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} - .c016 { margin-top: .5em; } - div.tnotes { padding-left:1em;padding-right:1em;background-color:#E3E4FA; - border:1px solid silver; margin:2em 10% 0 10%; } - .covernote { visibility: hidden; display: none; } - div.tnotes p { text-align:left; } - @media handheld { .covernote { visibility: visible; display: block;} } - img {max-width: 100%; height:auto; } - .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; - margin: .67em auto; } - .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; - } - .symbol { height:1em; } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's The Academic Gregories, by Agnes Grainger Stewart - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Academic Gregories - -Author: Agnes Grainger Stewart - -Illustrator: Joseph Brown - -Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53601] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, MWS and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='tnotes covernote'> - -<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber's Note:</strong></p> - -<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='figleft id001'> -<img src='images/title_page_a.png' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div> - <h1 class='c001'><span class='color_red'>THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES</span></h1> -</div> - -<div class='figright id001'> -<img src='images/title_page_b.png' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='xlarge'>BY</span></div> - <div><span class='xlarge'>AGNES GRAINGER STEWART:</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'>FAMOUS</span></div> - <div><span class='large'>·SCOTS·</span></div> - <div><span class='large'>·SERIES·</span></div> - <div class='c002'>PUBLISHED BY <img src='images/title_page_c.png' alt='' class='symbol' /></div> - <div>OLIPHANT ANDERSON</div> - <div>& FERRIER·EDINBVRGH</div> - <div>AND LONDON <img src='images/title_page_d.png' alt='' class='symbol' /></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<p class='c004'>The designs and ornaments of this -volume are by Mr Joseph Brown, -and the printing is from the press of -Messrs Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>April 1901</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span> - <h2 class='c005'>PREFACE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>As far back as I can remember there hung in my father’s -study two prints, the one a mezzotint of Professor James -Gregory, and the other, inferior as a picture, but most -beautiful in its subject, an engraving of William Pulteney -Alison.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In answer to nursery enquiries as to the stories belonging -to these two pictures, there had always perforce to be -some dark facts related in connection with Dr James -Gregory, but these were kept rather in the background, -and the impression we got of him came nearer to the -incidental portrait which Robert Louis Stevenson draws -of him in ‘Weir of Hermiston.’ With William Pulteney -Alison we could, as it were, shake hands, for the story -teller could here insert a piece of real history, of how, -long ago, this man had sat beside his crib watching over -him, holding him back from the arms of Death. We -watched with him as he sat there ministering to this sick -child, keeping alive the little flicker of life, keeping the -little restless body still. ‘If he moves, he will faint,’ -Professor Alison had said. ‘If he faints, he will die.’ -Across the gap of years other children held their breath -till the little patient fell asleep.</p> - -<p class='c000'>But the most interesting fact about Gregory and Alison -to us as children was that they had both been professors -of the Practice of Physic in Edinburgh University, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>the little boy who had so nearly died now lectured in -the place of the physician who had saved his life.</p> - -<p class='c000'>This early acquaintance gave me a love for these -professors, and when I came to be asked to write a book -upon the Academic members of the old Scottish family -of Gregory, two of them at least were familiar as friends.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the preparation of my book I have received much -kindness, and I should especially like to thank Mr Philip -Spencer Gregory, of Lincoln’s Inn, Barrister-at-Law, late -Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, for the help which -he as a representative of the family was able to give me, -and also for his very interesting ‘Records of the Family of -Gregory.’ My thanks are also due to Professor Campbell -Fraser for personal introduction to sources of information, -to Mr Turner, Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the -University of Oxford, and to Mr Henry Johnstone of the -Edinburgh Academy and Mr R. S. Rait, Fellow of New -College, Oxford, who have read my proofs. I must also -record my debt of gratitude to the Editors for the great -kindness and courtesy they have shown to me.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Agnes Grainger Stewart.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary='CONTENTS'> - <tr> - <th class='c007'></th> - <th class='c008'>PAGE</th> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER I</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>The Gregories</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_9'>9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER II</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>David Gregorie of Kinairdy</span>, 1625–1720</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_19'>19</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER III</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>James Gregorie</span>, 1638–1675</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_27'>27</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IV</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>David Gregory</span>, 1661–1708</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_52'>52</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER V</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>David Gregory</span>, 1696–1767</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_77'>77</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VI</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>(1) <span class='sc'>James Gregorie</span>, 1666–1742; (2) <span class='sc'>Charles Gregorie</span>, 1681–1739; (3) <span class='sc'>David Gregorie</span>, 1712–1765</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_84'>84</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>(1) <span class='sc'>James Gregorie</span>, 1674–1733; (2) <span class='sc'>James Gregorie</span>, 1701–1755</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VIII</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>John Gregory</span>, 1724–1773</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IX</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>James Gregory</span>, 1753–1821</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_125'>125</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER X</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>William Gregory</span>, 1803–1858</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_141'>141</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td class='c009' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XI</td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Retrospect</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td> - </tr> -</table> -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span> -<img src='images/family_tree.png' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span></div> -<div class='ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c010'> - <div>THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER I<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>THE GREGORIES</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘The moon’s on the lake, and the mist’s on the brae,</div> - <div class='line'>And the clan has a name that is nameless by day.</div> - <div class='line in4'>Then gather, gather, gather Grigalach!’</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in20'><cite>The Macgregor’s Gathering</cite>—<span class='sc'>Scott</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>The able Scots family of Gregorie can trace its descent -from the Macgregors of Roro, the younger branch of the -Glenlyon family. The name Gregorie,—which is the -Saxon form of M’Gregor—had, most fortunately for its -owners, been assumed before 1603, the darkest time in -the annals of that clan. The proscription which then -fell upon everyone bearing the name of M’Gregor could -not touch the Gregories; but the change of name, which -saved them from the penalties that fell so heavily upon -their Highland cousins could not and did not alter their -natures, and all the Gregories, with perhaps the single -exception of the Dean of Christ Church, were at heart -M’Gregors. Nothing that civilisation, education, wealth -and society could do to modify their disposition was -able entirely to obliterate in them the warlike character -of their Highland forefathers. We remember this, and -when in the nineteenth century we see a learned professor -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>of the Practice of Physic beating his fellow-professor in -Edinburgh University quadrangle, we know that he was -not really James Gregory but James M’Gregor.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The claim of the Gregories to recognition in Scottish -biography does not rest on the outstanding genius of any -individual member of the family, so much as on the -number of great and brilliant men belonging to it, who -have, in their day, formed and educated generations of -the youth of Scotland. From the middle of the seventeenth -century to the middle of the nineteenth century, -with a gap of only a few years, some of the Gregorie connection -were professing either mathematics or medicine in -one or other of the Scottish universities. They were great -teachers, lucid, clear-sighted and advanced in their views, -and naturally leaders of men. Galton, in his book on -<cite>Hereditary Genius</cite>, in which he ‘endeavoured to speak -of none but the most illustrious names,’ cites the Gregories -as a striking example of hereditary scientific gifts. He -considers that the mathematical power came into the -family with Janet Anderson, who married the Rev. John -Gregorie, parish minister of Drumoak in the year 1621. -From these two are descended no less than fourteen -professors, and as there is no record of special power -in the Gregorie family till we come to the sons of -John Gregorie, it may be taken for granted that the -ability came from the Andersons, who were distinguished -in the foregoing generations.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Janet Anderson was the daughter of David Anderson of -Finzeach, in Aberdeenshire; a man who was possessed of -such universal talent that he was popularly called ‘Davie -do a’ thing.’ Two of his deeds come down to posterity; -the one, the building of St Nicholas steeple in Aberdeen, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>upon which he himself is said to have placed the weather-cock; -and the other, the removal of a great boulder, called -Knock Maitland, which lay in the entrance to Aberdeen -harbour and endangered the passage of every ship sailing -in or out. This he removed by placing chains under it at -low tide, and fastening them to a huge raft, which at high -tide lifted up the rock and carried it out to the open sea.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Janet Anderson’s near kinsman was the Professor of -Mathematics in the University of Paris, and she herself -was a great mathematician and is said to have taught her -sons. If that was the case, one at least of her pupils did -her great credit, for her younger son, James, lived to take -a foremost place among the mathematicians of his day, -and to be the inventor of the Gregorian Telescope.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1621, when the Rev. John Gregorie married Janet -Anderson, he was the minister of Drumoak, a remote -parish on the Dee, where in peaceful times he might have -fulfilled his quiet duties with little to disturb him. Towards -the end of the first half of the seventeenth century, -however, Scotland was in a ferment, and in a state of civil -and religious turmoil which made itself felt throughout the -land. In Aberdeenshire, both the clergy and the laity -were in sympathy rather with Laud and Prelacy than with -Henderson and Presbytery. This brought them into -violent collision with the party in power, and among the -rural clergy there were few names more distasteful to the -Covenanters than the name of John Gregorie. When -therefore in 1639, the government sent an army to coerce -refractory Aberdeenshire, he knew that he would receive no -toleration and fled, meaning to join the king at Newcastle. -The ship in which he tried to escape was boarded, and the -fugitives were made to return, and in the following year -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>Gregorie’s fears were realised, for General Monro, who was -then stationed near Aberdeen on the outlook for rebels -from the Covenant—especially rich ones—remembered -the minister of Drumoak. Spalding tells us the pitiful -story.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Upone the second day of Junij, Mr Johne Gregorie, -minister at Dalmoak, wes brocht in to Munro be ane -pairtie of soldiouris. He wes takin out of his naikit bed -upone the nicht, and his hous pitifullie plunderit. He -wes cloislie keepit in Skipper Andersonis hous haveing -fyve muskiteris watching him day and nicht, sustenit -upone his awin expensis. None, no nocht his awin wyfe -could have privie conference of him, so straitlie wes he -watchit. At last he is fynit to pay generall Major Munro -1000 merkis for his outstanding agains the covenant and -syne gat libertie to go. Bot in the Generall Assemblie -holdin in July, he wes nevertheless simpliciter deprivit, -becaus he wold not subscryve the covenant; and when -all wes done he is forst to yield, cum in and subscryve, as -ye have hierafter.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>It was not till 1641 that, at St Andrews, the Laird of -Drum’s petition for his restoration had effect; when in -token of his reinstatement, Gregorie along with his rival, -Mr Andrew Cant, was chosen to preach at the visitation -of the Presbytery of Aberdeen. This fellowship with a -man, whose qualities have been embalmed in his name, -very nearly cost him the favour of the party to which he -now belonged. Here again is Spalding’s account, <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">naïve</span> -and full of the spirit of the time.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Upone Tuysday 6<sup>th</sup> September, Mr Johne Gregorie, -minister at Dulmoak at the visitatioun of the Kirk of New -Abirdene teichit most lernidlie upone the 4<sup>th</sup> verss of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>2<sup>nd</sup> chapdour to the Collosians, and reprehendit the order -of our Kirk and new brocht in poyntes. Mr Andrew -Cant, sitting besyde the reidar, as his use was, offendit at -this doctrein, quicklie cloissit the reidaris buke, and laid -down the glass befoir it wes run, thinking the minister -sould the sooner mak an end; bot he beheld and -preichit half ane hour longer nor the tyme. Sermon -endit the bretheren convenis to their visitatioun, quhair -Mr Andrew Cant impugnit this doctrein, desyring the said -Mr Johne to put the samen in wreit, who answerit, he -wold not only wreit bot print his preiching, if neid so -requirit, and baid be all what he had teichit as orthodox -doctrien. The bretheren hard all and had their owne -opiniouns, and but ony more censure they disolvit, sumwhat -perturbit with Cantis curiositie. Upone Thuirsday, -he raillit out in his sermon aganes the said Mr Johne -Gregorie’s doctrein, and on Sunday likwais. At last, be -mediatioun of the toune’s balleis at a coup of wyne, they -twa war satled with small credet to Cantis bussines.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Though Gregorie was not censured by the whole body -of the clergy in 1642, as there seems little doubt Mr Cant -had intended, he was not absolutely free from anxiety. -No doubt life went smoothly enough with him at times, for -he amassed quite a large fortune. The estates of Kinairdy -and Netherdale were given to him on the insolvency -of the Crichtons in satisfaction of £3,800 which he had -lent to them; and his wife on her part had succeeded on -her father’s death to a portion of the estates of Finzeach. -The land brought its sorrow with it, and passed out of the -hands of the family again, but that was afterwards.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1649 John Gregorie was once more deposed, and -for the last time. The Synod recommended that he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>should be reinstated, but he did not long survive this -recommendation. He died in 1650, and was buried at -Drumoak.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Among the slaty monuments in the churchyard there -is none that bears the name of John Gregorie. Two -hundred and fifty years have obliterated what must once -have been written, and the Dee is gaining ground from -the graveyard at every time of spate. The old church -stands and the manse, which has been turned into a -farmhouse, but that is all.</p> - -<p class='c000'>There is a memorial of John Gregorie and his wife in a -mortification for the education and maintenance of ten -poor orphans ‘within the said Burgh’ of Aberdeen.</p> - -<p class='c000'>John Gregory left three sons, Alexander, who was -served heir to his father’s very considerable property -in 1651, David, known as David of Kinairdy, and -James, the great professor of astronomy. His two -daughters, Margaret and Janet, were both married, the -latter to Thomas Thomson of Faichfield.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Loving and generous, as no one who reads about -Alexander Gregorie can doubt that he was, he would -yet barely have been included in this book, if it had -not been for his terrible death, which made the family -estates fall into the hands of his younger brother. -Kinairdy and Netherdale, which had been allotted by -law to his father on the bankruptcy of the Crichtons, -were too much favoured by their former possessors to -be relinquished without disturbance into the hands of -their rightful owners. The Crichtons harried Alexander -Gregorie, and that so frequently, that he was obliged -at last in 1660 to seek the shelter of the law. James, -second Viscount Frendraught, took no notice of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>summons to appear at court, and so was outlawed, but -this sentence was remitted upon his giving security (in -a bond of £40,000 Scots or £3,333, 6s. 8d. sterling) -to keep the peace and to appear before the Privy Council -to answer the charges made against him. Bonds such as -this succeeded each other, till the final outbreak which -occurred on the 7th of March 1664. Then with the -shed blood of Alexander Gregorie came peace, but at -what a cost. In the records of the Justiciary Court -there is a description of the murder, which somehow -belies its dusty origin, and sounds as if some old -Aberdeenshire gossip were telling the tale with real -enjoyment over her peat fire.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘It is of veritie that the said James, Viscount of -Frendraught and the said James Crichtoun of Kinairdy, -and Frances Crichtoun his sone, having unjustlie conceaved -ane deidlie hatred and cruell malice against -umq<sup>le</sup> Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> Gregorie of Netherdeall and the said -Frances Crichtoun having upon the sevent day of March -last by-past rancountered with the said Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> Gregorie -at the hous of Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> Gairdine minister at Forge, -the said Frances treacherouslie inveited and desyred -the said Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> to goe alongs with him from the said -hous, which he fearing no harme did, and as they went -alongs the said Frances Crichtone without any provocatione -(of) foirthought, felony and precogitat malice drew -his sword and rane at the said umq<sup>le</sup> Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> Gregorie -thinking to have killed him at one thrust; but the said -umq<sup>le</sup> Mr Alex<sup>r</sup>, everting the stroak and closing with him, -not offering to doe him any prejudice at all, the said -James Duffus drew his sword and stroke at the said -umq<sup>le</sup> Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> whereat his horse running away and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>said Frances mounting on his horse, he divers times ran -upon the said umq<sup>le</sup> Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> and wounded him in his -arme, whereupon the said umq<sup>le</sup> Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> yielded himself -prisoner to the said Frances and delivered to him his -sword being requyred be him sua to doe, hoping that -his honour would therrupon have obliged him to have -desisted from all furder trubling and assalting him, but -upon the contrair the said Frances baislie and treacherouslie -with the assistance of the said James Duffus his -servant persewed him more eagerlie than befoir, fyred -pistolls at him, gave him several wounds in his breast and -head to the effusione of his blood in great quantitie and -then caused him to mount up behind the said James -Duffus and caryed him to the hous of George Morisone -of Boignie, and putt him in ane chamber wherein the -said James Viscount of Frendraught was lodged and then -the said Frances Crichtone left him and upon the morne, -being the last day of March last by past, about thrie -hours in the morning, the said Frances Crichtone accompanied -with Walter Henry, gairdiner at Frendraught, -William Innes yr., George Mearns yr., Rob Tarres yr., -James Howie, sone to Georg Howie in Tounslie, and the -said James Duffus all in armes cam to the said hous -of Boignie, where the said umq<sup>le</sup> Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> Gregorie was -lying bleeding in his wounds, they and the said James -Viscount of Frendraught and George Forbes his servant -efter many baise and opprobious threatenings uttered be -them against the said umq<sup>le</sup> Mr Alex<sup>r</sup> did most inhumanly -and barbarouslie dragg him out of his bed as he was -lying bleiding in his wounds, and that without cloak, hat, -or shoves, or bootts, and did cast him overthwart ane -hors, upon his breast, his head and armes hanging on the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>ane syd and his leggs on the other syd and so caryed him -away in ane cold and stormy morneing to George Yong’s -hous in Coanloch being ane obscure place and myles -distant from the said hous of Boignie where they keiped -him prisoner ... in his wounds be the space of threi -days, <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">tanquam in privato carcere</span></i>; and then, deserting and -leaving him, he was upon the threttein day of the said -month by the help of some friends caryed to the burgh of -Aberdeine, where he lay languishing of the said wounds and -the bad usage which he had receaved of the foir-named -persons, and then dyed of the samyne and sua was cruelly -and unnaturally killed and murdered be them; of which -murder under trust, at least slaughter committed upone -precogitat malice and forethought felony, as also of the -said usurpatione of His Majestie’s authority in takeing and -apprehending unwarrantably ane frie leidge, the foirsaids -persons and ilk ane of them, as also the said James -Crichtoune of Kinairdie by whose instigation and hunding -out the foirsaids crymes of slaughter upon foirthought -felony and precogitat malice and usurpation of His -Majestie’s authoritie were committed and are actors airt -and pairt, and the samyne being found be ane assize they -aught to be punyshed theirfor in their persons and goods -to the terour and example of utheris to commit the lyk -heirafter.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Surely this was not a case for the King’s leniency; yet -because Francis Crichtone was a Roman Catholic, and -favoured by the Duke of York, a warrant came from -His Majesty for the suspension of the trial of Francis -Crichtone.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Compeired Mr George Mackenzie advocate, and produced -ane letter from His Majestie directed to the Justice -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>General and Justice depute whereof the tenor follows, -Superscribed Charles R. Whereas we are informed that -Alexander Gregorie did not die of the wounds alleged to -have been given him by Frances Crichtone now prisoner -at Edinburgh, these are to require you to suspend that -criminal process against Frances Crichtone until we shall -hear further concerning that business from our Privy -Council at their next meeting in June, for which this shall -be your warrand. Given at our Court at Whitehall the -13<sup>th</sup> day of May 1664 and of our reign the 16<sup>th</sup> year by -His Majestie’s command.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Sic subitur Lauderdaill.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘To our right trustie and right well-beloved cousin and -counselloure and to our trusty and well-beloved our Justice -General or Justice Depute.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>James Crichtone of Kinairdy and Viscount Frendraught -were acquitted at the trial, the assistants at the murder -were ‘put to His Majestie’s horn, and all their goods forfeit.’ -As for Francis Crichtone, the principal in this -affair, having procured the postponement of his trial, he -escaped from the Tolbooth Prison; and after another -futile attempt on the part of the Gregories to secure a -trial, he obtained a pardon under the Great Seal in -1682.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER II<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>DAVID GREGORIE OF KINAIRDY, 1625–1720</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Not skill alone of ear and eye</div> - <div class='line'>Was yours, but something more—a heart.’</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in24'>—<cite>Echoes and After-thoughts.</cite></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>David Gregorie, the second son of the Reverend John -Gregorie, was destined by his father for a commercial -career. Alexander, his elder brother, as we have seen, -was heir to the estates of Kinairdy and Netherdale, and -to a good deal of money: the young brother James was -so remarkable a mathematician that he was allowed to -follow his own bent and devote himself purely to mathematics. -But David, poor David, most unwilling to go, -was sent to Holland to learn to be a merchant, probably -to Campvere, the happy haven to which so many Scots -traders turned. Herrings and stockings—the great -Aberdeen exports of the day—how we can imagine David -Gregorie seeing to the unlading of such cargo as this, -with his heart and very likely his head far away in Scotland! -Anyhow he did not stay a day longer in Holland -than was necessary, for after his father’s death he returned -home and settled in Aberdeen in 1655. In the same -year he married Jean, daughter of Patrick Walker of -Orchiston, a great Episcopalian, and also a great -Tory.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>David Gregorie was only thirty, and the best of life was -still before him. He spent his time in just such a way as -attracted him. He studied medicine, mechanics, mathematics -and physics, read every interesting book within his -reach, and corresponded with scientific contemporaries -both in Scotland and out of it. His letters, full of -thoughts about the atmospheric laws, went to Edmé -Mariotte in his cell. He may have got some help from -them—certainly Gregorie was immensely interested in the -Frenchman’s discoveries.</p> - -<p class='c000'>His life was enriched by many delightful friendships, -but more than all by the affection shewn to him by his -brothers and expressed in so many practical ways. In -1660 Alexander settled the property of Over Aschalache -on David and his family, subject to the life-rent of old -Mrs Gregorie. It was a most kind arrangement, and -must have been a great help in providing for the growing -family. Three years later he was made librarian of King’s -College, and there he spent his time, reading and searching -and arranging in the dreamy way of an old world -librarian. But life, which is so fearfully unknown, held -in it for David Gregorie in 1664 that which was to alter -his whole career. By the tragic death of his brother, who -left no children, all the family estates passed to him, and -he became suddenly a rich man. He left Aberdeen, and -went to live in the mansion-house of Kinairdy, with which -his name is now always associated.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Few people pass through the remote parish of Marnoch, -which lies on the borders of Banffshire and Aberdeenshire, -but those who do are most certainly rewarded. The -Deveron, not so well known as the Dee, still keeps a -charm of loneliness for those who love her, and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>burns are browner than in the southland. By such a -burn was Kinairdy built, on a little promontory where -the stream joins the Deveron. When I asked to see -Kinairdy, I was told ‘There’s nothing to see there, -only the old tower down by the river,’ but the old -tower was enough for me, and packed full of memories. -To this old house it was that David Gregorie took his -wife and children in 1664. We get occasional glimpses -of him as he passes about the country, at one time -laughed at by his neighbours for his total ignorance of -farming, while at another, in a case of illness, they would -eagerly wait for his coming, with a feeling as if life and -death were in his hands. Sometimes no doubt it was so, -and to rich and poor alike he would go, giving his advice -gratuitously for the love of doctoring, and because he was -benevolent.</p> - -<p class='c000'>This medical skill of his stood him in good stead on -one occasion, when a deputation of ministers called upon -him to answer for himself on the charge of being a wizard. -There were dread stories abroad concerning him, how, by -having sold his soul to the Devil, he was able to foretell -the weather (what a thing to sell your soul for in Scotland!) -how, after days of sunshine, he could predict rain -and sure enough the rain would come, and he might make -it go on raining for weeks through his intercourse with -the powers of darkness. Poor Gregorie, face to face with -his accusers, went through the little crowd of his children, -and brought in the familiar spirit, which was only a barometer, -tried to explain how it worked, asked them to -examine it (which I do not believe any of them would do), -and won them over to his side by his sheer lovableness. -After all, who was to doctor them with the skill of David -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>Gregorie if he were burned for a wizard? So the kind -doctor was left to his home and his work. The ministers -did not understand his defence, but there was not one of -them who could not remember how, with some well-chosen -simple, he had healed one of their dear ones in the hour -of need.</p> - -<p class='c000'>As his sons and daughters grew up, Gregorie found it -more and more impossible to get the quiet which he so -much wanted for his work. His patients and his children -between them were taking up all his leisure. In these -circumstances he determined to rearrange his hours. He -retired early to bed, and rising about two in the morning, -worked for a few hours in the stillness of the night. -When that was over, he went to sleep till he felt rested. -If these nocturnal habits were known to the deputation -that waited upon him, there was some excuse for their -fears. What more alarming than the shadows in the -room! The midnight crucible and the sulphurous smell -were not there, but it must be admitted that the Laird -of Kinairdy loved the hours of darkness better than the -day.</p> - -<p class='c000'>David Gregorie had twenty-nine children. Fifteen of -them were the children of his first wife, and fourteen the -children of his second. Nine of them died as quite little -babies, but twenty grew to be older; and so, though everyone -says, that it was remarkable for Kinairdy to have -three sons professors of mathematics, it must be allowed -that he had a most unusual number of children to choose -from!</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the pedigree of the family of Gregorie in Mr Philip -Spencer Gregory’s book, from which the table of the professors -is for the most part taken, it is seen that David, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>Professor of Mathematics in Edinburgh, and later of -Astronomy in Oxford, Isabel, the grandmother of Professor -Innes of Aberdeen, and James, Professor of -Mathematics at St Andrews and Edinburgh, were the -children of the first marriage; while Margaret, the mother -of Thomas Reid, and Charles, Professor of Mathematics -in St Andrews, were of the second marriage.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Jean Walker was probably a cleverer woman than -Isabel Gordon, Gregorie’s second wife. In the first -place she converted her husband to Episcopacy and -Toryism, and secondly, her son David was much the -most brilliant of the Kinairdy children. To him it -was, when he was working as Savilian professor at -Oxford, that old Kinairdy confided a model of an -improved cannon, which in his enthusiasm to improve -the munitions of war, he had designed in his peaceful -home by the Deveron. His son, who thought it most -ingenious, showed it to Sir Isaac Newton, and the great -philosopher evidently agreed with him; but to invent -an instrument, the only object of which was to kill -better than any cannon in use, seemed to him a fearful -abuse of ingenuity. The horrors of Marlborough’s wars, -where men were slaughtered by the thousand, were they -not enough as it was? Who could deserve mercy from -his Maker if he were to bid god-speed to such a terrible -machine? Sir Isaac asked the professor to destroy the -model, which he did, and the little toy which may have -been a gatling gun, for aught we know, was broken in -pieces.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Old David Gregorie, who had been preparing to join -the allies in Flanders, to see his cannon in use, bore -his disappointment most sweetly. Perhaps Newton was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>right, he thought, for although he had meant to help his -fellow-countrymen, the invention would soon be known to -the enemy, and the Gregorie gun be levelled against his -compatriots.</p> - -<p class='c000'>There seems to be something almost pitiful about the -end of David Gregorie’s life. Kinairdy was made over -to his son, the Savilian professor at Oxford, the sweet -old house forsaken, the rooms in which such merry life -had been lived, deserted, and the flowers from which the -gentle herbalist had drawn so many healing virtues, left -to die. It would be best to think that he returned to -Aberdeen at the call of King’s College, which ‘Beautified -with bells within, without decked with a diadem,’ is said -to ring her sons back to her before they die. But there -were probably other reasons, and more potent ones. -His children had to be provided for, and his wife, -shrewd and not poetical (or else how could she have -been a Hanoverian?) thought of all that her brother, -the Provost of Aberdeen, had in his power, and she -knew he could do much and would do much for her -children, so they set up house once more in the old -town of Aberdeen.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1715 comes another turmoil, a flitting, almost a -flight across the North Sea to Holland, to be out of the -difficulties of conflicting hopes and fears, to be out of the -country, to take at least no part against the Stuarts, -whom we suspect Kinairdy of loving in his secret heart. -Likely enough they may have offered him bribes, and a -title in the coming kingdom, but there was another -counsellor nearer and dearer to him, and with her and -his children he sought the shelter of a foreign land. -Two or three years passed before they returned to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>Scotland. They were content to wait till the storm -was past. When they came back Gregorie’s life was -nearly over. He died in 1720, an old man of ninety-five.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c012'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘And in his story still remains</div> - <div class='line'>A distant memory of life’s loss and gains,</div> - <div class='line'>A starlit picture of his joy and pains.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>A visit to his widow, who was Thomas Reid’s grandmother -was described by her grandson in after years in a -letter to James Gregory, Professor of Medicine in Edinburgh. -‘I found her,’ he says, ‘old and bedridden, -but I never saw a more ladylike woman. I was now and -then called into her room, when she sat upon her bed, or -entertained me to sweetmeats and grave advices. Her -daughters, who visited her, as well as one who lived with -her, treated her as if she had been of superior rank, -and indeed her appearance and manner commanded -respect. She and all her children were zealous presbyterians, -the first wife’s children were Tories and -Episcopalians.