The late duke of Argyle had in those days the nomination to almost every office in Scotland under the patronage of the crown; and it is by no means improbable, that lord Erroll's application had been principally regarded by his grace. Yet it is certain, that others interested themselves in Mr. Beattie's success. The late lord Garden stone, in particular, made application to government, and in very strong terms recommended Mr. Beattie to those who were most likely to do him a service.

"Nearly four months, however, had elapsed before Mr. Beattie was officially informed that the recommendations of his friends had proved successful, and had made him be esteemed in the eyes of those at the helm of affairs as a fit object of royal bounty. Towards the end of September, 1760, his majesty's patent came to Aberdeen, appointing him a professor of philosophy in Marischal college; and on Wednesday, the 1st of October following, his majesty's patent came to Aberdeen, to Mr. George Skene, appointing him also a professor of philosophy.

"From the former part of this paper the reason will appear why they were both called professors of philosophy, in the patents they received. One particular branch of science, or a certain province, was not assigned to each particular professor, till upwards of a century and a half after the foundation of the college. And the private arrangement of the senatus academicus did not in the least affect the designation of their offices in the king's patent; though it was much calculated to accommodate the professors, and to promote the improvement of the youth committed to their care.

pa

"The newly appointed professors, however, had both fixed their eyes upon the chair of moral philo sophy. Though Mr. Beattie's tent had the advantage of being received a few days earlier than Mr. Skene's, yet this was considered as conferring no additional title to precedence, as it regarded the right of choice. It was argued, that the whole plan of education in the college, as it then (in 1760) stood, was a mere private stipulation among the professors themselves; the patents had nothing to do with the question at issue.

"Whether the two gentlemen actually cast lots, as I have often heard affirmed, I will not pretend to say; but upon Wednesday, the 8th of October, 1760, Mr. George Skene was admitted professor of natural and civil history, and Mr. Beattie professor of moral philosophy and logic.

"An academical life is so barren of incidents that it cannot be expected to furnish much in the narrative. The lives of most literary men consist of little more than a history of their works. His pleasant and agreeable manners, even at this time, have been much commended. To his old associates he

was kind and affable; and at his house and table they were always welcome.

"The doctor informs us that his Essay on Poetry and Music, as they affect the Mind, was written in the year 1762. It was delivered before the literary society, of which we have already given some ac

count.

"The only prose composition he had acknowledged, and I have reason to think that (besides the discourses he delivered in the hall) the only small pieces he had writ ten, were his preface to the first 43 edition

edition of his Poems, and the short notes he added to the Pastorals of Virgil.

"Mr. Beattie, with a felicity of arrangement peculiar to himself, has discussed with great judgment and taste the subjects he had proposed to treat of in this essay. He was eminent as an elegant critic; and every deference is due to an authority to which the public have so long looked up. After a few introductory observations he, in the first chapter, treats of the end of poetical composition.

"About the beginning of June, 1773, he again went to London. His encouragement upon his former visit was, to a man in his easy circumstances, a sufficient inducement to undertake another journey to the capital. He had another reason which, though considered by the envious and illiberal as entailing servitude, has never hitherto been applied to an improper purpose. His merit, as an author, had even called the attention of royalty: a signal proof how highly he was rated by all descriptions in the community.

"His present majesty has, beyond all precedent, extended his patronage to eminent literary characters. This patronage has originated solely from himself; and the most discontented candidates for public favour have not had the hardihood to affirm, that the royal bounty has in any instance been conferred upon an unworthy object. This is no small testimony to the rectitude of intention, and to the discrimination of the patron.

"A short time after Beattie went to London a memorial was presented to the king. Dr. Beattie had, it is likely, the most express assurance from his majesty's servants that his memorial should not

pass unnoticed. The form, however, of petitioning the king is ne ver dispensed with. Beattie's petition was favourably received.

