The Scottish Philosophy [161]
truths of God's Word, and the fundamental principles of human nature; to lay a {269} deep and solid foundation for moral principle, to impart a moral tone to their teaching in divinity, and to expound, clearly and wisely, the arguments for the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. In the pulpit, it produced a thoughtful style of address, of which English and Irish hearers were wont to complain, as requiring from them too great a strain of thought. It fostered a habit of reasoning and discussion among educated men generally; and, through the ministers of religion and the parochial teachers, -- not a few of whom were college bred, -- it descended to the common people as a general intelligence and independence of spirit.
On literature the influence of the Scottish has not been so great as that of the German philosophy; but still it has been considerable, and altogether beneficent. All the professors paid great attention to style: they weeded out their Scotticisms with excessive care not a few of them were teachers of rhetoric; they exacted essays on the subjects lectured on, and sent forth a body of pupils capable of writing clearly and easily. Every one who has read their writings notices a style common to the whole Aberdeen school: it consists of simple sentences without strength or genuine idiom, but always limpid, calm, and graceful. It is worthy of being mentioned that, in the last quarter of the century, Edinburgh had a distinguished literary circle: embracing the historian Robertson; the preacher Blair; Mackenzie, the author of " The Man of Feeling; " such scientific men as Hutton, Black, Playfair, the Monros (father and son), and Cullen with the Gregories -- , and among them the metaphysicians, Hume, Smith, Ferguson, Monboddo, and Dugald Stewart, held a prominent place.
It has to be allowed that the original genius of Scotland was riot called forth by the Scottish philosophy, nor, it may be added, by the Scottish colleges. The truth is, it is not the province of colleges, or of education even, to produce originality: their function is to guide and refine it. Robert Burns owed little to school training, and nothing to college learning; still such a man, with so much profound sense mingling with lust and passion, could have appeared only in a state of society in which there was a large amount of intelligence. His father was a thoughtful man, with a considerable amount of reading, and {270} the mother's memory was filled with Scottish songs. After mingling in the literary circle of Edinburgh, he testifies that he had found as much intelligence and wit among the jolly bachelors of Tarbolton, as among the polished men of the capital.[76] It is to the credit of the Scottish metaphysicians,-- such as Lord Monboddo, Ferguson, and Stewart, -- that they paid the most delicate attention to the young poet when he came to Edinburgh in 1786. He strove to understand the Scottish metaphysics with {271} only imperfect success.[77] Alison's, "Essay on Taste" made known to him the theory which refers beauty to association of ideas, and Burns yields his theoretical assent, while evidently doubting inwardly. He writes: " That the martial clangor of a trumpet had something in it vastly more grand, heroic, and sublime, than the twingle-twangle of a jew's- harp; that the delicate texture of a rose-twig, when the half-blown flower is heavy with the tears of dawn, was infinitely more beautiful and elegant than the upright stalk of the burdock, and that from something innate, and independent of all association of ideas, -- these I had set down as irrefragable orthodox truths until perusing your book shook my faith." It is an interesting circumstance that young Walter Scott met with Burns in Edinburgh, in the house of Adam Ferguson, and was struck with his dark, expressive eye, and with his combined humor and pathos. Scott did not owe much more than Burns to the Scottish philosophy. But he was a pupil of Dugald Stewart's, and may have owed to him and his college training, that power of clear exposition and order by
On literature the influence of the Scottish has not been so great as that of the German philosophy; but still it has been considerable, and altogether beneficent. All the professors paid great attention to style: they weeded out their Scotticisms with excessive care not a few of them were teachers of rhetoric; they exacted essays on the subjects lectured on, and sent forth a body of pupils capable of writing clearly and easily. Every one who has read their writings notices a style common to the whole Aberdeen school: it consists of simple sentences without strength or genuine idiom, but always limpid, calm, and graceful. It is worthy of being mentioned that, in the last quarter of the century, Edinburgh had a distinguished literary circle: embracing the historian Robertson; the preacher Blair; Mackenzie, the author of " The Man of Feeling; " such scientific men as Hutton, Black, Playfair, the Monros (father and son), and Cullen with the Gregories -- , and among them the metaphysicians, Hume, Smith, Ferguson, Monboddo, and Dugald Stewart, held a prominent place.
It has to be allowed that the original genius of Scotland was riot called forth by the Scottish philosophy, nor, it may be added, by the Scottish colleges. The truth is, it is not the province of colleges, or of education even, to produce originality: their function is to guide and refine it. Robert Burns owed little to school training, and nothing to college learning; still such a man, with so much profound sense mingling with lust and passion, could have appeared only in a state of society in which there was a large amount of intelligence. His father was a thoughtful man, with a considerable amount of reading, and {270} the mother's memory was filled with Scottish songs. After mingling in the literary circle of Edinburgh, he testifies that he had found as much intelligence and wit among the jolly bachelors of Tarbolton, as among the polished men of the capital.[76] It is to the credit of the Scottish metaphysicians,-- such as Lord Monboddo, Ferguson, and Stewart, -- that they paid the most delicate attention to the young poet when he came to Edinburgh in 1786. He strove to understand the Scottish metaphysics with {271} only imperfect success.[77] Alison's, "Essay on Taste" made known to him the theory which refers beauty to association of ideas, and Burns yields his theoretical assent, while evidently doubting inwardly. He writes: " That the martial clangor of a trumpet had something in it vastly more grand, heroic, and sublime, than the twingle-twangle of a jew's- harp; that the delicate texture of a rose-twig, when the half-blown flower is heavy with the tears of dawn, was infinitely more beautiful and elegant than the upright stalk of the burdock, and that from something innate, and independent of all association of ideas, -- these I had set down as irrefragable orthodox truths until perusing your book shook my faith." It is an interesting circumstance that young Walter Scott met with Burns in Edinburgh, in the house of Adam Ferguson, and was struck with his dark, expressive eye, and with his combined humor and pathos. Scott did not owe much more than Burns to the Scottish philosophy. But he was a pupil of Dugald Stewart's, and may have owed to him and his college training, that power of clear exposition and order by