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>But to return to what interests us about David Gregorie -of Kinairdy, in connection with his many professorial sons -and other kindred, he was a great lover of science, and a -worker to whom all scientific matter came home to stay. -His mathematical and mechanical gifts, great as they were—and -we know he was far advanced in meteorological -studies—were not to be compared with the power which -he had, and which now appears for the first time in the -Gregorie family—the inborn gift of doctoring. He had -no training except what he gave himself, but he could no -more help being a physician, than his brother Professor -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>James could help his incessant work at mathematics. -David and James Gregorie were the children of their -mother far more than of their father; who, good as he probably -was, is, we must confess, just a little dull. Yes, -Janet Anderson, you have lived again for us in your sons!</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER III<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>JAMES GREGORIE, 1638–1675</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘He learned the art</div> - <div class='line'>In Padua far beyond the sea.’</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in24'>—<span class='sc'>Scott</span>, <cite>Lay</cite> 1, xi.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>James Gregorie, the third son of the minister of -Drumoak, was certainly the cleverest member of that -family. He was so clever that no one had any time to -tell anything about him, except his achievements in pure -mathematics and in the science of optics; and indeed -from his earliest days his love for mathematics was such, -that his pretty mother unwilling to wait till her boy was -able to go to school taught him herself all she knew of -geometry, sending him away when the time came to the -Grammar School of Aberdeen already far ahead of his -class. He studied at Marischal College, and took his -degree (laureated is the pleasant Scottish word) along -with Gilbert Burnet, the readable if imaginative historian, -with whom likely enough he did not find much in common, -representing as they almost did fact and fancy. -Now their portraits hang side by side in the Picture -Gallery—Gregorie’s grey and grave and stern, with an -indication of what he was in the mathematical globe by -his side—Burnet’s less severe, satisfied with himself, and -a most prosperous portrait.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>After the graduation James Gregorie gave himself up to -his studies, and before he was twenty-four made his great -discovery of the Reflecting Telescope. It was not a chance -discovery, for indeed he only described, and never saw -put together, the telescope which bears his name. Anyone -can see them nowadays, for they are still used, and the -beautiful one set up by James Short in Edinburgh, is as -clear as the day it was made, and is not used now, only -because a commoner one can do the work which it did -for so many years in the Royal Observatory. To the -uninitiated it has a great merit, for things present themselves -through it as they appear to the naked eye, and not -upside down as is the case with most of the great -telescopes.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1663, his book entitled <cite>Optica Promota</cite>, which -contained a description of his telescope, was published -in London, and thither Gregorie went, hoping that by the -assistance of a practical workman he might realise his -ideal.</p> - -<p class='c000'>His book had been much read by mathematicians, and -amongst others by John Collins, the Secretary to the Royal -Society. We can picture then the mutual pleasure with -which these two men met. It was in an alehouse, where -possibly the jolly tavern keeper took the Aberdonian -through the fumes of his stuffy parlour, and presented -him to Master Collins as a likely friend for him; anyway, -this was the beginning of a life-long friendship, -and Collins, who had realised at once what a possibility -lay in the proposed reflecting telescope, determined to -have a glass made on the principles which Gregorie had -suggested in his book. With this object in view, he took -his new Scottish friend to the most skilled glass-grinder -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>in London, but, alas! in vain. Mr Reeves could not -overcome the difficulty of obtaining conoidal reflectors, -but to the great mathematicians of that day, and it was -a day of giants, the discovery was magnificent, and from -the hands of astronomy’s master craftsman, the reflecting -telescope emerged in 1668 in a more beautiful form, as -Newton’s telescope.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Before Gregorie’s time, the telescopes in England were -many of them immensely long, going up even to three -hundred feet, and at this length they were hardly available -for scanning the heavens. The new reflector brought the -size down to six or nine feet, and the idea was so ingenious, -that it made Gregorie famous, and what was more, opened -the door for him to friendship with Newton and Collins, -to acknowledgment as an original worker by Huygens, -and awakened in the Father of the Catholic Church an -apprehension that one Gregorie, a Scot and a heretic, -might come to deserve the spiritual blight which he is -empowered to give in placing a book on the Index! It -was not so very long before, that Galileo—an earlier -maker of telescopes—had been accused by the learned -scribes and pharisees of his day, of magic. ‘Oh, my -dear Kepler,’ says Galileo to his brother astronomer in -one of his most amusing letters, ‘how I wish that we -could have one hearty laugh together! Here at Padua -is the principal professor of philosophy, whom I have -repeatedly and earnestly requested to look at the moon -and planets through my glass, which he pertinaciously -refuses to do. Why are you not here? What shouts of -laughter we should have at this glorious folly, and to hear -the professor of philosophy in Pisa labouring before the -Grand Duke with logical arguments, as with magical incantations, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>to charm the new planets out of the sky!’ -It is well that Galileo laughed at this stage of his life; -when he fell into the hands of the Inquisition it became -no laughing matter, and even after he had renounced his -views, he was subjected to many griefs, and to a long -incarceration in an Italian prison.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the fifty years which intervened between Galileo and -James Gregorie, Louis, the great monarch of France, had -taken science under his care, so the Inquisition was no -longer available as a means of preventing the spread of -original thought, and Gregorie, unsuspecting of the pope’s -attitude towards him, went to very Padua itself, and -stayed there for three years.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Padua, with its still colonnades and drowsy population, -is visited now, not in the eager search for learning, but -because of the pale frescoes with which Giotto had gifted -it long before Gregorie was there, but in the seventeenth -century, what other attractions drew men thither! Then -such men as Riccioli, Manfredi and De Angelis were -drawing the erudite from far and near to sit at their feet. -Such men as Manfredi and De Angelis, who were they? -Alas! they, the great mathematical champions of their -day, have passed into oblivion, and are only remembered -now, even in Padua, by the work of the masons who -carved their names on the walls of the University.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c012'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘In thine halls the lamp of learning</div> - <div class='line'>Padua, now no more is burning;</div> - <div class='line'>Like a meteor, whose wild way</div> - <div class='line'>Is lost over the grave of day,</div> - <div class='line'>It gleams betrayed and to betray:</div> - <div class='line'>Once remotest nations came</div> - <div class='line'>To adore that sacred flame,</div> - <div class='line'>When it lit not many a hearth</div> - <div class='line'>On this cold and gloomy earth;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>Now new fires from Antique light</div> - <div class='line'>Spring beneath the wide world’s might:</div> - <div class='line'>But their spark lies dead in thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Trampled out by tyranny.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>As for Gregorie, he was at variance with Riccioli, De -Angelis and Manfredi, and though we have only negative -evidence, we hope that he was at one with the other great -teachers of his time in Italy. <cite>Optica Promota</cite> had been -much read on the Continent, and there the suggestion -which he made that the solar parallax might be determined -by the transit of Venus and Mercury had been -accepted, and till a few years ago it was the method employed -in finding out the distance of the sun. But after -all, the most beautiful piece of Gregorie’s work was his -telescope. ‘It consists of a parabolic concave speculum -with a hole in its centre, having near its focus a small -elliptic concave speculum. The image formed by the -large parabolic speculum is received by the small elliptical -one, and reflected through the aperture in the former -upon a lens which magnifies it.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>In Padua his work took a more purely mathematical -turn, and resulted in a book ‘pursuing a hint suggested -by his own thoughts,’ of which he had only a few copies -printed. It was entitled <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Vera Circuli et Hyperboles -Quadratura</span></cite>, and Montucla in writing of it says that the -title is misleading, and that the author does not claim, -except approximately, through his infinite converging series -to find the square of a circle or hyperbola. Collins, -to whom a copy was sent, read part of it before the -Royal Society. Lord Brouncker and Dr Wallis were -enthusiastic in its praise, and under such encouragement -Gregorie published it along with some fresh matter under -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>the title of <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Geometriae Pars Universalis inservieus Quantitatum -Curvarum Transmutationi et Mensurae</span></cite>. The book -came out in Padua with the permission of the State of -Venice, and was a great success. Before its publication -the Royal Society showed their appreciation of it by making -Gregorie a Fellow.</p> - -<p class='c000'>This was in January 1668; in March he was still in -Padua, but in all the confusion of departure, and not long -after he returned to Scotland, and back to his much loved -Aberdeenshire, where happiness was awaiting him on all -sides. There was Kinairdy to visit with its many charms, -and there was Aberdeen, and at Elrick there was a cousin -who was after all, it is easy to guess, the end of his journey. -This was Mary Burnet, the widow of John Burnet, -who to his great joy consented to become his wife, and -was married to him in 1669.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The astronomer found love-making dreadfully time-consuming, -and vaguely regretted it. You see, it was apt -to interrupt his correspondence with Huygens and Halley, -with Newton and Collins, with Dr Wallis and Lord -Brouncker. Here is a pathetic letter from him written -in the early part of the year to one of his mathematical -correspondents—‘I have several things in my head as yet -only committed to memory, neither can I dispose of myself -to write them in order and method till I have my -mind free from other cares.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>His wife was only twenty-three, although this was her -second marriage, and even when after Mr Gregorie’s -death she married Mr Ædis, she was still young and -very beautiful. A rare piece of her work remains in the -tapestries which adorn the Magistrates’ Gallery in St -Nicholas Church in Aberdeen. Susannah and Jephtha’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>daughter were her subjects, and there they are still, -looking out of their panels, from the midst of their -beautiful blue and green landscapes, with the rigid -uncertainty of tapestry portraits. Bailie Burnet would -have been proud if he could have foreseen what a -combination of ecclesiastical and civic honour was to -fall to his wife’s needlework.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Mrs Gregorie’s father, George Jameson the artist, drew -the pictures for her. Walpole called him the ‘Van Dyck -of Scotland,’ though it is difficult to know why, as there is -really no resemblance in their work, but at least Jameson -and Van Dyck were friends in Rubens’ studio, and the -kindly appreciation of his fellow-citizens has remembered -and repeated the phrase.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1670, James Gregorie was appointed to the Chair -of Mathematics in St Andrews, where he had a successful -if sometimes vexed life. His duties were to deliver -two lectures a week, and to answer any mathematical -questions that might be set before him. ‘I am now -much taken up,’ he writes in May, 1671, ‘and have been -so all this winter by-past, both with my public lectures, -which I have twice a week, and resolving doubts, which -some gentlemen and scholars propose to me. This I -must comply with, nevertheless that I am often troubled -with great impertinences, all persons here being ignorant -of these things to admiration. These things do so hinder -me, that I have but little time to spend on these studies -my genius leads me to.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>He lived near the beautiful cathedral and almost under -the shadow of St Regulus, and there his name is still remembered -in Gregorie’s Lane and Gregorie’s Place. He -worked in the long, many-windowed library, where the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>clock which he used is still at work, and where it has -been keeping time these two hundred years, since -Huygens, who invented the use of the pendulum in -clocks, and Gregorie himself were laid at rest.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Huygens and Gregorie had a long feud about his -Paduan book. Its faults as the Dutchman thought were -lack of ‘distinguished perspicuity’ and intricacy in its -invention. But Huygens must have lived to regret his -criticisms, however well founded they were, for with a -sudden burst of the M’Gregor spirit, Professor James -sent forth a volley of answers, his official statements -through the medium of the Philosophical Transactions, -and his unofficial through his many letters. Neither his -great opponent, nor his great opponent’s allies were -spared. ‘I am not yet so much a Christian as to help -those who hurt me. I do not know (neither do I desire -to know) who calleth in that preface, Hugenius his animadversions -of November 12th 1668, judicious, but I -would earnestly desire that he would particularize (if he -be not an ignorant) in what my answer, which is contradictory -to Hugenius his animadversions is faulty; for in -geometrical matters, if anything be judicious its contradictory -must be nonsense. I do not know what need -there was for an apology for inserting my answer, but to -compliment Hugenius, and violently (if it be possible) to -bear down the truth. I imagined such actions below the -meanest member of the Royal Society, however, I -hope I may have permission to call to an account -in print the penners of that Preface.’ The account -was never called for, because Newton in the meantime, -gave the simpler solution, which Gregorie had been -declaring an impossibility, but it must be remembered -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>that Gregorie’s method although almost impossible to -any but the most clear mathematical mind, was easy to -him and was correct as far as it went. Can anyone -help loving Huygens, even though they know no more -of him than what is seen in his intercourse with -Gregorie? What graciousness and kindness was returned -in exchange for the thunderous treatment he received! -Sick, as he thought he was unto death, he suggested -Gregorie as a fit successor to him in the favour of Louis -XIV., and we find his father, who was secretary to the -Prince of Orange and a poet—the poet of the garden—similarly -occupied, trying to influence the great folk with -whom he came in contact to further Gregorie’s interests. -But in spite of the recommendation of the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Académie des -Sciences</span>, the Royal Society, and such friends as he had -at court, Gregorie never received any Royal patronage; the -want of which he took very calmly and with a great deal -of broad good sense, never having expected any other -result. ‘I have had sufficient experience in the uncertainty -of things of that nature before now, which -maketh me since I came to Scotland, how mean and -despicable so ever my condition be, to rest contented and -satisfy myself with that, that I am at home in a settled -condition by which I can live. I have known many -learned men far above me upon every account with whom -I would not change my condition.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1669 Gregorie’s books were suppressed in Italy, -which came as a shock to him, and was all the more -grievous because it deprived him of many of his most interested -readers—and controversialists! Scotland, however, -supplied the deficiency wonderfully well. There was a -professor in Glasgow called George Sinclair, a mathematician, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>and a demonologist of great repute, who wrote -a book on Hydrostatics. It was quite clever, and may -have been more interesting to the general reader than -books on Hydrostatics usually are, because of an appendix -in which some strange things were included, amongst -others, A Short History of Coal and the Story of the -Devil of Glenluce. The humour of the combination was -too much for Gregorie, and under the name of Patrick -Mathers, Arch-Bedal to the University of St. Andrews, -he wrote an answer to the scientific part of the Hydrostatics, -which he called ‘The Great and New Art of -Weighing Vanity.’ Witty, scurrilous, easily written and -easily read, the book was a great source of merriment -both to Gregorie and his colleagues at St. Andrews, and -it raised a perfect hurricane in Glasgow. The very name -was an impertinent play on the title of his antagonist’s -former book <cite>Ars nova et Magna</cite> and the fact that -Professor Sinclair was no mean adversary added zest to -the battle, which continued many days. But Professor -Sinclair had prepared an ill reception for his work by the -edict which he had had printed and sent abroad to persuade -people to order copies of it:—</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Forasmuch as there is a Book of Natural and Experimental -Philosophy in English, to be printed within these -four months, or thereabouts; wherein are contained many -excellent and new purposes: As first, Thirty Theorems, -the most part whereof were never so much as heard of -before:’ (Alas! poor professor what a beginning! And is -the ending any better!) ‘and an excellent way for knowing, -by the eye, the Sun or Moon’s motion in a second -of time, which is the 3600 part of an hour, and many -others of different kinds, useful and pleasant. These are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>therefore to give notice to all ingenious persons, who are -lovers of Learning, that if they shall be pleased to advance -Gedeon Shaw, Stationer at the foot of the Ladies Steps, -three pounds Scots, for defraying the present charges of -the said Book, they shall have from him, betwixt the date -hereof and April next to come, one of the Copies: And -for their further security in the interim the Author’s obligation -for performing the same.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Which so exposed to my masters the vanity of that -confident man, that they were forced plainly to let him -know their mind,’ wrote the Arch-Bedal, and some of his -own sentiments were expressed in a letter which he afterwards -quoted in the Preface to his book <cite>The Great and -New Art</cite> ‘Sir,—I admire exceedingly the forwardness of -your humor (I will call it no worse) in your last to -——: he is a person not concerned in you or in your -books, neither will he ignorantly commend anything, as it -seems ye expected he should have done, when ye sent him -these papers. Ye might have known long ago that he had -no veneration for what ye had formerly published, for he -made no secret of his mind, when he was put to it. Ye -may mistake him, if ye think that any by-end will cause -him speak what he thinks not: nevertheless he delivered -your commission, and was willing to be unconcerned, expecting -their answer. They pressed him to know his -judgment of your last piece: he told ingenuously the -truth, that there was none of them had less esteem for it -than himself. He hopes you are so much a Christian, that ye -will not be offended with him for speaking what he thought -when he had a call to it; and yet albeit ye seem to favour -him more than others, he hath ground to look upon himself -as one of the sophistical rabble, for they only are such -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>who condemn anything ye do, the rest of the University -continuing always learned persons. It is to no purpose -to apologize for themselves, ye take all for granted, which -ye have heard: I shall not put you to the pains of proving -it; yet it seems ye would hardly have believed it so -easily, had not your conscience told you, that they had -some reason for their judgement, which really was this -following: That they see nothing in your last piece, new -and great (albeit it be <cite>Ars nova et Magna</cite>) save errors and -nonsense; as your demonstrations of the pendulum, your -<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Nihil spatiale</span></i>, your <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Gravitas circularis</span></i>, and <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">horizontalis</span></i>, -your question “Whether or no a body may be condensed -in a point?” etc., too many to fill several letters: for ye -must not call experiments new inventions, otherwise ye -are making new inventions every day, neither must ye call -different explications new inventions, else the same thing -might be invented by almost every Writer. I admire how -ye question the R. Society; for I desire to know one -point of doctrine, which ye or they either pretend to, -concerning the weight of the air, the spring of it, or -anything else in your book, save mistakes, which was -not received by all mathematicians, and the most learned -of Philosophers many years before any of you put pen to -paper. Ye have been at much pains to prove that by experiment, -which all the learned already grant, and some -have demonstrat <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">à priori</span></i> from the principles of Geometry -and Staticks, and many <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à posteriori</span></i> from experience if -sense may be called a demonstration: yet ye are the only -man who produceth the <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Ars Nova et Magna</span></cite> when all -others are out of fashion. But more to your commendation, -it seems ye do all these wonders by Magick; for ye -have the ordinair principles of none of these Sciences: -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>Euclid is as much a stranger as reason in all your Books: -and for this <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Perque Mathematicos semper celebrabere -fastus</span></cite>! At last ye come to prove a new doctrine, which -before now was near 2000 years old, with thirty new -Theorems which must not be named because they are -of such a tender and delicat complexion that the very -naming of them will make them old. There are also -many other excellent things, which will be all new when -they were but printed yesterday. It is like some of these -dayes, we may have an <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Ars Nova et Magna</span></cite>, to prove -that a piece of lead is heavier than so much cork. I -know not wherefore ye undervalue any man, because he -hath not as great esteem for your notions as yourself: -Have not we as much freedom to speak our mind of you, -as ye have to write yours of the R. Society and the University -of Glasgow? The greatest hurt ye can do us, is -to make Dromo famulus one of our Principals. I -think it not strange that ye using only demonstrations -of sense, should admire the force of our imagination, -in affirming no method of Dyving so good as that of -Melgin. I am sure that the man Dyving for a -continual time, if he be not also of your invention, -must breath of the air; and this air must either be kept -close by itself, as in Melgin’s way, or communicat with -the air above. If the latter be your invention, I doubt -ye must also have some Chirurgical invention to apply to -your Dyver at his return, if he go to any great deepness: -If the former, it is the same with Melgin’s; and you cannot -neither any man else help it, but in circumstances -(which alters not the method) and perchance to little -purpose. As for Archimedes, I am sure he wanted no -necessary requisit to prove the weight of water in its own -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>Element. I know not what else ye intend to prove: -Always I am as sure that he had two great requisits, -which ye want; to wit, Geometry and a sound head. -As to what ye write concerning the imperfection of -Sciences; the scientifical part of Geography is so perfected, -that there is nothing required for the projection, -description and situation of a place, which cannot be -done and demonstrat. The scientifical part of opticks -is so perfected, that nothing can be required for the -perfection of sight, which is not demonstrat, albeit men’s -hands cannot reach it; and these being the objects of the -fore-said Sciences, your authority shall not persuade me -that it is altogether improper to call them perfect. In -the Hydrostaticks, it were no hard matter to branch out -all the experiments that can be made into several Classes, -of which the event and reason might perfectly be deduced, -as consectaries (I speak not here of long deductions, as -ye seem to rant) to something already published: if it be -noticed but rudely (as ye, not understanding what niceties -of proportion means, must do) only considering Motion -and Rest: And I believe there is none ignorant of this -who understands what is written in this Science. Upon -this account writing to you, I might call it perfect, albeit -I know there are many things relating to the proportion -and acceleration of the motions of fluids, which are yet -unknown, and may perchance still be. Ye shal not -think that I speak of you without ground; (for in your -<cite>Ars Magna et Nova</cite>, ye bring in your great attempts for -a perpetual motion; all which a novice of eight days -standing in Hydrostaticks would laugh at). I do not -question that this age hath many advantages beyond -former ages; but I know not any of them, it is beholden -<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>to you for: only I admire your simplicity in this. Astronomers -seek always to have the greatest intervals betwixt -Observations, and ye talk that ye will give an excellent -way for observing the Sun or Moon’s motion for a second -of time; that is to say, as if it were a great matter that -there is but a second of time betwixt your Observations. -I wonder ye tell me the eye should be added; for the -invention had been much greater had that been away. I -do confess that a good History of Nature is absolutely -the most requisite thing for learning; but it is not like -that you are fit for that purpose, who so surely believe -the miracles of the West, as to put them in print; and -record the simple meridian altitudes of Comets, and that -only to halfs of degrees or little more as worth noticing. -However, if ye do this last part concerning Coal-sinks -well, and all the rest be but an <cite>Ars Magna et Nova</cite>, -ye may come to have the repute of being more fit to -be a Collier than a Scholar. Ye might have let alone the -precarious principles and imaginary worldes of Des Cartes, -until your new inventions had made them so: For I must -tell you Des Cartes valued the History of Nature, as much -as any experimental Philosopher ever did, and perfected -it more with judicious experiments, than ye will by all -appearance do in ten ages. Ye are exceedingly misinformed, -if ye have heard that any here have prejudice -or envy against you; for there is none here speaks of -you but with pity and commiseration: neither heard -I ever of any man who commended you for what he -understood. As for your Latin Sentences, if they be -not applied to yourself, I understand them not; for -here we are printing no books, we are not sending -tickets throughout the country to tell the wonders we -<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>can do: We are going about the imployments we are -called to, and strive to give a reason for what we say. -Where then are our <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Doli et fallaciae, tabulae et testes, -sapientia ad quam putamus nos pervenisse</span></i>? etc. In -these things ye publish, ye know there is no Sophistry -but clear evidence: If ye had done such great matters -in <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Universale et ens rationis</span></cite>, ye might have had a -shift; but here ye must either particularize your inventions, -or otherwise demonstrat yourself derogatory -to the credit of the Nation: For what else is it to -confound R. Societies and Universities with <cite>Ars Magna -et Nova</cite>; and yet when ye were put to it in print, to -show your inventions, all ye could say was, that the -publisher should have reflected upon the wisdom of the -Creator, etc., so that the Poet said well of Democritus, -etc., of which I understand not the sense, except ye make -yourself the <span lang="la" xml:lang="la">summus vir</span>, and us all the Verveces. I -suppose this may be the great credit that ye say ye have -labored to gain to your nation; to wit to get us all the -honrable title of Wedders. No more at present, but -hoping this free and ingenuous Letter shal have a good -effect upon you (for I am half perswaded, that the flattery -of scorners and ignorants, hath brought you to this height -of imaginary learning) and that when ye come to yourself -ye will thank me for my pains.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I rest your humble servant.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>To this letter Professor Sinclair in his turn very pertinently -remarked, that they should not criticise his -book till they had seen it, and the St Andrews’ -teachers were convinced. But unfortunately in the -address to the reader with which Professor Sinclair’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span><cite>Hydrostaticks</cite> commences, he gave expression to his -wounded feelings.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘When this Book was first committed to the press, I -sent an intimation thereof to some of my friends, for their -encouragement to it, a practice now common, and commendable -which hath not wanted a considerable success, -as witness the respect of many worthy persons, to whom -I am oblidged. But there is a generation, that rather -than they will encourage any new invention, set themselves -by all means to detract from it and the authors of it; so -grieved are they, that ought of this kind should fall into -the hands of any, but their own. And therefore if the -Author shall give but the title of New to his invention, -though never so deservedly, they fly presently in his -throat, like so many Wild-Catts, studying either to ridicule -his work altogether—a trade that usually, the person of -weakest abilities, and most empty heads, are better at, -than learned men; like those schollars, who being nimble -in putting tricks, and impostures upon their Condisciples, -were dolts, as to their lesson, or else fall upon it with -such snarling and carping as discover neither ingenuity, -nor ingeniousness, but a sore sickness called, <em>Envy</em>.’</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>Now, indeed, now was the Arch-Bedal justified, and so -in hot haste he wrote that stinging book, which purported -to be by Patrick Mathers (the Arch-Bedal to the University -of St Andrews), but was really by Gregorie, a fact -which its erudition must have made clear to Sinclair, even -before that kind person, the mutual friend, had confided -the fact to him.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The curious thing was that with all his desire -to heap ridicule upon his adversary, Gregorie only -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>touched upon what would naturally now appear the -most vulnerable point, the passage about the Devil of -Glenluce.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the meantime the clear air of St Andrews was daily -suggesting to him how desirable a place it was in which -to teach Astronomy. At night, when he walked over the -links, the stars were so clear above him, and the hills so -inconsiderable on the horizon, that he felt that nowhere -in Scotland was there a site more suitable for an observatory. -His idea was cordially agreed to by the -University, and sufficient money had been collected by -1673 to admit of the authorities commencing their -arrangements. Accordingly Gregorie was commissioned -to proceed to the selection of the instruments needed for -the carrying out of his plan.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>‘Commission, University of St Andrews, to Mr James -Gregorie, Professor of Mathematics.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘<em>10th June 1673.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘Be it knowen to all men be these presents, Us, Rector, -Principals, Doctors, and Professors of the University of -St Andrews, under subscribing: For as much as we have -formerly taken to our serious consideration the great detriment -and losse this ancient seminary hath been at in times -past, and doeth yet sustain by the want of such proper -and necessary instruments and utensils as may serve and -conduce for the better, more solemn and famous profession, -teaching and improving of Naturall Philosophy and -the mathematical sciences, and especially for making -such observation on the Heavens and other bodys of this -Universe (as easily may be by such helps, with the great -advantage of the pure air and other accommodation of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>this place) whereby we may be enabled to keep correspondence -with learned and inquisitive persones in solide -philosophy everywhere, for the forsaid effect: And having -purposed (to be forthcoming to our duty and the encouragement -of others) to set as effectually as may be -about this laudable and necessary work, for providing the -forsaids instruments of all kynds, ane observatory, and all -other accoutrements requisite for the improvement of the -forsaid sciences, the benefite, advantage and delight of -youth to be trained up here, the honour of the Kingdom, -the reputation of our benefactors, and the lustre and -splendour of the University: Did therefore commissionat -some of our number to make application unto all persons, -whom they knew to be encouragers of learning, and -patrons to the professors thereof, representing unto them -that we were instantly upon the effectuating of the forsaid -designe, And to that end to crave their affections and -such other encouragements for the said work as they -please to bestow; And to report to us their diligence -therein, with the names of our benefactors, to the effect -this University may record them, and endeavour to -make such respectfull resentments to them and their -posterity, as becomes: giving them power to do every -other thing proper and requisit in the said affair; They -being always answerable and accountable to us anent -the premises. And whereas this our laudable designe -hath already met with such considerable encouragement -from persons of all ranks, that we have ordered Mr James -Gregorie, professor of the Mathematical Sciences here to -goe to London, and there to provide so far as the money -already received from our Benefactors will reach, such -instruments and utensils as he with advice of other -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>skilful persons shall judge most necessary and usefull for -the above mentioned design: Like as be these presents -we the under subscribers all with one consent constitute -the said Mr James our factor for the effect forsaid, Giving -and granting him our full power and ample commission -for transacting and buying the forsaid instruments in so -far as the money forsaid will extend, or as he shall be -further furnished by us upon what is to come upon our -letters and precepts for that effect: Obliging ourselves to -ratifye and approve what the said Mr James should doe -in this our commission directed to him by us during his -residence there, and to acquit and relieve him of all -prejudice he may incur and sustain in execution of this -our commission, or any other commission sent by us to -him during his residence there: And to take notice of -the fabric and form of the most competent observatorye -that ours here intended may be builded with all its -advantages: And also considering the intended work to -be of such moment and expenss, that we ar not able -to accomplish it with the contributions of these only -who have already listed themselves encouragers of it; -Therefore we also by these presents do nominat and -constitute the said Mr James Gregorie our factor and -special mandator for making application unto all whom -he knows to be favourers of learning for their concurrence -unto the advancement of the forsd work with full power -to do everything proper and requisit in this affair, as -others formerly employed therein have been impowered -by us to do, He being in like manner accountable to us -anent the premisses. As witness these presents, written -by William Sanders, one of our number, clerk for the -time, and subscrived with our hands in the University -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>Hall, on the 10th day of June J. m. vjc. seventy three -years.