The

"On the 30th of June, 1773, he was presented to the king at the levee by lord Dartmouth. levee was on that day exceedingly crowded. Dr. Beattie, however, had the distinguished honour of conversing with the king for five minutes; a mark of attention not conferred upon ordinary men, and which those who are in the greatest favour do not always presume to expect.

"The substance of this conversation with his majesty consisted chiefly in high commendations and compliments, strongly and elegantly expressed on his writings, particularly his Essay on Truth. Such unexpected panegyric could not fail to make a lasting impression on his mind. Any attention from one in so elevated a situation (from the chief magistrate of a great nation) is a compliment which few have ever received.

"On the 21st of August following, Dr. Beattie received a letter from Mr. Robinson, lord North's secretary, which communicated to him the agreeable information that his majesty had been pleased to appoint him a pension, and assuring him that when other necessary business was dispatched, the warrant for payment of the pension should be made out.

"This was accordingly done after a reasonable time had elapsed. He was obliged, however, still to remain in London, as his business was not yet completed.

"Beattie was during this time informed that his majesty had expressed a desire to admit him to a private audience. And accordingly upon the 27th of October he had an audience of their majesties at

Kew.

Kew. He remained there for an hour and a quarter. He uniformly expressed his admiration of the general knowledge which both the king and queen discovered upon every topic which happened to become the subject of conversation. A more intimate knowledge with the former and present state of litera ture was discovered by them, than in his opinion could have been expected from persons in their ele vated station.

"When Dr. Beattie was about to retire, he expressed himself thus to his majesty: I hope, sir, your majesty will pardon me, if I take this opportunity of returning you my humble and most grateful acknowledgements for • the honour you have been pleased to confer upon me.' His majesty was pleased to reply:

I think I could not have done less for a man who has done so 'much service to the nation in general, and to the cause of truth. I shall be always glad of an opportunity to show the good opinion I have of you.'

"He was chiefly employed for a considerable period after he returned from London, in preparing his Essay on Truth for another edition. This he published at Edinburgh in the year 1776. Besides the two Essays formerly mentioned, viz. that on Poetry and Music, and that on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, there is in the same volume an Essay on the Utility of Classical Learning.

"In the year 1777, he was engaged in copying for the press the Essay on Memory and Imagination, see p. 12 of that Essay. I say copying, because the public are expressly informed that what he then published were parts of those

lectures which he delivered to the students under his care.

"This Essay is, in my opinion, the master-piece of Beattie's prose works. It affords one of the best specimens of what I may perhaps be permitted to call "the popular lec ture." It contains a vast variety of facts collected with great care, and his reasoning upon those facts is in general unexceptionable. The same observation, however, may be made here which was made upon the Essay on Poetry and Music, that the two parts of the Essay do not hang together so closely as perhaps a severe critic would be disposed to require.

"In page 63, of the same Essay, it is mentioned, when a rider has fallen from his horse in a deep river, there have been instances of that noble creature (a dog) taking hold with his teeth, and dragging him to land by the

skirts of the coat.' This ac tually happened at Laurencekirk. The inn at Laurencekirk is pretty well known in the north of Scotland. It may perhaps be necessary to remark, that at the time when this event happened there was no bridge immediately in the vicinity of the village. There was then a great quantity of water in what is throughout the greater part of the year a rivulet. In attempting to cross it on horseback, a person, in a state of intoxication, fell into the water. His dog actually dragged him to the door of

the in.

that he had for a considerable time proposed to publish a summary of his Lectures, though he did not do it till the year 1790. It had long been his practice to make the students write notes of each discourse, with a view to assist the memory. At what particular time, however, he was engaged in drawing up this elementary work, I have not been able to discover. It is a curious fact, that he once designed to publish it in Latin; and part of it he left behind him in that language. He wrote Latin with great facility and elegance. By the publication of a work of that kind in Latin, his fame, as an accurate classical scholar, would have been greatly increased; yet I have no doubt that its usefulness must have been thereby much impaired. The merit of the Elements of Moral Science has been too generally acknowledged to require any panegyric in this place. The first volume contains a very accurate enumeration and arrangement of the perceptive faculties and active powers of man. He has also given a cursory view of what is called natural theology. The second volume, published in the year 1793, comprehends a great deal of miscellaneous information on ethics, economics, politics, and logic, including rhetoric.

