Wemys," ancestor of the earls
of Wemyss,' that Wyntown undertook his Chronicle ;* which, although the first
historical record of Scotland in our own language, was suffered to lie ne-
glected for several centuries. In 1795, Mr David Macpherson laid before the
public an admirable edition of that part of it, which more particularly relates to
Scotland, accompanied with a series of valuable annotations. Like most other
old chroniclers, Wyntown, in his history, goes as far back as flie creation, and
takes a general view of the world, before entering upon the proper business of
his undertaking. He treats of angels, of the generations of Cain and Seth, of
the primeval race of giants, of the confusion of tongues, of the situation of
India, Egypt, Africa, and Europe, and of other equally recondite subjects, be-
fore he adventures upon the history of Scotland ; so that five of tlie nine books
into which his Chronicle is divided, are taken up with matter, which, however
edifying and instructive at the time, is of no service to the modern historical
inquirer. 3Ir Macpherson, therefore, in his edition, has suppressed all the ex-
traneous and foreign appendages, only preserving the metiical contents of the
chapters, by which the reader may know the nature of what is williheld ; and
taking care that nothing which relates to the British islands, whether true or
fabulous, is overlooked. It is not likely tliat any future editor of Wyntown
will adopt a different plan ; so that those parts which Mr Macpherson has

' St Serf is Uie name of a small island in tluxt beautiful locli, not far from tlie island which
contains the castle of Loclilevcn, celebrated as the prison-house of the queen of Scots

■ But, without.

» A younger son of this family settled in tlie Venetian territories, about 1600; and a copy
of Wyntown's work is in the possession of his descendants.

* Book i. Prologue, 1. 54.

ANDREW WYNTOWN. 496

omittedf may be considered as faaring commenced the undisturbed sleep of
oblivion.

Though Wyntown was contemporary with Fordun, and even survived him, it
is certain that he never saw Fordun's work ; so that he has an equal claim with
that writer to the title of an original historian of Scdland ; and his
" Cronykil" has the advantage over Fordun's history, both in that it is
brought down to a later period, and^ is written in the language of the
country —

" Tyl like mannys vraderstandjng."

*' In Wyntown's Chronicle," says BIr [Macpherson, " the historian may find,
Avhat, for ^vant of more ancient records, which have long ago perished, we must
now consider as the original accounts of many transactions, and also many
events related from his own knowledge or the reports of eye-witnesses. His
faithful adherence to his authorities appears from comparing his accounts with
unquestionable vouchers, such as the Federa Angliae, and the existing remains
of the * Register of the Priory of St Andrews,' that venerable monument of an-
cient Scottish history and antiquities, generally coeval with the facts recorded
in it, whence he has given large extracts almost literally translated." His
character as an historian is in a great measure common to the other historical
writers of his age, who generally admitted into their works the absurdity of
tradition along with authentic narrative, and often without any mark of
discrimination, esteeming it a sufficient standard of historic fidelity to narrate
aothing but Avhat they found written by others before them. Indeed, it may
be considered fortunate that they adopted this method of compilation,
for through it we are presented with many genuine transcripts from ancient
authorities, of which their extracts are the only existing remains. In Wynto>vn's
work, for example, we have nearly three hundred lines of Barbour, in a more
genuine state than in any manuscript of Barbour's own work, and we have also
preserved a little elegiac song on the death of Alexander III., which must be
nearly ninety years older than Barbour's work. Of Barbour and other writers,
Wyntown speaks in a generous and respectful manner,' and the same liberality
of sentiment is displayed by him regarding the enemies of his country, whose
gallantry he takes frequent occasion to praise. Considering the paucity
of books in Scotland at the time, Wyntown's learning and resources were by no
means contemptible. He quotes, among the ancient authors, Aristotle, Galen,
Palaephatus, Josephus, Cicero, Livy, Justin, Solinus, and Valerius IMaximus,
and also mentions Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Stafius, Boethius, Dionysius,
Cato, Dares Phrygius, Origen, Augustiu, Jerome, &c.