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c012'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>D. Will Comrie, <em>Provost of St Marie’s Colledge</em></div> - <div class='line'>Ja. Rymer</div> - <div class='line'>Edw. Thomson</div> - <div class='line'>Ja. Strachane</div> - <div class='line'>Jo. Comrie</div> - <div class='line'>And. Bruce, <em>Rector</em>.</div> - <div class='line'>D. Geo. Weemss, <em>Provost of the Old Colledge</em>.</div> - <div class='line'>D. James Weemss, <em>Principal of St Leonard’s Colledge</em>.</div> - <div class='line'>Jo. Hay.</div> - <div class='line'>Alex<sup>r</sup>. Grant.</div> - <div class='line'>Alex<sup>r</sup>. Skene.</div> - <div class='line'>W. Sanders.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>Professor James Gregorie in his search for funds went -to Aberdeen, and there he achieved what was quite the -most wonderful success of his life—he got a church-door -collection in all the churches in Aberdeen to provide for -astronomical instruments at St Andrews. Rob Roy need -never have taken to the high hand, if he had a tongue -at all as persuasive as his great cousin!</p> - -<p class='c000'>Here are the Burgh Records for 15th October 1673.<a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c014'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. </span>Ane collection to be at the Kirk Dores for the Observatorie at -Saint Andrews.</p> -</div> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘<em>15th Oct. 1673.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘The said day, Master Alexander Skene, ane of the -regents of Saint Andrewes signifying to the councell that -Master James Gregorie, professor of Mathematics ther, -that ther was ane considerable work intendit in that airt, -which before being brought to ane perfectione woulde -stand considerable moneyes and that severall incorporations -and Universities hade contribuit therto, and seeing -the said professor was ane town’s man heir, it was expectit -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>by all concernit, and humblie desyrit be him, that this -burgh wold contribute to the furtherance of the said work: -All which the councell considering, finds it incumbent -upon them not to be wanting for advancement of the said -effair in so far as they are lyable, and therfor appoynts -ane collectione to be at the Kirk dores ... the nixt or -subsequent Lord’s day for the forsaid effect....’</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>Things were going very smoothly—success was absolutely -fawning upon Gregorie—he was getting money -as he wanted it, and the instruments he had bought were -entirely to his mind; but on his return from London, -where he had gone to fulfil his commission, he found -everything changed, and his colleagues, who had once -been so kindly to him, had ceased to regard him as their -friend. He was in the curious situation of being paid by -all three colleges, and that in itself would make his -position somewhat difficult, but this difficulty had always -existed. The real cause of dissension was that in his -absence the students had been making popular demonstrations -against some of the other teachers, and citing -his lectures as opposed to the theories propounded by -them. It was most uncomfortable for everybody, and -everyone in authority determined to make it most uncomfortable -of all for Gregorie. His salary was suspended, -the university servants were told to take no notice of his -orders, and the students were commanded not to attend -his lectures, for certainly the mathematics as taught by -him had turned their heads, they had shown distinct signs -of madness. The attitude of the professors was not -unlike that taken up by the country doctor, who when -asked to fill in a form, certifying one of his patients to be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>insane, put as evidence observed by himself, ‘he called me -a fool!’</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the midst of all the turmoil came a flattering -invitation to James Gregorie to become Professor of -Mathematics in Edinburgh University. After the treatment -he had received this was a most blessed chance -and with great joy he left St Andrews, and came to -Edinburgh.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The whole story was written to James Fraser, then -at Paris:—</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>‘<span class='sc'>Much honoured Sir</span>,—I received some days ago -your very obliging letter, and not long after your arrival -at Paris I had another from you, to which the truth is -I was ashamed to answer, the affairs of the St Andrews -Observatory were in such a bad condition, the reason of -which was the prejudice the masters of the University did -take at the mathematics, because some of their scholars -finding their courses and dictates opposed by what they -had studied in the mathematics, did mock at their -masters, and deride some of them publicly. After this -the servants of the college got orders not to wait on me -or my observations, my salary was also kept back from -me, and scholars of most eminent rank were violently -kept from me, contrary to their own and their parents’ -wills, the masters persuading them that their brains were -not able to endure it. These and many other discouragements -oblige me to accept of a call here to the College of -Edinburgh, where my salary is here double, and my encouragements -much greater.’</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>Gregorie left St Andrews somewhat under a cloud, -because, as we have good reason to suppose, he had been -<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>teaching Newton’s Philosophy before the Kingdom of Fife -was quite ready for it, and because, too, his students had -more ardour than wisdom in their minds. But in Edinburgh -he had a great reception. The hall where he gave -his inaugural address, in November 1674, was crowded, -and he was given perfect freedom in what he taught. In -his observatory he passed many happy hours, and often -at nights he would take his students to look through the -telescope at the stars, to find out belted Saturn and -Jupiter with his satellites, which was not such a nursery -affair then as it is now. These phenomena had only been -discovered fifty years before, for let us remember James -Gregorie lived in the days of Charles the Second, and just -missed by a few years being Samuel Rutherfurd’s fellow-citizen -in St Andrews.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The last scene in his life comes all too soon, and before -he had been a year in Edinburgh his place was vacant. -On an October evening while he was showing his students -the satellites of Jupiter, a sudden blindness came on, and -within a few days everything was over. He probably -died of Bright’s disease.</p> - -<p class='c000'>It seems to us on looking back, as if the active mind -had worked too quickly. Gregorie was only thirty-six, -but he had already done a full life’s work in science. -Mengoli, Newton, Huygens, and even Leibnitz (who -for some time claimed Gregorie’s series for his own) -have borne witness to his power. In truth there was -something in him that inclined great men to love him, -and his mathematics are so deep that it is only the -master minds who appreciate him. He was a mathematician -for mathematicians.</p> - -<p class='c000'>There are many of Gregorie’s letters still extant, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>for the pure pleasure of reading one just as he wrote it, -this letter written to the Rev. Coline Campbell is inserted.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘<span class='sc'>St Andrews</span>, <em>1. Jan. 1673</em>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘<span class='sc'>Sir</span>,—I received your of the 23rd of December last, -and am glad to have the occasion to keep a correspondence -with such a knowing person as ye ar. I have -not had leasur at this time to satisfie you in your -probleme, being drawn away all this afternoon with -necessarie affairs: but with the nixt I shall doe my -endeavour for I expect not to mak the calculation considerablie -short, seing the nature of the question doeth -not suffice it. Our bedal his book against Mr Sinclair -is come out several weeks ago. No more at present, but -being in hast and hoping that ye will be pleased to -continue this new correspondence, I rest,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in12'>‘Your humble servant,</div> - <div class='line in28'>‘<span class='sc'>James Gregorie</span>.</div> - <div class='line'>‘for Mr <span class='sc'>Coline Campbell</span>.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>His widow and orphans were granted a pension by -Charles II. of £40 a year Scots in recognition of what -Gregorie had done in Scotland. No one could be found -suitable to succeed him in the Chair of Mathematics at -Edinburgh. The authorities waited eight years before -they made another appointment; and when the new -professor came, he was also a Gregorie, a nephew of the -late professor. His own son, too, held a chair, but that -was in Aberdeen, and he was a professor of medicine.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>DAVID GREGORY, 1661–1708</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>‘Tycho Brahe was also one who used the sword, not to cut into -flesh and bone, but to build up a plainer way among all the stars of -heaven.’—<span class='sc'>Hans Andersen.</span></p> - -<p class='c006'>David Gregorie was the third son of his father and -name-father, the Laird of Kinairdy. He was born in -a house without the port in the Upper Kirkgate of -Aberdeen, where the tradition of his birth lingered, and -was indeed cherished many a year after the boy had grown -to manhood, and had left his grey birthplace for the richer -lands of the South.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The boy’s mother was, it may be remembered, Jean -Walker, one of the Orchiston family, and the child was -taught from his babyhood loyalty to the Stuarts and a -passionate adherence to the episcopal form of church -government and teaching, which he carried with him to -the grave.</p> - -<p class='c000'>His education he began at the Grammar School, of -which Robert Skene was the rector, and afterwards he -studied either at Marischal College or King’s College. -It was at the University of Edinburgh, however, where -his uncle had had such a brilliant if short career, that he -took his degree as Master of Arts in 1683. He was even -as a student a man whose life was commented upon. -People talked of his studiousness, of his joyful temper, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>and still more of his friendship with Dr Archibald Pitcairne, -whose time was coming to make the tongues of Edinburgh -wag. They really were wonderful friends. Pitcairne -studied everything from sheer love of learning. He was -educated in turn for the church, the law, and for medicine, -and besides this he made a great excursion into the -higher mathematics at the instigation of his friend. David -Gregorie, on the other hand, was a pure mathematician, -all else in his studies giving way to his love for his dear -‘Celestial Physicks.’ From his uncle, James, he had inherited -a great number of mathematical manuscripts, and -this inheritance was regarded by him with the deepest -veneration. Some day he would edit all these papers, -but meantime many happy hours were spent by these two -friends going over the manuscripts. For David Gregorie -there was moreover much to delight in, in every fresh -discovery that came from the hands of Sir Isaac Newton. -Soon he was as ardent an admirer of the philosopher as -ever his uncle had been. If he were made a professor, -Gregorie thought, he would admit none of the Cartesian -fallacies, and already his appointment to the Chair of -Mathematics was being discussed. At the age of twenty-two, -then, and actually before David Gregorie had got -his A.M. degree, he was appointed to this Chair in the -Edinburgh University, an office which had not been filled -up since his uncle’s death. Lectures had been given by -a student called John Young, but he was only acting as -mathematical tutor, filling the place temporarily, whereas -when Gregory was appointed it was as professor, with a -salary of £1000 (Scots).</p> - -<p class='c000'>In December he gave his inaugural address in Latin, -on an Analysis of Geometrical Progress. The lecture has -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>been lost, but a volume of notes of his usual course of -teaching is preserved in the University Library, and its -range is very large. As has already been said, what -chiefly distinguished David Gregorie was his appreciation -of Newton’s ideas. It was his object to bring down the -<cite>Principia</cite> to the average level of mathematical minds, and -both he and his brother James, who held the corresponding -chair at St Andrews, were teaching Newton’s philosophy -before it was taught at Cambridge. ‘It was not -long,’ says Whiston, ‘before I with immense pains, but -no assistance, set myself with the utmost zeal to the study -of Sir Isaac Newton’s wonderful discoveries in his <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Philosophiæ -Naturalis Principia Mathematica</span></cite>, one or two of -which lectures I had heard him read in the publick -schools, though I understood them not at all at that time, -being indeed greatly excited thereto by a paper of Dr -Gregory’s when he was professor in Scotland; wherein he -had given the most prodigious commendations to that -work, as not only right in all things, but in a manner -the effect of a plainly divine genius, and had already -caused several of his scholars to keep acts, as we call -them, upon several branches of the Newtonian Philosophy, -while we at Cambridge, poor wretches, were -ignominiously studying the fictitious hypothesis of the -Cartesian.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Voltaire wrote of Sir Isaac Newton, that when he died -he had not more than twenty followers in his own country; -and, even making allowance for the unfriendly eyes with -which the Frenchman regarded his contemporaries, there -was probably some truth in the statement. Whiston was -professor of mathematics at Cambridge, and writing from -that University, where of all places in the world Newton’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>doctrines should have been earliest taught, it is curious -that he should have to acknowledge that he got his -inspiration from Scotland.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1684 Professor Gregorie produced his first work, -which was entitled <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exercitatio Geometrica de Dimensione -Figurarum, sive Specimen Methodi Generalis [dimetiendi] -Quasvis Figuras</span></cite>. In it he makes much reference to the -speculations of his uncle, to whom he was at least partially -indebted for his materials, and there is little, if any, -original work. The book was not widely read, but it was -said to have given ‘a public proof of his competency to -discharge the duties of the important office to which he -had been appointed.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>David Gregorie was appointed in 1683 in the reign of -Charles II., but during his six years in the professoriate -many changes had come about. William and Mary were -on the throne, and not unnaturally it was considered necessary -by the new Government that steps should be taken -to ascertain the political opinion of those men to whom -was entrusted the instruction of the youth of the land.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>At Edinburgh,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in16'>July iv., <span class='fss'>MDCXC</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘The Rolls of Parliament called Act for Visitation of -Universities, Colledges & Schoolls.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Our Soveraigne Lord and Lady, the King and Queen’s -Majesties and the three Estates of Parliament considering -how necessarie it is for the advancement of Religion and -Learning and for the good of the Church and peace of -the Kingdom that the universities, colledges, and schoolls -be provided and served with pious, able and qualified professors, -principalls, regents, masters, and others bearing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>office therein well affected to their Majesties and the established -government of Church and State. Therefore their -Majesties with advyce of the said three Estates of Parliament, -doe statute, ordaine, and enact, that from this time forth, no -Professors, Principalls, Regents, Masters, or others bearing -office in any university, colledge, or schooll within this -Kingdome be either admitted or allowed to continue -in the exercise of their saids functions but such as doe -acknowledge and profess, and shall subscryve to the -confession of faith ratified and approven by this present -Parliament, and alsoe sweare and subscryve the oath -of allegiance to their Majesties; And withall shall be -found to bee of a pious, loyal and peaceable conversation, -and of good and sufficient literature and abilities -for their rexive Imployments, and submitting to the -government of the Church now settled by Law, and -albeit it be their Majesties undoubted right and prerogative -to name visitors and cause visite the forsaid -universities, colledges and schoolls, yet at this tyme -their Majesties are pleased to nominate and appoint -with advyce and consent forsaid the persons under -named, viz., The Duke of Hamilton, Earle of Argyle -<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et alii</span> To meet and visite all universities, colledges and -schoolls within this Kingdom, and to take tryall of the -present Professors, Principalls, Regents, Masters and -others bearing office therein according to the qualifications -and rules above mentioned, and such as shall -be found to be erroneous, scandalous, negligent, insufficient, -or disaffected to their Majestie’s Government, or -who shall not subscryve the Confession of faith, sweare -and subscryve the oath of allegiance and submitt to -the government of the Church now settled by Law -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>to purge out and remove. As alsoe to consider the -foundations of the saids Universities colledges and -schoolls, with the rents and revenues thereof, and how -the same have been administred and manadged and -to sett down such rules and methods for the good manadgement -thereof for hereafter. As likewise for ordering -the saids universities, colledges and schoolls, and the -professions and manner of teaching therein and all -things else relateng thereto as they shall thinke most -meet and convenient according to the foundations -thereof, and consistent with the present established -government of Church and State. And to the effect -that these presents may be more surely execute. Their -Majesties with advyce forsaid, doe farther Impower the -forsaids persons visitors or their quorum to appoint Committees -of such numbers of their own members as they -shall thinke fitt to visite the severall Universities and -Colledges within this Kingdom, with the Schoolls within -the bounds to be designed to them, and that according -to such instructions and injunctions as they shall thinke -fitt to give them; And to the effect that upon report made -be the said Committee to the aforsaid visitors or their -quorum they may proceede and conclude thereupon as -they shall see cause; And their Majesties appoints the -forsaids visitors to meet at Edinburgh upon the twenty -third day of July instant for the first dyet of their meeting -with power to them to adjourne and appoint their own -meetings to such dayes and places as for thereafter -they shall judge convenient; And this Commission to -endure ay and while their Majesties recall and discharge -the same.’</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>This large commission therefore which was appointed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>to deal with the universities and schools in Scotland, met -in Edinburgh in the Common Hall under the presidency -of the Lord Provost in July 1690.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The Principal, Alexander Monro, was tried first, and a -sentence of deprivation was passed upon him, as also -upon Dr Strachan, Professor of Divinity. When -Gregorie’s turn came, he like those who had gone -before was accused by men of whose names he was -kept in ignorance, whose statements he could but feel -were libellous, malicious and false. The lay portion -of the commission were inclined to favour him, and -when they enquired into his conduct as a teacher, he -was able to present an admirable report of his public -lessons for three years. At the same time he would not -subscribe to the Confession of Faith, and so it came -about that when he recommenced his lectures in the -ensuing month of December, he did not know whether -he was to continue in the possession of his chair, neither -were Dr Archibald Pitcairne nor Lord Tarbat, his constant -supporters in all this time of trial, able absolutely to reassure -him on the point. John Hill Burton, in his -chapter on the ecclesiastical settlements says that ‘Dr -Gregorie, the only truly great man among the Episcopalian -professors, was wisely spared.’ But for him the -suspense and anxiety were very tedious, and he was glad -when a prospect opened out before him of quitting the -university in which he had been subjected to so much -annoyance.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The opening occurred through the resignation of Dr -Bernard, Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University -of Oxford, to whose chair Dr Gregorie thought he might -aspire. It was of the first importance that he should -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>receive the support of Sir Isaac Newton in his application, -so he went at once to London to be introduced to him. -Sir Isaac was much pleased with him, and wrote him a -testimonial, dated London, July 1691.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>‘Being desired by Mr David Gregorie, Mathematics -Professor of the Colledge in Edinburgh to testifie my -knowledge of him, and having known him by his printed -Mathematical performances, and by discoursing with -travellers from Scotland, and of late by conversing with -him, I do account him one of the most able and -judicious Mathematicians of his age now living. He -is very well skilled in analysis and geometry, both -new and old. He has been conversant in the best -writers about astronomy, and understands that science -very well. He is not only acquainted with books, but -his invention in Mathematical things is also good. He -has performed his duty at Edinburgh with credit, as I -hear, and advanced the Mathematicks. He is reputed the -greatest Mathematician in Scotland, and that deservedly, -so far as my knowledge reaches, for I esteem him an -ornament to his country, and upon these accounts do -recommend him to the duties of the Astronomy Professor -into the place in Oxford now vacant.—<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">sic subscribitur</span></i>.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Is. Newton</span>, <em>Math. Prof., Cantab.</em>’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>Nor did Sir Isaac’s kindness end here, for he wrote a -letter to Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, asking for his -influence in the appointment. Flamsteed responded with -great kindness, only mentioning the fact that if his old -friend Mr Caswell insisted on standing for the vacant -chair, he would be obliged to support him. In the end -of his letter, Sir Isaac, while mentioning his anxiety to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>have Flamsteed’s observations on Jupiter and Saturn -for the next twelve or fifteen years, adds: ‘If you and -I live not long enough, Mr Gregorie and Mr Halley are -young men,’ thus indicating that he thought them fit to -carry on his work.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Edmund Halley, who was the other candidate for -the professorship of astronomy, had from a scientific -point of view stronger claims to the appointment. To -him the world is indebted for the publication of -Newton’s <cite>Principia</cite>, which Halley undertook at his own -expense, seeing that the Royal Society made difficulties -about the money, and that Newton himself was too -poor, and possibly too much engrossed in his study, to -take the burden of it on his own shoulders. But -Halley was an infidel, and this disqualified him in the -eyes of the patrons of the chair. Sir Henry Savile had -left his professorships open to candidates of any Christian -Nation ‘if they were of good report and correct demeanour, -eminently skilled in mathematics, possessed of at least a -moderate knowledge of the Greek language, and if they -had attained the age of twenty-six years.’ He had left -the election in the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury, -the Lord Chancellor, the Chancellor of the University, -the Bishop of London, the Principal Secretary -of State, the two Chief Justices, the Chief Baron of the -Exchequer and the Dean of Arches. With an electorate -composed of such men, Edmund Halley, holding the -views which he acknowledged at that time, had no chance -of election.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Whiston in his <cite>Memoir</cite> says that ‘Bishop Stillingfleet -was desired to recommend him at court, but hearing that -he was a sceptick, and a banterer of religion, he scrupled -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>to be concerned, till his chaplain Mr Bentley should -talk with him about it, which he did. But Mr Halley -was so sincere in his infidelity, that he would not so much -as pretend to believe the Christian religion, though he -thereby was likely to lose a professorship.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>David Gregorie then (or Gregory, as he now began to -call himself), with the support of Sir Isaac Newton, and -because of Halley’s religious views, was appointed -professor.</p> - -<p class='c000'>He had entered at Balliol, was incorporated A.M. on -the 6th of February 1692, took the degree of M.D., and -was subsequently admitted to the chair.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the previous year he had been made a Fellow of the -Royal Society, and it was not long before he began to -contribute to their volumes. He sent in a beautiful -solution of the Florentine problem, which Viviani had -sent as a challenge to British Mathematicians. His -work was masterly, and delighted geometers, and in -Oxford he found time to write much more than he had -in Scotland, where teaching had always had to come -first. He next wrote a defence of his uncle against the -Abbé Gallois, who accused him of plagiarising from -Roberval, and then followed his work on the properties -of the Catenaria or the curve made by a chain fixed at -both ends. In the course of this he was the first to -observe that, by inverting this curve, the legitimate form -of an arch is arrived at.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1695 David Gregory married Elizabeth, a daughter -of Mr Oliphant of Langton. His marriage is commemorated -in a Latin ode written by his friend Anthony -Alsop, a student of Christ Church, and published in his -works.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>Shortly after his marriage he brought out his great book, -<cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Catoptricae et Dioptricae Sphericae Elementa</span></cite>, which turns -out for the comfort of the ignorant to be a great work on -looking-glasses and lenses.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The book came as a revelation to many men in that -day, for in it Gregory tried to simplify his subject, and to -make it clear to the many instead of to the few. He was -rewarded with praise, and his book was promised immortality. -How changed are things in the present day, when -to none of our writers will criticism promise celebrity exceeding -at the outside two generations. <em>Keill</em> blossomed -out into poetry: ‘It will last as long as the sun and moon -endure,’ and it is just possible that it may—in the -Bodleian Library!—only that was not what Keill -meant.<a id='r2' /><a href='#f2' class='c014'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f2'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. </span>John Keill, 1671–1721, was born in Edinburgh. Was Professor -of Astronomy at Oxford and an active member of the Royal Society. -He died of a ‘violent fever’ at Oxford on Thursday, August 31st -1721, a few days after entertaining ‘the Vice Chancellor and other -academic dignitaries at his house in Holywell Street with wine and -punch.’ He is buried in St Mary’s Church.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>Comparatively unnoticed at the time was a suggestion -made in this book about mirrors and lenses with regard -to following Nature in the construction of a telescope. -It was almost certainly Pitcairne who had explained to -Gregory the strange mechanism of the human eye, and -how in Nature objects before they fall on the retina pass -through both the vitreous humour and the crystalline lens. -Gregory pointed out that Nature does nothing in vain, -and suggested that, in imitation of Nature, the object -glasses of telescopes might be composed of media of -different density, and that an instrument made on this -principle would probably produce much clearer vision than -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>any then in use. After Dollond had brought out his -beautiful achromatic glasses the meaning of Gregory’s -suggestion became clear, but it is a curious fact that -neither James Gregorie, who invented the reflecting -telescope, nor David Gregory, who suggested the achromatic -telescope, should ever have seen the practical -result of their imaginations.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Life in Oxford for Gregory turned out, as is often the -case, to be rather different from his anticipations. He -had looked forward to years of studious peace; but the -reality, while it answered his expectation in giving him -much time for study, had surrounded him with men prepared -to be unfriendly towards him. ‘The Scotchman’ -received much contumely in Oxford, possibly more than -would otherwise have been the case, because he was so -well known to the outside world. Some of Hearne’s Collections -have the full flavour of the sort of annoyance to -which he must have been subjected, an annoyance none -the less irritating to Gregory because the facts so generally -disagreed with the views expressed about him. Compare -the two following passages, which are evidently meant to -describe the same circumstance.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘In 1702, David Gregory produced at Oxford his -most important treatise, <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Astronomiae Physicae et Geometricae -Elementa</span></cite>. In this were included several propositions -communicated by Newton, being results which -their author had not obtained at the time of the -publication of the first edition of the <cite>Principia</cite>, but -was anxious to bring before the public at once without -waiting for the second edition of his own work.’ * * *</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘It may here likewise be observed that men well skilled -in Mathematics scruple not to say that David Gregory -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>has stole most of his astronomy from Isaac Newton, -whom he has mentioned with some little acknowledgment -but not so often as he should have done, which, -as ‘tis said, has put Sir Isaac on a new edition of his -<cite>Principia</cite>.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>How different these two stories are it is easy to see, -and although Sir Isaac never expressed the sentiments -assigned to him by Hearne, nor, it is likely enough, -would Gregory ever have this charge made directly to -him, yet it is impossible but that the Savilian professor -occasionally felt the sting of such mischief-making.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory’s great ally was Dr Charlett, the Master of -University College, but besides him, he numbered -amongst his friends, Halley, who obtained the Savilian -Chair of Geometry, Dr Hudson, Dr Smalridge, Dr Wallis -and Dr Aldrich, between each of whom and Gregory, -Hearne seemed determined to make bad feeling. As -was quite natural, these men, working along the same -lines, had often to use each other’s materials, but Hearne -always represented Gregory as pirating the results of their -labour without acknowledgment. The statement of his -indebtedness, only given once, was petulantly regarded as -insufficient, and even inverted commas did not mollify -his wrath. In fact, Gregory committed the only sin -which Dickens says is unpardonable—he was successful—and -the commoner men in Oxford, who could not -regard anything Scottish without disapprobation, would -not forgive him. When Hearne took exception to ‘the -Scotchman’s Greek’ he was on safe ground and no one -regretted this more than did Professor Gregory himself, -who was held up for ridicule by Hearne because ‘men -took him for an oracle.’ When he commenced the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>publication of his edition of the ancient mathematicians, -he arranged with Dr Hudson that, while he himself would -be responsible for the mathematics, Hudson should see to -the correctness of the Greek. In this series too, Gregory -and Halley undertook an edition of the Conics of Apollonius, -but it was not completed till after Gregory’s death.</p> - -<p class='c000'>If Gregory was not universally appreciated at Oxford, -at the court he was in great favour, probably through the -influence of Bishop Burnet, who had been at college with -his uncle. He was appointed mathematical preceptor to -the Princess Anne’s son, the young Duke of Gloucester, -and here again, if we are to believe Hearne, the choice -of the court was received with universal disapprobation.</p> - -<p class='c000'>His honours, however, were only enjoyed in anticipation, -for the boy died before his duties as tutor had -commenced.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory was now busy trying to compass some reformations -in the Oxford curriculum. He drew up a new -scheme for an under-graduate’s course of study, which -was sent by Dr Charlett for Mr Pepys’ approval. ‘I -send you enclosed a scheme of David Gregory’s not yet -in any other hand, with a desire that you would, with -the freedom of a man of honour and a scholar, examine, -correct, alter and improve it, as may make the design -most beneficial to youth (especially of the Nobility and -Gentry) and redound most to the honour of the University -and our Professors and the promotion of learning.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory’s plan was that the teaching should be given -in English, which was certainly a sensible proposal, that -the undergraduates should study some Euclid, trigonometry, -algebra, mechanics, catoptrics, and dioptrics, -astronomy, the theory of the planets and navigation. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>‘The teacher,’ he said, ‘should be always ready to gratify -the request of those who desire his instruction. If -possible, the students should have a printed book on -the subject; if not, the lecturer will take care timeously -to give those of the class proper notes to be written -by them. And lastly, if any students were found -hungering and thirsting, they were to be given regular -demonstrations of the operations of integers, or fractions, -vulgar or decimal—when they pleased.’ As to the proper -numbers for a class, Gregory said they should be not less -than ten and not more than twenty. The course here -touched on was described very fully in the paper sent to -Mr Pepys, and Mr Pepys’ answer is rather refreshing.