In the year 1790, Dr. Beattie edited, at Edinburgh, Addison's Papers, in 4 vols., and wrote the preface.

"About this time he sustained a great loss by the death of his eldest son James Hay Beattie. The doctor wrote a very interesting account of this excellent young man. No one who has any taste for good writing, for simplicity of language, and narrative composed of a selec

tion of the most interesting inci dents, will, I am persuaded, be sa tisfied with perusing it only once.

"His son's progress in every branch of education was rapid and uncommon, almost beyond example. To the greatest quickness of parts he added what is often not to be met with, the most indefatigable application. He was, on the fourth of June, 1787, appointed assistant professor of moral philosophy and logic in Marischal college. His age was then not quite nineteen. He survived, however, his nomination to the professorship little more than three years.

“This extraordinary young man possessed, like his father, poetical genius. Dr. Beattie, however, seems to have been designed by nature to be a poet of a superior order to his son. I have formed this opinion after comparing the poetical productions of both, when about the same time of life. The doctor's verses discover superior poetical invention; a greater command of poetical language; and, with respect to harmony and variety of versification, there is no comparison.

"Mr. James Hay Beattie, however, wrote Latin verses with the greatest facility. This talent, as I formerly mentioned, his father never possessed; and, perhaps, unless frequent attempts have been made at school, or at least in early life, it is not to be acquired. The favourite Latin classic of both was Virgil; and, I think, this accounts for the very frequent elisions in the Latin verses of Mr. Hay Beattie. Had he made Ovid his model in this respect, I am persuaded he would have avoided those elisions much more than he has done. His translations nevertheless possess the

most

most distinguished merit, and are entitled to a very high degree of praise.

“Dr. Beattie never completely recovered the shock he received by his son's death. He was a tender and indulgent father; and the amiable dispositions, the filial obedience, and uncommon endowments of J. H. Beattie, gave full scope to the exercise of those paternal affections. He was cut off too at a time of life when the hopes of the father, and indeed of all who knew him, were raised very high. Though young, he had given the most undeniable proofs of great

abilities, and promised to be an ornament to that university whereof he was a member, and to be a source of comfort to his parent in his declining years.

"After he had endured much bodily pain, and in a great measure had become insensible even to what he himself was suffering, Dr. Beattie died, at Aberdeen, upon the 18th day of August, 1803.

"It will be admitted, that if he was not at the time of his death the first literary character in the united kingdom, he was second or third in the list."

Street, Clerkenwell. His father, Nathanael, was a distiller, of great opulence, and of a most respectable character.

"From the nature of the government, and from the habits of the people of Great Britain, an easy intercourse subsists between all its orders of society. When industry has obtained for itself more than competence, it naturally becomes desirous of distinction. The powers of wealth, however great, are yet circumscribed: to the wealthy, the wealth of others is of small importance; and where there are many rich, riches of course give little pre-eminence. Another standard of merit is then resorted to, and abilities and rank are made the objects of regard. Mr. Wilkes was early accustomed to meet at the table of his father with persons of literary excellence, as well as with

taste for letters which he continued to cultivate through life.

"His education, however, though liberal, was domestic; and, though not severe, yet sufficiently sober. His philosophy therefore (that of enjoying the world, and passing laughingly through it) was not so much the fruit of levity and custom, as of his own reflection; and as adopted in compliance with his own view of human nature. And this he was himself very willing to have believed.

"His parents (one of them, at least) were not of the church of England; and Mr. Wilkes having passed his school years, partly at Hertford and partly in Buckinghamshire, was sent, not to either of our English universities, but with a private tutor, to the university of Leyden, where his talents attracted much notice.