Wyntown's Chronicle being in rhyme, he ranks among the poets of Scotland
and he is in point of time the third of the few early ones whose works we pos-
sess, Thomas the Rhymer and Barbour being his only extant predecessors.
His work is entirely composed of couplets, and these generally of eight sylla-
bles, though lines even of ten and others of six syllables frequently occur.
" Perhaps," says Mr Ellis, " the noblest modern versifier who should undertake
to enumerate in metre the years of our Lord in only one century, would feel

6 He even avoAvs his incompetency to write equal to Barbour, as in the following
lines :—

The Stewartis originale
The Archedekjne has trctyd Lai
In metre fayre mare n-erlwsli/
Than I can Ihynk be my study y &c.

CronykU, B. viii. c. 7. v. 143.

496 PATRICK YOUNG.

some respect for the ingenuity with which Wyiitown has contrived to vary his rhymes
throughout such a formidable chronological series as he ventured to encounter.
His genius is certainly inferior to that of his predecessor Barbour ; but at least
his versification is easy, his language pure, and his style often animated."

There are various manuscripts of Wyntown's work, more or less perfect, still
extant. The one in the British Museum is the oldest and the best; and after it
rank, in antiquity and correctness, the manuscripts belonging to the Cotton
Library and to the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh.

YOUNG, Patrick, known also by his Latinized name of Patrlclus Junius, a
distinguished scholar of the seventeenth century, was the son of Sir Peter Young,
CO -preceptor with Buchanan of king James VI., and was born at Seaton, in
Haddingtonshire, in 1584. He was educated at the university of St Andrews —
accompanied his father in the train of James VI. to England, in 1603, and was for
some time domesticated with Dr Lloyd, bishop of Chester, as his librarian or
secretary. In 1605, he was incorporated at Oxford in the degree of M.A., which
he had taken at St Andrews; and, entering into deacon's orders, was made
one of the chaplains of All-Souls' college. There he acquired considerable pro-
ficiency in ecclesiastical history and antiquities, and became profoundly skilled
in the Greek language, in which he made a practice of corresponding with liis
father and other learned men. He afterwards repaired to Loudon, and, by the
interest of Dr Montagu, bishop of Bath and Wells, obtained a pension of £50 a-year,
and was occasionally employed by the king, and some persons connected with the
government, in writing Latin letters. The same interest obtained for him the
oflBce of i-oyal librarian. In 1617, Young went to Paris, with recommendatory^
letters from Camden, which introduced him to the learned of that capital. After
his return, he was engaged in the translation of the works of king James into
Latin, In 1620, having recently been married, he was presented with two rectories
in Denbighshire; soon after, he became a prebend of St Paul's, and the treasurer
of that cathedral ; and, in 1624, he attained, by the influence of bishop Williams,
the office of Latin secretary. Young, whose reputation was now widely extended,
was one of the learned persons chosen by Selden to aid in the examination of the
Arundelian marbles. He made a careful examination of the Alexandrian manu-
script of the Bible, and comifiunicated some various readings to Grotius, Ushei*,
and other learned men. Ho also published a specimen of an edition of that
manuscript, which he intended to execute, but was ultimately obliged to abandon ;
however, in 1033, he edited, from the same manuscript, "Tlio Epistles of Clemens
Romanus;" and afterwards published, with a Latin version, "Catena Graecorum
Patrum in Jobum, coUectore Niceta, Heracliae Metropolita." In 1638, he pub-
lished, "Expositio in Canticum Canticorum Folioti Episcopi Londinensis, una cum
Alcuini in idem Canticum Compendio." Young also made preparations for editing
various other manuscripts, to which his office in the king's library gave him access,
when the confusions occasioned by the civil war, and the seizure of the library by
the parliament, put an end to his designs. lie retired during this period to tho
house of his son-in-law, at Broomfield, in Essex, where he died in 1652,

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