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘<span class='sc'>Reverend Sir</span>, ... As little qualified as I truly am, -for offering aught upon a scheme digested with the -thoughtfulness and skill of its learned author, legible -in every line of it, the terms nevertheless wherein you -require my opinion and advice concerning it, joined -with the dignity of its subject and quality of the persons -for whom it is calculated, are so forcible, that I -cannot omit observing to you my missing two things.... -First—<em>Music</em>—a science peculiarly productive of a -pleasure that no state of life, public or private, secular -or sacred, no difference of age or season, no temper of -mind, or condition of health exempt from present anguish, -nor, lastly, distinction of quality, render either improper, -untimely, or unentertaining.<a id='r3' /><a href='#f3' class='c014'><sup>[3]</sup></a> My other want is what possibly -may be thought of less weight; but what nevertheless -holds no lower a place with me on this occasion -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>(whether for ornament, delight, solid use, or ease of -carriage both at home and abroad), than any other -quality a gentleman can bear about him, though none -less thought on, or (which is more) of less difficulty -in the attaining ... I mean Perspective: not barely -as falling within the explication of vision, or serving only -to the laying down of objects of sight, but with the -improvement of it, to the enabling our honourable -student gracefully to finish and embellish the same, -with its just heightenings and shadowings, as far as -expressible in black and white; thereby when in foreign -travels to know how by his own skill to entertain himself -in taking the appearances of all he meets with, as -remarkable, whether of palaces or of other fabrics, ruins, -fortifications, ports, moles, or other public views.’</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f3'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. </span>Mr Pepys, who, as we know from his Diary as well as from -Evelyn, was skilled in music, had thus an opportunity of expressing -his views on that subject.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>Mr Pepys was slightly distressed at the suggestion that -English should take the place of Latin as the language -in which teaching was given, not because he did not think -it necessary, but he was afraid lest the honour of the -university should be affected by such a change. Whether -these proposals were carried into effect then is uncertain, -but the Savilian professor came into closer connection -with Mr Pepys during the few years that elapsed before -his death, being especially upon one occasion, made the -bearer of tender thanks from the university to Mr Pepys, -who had commissioned Sir Godfrey Kneller to paint Dr -Wallis’ portrait for the university. The drawing was done -in Dr Gregory’s house, where the reverend old man was -happy and at his ease, and the picture of him is pleasant. -In the list of the persons to whom rings and mourning -were presented on the occasion of Mr Pepys’ death and -funeral, Dr Gregory, Dr Wallis and Dr Charlett, are all -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>inserted as recipients of the most expensive rings. Others -who received tokens of regard, though not such costly -ones, were Sir Cloudesly Shovel, and Sir George Rooke; -Mr William Penn was honoured with a 20s. ring.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1704 Sir Isaac Newton became President of the -Royal Society, amidst general content. Prince George of -Denmark was interested in astronomy, and only wanted -to be shewn how he could most wisely help this science -forward; and now thought Sir Isaac, if the prince gave -the money, there was no reason why Flamsteed’s laborious -and accurate observations of the heavens should not -be published, for the help of him and all like him, who -were studying what Gregory calls ‘the Celestial Physicks.’ -He approached the Astronomer Royal, and after considerable -difficulty, persuaded him to draw up an estimate -of his observations, which was shewn to the prince. -Prince George’s decision was made very rapidly, for -though he was far from brilliant, (as Charles the Second -wittily said, ‘I have tried Prince George sober and I -have tried him drunk; and drunk or sober there is -nothing in him’), he had at least one great merit, that he -recognised his own limitations. Feeling that the papers -before him conveyed absolutely nothing to his uninstructed -mind, he appointed some members of the Royal Society -to act as referees and see that the publication of Flamsteed’s -<cite>Catalogue of the Constellations</cite> was carried out -correctly. As referees he nominated Sir Isaac, Dr Gregory, -Sir Christopher Wren, Dr Arbuthnot, and the Hon. F. -Robarts. Their work proved very laborious: Flamsteed -was a delicate, irritable man, and Greenwich in these old -coach days was a long way from London; but the referees -had made up their minds to carry the business through, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>and, as the dispensers of the prince’s bounty, and protectors -of public interest, they drew up articles binding -themselves as well as Flamsteed and the printer to perform -their relative obligations. So slow and fretful however -was the course of this joint effort, that neither the -princely benefactor nor Gregory, whom he had appointed -a referee, lived to see the work completed.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory had, in 1702, dedicated his <cite>Book on the -Elements of Astronomy</cite>, to the prince, drawing a comparison -while he did it between Prince George of Denmark, -the patron of science, and that King of Denmark who had -so wisely given to the great Danish astronomer, Tycho -Brahe, the wonderful observatory of Uraniborg—the city -of the heavens.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The Preface of this book begins quaintly with a delicious -run of mixed metaphors—‘My Design in publishing this -Book, was, that the Celestial Physicks, which the most -sagacious Kepler had got the scent of, but the Prince of -Geometers, Sir Isaac Newton, brought to such a pitch as -surprises all the World, might by my Care and Pains in -illustrating them, become easier to such as are desirous -of being acquainted with Philosophy and Astronomy.’ In -this book there is a most curious mixture of history, -imagination, ideas of Newton’s, which the philosopher had -communicated to him, and observations. It was of course, -as was usual at that time, written in Latin, but Edmund -Stone translated it into English in 1726, and this was the -book which Samuel Johnson read with so much acceptance -in some of his dull days in the Island of Coll. -Gregory imagined the stars as they would appear to the -inhabitants of the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, and -gave to his book that inexpressible charm of individuality, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>so often present in the Gregories’ writings, which makes -them draw portraits of themselves as they write their -books. In this treatise he elucidated the principles of -astronomy with all the wonderful improvements made -in his day, and Newton himself considered it a masterly -explanation in defence of his philosophy.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Every now and then Gregory would go to spend some -weeks with his friend at Cambridge. On one of these -visits it was that Sir Isaac had occasion to express his -views upon the superstitions of the day. He passed a -house opposite St John’s College, which was supposed to -be haunted, and round the doors was collected a crowd -not only of undergraduates but of Fellows, and some of -them Fellows of Trinity. Noticing that some of the -rabble were carrying arms, his anger burst out. ‘Oh, ye -fools,’ he said, ‘will ye never have any wit? Know ye -not that all such things are mere cheats and impostures? -Fie! fie! Go home, for shame.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>When Gregory arrived at Cambridge he was always full -of messages for Sir Isaac, and when he left, equally so -with messages from him. In this way he saw a good deal -of all the important mathematicians and astronomers then -living in Great Britain, and very likely it added to his -already considerable reputation. In 1705 he was elected -an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians -of Edinburgh, and on the 4th of October he took his seat -at the Board. This was no doubt an honour obtained for -him by his friend Pitcairne, who was then examiner, but -Gregory could not spend much time away from England.</p> - -<p class='c000'>When the negotiations for the Union between Scotland -and England began, Gregory was appointed along with -Paterson, the founder of the Bank of England, to decide -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>what equivalent was to be paid to Scotland for bearing -her share of the debt of England, which was of course -afterwards to be considered as the debt of Great Britain. -Amongst the many thorny questions which emerged in -the course of the deliberations about the Union, there was -none about which so many difficulties arose. Sir John -Clerk of Penicuik, who had so much to do with the -affairs of Scotland at that time, wrote his views upon the -criticisms of the general public on this matter.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Amongst all the articles of the Treaty of Union,’ he -says, ‘there has been none more talked of and less understood -than the 15th, concerning the Rise, Nature and -Management of the Equivalents.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Upon this subject those who desired to be thought -very wise, of deep understanding, and Great reach of -Thought, did vent themselves with a certain Air, as if they -pitied the Credulity and Ignorance of the Contrivors, and -so had Recourse to the ordinary Refuge of dull People, -who think they show their wit by laughing at what they -do not understand.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Of such commentators Gregory no doubt had his share, -and the question was one which was of necessity unintelligible -to the ordinary mind, but those who were in -authority were absolutely satisfied with the manner in -which the work was done. It was a long task, and -involved many journeys, including one to Scotland, to set -things on a proper working basis. Of this prospect he -writes to Dr Charlett, the Master of University College.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘<span class='sc'>London</span>, <em>20 June, 1707</em>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'><span class='sc'>Reverend Sir</span>,—The occasion of giving you this -present trouble is to recommend to your civility My Lord -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>Deskford and his Governour. He is son to the Earle of -Seafield, Lord Chancellor of Scotland. He is to stay two -or three months at Oxford. He has been regularly -educated at the University, and has past some time -beyond sea. You will find him a sober and grave young -Nobleman. You may depend upon it, that he is what -you and I wish all such as him in Church affairs and -all thereunto belonging. I know I need say no more.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Though Dr Arbuthnot gott a promise of the N.T. -from the Queen, He has not yet gott the book it self. It -was forgotten to be laid out before the Queen went to -Windsore.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Before I see you again, I am like to be sent by My -Lord Treasurer into Scotland, to see that the Mint there -be regulated upon the same foot with that of the Tower, -as to the Standart of the Silver and Gold, the Pieces of -Moneys, the Weights, the Rateing and Standarding, and -the formes and manner of keeping the Books of the Mint, -and I have been somewhat taken up with seeing and -informing myself of everything of this nature in the -Tower. I shall, I hope return before Michaelmass; but -if I should be 2 or 3 weeks after the beginning of -the Term, I hope you will excuse it, and every body -concern’d.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘As for what you propose to be done with the -Mulctes, I am very clear for it, Sir Henry Savile’s and -Dr Wallis’s Armes will be very proper.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘I hope to have an occasion to write to you again before -I part. I am with all respect and esteem,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in16'>‘Reverend Sir,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Your most oblidged and most humble servant,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in32'>‘<span class='sc'>D. Gregory</span>.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>When the Union really came, it was very unpopular in -Scotland and rather unpopular in England. Dr Arbuthnot -published in Edinburgh a pamphlet with the title <cite>A -sermon preached to the people at the Mercat Cross of -Edinburgh; on the subject of the Union</cite>. In it he -forcibly argued against the foolish prejudice of his own -country. He pointed out the intimate conjunction between -Pride, Poverty and Idleness (’this is a worse union -a great deal than that which we are to discourse of at -present’). ‘Better is he that laboureth,’ he said in -concluding, ‘and aboundeth in all things than he that -boasteth himself, and wanteth bread.’ The populace, -however, was by no means in the humour to be cajoled -by any man’s wit, and even Dr Arbuthnot, who, according -to Samuel Johnson, was the greatest writer of Queen -Anne’s reign, found himself unable to create anything -but ungraciousness.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Dr Arbuthnot was a very constant friend towards -Gregory, and the day was fast drawing near when the -professor should truly require his help. Symptoms of -serious illness appeared in 1708, and Dr Gregory was -advised to try the effect of the waters at Bath. He felt -himself that his journey would be in vain, and often tried -to prepare his wife for his being taken from her very -suddenly. There was much to disturb the quietness of -his mind, his children were ill in London, and he was -full of anxiety for them and yet unable to go to them. -After a wretched time at Bath, it was decided that he -should return to London, but at Maidenhead he became -so ill, that he could not be moved. Dr Arbuthnot, who -was sent for from Windsor, found him sinking, and on -the 10th of October 1708 he died.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>The news was sent to Oxford by this kind physician in -a letter to Dr Charlett, Gregory’s best friend.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘<span class='sc'>Maidenhead</span>, <span class='sc'>Greyhound Inn</span>,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Tues. 3½ afternoon,</div> - <div class='line in18'><em>Oct. 10, 1708</em>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘<span class='sc'>Dear Sir</span>,—This gives you the bad news of the death -of our dear friend, Dr Gregory, who dy’d about one -a clock this afternoon, in this Inn on his way to -London from Bath. He sent to me last night to -Windsor; I found him in a resolution to go forward -to London this morning, from which I happily disswaded -[him] finding him in a dying condition. He has a child -his only daughter dead at London of the small pox, of -which neither he nor his wife knew anything off, for I -would not tell them; the rest of his family lye sick of the -same disease, so you may easily guess what a disconsolate -condition his poor widow must find herself in. She would -be glad to see you to advyce about his burying. My -present thought and advyce is to bury him at Oxford, -where he is known, amongst those who will shew a great -deal of respect to his memory, and it is allmost the same -distance from this place as London. Mrs Gregory begs -the favour to see you here if possible, being one of his -most intimate friends, whom he allwayes confided in. I -am in great grief and shall stay here as long as I can in -hopes of seeing you. If I am not here you will find his -brother-in-law, Dr Oliphant.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘I am, Dear Sir,</div> - <div class='line in8'>‘Your most humble servant,</div> - <div class='line in14'>‘<span class='sc'>Jo. Arbuthnott</span>.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>Dr Smalridge also wrote to him.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>‘<em>Oct. 16th 1708.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘<span class='sc'>Reverend Sir</span>,—You had sooner heard from me, but -that my thoughts of late have been very much discompos’d -by Severall Melancholy Objects. On Friday y<sup>e</sup> last week -I lost a dear child, of whom I was extremely fond, and all -that knew Him excused me for being so. I find all y<sup>e</sup> -Philosophy I have, little enough to make me easie on this -sad Occasion. The Images do at present return thick -upon Me, but I hope in a little time to find y<sup>m</sup> less afflictive. -My wound would have been sooner heal’d had it -not been kept open by the Occasions I have had to give -Others y<sup>t</sup> comfort which I have wanted myself. On Tuesday -I went with Mrs Arbuthnot towards Brentford to meet -Dr Gregory and his Wife who were expected that day -from Maidenhead. My errand was to inform y<sup>m</sup> of the -death of their Girl, of whom they were extremely fond, -they left Her well when they went to y<sup>e</sup> Bath, and she died -on Friday was sennight. We met not y<sup>e</sup> coach We expected, -and when We returned, We found a letter was -sent from Mrs Gregory to her brother Dr Oliphant begging -y<sup>t</sup> he would come down to Maidenhead to y<sup>e</sup> Dr, who was -very ill. She came to Town on Thursday Night a very -disconsolate Widow. The Doctor died on Tuesday-morning -and was buried on Wednesday-Night at Maidenhead. -A messenger was despatched to Hambledon to -fetch you to Him, if you had been there. Mr Lesley -came from y<sup>e</sup> Bath with Him and assisted Him in his -sickness, and in extremis. Dr Arbuthnot from Windsor -came to Him. It seems He always told his Wife that -He should be but short-lived, and of late has often -desir’d Her to be prepared for his being taken from Her -very quickly. When his last Suit of Cloaths was made, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>He said He should not live to wear them out. When -He went out of Town, He did not expect to come home -again alive; and when He left y<sup>e</sup> Bath to return He -thought He should not be able to reach y<sup>e</sup> town. I am -told that He has left his Family in very good Circumstances. -I am afraid his tender con[cern] for y<sup>m</sup> was -prejudicial to his Health. He was an affectionate -Husband, a tender Father, an excellent Scholar, a man -of great Experience and Prudence, of good temper, of -sober and religious principles, and One whom those who -had the happiness to be acquainted with Him will much -miss. I visited y<sup>e</sup> Widow Yesterday, who bears her -Affliction with as much patience and resignation as can -be expected. I hope her Husband’s Friends will do what -they can to make her loss less insupportable.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘I am, Sir</div> - <div class='line in8'>‘Your H. Servant</div> - <div class='line in22'>‘G. S.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>On her return to Oxford Mrs Gregory put up a -monument to her husband’s memory in the nave of St -Mary’s Church. After Professor Gregory’s death, Colin -Maclaurin published of Gregory’s work <cite>A Treatise on -Practical Geometry</cite>. The first edition was sold out -within a few years, and a second was called for, as this -book was in its day used as a text-book in all the -Scottish Universities.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Professor Gregory has been accused of spending too -little of his time in the observatory, and he was undoubtedly -greater as a mathematician than as an astronomer. -It was as a pure mathematician that he held -the high place which was his in the eighteenth century.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER V<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>DAVID GREGORY, 1696–1767</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘The picture of the ... Dean seems a true one.’</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in30'>—<span class='sc'>W. M. Thackeray</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>Of the four children who survived Professor David -Gregory, there was only one who inherited his taste for -learning. This was his name son David, the eldest of his -children. The son’s gifts were not those of his father; -he was poetical, artistic, a student of history, who never -wrote upon the subject, a man in fact who had more of a -woman’s cleverness than a man’s; and looking back on -him, his greatest power seems to have been that faculty, -which is not to be gained in any school—the monarchial -gift of leading. Everything which his hand touched was -blessed in his very touch, and through his life, as he -passed along his way, adorning different offices and positions -of growing importance, there was always some token -left behind him that David Gregory’s order-loving eye had -rested there—the gardens had fresh flowers, halls were -beautified by statues, libraries became more spacious, and -hospitals were renewed in the same spirit of devotion -which had long before inspired the gracious givers.</p> - -<p class='c000'>David Gregory was born in Oxford on the 14th of July -1696. He was educated at Westminster School, of which -he was a scholar, and there among the grey shadows of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>London this æsthetic little boy first learned the fascination -of history. There too he may have learned another -thing, his admiration for kings and queens, for he knew -that the school owed its foundation to the most picturesque -queen that has ever reigned over England, in -whose day by the mercy of providence, more even than -by the queen’s wisdom, England became the mistress of -the seas.</p> - -<p class='c000'>From Westminster he was elected to a studentship at -Christ Church, and in due course he took holy orders, -and became the Rector of Semly in Wiltshire. It was -not long, however, before he was back again in Oxford, -for George I. upon his foundation in 1723 of the professorship -of Modern History (with which at that time -the modern languages were associated) appointed David -Gregory to the chair. He was thus the first Professor of -Modern History at Oxford. Of his work as a lecturer -there is no record, but that he was thorough and painstaking -no one can doubt; for realising that the amount -of work was too large for one man to accomplish, he -introduced several foreigners as teachers of their own -language, and until such time as they were self-supporting -he provided for them out of his own salary. Fortunately -his chair was a lucrative one.</p> - -<p class='c000'>He took the degree of B.D. on March 13, 1731, and -that of D.D. on the 7th of July of the following year, and -four years later he was appointed Canon of Christ Church. -On undertaking this office he resigned his professorship.</p> - -<p class='c000'>While he was canon, it was one of his most congenial -tasks to superintend the restoration of the Great Hall, -and before it was completed, he presented busts of his -early patron George I. and of George II., who was then -<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>on the throne. The new library was also finished under -his care, and the interior, with its graceful pillars, its -delicately moulded roof and wide windows, was executed -entirely according to his taste, and under his personal -supervision. Little did he think as he guided the placing -of the volumes, how one day his own beautiful collection -of books would take its place there out of the reach of his -son’s creditors. If Dean Gregory had been alive in 1775, -the old library, which had been the monastic refectory, -would never have been mutilated, as it was, for the -accommodation of the Westminster students.</p> - -<p class='c000'>On the 18th of May, 1756, Dr Gregory succeeded -Dr Conybeare as Dean of Christ Church. He was in -appearance, as in charm and dignity of manner, well -suited for such an office. Kind, courtly and genial, it was -his pleasure as well as his duty to attend the functions of -the university, and in his day he was unsurpassed in -Oxford society. He was not very learned, but he was -a man of the world, and the Earl of Shelburne, who -thought it worth while to write some memories of the -sleepy Oxford, in which Dean Gregory took so important -a part, describes the dean as the kind soul that he was. -‘Dr Gregory succeeded Dr Conybeare and was very kind -to me, conversed familiarly and frequently with me, had -kept good company, was a gentleman though not a scholar, -and gave me notions of people and things, which were -afterwards useful to me.’ Such a characterisation might -have astonished the dean himself, who would have regretted -with mild wrath his kindness to this young malapert, and -would no doubt also have gone for the assurance of his -learning to those Latin hexameters, which he as a self-made -laureate had written at moments of public interest. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>One set was upon the death of George I. and the accession -of George II., while another poem touched on the death -of George II. and the accession of his grandson; they -were both considered very scholarly, but, at the best, -Oxford in Dean Gregory’s days was not so very learned. -Of all the heads of colleges, who are put into the guide -book to Oxford, used by the tourists of 1760, there is not -one, whose name is familiar, unless we count that of Dean -Gregory, who also might have passed into oblivion had it -not been for his greater father.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The next honour that came to Gregory was his appointment -as Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation, -and later, he became the Master of Sherborne Hospital -near Durham. ‘Christ’s Hospital in Sherburn,’ which had -originally been founded by Bishop Pudsey between 1181 -and 1184, for the benefit of lepers, and had by degrees, as -leprosy died out, been turned into an asylum for the aged -poor. It had seen many changes, and had from time to -time been reformed as abuses came to light. In the reign -of Elizabeth, it was appointed that there should be thirty -brethren always living there, ‘except some there be sometimes -absent, by lack of chamber, the lodgings being few.’ -When therefore Dr Gregory, who was Master from 1760 -to 1767, came into power and built a beautiful stone -edifice, in which these almsfolk lived, it was a cause -of great discontent that he only built rooms for twenty -instead of thirty brethren. The Chronicler, however, -speaks of Master Gregory in high terms as ‘the best -of Masters,’ even if the conclusion be somewhat equivocal. -‘His benevolence,’ says he, ‘was diffusive and -general: Whilst Master of this Hospital, he did not -confine the poor old men, as heretofore to the literal -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>allowance, which, good as it might have been when -anciently settled on them by their founder, was now -become a sad and scanty pittance; but so far as it -was in his power, made them enjoy the sense and spirit -of the benefaction. He demolished all the little wretched -huts in which they were huddled together before, and -erected a handsome commodious stone edifice, making -it to consist of twenty different apartments, that each of -the old men might have one entirely to himself, and -also constructed a large room, in the centre of the building, -for their common reception, and comfortably provided -it with every necessary accommodation; but it must -be remembered that all this was not at his own cost or -charge, for he cut down and sold a large wood at -Ebchester, belonging to the hospital, more than adequate -to the expense, and thereby put something into his own -pocket.’ What a curious conclusion to the praise of -Master Gregory, who, it must be remembered, is at the -beginning of the narration called ‘the best of Masters!’—to -accuse him of putting public charity money into -his pocket at the end! If we had to believe it, there -would once more be nothing for his character except -the extenuating circumstances of his connection with that -Highland worthy Rob Roy; but fortunately for the -memory of Dean Gregory, there is another biography of -him, published not so long after his death, in which it -is explicitly said that the dean erected the new buildings -at Christ’s Hospital at his own expense, and not out of -public money, so—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c012'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Let us never, never doubt,</div> - <div class='line'>What nobody is sure about.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>Dean Gregory married Lady Mary Grey, the youngest -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Kent (whose title died -with him). She had much sorrow in her married life, as -all her sons turned out badly, and if the people of her -own day were as frank in their views about the dean and -his wife, as one writer was in the beginning of this century, -she must have felt her responsibility. ‘He had three -sons,’ says this nameless chronicler, ‘who being by their -mother connected with the English aristocracy, took to -horses and dogs, and soon died out.’ Probably it was in -his very gentleness that the kind old dean failed towards -his sons, for he had such a horror of distress, that he could -not bring it upon his children, however much they deserved -it. They were a great scandal, and were, too, if one comes -to think of it, the only failure in their father’s life. As a -parent he is highly extolled by an anonymous writer, and, -this in itself is touching enough, showing that his love -was of the sort that disappointment cannot kill, and that -in their very weakness he did not give them up. Possibly -life did teach him to mistrust his sons, for he left his -valuable library, in the event of none of his children following -a learned calling, to his nephew, Dr James Gregory -of Edinburgh. The will was badly worded, so that Professor -James Gregory’s claim had to be disregarded, but -the books were at all events not seized by his sons’ creditors, -and they remained in the custody of Christ Church, -and may now be found in the uppermost chamber of the -closely locked Wake archives.</p> - -<p class='c000'>David Gregory’s character was one which was much -considered and criticised. Some of his contemporaries -would allow him no good point, while others pronounced -eulogies on his every action. One such eulogy, written -with no great literary skill, was perhaps the work of an -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>intimate acquaintance, stung into reply by the many attacks -upon the memory of his friend. Of his social character -this unknown biographer writes, ‘That cheerful, easy affability -for which he was so remarkably distinguished, gained -him the love and affection of all around him, which contributed -very considerably to his institutions taking root -so readily, and in so short a time flourishing so successfully: -abroad he conducted himself with that dignity which -his situation as governor of a great college necessarily required; -though, under his own roof, he stripped himself -of it all, and became, to everyone indiscriminately, the -easy and familiar companion: he conducted himself in -short, throughout, in such an admirable manner, that he -was not only loved and esteemed, but honoured and respected; -and as he was in his life most sincerely valued, -so was he in his death truly and universally lamented.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>There is no doubt that Gregory was a popular dean. -He was, like so many of the Deans of Christ Church, a -Westminster student, and his appointment, moreover, was -all the more acceptable because he came immediately -after Dr Conybeare, the only non-Christ-Church man -that has ever held that office.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In his days the whole university was rather unillumined, -and Christ Church was no exception. Lord Shelburne, -referring only to his own college, says it was very low, -and as a proof of his statement adds that ‘no one who -was there in my time has made much figure either as a -public man or man of letters.’ But Gregory did his work -well as far as in him lay; he died in 1767 at a ripe old -age, in much honour, in much affection, and now lies -buried beside his wife in Christ Church Cathedral.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>JAMES GREGORIE, 1666–1742; CHARLES GREGORIE, 1681–1754; DAVID GREGORIE, 1712–1765</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘The City of the Scarlet Gown’—<span class='sc'>Andrew Lang</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>At Kinairdy on the 29th of April 1666 a fifth son was -born to David Gregorie. This was James, of whom probably -because he was only one among many, there is no -individual record till his name occurs in the list of the -graduates in Arts in the Edinburgh University in May -1685. The likelihood is that his early education was -given him by his father, who, notwithstanding his work -as an amateur physician, found time to superintend the -studies of his children. Little is known of their college -friends, but Archibald Pitcairne, who afterwards became -the Professor of Medicine, first in Edinburgh and then in -Leyden, was constantly with them, and many happy -vacations spent at Kinairdy were made merrier by his -society.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Shortly after James Gregorie graduated, and when he -was certainly not more than twenty, he was appointed to -the Chair of Philosophy in St Andrews. In his teaching -he was able and thorough, if not brilliant. Like his -elder brother, he was much in advance of his age, and -like him too was giving expression to the Newtonian -Philosophy before it had been ‘as much as heard of’ in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>Cambridge. There is extant a thesis by this Professor -James Gregorie dedicated to Viscount Tarbat, in which -after a list of scholars, candidates for the degree of A.M., -there follow twenty-five propositions, most of which are -a compendium of Newton’s <cite>Principia</cite>. The other three -relate to Logic, and the abuse of it in the Aristotelian -and Cartesian Philosophy. His definition of logic is -‘the art of making a proper use of things granted in -order to find what is sought,’ This was published in -1690.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Professor Gregorie occupied the Chair of Philosophy -at St Andrews until the Revolution, but then his love -for the discrowned king compelled him to resign. He -could not bring himself to take the oath of allegiance -to William and Mary, and thus for a few years he was -without any settled work. Happily for him, however, -David his elder brother was in 1692, by the influence of -Sir Isaac Newton, made Savilian Professor of Astronomy -at Oxford, thus leaving a vacancy in the Chair of Mathematics -at Edinburgh. He, too, had been somewhat -under a cloud because of his love for the Stuarts, and -although his greatness had prevented the party which was -in power from ejecting him from his post, yet his life had -been made sufficiently uncomfortable for him.</p> - -<p class='c000'>But now things were changed. Feeling was no longer -hot and bitter, and James succeeded to his chair in -1692, with a prospect of a long and quiet tenure of it. -At the time of his election the College revenues were -low, and he had to accept the chair on a diminished -salary of nine hundred merks, or £50 sterling, in -addition to the students’ fees. In the end Gregorie -certainly got his money’s worth out of the university, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>for he retired at fifty-nine, owing to age and infirmity, -and then lived for seventeen years, during which time -Colin Maclaurin, who had been made joint-professor -with him, got no salary. His case was indeed a piteous -one, and Sir Isaac Newton made him a yearly allowance -of £20, towards providing for him, ‘till Mr Gregorie’s -place became void.’ The entries in the Records of -Marischal College, Aberdeen, concerning Maclaurin’s -conduct there, or rather not there, are quaint.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘<em>December 23, 1724.</em>—On consideration that M’Laurine -has been abroad and not attended to his charge for near -thir three years the Council appoint Mr Daniel Gordon, one -of the regents “who had formerly taught Mathematicks at -the University of St Andrews” to teach the class during -the current session.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘<em>January 20, 1725.</em>—M’Laurine having returned a -Committee is appointed to confer with him anent: 1st, -his going away without Liberty from the Counsell. 2nd, -His being so long absent from his charge.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘<em>April 27, 1725.</em>—M’Laurine appears before the -Council, expresses regret, and is reponed.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘<em>January 12, 1726.</em>—The Council, learning “by the -Publict News Prints” that M’Laurine has been admitted -conjunct professor with Mr James Gregorie in the University -of Edinburgh, declare his office vacant.