The Scottish Philosophy [146]
commonly follows injures one's character." His religious counsels are characteristic: " In regard to religion, you are now at the time of life when it specially claims your attention; and I shall at present only observe to you that you ought to study to be possessed of the spirit of it, which consists truly in fearing God and working righteousness; in other words, in loving God and your neighbor; but avoid carefully an excessive attachment to any particular form or mode of worship. The two extremes to be guarded against are libertinism and bigotry. The former consists in the want of a proper sense of religion; and the latter in an inordinate attachment to forms, or to any of the distinguishing badges of a particular sect or party." {245}
In the Farquharson manuscripts there are letters from Dr. Douglas, of Windsor, from which we gather some glimpses of the times. " It appears that in Oxford and Cambridge the number of students [letter dated 1789] had greatly decreased in consequence of the little attention which many of the bishops of late years had paid to their degrees." He goes on to say: The very great influx of young men from Scotland offering themselves as candidates for orders has been generally remarked. This did not use to be the case, and nothing perhaps will check it but a strictness which, in particular cases, will, I have no doubt, be dispensed with." It appears from these letters that he is in London in July, 1787, along with Dr. Beattie and his son, and that he is making arrangements about the publication of his "Dissertations." He spends a week with Dr. Douglas; and had the honor of a little conversation with his Majesty no less than three different times, and once, which is still more, with the Queen. " It is not to be questioned, that, after such distinction, I feel myself a much greater man than when you knew me at Aberdeen."
In person he was below the middle size, with a mild and delicate expression. In conversation he was pleasant and agreeable, though at times falling into fits of absence. He resigned his professorship in I 795, and soon after his principalship. He died April 1, 1796.
XXXI.-- JAMES BURNETT (LORD MONBODDO). H/E\ was descended from an ancient family in Kincardineshire, and was born in October, 1714, at Monboddo, which is beautifully situated on the southern slope of the Grampians, and commands a view of the, lying below it. He received the rudiments of his education at the parish school of Laurencekirk, which lies a few miles off, and studied the usual branches at King's College, Aberdeen, where he showed a taste for Greek literature, and graduated there in 1729. It was still the habit of Scottish youths who wished to have a high education to resort to Holland, and he went to Groningen, where he continued three years studying civil law, and where, {246} it is reported, in the society of some English Gentlemen and French refugees, he contrived to get rid of his Scotch pronunciation, and to acquire an accurate knowledge of the French tongue. In 1738, he was admitted to the Scotch bar, where he rose to eminence by his learning and his shrewdness, and particularly distinguished himself in the famous Douglas case, and helped to gain the title and estates for his client. In 1767, he was raised to the bench by the title of Lord Monboddo. As a judge, he was painstaking and upright; his decisions were sound, and supported by great erudition and acuteness-. From time to time he rode up to London on horseback, and there mingled in the best literary circles, with such men as Murdoch, Armstrong, James Thomson, and Mallet, Markham, the Archbishop of York, Earl Stanhope, the first and second Earls of Mansfield, Lords Thurlow and Grantley, Bishops Horsley, Lowth, Porteous, Shipley, and Burgess, Sir John Pringle, Lewis, Scot, Seward, and Harris the author of "Hermes." While there, he showed himself at the levee and drawing-room at St. James, where the King took special notice of him.
He married a very lovely
In the Farquharson manuscripts there are letters from Dr. Douglas, of Windsor, from which we gather some glimpses of the times. " It appears that in Oxford and Cambridge the number of students [letter dated 1789] had greatly decreased in consequence of the little attention which many of the bishops of late years had paid to their degrees." He goes on to say: The very great influx of young men from Scotland offering themselves as candidates for orders has been generally remarked. This did not use to be the case, and nothing perhaps will check it but a strictness which, in particular cases, will, I have no doubt, be dispensed with." It appears from these letters that he is in London in July, 1787, along with Dr. Beattie and his son, and that he is making arrangements about the publication of his "Dissertations." He spends a week with Dr. Douglas; and had the honor of a little conversation with his Majesty no less than three different times, and once, which is still more, with the Queen. " It is not to be questioned, that, after such distinction, I feel myself a much greater man than when you knew me at Aberdeen."
In person he was below the middle size, with a mild and delicate expression. In conversation he was pleasant and agreeable, though at times falling into fits of absence. He resigned his professorship in I 795, and soon after his principalship. He died April 1, 1796.
XXXI.-- JAMES BURNETT (LORD MONBODDO). H/E\ was descended from an ancient family in Kincardineshire, and was born in October, 1714, at Monboddo, which is beautifully situated on the southern slope of the Grampians, and commands a view of the
He married a very lovely