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>It is a question whether there were not times when -Colin Maclaurin thought that the safe salary which he -would have enjoyed at Marischal College might have -been preferable to his Edinburgh post, notwithstanding -the greater intercourse which he now had with the world -of science, but if so, there was no turning back.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Professor Gregorie married on the 4th September -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>1698, Barbara, a daughter of Charles Oliphant of -Langton, and a sister of his brother David’s wife. A -great gloom was cast upon their home life by the early -death of one of his daughters. She had an unhappy -love affair, and is said to have died of a broken heart. -Whether this was so or not, her story furnished the subject -of Mallet’s ballad, ‘William and Margaret.’</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c012'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Twas at the silent solemn hour,</div> - <div class='line in2'>When night and morning meet;</div> - <div class='line'>In glided Margaret’s grimly ghost,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And stood at William’s feet.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Her face was like an April morn,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Clad in a wintry cloud:</div> - <div class='line'>And clay cold was her lily hand</div> - <div class='line in2'>That held her sable shroud.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So shall the fairest face appear</div> - <div class='line in2'>When youth and years are flown,</div> - <div class='line'>Such is the robe that kings must wear</div> - <div class='line in2'>When death has reft their crown.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Her bloom was like the springing flower</div> - <div class='line in2'>That sips the silver dew,</div> - <div class='line'>The rose was budded in her cheek,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Just opening to the view.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But love had, like the canker worm,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Consumed her early prime:</div> - <div class='line'>The rose grew pale, and left her cheek;</div> - <div class='line in2'>She died before her time.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Awake, she cried, thy true love calls,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Come from her midnight grave;</div> - <div class='line'>Now let thy pity hear the maid</div> - <div class='line in2'>Thy love refused to save.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>This is the dumb and dreary hour</div> - <div class='line in2'>When injured ghosts complain;</div> - <div class='line'>Now yawning graves give up their dead</div> - <div class='line in2'>To haunt the faithless swain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>Bethink thee, William, of thy fault,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Thy pledge and broken oath;</div> - <div class='line'>And give me back my maiden vow,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And give me back my troth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Why did you promise love to me</div> - <div class='line in2'>And not that promise keep?</div> - <div class='line'>Why did you swear mine eyes were bright</div> - <div class='line in2'>Yet leave those eyes to weep?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>How could you say my face was fair</div> - <div class='line in2'>And yet that face forsake?</div> - <div class='line'>How could you win my virgin heart</div> - <div class='line in2'>Yet leave that heart to break?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Why did you say my lip was sweet</div> - <div class='line in2'>And made the scarlet pale?</div> - <div class='line'>And why did I, young witless maid,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Believe the flattering tale?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>That face alas no more is fair,</div> - <div class='line in2'>These lips no longer red;</div> - <div class='line'>Dark are my eyes, now closed in death,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And every charm is fled.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The hungry worm my sister is;</div> - <div class='line in2'>This winding sheet I wear;</div> - <div class='line'>And cold and weary lasts our night</div> - <div class='line in2'>Till that last morn appear.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But hark the cock has warned me hence,</div> - <div class='line in2'>A long and last adieu!</div> - <div class='line'>Come see, false man, how low she lies</div> - <div class='line in2'>Who dy’d for love of you.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The lark sung loud, the morning smiled</div> - <div class='line in2'>With beams of rosy red:</div> - <div class='line'>Pale William shook in every limb</div> - <div class='line in2'>And raving left his bed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>He hyed him to the fatal place,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Where Margaret’s body lay;</div> - <div class='line'>And stretched him on the grass green turf</div> - <div class='line in2'>That wrapt her breathless clay.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>And thrice he called on Margaret’s name</div> - <div class='line in2'>And thrice he wept full sore,</div> - <div class='line'>Then laid his cheek to her cold grave</div> - <div class='line in2'>And word spake never more.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>The author of this poem was not only a M’Gregor, but -like the Gregories, a M’Gregor of Roro, and though he -had changed his name, as did so many members of that -unfortunate clan, the tradition was always kept up in his -family.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Charles Gregorie, a half brother of Professor James, -who was for a time Snell Exhibitioner at Balliol, was -created by Queen Anne in 1707 Professor of Mathematics -at St Andrews, which chair he held for thirty-two years -until such time as his son could be appointed in his stead. -He was quiet, studious, and able, but little is known of -him.</p> - -<p class='c000'>David Gregorie, who succeeded him, does not bear -quite so gentle a character, but he was a much abler man -and one who could make his personality felt wherever he -went.</p> - -<p class='c000'>After his own schooldays were over, he became tutor -to the sons of the Duke of Gordon with whom he was -connected through his grandmother. In this way he -passed several years of his life before he was appointed -to the Mathematical Chair. As a professor he was very -popular, and if he tried to extend his influence beyond -his class-room, he meant nothing but kindness. This was -not always understood. One of his students wrote an -autobiography, in which he described the ardour with -which Mr Gregorie insisted that he should attend the -services at the church—ardour for which Mr. Stockdale -was not grateful and to requite which he put the professor’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>name into his ‘immortal’ autobiography as that -of a bigot, who had compelled him to attend the kirk. -Thomas Reid, when studying his cousin’s character and -especially his whiggery and Presbyterianism, so curiously -unlike the rest of his family, remembered that he, like -himself, was descended from the second wife of David -Gregorie of Kinairdy, and had inherited her principles -both in religion and politics.</p> - -<p class='c000'>There is another incident in his life more likely to recall -those of his connections who bore the name of M’Gregor, -and the record of it seems odd enough and old-world enough -in our eyes. The report is that of a lawsuit which the -professor had against Mr Wemyss of Lathockar. Gregorie, -it seems, who loved sport, was ‘hunting for partridges’ -over the broad meadowlands of Leuchars. He was accompanied -by a man called Baird, who carried a second gun -for Professor Gregorie. Suddenly Mr Wemyss sprang -upon this man and seizing his gun refused to return -it. The professor was furious—Baird was carrying a -second gun for him, he was no common fowler, no -higgler from whom a gun could rightly be taken; but -Mr Wemyss was obdurate and went away with the gun, -and nine-tenths of the law in his favour. And now there -was no possible remedy but the courts, and in due course, -the matter came up before the Sheriff. Gregorie claimed -the restitution of his gun, and damages for the way in -which he had been treated. As regards his first request, -his claim was granted, but on the second point the -judgment was not so favourable for—is it possible?—there -was a doubt in the Sheriffs mind as to whether -Gregorie himself had a right to be shooting over the -grounds of Leuchars. It had ceased to be a question -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>only concerning Baird, and in the end, the Professor of -Mathematics in St Andrew’s University was refused -damages on the ground that he himself was poaching!<a id='r4' /><a href='#f4' class='c014'><sup>[4]</sup></a> -The owner of Leuchars was a minor, and as one of his -tutors Professor Gregorie had never doubted his right to -shoot over the estate, but he went back to St Andrew’s -with new ideas on the limitations of his privilege.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f4'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. </span>Robert Fergusson the poet, wrote a poem in the Scots dialect, on -the death of this Professor David Gregorie.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>His life ended in 1765, when he was only fifty-three. -He published one book, which was a Compendium of -Algebra—an excellent text-book, said Thomas Reid his -cousin, and then added a description of the professor -which if not very interesting is still a portrait, drawn from -life: ‘a well-bred, sensible gentleman, and much esteemed -as a laborious and excellent teacher.’</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>JAMES GREGORIE, 1674–1733<br /> JAMES GREGORIE, 1707–1755</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘There’s an old University town</div> - <div class='line in2'>Between the Don and the Dee,</div> - <div class='line'>Looking over the grey sand dunes,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Looking out on the cold North Sea.’</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in28'>—<span class='sc'>Dr W. C. Smith.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>After her husband’s sudden death<a id='r5' /><a href='#f5' class='c014'><sup>[5]</sup></a> Mrs James Gregorie -returned to Aberdeen. She did not wish to live in Edinburgh, -which was now so full of sad memories for her, -and in the streets of which she had not had time to -become more than a wayfarer. She had shared Professor -Gregorie’s brilliant popularity, but the round of gaiety -had brought them intimate acquaintances rather than -friends, and in her desolation her heart turned to the -home of her childhood, and back to the more kindly -north she took her three children, her two little girls and -James about whom this chapter is written. Thus it came -that this boy was brought up, like the generation before -him, at the Grammar School of Aberdeen.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f5'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. </span>Professor James Gregorie. <em>Cf.</em> Chapter III.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>It was a good school, and did much for its boys, beating -education into them if they would not have it otherwise, and -of such discipline little Gregorie, who was no exception to -the fiery family temper, no doubt had his share. He passed -from school to Aberdeen University and later to Edinburgh, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>but when he inclined to become a doctor, it was decided -that he should go abroad and get a French degree, an -arrangement to which he acceded with joy, and in 1696 -at the age of twenty-two he set out for a time on the -continent. Once away from home, with no one to consider -but himself, he turned to what was really the centre -of greatest interest in Flanders—the camp of William III. -Merry were the days he passed there and full of excitement, -so that perhaps there was one person who was only -half glad when the Peace of Ryswick brought the war in -Flanders to an end.</p> - -<p class='c000'>But it was better for his work that he should go further -afield. On therefore he went, lingering first at Utrecht, -then at Paris before he reached Rheims, where he secured -his degree in September 1698. How much study Gregorie -put into these years it is impossible to ascertain. Medicine, -and more especially surgery, were pretty barbaric arts in -those days, but this student, it should be remembered, was -always a Gregorie, and could not but learn.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Just before he came back to England he spent a few -weeks in the French camp, and after this he accepted an -invitation to take a practice at Chelmsford, Essex. But -alas! James Gregorie found that he could not settle down -to a country life, and so to the regret of his patients he -took a hurried farewell of them, and went back to that -town from which his forbears had come—to the grey city -‘looking out on the cold North Sea.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>There is no place in the world to be compared with the -old mother city of Aberdeen for the love in which her -children hold her. Wherever they go she is still their -home, and from between her guardian rivers she watches -her sons as they go forth and is glad over their success. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>So it was in the past, so is it now, and so may it be while -the world lasts.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the beginning of the eighteenth century Aberdeen -was by no means a dull place, and indeed Dr Gregorie, -one suspects, may sometimes have wished it to be duller, -as for example when Rob Roy during the brief time of his -success was raising recruits for the Jacobite cause amongst -his clansmen there. The Earl of Mar, into whose hands -the perfidy of Montrose had thrown Rob Roy, had requested -him to bring as many of his clansmen into the -Stuart camp as he could muster. While he was occupied -with this task, he lived with Dr Gregorie, for, however -much the physician may have deplored his connection with -that too notorious person, he could never afford to neglect -him; and the charm of the Gregorie household so fell -upon the big, warm-hearted outlaw, that in a burst of -kindness and enthusiasm he offered to take Dr Gregorie’s -little son and ‘mak a man o’ him.’<a id='r6' /><a href='#f6' class='c014'><sup>[6]</sup></a> Rob Roy thought -him far too good to waste upon doctoring, and if the -sunny child had got his way, he would have followed the -cateran in that delicious life of adventure which he painted—a -life of hunting and fighting and success.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f6'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. </span>Scene imitated by Scott, in Bailie Nicol Jarvie’s offer to take -Rob’s sons James and Robert to apprentice.—<cite>Rob Roy</cite>, Ch. xxxiv.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>But Dr Gregorie was much alarmed; he must not offend -his cousin, not only because he loved him, but because -they were all alike quick in anger, and a cold answer -might have been answered by yet colder steel. He could -not trouble him with the youth’s education, and he had -only been trained in the Lowlands, and was not at all -what a Highland boy of his years would be, said the -doctor, but all this depreciation only made Rob Roy the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>keener to be friendly; and at last when every other excuse -had failed, the doctor shook his head and confessed that -the child was too delicate and would not live through a -Highland winter. So, full of compassion one for another -the cousins parted, their roads ran far apart; Rob Roy -came to his end claymore in hand listening to the dirge -‘<span lang="gd" xml:lang="gd">Cha till mi tuillidh</span>’ (we return no more), while for the -doctor there was a career of steady success and a peaceful -ending in the sweet house in the middle of the herb -garden.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Rob Roy had said he would come back and fetch the -child when he was older and stronger, but likely enough -when the cousins met again the chieftain could not advise -any man to become his follower. Once again we see -them, Rob Roy walking arm in arm with his kinsman the -Professor of Medicine, down the Castle Street in Aberdeen, -when suddenly the drums beat to arms, and the soldiers -begin to issue from the barracks. ‘If these lads are -turning out, it is time for me to look after my safety,’ -said Rob Roy, as he slowly shook hands, and turning -down one of the neighbouring closes was seen no more. -After telling this story, Sir Walter Scott added: ‘The -first of these anecdotes which brings the highest pitch of -civilization so closely in contact with the half savage state -of society, I have heard told by the late distinguished -Dr Gregory (James Gregory, Professor of Practice of -Physic in Edinburgh), and the members of his family -have had the kindness to collate the story with recollections -and family documents, and furnish the authentic -particulars. The second rests on the recollection of -an old man, who was present when Rob Roy took French -leave of his literary cousin on hearing the drums beat, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>and communicated the circumstance to Mr Alexander -Forbes, a connection of Dr Gregory by marriage.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>There is also a gossiping paragraph about this Dr -Gregorie, or rather about his house, in Orem’s description -of Old Aberdeen, written after he was made -Mediciner in King’s College, a post to which he was -appointed in 1725.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Dr Gregorie hath repaired his lodging belonging to -the college <span lang="la" xml:lang="la">anno</span> 1727; and hath built to it a toofall, -for giving it a better entry to the rooms than it had -formerly, in which toofall he hath a little room for a -study, and a little room below it beside the staircase. -He hath also repaired the garden dyke and hath begun -to enclose his glebe, a part wherof he hath enclosed with -a stone dyke, and planted it within the aforsaid year, and -hath enclosed the rest of his forsaid glebe this year 1728.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>The scene rises before us of the physician taking his interested -friend, the town clerk, over his house and grounds. -It sounds most attractive, both the front-hall and the study, -and certainly the visitor appreciated everything when he -took the trouble to write it down in his book. Gregorie -also improved the salmon-fishing in the Don by building -a stone rampart across the river which was called -‘Gregorie’s Dyke’ and can still be seen from the Bridge of -Don. In return for this, ‘a half-net’s fishing’ was granted -to him and his heirs for ever, and this has now devolved -upon a descendant of Dr James Gregorie.</p> - -<p class='c000'>When Gregorie was made mediciner he was no longer -young, but there was little in his new position to call for -energy; for, although the University of King’s College -of Aberdeen, had been the first to institute a Chair of -Medicine, the teaching of the subject was somewhat -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>fitful. His predecessor Professor Urquhart had given -some ‘Publick Lessons’ on this subject, but no where -is it mentioned that either Dr James Gregorie or his son -followed his example. Their work consisted chiefly in -deciding which candidates were to be granted the M.D. -degree, and in taking a share in the university life. The -mediciner was not a regent and was thus saved the continuous -worry and supervision which fell to the lot of most -of the professors.</p> - -<p class='c000'>As for the giving of degrees it was almost entirely a personal -affair, and a doctor of medicine did not by any means -need to know much of his subject. If he were desirable -and willing to pay the fees, the mediciner had the right -to grant him a diploma; in some cases even the fee -was dispensed with. For example, there is the following -entry in the Records of the University and King’s -College.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>‘8th September, 1701.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘Mr George Cheyne allowed to be graduat doctor in -medicine <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">gratis</span></i>, because he’s not onely our owne country-man, -and at present not rich, but is recommended by the -ablest and most learned physitians in Edinburgh as one -of the best mathematicians in Europe; and for his skill -in medicine he hath given a sufficient indication of that -by his learned tractat de Febribus, which hath made him -famous abroad as well as at home; and he being just -now goeing to England upon invitation of some of the -members of the Royal Society.’</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>The affairs of King’s College left much to be desired -at this time. As early as 1709, there had been friction -between the professors and students, the latter of whom -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>described their professors as ‘the useless, needless, -headless, defective, elective Masters of the K. Colledge of -Abd,’ and matters did not improve much in the intervening -years; for, when Professor James Gregorie’s son -was mediciner, things had come to such a pass that the -university had to make special and almost pathetic -efforts to secure students.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>‘23rd October, 1738.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘It being represented to the university, that the want -of an accomplished gentlewoman for teaching white and -coloured seam, was an occasion of several gentlemen’s -sons being kept from this college, their parents inclining -to send them, where they might have suitable -education for their daughters also; and that one Mrs -Cuthbert, now residing in this town, had given sufficient -proof of her capacity and diligence ... the university -judged it reasonable ... to advance her twelve pounds -Scots, out of the revenue belonging to the college for the -ensuing year.’ After this mention, Mrs Cuthbert passes -quite out of the University Records, so we do not know -whether the housewifely efforts of the authorities of the -university were successful.</p> - -<p class='c000'>James Gregorie as mediciner received a salary of 180 -pounds Scots, 26 bolls bear, 18 bolls meal; and on his -resigning his chair on the 20th December 1732, his son -James was <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">eo die</span></i> appointed to fill the vacancy, to receive -in his turn this munificent salary, and to live in the -fascinating manse.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Dr Gregorie married first, Catherine, second daughter of -Sir John Forbes of Monymusk, but she died young; his -second wife was a daughter of Principal Chalmers (one of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>the family who founded the <cite>Aberdeen Journal</cite>), and we -can imagine a little joint influence on the part of the -Dean of Faculty and the Principal of King’s College -bringing about this desired election, for we never hear -that the third Professor James ever did anything to make -his name live. It was to be left to his stepbrother to -carry on the tradition of the family, but John Gregorie -was only a child when his father died.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Dr James Gregorie, the mediciner, died in January -1733.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In many ways he was among the least distinguished of -his family. He stands there in a misty crowd of the -educational magnates of a very far past time, surrounded -by the canonist, the civilist and other obsolete dignitaries, -and all he leaves is an impression of content and of diplomatic -gifts, which show themselves whenever he rises out -of obscurity. This diplomacy, which when it is used in -domestic affairs is called by the Scotch ‘canniness,’ was -passed on in the family along with the gout which came -from the Chalmerses, and the combination was curious. -Later on James Gregorie, the cousin of Rob Roy, was -recognised as the founder of the Aberdeen School of -Medicine.</p> - -<p class='c000'>His son, Professor James Gregorie, was professor from -1732 to 1755. He was delicate and irritable, and his -friends had a standing joke whenever he was cross, which -probably palled upon him after a certain time. ‘Ah,’ -they would say, ‘this comes of not being educated by -Rob Roy.’ They, at least, thought this extremely witty.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Dr Gregorie married Helen Burnet, who was a connection -of his own, one of the Burnets of Elrick. They had -no children. He died on the 18th of November 1755.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>JOHN GREGORY, 1724–1773</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>‘The good-natured size of his person and set of his face, seem to -show that Philosophy is not the thing of toil and anguish it once was -to men.’—<span class='sc'>Robert W. Barbour.</span></p> - -<p class='c006'>From an Aberdeen education at the Grammar School to -begin with, and afterwards at King’s College, where he -learned his Latinity, John Gregory came to Edinburgh in -1742. He came with his mother to look after him, who, -poor soul, was haunted by the remembrance of his brother -George’s early death, and would hardly let John out of her -sight. Both of the boy’s guardians had agreed that for a -medical education he must attend Edinburgh University. -His brother, the mediciner in Aberdeen, never seems to -have suggested that he should stay there, where there was -really no systematic teaching of medicine, nor did his -grandfather, Principal Chalmers, the Principal of King’s -College.</p> - -<p class='c000'>To begin his study at Edinburgh, to continue it at -Leyden, was the best suggestion that they could offer -him, and it turned out excellently.</p> - -<p class='c000'>His professors in Edinburgh were Professor Monro, -(the first), who daily strove to make dry bones live, and -succeeded; Professor Sinclair, who expressed Boerhaave’s -teaching in his own very beautiful Latin; Dr Rutherford, -the grandfather of Sir Walter Scott, who taught -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>the Practice of Physic, and Dr Alston, the strangeness of -whose prescriptions makes it possible for us to grasp what -an advance Cullen and Gregory accomplished in medicine. -These were very nearly the same professors as lectured -when Goldsmith attended the university some ten years -afterwards, and he did not think much of any of them, -except Professor Monro, to whom he gave his heart’s admiration. -‘This man,’ he wrote, ‘has brought the science he -teaches to as much perfection as it is capable of; ‘tis he, -I may venture to say, that draws hither such a number -of students from most parts of the world, even from -Russia.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>As for Professor Alston, he has left behind him the notes -of his lectures, and they are very curious, though not -laughable, for after all it was what everyone believed in -those days. ‘Earthworms, large and fat ones especially, -were dried and used in cases of jaundice and gout: the -juice of slaters passed through a muslin bag was recommended -for cancer, convulsions and headache.’ But, all -the same, think of John Gregory taking notes of such -teaching, sitting up late at night to write down how vipers -must be used for ague and small-pox, and picture his -watching the cure of the lady with a headache who -could be induced to drink the wood-lice-juice. No -wonder she was cured when you think what faith she -must have brought to her physician.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Though these notes from Alston’s lectures seem only -worthy of a medicine-man, there was yet throughout the -university an awakening spirit of life and of enquiry. -The Royal Medical Society, which Cullen had founded -in 1735, and which John Gregory attended in 1742, was -the scene of the most lively debates upon every subject -<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>in medicine and philosophy. Little was taken for granted, -and everything was questioned. In Gregory’s year its charm -was greatly enhanced by the presence of Mark Akenside, -who was a member, and the best company possible. -Amusing, poetical, his oratory drew many persons to the -Society. Robertson, the historian, came every night -when Akenside was going to speak, and the racy talk -was enjoyed by him almost as much as it was by the -speakers.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory spent three years in Edinburgh at this time, -and then went to Leyden to study under Albinus, Gaubius, -and Van Royen. Albinus was an anatomist. His engravings -were much clearer than those procured by anyone -else at that time, but he was not a great lecturer, only -painstaking and observant. In Gaubius, however, the -university had a strong man, a vivid teacher, and an -original thinker, and if Gregory had needed inspiration, -he would have found it in his teaching.</p> - -<p class='c000'>To John Gregory Holland was delightful country -when contrasted with the cold east of Scotland, where -even the roads were almost impassable in bad weather. -In Holland he made his way along sunlit canals, through -villages gay with gardens, and when he reached Leyden -his enjoyment was complete.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Full of delight he went about the quiet squares of the university -town, along the banks of the old Rhine, and round -the path on the top of the wall. Everything was new, -and everything was foreign. He chose rooms for himself -at a well-known lodging on the Long Bridge. Mademoiselle -van der Tasse arranged her house especially for English-men. -It paid her better, and besides, the fat little French-woman -could talk English, and knew how to please, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>her coffee was famous in the town. Gregory’s companions -in Leyden were Alexander Carlyle, afterwards minister of -Inveresk, Dr Nicholas Monckly, Charles Townshend, John -Wilkes, and a few Scotsmen. Some of them were studying -law, some divinity, and the others medicine. But alas -for the great fame of Albinus and Van Royen. ‘I asked -Gregory,’ wrote Alexander Carlyle, ‘why he did not attend -the lectures,’ which he answered by asking in his turn why -I did not attend the divinity professors. ‘Having heard -all they could say in a much better form at home, we went -but rarely, and for form’s sake only to hear the Dutchmen.’ -So after all it was not the Professors of Leyden -that taught John Gregory so much. Albinus was no doubt -worthy, but in his portrait he looks a little dead, a little -like a mummy. He looks as if he had forgotten that -men were anything more than bones.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The students who most enlivened the university were -Charles Townshend and Wilkes, both of whom became -notorious in after life, Townshend as a statesman, and -Wilkes as Wilkes. On the first Sunday after Carlyle joined -the party at Leyden, Gregory took him out for a walk along -the Cingle, and introduced him to the English colony. -As Wilkes drew near the newcomer asked eagerly about -him. His face was so remarkable, not only for its ugliness, -but for its self-assurance and interest, that no one could -pass him without notice. Gregory’s answer was that ‘he -was the son of a London distiller or brewer, who wanted -to be a fine gentleman and man of taste, which he -could never be, for God and Nature had been against -him.’ And famous and popular as he afterwards became, -this estimate of him remained true, for he never succeeded -in becoming either a gentleman or a man of taste. What -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>a clear insight Gregory had, and what a sharp tongue! -He carried things all his own way in Holland, but in -Edinburgh it was different; there his rapid way of expressing -his thoughts even about the things for which he cared -most deeply, was often put down to shallowness and -hypocrisy.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The conversation among these men was often brilliant, -but most of all at their students’ supper parties—these -Leyden suppers of red herring, eggs and salad. Gregory’s -great subjects were religion, and the equal, if not superior, -talents of women as compared with men. Everybody made -fun of him, for ‘he could hardly be persuaded to go to -church, and there were no women near whom he could -have wished to flatter;’ but he would not change his mind. -Nicholas Monckly was a great friend of Gregory’s, but -more because it brought him into notice than because of -any love. He saw that Gregory could be witty, so he -used to talk to him in private about subjects of interest, -and then bringing the same matter up for discussion at their -evening entertainments, would give out his friend’s opinions -as if they had been his own. Gregory was much amused -with this, and after a few evenings took Carlyle into his -confidence, whereupon these two played many pranks upon -poor Monckly, leading him out of his depth, or contradicting -him. The sport was given up, because the -victim was too unconscious of their satire, and when they -made their chaff plain, he would come into Gregory’s -bedroom, and complain even with tears. Wilkes, who -tried too, but with greater success, to be a leader among -the students, used to leave Leyden when he felt tired of -it, and spend a few days in Utrecht with ‘Immateriality -Baxter.’ These two men were really attached to one -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>another, and what an ideal retreat it was to go to the -house of that quaint Scotsman, even though he was in -exile. King’s College in Aberdeen honoured John Gregory -in his absence by sending him the degree of M.D., and -thus distinguished, he turned his face again towards home. -He, along with Carlyle and Monckly, travelled <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">via</span></i> Helvoet, -Harwich, and London. In the boat they found a charming -companion in Violetti, who was on her way to fulfil an -engagement at the Haymarket Theatre, and to fame. She -became Mrs Garrick, and lived happily in her villa, near -London, till 1822, but except on the stage, Gregory never -saw her again.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Now there happened to John Gregory, what so seldom -befalls anyone, that he was put into the right place for him -without any effort on his part. When he returned to -Aberdeen he was offered the Chair of Philosophy, which -meant in those days that he should teach mathematics, -natural philosophy and moral philosophy, and be a -regent. His former study did not exactly lead to this, -and people must sometimes have asked of what use had -his apprenticeship to his doctor brother been to him if he -were to turn into a philosopher. But there was plenty of -time to be several things in the leisurely eighteenth century. -That was what John Gregory thought, so from 1747 to 1749 -he was a Regent of Philosophy.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Although regents had been abolished both in Edinburgh -and Glasgow Universities before 1746, in Aberdeen they -were still retained, and from the statement quoted in Mr -Rait’s book on the Universities of Aberdeen, I take the -following paragraph, descriptive of the attitude of King’s -College in regard to this subject. ‘Every Professor of -Philosophy in this University is also tutor to those who -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>study under him, has the whole direction of their studies, -the training of their minds, and the oversight of their -manners; and it seems to be generally agreed that it -must be detrimental to a student to change his tutor -every session ... and though it be allowed that a professor -who has only one branch of philosophy for his -province, may have more leisure to make improvements -in it for the benefit of the learned world, yet it does -not seem at all extravagant to suppose that a professor -ought to be sufficiently qualified to teach all that his -pupils can learn in philosophy in the course of three -sessions.’ So it was not only to teach, but to train the -minds, and ‘overlook’ the manners of his students, that -John Gregory was called. He was the only Gregory who -ever was a regent, and he came to his work with a clear -insight into students’ ways, being indeed hardly more than -a student himself. But the life must have been unattractive. -To quote from a letter dated September 4th, -1765, from Thomas Reid, who held the Chair of Philosophy -shortly after his cousin, which is full of much -interesting information as to what the work of a regent -was like:—‘The students here,’ he says, ‘have lately -been compelled to live within the College. We need -but look out at our windows to see when they rise and -when they go to bed. They are seen nine or ten times -throughout the day statedly, by one or other of the masters—at -public prayers, school hours, meals, in their rooms, -besides occasional visits which we can make with little -trouble to ourselves.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘They are shut up within walls at 9 at night. This -discipline hath indeed taken some pains and resolution, -as well as some expense, to establish it.’</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>Along with this work in King’s College, John Gregory -engaged in general practice as a physician. He found -it very engrossing, much more so than the philosophical -teaching which he had to give, and he determined to -resign his regentship, and to go abroad for a few -months.</p> - -<p class='c000'>On his return he fell in love with the Hon. Elizabeth -Forbes, a daughter of William, Lord Forbes. She was a -beautiful girl, very clever, and she was besides an heiress, -and there is a story that her father did not at all approve -of the marriage. ‘What do you propose to keep her on?’ -said he, and Gregory, getting angry, took his lancet out of -his pocket, and said, ‘on this.’ They were married in -1752. Their life was a singularly happy one, to use the -expression of their own day, ‘they mutually enjoyed a -high degree of felicity.’ For two years they were in -Aberdeen, and then Gregory got impatient of his small -practice, for there was only room there for one Dr Gregory, -and he made up his mind to seek his fortune in London. -This was a step which he was glad of all his days, for it -brought him into contact with so many interesting people. -‘In London,’ says Lord Woodhouselee, he was ‘already -known by reputation as a man of genius.’ How this could -be, seeing that he had done little to show his talents, it is -difficult to understand. Perhaps some one who knew him -in the old Leyden days had spread a report of his brilliancy, -or some Aberdonian may have named him as a coming -power. However it happened, the effect was most fortunate, -for not only was he recognised by the scientific world, -and made a Fellow of the Royal Society, but Sir George -Lyttelton and Mrs Montague, ‘that fascinating humbug,’ -made friends with him, and whatever Mrs Montague -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>was to other people, she was most sincerely kind to the -Gregories.</p> - -<p class='c000'>These were the days of Samuel Johnson, of Sir Joshua -Reynolds and his sister, of Miss Burney, of Garrick and -of Lyttelton, and it was to this society that Mrs Montague -introduced her new Scottish friends. It is true that there -were days when ‘Mrs Montague kept aloof from Johnson -like the west from the east,’ and when the sage said bitter -things about ‘Mrs Montague for a penny’; but there -were also the other days when they smiled upon one -another, when Johnson forgot that she had called <em>Rasselas</em> -a narcotic, and listened while Mrs Thrale compared her -conversation with that of Burke. Reynolds thought her -beauty classical. Miss Burney once called her the glory -of her sex, and all the world reading her essay on Shakespeare -believed that she had saved his fame from the -calumnies of Voltaire. Into this admiring circle Gregory -was admitted and was himself enjoyed and appreciated, -and it is possible that he might also in the end have -secured a practice if he had continued to live in the south. -But in 1756 his brother James died leaving a vacancy -in the Chair of Medicine in Aberdeen. To this chair -Gregory was appointed and half reluctantly he turned his -back upon London, and took up his new duties at King’s -College, He returned unchanged except for his broader -ideas and wider culture; and, although the rest of his life -was passed within the somewhat narrow limits of university -towns, he never became provincial.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Teaching was not one of his duties as mediciner. A -few years apprenticeship to any doctor sufficed for training, -and gave the students all the preparation they desired for -a degree. John Gregory and Dr Skene fretted against -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>this, and in the hope of founding a Medical School opened -Lectures on Medicine. But the students did not attend. -It was an indignity to the university, keenly felt by these -professors, that an Aberdeen degree should be the laughing -stock of all the other universities; but without an Infirmary -it was impossible to teach the Practice of Physic, and the -attempt had to be given up for the time.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Then it was that Thomas Reid and Gregory planned -the Philosophical Society, which was nicknamed by the -people who did not belong to it ‘the Wise Club.’ It met -after five o’clock dinner at a queer little tavern called the -Red Lion Inn. A paper was read and its subject discussed. -There was wine on a side table, but no healths -were allowed to be drunk, and at an early hour the discussions -ended. Among the members were Gregory, Reid, -David Skene, Gerard, and Beattie the poet, who became -a great friend of Gregory’s. The evenings were merry and -the little parlour of the inn echoed to many a peal of -laughter. The commonest entry about Gregory is ‘discourse -not readie,’ which his cousin the philosopher, who -kept the minutes never failed to insert, and also for the -benefit of the Society the fine was always claimed by the -members present, and laughingly paid by the unready -professor. On these nights when no essay was read the -Society had to content itself with philosophic discussion, -the nature of which was arranged at the previous meeting. -There was for them always, however, one never -failing subject in David Hume’s Sceptical Speculation. -‘Your company, although we are all good Christians, -would be more acceptable than that of Athanasius,’ wrote -Reid in 1763 to his great opponent, and it was true. To -Gregory there were moreover fields for speculation on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>education, on what medicine had done for men, on the -distinction between Wit and Humour, on agriculture, and -in his two books which attained such popularity there are -chapters which do nothing more than follow out the ideas -which he uttered at the Philosophical Society. Many -books had their origin in this club. Gerard’s on <cite>Taste</cite>, -Beattie’s <cite>Essay on Truth</cite>, Campbell’s <cite>Treatise on Miracles</cite>, -and <cite>Philosophy of Rhetoric</cite>, and John Gregory’s <cite>Comparative -View of Man and the Animal World</cite>, all books -with a great name in their day, but Gregory’s for one -sadly uninteresting now, when his startling views upon -education have been universally accepted, and there -remains of what is unusual only pedantic comparison -and prosy sentiment. It is forgotten that John Gregory -was an innovator when he advocated keeping children -warm and when he refused to recognise the necessity -of the icy morning bath, which before his day was <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">de -rigueur</span></i> in every nursery. Long after his teaching days -were over there were still found homes where his broad -sensible views had not penetrated, and in the <cite>Memoirs of -a Highland Lady</cite> Miss Grant gives a terrible description -of her own early days (1806).</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘A large long tub stood in the kitchen-court, the ice -on the top of which had often to be broken before our -horrid plunge into it; we were brought down from the -very top of the house, four pair of stairs, with only a cotton -cloak over our night gowns, just to chill us completely -before the dreadful shock. How I screamed, begged, -prayed, entreated to be saved, half the tender-hearted -maids in tears beside me, all no use, Millar had her -orders. Nearly senseless, I have been taken to the house-keeper’s -room, which was always warm, to be dried, then -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>we dressed, without any flannel, and in cotton frocks with -short sleeves and low necks. Revived by the fire, we -were enabled to endure the next bit of martyrdom, an -hour upon the low sofa, so many yards from the nursery -hearth, our books in our hands, while our cold breakfast -was preparing.’ What a changed life have the little folks -of to-day! But, ah me! this name of Gregory to childhood. -‘The evil that men do lives after them; the -good is oft interred with their bones ...’ the son’s -mixture made the name of Gregory abhorred in every -nursery, and all the father’s good deeds are forgotten.</p> - -<p class='c000'>On the 29th of September 1763 Dr Gregory’s wife -died. It was the greatest sorrow of his life, and afterwards -when high honours came to him in his profession, -and when the world praised him, he never ceased to -think with longing of the early joyous days of his love. -Elizabeth Gregory was very happy, and even in her -memory there is something tender and simple, something -to make one smile, and feel the better of it. Picture this -peer’s daughter, as she stood one afternoon, making impotent -appeals to her little boy (who was dressed in white -for a party,) to leave the herd of small ragamuffins whom -he was leading to a glorious mud-damming of the gutter. -Little James paid no attention to his mother—I doubt -whether he heard her—for the dam was breaking, hope -was almost gone, when with a shout of joy he remembered -that he himself was a solid body, and sitting down in the -breach, cried out in broad Scots to his admiring followers, -‘<span lang="gd" xml:lang="gd">Mair dubs, laddies, mair dubs</span>.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Some years after his wife’s death Dr Gregory was invited -to go to Edinburgh. Professor Rutherford, who held the -chair of the Practice of Physic, wished to retire, but he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>would not resign his place to Cullen, whom he held a -heretic in medicine. So the old professor arranged that -John Gregory should be asked to come from Aberdeen, and -set up practice in Edinburgh. At another time Professor -Gregory would have hesitated, but in his distress and -despondency he thought of what a benefit it would be to -himself to leave the sad associations of Aberdeen and -allay his sorrows in the fulness of work which he knew -would await him. His university did not ask him to resign -his chair at King’s College, but in 1765 Sir Alexander -Gordon of Lesmore was appointed as joint-professor.</p> - -<p class='c000'>John Gregory settled in 15 St John’s Street, Edinburgh, -in 1764. His house was pleasantly situated on a hill, and -was almost next door to Lord Monboddo’s, between whom -and Gregory there presently sprang up a great intimacy. -Practice came fast to Gregory, but celebrity greater than -that which comes to a practitioner, however successful, -made his first year in Edinburgh a year of triumph. Only -a few months before, he had sent his manuscript of <cite>A -Comparative View of the State and Faculties of Man with -those of the Animal World</cite> to Lord Lyttelton, and now -the book had been published in London and received -with such an enthusiasm that even Gregory and his -patron were greatly astonished. London read the book, -Aberdeen read the book, and so did Edinburgh, and -Gregory was made at once a member of that literary -Edinburgh as he had in his youth been received by Mrs -Montague and her friends in London.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The matter was good and fresh at the time, but what -was most praised was the style. ‘If you wish to see the -natural style in the highest perfection, read the works of -the late Dr John Gregory.... But in particular his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span><cite>Comparative View</cite>, which in respect to natural ease and -unaffected elegant simplicity of style is not to be exceeded -in any language, and in as far as my reading has extended -has not been equalled by any other composition in English.... -Gregory’s style may be compared to the acting -of Garrick; it is only by a retrospective view that its -superior excellence can be discovered.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>This is only one of the many laudatory reviews of the -book, and by no means the most flattering, and it says -a great deal for John Gregory’s sense that, in spite of this -lionising, he came so successfully through the difficulties -which crowded round him for the next few years.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Professor Rutherford watched with growing satisfaction -the success of the Aberdeen doctor, whom he regarded as -a <span lang="es" xml:lang="es">protegé</span> of his own. It was unfortunate for Gregory -that he stood as it were as a rival of Cullen, for whom he -had throughout life the profoundest regard. But nevertheless -this was the case.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1766 matters came to a climax in the appointment -of Gregory to the Chair of the Practice of Physic, made -vacant by the retirement of Professor Rutherford. There -was an immediate and furious outcry against this election, -which was known to be mostly due to family influence. -Gregory was a great man, and proved himself a brilliant -teacher, but at this time he was absolutely untried, -whereas Cullen had already made himself a name as one -of the greatest teachers of the day.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The gift of the chair was in the hands of the Town -Council, and to that body an address from the students of -medicine was sent after the death of Dr Whytt, Professor -of the Theory of Medicine, suggesting the advisability of -asking Professor Gregory to resign the Chair of the Practice -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>of Physic, which he then held, and accept the less important -one of the Theory of Medicine, in order to make room -for Cullen in the Practical Chair.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘We who make this application are students of medicine -in your University.... We are humbly of opinion that -the reputation of the University and Magistrates, the -good of the city, and our improvement will all in an -eminent manner, be consulted by engaging Dr Gregory -to relinquish the Professorship of the Practice for that -of the Theory of Medicine, by appointing Dr Cullen, -present Professor of Chemistry, to the practical chair, -and by electing Dr Black Professor of Chemistry.’ After -a dissertation on the qualifications of Dr Cullen, they -proceed. ‘Nor is this our opinion of Dr Cullen meant -in the least to detract from the merits of Dr Gregory. -On the contrary, a principal motive to our expressing -the sentiments we do on this occasion is the high opinion -we entertain of that gentleman’s capacity. By a late very -elegant and ingenious performance, by everybody attributed -to him, we imagine it is evident what advantages -the University must reap from lectures on the Theory -of Medicine, delivered by a thinker so just and original, -and so universally acquainted with human nature. With -pleasure too, we reflect, that his character is not less -respectable as a man, than as a Philosopher. We therefore -cannot suppose, that were the public emolument to -be obtained even at the expense of his private interest, -he would not rejoice to make the honourable sacrifice, -far less that he would, in the least hesitate to favour a -scheme for promoting the public utility, when his private -advantage is consistent with it.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>This can hardly have been pleasant reading for Gregory, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>and the whole proceeding was so entirely out of order that -the Town Council took no action in the matter. Meanwhile -Gregory was made First Physician to the King for -Scotland in the place of Dr Whytt. He lectured for -three years on the Practice of Physic, and then he and -Cullen agreed to give alternate lectures on the Theory and -Practice of Medicine. The university possessing three -such able teachers as Gregory, Cullen and Black, grew -more and more prosperous. It is impossible to go over -the records of these years without admiration for John -Gregory, who, amidst all the strife that waged around him -and around Cullen, has not left a record of any bitterness. -That he must have felt these annoyances is obvious, but -his worries were only Edinburgh worries, and outside he -knew that both he and Cullen were appreciated and -valued for their individual work. On his appointment -to the Edinburgh chair he had resigned his King’s -College professorship.</p> - -<p class='c000'>When Dr Gregory came to Edinburgh, he came with -his six children. Elizabeth, his youngest little girl, died -in 1771. His eldest son James was studying medicine, -the other boys were at work, and Dorothea and Anna -Margaretta, his elder daughters, were growing into more -charming companions for him with every day that passed. -They were tall, willowy girls, promising great beauty, and -full of sweetness. Dorothea, or Dolly as she was called, -was a god-daughter of Mrs Montague’s, and when that -lady came to stay with Dr Gregory, she was absolutely -fascinated by her godchild. Her visit was a great -pleasure to the Gregorys, to whom she was ever her -most charming self.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Edinburgh society did not take kindly to her, if we are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>to believe Dr Carlyle, and in fact he is rather bitter upon -the subject, calls her ‘a faded beauty,’ ‘a candidate for -glory,’ and says she might have been admired by the first -order of minds had she not been ‘greedy of more praise -than she was entitled to.’ Even he, however, acknowledged -her a wit, a critic, an author of some fame, possessing -some parts and knowledge, which is praise to a -certain point, though not to the point which Mrs Montague -would have desired! ‘Old Edinburgh was not a -climate for the success of impostures,’ writes the minister -of Inveresk, and then to support his judgment with a -little legal weight, he added, ‘Lord Kames, who was at -first catched with her Parnassian coquetry, said at last that -he thought she had as much learning as a well-educated -college lad here of sixteen.’ Alas, poor Mrs Montague! -and then, too, Dr Carlyle has unwittingly pointed out the -rock on which she struck—‘she despised the women’—and -by such obvious silliness did she not evoke her fate? -Gray the poet was also a visitor at the Gregorys’ and -Gregory was asked to meet anyone of interest who came -to the town. With Smollett, indeed, who lived in St John -Street for a winter, he could have little real friendship, -for the novelist had put Lord Lyttleton into <cite>Roderick -Random</cite> in anything but a kindly spirit, and the Gregories -were notoriously ‘Love me, love my dog’ people. He -lived on terms of close intimacy with Dr Robertson, Dr -Blair, David Hume, John Home, Lord Kames, Lord -Monboddo, and Lord Woodhouselee. He was a member -of the Poker Club, though he went there very seldom, because -of the way he was laughed at when he uttered his -favourite doctrine of the superiority of women over men. -This at least was the gossip of the time, but there is just -<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>a possibility that he thought his own company more -entertaining than the constant attendance at the Poker -from three in the afternoon till eight at night, and though -no one knew it, he was busy drawing up a book of advices -for his daughters against the time, which he felt could not -be very far off, when he would no longer be with them.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘<span class='sc'>My Dear Girls</span>—You had the misfortune to be deprived -of your Mother at a time of life when you were insensible -of your loss, and could receive little benefit either -from her instruction or her example. Before this comes to -your hands, you will likewise have lost your Father. I -have had many melancholy reflections on the forlorn and -helpless situation you must be in if it should please God -to remove me from you before you arrive at that period of -life, when you will be able to think and act for yourselves.... -I have been supported under the gloom ... by a reliance -on the Goodness of that Providence which has -hitherto preserved you, and given me the most pleasing -prospect of the goodness of your dispositions, and by the -secret hope that your Mother’s virtues will entail a blessing -on her children.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>This was the spirit in which the book was written, and -though it is a type of book which has entirely passed -out of fashion, it is interesting to read it and remember -that in the days of our great-grandmothers it had its place -on every girl’s table.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Dr Gregory had a very observant way of watching girls, -he knew life, and his advice was shrewd and tender. In -the chapter on Conduct and Behaviour there are many -quaint observations as to what gifts are attractive in a -girl.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Wit,’ he says, ‘is the most dangerous talent you can -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>possess, it must be guarded with great discretion and -good nature, otherwise it will create you many enemies’.... -‘Be even cautious in displaying your good sense. -It will be thought you assume a superiority over the rest -of the company—But if you happen to have any learning, -keep it a profound secret, especially from the men’.... -‘Beware of detraction, especially when your own sex are -concerned. You are generally accused of being particularly -addicted to this vice—I think unjustly—Men are -fully as guilty of it when their interests interfere. As -your interests more frequently clash, and as your feelings -are quicker than ours, your temptations to it are more -frequent. For this reason, be particularly tender of the -reputation of your own sex, especially when they happen -to rival you in our regards.’ Later on, there is a pathetic -feeling of how little he can foretell his daughters’ tastes. -‘I do not want to <em>make</em> you anything, I want to know what -Nature has made you, and to perfect you on her plan.’</p> - -<p class='c000'><cite>A Father’s Legacy to his Daughter</cite> was intended only for -his own girls, and was not published till after Dr Gregory’s -death. During his time in Edinburgh he brought out -besides his <cite>Comparative View</cite>, <cite>Lectures on the Duties and -Qualifications of a Physician</cite>, which were his introductory -lectures, and <cite>Elements of the Practice of Physic</cite>, a first -volume of a text-book for his students which he did not -live to complete. He thought medicine required a more -comprehensive mind than any other profession, and often -brought much besides mere technical knowledge into his -lectures. As a speaker he was simple, natural and -vigorous. He lectured only from notes, ‘in a style -happily attempered,’ said one of his contemporaries, -‘between the formality of studied composition, and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>ease of conversation.’ On one thing he insisted, that -every student should appreciate the limitations of medicine, -for only so could they learn to extend its borders.</p> - -<p class='c000'>During these years, too, he carried on a constant -correspondence with James Beattie, Professor of Moral -Philosophy in Aberdeen, and a poet. Both Beattie and -Thomas Reid, who held the corresponding chair in -Glasgow, were engaged in combating the teaching of -David Hume, which had become very fashionable, and -Gregory, though much attached to David Hume as a -man, feared him as a teacher, and dreaded the growth -of that scepticism which marked the time—a tendency -quite as bitterly lamented in England by Samuel -Johnson.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘I am well convinced,’ Gregory wrote to Beattie in -a letter dated Edinburgh, 16th June 1767, ‘that the -great deference paid to our modern heathens has been -productive of the worst effects. Young people are impressed -with an idea of their being men of superior -abilities, whose genius has raised them above the vulgar -prejudices, and who have spirit enough to avow openly -their contempt of them. Atheism and Materialism are -the present fashion. If one speak with warmth of an infinitely -wise and good Being, who sustains and directs the -frame of nature, or expresses his steady belief of a future -state of existence, he gets hints of his having either a very -weak understanding, or of his being a very great hypocrite.... -You are the best man I know to chastise these -people as they deserve, you have more Philosophy and -more wit than will be necessary for the purpose, though -you can never employ any of them in so good a cause.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>When Beattie’s answer to Hume was in manuscript, he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>sent it to Dr Gregory, who read it, and cordially approved -of it, but one result of this was that Gregory had to become -a partaker in the acrimony of Hume’s friends. His -advices as to an attractive style were somewhat curious, -‘You are well aware of the antipathy, which the present -race of readers have against all abstract reasoning, except -what is employed in defence of the fashionable principles; -but though they pretend to admire their metaphysical -champions, yet they never read them, nor if they did, -could they understand them. Among Mr Hume’s -numerous disciples, I do not know one who ever read -his <cite>Treatise on Human Nature</cite>. In order, therefore, -to be read, you must not be satisfied with reasoning with -justness and perspicuity; you must write with pathos, -with elegance, with spirit, and endeavour to warm the -imagination and touch the heart of those who are deaf to -the voice of reason. Whatever you write in the way of -criticism will be read, and, if my partiality to you does -not deceive me, be admired. Everything relating to the -‘Belles Lettres’ is read, or pretended to be read. What -has made Lord Kames’ <cite>Elements of Criticism</cite> so popular -in England, is his numerous illustrations and quotations -from Shakespeare.... This is a good political hint to you -in your capacity of an author.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory was also consulted about the sketch design of -Beattie’s Poem, <cite>The Minstrel</cite>, which he admired, and the -closing stanza written by his friend the poet, when he -heard of Gregory’s death, was supposed to be very beautiful -poetry. Cowper wrote in one of his letters to the -Rev. William Unwin, ‘If you have not his poem called -<cite>The Minstrel</cite>, and cannot borrow it, I must beg you to -buy it for me, for though I cannot afford to deal largely -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>in so expensive a commodity as books, I must afford to -purchase at least the poetical works of Beattie.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory’s views of his friend’s high gifts then were -shared by Cowper. Gray also held him in high estimation, -and Mrs Siddons spent an afternoon with Beattie, -crying because they were so happy over poetry and -music, and some of the poetry must have been his own. -As for Beattie’s lines on Gregory, they are as much -calculated to draw smiles as tears from our eyes.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c012'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Adieu, ye lays that fancy’s flowers adorn,</div> - <div class='line'>The soft amusement of the vacant mind!</div> - <div class='line'>He sleeps in dust and all the Muses mourn,</div> - <div class='line'>He whom each virtue fired, each grace refined,</div> - <div class='line'>Friend, teacher, pattern, darling of mankind!</div> - <div class='line'>He sleeps in dust: and how should I pursue</div> - <div class='line'>My theme? To heart-consuming grief resigned,</div> - <div class='line'>Here on his recent grave I fix my view,</div> - <div class='line'>And pour my bitter tears. Ye flowery lays, adieu!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Art thou, my Gregory, for ever fled?</div> - <div class='line'>And am I left to unavailing woe?</div> - <div class='line'>When fortune’s storms assail this weary head,</div> - <div class='line'>Where cares long since have shed untimely snow,</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, now, for comfort whither shall I go?</div> - <div class='line'>No more thy soothing voice my anguish cheers,</div> - <div class='line'>Thy placid eyes with smiles no longer glow,</div> - <div class='line'>My hopes to cherish and allay my fears.</div> - <div class='line'>‘Tis meet that I should mourn, flow forth afresh my tears.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory wrote little upon religious subjects, except -some chapters in the <cite>Comparative View</cite> and in the -<cite>Father’s Legacy</cite>, but he spoke often of the things which -pertain to the Life Eternal. To him they were as really -present as the circumstances of every day.</p> - -<p class='c000'>His mind was deeply religious, but it was of that sort -that lives more by meditation than church-going. Though -<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>he was a Presbyterian himself, he had his younger children -brought up as Episcopalians, wishing them in everything -to be likened as much as possible to their mother.</p> - -<p class='c000'>One day in the beginning of February 1773, John -Gregory was talking to his son James about his health. -His son told him that he feared it was likely he would -soon have a bad attack of gout, a disease from which he -had been entirely free for three years. Professor Gregory, -who felt himself in full vigour, and who was in the -height of his work, was much vexed with this prognosis. -Gout was a dread enemy in his mother’s family, and he -always feared its visitations. He had suffered from it -more or less since he was eighteen, and the preface to -the <cite>Father’s Legacy</cite> indicates his anticipation of an early -death.</p> - -<p class='c000'>On the morning of the 10th he was found dead in bed. -His face was peaceful, everything was smooth and still, -showing that death had come gently. But the familiar -presence had passed away for ever from his home. It is -said that Gregory had a great fear of darkness, and that -after his wife’s death he used to have an old woman come -and sit by him to hold his hand till he fell asleep, and if -this is true, it is most strange. He was forty-nine when -he died.</p> - -<p class='c000'>John Gregory was succeeded in the chair by William -Cullen, who, when his time came, made room for James -Gregory, the fourth incumbent of the chair: a son of -Dorothea Gregory, William Pulteney Alison was the -sixth.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In appearance John Gregory was tall and strongly -built. His face in repose was kind, although too full -and heavy to look clever; even his eyes were dull. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>When he was talking there was a complete change. -Interest, life and expression transformed his features, -until one could hardly suppose him to be the same -man. The charm of his manner has never been gainsaid, -and like the beauty of his wife, it is mentioned in -every biography.</p> - -<p class='c000'>After her father died, Dorothea went to live with her -godmother, Mrs Montague, under whose care she spent -the rest of her unmarried life. She was made very happy, -and gave great pleasure wherever she went. She had -inherited, if not all her mother’s beauty, a great share of -it, and her nature was as sweet and strong as her father’s -and mother’s in one. When Sir William Pulteney, who -had been a friend of her father’s, heard of Dorothea’s -engagement to the Rev. Archibald Alison, he wanted to -satisfy himself that she was making a suitable marriage, -and with this object in view went himself to see if all the -good things that were said about the bridegroom were -true. He gives a pleasant description of the expedition.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Andrew Stuart and I accompanied Mr Alison to -Thrapston, and the marriage took place on the 19th, by a -license from the Archbishop of Canterbury. I conducted -them afterwards to their residence, and we left them next -morning after breakfast, as happy as it is possible for people -to be. Mr Alison was obliged to come round by London, -in order to take an oath at granting the license, and I was -glad of the opportunity which the journey afforded me of -making an acquaintance with him; for tho’ I had little -doubt that Miss Gregory had made a proper choice, yet I -wished to be perfectly satisfied, and the result is, that I -think neither you nor Mr Nairne have said a word too -much in his favour.’</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>Dorothea Gregory’s two sons were William Pulteney -Alison, Professor of the Practice of Physic, and Sir -Archibald Alison, the historian. Her daughter Montague, -before her marriage with Colonel Gerard, was loved by -Thomas Campbell, the poet, and by Francis Jeffrey.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Anna, John Gregory’s second daughter, married John -Forbes, Esq. of Blackford, in Aberdeenshire. William -the second son went into the Church, and was appointed -one of the ‘six preachers’ in Canterbury Cathedral. Of -his sons one was a successful doctor in London, and -another, John, Governor of the Bahammas, was the father -of Mr Philip Spencer Gregory, who has already been -referred to in this book.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Dr Gregory changed the spelling of his name from -Gregorie to Gregory during his stay in London. Curiously -enough, the only other branch of the Gregories -who had up to that time emigrated to the south had -made the same alteration.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Professor John Gregory’s fame, while it may not have -extended as widely as that of his son, was yet far-reaching. -When Beattie had an interview with the king in 1773, -His Majesty made special enquiries about his First -Physician for Scotland. This was probably shortly after -the professor’s death.</p> - -<p class='c000'>His life published in 1800 along with sketches of Lord -Kames, David Hume, and Adam Smith, ends with these -words—</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Upon the whole, whether he is considered as a man -of genius and of the world, or with regard to his conduct -in the line of his profession, few human characters will be -found to equal that of the late Dr John Gregory.’</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>JAMES GREGORY, 1753–1821</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘If in doubt, “lead with trumps,” is counsel so old</div> - <div class='line in2'>As never to fail with the game in a fixture;</div> - <div class='line'>And medical men, in their doubt, I am told,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Are safe when they lead with—<cite>Gregory’s Mixture</cite>!’</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in44'>—<span class='sc'>Old Play.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>It was in the middle of the session, 1772–73, that John -Gregory died, leaving as we know his work in full swing. -The university authorities were told, not of his illness, -but of his death, and they were greatly at a loss as to who -should continue the course of lectures which Professor -Gregory had commenced with so much vigour. In this -difficulty it was that James Gregory his son stepped forward; -although he was only a medical student, he offered -to deliver lectures on the Practice of Physic till the end -of the term, and this proposal was most gratefully accepted -by the university.</p> - -<p class='c000'>There is something which is perhaps not wholly unattractive -in the idea of being the professor as well as the -student; but at nineteen to lecture, and to lecture so well -as to receive in consequence the offer of a chair at twenty-three, -is a triumph which is rare indeed.</p> - -<p class='c000'>James Gregory was born in Aberdeen in 1753, and -even as a child his mind always seems to have been -keenly awake. He left the Grammar School of Aberdeen -when he was eleven, having learned all that was to be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>learned there, and entered King’s College at an age at -which clever boys now leave a preparatory school.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the same year when his father removed to Edinburgh -James Gregory entered that university, and there -he spent the next years of his life. Later he went up to -Christ Church, Oxford, of which his cousin was then dean. -Oxford did not inspire him much, for indeed learning was -then at a very low level there, but he continued his work -at classics, and came to write Latin with fluency, Greek -when there was occasion, and both ‘with classical elegance,’ -if we are to believe his admiring contemporaries.</p> - -<p class='c000'>It is probable that it was at Oxford that James Gregory -resolved to follow in his father’s footsteps, and become a -doctor. There were of course many inducements, and all -the influence of his family would be brought to bear on -that side; but beyond this may we not believe that visions -were given him of the golden fame that a hitherto unimagined -mixture would bring to the name of Gregory -unto all time? Whether the vision was vouchsafed to -him or not, he returned to Scotland and began his -medical studies in 1767.</p> - -<p class='c000'>It was a brilliant time in Edinburgh University. The -medical professoriate contained a number of remarkable -men. Cullen was there who had revolutionised medicine, -Alexander Monro ‘<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Secundus</span>,’ the greatest of a great -family, Black who was acknowledged by Lavoisier as the -pioneer of modern chemistry, John Hope the botanist and -John Gregory. Under such teachers as these James made -rapid progress, and although there are no tales of medals -or prizes we cannot forget the instance of his medical -foresight when he predicted an attack of gout for his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>father, which attack came, to his sorrow, so soon and so -fatally after the prediction.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The Chair of the Practice of Physic was given to Cullen, -and young Gregory went to St George’s Hospital, London, -to gain a wider experience. He took his M.D. degree in -Edinburgh in 1774: his thesis entitled <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">De morbis Coeli -Mutatione Medendis</span></cite> treats in detail <span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Phthisis Pulmonalis</span>, -Hypochondriasis, and Gout, and concludes by noticing the -advantage of change of air in the prolonging of human -life. Startlingly wide in subject as this thesis appears to -us, it was greatly admired for its style and minuteness, -and thus Gregory, quitting Edinburgh for a time of study -on the continent, left behind him a very favourable impression -both of his talent and hard-working research.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Leyden, Paris, and Italy formed matter for enchanting -letters which were the delight of his friends. Where are -those letters gone to? How pleasant would it be to live -through them a student’s life in these years. Whatever -James Gregory could be, he was never dull, and besides -in them we might have found the early tokens of that -fierce temper which is the only pity of his professional -career in Edinburgh.</p> - -<p class='c000'>There are two portraits of Gregory, or rather a portrait<a id='r7' /><a href='#f7' class='c014'><sup>[7]</sup></a> -and a bust, which were said to be very like. A tall -man, large, ungainly, of a rare presence. A man having -authority impressed on every feature, radiant with affection -for his friends, intolerant of enemies, asking his own way -and getting his own way, loving, hating, thinking, speaking, -feeling, always with intensest ardour. Here was a man -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>whom none of his associates could regard dispassionately; -they either loved him as a friend or hated him as an -enemy.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f7'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. </span>The portrait is by Raeburn, and there is also a miniature of the -professor by the same artist, which is in the possession of Mr Philip -Spencer Gregory.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>Even in Edinburgh which was full of personalities, real -individuals, men who were above all things themselves, -Gregory stands out a great original. Lord Cockburn and -Sir Robert Christison were not inclined to agree with each -other on most subjects, yet about Gregory’s power there -is a refreshing unanimity in their opinions.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In June 1773 he was elected to the Chair of the -Institutes of Medicine. This chair had been practically -vacant for three years, during which time it was offered -over and over again to Alexander Monro Drummond, -whose chief merit seems to have been that he united -the names of the great teaching Monroes with that of -Drummond, perhaps the noblest citizen Edinburgh has -ever had. It has been suggested, however, that this was -only done to keep the appointment open for Gregory, -when he should have completed his studies, and certainly -when he returned, his election was unanimous. He -entered upon his duties with happy vigour. Teaching -was, as with every Gregory, his greatest gift, and the -classes grew steadily all the time he was professor. The -university never made greater progress than it did about -this time, the medical graduates rising in number from -about twenty in 1776 to one hundred and sixty in 1827.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In the teaching of his class Professor Gregory daily felt -the need for his students of a new book on the Theory of -Medicine, so he wrote the <cite><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Conspectus Medicinae Theoreticae</span></cite> -which proved such a valuable handbook on the subject. -This book was most successful, it passed through many -editions, was translated into English and several other -<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>languages, was used sometimes as a medical book and -sometimes as a Latin text, for the Latin was as much -admired as the information which it imparted. Considering -the success of this volume, it is surprising that this -was James Gregory’s only medical publication: he alas -wrote many books afterwards, but with the exception of -some chapters on philology and some literary essays, he -wrote nothing but controversial works, prodigiously long, -violent, personal, and acrid; their only excuse that they -were never written for selfish ends and their only merit -that they were a source of infinite amusement to the -general public.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory lived in his father’s old house, No. 15 Canongate, -and to this home he brought his first wife, the -gentle Galloway girl, called Mary Ross, whose companionship -was his, for such a short time in life’s journey. She -died in 1784. In the years following her death he resumed -his early classical studies, and it is a rather curious fact -that he wrote nearly all the Latin epitaphs or dedications -which were wanted for any purpose in Edinburgh from -this time till his death. Principal Shairp, referring to -Burns’ meeting with Gregory at Ochtertyre, describes how -the poet ‘was charmed with the conversation of that last -of the Scottish line of Latinists, which began with Buchanan -and ended with Gregory.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1787, he published his essay on the <cite>Theory of -Moods and Verbs</cite>, and in 1792, <cite>Philosophical</cite> and <cite>Literary -Essays</cite>. He was a great student of words, loved epigram, -and spent much of his leisure in translating poetry. He -was also interested in metaphysics, but as his great maxim -was that in metaphysics there could be no discovery, his -writings on this subject do not appear to have added -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>much to his fame. Throughout these years, too, he kept -up a constant correspondence with his cousin Thomas -Reid, and proved himself just the appreciative critic that -Reid required in the writing of his books. Dugald -Stewart and Gregory together revised the proofs of Reid’s -<cite>Essays on the Intellectual Powers</cite>, and to them this book -was dedicated.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘I send you,’ writes Reid, ‘what I propose as the title -of my Essays, with an epistle which I hope you and -Mr Stewart will allow me to prefix to them. Whether -your name should go first on account of your doctor’s -degree, or Mr Stewart’s, I leave you to adjust between -yourselves. I know not how to express my obligations -to you both for the aid you have given me.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Towards the end of 1790 it became apparent that -Cullen, the greatest doctor of his time was failing in strength, -and on his resigning the Chair of the Practice of Physic -the Town Council reappointed him in kindly recognition -of his great services to the university, but appointed -James Gregory to be joint-professor during his lifetime -with the sole right of survivorship. This comradeship -did not last long, for in the same year Cullen died. -To no less strong man could the task of succeeding -this veteran teacher, who had raised the reputation of -the Edinburgh School to such a height, have been wisely -entrusted.</p> - -<p class='c000'>As Professor of the Theory of Physic, Gregory had -shown remarkable gifts, but in his new subject his teaching -was superb. Sir Robert Christison in his autobiography, -says of him, ‘Equal in fluency as in choice of -language, he surpassed all lecturers I have ever heard. -His doctrines were set forth with great clearness and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>simplicity in the form of a commentary on Cullen’s <cite>First -Lines of the Practice of Physic</cite>. His measures for the -cure of disease were sharp and incisive. In acute diseases -there was no ‘<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">médecine expectante</span>’ for Gregory, he somehow -left us with the impression that we were to be masters -over nature in all such diseases, that they must of necessity -give way before the physician who is early enough and -bold enough in encountering them.’ He had a memory -so clear that he was never known to forget a case, and in -his lectures he made his students see not only the general -features of a disease, but an actual case of it which had -come under his care. He used stories and history, and -his own experience to vivify his lectures, and no doubt he -succeeded for he had seen many sides of life. He never -had time for more than two-thirds of his subject in one -course, but whatever he missed out he always discussed -fevers and inflammations. In much that he taught he -was in advance of his age. In observing how frequently -rheumatic fever tends to heart disease; in limiting the use -of blood-letting<a id='r8' /><a href='#f8' class='c014'><sup>[8]</sup></a> at a time when it was becoming almost a -universal panacea with doctors, in urging a liberal dietary -in certain stages of consumption, and in the invention -and use of his mixture he showed that his views were in -advance of those held by most of his brother physicians. -Professor Gregory had an odd habit of wearing his cocked -hat while he lectured.</p> - -<div class='footnote' id='f8'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. </span>In whole classes of cases, however, Gregory was a decided -advocate of blood-letting.</p> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>It was in the summer of 1796 that dear old Thomas -Reid, who was becoming very frail, was induced to pay a -visit to St Andrew’s Square, to which Gregory had migrated. -His daughter, Mrs Carmichael, was anxious to have the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>opinion of Dr Gregory, as to whether there was anything -she could do to retard the bodily decay which increased -daily in her father. It was a happy time to them all. -Gregory delighted in the keenness of the old man’s mind. -As he was not fit for much exercise, he passed his time in -solving algebraical problems, and discussing abstruse subjects -with Dugald Stewart. Gregory was no doubt busy. -His practice increased daily, and besides this, he probably -spent a good deal of his time in the house of Mr M’Leod -of Geanies, the Sheriff of Ross-shire; to whose daughter, -Isabella, he was married on the 19th of October, just ten -days after Thomas Reid’s death.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Miss M’Leod was a very beautiful girl, both winning -and attractive, if Raeburn’s portrait of her is true to -life, and she made both a good wife and good mother. -Among Raeburn’s other portraits, and interesting to us -because they were the friends of the Gregories, are such -men as Dugald Stewart, Principal Robertson, Blair, -Home, Ferguson, Mackenzie, Francis Horner, and Jeffrey. -How much is it Raeburn, one wonders, who makes these -men and women so charming, for it is their looks and -what we know of their lives, far more than their writings, -that attract us. Principal Robertson, with all his sweetness -and dignity, has only written histories which are now -superseded. Jeffrey railed at Wordsworth. Blair’s sermons -are but a lingering tradition. The eloquence of -Dugald Stewart, which brought Melbourne, Lord John -Russell, and Palmerston to Edinburgh University, is now -forgotten. It is not by their books that we know these -men, it is because we love them when we see their portraits; -it is because Cockburn lets us know them in their -homes—it is because John Brown, who lived early enough to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>be in touch with those who remembered them, has written -about them lovingly and tenderly. They were delightful -men, but more delightful in their lives than in their books. -The witty criticisms of the <cite>Edinburgh Review</cite> have passed -away; they were for their day—but the remembrance of -Jeffrey’s pleasant after-intercourse with Wordsworth, the -kindliness with which Gregory welcomed all the young -Edinburgh reviewers into his house at a time when no -other Tories except the ‘man of feeling’ and Archibald -Alison would receive them, and the occasional permission -which Principal Robertson gave little Henry Cockburn to -feast off his cherry tree—these are memories which will -appeal to the kindly hearts of all time.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Then it is amusing to read Dr Gregory’s critical letter -to Burns, who must have required all his admiration for -the great doctor to bear patiently the numerous suggestions -which he showered upon him.</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘<span class='sc'>Edinburgh</span>, <em>2nd June 1789</em>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>‘<span class='sc'>Dear Sir</span>,—I take the first leisure hour I could command, -to thank you for your letter and the copy of verses -enclosed in it. As there is real poetic merit, I mean both -fancy and tenderness, and some happy expressions, in -them, I think they well deserve that you should revise -them carefully and polish them to the utmost. This I -am sure you can do if you please, for you have great command -both of expression and of rhymes; and you may -judge, from the two last pieces of Mrs Hunter’s poetry that -I gave you, how much correctness and high polish enhance -the value of such compositions. As you desire it, I shall -with great freedom give you my <em>most rigorous</em> criticisms -on your verses. I wish you would give me another edition -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>of them, much amended, and I will send it to Mrs -Hunter, who, I am sure, will have much pleasure in reading -it. Pray give me likewise for myself, and her too, a -copy (as much amended as you please) of the “Waterfowl -on Loch Turit.”</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘The “Wounded Hare” is a pretty good subject, but -the measure or stanza you have chosen for it is not a good -one: it does not <em>flow</em> well; and the rhyme of the fourth -line is almost lost by its distance from the first, and the -two interposed, close rhymes. If I were you I would put -it into a different stanza yet.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Stanza 1.—The execrations in the first two lines are -too strong or coarse, but they may pass. “Murder-aiming” -is a bad compound epithet and not very -intelligible. “Blood-stained” in Stanza III. line 4 has -the same fault: <em>Bleeding</em> bosom is infinitely better. You -have accustomed yourself to such epithets and have no -notion how stiff and quaint they appear to others and -how incongruous with poetic fancy and tender sentiments. -Suppose Pope had written “Why that bloodstained bosom -gored” how would you have liked it? <em>Form</em> is neither a -poetic nor a dignified nor a plain common word: it is a mere -sportsman’s word: unsuitable to pathetic or serious poetry.</p> - -<p class='c000'>“Mangled” is a coarse word. “Innocent,” in this -sense, is a nursery word; but both may pass.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Stanza 4. “Who will now provide that life a mother -only can bestow” will not do at all: it is not grammar—it -is not intelligible. Do you mean “provide for that life -which the mother had bestowed and used to provide for?” -There was a ridiculous slip of the pen, “Feeling” (I suppose) -for “Fellow,” in the title of your copy of the verses; -but even “fellow” would be wrong: it is but a colloquial -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>and vulgar word, unsuitable to your sentiments. “Shot” -is improper too. On seeing a <em>person</em> (or a sportsman) -wound a hare: it is needless to add with what weapon; -but if you think otherwise, you should say with a <em>fowling-piece</em>. -Let me see you when you come to town, and I -will shew you some more of Mrs Hunter’s poems.’</p> - -<hr class='c013' /> - -<p class='c000'>Perhaps when Burns submitted his lines, ‘On seeing a -wounded hare limp by me, which a fellow had just shot -at,’ he hoped for as kindly a criticism as Dr Gregory had -given to Clarinda’s verses, which the poet had shown him -in December 1787; but if so, he was much disappointed. -‘Dr Gregory is a good man, but he crucifies me,’ wrote -Burns soon after; and again, ‘I believe in the iron justice -of Dr Gregory; but like the devils I believe and tremble.’ -It was a curious friendship, but friendship it was. There -is an English translation of Cicero, which the physician -had given to Burns in Edinburgh in 1787, and on the -fly-leaf of this is written, ‘This book, a present from the -truly worthy and learned Dr Gregory, I shall preserve to -my latest hour as a mark of the gratitude, esteem and -veneration I bear the owner—so help me God.—Robert -Burns.’ Clarinda’s desire to make Gregory’s acquaintance -which is surely an indication of how much her Sylvander -admired him, finds utterance in a letter of 1787, ‘Pray is -Dr Gregory pious? I have heard so, I wish I knew him.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>It was at Lord Monboddo’s that Gregory first met Burns. -Besides the queer old judge, who was made a laughing -stock for saying that men originally had tails, there was his -charming daughter, the beautiful Miss Burnet, to whom -Gregory is said to have offered his heart and hand.</p> - -<p class='c000'>One of the stories that Lord Cockburn tells of Gregory -is in connection with Miss Sophia Johnston (generally -<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>known in the Edinburgh of that day as ‘Suphy’) one of -the Hilton family; about whom, because of her curious -upbringing, there were many odd stories. ‘When Suphy’s -day was visibly approaching, Dr Gregory prescribed abstinence -from animal food, and recommended “spoon-meat” -unless she wished to die. “Dee, doctor, odd, I’m -thinking they’ve forgotten an auld wife like me up yonder!” -However, when he came back next day, the doctor found -her at the spoon-meat, supping a haggis—she was remembered.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory lived now, as we know, in St Andrew Square, -having left the old home in the Canongate, but besides -this he bought a house called Canaan Lodge, which was -then at a sufficient distance from Edinburgh to be in the -real country. Walking towards this house he might often be -seen of an evening with his all too warlike stick over his -shoulder, possibly the very stick with which he smote his -brother physician Professor Hamilton within the sacred -precincts of the university. The story does not end here, -nor even at the Law Courts, where he was made to pay -£100 damages to the infuriated object of his attack, but -with Gregory, who as usual had the last word, and the -last laugh in the matter, and said as he paid his fine, that -he would willingly pay double for another chance.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c012'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘A’ the country, far and near,</div> - <div class='line'>Hae heard Macgregor’s fame, lady.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>He was a hedge about his friends,</div> - <div class='line'>A heckle to his foes, lady;</div> - <div class='line'>If any man did him gainsay,</div> - <div class='line'>He felt his deadly blows, lady.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>It is really a pity, but no sketch of Professor James -Gregory could be adequate without mentioning some of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>the more important of his professional feuds. Take the -Infirmary for example, with which he was connected from -so early a date as 1777, and where he made one of the -most sweeping and necessary reforms that have ever taken -place in the management of that institution. He early -saw that it was neither for the good of the patients, nor -for the good of the students, that the physicians and -surgeons should attend the wards for only a month at a -time, and against this he set himself with all the zeal of -which he was capable. He disapproved the time-honoured -privilege enjoyed by every member of the Royal College -of Physicians, and every member of the Royal College of -Surgeons, to doctor the Infirmary patients; and getting -more and more enraged with the infatuation of his medical -brethren, he presented a memorial to the managers of the -Infirmary, expounding his views, that Infirmary appointments -should be made either for life, or at least for a -number of years, but unfortunately doing so in language, -of which the following paragraph is but one specimen:—</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘Let us suppose that in consequence of this memorial, -every individual member of the College of Surgeons shall -to his own share, make forty times more noise than Orlando -Furioso did at full moon when he was maddest, and shall -continue in that unparalleled state of uproar for twenty -years without ceasing. I can see no great harm in all that -noise, and no harm at all to any but those who make -it. Ninety-nine parts in the hundred of all that noise -would of course be bestowed on me, whom it would -not deprive of one hour’s natural sleep, and to whom it -would afford infinite amusement and gratification while I -am awake,’ etc.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Such bitter writing was not, however, solely on one side. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>On another occasion, by the consent of the Royal College -of Physicians, ‘A narrative of the conduct of Dr James -Gregory towards the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh’ -was published, which opens with this ominous -paragraph, ‘It is with great pain, that the Royal College -of Physicians, not a numerous, but hitherto, they trust, a -very respectable society, find themselves compelled to -come before the public with a narrative of their internal -dissensions. The intemperate and injurious conduct of -one of their members however has now made this a matter -of necessity. Like other collections of individuals, they -have had their dissensions and disagreements, but till very -lately they were always conducted with the temper and the -language of gentlemen, and were begun and ended within -the walls of the College. Dr James Gregory has introduced -a new style and a new jurisdiction.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>There is not much to choose between in these samples -of professional controversy, but on the whole Gregory was -usually more right in his views, and more wrong in his -expression, than the other side. In spite of these quarrels -Gregory’s practice increased steadily. In 1818 his professional -income was £2723, and in the following year -£100 more, while in the same years he derived from his -professorship by way of fees, £1364 and £1200 respectively. -These figures represented a much larger sum in -1818 than they would in 1900, and give a substantial -proof of Gregory’s popularity.</p> - -<p class='c000'>A story told of Professor Gregory is peculiarly touching. -One day when he was giving out the tickets for his -class, he had to go into another room to fetch something. -When he came back he saw a student, who was waiting -for his ticket, take some money off his table and put it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>into his pocket. The Professor gave him his pass and -said nothing, but just as the lad was leaving the room, he -rose up and laying his hand on his shoulder said, ‘I saw -what you did, and I am so sorry. I know how great -must have been your need before you would take money. -Keep it, keep it,’ he added, seeing that the student meant -to give the stolen money back to him, ‘but for God’s sake, -never do it again.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Sir Walter Scott has remembered also how Professor -Gregory on one occasion gave a very ready reply to a -learned member of the Scottish Bar. He was giving -evidence about a man, who in his opinion, was insane. -On a cross-examination, the professor was obliged to -admit that the person in question played an admirable -game of whist. The eminent counsel thought he had -made a point. ‘And do you seriously say, Doctor,’ he -added, ‘that a person having a superior capacity for a -game so difficult, and which requires in a pre-eminent -degree, memory, judgment, and combination, can be at -the same time deranged in his understanding?’ ‘I am -no card player,’ replied the doctor, ‘but I have read in -history that cards were invented for the amusement of an -insane king.’ Needless to say, he won his case!</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1818 Gregory had a serious carriage accident, in -which his arm was broken, and from this shock he never -really recovered, though we still see him in the midst of -work. He was one of a deputation from the University -of Edinburgh to congratulate George IV. on his accession -to the throne, and while in London he received the honour -of a private audience of the king. During that visit his -thoughts went back often to his time of study in London, -and to all the prosperity that had come to him since. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>had received almost every honour which his profession -could bring him. He had been President of the College -of Physicians. He was made king’s physician to George -III., and his commission had been most graciously renewed -(during this visit) by George IV. Innumerable societies -had bestowed their honorary membership upon him, and -many towns had given him the privilege of their freedom, -but he felt that his days were nearly over.</p> - -<p class='c000'>During the last year he had attacks of difficulty of -breathing, which made it impossible for him to lecture -after Christmas 1820. The end came in April. He -died of hydro-thorax at the age of sixty-eight.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Of Gregory’s eleven children only five survived him. -Two of them were in their turn to become teachers. -William, afterwards Professor of Chemistry in Aberdeen -and Edinburgh, and Duncan Farquharson, the Cambridge -mathematician.</p> - -<p class='c000'>There was not lacking one token of the love and -esteem in which the great professor was held. The voices -of his rivals were hushed. His friends mourned for him, -and the town where he had been such a familiar figure -arranged a public funeral for him. He lies buried in the -family vault in the Canongate Churchyard.</p> - -<p class='c000'>‘<span class='sc'><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Vir priscae virtutis, per omnes vitae gradus et in -omni vitae officio probatissimae.</span></span>’</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER X<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>WILLIAM GREGORY, 1803–1858</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Were it of hoot, or cold, or moyste, or drye,</div> - <div class='line'>And where they engendered and of what humour,</div> - <div class='line'>He was a verray parfit praktisour.’</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in26'>—<span class='sc'>Chaucer</span>, <cite>Prologue</cite> 420–422.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>William Gregory was the last of this great academic -family to hold a chair in a Scottish University.</p> - -<p class='c000'>He was the fourth son of Professor James Gregory, and -having been brought up among the traditions of medicine, -he turned to the study of it instinctively, though the -necessity laid upon him was by no means the same as -that which had made his forefathers physicians in spite -of themselves. He had not gone far in his medical course -when he decided to be a chemist rather than a doctor. -The magic of Professor Hope’s experiments made at -least one convert and as he sat in the class-room observing -the strange effects of chemicals, he made up his -mind that if it were possible he would some day take the -teacher’s place. With rude implements he would spend -hours at home repeating the processes which he had -watched in the class, his mind all alive to the interest of -his subject, and his poor body much neglected. These -happy hours in his laboratory were dearly paid for by the -delicacy, which began to show itself about this time. The -noxious fumes of the chemicals acted as a slow poison, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>and from this stage of his life he had to struggle with ill -health, all his occupations being interrupted at times by -unconquerable pain.</p> - -<p class='c000'>He graduated M.D. in 1828, and then went abroad to -study chemistry in the famous schools of the continent. -At Giessen, the most important of these, he had the good -fortune to attract the attention of the great teacher, whose -work had made the university famous, and from this time -forward, Liebig was the friend and correspondent of -William Gregory.</p> - -<p class='c000'>During the years when Gregory was completing his -studies abroad, and teaching successively in Edinburgh, -Glasgow, and Dublin, King’s College, Aberdeen, was -going through considerable difficulties in connection with -the post of mediciner. In the days of John Gregory’s -tenure of that office, he had as we already know, made -efforts to improve the medical curriculum there, but -without success. A step in advance was made in 1801, -when it was determined that a candidate for the degree -of M.D. must ‘oblidge himself that he is not, nor will be -concerned in the sale of quack medicines of any description!’ -and a further step was taken in 1817 by the -authorities insisting on a satisfactory account of the -‘classical, literary and scientifical education of the -candidate.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>Between 1824 and 1826, an attempt was made by the -Chancellor and Senatus to insist that the mediciner -should teach medicine, but Dr Bannerman, who then -held that office, would only consent to consider the -matter for a year, and after that time he let it rest. -In 1836, he was advised that if he would neither teach -nor appoint a substitute, a lecturer would be chosen, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>and paid out of his salary. This threat, however, was -never carried out, and he died in 1838, and it was to this -post of mediciner, made vacant by his death, that William -Gregory was appointed on February 19th, 1839.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Dr William Pulteney Alison, to whom the electors of -King’s College applied for suggestions as to a suitable -candidate, had curiously enough never mentioned the -name of his cousin, and it was only owing to the intervention -of Thomas Clark who held the Chair of Chemistry -in Marischal College that Gregory came to apply. After -giving him minute instructions as to the form which his -application must take, he added, ‘Don’t mention me no -more than the Devil.’ The name of this friend was therefore -kept out of sight, and Gregory was in due course -appointed to the vacant professorship. It was with great -joy that his advent was announced to the professors of -King’s College. Their difficulties in improving the -medical course, when the very mediciner would not teach -a class, had been insuperable, but now they felt a man of -influence was coming amongst them, who would be the -means of promoting the interests of their university, and -who would give the benefit of a hereditary power of -teaching to the students, whom they felt sure his great -name would attract to their midst.</p> - -<p class='c000'>While in Aberdeen William Gregory became intensely -interested in the welfare of King’s College, and busied -himself in trying to secure revenue from the government -to found new chairs, but in this he was unsuccessful.</p> - -<p class='c000'>He taught Materia Medica in a house fitted up for a -Medical School in Kingsland Place, and he had a good -class, but from the witticisms of the students as to the -effect of their professor’s preparation of muriate of morphia -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>it is evident that William Gregory’s physical weakness -was growing upon him, and that it was only with the most -strenuous effort that he could get to his class at ten o’clock.</p> - -<p class='c000'>As his power of walking failed him, the professor found -much solace in music, and sweet snatches of melody -were carried across his old-fashioned garden to the ears of -passers-by. He played beautifully, and his wife, who was -a niece of Colonel Scott of Gala, added greatly to the -charms of their musical parties. It is said that they -were the first to shock the people of Aberdeen by playing -secular music on Sunday.</p> - -<p class='c000'>To the Aberdonians, however, he gave a more serious -cause for complaint—William Gregory was of a singularly -childlike and trustful disposition, and he was intensely -interested in the occult science of Spiritualism; the result -was that he became the patron of a most undesirable -throng of quasi-scientific humbugs, whose presence in -their midst they resented with extreme frankness. There -is a continual atmosphere of table-turning, mesmerism -and magnetic flames in the tales extant about him, and -though the narrators are tender about his memory, they -have perforce to take up the attitude of counsel for the -defence.</p> - -<p class='c000'>As a chemist, he undoubtedly came first in Scotland. -He invented processes for the more perfect preparation -of hydrochloric acid, muriate of morphia and <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">oxyde</span> of -silver, besides making important observations on many -other chemicals. He had an accurate command of -practical chemistry, a power of condensation and clear -expression, and a just perception of the value of discoveries, -which made his writings unsurpassed for the use of -students.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>In 1844 Dr William Gregory realised the dream of his -youth. After a sharp contest with Dr Lyon Playfair, he -was appointed to succeed Professor Hope in his chair in the -University of Edinburgh. ‘The chair was given to him,’ -says Sir Alexander Grant, ‘under a new title, for the Town -Council now judiciously omitted “Medicine” from its province, -and elected Dr Gregory to be Professor of Chemistry.’</p> - -<p class='c000'>His health was much impaired, so much so, that people -even went the length of saying that he was physically unfit -for his new position, and it is at any rate true that his -finest teaching was given to his students in Aberdeen. -He was an able teacher, if at times erratic and absent-minded. -His class was always kept wide awake, for with -what alarms would not the professor bring back the straying -imaginations of his audience! ‘Gentlemen,’ he would -say, while with his long awkward fingers he lifted up the -tube of some chemical before them, ‘If this were to fall, -not one of you could reach the door alive;’ and then, considering -the matter over, he would place the tube carelessly -upon the edge of a plate, while the students near -the doorway filtered through it, and the others, hat in -hand, awaited the longed-for close of the lecture, feeling a -fresh tremor with every approach of Gregory’s loose fingers -to the fatal vial.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Good as his teaching was, the books which he wrote -while in Edinburgh were his most valuable contribution to -the Science of Chemistry. In the preface to the <cite>Outlines -of Chemistry</cite>, which was published in 1845, he sketched -the divisions which he intended to make in his subject -for the fuller elucidation of the facts, and, had his health -permitted him to carry out his plan, ‘the instruction from -his class would probably have been more complete than -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>from any other scientific chair in Europe.’ At the request -of Liebig, he translated several of his more important -books into English, and in the preface to the <cite>Familiar -Letters on Chemistry</cite>, Liebig writes, ‘From his intimate -familiarity with chemical science, and especially with the -physiological subjects here treated, I am confident that -the task could not have been entrusted to better hands -than those of my friend Dr Gregory.’ Their friendship -lasted throughout life, and only a few days before Professor -Gregory’s death, he was propped up in his bed to -write a pamphlet supporting some new theories of Liebig, -which the German had just communicated to him.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory’s appearance was most noticeable. He was of -great proportions, obese, slouching and loosely hung together. -In later years his body was a great burden to -him, but the mind kept the mastery.</p> - -<p class='c000'>He was, like his father, a keen student of language, -and would wile away many of the weary hours of forced -inaction by the study of foreign tongues. French and -German were to him as familiar as English. With a -microscope, too, he did beautiful work, and was in his -day, the greatest authority on the Diatomaceae. The -slides which he made of these microscopic water-plants -with their sculptured valves, were another resource of -his declining years. He presented valuable memoirs -on this subject to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of -which he was a member.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Professor William Gregory died in Edinburgh in April -1858, and was honoured with a public funeral.</p> - -<p class='c000'>He was succeeded in the university by Dr Lyon Playfair -(afterwards Lord Playfair) who had contested the -chair unsuccessfully at the time of Gregory’s appointment.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>William Gregory was survived by an only son, who was -called after his father’s far-famed friend, James Liebig -Gregory.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Duncan Farquharson Gregory was considerably younger -than his brother the Professor of Chemistry, and was not -at all like him in personal appearance. His face was a -beautiful one, fine, pale, bearing on it already in this life -some of the light and joyousness that often mark out for -especial love those who are to pass quickly from this earth. -His hair, which was thick and curling, fell more about his -brow than is usual, and his eyes like dark lamps illuminated -his features.</p> - -<p class='c000'>When he was hardly more than a baby, his father used -fondly to predict distinction for him. ‘He had pleasure -in conversing with him as with an equal on subjects of -History and Geography,’ so Mr Ellis wrote, and this when -the boy was not more than six, for his father died before -he had left the nursery. He was a great inventor of games -for himself, and made an orrery with his busy little hands, -on which he would send the planets spinning round in -their orbits.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Till he was nine years old he was taught entirely by his -mother, who was quite as attractive to her children as she -had ever been in society, and for whom Duncan had -always a peculiar reverence and affection. He passed out -of her hands into the care of a tutor, and then was sent to -the Edinburgh Academy. From school he went abroad to -Geneva, where his mother and sisters were spending a -winter, and on his return he attended classes at the -University of Edinburgh. In mathematics he made -astonishing strides, under Professor Wallace, and those -who saw the master and pupil together in Cambridge -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>in after days, said that the old man’s pride in his pupil’s -success never diminished.</p> - -<p class='c000'>In 1833 Mr Gregory’s name was entered at Trinity -College, Cambridge, and shortly afterwards he went to -reside there. He took with him a most unusual amount -of knowledge on almost all scientific subjects, in fact -many men said that it was the diffuseness of his learning -that prevented him from taking the first place in the -mathematical honours in that university; for when the -tripos came he was only fifth wrangler.</p> - -<p class='c000'>A few months after his arrival in Cambridge he agreed -to act as assistant to the Professor of Chemistry, and he -was one of the founders of the Chemical Society, and -occasionally gave very charming lectures in their rooms. -His other pursuits were botany, natural philosophy, and -astronomy, but his most serious study was of course -mathematics.</p> - -<p class='c000'>After taking his degree of B.A. in 1837, he felt himself -more at liberty to follow original speculation, and turned -his attention to the general theory of the combination of -symbols. His studies in this subject appeared from time -to time in the <cite>Cambridge Mathematical Journal</cite>, of which -Duncan Farquharson Gregory was editor, with only an -interval of a few months, from its first appearance till -shortly before his death.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Mr Gregory was in 1840 elected a Fellow of Trinity -College, and he took his M.A. degree in the following -year. In that year, too, he was appointed to fill the office -of moderator in the Mathematical Tripos. This position, -which is regarded as one of the most honourable of those -to which the younger members of the university may -aspire, was filled by him with great success.</p> - -<p class='c000'><span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>His most considerable book (though possibly less well -known than his lucid work on solid geometry), appeared -about this time. It is entitled <cite>Collection of Examples of -the Processes of the Differential and Integral Calculus</cite>, and -was thoughtful and original. At first his plan had been -to edit a second edition of a work with a similar title, -which twenty-five years before had come from the pens -of Herschel, Peacocke, and Babbage, but as he considered -this, he discovered what immense strides had -been made in the general aspect of mathematics. The -mathematical theories of heat, light, electricity, and magnetism -were all new, and they required a fresh treatment. -Thus he undertook the book which brought him so much -honour.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Gregory had an absolute passion for mathematics. ‘All -these things seem to me,’ he said once, while turning over -the pages of Fourier’s great work on heat, ‘to be a kind -of mathematical paradise,’ and the enjoyment comes out -all through his book.</p> - -<p class='c000'>He contested unsuccessfully with Professor Kelland the -Chair of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, -and in 1841 was offered the corresponding chair in -Toronto, which, however, he declined; and it was well -that he did so, for in the following year he had the first -attack of the illness which was to end fatally for him. In -the spring he left Cambridge never to return again.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Up to the last he had taken part in his college work, -and in spite of severe suffering had gone through the irksome -labour of examinations. Months of all but constant -pain followed, brightened only by short intervals of ease. -Whenever these occurred he turned to his old studies for -refreshment, and only a little while before his death he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>began a paper on the analogy between differential equations -and those in finite differences.</p> - -<p class='c000'>As the weeks passed, the watchful eyes of his sister -could see the gradual failing of his strength, and at five -o’clock on the morning of February 23rd, 1844, he passed -away in his sleep. He died at Canaan Lodge.</p> - -<p class='c000'>His sister, Miss Georgina Gregory, made a collection -of the poems written by her brothers. Some of Mr -Duncan Gregory’s verses would have made delightful -children’s poetry. One time when they had gone to the -English lakes together for change of air, they, as is not -an entirely unknown experience in that part of the world, -had to spend most of their time in the inn, and as a last -resource fell to writing doggerel.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c012'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘The fields are one extensive bog,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The roads are just as bad;</div> - <div class='line'>I wish I were a little frog,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Then rain would make me glad.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But I am of the human race,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Which ever since the flood</div> - <div class='line'>Prefers a firm, dry resting-place</div> - <div class='line in2'>To wading in the mud.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But yet at last a little gleam</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of sunshine did appear,</div> - <div class='line'>And did most treacherously seem</div> - <div class='line in2'>As if the sky would clear.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And trusting to its specious face</div> - <div class='line in2'>To walk Georgina tried,</div> - <div class='line'>But soon returned in piteous case</div> - <div class='line in2'>To have her garments dried.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>He was a delightful brother and a delightful friend. -What he might have done as a mathematician had he but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>lived it is impossible to tell. As it is, a writer who has -discussed the hereditary qualities of the family, speaks of -the mathematical genius, which had lain dormant since -the time of James Gregorie as ‘blazing forth’ again in -Duncan Farquharson Gregory, and if this writer passes -over such talents as those of David Gregory, the Savilian -Professor at Oxford, he must have held the Fellow of -Trinity in great honour. Another authority on the family, -said that if Duncan Gregory were alive, which he might -quite well be as far as dates are concerned, he would -probably have been the most famous pure mathematician -of the day. And a still greater testimony is that of -Lord Kelvin, given at the Bristol meeting of the British -Association in 1898, where in a paper on ‘Graphic -Representations of the two Simplest Cases of a Single -Wave,’ he referred to Gregory’s work on this subject. -‘Gregory,’ he said, ‘died too soon,’ and as he turned -from the black-board on which he had been drawing -some diagrams, he added, ‘we cannot tell what we might -have known if Gregory had lived.’ His talent was appreciated -when he lived, but the qualities to which his -friends reverted with most tenderness were his unenvious -appreciation of other men’s work, his sweetness and joyfulness, -and the patience with which he bore his last long -illness.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <br /> <span class='large'>RETROSPECT</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c015'>‘Whatever he had in himself, he would fain have made out a -hereditary claim for.’—<span class='sc'>Lockhart</span>, <cite>Life of Scott</cite>, ch. lxxxiv.</p> - -<p class='c006'>When Pennant on his famous tour through Scotland, -came to the dreary moorland below Craigroyston, he was -filled with special interest by the scene. Here, he was -told, was the cradle of the M’Gregors, a clan so devoid -of kindness, that they had been hunted down like wild -beasts, their name suppressed and their remnant dispersed -like Jews over the country. ‘And even now,’ he added, -‘their posterity are still said to be distinguished among -the clans in which they have incorporated themselves, -not only by the redness of their hair, but by their still -retaining the mischievous disposition of their ancestors.’ -What then, would Pennant have said, could he have -known that from one descendant of a MacGregor would -arise a family, thirteen of whom would be mentioned in -the Encyclopædias of 1900? After all it should be -remembered that even Rob Roy’s literary tastes have -never been sufficiently appreciated, for his name is found -in the original list of the subscribers to Keith’s <cite>History -of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland</cite>, published -in 1734!</p> - -<p class='c000'>The Gregories, then, were inclined to an academic life. -Their portraits appear oddly and unexpectedly in the -public buildings of this country, their names equally -<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>unexpectedly in many books; but their teaching which -was the greatest gift they had to offer to their fellowmen -can of course no longer be adequately appreciated. The -very greatness of a teacher, which leads him to speak -directly to the body of men before him with the needs, -the ignorance, the prejudices, and the fancies of their age, -makes his teaching unintelligible to any time but his own, -to a preceding age, if it were possible, darkness, to a -succeeding, platitude.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Going back to the beginning, how many times should -we wish to thank one or other of the Gregories for their -hard hitting at the shams and insincerities of their day! -The Rev. John Gregorie, the founder of the family, began -by withstanding Cant in the body, and overlooking the -upturned sand-glass which that divine had set for him, -taught his own views even though they were not accepted -by his self-complacent opponent as the ‘orthodox doctrein.’ -He after all, uninteresting as he perhaps appeared to be, -is still the forerunner of the family greatness, and that -not only as their first father, but because he showed an -example of independence in opinion to his own children -and to theirs—when the time should come that their -grandfather’s history would be told them by the fire of -a winter’s night.</p> - -<p class='c000'>One of his sons, David of Kinairdy, possessed the first -barometer in Scotland, an innovation for which he nearly -paid with his life. Another, Professor James Gregorie -(the first), because he too rapidly realised the greatness -of Newton’s philosophy, and taught it, came under the -ban of his fellow-professors at St Andrews, and was glad -when the opportunity presented itself to receive the approbation -of a sister university, more ready for his teaching. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>He, too, invented the first reflecting telescope, through -which things are seen as they appear to one’s eyes, and -not upside down as had been the case with earlier telescopes. -This also in its way was a parable of what the -Gregories were to do in the world of science in making -things as plain as possible, so that the wayfaring men -though fools, might not err therein. David the son and -David the grandson both did most of their work at -Oxford, the first teaching mathematics, and endeavouring -to bring Newton’s <cite>Principia</cite> down to the level of -ordinary mathematicians, while the second, who was -Professor of Modern History and Modern Languages, -having been much abroad, arranged to have the assistance -of foreign teachers, whom he supported, not only -with his influence, but with his purse. There were other -mathematicians descended from David of Kinairdy, who, -it may be remembered, had three sons professors of mathematics -at one time, and of this branch of the family also -were Alexander Innes and Thomas Reid, both professors -of philosophy.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Reverting to the descendants of Professor James Gregorie—the -son, grandsons, great-grandson, and great-great-grandsons, -were founders or builders, all of them of medical -education in Scotland, each doing his own part for the -cause of medicine. James the son, called the third professor -of that name (for one of his mathematical cousins -was the second), was recognised and honoured as ‘the -founder’ of the Medical School at Aberdeen, though the -foundations indeed must lie very deep, for by no amount -of digging can traces of them be discovered. Professor -John the grandson (his half-brother, Professor James the -fourth, was inconsiderable), the fellow-worker with Cullen, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>accepted and taught that great doctor’s views, and with his -charming good-sense eradicated many of the more prejudicial -items of children’s upbringing. The great-grandson, -Professor James (the fifth), more than took his father’s -place as a teacher, and setting the medical world of -Edinburgh at defiance, made one of the most sweeping -reforms that has ever taken place in the history of clinical -teaching in that university. He was also one of the -great leaders in the volunteer movement. The great-great-grandsons, -Professor William Gregory and Professor -William Pulteney Alison, were professors both of them -in the Medical Faculty of the Edinburgh University, and -taught their subjects in the lucid and original way, which -was the gift of the whole family. Duncan Farquharson -Gregory was the only one of the descendants of James -Gregorie, the great contemporary of Newton, who followed -in his footsteps as a mathematician. He died in his -thirtieth year, but left behind him a brilliant record of -his life’s work, which is only sad because it was so short.</p> - -<p class='c000'>These Gregories, though they did not care for popularity, -or possibly because they did not care for popularity, -and never went out of their way to attain it, usually ended -by being on the winning side—that is to say, public -opinion often changed from being against them to being -with them. They had such a gift of laughing at the right -time, of passing over the bitterness of their adversaries, -and even exposing the partisanship of their allies. Take -the story which Sir Archibald Alison gives us in his autobiography, -of how a mathematical examination was once -rearranged for his benefit in the University of Edinburgh. -It was in the time of Professor Leslie, in the spring of -1808, that this examination in the class of mathematics -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>took place. Archibald Alison had three very -able competitors. These were Borthwick of Crookston, -J. M’Pherson Macleod, and Mr Edward Irving. Young -Alison, nervous and excitable in face of the examination -paper, became suddenly destitute of ideas, and -could only solve two of the six problems which were -set. It was all the more distressing, because he knew -that, being by his mother a member of the great mathematical -family of Gregories, he was expected to come -out first. The wretched day came to an end at last, -and the boy went home in the evening literally shedding -tears of vexation. Immediately he was freed from the -anxiety of the lecture-room, he solved the problems rapidly -and clearly, in a way that annoyed and pleased him almost -equally. The professor, it seems, when he read the papers, -could not give the first prize to Alison on the strength of -his answers. He therefore decided that the work of that -day should not hold, and appointed a second date for -the trial. The next time the result was all that he and -Archibald Alison could have desired! This little episode -entertained Sir Archibald immensely, and is a curious -indication of the lengths to which their friends were prepared -to go for them, but while in many families, influence, -however acceptable it may be to themselves, is -anything but a good to the community, the influence -exerted for the Gregories was always rewarded by the -sensible, thorough, and often brilliant way in which they -carried on their work.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The members of the family, who took up the study of -medicine were great healers, but how large was their idea -of what that word meant! To cure the body or to fail in -curing it was one thing, but to get at the reasons of illness -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>in the circumstances and troubles of the patient, to take -away the effect through taking away the cause, was ever -the Gregories’ way. They understood many an unspoken -heart history, and from their own strong natures gave both -strength and comfort to the sick. It is no wonder then -to see Burns clinging to the friendship of his great physician -for support and for love, knowing it was to be found -in ‘that man of iron justice, who was made without compassion -for a poor poetic sinner.’ Nor it must in truth -be added, was Dr Gregory any less severe with unpoetic -sinners. For there is a case recorded when a great aldermanic -magnate came to consult him from the west country, -expecting his case to be considered as one of grave importance -and significance. What was then his surprise, when -he was shortly but critically surveyed by the doctor, and -shown out of the consulting room with directions equivalent -to this: ‘Have nothing richer than roast mutton and rice -pudding for dinner for the next three months, and then -if you care to let me have the pleasure of seeing you -again, you will be a different man’—a transformation -which the doctor evidently thought very desirable!</p> - -<p class='c000'>One can see that life could never be smooth to such -a man. But at least the Gregories in all the struggles -of life, in the riots of tongues, were ever sure of love -and quiet by their own fireside. That came to them -because they were such great lovers, just as the difficulties -outside came from the same strong natures seeking their -own way too much. It has to be remembered in connection -with this that they were usually right, but that does -not make the contest any less bitter. If one could only -think of them as having had peaceful lives, as Thomas -Reid at least had, but it was always a struggle, if not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>a battle with them till the pale conqueror came to still -the hubbub for ever.</p> - -<p class='c000'>They were great men, no mere dreamers. They were -workers with busy minds, to whom life was ever too short -for the fulfilment of their plans, but death never came to -them before they had earned their rest.</p> - -<p class='c000'>All the great universities of this country who received -the teaching of the Gregories, have felt themselves -honoured by their service, and have adorned their annals -with their name.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><span class='sc'>The End.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span> - <h2 class='c005'>INDEX</h2> -</div> - -<ul class='index c003'> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Aberdeen</span>, University of, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Aberdeen</span>, Grammar School of, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Alison</span>, Sir Archibald, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Alison</span>, William Pulteney, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Anderson</span>, David, of Finzeach, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Anderson</span>, Janet, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Arbuthnot</span>, Dr, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Beattie</span>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>–21.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Burnet</span>, Bishop, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Burnet</span>, Helen, of Elrick, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Burnet</span>, Mary, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Burns</span>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Canaan Lodge</span>, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Cambridge University</span>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Cant</span>, Andrew, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Carlyle</span>, Alexander, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Chalmers</span>, Principal, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Charlett</span>, Dr, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Crichtons</span>, The, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>–18.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Christchurch</span>, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Christison</span>, Sir Robert, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Clerk</span> of Penicuik, quoted, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Cockburn</span>, Lord, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>College</span>, Royal, of Physicians, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Collins</span>, John, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Cullen</span>, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Drumoak</span>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Edinburgh Academy</span>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Edinburgh</span>, University of, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>–53, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>–58, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Flamsteed</span>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Flanders</span>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span><span class='sc'>Forbes</span>, Catherine of Monymusk, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Forbes</span>, Hon. Elizabeth, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Frendraught</span>, Viscount, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Galileo</span>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Galton</span>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>George</span>, Prince, of Denmark, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gordon</span>, Isabel, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregorie</span>, Alexander, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregorie</span>, Charles, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregorie</span>, David, of Kinairdy, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>–25, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregorie</span>, David, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>–91.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregory</span>, David, Sav. Prof., <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>–76, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregory</span>, Dean, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>–83, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregory</span>, Dorothea, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregory</span>, Duncan Farquharson, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>–151, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregorie</span>, Prof. James, I., <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>–51, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregorie</span>, Prof. James, II., <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>–87.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregorie</span>, Prof. James, III., <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>–99, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregorie</span>, Prof. James, IV., <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregory</span>, Prof. James, V., <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>–140, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregorie</span>, John, Rev., <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>–14, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregory</span>, Prof. John, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>–124, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregory</span>, Philip Spencer, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Gregory</span>, Prof. William, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>–147, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Grey</span>, Lady Mary, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span><span class='sc'>Halley</span>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Hamilton</span>, Professor, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Hearne</span>, quoted, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Holland</span>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Hudson</span>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Hume</span>, David, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Huygens</span>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Infirmary</span>, Royal, of Edinburgh, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Innes</span>, Prof., <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Jameson</span>, George, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Johnson</span>, Samuel, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Keill</span>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Kelvin</span>, Lord, quoted, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Kinairdy</span>, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>King’s College</span>, Aberdeen, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Leyden</span>, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Liebig</span>, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Lyttelton</span>, George, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Lyttelton</span>, Lord, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Macgregors</span>, The, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Macgregor</span> of Roro, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Mackenzie</span>, George, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Maclaurin</span>, Colin, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>M’Leod</span>, Isabella, of Geanies, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Mallet</span>, David, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Marischal College</span>, Aberdeen, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Monboddo</span>, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Monro</span>, Professor, Primus, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Monro</span>, Principal, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Montague</span>, Mrs, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Newton</span>, Sir Isaac, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Oliphants</span> of Langton, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Oxford</span>, University of, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>–67, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Padua</span>, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Pennant</span>, quoted, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Pepys</span>, Samuel, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span><span class='sc'>Pitcairne</span>, Dr Archibald, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Regents</span>, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Reid</span>, Prof. Thomas, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Rheims</span>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Robertson</span>, Principal, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Rob Roy</span>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Royal Society</span>, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Rutherford</span>, Professor, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Scott</span>, Sir Walter, quoted, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Shelburne</span>, Earl of, quoted, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Sherborne Hospital</span>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Sinclair</span>, Prof. George, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Skene</span>, Alexander, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Skene</span>, David, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Skene</span>, Robert, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Smalridge</span>, Dr, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Society</span>, Royal Medical, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Spalding</span>, quoted, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>St Andrews University</span>, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>–49, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Stewart</span>, Dugald, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Telescope</span>, Achromatic, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Telescope</span>, Reflecting, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Trinity College</span>, Cambridge, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Union Negotiations</span>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>–73.</li> - <li class='c003'><span class='sc'>Walker</span>, Jean, of Orchiston, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Wallis</span>, Dr, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Westminster School</span>, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Whiston</span>, quoted, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Wilkes</span>, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>William and Margaret</span>, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Wise Club</span>, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>.</li> - <li class='c016'><span class='sc'>Witchcraft</span>, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>.</li> -</ul> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c010'> - <div>FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES<a id='end'></a></div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c011'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>THOMAS CARLYLE. By <span class='sc'>Hector C. Macpherson</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>ALLAN RAMSAY. By <span class='sc'>Oliphant Smeaton</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>HUGH MILLER. By <span class='sc'>W. Keith Leask</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>JOHN KNOX. By <span class='sc'>A. Taylor Innes</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>ROBERT BURNS. By <span class='sc'>Gabriel Setoun</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>THE BALLADISTS. By <span class='sc'>John Geddie</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>RICHARD CAMERON. By Professor <span class='sc'>Herkless</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By <span class='sc'>Eve Blantyre Simpson</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor <span class='sc'>W. Garden Blaikie</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>JAMES BOSWELL. By <span class='sc'>W. Keith Leask</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By <span class='sc'>Oliphant Smeaton</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By <span class='sc'>G. W. T. Omond</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>THE “BLACKWOOD” GROUP. By Sir <span class='sc'>George Douglas</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>NORMAN MACLEOD. By <span class='sc'>John Wellwood</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor <span class='sc'>Saintsbury</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By <span class='sc'>Louis A. Barbé</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>ROBERT FERGUSSON. By <span class='sc'>A. B. Grosart</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>JAMES THOMSON. By <span class='sc'>William Bayne</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>MUNGO PARK. By <span class='sc'>T. Banks Maclachlan</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>DAVID HUME. By Professor <span class='sc'>Calderwood</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>WILLIAM DUNBAR. By <span class='sc'>Oliphant Smeaton</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. By Professor <span class='sc'>Murison</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By <span class='sc'>Margaret Moyes Black</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>THOMAS REID. By Professor <span class='sc'>Campbell Fraser</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>POLLOK AND AYTOUN. By <span class='sc'>Rosaline Masson</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>ADAM SMITH. By <span class='sc'>Hector C. Macpherson</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>ANDREW MELVILLE. By <span class='sc'>William Morison</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. By <span class='sc'>E. S. Haldane</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. By <span class='sc'>A. F. Murison</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>JAMES HOGG. By Sir <span class='sc'>George Douglas</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>THOMAS CAMPBELL. By <span class='sc'>J. Cuthbert Hadden</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>GEORGE BUCHANAN. By <span class='sc'>Robert Wallace</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>SIR DAVID WILKIE. By <span class='sc'>Edward Pinnington</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>THE ERSKINES, EBENEZER AND RALPH. By <span class='sc'>A. R. MacEwen</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>THOMAS GUTHRIE. By <span class='sc'>Oliphant Smeaton</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>DAVID LIVINGSTONE. By <span class='sc'>T. Banks Maclachlan</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES. By <span class='sc'>Agnes Grainger Stewart</span>.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>JOHNSTON OF WARRISTON. By <span class='sc'>William Morison</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c005'>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</h2> -</div> - <ol class='ol_1 c003'> - <li>Letters were inconsistently offset with one or two thought breaks. Set thought breaks - at both ends except where letters began or ended in a paragraph. - - </li> - <li>Moved FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES ad from the second page to <a href='#end'>end</a>. - - </li> - <li>Silently corrected typographical errors. - - </li> - <li>Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. - </li> - </ol> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Academic Gregories, by Agnes Grainger Stewart - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES *** - -***** This file should be named 53601-h.htm or 53601-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/6/0/53601/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, MWS and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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